Poe. Don't know the other one.

Franz Kafka?

Lived near Prague, Jewish writer in the 20s and 30s, wrote some of the century's most famous stories, including "The Metamorphosis," "The Hunger Artist," and "The Trial?"

Good for him :)

Poe

Kafka 1
Poe 1

Correction

Kafka 1
Poe 2

Poe wrote poetry as well as prose. And he is widely regarded as one of the founders of horror with such brilliant pieces as The Fall of the House of Usher.

Poe.

Poe

Kafka.

Pie 4
Kafka 2

Damn it

Poe 4
Kafka 2

Stupid autocorrect

Poe

Poe 5
Kafka 2

Poe, not only a founder of horror, but the Detective genre as well.

Poe 6
Kafka 2

Not that he needs it, but Poe

I feel like this one should be closer, and I'm happy voting for either of them, so Kafka.

Poe 7
Kafka 3

Kafka.
Can't believe steephie gets a vote and he hasn't heard of Kafka

this is a bullshit matchup

I vote Poe but it's NOT a vote against Kafka

Poe 8
Kafka 4

Damn, I really thought this would be closer...

Me too. I was dreading choosing between them.

It could be worse... It could be a master of science fiction versus the author of some really crappy pre-teen fantasy "novels".

I wouldn't call Harry Potter "crappy" or "pre-teen." A lot of us were young enough to appreciate them properly when they came out, and that series has probably still provided me with more entertainment than any other.

I agree...the plague of YA books that's followed has maybe tainted the view of it for some, but when it first came out, Harry Potter was one of the more talked about books in a long time, and with good reason, I definitely think it has staying power.

That being said...I again hope this YA phase will pass, especially for adults--

It's one thing if you're read such novels as a teen and want to revisit them as an adult, a la Harry Potter...

But I do get a bit annoyed at adults seeking out YA books for a start, rather than looking to either "legitimate" fiction--and I blame the rise of YA novels for that partially being obscured now...even with TV and the Internet, books still remain popular enough to be read, but YA takes the spotlight away from people trying new things or writing "important" works in favor of people just following a now-established formula for paranormal, fantasy, or dystopian romances (some deviate, but they're the exception)--or adult fantasy.

I wouldn't be so snobbish as to suggest fantasy itself is crap...

But reading Tolkien, Martin or even Rowling is different than reading those trying to be a YA version of the first two or a carbon copy of the third.

""pre-teen." A lot of us were young enough to appreciate them properly when they came out,"

You wouldn't call it pre-teen but your were "young enough to appreciate them..." Hahahahahaha!!!!!!! That means you were either a young teen or not yet a teen. So how does that make them *not* pre-teen?

They're teenagers for most of the books, hence "preteen" is not really an apt description. I doubt your average preteen would even enjoy most of the books.

A typical kid (what's a preteen if not simply a kid?) wouldn't get anything more out of the Harry Potter series than they would a shitty fantasy series like the Twilight series. When Rowling's writing really becomes magical is when you're old enough to understand the complexity of the characters and just how dynamic they are - i.e. once you aren't a kid anymore. So, yeah, the Harry Potter books are certainly young adult literature, and brilliant literature at that, not just kid or preteen stories.