[Midus]

Hello all, I'm new to these boards and was wondering who you consider to be the most underated authors in sci-fi. I think Daniel Keys Moran is a fantastic storyteller who gets very little recognition. His latest book 'The Last Dancer' blew me away.

[vortexreader]

I'm not sure if you would class Sheri S Tepper and Jack McDevitt as underated but they certainly don't seem to have a lot of 'weight' when it comes to discussing influential SF writers.

Tepper, in particular, has a quite significant canon of work behind her now - although I do think she is hampered by a seemingly one track mind when it comes to her central theme of 'the battle of the sexes'. Her last novel, The Fresco was quite good.

McDevitt has also been working for a while. His novels lack an obvious political edge but are always great fun. The Engines Of God is very good and covers a lot of territory for such a short book.

[takezosan]

I find it difficult to believe how few sci-fi fanatics I know haven't read any of Spider Robinson's stuff! Of the books I've read of his, I always want to have more to the story... and that's not due to lack of plot or anything like that! It's simply that the way he draws you into the story kinda makes the last page equate to the last moments of a child's trip to the amusement park. Still am trying to collect all of the Callahan books......

[SusF]

I have read some Spider Robinson. Fun stuff. I generally don't read much comedy SF or Fantasy. Adams, Holt, and Pratchett are pretty much the only exceptions.

Susan

[Carmichael]

Michael Stackpole. Incredible talent for making very realistic characters.

Carmichael

[Shehzad]

I'll second the Stackpole recommendation.

[Hope for Humour]

I don't see enough C S Friedman SF

[Vitriol]

People always look blank when I mention Cordwainer Smith.

[Sammie]

*looks blank*

[Vitriol]

Cordwainer Smith (a pen name, not sure of the real one) mainly wrote short stories, though I think he did do one novel.

He created a Future History that stetched for tens of millenia, through all sorts of changes in human technology and culture.

He was probably the first writer to examine, in detail, exactly what humans would do once they had achieved virtually limitless power (Banks does the same sort of thing, nowadays).

There's a 'best of' anthology out there somewhere, which is definitely worth a look.