Forgotten Classic Sci-Fi

[ebusinesstutor]

Wasp, by Eric Frank Russell. A brilliant, darkly comic novel set in a future war against an alien race, this book is just ripe with allusions to the paranoia and conformity of life during wartime. It's a scandal that no-one in Hollywood has thought of filming this in the last few years - it would have been a perfect response to "The War On Terror". Despite being from the 50s, it could have been written for our times.

Another good Eric Frank Russell one is Sinister Barrier. "Why are the greatest scientists in the world running and screaming in terror from something that no one else can see? And why did all of them paint themselves with Iodine, and take mescal, and methylene blue? Gave me the creeps when I read it as a teenager.

[owlcroft]

I'm late arriving in this thread, but as to a reprint of Arcturus, as has been noted it is not in urgent need of one.

A few other ideas might start with Lindsay's even less-known works, which include:

• The Haunted Woman
• Sphinx
• The Violet Apple
• Devil's Tor
• The Witch

While Lindsay is often mocked for his supposedly turgid prose, there are some thoughtful reviews around that suggest that at least a couple of those (Haunted Woman, Violet Apple) have some imaginative merit.

Then, the collected works of Robert Aickman are in need of reprinting (though many of them are available in a number of disparate collections, the complete works collected are very rare and expensive, hundreds of dollars, and he is a writer of a stature deserving a collected set, though they make two volumes, which might be a problem).

Then there's Douglas Jerrold: in his day, he, Dickens, and Thackery were a triumvirate in the mind of the British literary public, but his star has (unwarrantedly) dimmed while those of the other two have not. To choose from, there are:

• Whimsical Tales of Douglas Jerrold
• A Man Made of Money
• The Chronicles of Clovernook

Another thought is Leonora Carrington; other than The Hearing Trumpet (itself little known), her works seem scarce and expensive today.

If, as I hope, you are open to foreign writers (in English), Leena Krohn's work could use some attention:

• Tainaron: Mail From Another City
• Dona Quixote and Other Writings [Dona Quixote and Other Citizens plus Gold of Ophir]

Also, while i don't know how rare (or common) their works are, but the two Powys brothers, John Cowper Powys (with his half-dozen "Wessex" novels) and T. F. Powys (Mr Weston's Good Wine and a few more) deserve some consideration; besides all else, both are said to be superb stylists.

And last but very far from least, that amazing oddity, Maurice Richardson's Exploits of Engelbrecht, urgently needs reprinting.

Oops, I said "last" but I forgot Vincent Starrett's Seaports in the Moon.

[gljones]

How about "Inherit the Stars" by James Hogan. Loved that book, the follow up sequels were pretty good to.

[psikeyhackr]

Read Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi.

It is a remake of Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

The latter is an old classic but I guess Scalzi has made it more memorable.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18137...-h/18137-h.htm

psik

[psikeyhackr]

I never knew Clarke said this:

“The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. That’s why we have to destroy the present politico-economic system.” This may sound like the pronouncement of some bong-smoking anarchist, but it was actually Arthur C. Clarke.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...the-busy-trap/

I wonder when?

psik

[gljones]

Thought of another forgotten Classic(s). The "Stainless Steel Rat" books by Harry Harrison. And if your in to that, try his Deathworld Trilogy as well, they were quite good, but they will be hard to find as the first one came out in 1960

[ian_sales]

The Stainless Steel Rat books are hardly forgotten. The original trilogy were reprinted by Tor a couple of years ago, and they're all available as ebooks from the SF Gateway. Likewise, the Deathworld books were reprinted a few years ago and are available from the SF Gateway. Then there's the 2000AD comic adaptation, which is available in a trade paperback omnibus.

For truly forgotten authors, how about Francis Stevens, Leslie F Stone, Helen Weinbaum, Leslie Perri, Miriam Allen deFord, Sonya Dorman, Helen Clarkson or Betsy Curtis?

[starman03]

Thanks again for all the great suggestions, folks. There are some really good recommendations here

[psikeyhackr]

How about "Inherit the Stars" by James Hogan. Loved that book, the follow up sequels were pretty good to.

I have been rummaging through top 200 and 100 sci-fi book lists and that is the only Hogan book that shows up.

The Two Faces Of Tomorrow and The Proteus Operation should be there too.

psik

[Sfinx]

I'd like to add Keith Laumer (Dinosaur beach, Bolo series...), Stanislaw Lem (Man from Mars, Memoirs found in a bath tub...) and Fred Pohl's Heechee series - altthough I don't think (hope) that Pohl qualifies as 'forgotten' (or Lem for that matter...)

Cheers,

Sfinx.

[psikeyhackr]

I'd like to add Keith Laumer

Galactic Odyssey is a science fiction novel by author Keith Laumer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Odyssey

It is one of those books I have a warm fuzzy feeling about from days long passed. I probably wouldn't like it so much if I had read it when over 30.

psik

[simonm]

Olaf Stapledon, but especially First Men and Last Men.
Rudyard Kipling and Arthur Conan Doyle both wrote some excellent SF short stories. Its been over 40 years since I read them but if you find collections of their short stories, you will find the SF stories in there. Doyle of course also wrote The Lost World.
A name from a later age, but one I rarely see mentioned, is Brian Stableford. I enjoyed his Hooded Swan series immensely.

[Omphalos]

Ward Moore wrote a bunch of SF novels that I loved. The best two were Bring the Jubilee, an alternate history American Civil War novel, and Greener Than You Think, a dark satirical apocalypse novel about a plague of unstoppable grass. Great stuff both of them.

[psikeyhackr]

Greener Than You Think, a dark satirical apocalypse novel about a plague of unstoppable grass. Great stuff both of them.

http://librivox.org/greener-than-you...by-ward-moore/

Funny and witty most of the way through.

psik

[Recusant]

Seeing as there has been no mention of Cordwainer Smith in this thread, I'll just drop his name in here. Well worth the time to search out some of his work, in my opinion.