favorite science fiction/fantasy authors - what are yours?

[Miles]

I don't like to rank them, not least because a ranking of that kind always 
changes. So instead, some names with short comments:

J.R.R. Tolkien - the standard of epic fantasy literature.
J.K. Rowling - the most entertaining books I read in the past years.
Ray Bradbury - if you ever forget or never knew how boys on the threshold of 
puberty think and feel, read him.
Stanislaw Lem - the most intelligent Science Fiction I know, with a fine 
sense of humour.
Howard P. Lovecraft - love him or hate him. He is not really a good author, 
but his stories are absorbing.
Stephen King - does "horror" count? For me, King is one of the best 
contemporary writers of our time (and would be seen as one, if he wouldn't 
write in such dirty genres). His stories can be so frightening, because he 
can really make his characters alive.
Diane Duane - her Young Wizard series is well-written, and for me her 
"magic" works better than Rowling's.
Frank Herbert - his Dune novels might be a bit lengthy and 
pseudo-philosophical, but even the first Dune novel alone secures Herbert's 
place on Fantasy's olympus.

Miles