- Larry Niven, 222 votes, 21 percent
- Neal Stephenson, 193 votes, 18 percent
- Jerry Pournelle, 172 votes, 16 percent
- Orson Scott Card, 167 votes, 16 percent
- Gene Wolfe, 92 votes, 9 percent
- John C. Wright, 63 votes, 6 percent
- Robert Silverberg, 61 votes, 6 percent
- Lois McMaster Bujold, 60 votes, 6 percent
- China Mieville, 32 votes, 3 percent
- Michael Flynn, 12 votes, 1 percent
1,075 votes total. Larry Niven is the winner.
Congratulations to Larry Niven, who was voted the Greatest Living SF Writer by more than half as many people who vote for the Hugo awards and more than vote for the Nebulas. I’m a little shocked that China Mieville garnered so few votes, as I thought he was a fairly serious candidate; in retrospect, William Gibson should have been on the list rather than Michael Flynn.
I was somewhat bewildered by some of the writers suggested by people who missed out on the original discussion. David Weber? He is certainly a best-selling author and his books are indubitably entertaining but greatness is not measured in Mary Sues. Connie Willis? Well, she’s won a lot of awards, but literally zero people even brought her up in the nominations. Kim Stanley Robinson? A one-trick pony and the trick grew old several books ago, to say nothing of the fact that no one even mentioned him.
It was a surprising credible showing by Lois McMaster Bujold and somewhat disappointing by Robert Silverberg. I think Silverberg and Wolfe are probably not read as much by my generation and the following one. Card and Wright were about where I expected them to be; I wouldn’t be surprised if they switched places in another ten years. And it showed that Neal Stephenson is the best of the coming generation of SF elders.