Recommend Me Some Fiction Authors

[nick crisp]

When you say "good" or "not good" about a book, are you referring to plot or what? What I'm really looking for are authors who will draw me in and keep me going. Stephen King does that for me, very few others manage it. I like SK's down-to-earth characters thrown into sinister situations that they have to deal with. I like that he gives you the information you need to make the story work, or make a character seem real, and not just endless drivel as page-filler. In actual fact, he strikes me as the kind of person I would probably hit it off with if we met (I've read his book "On Writing" and even enjoy his forewards; he clearly has good taste in music too!). In short, although I have of course enjoyed books by other authors, King is my favourite, and not even because he writes mostly horror. I reckon I'd enjoy him in whatever genre he did, if his writing style remained as it is. So genre is not the most important thing to me in this search.

So what I really need to find is other authors who can keep me engaged like SK has, and so far I haven't found much fiction work that'll do it. So really, it's kind of difficult asking for recommendations, cos you might like different things from your authors than I do. But all suggestions appreciated, and I will try to get around to trying most of them at some point.