Ask Slashdot: Good, Forgotten Fantasy & Science Fiction Novels? 1244
jjp9999 writes "I've been looking for some good reading material, and have been delving into the realms of some great, but nearly forgotten authors — finding the likes of Lord Dunsany (The King of Elfland's Daughter) and E.R. Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros). I wanted to ask the community here: do you know of any other great fantasy or science fiction books that time has forgotten?"
gene wolfe -urth of the new sun (Score:5, Insightful)
I liked the lensman series back in the day, but in retrospect they seem a little fascist
I'm just sayin'
Re:gene wolfe -urth of the new sun (Score:5, Informative)
I'll second Gene Wolfe and expand the selection to include all three series: Book of the New Sun, Book of the Long Sun, and Book of the Short Sun. His writing is of a strange and rare quality, and while I don't always like it (some of his other novels and short stories leave me wondering what the hell happened and why I should care) it is always interesting. The Book of the New Sun in particular was reportedly highly acclaimed when it came out, but that faded quickly and in my opinion unjustly. I only discovered it through a friend's recommendation eight or nine years ago and it has swiftly risen to the top of my list. It is one of those rare books that really rewards conscious and repeated readings, as Wolfe leaves things unspoken for careful readers to puzzle out on their own. Even on a purely surface level it's an enjoyable read.
Re:gene wolfe -urth of the new sun (Score:5, Interesting)
They're not really fascist, but Smith was big on eugenics back before the Nazis gave eugenics a bad name. It shows....
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Re:gene wolfe -urth of the new sun (Score:5, Informative)
I don't know.
Do you approve of Planned Parenthood? Its founder was big on eugenics - that's why she founded PP.
DO remember that eugenics wasn't invented in Nazi Germany - it came out of MA first, in the form of Alexander Graham Bell...
Also remember that eugenics laws were passed in most States (30 or so) in the USA back in the day. And are still on the books, I'd bet, in at least half of them.
Yes, the USA only sterilized about 15% of the number of "defectives" as Nazi Germany, but we led the way (the Germans took American eugenics laws as inspiration for their own laws requiring sterilization of defectives)....
Depends on how you read the word [Re:gene wolfe..] (Score:5, Informative)
Do you approve of Planned Parenthood? Its founder was big on eugenics - that's why she founded PP.
Depends on what you mean by "eugenics"-- the word has changed a little in connotation since the 1930s.
Sanger was an advocate of parenthood by choice, and opposed to anybody who wanted to make decisions on childbearing for other people. So, if you think of eugenics as meaning forced sterilization and involuntary contraception, no, she was fiercely opposed to that.
She did, however, believe that availability of contraception would mean that poor people would have fewer children, and that this would benefit both society and the gene pool (and, for that matter, benefit the poor people themselves, who would split their wealth a smaller number of ways). This was considered eugenics at the time.
Re:Depends on how you read the word [Re:gene wolfe (Score:4, Informative)
and opposed to anybody who wanted to make decisions on childbearing for other people.
"We who advocate Birth Control... lay all our emphasis upon stopping not only the reproduction of the unfit but upon stopping all reproduction when there is not economic means of providing proper care for those who are born in health. While I personally believe in the sterilization of the feeble-minded, the insane and syphilitic, I have not been able to discover that these measures are more than superficial deterrents when applied to the constantly growing stream of the unfit Eugenics without Birth Control seems to us a house builded upon the sands. It is at the mercy of the rising stream of the unfit"
- Margaret Sanger, “Birth Control and Racial Betterment,” Feb 1919.
"I believe that now, immediately, there should be national sterilization for certain dysgenic types of our population who are being encouraged to breed and would die out were the government not feeding them.”
- Margaret Sanger, 1950
Re:gene wolfe -urth of the new sun (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, if we had a clue what made for a better human, it might be useful.
Alas, we didn't know squat then, and don't know a whole lot more now....
Stephen R.Donaldson- Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Score:3, Informative)
the "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" are fantastically complex works deeply influenced by Joseph Conrad (who Donaldson is a scholar of) and also by the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas.
These books are Nondual Tolkien, and in a sense are also a deconstruction of Tolkien.
These are difficult works, written in a high style with outsize and anachronistic vocabulary. But they are the only modern fantasy novels that are on the same high level as Tolkien or Mervyn Peake.
The 'hero' of these High Fantasies is a diseased lep
Smith & Farmer (Score:5, Informative)
EE 'Doc' Smith, the Classic Lensman Series.
I don't know if it fits the criteria of 'forgotten' but Philip Jose Farmer - River World, World of Tiers, and many other great novels - would have to be the amount the best SF of all time.
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Amen to PJF. I love both those series and several more by him. The River World series is clearly one of the all time best SF series.
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I love both those series and several more by him.
If you liked the World of Tiers style, give Roger Zelazny's Amber multiverse a go.
Two of my favorites (Score:3, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Silent_Planet [wikipedia.org]
Re:Two of my favorites (Score:4, Informative)
_That Hideous Strength_, CS Lewis (Score:5, Insightful)
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While some aspects are wholly unrealistic (supernatural being systematically corrupting politicians and society), it is interesting to contrast the story with the formation of the modern European Union (as a British politician has done) especially such characteristics as technocracy, the
Re:Out of the Silent Planet and also Perelandra (Score:4, Interesting)
But Perelandra ... well, it isn't really sci-fi or fantasy, except as a really thin veneer of that on top of some religious ruminations on matters such as: the creation of man, the Garden of Eden, the problem of Evil, and spiritual warfare. It is of some interest to the reader who is interested in Christian thought (either as a Christian or an outsider interested in how Christians think about things), but aside from some clever floating islands, its offerings to the genre of science fiction (or fantasy for that matter) are sorely limited. It has more in common with the likes of The Screwtape Letters than science fiction proper.
Jack L Chalker (Score:3)
Well World series
and many others http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_L._Chalker [wikipedia.org]
Barry Hughart (Score:5, Insightful)
Michael Moorcock (Score:5, Informative)
Especially the stories of Elric of Melnibone / Stormbringer series -- very good fantasy series.
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The Corum series was my favorite. Corum and Count Brass - that's two. Corum, Count Brass, and Dancers at the End of time. Ok, that's three. Corum, Count Brass, Dancers at the End of time, and Elric of course. Right, four; Corum, Count Brass, Dancers at the End of time, and Elric, oh and the Eternal Champion. So, amongst my favorites are, such series as.....
ok, you get the picture.
Many Many options (Score:5, Informative)
A Canticle for Liebowitz by Miller
Non Robot/Foundation Asimov
Dueling Machine Ben Bova
Any of the earlier Pern books
Friday by Heinlein - still one of my favorites
Morgaine books by Cherryh
John Campbell
The collections put together in the 60's and 50's are outstanding - and you can usually pick them up for a quarter at a book store.
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Re:Many Many options (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Many Many options (Score:4, Insightful)
The Lankhmar series (Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser) by Fritz Leiber
The 5th Sacred Thing by Starhawk (Score:3)
"An epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind tells of a twenty-first century California clan caught between two clashing worlds, one based on tolerance, the other on repression."
The description does not do it justice... this is a post-apocalyptic fiction at its finest, addressing the dividing forces of our society and looking at the possibilities presented by our political structures, values, technologies and attitude towards nature and magic.
It is awesome, intense, sexy and rewarding.
H. Beam Piper - Little Fuzzy (Score:5, Informative)
And most of his work is available via Gutenberg.
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I'm very glad you mentioned H. Beam Piper. He was a favorite of my husband, who died last year. During the course of some remodeling, I ran into a treasure-trove of his science-fiction collection, mostly well worn paperbacks. He succeeded in interesting me in the Paratime book and stories, but I never read any of the other work. I intend to rectify that shortly, starting with Little Fuzzy.
Hellfire. (Score:4, Interesting)
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever.
Not quite forgotten, but I keep running into people who haven't heard of the series. Great read, really; it's a strangely wonderful blend of Tolkienesque high fantasy and dark smarminess.
Clifford D. Simak (Score:3)
City
Time and Again
Time is the Simplest Thing
Leo (Score:3)
Leo Frankowski
Cross Time Engineer series is good.
Some classics (Score:4, Interesting)
Some classics:
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I would definitely suggest Venus Equilateral. See this link to be sure to get the right one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Equilateral [wikipedia.org]
There are several books, some without all the stories.
I would add http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_Station_(novel) [wikipedia.org] Way Station by Clifford D. Simak.
Not as old, but still a good read (and FREE!)
The Warrior's Apprentice http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1290-warriors-apprentice.aspx [baenebooks.com]
Changer of Worlds http://www.baenebooks.com/p-62-changer-of-worlds.aspx [baenebooks.com]
A few I cherish (Score:4, Informative)
Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast (and sequels). HARD to get into, but rewarding if you understand that they are very experimental.
F.M.Busby - The Demu Trilogy. Nothing ground-breaking, but it is well written escapist fiction.
James Blish - Cities in Flight. Ditto the previous.
John Crowley - Little, Big. Please please please DO read this. It is the single best book in the English language. Each chapter is like a gem. Another of his books "Engine Summer" is also jaw-droppingly lovely and has a "reveal" at the end that makes M.Night Shamylam seem like a moron. You WILL weep unashamedly. His later stuff is hard to digest, but worth the read if you stick with it.
Lin Carter - The Martian books (The Valley Where Time Stood Still, The City Outside the World, Down to a Sunless Sea, and The Man Who Loved Mars). Thinking man's pulp fiction.
James H. Schmitz - The Witches of Karres. So fun to read. It's a novelization of a series of short stories (or it reads that way, anyway) concerning a trio of underage witches and the space captain they "adopt" and whose life they make miserable but in a good way.
Apologies for spelling/grammar/mispronunciation/
fantasy (Score:5, Interesting)
Bulfinch's Mythology contains the roots of much of the modern 'fantasy' universes. But Bulfinch's is itself a collection of more ancient texts.
In other words, why go back 50 years, when you could go back 1500?
The Night Land (Score:5, Informative)
William Hope Hodgson's "The Night Land" deserves a read. Inspiration for Lovecraft, among others.
Just about anything by Larry Niven. (Score:4, Insightful)
Most notably A Land out of Time and the epic Ringworld.
Tons! (Score:3, Informative)
Not sure these count as forgotten, but definitely worth reading:
The Heechee saga [wikipedia.org] by Frederick Pohl sci-fi
The Parafaith War [wikipedia.org] by LE Modesitt Jr.sci-fi
Solaris [wikipedia.org] by Stanislaw Lem sci-fi
Hyperion [wikipedia.org] by Dan Simmons sci-fi
The Sirens of Titan [wikipedia.org] by Kurt Vonnegut sci-fi
Some newer works:
The Night Angel Trilogy [wikipedia.org] by Brent Weeks fantasy
The Lies of Locke Lamora [wikipedia.org] by Scott Lynch fantasy
The Name of the Wind [wikipedia.org] by Patrick Rothfuss fantasy
early Heinlein (Score:3)
All of the early Robert Heinlein are fun. Lots of great stuff out there.
-c
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If you like Heinlein, check out John Varley's most recent series (something like "Red Thunder", "Red Lightning", something something...) It's a trilogy that starts with ex-astronaut teaming up with some other folks including an oddball genius who has just invented a space drive in order to go to Mars. It's pure Heinlein, including the kind of creepy part in the last book where the young lady falls in love with the old guy.
Project Gutenberg's Science Fiction Bookshelf (Score:5, Informative)
Dune (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Dune (Score:4, Informative)
Some Authors to check: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
C.M. Kornbluth
Loads (Score:4, Informative)
This book was waaaaay ahead of its time. A wonderful short novel from the 1960's that is still a great read. Pohl pretty consistently produces good books. 'Black Star Rising', 'The World at the End of Time', the Gateway series (although hardly obscure) and a whole lot of others.
Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban
A post-apocalyptic novel. Excellent. Would help to have some local knowledge of English culture.
Dying Inside - Robert Silverberg
This book does not get enough recognition.
The Lilith's Brood series - Octavia Butler
Three novels about the integration of the human race by aliens after a nuclear war. Marvelous.
Anything by Jack Vance (Score:5, Insightful)
I got into reading Vance's books when I was in high school. A few years ago a friend asked a similar question and i gave him one of Vance's short story anthologies. In 28 pages Vance had a more complete and engrossing story than some authors have in 200 pages.
His stories range from straight out fantasy to classic science fiction, from short stories to multiple book sagas. Plenty of stuff to keep you going for the summer and probably the winter too.
Re:Anything by Jack Vance (Score:5, Informative)
Seconded. I'm a huge Jack Vance fan, ever since coming across "Mazirian the Magician" in a short story anthology when I was in high school. (That story is one of the ones in The Dying Earth and I believe is now the preferred book title). Of course I tracked down The Dying Earth and read right through it and was soon hunting for Eyes of the Overworld.
His earlier stuff is good too (Planet of Adventure series) but in the late 80's and early 90's he published Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden and its two sequels, Araminta Station and its two sequels, Cugel's Saga (continuing the story from Eyes of the Overworld)... great stuff and I just ate it up. Then I started looking in the past at his earlier works from the 60's and 70's.
His characters are fascinating, all are generally quick-witted since they have to struggle against a hostile world out to trick/deceive them at every turn.
Smart Sci-Fi kindle search on Amazon (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorted from cheapest, restricting results to books rated 4 stars or higher [amazon.com]
One more (Score:4, Interesting)
Look at Gutenberg.org for Edgar Rice Burroughs. He wrote the Tarzan novels and also John Carter of Mars. Dated but fun to read.
James Branch Cabell (Score:3)
The fantasy books by Virginia author James Branch Cabell were in vogue at one time but seem mostly forgotten now.
sci fi masterworks (Score:5, Informative)
there's a re-publication of some of the most amazing sci-fi books, which to be honest take a little getting used to: the sci-fi masterworks series. "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny is a particularly beautiful tale. then there's Olaf Stapledon's "Last and First Men" which is just breathtaking in its scope and prescience: i found it particularly funny that the foreword by Stephen Baxter said "Stapledon got everything right except of course for the bits about the United States" when in fact he was right on the nose, having predicted the fall of the League of Nations, the rise of the United Nations, the detonation of the Atomic Bomb and more.
then there's "The End of Eternity" by Isaac Asimov, which was the book written very early on that explains the background of the entire Asimov "Foundation" series. this book was noteworthy for its use of the word "Computer" as a title, like "Professor", to refer to one with the highly responsible task of "Performing Computations" - in this case, the job of working out the "minimum necessary change" to alter the future in order to keep it on track.
i have a challenge for you, jjp9999. read *all* of asimov's books, including the ones written at the behest of the asimov estate, in a timespan where you will actually remember details from one book to the next. "robby the robot", which he wrote in conjunction with his wife. the early "robot" books which describe susan calvin's experiences - she screams "LIAR!!" at one robot, as it dies. remember to include the one written by greg bear, "forward the foundation" i think it is, as well as the "New Law" Robots, and pay attention also to Giskard's role. i think you will find the sheer scope of asimov's vision as he paints a picture which develops over - and beyond - the span of his life - to be absolutely stunning. but it does take patience: some of the isaac bailey series are quite methodical, being detective novels, and can be somewhat... well, tedious isn't the right word. you just have to be patient: it's worth it.
then there's a couple of books which even i've forgotten the name of the authors. one of them very much reminds me of that new sci-fi series with the lead character from "The Librarian Series"... i remember the book because humanity was fighting against a much superior race of "invaders". when humanity "won", they left... but the parting words were something to the effect of "we are leaving because you are not worthy". and there was another - again, alien invaders, where the premise of the book was that just by learning the *language* of the invaders actually changed human DNA - or allowed it to change - to enhance and augment the person's intelligence... and physiology... into one of the aliens. both of these books were well written, and i've just spoiled the plot for anyone wishing to read either of them, but i would really appreciate someone letting me know who the authors are if they know either of these books, because i'd quite like to read them again.
Look at old awards and nominations (Score:5, Interesting)
The realization that i hadn't heard of three of those books before and might never have read them caused me to go back and review the complete list of Hugo awards [wikipedia.org] and Nebula awards [wikipedia.org] for best novel.
There are a lot of old favorites on there, but there are also a lot of other books that i know of but never gotten around to reading and a lot more that i've never even heard of, especially for the earlier years. Unless you're a lot more knowledgeable than me you've probably never heard of a lot of them either. All the books in those lists were considered one of the best books that year either by the fans or the writers, and a lot of them probably still hold up well today. I've now got a plan, or at least a desire, to try and start working through those older books a few at a time. (Though how i'm going to manage that when i can't even keep up with all the _new_ books coming out i don't know.)
Roger Zelazny (Score:3, Informative)
Then you're gonna love this... (Score:5, Informative)
Six volumes of collected stories and poetry by Roger Zelazny. [amazon.com]
You are bound to bump into something you haven't read before OR find a new facet to the things you've read already as each story is followed by a section explaining the references he used.
As for actual "new" stuff by Zelazny, there's this. [amazon.com]
And you may find this amusing as well. [youtube.com]
A Few Titles (Score:4, Interesting)
The Description of a New World, Called The Burning-World by Lady Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle. Late 1500s. Very strange early SF, semi-autobiographical. Requires tolerance for Elizabethan English, though it's easier than Shakespeare since it's prose not poetry. Author also composed poems about pixies responsible for moving atoms around.
The Three Impostor: and Other Stories, by Arthur Machen. Very Lovecraftian, except that it predates Lovecraft.
Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling. Not read as much as his other stories these days; basically a tour of English/European history from a decidedly British perspective, courtesy of tour guide Puck.
The Days of Chivalry,or, The Legend of Croque-Mitaine; original in French by Ernest Louis Victor Jules L'Epine; free (VERY free) translation by Thomas Hood the Younger, late 1890s. 177 illustrations by Gustave Doré. Originally a children's book, this heavily allegorical book follows the adventures of Mitaine, female squire to the legendary French knight Sir Roland. Would never hand this to a child now. Illustrations of impalements. Thoroughly racist, sexist, and every other kind of -ist you can think of. Shows illustration of Mohammed getting his teeth punched out by Roland (!!). Despite all that, fun in a horrifying kind of way. Reading this helped me understand how World War I came about. If this is the kind of thing they were raising their kids on, no wonder they killed millions of each other.
A Gift Upon the Shore by M. K. Wren -- two women struggle to preserve knowledge in post-apocalyptic Oregon. SF only by membership in post-apocalyptic sub-genre, but beautifully written.
Interesting question. Will keep eye on discussion. Note to self: must take refresher course on personal pronouns.
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Nuts, forgot one.
The Princess and the Goblin [google.com] by George MacDonald. 1881. A sweet fairy story -- MacDonald and Dunsany were contemporaries, I think.
Another pre-lovecraft "lovecraftian" novel (Score:3)
The House on the Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson
(admired by Lovecraft and cited in Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature")
Van Vogt (Score:3)
I'd love to find more of his stuff.
Look for "The Weapon Shops of Isher".
myke
Re:Van Vogt (Score:5, Interesting)
Collecting A.E. Van Vogt has become something of a hobby to me. My wife is pretty good at digging out obscure stuff, so I have both "Weapon Shops of Isher" titles in one book. She also picked up "The Silkie" for me recently. I just checked and I have 10 Van Vogt books, and that doesn't count the above 2.
Then there's EE Doc Smith Lensman and Skylark series, the 2 Subspace Explorer books, one Family deLambert.
Some of the old stuff can be pretty poorly written, but there was an innocence and optimism about it that's missing these days.
Harlan Ellison (Score:3)
Certainly not forgotten, but currently underrepresented in print and best-of lists.
There have been some ginormous (non-Ellison) anthologies at my local library recently that look like they have been compiled by real scifi scholars. This one, for instance:
http://www.amazon.com/Space-Opera-Renaissance-Kathryn-Cramer/dp/0765306182/ref=cm_lmf_img_13 [amazon.com]
Some others (Score:3)
First and Last Men, and Starmaker. Olaf Stapleton is interesting.
And then there is the weird stuff, I suggest William Hope Hodgeson. Boats of the Glenn Carrig is pretty strange. Nightland is a work of genius, but also pretty much unreadable. It is probably worth reading the early Nightland part of it just for the atmosphere though. The House of Silence is CREEPY.
Forgotten but recently rediscovered (Score:3)
"Lud-in-the-Mist" by Hope Mirlees is a fantasy novel written in the 1920's that fell out of circulation but has been reprinted, so I guess it has been "rediscovered" and is not necessarily obscure these days.
Amazon Bonus (Score:3)
hmmm, was this topic started by Amazon? They can only do well from this in any event. Who else has already added items to their cart based on recommendations here? I am up to six so far.
Stanislaw Lem (Score:5, Interesting)
-I'm just sayin'
Three Masters - Asimov, Clarke & Heinlein (Score:4, Informative)
It's sad, but look for early works of any of these three as they're largely forgotten.
Keep an eye out for:
Asimov, "The Foundation Trilogy", "The Caves of Steel" and "The Naked Sun"
Clarke, "Childhood's End", "Tales of the White Hart" (short stories), "A Fall of Moondust"
Heinlein, "Have Spacesuit, will travel" (kids book, but still good), "Orphans of the sky", "The Puppet Masters", "Farmer in the Sky"
Wow, getting nostalgic and thinking about re-reading many of these.
myke
Not even forgotten: I, Zombie (Score:3)
I really enjoyed a really strange novel called I, Zombie by "Curt Selby". According to this link, this was actually a pen name for Doris Piserchia.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1257369.I_Zombie [goodreads.com]
I think you will enjoy it more if you don't read any spoilers. I'll just say it's told first-person by a narrator with a truly strange point of view, and some truly strange things happen.
This isn't even forgotten, because I don't think it was ever well-known. But I enjoyed the heck out of it, and perhaps you will too.
steveha
Varley, Steakly, Zelazny, and Brust (Score:5, Interesting)
John Varley
Titan, Demon, Wizard - Three great futuristic tales of a large, sentient, organic space station out in our solar system. Probably my favorite blend of Sci-fi and fantasy in one setting.
The Ophiuchi Hotline - What if the internet was really a signal from another galaxy? One of the best of the "eight worlds" novels. (Just an opinion)
"The Pusher" - Short story published in Blue Campaign and other places. This is a story that makes you feel dirty but so worth the read.
Roger Zelazny
Chronicles of Amber - Great stuff. Alternate worlds controlled by an elite bloodline. Fun family politics. 5 books each of which are short and can be read in a single setting.
John Steakly
Armor - This is an exciting read and will wear you out and make you feel the physical exhaustion of the characters. As Steakly said this book is the action in starship troopers. Orson Scott Card mentions it in his introduction in one of his books. I forget which one. If you do read this. Don;t stop after part one. You'll want to: Don't.
Vampire$ - This is what a vampire novel should be. People working for the Vatican to slay vampires for fun and profit. The book rocks, but Damn, the John Carpenter movie version in the 80's sucks ass. Don;t ever watch it.
Finally,
Steven Brust
Jhereg - This and all of the 11(?) other books follow an human assassin, Vlad Taltos, that kills "elves." It involves the fantasy elements of gods, sorcery, witchcraft, elves, etc in a world as dark and gritty as you want and as rich as Tolkein. Why these books haven;t "hit the big time," I have no clue.
“Wasp” by Eric Frank Russell (Score:3)
Wasp by Eric Frank Russell is about a human dropped onto an enemy alien’s planet to cause as much confusion and destruction as possible to destabilize the occupying force in advance of a human assault. It’s a great ‘war novel’ about, essentially, spy stuff and what would now likely be called terrorism. Eric Frank Russell is generally ignored now, in fact, and does not deserve to be.
Cordwainer Smith (Score:5, Informative)
His output was very limited, and all set in a unified future history. It is available in two books; The Rediscovery of Man a collection of short stories, and Norstilla, a novel. His work is very unusual, so a short description does not do it justice. As Wikipedia says "Linebarger's stories are unusual, sometimes being written in narrative styles closer to traditional Chinese stories than to most English-language fiction." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer_Smith [wikipedia.org].
You can read some of his work on line. I suggest
Scanners Live in Vain" http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/1416521461/1416521461___5.htm [baenebooks.com]
Game of Rat and Dragon http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29614 [gutenberg.org]
David R. Palmer (Score:3, Interesting)
Read Emergence, if you can find a copy. A genius eleven year old girl and her pet macaw travel a post-apocalyptic America. The writing style is hard to get used to -- a lot like Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" -- but after a few pages your brain starts filling in the missing words. (The in-story explanation is that it's her personal diary written in Pitman shorthand.)
Unfortunately, the sequel "Tracking" is only available as a bootleg right now, (check torrents). It was serialized in a now-unavailable sequence of Analog magazines. If you can find "Tracking", it's also worth reading.
Palmer seems to have done a lot of research for the books. He makes some mistakes regarding firearms that grated on me, but the rest seemed correct.
Alfred Bester (Score:5, Informative)
The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man
Unwise Child by Randall Garrett (Score:3)
Randall Garrett is now best remembered for his Lord Darcy stories (which are great; if you haven't read them, check them out). But one of the best things he ever wrote was a novel called Unwise Child.
There are action scenes, there are geeky science-fiction ideas, there is a bit of sleuthing. The main character is "Mike the Angel", a genius who designs spaceship engines and likes to build gadgets. There's a robot named "Snookums" who... knows too much about hydrogen. There is an overall logic to the plot that isn't obvious as you are reading but makes sense when you reach the end. There is a love interest, a lady scientist who is every bit as brilliant as Mike but in a completely different field. And there is a bunch of lovely writing and snappy dialog, as smart people banter with each other. I think I have re-read this novel over a dozen times, and I'm not done with it yet.
And lucky you, it is one of the works that is actually in the public domain. (It was written when the author had to renew a copyright after a fixed term to keep the copyright, and Garrett never renewed it.) So go and grab your copy here:
http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1957/unwise-child [feedbooks.com]
You might also find a paperback edition published under the name Starship Death. Since the book was public domain, there was nothing stopping anyone from publishing it under a different title, and someone did.
P.S. If you haven't read the Lord Darcy stories, you can get them in ebook form (any format you like, and with no DRM) from Baen. The stories are collected in a single omnibus volume simply called Lord Darcy and it includes every story Garrett wrote. They are detective stories, set in an alternate-history Earth where magic was developed instead of the science we have; much of Europe and all of North and South America are united into the "Anglo-French Empire" and the rival superpower, the Polish Empire, is often causing trouble. The best stories work both as detective stories and as a glimpse into another world. You can read the first two stories as a preview; if your tastes are anything like mine, you will want to buy the book after you read these.
http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200207/0743435486.htm [baen.com]
steveha
Theodore Sturgeon and Harlan Ellison (Score:3)
Great writers, wrote the best Star Trek episodes and Ellison also did some Outer Limits episodes. Demon with a Glass Hand maybe the best made for TV SciFi episode ever.
Hugo Gernsback who else (Score:3)
Ralph 124c41 arguably the first modern sci fi novel.
Soviet Sci-fi (Score:3)
If you don't mind some communism apology in some stories, Soviet SF has some great works, although finding English translations might be hard.
See the works of the Strugatsky brothers, in particular.
The Galactic Milieu Series by Julian May (Score:3)
One of the best series I have ever read and I've been reading SciFi for 35 years.
Intervention (sometimes two books as Surveillance & MetaConcert)
Jack the Bodiless
Diamond Mask
Magnificat
The Many Colored Land
The Golden Torc
The Nonborn King
The Adversary
Re: (Score:3)
Came here to post about it. Great series. Hard to describe in a sentence.
I started with the "Saga of the Exiles" ( The Many Colored Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King, The Adversary) which were written earlier and seem rather well researched and planned. There's even a separate reference book for them called the Pliocene Companion: http://www.amazon.com/Pliocene-Companion-Julian-May/dp/0345322908 [amazon.com]
The Galactic Milieu (Intervention, Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask, Magnificat) books do not give me the sam
Wizard's Bane by Rick Cook (Score:3)
Read this a long time ago and just recently figured out what the title was.. not sure where you would find it though. Full of Unix puns.
books by norman spinrad (Score:3)
i liked child of fortune and little heroes. star trek fans ought to note that he also wrote the episode 'wolf in the fold'.
spinrad's novels are generally set in decadent societies and feature lots of drug use.
Julian May and Octavia Butler (Score:3)
I would highly recommend Julian May's Intervention, Saga of Pliocene Exile, and Galactic Milieu from the 80s-90s. These interrelated series stretch from the far past to our space-faring future and combine science fiction, technology, and fantasy into one grand vision. Intervention is my favorite and works very well as a stand alone novel... Ah, Oncle Rogi...
My other recommendation would be Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis (aka Lilith's Brood) from the late 80s, a series of novels with an interesting take on the future of humanity and what it means to be human. A bit less Sci-Fi, but also highly recommended, is her powerful Parable series from the 90s (Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents). In it she explores issues of race, freedom, religion, violence, and more through extrapolating a dark but all too possible vision of the future based on current trends in American society.
Harry Harrison : Stainless Steel Rat (Score:4, Informative)
I highly recommend the Stainless Steel Rat series from Harry Harrison.
I'm currently reading the third Deathworld book, which is good, but not quite as good at the Rat books.
And I'd also recommend that you ask for the books people recommend at your library. Most of 'em have reserve funds to get books if they're not already in the system, which means that you can get your library to start filling out their SciFi section, so maybe other people will read them too.
Black Company (Score:3)
Old anthologies (Score:3)
Dig up some old short story anthologies. Lots of gems not seen elsewhere. Even if you end up reading a mediocre story, there's always a great one a few dozen pages later. Authors you'll never hear of. Some who only wrote a couple stories.
Several stories still stick with me decades later. Wish I could find those books again.
Outstanding (Score:3)
In the U.S., John Wyndham is rarely mentioned these days, yet each book that I've read has been a monument. The Midwich Cuckoos. The Day of the Triffids.
If you're looking for gentle and humorous adventure, try the three books in Alexei Panshin's Thurb pentology.
A few great books others haven't mentioned. (Score:3, Informative)
Finder, Bone Dance and Falcon, by Emma Bull. Three completely different novels, all fantastic. She's still writing, but you asked for old stuff.
M.A. Foster did a series about a transhuman species called the Ler that I found really haunting and freaky back in the day.
The Witches of Karres, by James Schmitz (a couple of fairly decent sequels have been written, but the original is unmatched).
The Last Planet, by Andre Norton.
The Chronicles of the Deryni, by Katherine Kurtz.
The Family Tree, by Sheri Tepper (this is one of her best books, so even if you've read others and didn't like them that much, I still recommend this one).
The Musashi Flex series, by Steve Perry (and anything else by Steve Perry, for that matter).
Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire, which it pains me to refer to as an oldie, which has one of the most insanely great and physically realistic space battle scenes _ever_.
Silk Roads and Shadows, by Susan Schwartz (she gets the Buddhism mostly wrong, but it's still a great book).
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (who put a spaceport in Hamtramck and explained how to pronounce it) and The Demolished Man, also by Alfred Bester.
All The Myriad Ways (the short story collection) by Larry Niven.
Lord Dunsany (Score:3)
Robert Sheckley (Score:3)
Re:Farmer (Score:5, Interesting)
Farmer's Riverworld series is a classic. I don't know if you'd call it forgotten, per se, since BBC made a movie out of it a few years back, but it's a really neat combination of sci-fi and stone age technologies in an afterlife setting for humanity on a distant planet. =)
Re: (Score:3)
I think the movie was so bad, and had so little in common with the book, that most people would like to forget.
Zelazny (Score:5, Informative)
Lord of Light
the Amber books.
Re: (Score:3)
Seconded (Score:5, Informative)
There's gold in them there hills.
I'd run out of authors I knew much about, so I picked up Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War" and enjoyed it. Then I noticed the '1' on the spine and that it was part of a series. Kept me busy for ages...
Of particular note (IMHO) was the Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith, though in this instance I'd recommend tracking down the complete works (under the same title) instead of the Sci Fi Masterworks version.
Re: (Score:3)
Likewise, H. Beam Piper, anything he ever wrote is good.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Henry Kuttner yet. 'Mutant' was a great short story collection. Get it. Read it.
Re: (Score:3)
I posted above in this thread, but YES read this novel (Lyonesse but in the Integral Edition the preferred title is Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden). Highly recommended. This is my favorite fantasy novel of all time, and I've bought multiple editions of it (paperback, trade paperback, various hardcovers, etc).
The Green Pearl is my favorite novel, regardless of genre.
Kind of odd that I would like the second book in a trilogy, since that's usually the weak link.
Madouc was good too, but he seemed to rush to wrap up all the loose ends. Still well worth reading, though.
(For those who don't know, the titles above are the three books in Vance's Lyonesse trilogy.)
Conan: the original (Score:3)
Robert E Howard and all the original Conan books are pretty good (well, if you like the old stuff, which it seems you do!). Maybe you were looking for something more obscure, though.
Make sure that the Howard books you read are actually by Robert E. Howard, though. Avoid anything by some other author continuing the series, or by "Robert E. Howard and xxx," or "Inspired by Robert E. Howard," or "completed by YY based on an unfinished story by Howard".
With that said, the Howard books do have a bit of the '30s feel to them, but if you like that style, they're the original.
Re: (Score:3)
Umm... that would be Heir of Sea and Fire, and I second the recommendation. Patricia A. McKillip is one of the very few female authors that I actually like (don't blame me - I have really tried to read many female authors, but almost all fail for my taste). If you do like McKillip, you'll probably also enjoy Ursula K. Le Guin. The Wizard of Earthsea stuff is really good, and most of her other stuff is worth reading, too.
Re:A few more (Score:5, Informative)
Must not forget, then, "Stand On Zanzibar" which posits what life would be like on a crowded, '60s-inflected world in 2010. Brunner did get one thing right: a worldwide, 24/7 news network called Engrelay Satelserv, English-language Relay Satellite Service. Say it with me in your best imitation of James Earl Jones: THIS IS CNN. From the perspective of two years after 2010 it reads more like a dip into an alternate Earth which zagged where ours zigged sometime in the '70s. Brunner was a genius.
YES! Monstrously great book (Score:3)
I'm glad I'm not the only one where Silverlock [wikipedia.org] sprang to mind instantly when seeing this post. This is book is a trip and a half. Great fantasy anchored in some of the best literature written in the last 4000 years! Well written and wonderful denouncement of rampant cynicism applicable today (the book was written in 1949).
I'll shamelessly add another book written not long after in the late 1950s: A Canticle for Leibowitz [wikipedia.org]. A classic of American literature, rich in texture, dark without being depressing; an