For me, it came down to REH and ERB, the only two fantasy writers who's books I've read and own. REH by the thinnest of possible margins, since Conan is such a favorite of mine. I love both Tarzan and John Carter, but Conan is the ultimate fantasy hero in my eyes and I really love his writing style.

CS Lewis, for sure. He's my pick. Amazing writer, phenominal imagination and an interesting life lived behind the stories...no doubt about it for me.

Great poll topic, btw.

Based on the images chosen above, the answer would appear to be Frazetta. Not a bad choice...

I hadn't known that Anne Rice wrote Vampirella. Learn something new every day.

I went with "other" for George R.R. Martin, as he's the one whose work I most enjoy now. Otherwise, it's a toss-up between REH and JRRT, depending on my mood.

JRR Tolkein. He created a world down to the smallest detail, yet it was not alien, but more like a dream half remembered.

I also loved Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan. And Anne McCaffrey in her prime.

I will choose Edgar Rice Burroughs, as I believe he has earned that title.

But in my heart, I think it's Neil Gaiman.

Not even close. Tolkien.

Anne Rice was a joke, right?

I prefer other writers to the ones listed. Tolkien bores me (I can't tell you how many times I tried to get through The Hobbit). Burroughs and Howard were OK, but seemed kind of throw-away to me. I never considered Lewis to be in the same vein as the others. Maybe it was all the Christian writing.

My favorites would be Moorcock, Zelazny and some of that "newer generation" from the 60's.

There was no spot for Christopher Stasheff So I chose Edgar Rice Burroughs

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.

I consider Lewis the best writer, but for his work overall, most of which was not fantasy. So for best fantasy writer, I pick Burroughs.

I think the only thing I've ever read by Burroughs was his first Tarzan novel, so I'd have to say Howard. In addition to Conan, I've read the recent collections of his Kull, Soloman Kane and Bran Mak Morn stories and enjoyed them all. He really had a way with writing heroic battle scenes, to be sure.

Well, don't foget to vote Chris!

I loved ERB's John Carter of Mars but The Lord of the Rings....................

I voted other for Homer since it was "of all times." (I always find that a funny phrase as in "best basketball player of all time," as if people had been playing basketball for thousands of years instead of about 70.) Nobody is ever going to top the sheer cultural impact of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The stories are great, too. Not exactly accessible to a modern English-speaking audience, though.

I would include Shakespeare, too, who only wrote a few plays that could be called fantasies (McBeth, Midsummer Night's Eve, Tempest -- others?) but they were huge. Nobody's going to be quoting lines from Burroughs or Howard in 500 years, usually without knowing where they come from! Spenser, Milton, Virgil, Verne, Irving, Hawthorne, Poe all precede the list, too. And it leaves off the more modern LeGuin, Dunsany, Donaldson, Moorcock, Zelazny, Crowley...

In the last century, which is what the poll amounts to, Tolkien is by far the best for me. The stories are interesting, the mythology is well founded and thoughtful, and they have made a big splash in the culture, too.

Lewis always sounds like he's picking through Tolkien's garbage for ideas, convinced old Tollers will never finish anything for publication while he can have it typed up in six weeks. I find Howard unreadable outside of comic book adaptations. Roy Thomas and Frank Franzetta are the best things that ever happened to his work. I've never even tried to read Burroughs or Rice.

Voted for Howard.
Tolkien have a rich universe but can be boring at times.
Moorcock would be my other favorite. But he have lot of average books side to side with masterworks.
Like a lot Edgar Rice Burroughs too.
Leigh Brackett is another great one. Particulary for The Sword Of Rhiannon. And SF wise her husband Edmond Hammilton is another favorite of mine.

I'm voting with Jay's heart. Neil Gaiman.

Stop feeling my heart.

That was your heart? Sorry, I thought it was something else.

You should have known it was my heart because it was throbbing.

One ring to rule them all.

You must have a really big...heart.