[cheesecake]

Any ideas? Books you've come across which were either poorly reviewed but which you ended up loving. I go for a lot of small press bargain priced ebooks these days and wade thru a fair amount of crap but occasionally come up trumps. Let's make a list. They have to be stand out though.

[Zathura2]

Well, I'm not quite sure if they're underrated or not, but they are out of print; that is the "Lensman Series" by E.E. "Doc" Smith.

This is tied with Asimov's "Foundation" Saga as my favorite series of all-time. A friend of mine owns the series, and lent them to me to read, and I've been infatuated ever since. I've been trying to collect them, but only own two random books that I found in used bookstores.

I once looked them up online, and found a leather-bound box set for about $700. >.<

I could get used paperbacks for as little as $15 a book online, but I don't trust the quality descriptions, as I once ordered a "fine" book, and not only was it falling apart, but about 15 pages were missing from the middle.

....I didn't bother asking for my $2.45 back, lol. I just let them know what I thought about their "fine" description.

[nquixote]

I loved Metaplanetary and Superluminal by Tony Daniel. I thought they were right up there with Vinge or Brin or Simmons as the best New Space Opera I've ever read. But sales were terrible and the series was suspended indefinitely.

Makers is probably Cory Doctorow's least-well-received book, but I absolutely loved it.

Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix was well-received in the 80s, but is not discussed much now, even though it was so visionary that its ideas are still staples of cutting-edge SF authors like Charles Stross.

Jack Vance is one of the best SF authors ever, but relatively few people have read his stuff. It's all good, and much of it is amazing. I recommend the Cadwal Chronicles and the Demon Princes novels.

David Zindell's Neverness is another overlooked gem, a really wild far-out space opera full of philosophy and cosmic weirdness.

Samuel Delaney is another excellent classic author that is not discussed much nowadays. His best books, IMHO, are The Einstein Intersection and Babel-17.

Those are the most underrated books I can think of right now.

[Ropie]

Samuel Delaney is another excellent classic author that is not discussed much nowadays. His best books, IMHO, are The Einstein Intersection and Babel-17.

Nova is a fairly wild read. He has a great style, Delaney, and I always mean to read more.

[owlcroft]

This includes some lesser-known works by well-known authors, as well as some works once renowned but possibly now lost to memory .

So--from Lists 'R' Us Central:

Ackroyd, Peter: First Light
Aldiss, Brian W.: Report on Probability A
Arnason, Eleanor: To the Resurrection Station
Attanasio, A. A.: the "Radix" tetrad
Auster, Paul: In the Country of Last Things
Barrett, Neal, Jr.: the "Aldair" tetralogy
Billias, Stephen: The American Book of the Dead
Bisson, Terry: Wyrldmaker
Bryant, Edward: Cinnabar
Carr, Terry: Cirque
Chapman, Stepan: The Troika
Cherryh, C. J.: Wave Without a Shore & Voyager in Night
Compton, D. G.: Chronocules
Conway, Gerard F.: The Midnight Dancers & Mindship
Cook, Glen: The Dragon Never Sleeps
Cover, Arthur Byron: Autumn Angels & The Sound of Winter
Crowley, John: The Deep
Disch, Thomas M.: Camp Concentration
Dowling, Terry: Rynosseros
Dorsey, Candas Jane: A Paradigm of Earth
Effinger, George Alec: What Entropy Means to Me
Foster, M. A.: Waves & the "Transformer" trilogy & the "Book of the Ler" trilogy
Geston, Mark S.: The Day Star (& maybe others--still re-reading)
Grant, Richard: Saraband of Lost Time & Rumors of Spring & Through the Heart
Harrison, M. John: The Committed Men & The Centauri Device & the "Viriconium" quartet {some sf, some fantasy} & Signs of Life & Light & Nova Swing
Holdstock, Robert: Where Time Winds Blow
Jeter, K. W.: Farewell Horizontal
Knight, Damon: The World and Thorinn
Laumer, Keith: Knight of Delusions
Lee, Tanith: Days of Grass
Leiber, Fritz: The Big Time
Lieberman, Herbert: Sandman, Sleep
Lightman, Alan: Einstein's Dreams
McDonald, Ian: Desolation Road & Ares Express & Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone
McIntyre, Vonda N.: Dreamsnake
Millet, Lydia: Oh Pure and Radiant Heart
Mills, Magnus: The Scheme For Full Employment
Norwood, Warren: the "Windhover Tapes" tetralogy
Ore, Rebecca: Becoming Alien
Palmer, Thomas: Dream Science
Panshin, Alexei: the "Anthony Villiers" books
Park, Paul: the "Starbridge Chronicles" trilogy
Percy, Walker: Love in the Ruins
Piserchia, Doris: any and all of her 10 sf novels
Pratchett, Terry: Strata {the sf forerunner of the discworld}
Priest, Christopher: Indoctrinaire & The Prestige
Read, Herbert: The Green Child
Resnick, Mike: Santiago
Roberts, Keith: Pavanne & The Chalk Giants {& probably any other sf--still reading}
Shepard, Lucius: Kalimantan
Shinn, Sharon: the "Samaria" cycle
Simak, Clifford: Highway of Eternity & Way Station
Smith, Cordwainer: Norstrilia & The Rediscovery of Man {settle for nothing but the NESFA editions}
Spinrad, Norman: The Void Captain's Tale & Child of Fortune
Stableford, Brian: everything (http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/BrianStableford.php)--and it's a lot.
Sucharitkul, Somtow: the "Inquestor" tetralogy
Tepper, Sheri S.: Northshore & Southshore
Vance, Jack: one of the all-time greats, but not all his work (http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/JackVance.php) is as well-known as it should be
Wells, Martha: City of Bones
Whitehead, Colson: The Intuitionist
Williams, Michael: the "Hawken Family" duology
Williams, Tad: the "Otherland" tetralogy
Williams, Walter Jon: the "Drake Maijstral" trio
Wright, Austin Tappan: Islandia
Zindell, David: the "Neverness" tetralogy

[Sfinx]

[...] This is tied with Asimov's "Foundation" Saga as my favorite series of all-time.

Errr...this being the most overrated series of al times in my opinion :)

Back on topic: second the Devil Princes by Jack Vance, and add Stone by Adam Roberts, Helliconia by Brian Aldiss (not underrrated, but perhaps forgotten...), A trace of memory, Dinosaur Beach and others by Keith Laumer, World of Null-A by AE van Vogt.

Cheers,

Sfinx.

[nquixote]

Owlcroft: Could you write up reviews of those and then send them my way? :)

[Randy M.]

Owlcroft: Could you write up reviews of those and then send them my way? :)

Yeah. I'd buy the book of reviews when it comes out, too.

A few I'd add:

Davy (post-apocalypse world)
Still I Persist in Dreaming (story coll., all set in the same world as Davy)
Good Neighbors and Other Strangers (story coll.)
-- all by Edgar Pangborn

Pangborn's is among the most compassionate writing I've found in s.f. He creates characters who behave the way you wish more people would, who strive to behave in ethical ways, and who still run into conflict with the world around all the same.


City -- by Clifford Simak

Simak creates an Earth inhabited by dogs and robots wondering what happened to the humans. The early stories in this collection may take a bit of patience, but you can almost watch how the idea ripened and deepened in Simak's mind as he wrote. The later stories in the collection are still quite powerful.


Randy M.

[beniowa]

Tobias Buckell's Xenowealth books: Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and Sly Mongoose.

Also,
The Inferior, Peadar O'Guilin
Devil's Cape, Rob Rogers
The Risen Empire, Scott Westerfeld
The Fade, Chris Wooding

[owlcroft]

Re: Could you write up reviews of those and then send them my way?

Alas, I remain far behind on augmenting my site with author reviews, and time would forbid more than a sentence or so on each. But I daresay Google Is Your Friend, and would readily turn up evaluations of each. I had hoped to get back to author write-ups this winter once the baseball season was over, but somehow the time just seems to evaporate . . . .

Later today I'll try to make time for at least that sentence or so, but no guarantees.