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Recommend a very good (semi-)obscure fantasy/sf book

I recommend anything by Richard Morgan and Diana Pharoah Francis. Morgan writes some of the best science fiction on the market today. I'm not sure how obscure he is, but I've had a hard time finding his stuff in bookstores. His Takeshi Kovacs novels are brilliant. Start with Altered Carbon.

Diana Francis writes epic fantasy with a strong eye towards world-building and non-standard heroes. I like her Path of Fate/Honor/Blood novels, but The Cipher is probably my favorite.
 
Nope -- mine wasn't a repeat! Woohoo!:lol:
Well, Elaina, I've been a little out of touch, so I can't remember what the punishment was for plugging a well-known author, so I'll let you off the hook. Plus it's always good to see incredibly enthusiastic and passionate fans.

However, this is still a semi-obscure work thread, so you'll have to recommend a book that isn't as well-known, but no less intriguing than your beloved Goodkind.

Sparky_Buzzsaw said:
I recommend anything by Richard Morgan and Diana Pharoah Francis.
You and Sparkchaser related?

In any event, I though Morgan was quite famous, and Altered Carbon was pretty acclaimed. But you may be right - a lot of people wouldn't immediately name him. Not heard of DPF, though, so thanks!

ds
 
Hi

This is my first post and I've only had time to skim this very interesting thread so forgive me if these have already been mentioned:

Engine Summer and Little Big by John Crowley (my favourite author of all time :)) and Body of Glass by Marge Piercy.
 
I don't know why, but I've always associated Little, Big with A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, so I'm always wondering why Little, Big is always featured in acclaimed fantasy lists.

So anyway, good call on Crowley!

I have another one: Lud-In-The Mist, by Hope Mirrless. Often cited as one of the greats, but damn tough to find. Recently republished as part of Gollanzs's Ultimate Fantasy Series.

ds
 
Amazing thread, a lot of hidden gems here!
I don't think I can really add anything here, really. I've been reading Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell, but I'm not sure how obscure it is. I'll check...
EDIT: Nope. It was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2007 and is a finalist for the Prometheus of 2008. So... I can't add anything, but oh well :)
 
They're considered young adult titles, but John Christopher's Tripod series and his stand alone novel No Blade of Grass were all pretty good. It's teen post apocalypse stuff.
 
I could form a long shopping list out of bits of this thread. :)

She may or may not count as a semi-obscure author, but it does seem to be a slightly obscure book, so I will recommend The Hound and the Falcon by Judith Tarr. It's actually a trilogy, but I believe it's only published as a single volume these days. Which is good, because while the third book is a bit skippable, I do feel that the first two should be read consecutively.
 
Maia and Shardik by Richard Adams
The Last Unicorn and The Innkeeper's Song by Peter S. Beagle
Figures of Earth, The Silver Stallion, and Jurgen by James Branch Cabell
Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card
The Charwoman's Shadow and The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
I apologize if any of these have already been mentioned. :)
 
Ballantine published a pbk series back in the early-late 60's called "Ballantine Adult Fantasy" which resurrected many rare titles and brought them back into print.

Lilith, by George MacDonald, was one of them. It became very popular for a while but seems to have slipped back into obscurity. It's a remarkable book.

A Voyage to Arcturus, by David Lindsay is another.

Although Tolkien's stuff was part of the series, the rest of the genre wasn't as choked with Medieval European mythology the way it is these days. Wizards, demons, trolls, fairies, and especially elves with pointed ears were pretty rare, thank goodness.

Some other titles that made their first appearance in paperback as a part of this series are not so rare now:

The Gormenghast Trilogy, by Mervyn Peake
The Worm Ouroboros, by E.R. Eddison
The Dream-quest of Unknown Kadath, by HP Lovecraft

I spotted the following when I went to the bookshelf to make sure I had all my spellings more or less accurate. They weren't part of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.

Back when I first read them they were pretty rare titles. I don't know what their status is now.

Hidden World, by Stanton A. Coblentz. The background plot is about two large underground civilizations, beneath the midwest (? I think) that go to war against each other. It's actually on a pretty big scale considering the location. Both civilizations share a vast cavern at least hundreds of miles across.

In the foreground it's a social commentary, which was Coblentz' forte. The cultures are complete lampoons of Western Civilization. It's funny and fascinating.

Planet of Peril, by Otis Adelbert Kline
Prince of Peril, ibid
Port of Peril, ibid
The Swordsman of Mars, ibid
The Outlaws of Mars, ibid

Kline wrote these "Planetary Romances" at the same time Burroughs was doing the John Carter of Mars series. A legendary feud between the two authors has been discounted. They were probably both just capitalizing on the popularity of the pulp genre in those days.

The timing suggests that Burroughs started writing the John Carter series first. Kline then wrote his Venus series, the three ...of Peril novels. Burroughs followed with a Venus series of his own, which Kline in turn followed with his two Martian novels!

Kline wrote some "Jungle" novels as well. The one I read is Jan of the Jungle.

Kline was one of the first editors of Weird Tales magazine, which eventually positioned him to become a literary agent. One of his early clients was Robert E. Howard.

I really took a tour of the bookcase on this one. Thanks for the motive!

Have a good one,
 
Dark They Were... And Golden Eyed was a masterpiece and remains to this day. If you havent seen the movie, you should watch it before you read the book
I own the book, and the movie on DVD
 
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart is funny, charming, and witty, and the dark bits sneak up on you. You're reading and laughing and wham! somebody's dead.

Swords for Hire by Will Allen -- another funny one, with all the fantasy cliches, played for laughs but also surprisingly serious in parts. It reminded me of The Princess Bride.

A couple of newer SF books that I really liked are Eifelheim by Michael Flynn and Hunter's Run by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. In Eifelheim, an alien ship crash lands in medieval Bavaria. Hunter's Run also has alien contact, by humans on another world. Both books are thought-provoking and original, and well-written.
 
I liked World War Z. After reading (or thumbing through) the Zombie Survival Guide, I didn't expect Z to be serious. My favorite chapter was the one with the pilot who was shot down.

I've heard it's going to be made into a movie. Not a surprise, considering the popularity of zombies.
 
Say no more! I've yet to read it! Lol! Thanks though, looking forward, I'm such a nerd getting psyched over a book ;p
 
Rebirth of Rhin by Julian Traas. An excellent fantasy epic by a young writer. Clever and original. Very complex read at first but once it sucks you in the pay off is worth it. The author's created his own universe in great detail. Some very strong characters too. My friend is a major fantasy geek and is always telling me about different books and websites. He wouldn't stop going on about Rebirth of Rhin, so I figured the only way to shut him up was to check it out. Really worth it, though. Excellent.
 
Whoo, I got one!
Below the Root, by Zilpha Keatly Snyder.
I recently picked this one up after playing a *coughcough*pirated*cough* version of the ol' C64 game. It's an amazing philosophical adventure, and it's just a darn fun, magical read. It's been long forgotten, but it's still good.
Just in the game, for example, if you ever took a life, you could make the game completely unwinnable...
Breath of fresh air :)
 
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