[werewolfv2]

Just wondering what authors folks on here really like but nobody else has ever heard off?

[owlcroft]

The topic should, in my opinion, also encompass nearly unheard-of books by authors who are not themselves little-known.

The short-form answer, from me, is a page I made long since on Overlooked Gems (http://greatsfandf.com/overlooked-books.php) in the field. Longer-form answers appear below, but first a note. The crux is who and what is something "nobody else has ever heard of"? One cannot literally mean nobody; but estimating how well a given author or work is generally known is a heavyweight wrestling match. As I have said elsewhere, to some The Stirk of Stirk is an old friend, while to others Kai Lung is a stranger. Who can say?

I have adopted a rather conservative approach below, because it seems to me that we are more and more seeing performances in Short-Attention-Span Theater. Folk whose names were bywords within living memory may be "unknown" today. For example, I certainly hope that anyone reading the author list below would choke on seeing Avram Davidson (for one) on it; but dare one risk assuming he is well known to all today? And so it goes . . . .

First, an author list; these are folk I suspect are not sufficiently known for any work. (A # hash mark signifies only one book of sf&f.)


Andrews, Allen
Barrett, Neal, Jr.
Bauer, Steven
Bell, Douglas #
Blaylock, James
Bramah, Ernest
Bulgakov, Mikhail
Chapman, Stepan
Cisco, Michael
Conway, Gerard F.
Cover, Arthur Byron
Crawford, F. Marion
Davidson, Avram
Davies, Robertson
Davis, Kathryn
De Bernieres, Louis
Ducornet, Rikki
Dunsany, Lord
Eddison, E. R.
Fessier, Michael
Findley, Timothy
Finney, Charles G.
Foster, M. A.
Frayn, Michael
Gardner, John
Grant, Richard
Gray, Nicholas Stuart
Hancock, Niel
Hanratty, Peter
Hoffmann, E. T. A.
Irwin, Robert #
Jacob, Max #
Jerrold, Douglas #
Jeter, K. W.
Lafferty, R. A.
Lindsay, David
Machen, Arthur
Meynard, Yves #
Millet, Lydia
Millhauser, Steven
Mills, Magnus
Mirrlees, Hope #
Mitchell, David
Monaco, Richard
Morley, Christopher
Mujica Lainez, Manuel #
Myers, John Myers
Norwood, Warren
O'Brien, Flann
Orr, A.
Palmer, Thomas
Pearson, Edward #
Percy, Walker
Pinckney, Josephine #
Piserchia, Doris
Price, E. Hoffmann
Read, Herbert #
Roberts, Keith
Salmonson, Jessica Amanda
Shea, Michael
Sherman, Delia
Silas, A. E. #
Smith, Cordwainer
Smith, Thorne
Somtow, S. P.
Spinrad, Norman
Stephens, James
Stoddard, James
Sucharitkul, Somtow
Theroux, Paul #
Thurber, James
Tinniswood, Peter #
Tournier, Michel #
Wangerin Jr., Walter
Warner, Sylvia Townsend
Wellman, Manly Wade
Werfel, Franz #
White, E. B.
White, T. H.
Whitehead, Colson #
Whittemore, Edward
Williams, Charles
Williams, Michael
Wright, Austin Tappan #
Wright, Grahame #
Zindell, David


But then there are those delightful books by authors well-enough known for other works, or in general, but which works have slid into the shadows of their better-known cousins. Here are some (again, some will be better-known than I fear, but better include than omit:


Adams, Richard : Shardik
Adams, Richard : The Girl in a Swing
Arnason, Eleanor : To the Resurrection Station
Arnason, Eleanor : The Sword Smith
Baum, L. Frank : The Sea Fairies
Baum, L. Frank : Sky Island
Baum, L. Frank : John Dough and the Cherub
Baum, L. Frank : Queen Zixi of Ix
Baum, L. Frank : The Magical Monarch of Mo
Baum, L. Frank : The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
Baum, L. Frank : A Kidnapped Santa Claus
Baum, L. Frank : The Enchanted Island of Yew
Bellairs, John : St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies
Bellairs, John : The Pedant and the Shuffly
Bellairs, John : The Face in the Frost
Bisson, Terry : Wyrldmaker
Bisson, Terry : Talking Man
Brunner, John : The Traveler in Black
Bryant, Edward : Cinnabar
Carlyon, Richard : The Dark Lord of Pengersick
Carr, Terry : Cirque
Cherryh, C. J. : Wave Without a Shore
Cherryh, C. J. : Voyager in Night
Cokal, Susann : Mirabilis
Cook, Glen : The Dragon Never Sleeps
DeMarinis, Rick : Cinder
Hansen, Erik Fosnes : Tales of Protection
Harrison, M. John : The Committed Men
Helprin, Mark : Winter's Tale
Hickman, Stephen : The Lemurian Stone
Joyce, Graham : The Facts of Life
Killus, James : The Book of Shadows
Lieberman, Herbert : Sandman, Sleep
Lightman, Alan : Einstein's Dreams
Lively, Penelope : The House in Norham Gardens
Lupoff, Richard : Sword of the Demon
Mark, Jan : The Ennead
Marks, Laurie J. : Dancing Jack
Nathan, Robert : Portrait of Jennie
Ozick, Cynthia : The Puttermesser Papers
Peake, Mervyn : Mr. Pye
Peake, Mervyn : Letters From a Lost Uncle
Peake, Mervyn : Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor
Pratchett, Terry : Strata
Rushdie, Salman : Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Snyder, Midori : The Innamorati
Tolkien, J. R. R. : Mr. Bliss
Tolkien, J. R. R. : Smith of Wootton Major
Tolkien, J. R. R. : Farmer Giles of Ham
Tolkien, J. R. R. : Letters From Father Christmas
Tolkien, J. R. R. : Roverandom
Woolf, Virginia : Orlando
Zelazny, Roger : Roadmarks


There's some to be going on with . . . .

[Seegee]

Jasper Fforde is well worth a read, hard to describe the style, it's best to describe his first series as silly books for smart people, it does also help to have a good working knowledge of English literature. Dave Duncan's Pandemia series: A Man of His Word and A Handful of Men were also wonderful. I'm not a big fan or portal fantasy, although I seem to have read my fair share of it and Jack Chalker's Dancing Gods series is also a good read. Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld is more sci-fi than fantasy, but his wonderful descriptions of footnote characters in history, epsecially Richard Burton (the explorer, not the actor) make the whole thing worth reading. Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series (another portal one) was great fun. On the light side Daniel Hood's Fanuilh books were good whodunnit fantasies and John DeChancie's Castle books were easy to read fun with an interesting concept. There's a few to think about any way. I am aware that some of them have been mentioned here, but they don't get anywhere near the press a number of the other authors we talk about here do.

[PeterWilliam]

Although he's gotten some play around here of late, S. A. Swann is fairly underrated.

[Hobbit]

Over at Tor.com Jo Walton's just run a similar idea and come up with an excellent and very lengthy list: link HERE (http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=58654).

Mark

[Loerwyn]

Me, of course. Just kidding :)

I doubt many people have heard of Drew Karpyshyn. He's done the odd Star Wars novel and he's one of BioWare's writers. I found him to be an absolutley brilliant novelist and I really enjoyed his Mass Effect books, which were probably the 2 quickest reads for me of 2009. He's probably not the greatest author, but I could imagine everything within reason and I was very satisfied with the books.

I know he's done at least one Star Wars book too.

[Raule]

I discovered Naomi Mitchison last year. She was an early 20th century, Scottish author, well known in her day, but now largely forgotten except in certain circles. Her novel, The Corn King and the Spring Queen, depicts the ancient Mediterranean world of ancient Scythia and Sparta. I thought her interweaving of myth and ritual with history and philosophy was brilliant. She also wrote a lovely, little fairy tale inspired fantasy, Travel Light, which incorporates Norse mythology. I think Strange Horizons reviewed that one several years ago.

[AuntiePam]

John Morressy, author of five novels featuring the wizard Kedrigern, and several other genre and non-genre novels. I just discovered him last year and bought everything I could find. So far my favorites are the Kedrigern books and The Long Communion (non-fantasy).

[Hobbit]

John Morressy, author of five novels featuring the wizard Kedrigern, and several other genre and non-genre novels. I just discovered him last year..

Like you, he's another one, AuntieP, that I've recently rediscovered through old copies of Fantasy&SF. Didn't realise how much he appeared there.

Mark

[Simon F]

Laura Resnick - her In Legend Born/In Fire Forged trilogy is one of my favourites but rarely gets mentioned