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...
Both of these are Kindle books on Amazon, the Space Prison" is an expanded "The Survivors" and is at the right price $0.00!
I regard Tom Godwin as a match for Michael Shaara, having that immortal piece, "The Cold Equations", that has made an indelible reputation. I have reread many times and it is as great as it ever was!
Oh good, you will both really enjoy it I think!
“...he was the voice of The Joker in the Batman animated seris of the ‘90s.”
Interesting, my daughter used to watch that, it was good as I remember, rather serious in tone, iirc.
One more puzzle. A SF book (paperback) borrowed, read in the 1960’s. Concept computer, marketing techniques and society with levels of society controlled and in computer banks. No idea of author or title. Do remember drugs were rampant, what was reality was nothing more than memory manipulation. IE driving down a lonesome highway suddenly there was nothing there....nothing but darkness and emptiness of space. Ping....computer glitch and then new reality. Persons used in advancing marketing techniques, with the next level of persons who use the first level. Come to climax with many levels all programmed to learn the best marketing. Seem to remember that on highways a slow driver would be bombed with a marker (paint) as traffic was extremely bad. But not certain if this is from same story...it might be from a different book. And no, none of this is a dig or a joke, The book was read and it was enjoyed. If ever found, one to read again.
"Tenser, said the Tensor"
"Tension, Apprehension"... and that is all I can remember.
It's been a few decades and I want to see how things have changed.
*Ahem* Don’t believe I’d a told that, son.
“*Ahem* Don’t believe I’d a told that, son.”
Not realizing she was a hooker, I thought it was a newlywed couple, as they were so active five times a night. So, I said to the maid on Sunday, “Wow, I’d love to meet the newlywed couple.” The maid said, “Newlyweds! Oh, no, she be a workin’ woman.”
“Somehow I read your comment in # 179 a little differntly that what may have been implied “
So, I’m working on a novel I’m determined to finish while staying in a crappy motel in the worst section of town. My bed backs up against the wall I share with the hooker in the next room. When the action got going her bed would bang into the wall. Plus, she got religion with a pretty steady and (the first time) convincing “oh, GOD, Oh GOD, OH GOD!” Imagine how difficult it is to write under those circumstances. Then, imagine trying to sleep as she returns to the room about every hour with a new John and the same routine. (I gained an appreciation of just how much effort goes into making a man believe he is the best thing since vibrators and $100 candles.)
Is a best seller, it’s still going.
I read my first novel when I was ten years old, Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. It opened my eyes and turned me into an avid lifelong reader. In my opinion, Ray Bradbury was a gift to Humanity.
(The War Against the Chtorr)
One of the greatest unfinished series ever written.
I loved that series, but when it seemed that the final book(s) were never written, it turned me off to new series. Now, I try to wait until the entire series is complete and THEN buy into reading it. I probably miss a lot due to that. Dang.
The People series of books by Zenna Henderson...loved ‘em in the 60’s.
Many of the works mentioned in this thread are not really obscure.
Here are some obscure ones:
SF: Genius Unlimited - John T. Phillifent
After Things Fell Apart - Ron Goulart
Monument - Lloyd Biggle Jr.
Looking Backward - Edward Bellamy
When They Come From Space - Mark Clifton
The Aluminum Man - G.C. Edmondson
The Ship that Sailed the Time Stream - G.C. Edmondson
The Witches of Karres - James H. Schmitz
Recall Not Earth - C.C. MacApp
The Sky Is Filled with Ships - Richard C. Meredith
Bring the Jubilee - Ward Moore
The Tsaddik of the Seven Wonders - Isidore Haiblum
Fantasy: Lost Continent - C.J. Cutliffe Hyne
Tiger River - Arthur O. Friel
The Pathless Trail - Arthur O. Friel
Hiero’s Journey - Sterling E. Lanier
Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake
Bloodstone - Karl Edward Wagner
Sea Without a Shore / World Without End - Sean Russell
Steel of Raithskar - Randall Garrett & Vicki Ann Heydron
Excaliber - Sanders Anne Laubenthal
Quite so...!
Here are some obscure ones:
Now those are a bunch of forgotten novels! Of the 21 listed, I've only read three (Bring the Jubilee, Hiero's Journey, Gormenghast). Speaking of Gormenghast, did you know there was a 4-hour long BBC miniseries adaptation?
That reminds me of some of the works of author Linda Evans (no relation to the actress):
"Sleipnir" - a very fun read, reminiscent of Heinlein's "Glory Road", in which an American GI has his friend's life taken prematurely by a Valkyrie. Our hero objects...and winds up going to Odin (who's a real jerk in this book!) to have his say. Screams for a sequel, but is technically a complete story.
"Far Edge of Darkness", a time travel novel in which an archeology student winds up in ancient Rome. Very realistic treatment of Roman society...but it ends on a cliffhanger, and it's never going to be completed.
The "Multiverse" series (2 books) in which two human societies, the Sharona and the Union of Arcana, have evolved in parallel universes without encountering another civilization, human or otherwise. The Sharona exhibit a level of technology roughly analogous to the late 19th century, with psionic abilities thrown in for seasoning, but the Arcana have harnessed magical energies down to the consumer level. Astonishingly, it's the magical society that suffers the greater shock when one of their companies encounters a small Sharona civilian survey team and is almost annihilated by the enemy's repeating firearms. The authors treat both societies sympathetically and realistically, with human vices and virtues evenly distributed. Again...never to be completed.
I really like her small body of work, but you have to go into her books realizing that the plots will never be completed.
Philip Jose Farmer under the pen name "Kilgore Trout". I bought as a kid when it came out, and never having read Vonnegut, didn't get the joke.
Novels
1. Little Fuzzy The Ewoks were a rip off.
2. The Word for World is Forest
3. Robert Asprin's Myth & Phule Series
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