Post your obscure Sci-Fi/Fantasy series that you loved.

[Pheran]

Revelation Space is pretty good by Alastair Reynolds. It's not a light read, and the space opera is really sprawling, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I don't know how obscure these are, but none of my buddies into sci-fi know much about Asimov's Foundation or Robot series. The way the two dovetail is kind of nice as well.

LOL @ Asimov being obscure. You youngins! There's an entire SF magazine named after Asimov that still runs today.

The Revelation Space series is wonderful, although the ending is weak. I also highly recommend Galactic North, an associated set of short stories.

 

[CFP]

LOL @ Asimov being obscure. You youngins! There's an entire SF magazine named after Asimov that still runs today.

The Revelation Space series is wonderful, although the ending is weak. I also highly recommend Galactic North, an associated set of short stories.

Oh I'm well aware of Asimov and have been reading him since I was thirteen or so. Granted, I'm only 28, but I'm constantly surprised by my mates who have only ever heard of iRobot because of the movie, and yet they read Banks, Robinson, etc. Hence why I'm not sure if it's obscure... it wasn't, but it may be starting to go that way.

 

[Pheran]

Oh I'm well aware of Asimov and have been reading him since I was thirteen or so. Granted, I'm only 28, but I'm constantly surprised by my mates who have only ever heard of iRobot because of the movie, and yet they read Banks, Robinson, etc. Hence why I'm not sure if it's obscure... it wasn't, but it may be starting to go that way.

Yeah, I guess what is obscure depends on your generation as well. I grew up with Asimov, so the notion seems silly to me.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Hence why I'm not sure if it's obscure... it wasn't, but it may be starting to go that way.

True, 30 years ago everyone knew E. E. "Doc" Smith, A. E. Van Vogt, Andre Norton, James Schmitz, Jo Clayton, etc. but now many readers only know their J. K. Rowling and G. R. R. Martin.

 

[SKORPI0]

OP, Piers Anthony is not obscure... to me.. :hmm:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Color_of_Her_Panties

 

[Pheran]

True, 30 years ago everyone knew E. E. "Doc" Smith, A. E. Van Vogt, Andre Norton, James Schmitz, Jo Clayton, etc. but now many readers only know their J. K. Rowling and G. R. R. Martin.

I grew up reading Andre Norton, but EE Doc Smith is even before my time, though I have read the Lensman series. It's actually not bad, though it's ridiculously sexist in some places.

 

[DeathReborn]

Fighting Fantasy series by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, they actually had 2 of them in my old school library. First time I got called a geek; was also the last time at that school, was by playing those books obsessively.

The Space Mavericks by Michael Kring.

First Contact Series by Nigel Robinson, in fact most of his books are great, even the Dr Who ones. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Nigel_Robinson

Maybe not so obscure but: Dragonlance Saga, Villains Series, Volume 3 (Before the Mask, The Black Wing, Emperor of Ansalon, Hederick the Theocrat & Lord Toede).

 

[IronWing]

Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood series

Robert Holdstock's Merlin Codex, starts with Celtika

A. A. Attanasio's Arthor series, starts with The Dragon and the Unicorn

 

[CFP]

True, 30 years ago everyone knew E. E. "Doc" Smith, A. E. Van Vogt, Andre Norton, James Schmitz, Jo Clayton, etc. but now many readers only know their J. K. Rowling and G. R. R. Martin.

I mean, I think a lot of it is also personal interest, but in terms of just generational turn-over, then yeah, sure. It's just the normal cycle of things, same as music and film. These days film schools students reference Citizen Kane without having even watched it, and the entire hipster cultural movement is built on second-hand knowledge and second-hand appreciation of ye olde things.

I grew up reading golden age scifi since that was all my library had, and now basically own all of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Herbert, and Bradbury. But I only have a passing awareness of sci-fi before then, and actually am completely useless when it comes to contemporary sci-fi. I've only ever read one Iain M. Banks novel, and it took me over a year to finish Reynold's Revelation Space, never read Kim Stanley Robinson or Dan Simmons etc.

But said mates, they read contemporary stuff, and when I loaned The Caves of Steel to one of them hoping to springboard him into reading the whole Robots saga, he said it was boring and dated and that the murder mystery wasn't captivating.

Then again, when I last tried to read Huxley I gave up because the language just didn't pull me in.

Of course, it's just semantics to get into what's obscure and what's not, but I think some of the old timers on this forum would be surprised as how many of us 'youngins' are completely unaware of basically the founding fathers of modern hard science-fiction, (and space opera when you count in Dune but I actually prefer Herbert's non-Dune books).

 

[Pheran]

I mean, I think a lot of it is also personal interest, but in terms of just generational turn-over, then yeah, sure. It's just the normal cycle of things, same as music and film. These days film schools students reference Citizen Kane without having even watched it, and the entire hipster cultural movement is built on second-hand knowledge and second-hand appreciation of ye olde things.

I grew up reading golden age scifi since that was all my library had, and now basically own all of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Herbert, and Bradbury. But I only have a passing awareness of sci-fi before then, and actually am completely useless when it comes to contemporary sci-fi. I've only ever read one Iain M. Banks novel, and it took me over a year to finish Reynold's Revelation Space, never read Kim Stanley Robinson or Dan Simmons etc.

But said mates, they read contemporary stuff, and when I loaned The Caves of Steel to one of them hoping to springboard him into reading the whole Robots saga, he said it was boring and dated and that the murder mystery wasn't captivating.

Then again, when I last tried to read Huxley I gave up because the language just didn't pull me in.

Of course, it's just semantics to get into what's obscure and what's not, but I think some of the old timers on this forum would be surprised as how many of us 'youngins' are completely unaware of basically the founding fathers of modern hard science-fiction, (and space opera when you count in Dune but I actually prefer Herbert's non-Dune books).

There's a ton of good contemporary (more-or-less) SF as well, though of course it all depends on what kind of styles you like. If I have to point people at just one amazing novel, it's normally A Fire Upon the Deep, but even that's over 20 years old now. Another "old-timer" classic novel that I would highly recommend to anyone is Lord of Light (1967).

For stuff published recently, The Expanse is pretty good (I haven't seen the TV series). But I could go on all day with SF recs - of course most of them probably aren't obscure.

 

[Spydermag68]

One of my favorite books is "Spinter of the mind's eye" by Allen Dean Foster. When Empire Strikes Back was about to come out in the movie theaters I had an argument with some "experts" in my 3rd grade class about the book. None of them knew about the book until I brought it o school the next day. I am glad that some parts of the book were used in episode 3.

 

[ControlD]

One of my favorite books is "Spinter of the mind's eye" by Allen Dean Foster. When Empire Strikes Back was about to come out in the movie theaters I had an argument with some "experts" in my 3rd grade class about the book. None of them knew about the book until I brought it o school the next day. I am glad that some parts of the book were used in episode 3.

I remember reading that book. I think I was in the fifth or sixth grade. Had an awesome cover as well.

 

[HumblePie]

If an author hits any of the major Best Selling lists then their books are no longer obscure for any of their works IMHO.

So with the quantifier above, here is a small quick list of books from my ebook collection I pulled out which I know fit that:

Peter V Brett's Demon Cycle series (On Going)
Taran Matharu's Summoner series (On Going)
Brian S Pratt Morcyth Saga and Travails on an Unsuspecting Mage series (On Going)
Jay Allan's Gehenna Dawn series
Alastair J Archibald's Chronicle of Grimm Dragonblaster series
Steven Kent Clone Republic series
Jason Wander Orphan's series
Darrel Bain Alien Infection
Robert Wayman Recycled Hero
Steven Fisher Misadventures of Fragger Sparks series (on going)
BV Larson Undying Mercenaries series (on going)
BV Larson Star Force series (on going)
Ian Douglas Star Corpsman series (on going)


Those are more than a few in my library of good reads I thought and aren't from authors that have any of the Best Seller major lists that I know of for any of their works. I am not calling anything in my list super great, but they are all above average good reads in my opinion. I have a crap ton more, but didn't want to spend hours going through my ebook library. Should be more than enough to get anyone else here started on some good reads if they are looking.

 

[Pheran]

If an author hits any of the major Best Selling lists then their books are no longer obscure for any of their works IMHO.

So with the quantifier above, here is a small quick list of books from my ebook collection I pulled out which I know fit that:

Peter V Brett's Demon Cycle series (On Going)
Taran Matharu's Summoner series (On Going)
Brian S Pratt Morcyth Saga and Travails on an Unsuspecting Mage series (On Going)
Jay Allan's Gehenna Dawn series
Alastair J Archibald's Chronicle of Grimm Dragonblaster series
Steven Kent Clone Republic series
Jason Wander Orphan's series
Darrel Bain Alien Infection
Robert Wayman Recycled Hero
Steven Fisher Misadventures of Fragger Sparks series (on going)
BV Larson Undying Mercenaries series (on going)
BV Larson Star Force series (on going)
Ian Douglas Star Corpsman series (on going)

Your list has officially received my 'obscurity seal of approval' because I haven't read or even heard of a single one of these.

 

[HumblePie]

Your list has officially received my 'obscurity seal of approval' because I haven't read or even heard of a single one of these.

Haha I have tens of thousands of ebooks and read most of them. I go for tons of obscure books Most of them are just meh, but there are plenty of decent ones.

A lot of the ones I buy tend to be a a few bucks or less on Barnes and Nobles or Amazon through their nook/kindle apps. I used to buy a TON through fictionwise back in the day before it was acquired by B&N.

If I remember I can start adding way more to that list if anyone wants.

 

[Chiropteran]

Probably not that obscure, but The Death Gate Cycle

I was going to say this.

Enjoyed it a lot as a kid.

 

[tynopik]

Your list has officially received my 'obscurity seal of approval' because I haven't read or even heard of a single one of these.

Depends on your circle I guess

If you follow the amazon kindle SF best-seller list, most are pretty recognizable. BV Larson in particular is immensely popular

 

[HumblePie]

Depends on your circle I guess

If you follow the amazon kindle SF best-seller list, most are pretty recognizable. BV Larson in particular is immensely popular

BV Larson makes smaller lists, but hasn't broken out into the bigger lists like the NY Times and such. So overall he's still a bit more obscure. So only a relatively few will know the term "Go Rigg's Pigs!"

 

[SurelyYouJest]

The Chronicles Of Amber by Roger Zelazny

 

[StinkyPinky]

I really enjoyed the Riyria Revelations/Chronicles by Michael J Sullivan. They're not old, he is still writing those books. Quite traditional fantasy, reminds me of the early Feist books.

He just released a book set in the same universe set 3000 years earlier when humans are still in the bronze age so that was an interesting read too.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Your list has officially received my 'obscurity seal of approval' because I haven't read or even heard of a single one of these.

I got Jay Allan's first Crimson Worlds book in a 10-book-for-$1 kindle deal and liked it enough to pick up this collection: ASIN: B00EJUJM3I

It's decent military SF. It won't replace Drake's Hammer's Slammers or Drake & Stirling's General series in my list of best mil-sf but it's entertaining.

 

[HumblePie]

The Chronicles Of Amber by Roger Zelazny

Zelazny is not obscure. Nor is Amber.

 

[Paratus]

2nd on the Gap Series

Time traveling hero, (into the past but only after he dies), with bullet time reflexes. The antagonist time travels too but into the future.

 

[Spydermag68]

I enjoyed the Battletech books. I think the series is out of print now. The Jade Falcon series is my favorite.

I also like the Robotech books from Jack McKenny. (The author are James Luceno and Brian Daley. Each wrote different books or co-wrote the books). The take the three main story lines and weave them together better than the anime. I read most of them in order, but some of the books came out after I had moved on to the next group of books. If you are going to read them I suggest to read them in chronological order. Just look up the wiki page.

 

[glenn1]

The Takeshi Kovacs series isn't particularly well known, Altered Carbon is outside the top 1,000 Sci-Fi books on Amazon best seller rank.