Re: How many of these authors have you never read/heard of?

On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:31:09 -0700, LawrencePerson@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

In 1979, L. W. Currey's Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers: A
Bibliography of First Editions of their fiction came out. Though it
only goes up through 1978, it's still the bible of the science fiction
collecting field.

While the majority of authors Currey listed are still known and read
today (Heinlein, Asimov, Zelazny, Vance, Dick, etc.), a number are
probably pretty obscure. Books by the likes of John Hayden Howard and
George Allan England aren't exactly flying off the shelf.

Below is a list of the writers included in Currey (unlike Currey
itself, I've listed them by their best-known name, even if it was a
psuedonym). I was wondering which of the authors here you've never
read anything by, and which you've never even heard of. Also note
works of particular merit by authors included here you feel are
unjustly obscure.

Hmm, let me list my favorite by each (in some cases, that may be my only,
'favorite' doesn't necessarily mean 'great', just that of what I've read by
that author, I liked this the best, or disliked it the least), with the
ones I haven't read anything from so noted

Brian W. Aldiss
The Long Afternoon of Earth

Piers Anthony
A Spell For Chameleon
(yes as he continued writing in this world, he descended to depths of
silliness not acheived by the Teletubbies, but the first one was good)

Poul Anderson
Three Hearts, Three Lions

Isaac Asimov
Liar!

J. G. Ballard
The Drowned World

T. J. Bass
The Godwhale

Harry Bates
nothing ( I may have read one of his short stories, but if so, I don't
remember)

Barrington J. Bayley
The Garments of Caean

Peter S. Beagle
none (yes, of course I know who he is, and have heard about 'The Last
Unicorn', I could just never get the interest to read it)

Eric Temple Bell
The Crystal Horde is the only thing I ever read by him. It didn't whelm
me.

Gregory Benford
And the Sea Like Mirrors is the only thing I can remember reading. I'm not
drawn to the collabs and continuations he's done.

Alfred Bester
The Stars My Destination (Tiger Tiger)
That was easy.

Lloyd Biggle
All the Colors of Darkness

Otto Binder
I, Robot (Adam Link, Robot)

Michael Bishop
Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas
just the title alone got me to read it

James Blish
Jack of Eagles

Robert Bloch
Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper

Nelson Bond
Lancelot Biggs, Spaceman

Ben Bova
The Star Crossed

John Boyd
The Girl and the Dolphin

Leigh Brackett
The Long Tomorrow
I had to think a bit between this and The Starmen of Llyrdis

Ray Bradbury
Dandelion Wine

Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Shattered Chain

Joseph Payne Brennan
none (I may well have read one or more short stories, but I don't remember
them)

Fredric Brown
The Lights In the Sky Are Stars

Rosel George Brown
Galactic Sybil Sue Blue

John Brunner
The Squares of the City
I've actually read a fair amount of Brunner, but my memories did not
weather well. I remember this one the least unfondly

Edward Bryant
I can't honestly say I remember reading any. I think I read The Human Side
of the Village Monster, and possibly Phoenix Without Ashes

Algis Burdrys
Rogue Moon
pretty much the usual suspect here

Kenneth Bulmer
The Million Year Hunt
I'm sure I've read multiple Dray Prescott books, but I've blotted them from
my memory, apparently.

Edgar Rice Burroughs
Well, I've read everything (The Outlaw of Torn, The Mucker, The Girl From
Hollywood, everything), but to pick one, Llana of Gathol.

F. M. Busby
The Long View

John W. Campbell
Who Goes There

A. Bertram Chandler
I've read a huge chunk of the Grimes stories, but I can't really pick out
one. Maybe the short story where Grimes goes back in the past and meets A.
Bertram Chandler.

Suzy McKee Charnas
I've managed to miss reading any of her stories, though I have certainly
been exposed.

Arthur C. Clarke
The Other Side of the Sky

Hal Clement
Starlight
(I liked Mission of Gravity, I liked the sequel better)

Mark Clifton
Eight Keys to Eden

Stanton A. Coblentz
The Runaway World
I didn't like it, but I didn't like the other couple of Coblentz I've read
even more.

Theodore Cogswell
The Wall Around the World

John Collier
none. I've probably read one or more short stories, but I don't remember
any.

D. G. Compton
Synthajoy
that and The Steel Crocodile are the only ones I read. I flipped a coin

Michael Coney
Syzygy

Edmund Cooper
Five to Twelve

Richard Cowper
I sort of remember reading Time Out of Mind, but I should probably go with
'none'

Ray Cummings
Avram Davidson
The Mirror and the Phoenix

L. Sprague de Camp
Miriam Allen deFord
Samuel R. Delany
Empire Star

Lester del Rey
Day of the Giants

August Derleth
To the best of my knowledge, I've never read either Derleth or Lovecraft

Philip K. Dick
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Gordon R. Dickson
Necromancer

Thomas Disch
Bone of Contention

Stephen R. Donaldson
I read Lord Foul's Bane and about half of the next one. I guess that makes
it my 'favorite' since it's the only one I managed to finish.

Gardner Dozois
Conditioned Reflex
One does tend to think of him more as editor than writer

Lord Dunsany
The King of Elfland's Daughter

E. R. Eddison
The Worm Ouroboros

George Alec Effinger
Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordperson

Gordon Eklund
Lord Tedric

Harlan Ellison
Repent Harlequin, Cried the TickTock Man

George Allan England


Philip Jose Farmer
Venus on the Half Shell

Ralph Milne Farley
Unlike Gernsbeck, I never felt compelled to proactively find The Radio
Man/Beast/Planet/War

Charles Finney
The Ghosts of Manacle

Jack Finney
I'm Scared

Homer Eon Flint
The Blind Spot (with Austin Hall)

Alan Dean Foster
The Tar-Aiym Krang
Flinx was kind of all downhill from there

David Gerrold
The Man Who Folded Himself
Sometimes the usual suspect has good reason to be so

Daniel Galouye
Lords of the Psychon

Randall Garrett
with Laurence Janifer (as Mark Phillips)
Supermind (actually, all three Kenneth J. Malone books)
with Robert Silverberg (as Robert Randall)
The Shrouded Planet/The Dawning Light
by himself, probably Backstage Lensman

Jane Gaskell
Some Summer Lands

Hugo Gernsback
Okay, I've read Ralph 124C41+, but I'm not defending it

Mark S. Geston
none. The name isn't even ringing a bell, which is most unusual.

Rex Gordon
Well, I read Utopia Minus X, but that's about all I can say

Ron Goulart
When the Waker Sleeps
(ISFDB seems to be missing his books written under his pen name 'William
Shatner')

Joseph L. Green
I read The Loafers of Refuge back in the 60s, but can't really remember
anything about it.

George Griffith
none, but looking him up, maybe I will rectify that.

James Gunn
Star Bridge (with Jack Williamson)
(no surprise that you're gonna see this again down below)

Joe Haldeman
Mindbridge

Austin Hall
The Blind Spot (with Homer Eon Flint)

Edmond Hamilton
The Star of Life

Charles Harness
Flight Into Yesterday

Harry Harrison
Deathworld
But I did enjoy Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers

M. John Harrison
none

Rober A. Heinlein
Glory Road
(or Waldo, or The Puppet Masters, or...)

Zenna Henderson
No Different Flesh (the short story, not the fixup/anthology)

Frank Herbert
Dune

William Hope Hodgson
none. I'm not all that strong on pre-WWI SF

John Hayden Howard
If this is Hayden Howard, then I read and enjoyed The Eskimo Invasion


Robert E. Howard
I've read a couple of the original Conans. Not a huge fan.

Fred Hoyle
The Black Cloud

L. Ron Hubbard
I've been exposed, I did not retain.

M. R. James
none. More pre-WWI stuff

Malcolm Jameson
Orders (bet you thought I'd pick Bullard Reflects)

Frederick Thomas Jane
If you mean John Frederick Thomas Jane, I've read some excerpts from Jane's
Fighting Ships (who hasn't) but I didn't read his pre-WWI sf story.

Murray Leinster
Four From Planet Five

D. F. Jones
Colossus

Raymond F. Jones
This Island Earth

David H. Keller
none. I think I read The Abyss, but I don't remember any details, so
shouldn't claim it

Daniel Keyes
Hmm, should I pick the short story Flowers For Algernon, the novella
Flowers For Algernon, the teleplay Charly, or the screenplay Charly.
(Keyes really got his momey's worth on that story)

Stephen King
I have undoubted read some, I'm not going to try to cite any.

Otis Adelbert Kline
I located The Swordsman of Mars and read it because of the comparisons to
Burroughs Kline could write as clunky as Burroughs but didn't have the
gift of making work anyway.

Nigel Kneale
none. I know who he was, and I did watch some eps of Tom Corbett back when
I was a kid.

Damon Knight
I know I've read Knight short stories, but none of them are jumping out at
me. I've also read Mind Switch, but I'm not recalling any details.

C. M. Kornbluth
Gunner Cade (with Judith Merril)

Henry Kuttner
Piggy Bank (with C.L. Moore)

R. A. Lafferty
The Reefs of Earth

Sterling E. Lanier
Heiro's Journey

Keith Laumer
A Plague of Demons
(favorite Reteif, probably Protocol)

Ursula K. Le Guin
The Tombs of Atuan

Fritz Leiber
Conjure Wife

C. S. Lewis
Probably TLTW&W, but The Last Battle annoyed me so greatly that it hurst my
pleasure retroactively.

Willie Ley
I've read some of the non-fiction, I can't really remember reading any of
the fiction.

David Linsdey
If you mean David Lindsey, writer of thrillers, I haven't read any.

Frank Belknap Long
Mission To A Distant Star

H. P. Lovecraft
See Derleth. I just was never attracted to it

Robert A. Lowndes
The Puzzle Planet

Richard A. Lupoff
One Million Centuries

Anne McCaffrey
Restoree

J. T. McIntosh
World Out Of Mind

David McIlwain
Timeliner
(if you're listing by their best known name, shouldn't you have listed im
as Charles Eric Maine?)

Vonda N. McIntyre
Starfarers

Katherine MacLean
The Diploids

Barry N. Malzberg
Galaxies served the signal purpose of establishing that I didn't care for
Malzberg's writing (even thoug I did get all the way through it)

George R. R. Martin
Windhavern

David Masson
Psychosmosis

Richard Matheson
I Am Legend

Judith Merril
Gunner Cade (with C.M. Kornbluth)

A. Merritt
The Moon Pool

Walter M. Miller
A Canticle For Leibowitz

Michael Moorcock
Stealer of Souls

C. L. Moore
Doomsday Morning

Sam Moskowitz
I don't recall reading any of his handful of short stories. I am, of
course, familiar with him as an editor/essayist/anthologist

Larry Niven
A Gift From Earth

John Norman
I read and enjoyed A Tarnsman of Gor, but by the third book, I threw it
across the room half-way through and never went back.

Andre Norton
Everything
(If I have to pick one, The Crystal Gryphon)

Alan E. Nourse
Raiders From The Rings

Chad Oliver
Technical Advisor

Edgar Pangborn
Davy

Alexei Panshin
Rite of Passage

Jerry Pournelle
You know, I would have thought that at some point I had at least sampled
Pournelle, but looking down his bibliography, no, not a single one.

Fletcher Pratt
The Mathematics of Magic (with L. Sprague De Camp)

Christopher Priest
His wonderful work on Heroes for Hire
Oh wait! You probably mean the British author, not the American comic book
writer.
Then, I got nuthin'

Seabury Quinn
He wrote so many short stories for so long that I've likely read one or
more, but I don't remember any.

Marta Randall
none.

John Rankine
The Janus Syndrome

Mack Reynolds
Earth Unaware

Keith Roberts
Anita

Frank Robinson
The Day The World Ended

Spider Robinson
I think I read a couple of his short stories in Asimov's, but nothing
sticks, and it didn't get me to read his books.

Joanna Russ
Picnic On Paradise

Eric Frank Russell
The Great Explosion (especially the "...And Then There Were None" fixup
part)

Fred Saberhagen
The Black Mountains

Margaret St. Clair
The Green Queen

James Schmitz
I can't pick between A Tale of Two Clocks, The Lion Game, and The Witches
of Karres.

Thomas N. Scortia
none. I've probably read some short stories, but I don't remember any.

Garrett P. Serviss
none. More pre-WWI fun.

Bob Shaw
Medusa's Children

Robert Sheckley
Mindswap

James Tiptree Jr.
The Girl Who Was Plugged In

Robert Silverberg
Shadrach In The Furnace

Clifford Simak
Time Is the Simplest Thing

John Sladek
Mechasm

William Sloane
none. Apparently an extremely unprolific 30s author.

Clark Ashton Smith
See Derleth and Lovecraft. Just not my cuppa

E. E. "Doc" Smith
Gray Lensman

George O. Smith
Hellflower

Jerry Sohl
Costigan's Needle

Norman Spinrad
The Children of Hamelin

Brian M. Stableford
The Gates of Eden

Olaf Stapledon
I read Odd John, kind of out of a sense of obligation

Francis Stevens
none. Well, she's post-WWI, but not by much.

Theodore Sturgeon
The [Widget], The [Wadget] and Boff

Thomas Burnett Swann
The books have been available, but I've never been interested enough.

William Tenn
"Will You Walk a Little Faster?"

J. R. R. Tolkien
Farmer Giles of Ham :)

E. C. Tubb
A couple of the Dumarest books, I'm not going to try to identify which.

Wilson Tucker
The Lincoln Hunters

Jack Vance
The Blue World

Kurt Vonnegut
The Sirens of Titan

H. Russell Wakefield
Ghost Hunt

Evengeline Walton
Song of Rhiannon

Donald Wandrei
none

Ian Watson
none, although I've gone past them enough on the shelves.

Stanley G. Weinbaum
A Martian Odyssey

Manly Wade Wellman
none. Again, I've had the opportunities, just not the interest

H. G. Wells
The Sleeper Wakes

James White
The Dream Millenium

T. H. White
Mistress Masham's Repose

Ted White
Phoenix Prime
(tempted to go with The Great Gold Steal, which was actually a pretty good
Captain America novelization)

Henry S. Whitehead
none, Another from the teens-twenties.

Kate Wilhelm
The Mile Long Spaceship

Charles Williams
none. More horror from the 30s.

Jack Williamson
Star Bridge (with James Gunn)

Gene Wolfe
The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Donald A. Wollheim
Destination Saturn

Hannes Bok
More familiar with his art than his writing

Austin Tappan Wright
never read Islandia

S. Fowler Wright
none. stuff from the 30s and earlier

Philip Wylie
When Worlds Collide

John Wyndham
The Midwich Cuckoos

John Christopher
The Year of the Comet

Robert F. Young
The Last Yggdrasill

Roger Zelazny
Lord of Light


Lawrence Person
http://home.austin.rr.com/lperson

Gosh, I don't know anything by this guy :)
--
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
(Bene Gesserit)
.

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