This list should be absurdly long.

Every list must have a beginning, though… so here we go:

• C. S. Lewis - an astounding beginning for any such list
• Erwin McManus - this guy can motivate a concrete pylon to action
• Guy de Maupassant - some of the best short stories I have ever read
• Douglas Adams - will be funny well into consumer space travel
• Neil Gaiman - a very accomplished SciFi author
• J. R. Briggs - probably the only one on this list I can say I have met
• Paulo Coelho - a great fiction (or is it?) author that makes me think
• Lynne Truss - I get great enjoyment from reading what annoys her — because it annoys me