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Ask Slashdot: Good, Forgotten Fantasy & Science Fiction Novels?
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?"
c j cherryh -Downbelow Series, Chanur's Pride, etc
I liked the lensman series back in the day, but in retrospect they seem a little fascist
I'm just sayin'
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.
That Hideous Strength. It's obscure - obscure for a reason; it combines dystopian sci-fi with Christian allegory and British academic politics, so there's not a large natural audience. But it's culturally significant as one of George Orwell's inspirations for 1984, and Orwell himself thought reasonably well of it ("by the standards of books today", at least). It's also an interesting little moment before the atomic bomb but still within the realm of dystopian WWII-inspired science fiction.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
He only published a few books, but "Bridge of Birds" (and its follow ups) is a wonderful mixture of Chinese folklore, Indiana Jones, and Sherlock Holmes.
Especially the stories of Elric of Melnibone / Stormbringer series -- very good fantasy series.
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
Black Easter by James Blish
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.
And most of his work is available via Gutenberg.
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.
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/
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?
William Hope Hodgson's "The Night Land" deserves a read. Inspiration for Lovecraft, among others.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Taking a browse through Project Gutenberg's whole Science Fiction bookshelf would probably be worth your time. That's where I picked up some of my first science fiction novels, and I particularly enjoyed H. Beam Piper's Federation series.
Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
Frank Herbert's Dune is amazing. There is a reason there have been multiple attempts to make it into film. However none of them come close to the books.
The Age of the Pussyfoot - Fred Pohl
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.
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.
Look at Gutenberg.org for Edgar Rice Burroughs. He wrote the Tarzan novels and also John Carter of Mars. Dated but fun to read.
Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro
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.
I finally got off my ass and registered for the World Science Fiction Convention last year and read the nominees for best novel so i could vote for the Hugo awards. In doing so i read two novels that i might never have picked up otherwise, and was tipped me off to a third one that was actually by one of my favorite authors under a pseudonym. (I presume i eventually would have stumbled across that one one way or another.)
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 and Nebula awards 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.)
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
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. =)
tales of Pirx the Pilot among many others -Solaris (esp the movies) is not a good representation of the poetry and honesty of his work
-I'm just sayin'
Kind of obscure as in you won;t find them on any top 25 best sellers but quite well written and worth the effort. Actually there is no effort as these stories are like smoking grass: Easily inhaled, held onto, feels exhilarating, and afterward you feel as if you've experienced something.
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.
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"First things first -- but not necessarily in that order"
-- The Doctor, "Doctor
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.
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.
You can read some of his work on line. I suggest
Scanners Live in Vain" http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/1416521461/1416521461___5.htm
Game of Rat and Dragon http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29614
Why is Snark Required?
The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man
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.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Six volumes of collected stories and poetry by Roger Zelazny.
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.
And you may find this amusing as well.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
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.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Lord of Light
the Amber books.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
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.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
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