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Great Science Fiction that is Out of Print?
book_reader asks: "I recently came across a set of (the alas) out of print The Phoenix Legacy by M. K. Wren. This is/was an amazingly good classic space opera trilogy. So it got me thinking...what other great sci-fi books have vanished into the ether that I don't know about?"
They're not out of print, but also not widely read/known about. CS Lewis's trilogy "Out of the silent planet", "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength". I only came across them because I'm a fan of his non-fiction writing, which I strongly recommend.
Like all of Lewis's writing, they're fairly Christian in outlook - that is, not endlessly talking of Jesus, but rather always relating things to a greater power. But they're easy to read and interesting. They get better as the books go on.
Quick description (you'll find others online of course) bloke is taken to another planet my mad scientist (quite hackneyed, but honestly doesn't matter) and discovers a lot about mankind. Then goes to another planet, before spending a book on Earth arguing against dehumanising modernity. Yep, that about sums it up.
I enjoyed Sterling Lanier's Hiero's Journey and Unforsaken Hiero ...
Most of Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero books are sadly out of print...
Most of the works of Clifford D. Simak seem to be unavailable...
I can never keep up with what Harlan Ellison is available from what publisher at any given time. There's some good stuff that I was hoping White Wolf would re-publish when they were putting together the Edgeworks editions, but that series seems to have imploded.
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As I've been contributing to IBList I've been digging through various bibliographies. One thing I came across that struck me as something I'd want to read was all the old short stories from the pulp science fiction magazines of the 40's and 50's. In particular, it seems that there were a couple of "house pseudonyms" used by the writers. I'd love to see the collected works of "Ivar Jorgensen" (at various times, works by Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, Randall Garrett, Paul Fairman and Richard Wilson) or "E.K. Jarvis", (a pseudonym used by Harlan Ellison, Robert Bloch, Robert Silverberg, Henry Slesar, Paul Fairman and Robert Moore Williams).
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--- Jason Olshefsky
Karma: Poser (mostly affected by adding this line long after everyone else did)
It's disappointing that anybody treats the Science Fiction genre as something that goes 'out of print.' That implies shopping only at new bookstores, and that is a serious error. Much of the great SF writing out there is only obtainable through used bookstores. This seems to have almost always been the case with authors like Harlan Ellison. Some of the better SF bookstores (i.e. Dreamhaven in Minneapolis) mix out-of-print classics in with the new books on the shelf because of this. It's disappointing to think that there are SF readers out there with a 'new book only' mentality.
and Creatures of Light and Darkness, both by Zelazny and both blurring the boundaries of fantasy and SF.