Posted on 12/13/2013 8:49:04 PM PST by Kip Russell
Everybody (well, everybody who reads sf/fantasy) has their favorite novels in each genre...which are usually a bunch of other people's favorite novels as well. This only makes sense, since cream rises to the top.
But even so, there are plenty of obscure books that for whatever reason, never really caught on. They might well be great reads, but no one seems to have heard of them...so what's your favorite sf and fantasy novel that still lies in not-so-deserved obscurity?
With any luck, we'll all discover a bunch of great books that we've never heard of before!
I'll start off with mine: for sf, "The Killing Star" by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski.
In the late 21st Century, our solar system is attacked by aliens using "relativity missiles"...boulder-sized hunks of metal accelerated to 90% of the speed of light. Thousands of them. 99.9999% of humanity is wiped out in a few hours. There's no need for a spoiler warning, this happens in the first 20 pages. The rest of the novel follows the desperate struggle of the few survivors spread throughout the solar system.
For fantasy, "A Personal Demon" by Richard Brown, David Bischoff, and Linda Richardson.
When Willis Baxter, a frustrated professor at a New England university with a penchant for drink and remarkable talent for failure in romantic relationships, got too drunk at his own party, unexpected results ensued. Instead of just impressing his guests with his knowledge of obscure magic rituals, he summoned an absolutely stunning female half-demon, Anathae. The demon, who looks like a naked sixteen year-old redhead with small horns, hooves and a tasteful tail, has been unhappy in Hell, and is extremely grateful to her "liberator". Luckily, most guests attribute the summoning to a party trick, with amusement value pretty much divided by gender.
Hilarity ensues. "I Dream of Jeannie" meets Faust...
His writing moves me in a way few authors do.
I still go with "The Portable Phonograph" for #1, "The Emissary" for #2.
This was also on a Bradbury in memoriam thread (here on FReep, I think, definitely worth reposting):
"Somewhere in America, a boy tap-dances a on a tuned segment of discarded wooden sidewalk, calling his friends to run over the hills by moonlight...
Out on the Veldt, the animals pause for a moment, as though something unseen had passed through their midst...
Somewhere on Mars, a new silver fire is burning to welcome him...
By the river, a Book stops its recitation for the day, to remember a fine man who wrote such fine, fine things.
Thanks be, for Ray Bradbury, who taught me that there could be poetry in prose."
Not life-changing, IMHO.
You can buy it on amazon as a mass market paperback. http://www.amazon.com/Canticle-Leibowitz-Walter-Miller-Jr/dp/0553273817. You can also listen to it online. Warning: there are various scam .pdf's of this floating around torrents and web pages. Do NOT download them. They all contain trojans. If you drive a lot (I do) download the vogg or mp3 audio parts and burn them to a cd and listen to it in the car. https://archive.org/details/ACanticleForLiebowitz
“Come on over and borrow mine!”
You are sweet! I’m guessing that SOMEONE will get me a gift card to a bookstore this Christmas, I’m just going to order it on line.
I’ve come to think it’s waiting for me for a reason.
Hopefully this thread will help me remember!
Worm Ouroborous by E.R Eddings
Jurgen by James Branch Cabel
Hard to get more obscure than that, however they are more fantasy than sci-fi.
Not exactly obscure, more like forgotten.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides
"Earth Abides is a 1949 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by American writer George R. Stewart. It tells the story of the fall of civilization from deadly disease and its rebirth. The story was set in the United States in the 1940s, in Berkeley, California. Isherwood Williams emerges from isolation in the mountains to find almost everyone dead.
Earth Abides won the inaugural International Fantasy Award in 1951. It was included in Locus Magazine's list of best All Time Science Fiction in 1987 and 1998[2] and was a nominee to be entered into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.[3] In November 1950, it was adapted for the CBS radio program Escape as a two-part drama starring John Dehner."
Ping for later.
“Terry Brooks- sword of Shanara series.
Have to quibble with that one, it’s not exactly obscure...the Shanara series was a bestseller.”
I read them back in 81-82. I didn’t know what fantasy novels even were let alone who Brooks was.
bfl
bfl
(Yeah, I wrote them. And, there’s another Myth book sitting at 32,000 words and counting.)
My favorite Lovecraft novel is The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. You could get lost in that weird, convoluted story. The dude must have been really heavy into the opium to come up with such exquisitely bizarre imagery. Even his clumsy, academic style of writing is enjoyable, because it makes you have to concentrate on what you’re reading.
John Ringo has some good stuff. And though it's not quite Sci-Fi/Fantasy, more Adventure, I recommend Marcus Wynne and S.A. Bailey.
I don’t know if this falls into the genre, but what about the original Dante’s Inferno? The big one with the amazing Gustav Dore woodcuts. It’s a very entertaining read in spite of the Shakespearian prose. Funny in some parts, obscene in others, very imaginative. And the Gustave Dore woodcuts are delightfully gruesome.
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