Who Do You Think Are The Most Neglected and Forgotten Writers?

[psikeyhackr]

This prompts a more interesting thread - who is currently remembered and read, but should be forgotten and neglected?

That is funny! I thought of that while I was writing the sentence. And people jumping all over me when I said Iain M. Banks. LOL

 

[psikeyhackr]

BLOOD ON MY JETS BY ALGIS BUDRYS

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Blood on My Jets, by Algis Budrys.

 

[BAYLOR]

BLOOD ON MY JETS BY ALGIS BUDRYS

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Blood on My Jets, by Algis Budrys.

I haven't seen him in print in quite some time.

 

[SilentRoamer]

Duplicate post - can a mod please delete

 

[SilentRoamer]

Do people still read Algis Budrys and/Brian Aldiss?

Aldiss has a few books in the SF Masterworks series, specifically Non-Stop and Hothouse. I read and enjoyed both of them, looking forward to reading Helliconia.

 

[The Big Peat]

I think things got worse for fantasy with the predominance of Tolkienesque epic fantasy, but I feel like things are diversified more now,

This has led me to the thought that I've been thinking about this question all wrong, and that instead of thinking of the authors of the early years who are mostly forgotten thanks to the years but are kept alive by people who like knowing about these things, what of the authors who did very different things at the time when the influence of Tolkien was at its biggest?

A lot of those names have been covered, but a quick look through says neither M John Harrison or Tanith Lee have been mentioned so far. I think Samuel R Delany hasn't been mentioned either, nor John Jakes. I'm sure there's a bunch of other authors from that period unnamed too - and not just because people haven't been thinking of it, for I see John Crowley and Avram Davidson and Roger Zelazny and so on.

No John M. Ford either now I look closer.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I haven't seen him in print in quite some time.

Print is obsolete.

It amazes me that science fiction fans are so attached to paper, and most are younger than I am.

I do a lot of text to speech from e-books though.

 

[hitmouse]

This has led me to the thought that I've been thinking about this question all wrong, and that instead of thinking of the authors of the early years who are mostly forgotten thanks to the years but are kept alive by people who like knowing about these things, what of the authors who did very different things at the time when the influence of Tolkien was at its biggest?

A lot of those names have been covered, but a quick look through says neither M John Harrison or Tanith Lee have been mentioned so far. I think Samuel R Delany hasn't been mentioned either, nor John Jakes. I'm sure there's a bunch of other authors from that period unnamed too - and not just because people haven't been thinking of it, for I see John Crowley and Avram Davidson and Roger Zelazny and so on.

No John M. Ford either now I look closer.

The only John Jakes fantasy I have read is Brak the Barbarian, which is pretty second-rate.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

neither M John Harrison or Tanith Lee have been mentioned so far

In Tanith Lee's case, maybe because those of us who most admire her work don't think of her as particularly neglected nor forgotten. Her work was being published right up until her death, and since then (it's been a decade) several collections of her short fiction have been released. Since her output was enormous, I imagine her works will continue to appear in new editions into the next decade, if not even longer.

 

[BAYLOR]

In Tanith Lee's case, maybe because those of us who most admire her work don't think of her as particularly neglected nor forgotten. Her work was being published right up until her death, and since then (it's been a decade) several collections of her short fiction have been released. Since her output was enormous, I imagine her works will continue to appear in new editions into the next decade, if not even longer.

I loved her flat earth Series and her take classic fair tales.


My favorite single story by her is The Sombrus Tower.

 

[Vince W]

Barrington J Bailey. His best know works are probably The Pillars of Eternity and Eye of Terror.

I may have missed it but James Tiptree Jr. and Vonda N. McIntyre don’t get mentioned much these days.

 

[dask]

Not sure Robert F. Young ever got his due.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Not sure Robert F. Young ever got his due.

I found his "Servant Problem" in Project Gutenberg. I don't remember hearing of him before that.

Books by Young, Robert F. (sorted by popularity)

Project Gutenberg offers 69,025 free ebooks for Kindle, iPad, Nook, Android, and iPhone.

gutenberg.org

 

[dask]

I remember being really impressed with “When Time Was New,” still one of my favorite time travel stories.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

My favorite single story by her is The Sombrus Tower.

It's been reprinted, along with many other excellent stories in The Weird Tales of Tanith Lee, which I have on my Kindle. Don't know if it is also available on paper, but it was at one time.

 

[The Big Peat]

It's great to hear that many find Lee's name alive and well, but in my experience it absolutely isn't, and new short story collections are great for those who like them but completely ignored by many in the wider community. There's definitely no shortage of names in this thread I'd consider to be getting better press in most places I go.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I remember being really impressed with “When Time Was New,” still one of my favorite time travel stories.

"When Time Was New" (1964) by Robert F. Young - Prospero's Isle

Robert F. Young (1915-1986) was a prolific science-fiction writer whose 200-odd stories were published in all of the leading s-f magazines of his (...)

www.prosperosisle.org

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It's great to hear that many find Lee's name alive and well, but in my experience it absolutely isn't, and new short story collections are great for those who like them but completely ignored by many in the wider community.

Reprints of all five of her flat earth novels were released by Penguin Random House 2016 through 2017, and I am fairly certain I have seen new covers for some of her other books on Amazon.

So whether people are talking about her or not, they seem to be still buying her books.

Maybe we should settle on a period during which a writers books are no longer being published before we consider them neglected and forgotten. Five years? Ten years? Twenty years?

 

[Randy M.]

It's been reprinted, along with many other excellent stories in The Weird Tales of Tanith Lee, which I have on my Kindle. Don't know if it is also available on paper, but it was at one time.

Just to say, I have a trade pb of that.

 

[The Big Peat]

Reprints of all five of her flat earth novels were released by Penguin Random House 2016 through 2017, and I am fairly certain I have seen new covers for some of her other books on Amazon.

So whether people are talking about her or not, they seem to be still buying her books.

Maybe we should settle on a period during which a writers books are no longer being published before we consider them neglected and forgotten. Five years? Ten years? Twenty years?

If that's the standard though, most of the authors in this thread aren't neglected as you can go online and buy a copy as easy as falling over, yet people have still cited them.

As such, published but untalked about, unchampioned, would seem to count as neglected and forgotten to me. Lee mightn't qualify, but plenty of those mentioned do.

If it doesn't, about the only authors that can populate this thread are the likes of Kenneth Morris, once declared one of the great stylists of fantasy by Ursula le Guin but whose hardback will not set you back forty bucks.