Name a forgotten writer you think should be revived

[First Speaker]

...one of the tougher things about getting older is how totally writers famous when you were younger just drop out of public view. My prime example is "Ellery Queen", aka Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee. The Queen novels, even when I was young, were every bit as famous as Agatha Christie...or Hammett and Chandler, for that matter. And I feel that they stack up very well with Christie--or Doyle, as well. They had ingenuity of plot, a good feel of time and place--especially the "Wrightsville" novels of the 40s--and were the best that the Deductive Mystery could offer. But the American Deductive school seems to have become lost to history, and the hard-boiled seems to be the only "authentic" American mystery tradition, which is a shame.
A few other writers, all in SF or mystery--Fredric Brown, Henry Kuttner, Fritz Leiber, John Dickson Carr, Alfred bester...who are your choices?

[cyberswede]

1. on a tangent...

I listen to old radio shows via iTunes, and occasionally run into an Ellery Queen radio play - fun!

I also have the TV series from the 70s on DVD - my 12 and 10 y.o. kiddos love those!

Obviously, I should track down some of the books for the kids to read (I'd probably read them to the younger one - the language and writing style might be unusual for her, at first).

[kurtzapril4]

2. Ernest Thompson Seton

A good nature writer from the old days.

[AmyStrange]

3. Lovecraft

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and the whole Victorian age, I guess. I think that was his favorite time period. It shows in his writing. Considered by many of the top suspense writers today (S. King, C. Barker) as the father of modern horror.

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[Byronic]

53. Along a similar theme

Arthur Machen is pretty much a cult author today, and doesn't really enter the mainstream, but his tales of horror greatly influenced figures such as Lovecraft and Stephen King. He was also the first author to incorporate the Holy Grail themes into his fiction, far pre-dating Dan Brown and George Lucas.

Sadly his career got caught up in the Oscar Wilde scandal of 1895, which meant much of his best work of the 1890s wasn't published until much later.

[AmyStrange]

56. Thank you Byronic

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It is always nice to hear a new name to read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Machen

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[cemaphonic]

57. Lovecraft is forgotten?

I'd say that he is more popular and well-known than he's ever been.

[AmyStrange]

58. Definitely better known now...

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then when he was alive. That is for sure.

But I don't know, when a high school English teacher doesn't know who Lovecraft is... something's being forgotten, in my opinion.

d

[cemaphonic]

59. Well, a lot of English teachers and other students of "Real Literature" are often dismissive...

of genre literature. I think this is changing a bit, especially since so many of the big popular and respected literary fiction writers of the last 25 years or so (I'm thinking people like Chabon, Lethem, David Foster Wallace, Cormac McCarthy, etc.) incorporate genre elements into their writing. And then there's Iain Banks, who maintained an extremely prolific dual career writing science fiction and literary fiction.
Chabon even wrote a great Lovecraftian story in one of his short story collections.

I actually introduced my English teacher to Lovecraft (this was in the early 90s, when the Lovecraft resurgence was really starting to get going), but she liked science fiction, so she was intrigued about using scifi concepts like ancient precursor races and alternate dimensions to create horror stories.

[AmyStrange]

60. Some of the best fiction was written by writers writing out of their own genre...

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don't you think?

Stephen King's "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" was definitely NOT your typical Stephen King Novella or book. No monsters anywhere. I heard it was based on a real case? Anyway, it's still a really good read. Some people think the movie is better, but I don't care one way or the other.

It's the only book I can think of right this minute, sorry

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[nomorenomore08]

61. 'Different Seasons' is quite good. One of his best for sure.

He may not write the prettiest prose - I'm kind of one of those snooty "literary" types - but he does write entertaining (and sometimes genuinely creepy) stories.

[AmyStrange]

4. and Erle Stanley Gardner...

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created Perry mason and many other characters (Bertha Cool and Donald Lam, for example) and for many years up until the 90s had more books in print than any other author, except for whomever wrote the Bible, at least according to Guinness anyway,

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[HarveyDarkey]

5. Richard Farina, may he RIP

He left us way too soon.

Fariña is known for his novel, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, originally published by Random House in 1966. The novel, based largely on his college experiences and travels, is a comic picaresque novel, set in the American West, in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution, and at an upstate New York university. The protagonist is Gnossos Pappadopoulis. The book has become something of a cult classic among fans of 1960s and counterculture literature. Thomas Pynchon, who later dedicated his book, Gravity's Rainbow (1973), to Fariña, described Fariña's novel as "coming on like the Hallelujah Chorus done by 200 kazoo players with perfect pitch... hilarious, chilling, sexy, profound, maniacal, beautiful, and outrageous all at the same time."

[SwissTony]

16. I also liked his music.

He wrote some beautiful stuff. I first became familiar with his music through Sandy Denny and Ian Matthews (later Iain). And he was good in his own right. "If Richard had survived that motorcycle accident, he would have easily given Dylan a run for his money." – Ed Ward (from Wikipedia).

[HarveyDarkey]

17. I was into his music before I read the book

He and his lovely wife Mimi were a favorite of mine for a long time, and I still enjoy listening to them.

[SwissTony]

18. So was I. I lived in Adelaide (South Australia) and used to frequent an Adelaide record store

in the 70s (Richmond Records in Richmond Arcade - long since gone). Adelaide was a bit of a bye-water in those days (long before Amazon) but I was a bit of a regular and the people there were excellent, knew my tastes and made suggestions to me. I knew about Sandy, didn't know about Ian (or even about the Fairport connection) until they introduced me. But Richard's tracks always stood out. Importing LPs was very expensive in those days. But I did buy one and loved it. Can't remember the name and like a number of other albums and books, it suddenly left home without saying goodbye. Don'tcha just love friends and family??

And Mimi was an exceptional talent in her own right. A voice to die for. And she was a great activist. She left us way too soon as well.

Joan Baez performed in Adelaide many years ago. One of my mates handed her a note inviting her to an after-show party at his place (NOT that kind of party, HD!!!). She didn't turn up, but we forgave her.

And that other guy...did you say Steven Seagal? Doesn't look like him...Nah, just kidding. It was great to see Pete on Colbert a few months ago, still going strong.

[Nevernose]

6. Stephen King isn't forgotten

But his short stories don't get the respect they deserve. There are other people who write short stories, obviously, but Stephen King might be the last master of the classic, nineteenth century style American short story.

That's something that a famous author has been forgotten for.

[RebelOne]

9. Stephen King will never be forgotten by me. n/t

[Nevernose]

7. Kids these days don't read the same stuff I did

And it hasn't been that long since I was a kid. I ink its because there's so much YA stuff being written that they either A) don't have to read anything difficult or B) have a plethora of newer YA stuff to read. Or C) they've already seen the movie.

A list of stuff my students would look at me funny for suggesting they read:
Oz books
Tarzan books
Agatha Christie
Alan Quartermain
Barsoom
Judy Bloom
The Prydain Chronicles (although I actually use one in my Mythology class)
Anything else written more than ten years ago

(For the record, for actual school I use actual literature)

[Flaxbee]

8. Barbara Pym. Deserves much more attention than she's had.

Excellent Women
Some Tame Gazelle
Jane and Prudence
No Fond Return of Love

... and others. Fantastic writer, wry and humorous.

From wikipedia:
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym (2 June 1913 – 11 January 1980) was an English novelist. In the 1950s she wrote a series of social comedies, of which the best known are Excellent Women (1952) and A Glass of Blessings (1958). In 1977 her career was revived when the biographer David Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin both nominated her as the most underrated writer of the century. Her novel Quartet in Autumn (1977) was nominated for the Booker Prize that year, and she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Pym

[Ron Obvious]

10. P.G. Wodehouse

While many would object that he's hardly been forgotten, I don't often seem to run into people these days who've heard of the greatest humorist of the English Language. Whole books have been printed containing nothing more than quotes from his other books, and he's been described as creating more wholly original similes than any other writer in history. He is, of course, the creator of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves.

A sample from google:

“The voice of Love seemed to call to me, but it was a wrong number.”

“He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.”

“I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”

“I'm not absolutely certain of the facts, but I rather fancy it's Shakespeare who says that it's always just when a fellow is feeling particularly braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with the bit of lead piping.”

“He had the look of one who had drunk the cup of life and found a dead beetle at the bottom.”

“She looked as if she had been poured into her clothes and had forgotten to say "when". ”

[Demo_Chris]

14. Okay, gimme a title to start with. nt

[First Speaker]

15. Try *The Code of the Woosters*...

...your life will never be the same... ...

[Ron Obvious]

20. I'd start with the older short story collections

The Inimitable Jeeves
Carry On Jeeves
Very Good Jeeves

Or indeed, as mentioned, the Code of the Woosters.

The stories might seem dated to modern readers, but Jeeves and Wooster dwell in a glorified Edwardian time that never really existed anyway. The outside horrors of war and depravity never intrude in this world, where the worst thing that might happen to you is to find yourself accidentally engaged to someone you don't want to marry. As the gentleman's code prohibits breaking an engagement, all sorts of schemes must be devised to get the girl to break the engagement.

It's all very good-natured stuff and the writing is absolute genius. I once gave the books to a friend dying in hospice and he told me hadn't laughed so hard in years.

[Demo_Chris]

29. Cool! nt

[Byronic]

54. The Master!

You don't often run into people who have heard of Wodehouse? You really should frequent The Drones Club more regularly, old stick!

Or, of course, there are the incomparable delights of Blandings Castle, but it is almost a rule that one only stays there in disguise. The old place 'attracts imposters like catnip does cats.'

Sublime stuff.

Tinkerty Tonk!

[Ron Obvious]

55. What ho!

What ho, young Byronic! Always glad to run into someone who still appreciates the master in these parts.

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. Jack London

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CC

[Callmecrazy]

12. Oliver Closeoff

Last edited Sat Jul 13, 2013, 05:41 AM - Edit history (1)

Author of The Adventures of Harry Paratestes.

[KamaAina]

21. I. P. Daily

Author of Beyond the Yellow River.

[Callmecrazy]

22. Puddles on the Moon...

BY I.P. Farr.

[mysuzuki2]

23. Art Majors

The author of Unemployed in America.

[Callmecrazy]

24. LOL!

[Ron Obvious]

26. Claude Balls

Author of Tigerhunting for Dummies

[Demo_Chris]

13. Lloyd Alexander (Prydain Chronicles), Fredrick Pohl (Gateway, etc), Susan Cooper (Dark is Rising)

[Brother Buzz]

19. John D. MacDonald

and Clarence E. Mulford (Louis L'Amour got real close to capturing the real Hopalong Cassidy then gave it up)

[pscot]

28. Bill Boyd owned the franchise

and L'Amour's Hoppy wasn't suitable for the kiddies.

[Brother Buzz]

31. True, but the original Hopalong Cassidy was hard-drinking, rough-living badass that righted wrongs

(not unlike J. D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire, or Lee Child's Reacher)



William Boyd's Hopalong was a candyass; no self-respecting soul salvager would waste time polishing silver. YMMV.

[pscot]

32. Watch it!

I had that picture on my bedroom wall.

[malthaussen]

36. I wouldn't call MacDonald forgotten.

Heck, Random House has been issuing yet another reprint of the McGees all this year.

-- Mal

[Brother Buzz]

39. I read the entire Travis McGee series decades ago. I want, I need a new title

Just one more 'color'.

[malthaussen]

40. At least he got to wrap it up before he died.

All authors with long series should have advanced notice of when they will write their last book. MacDonald got to finish things well. Poor Roger Zelazny ended up with a fragmented mess.

Personally, I'm still mourning the loss of George MacDonald Fraser.

-- Mal

[Brother Buzz]

42. Kinda sorta, but there was still enough meat on the bone for one last meal

[First Speaker]

43. Excellent choice...Fraser, that is...

...I *love* Flashman... ...

[malthaussen]

47. I got to exchange a couple of letters with GMF in the 90's.

He turned me on to some nice books about the sporting world in the latter 18th century.

-- Mal

[nomorenomore08]

63. Ross MacDonald (which was a pseudonym). Writer of noir crime fiction, rather good. Seemingly ignored

Also in that genre, but British, Derek Raymond - whose real name, strangely enough, was Robin Cook. Not the American Robin Cook obviously.

[Brother Buzz]

67. I've read Ross MacDonald and it never quite clicked

Southern California hardboiled has all the makings of a good read, but I was never able to relate to Lew Archer like I was able to with J. D. MacDonald's Travis McGee. Ross MacDonald was a good read, just not memorable.

[raccoon]

25. Ruth Moore. A good Maine writer. If you don't read anything else of hers, you

oughta read SPOONHANDLE.

[MiddleFingerMom]

27. L. Frank Baum, MiddleFingerMomMom grew up on the Oz books in the 1920's... as did I in the 60's.

Last edited Sat Jul 13, 2013, 02:48 AM - Edit history (1)

.
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As she progressed through the final stages of Alzheimer's, she grew more and more childlike.,,
often mistaking me for her older brother and sometimes begging me not to tell "Mother" (dead
50 years at that point) about something innocently naughty that she had done that morning.
.
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I often read to her from the Oz books during those stages. She would settle back with the most
beautiful smile -- content and comforted and at peace with the world.
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Me too.
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[GentryDixon]

30. Studs Turkel

I loved reading him on the 70's. One of my favorite series was " Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do".

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studs_Terkel

[A Simple Game]

33. I haven't heard james michener's name mentioned in a long time. n/t

[TeamPooka]

34. Ross Thomas aka Oliver Bleek

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ross+thomas

[baldguy]

35. George Alec Effinger

James Morrow
Maureen McHugh
Robert Anton Wilson
H. Beam Piper
Jack Womack

[First Speaker]

45. Some great choices...

...the Paratime Police have had a huge influence on subsequent SF...as for RAW--hey. All Hail Eris. Sad to think he's already been "forgotten"... ...

[friendly_iconoclast]

51. This!- "What Entopy Means To Me", the Budayeen cycle...

And let's not forget:

C.M. Kornbluth
Thomas M. Disch
John Brunner
Craig Kee Strete
Joanna Russ

[Lydia Leftcoast]

37. Arthur Uphill

A wonderful Australian mystery writer of the 1930s-1950s. His descriptions of the landscapes and people of Australia are powerful. The one caution I have to give you is that he was a man of his times, and although he probably counted as a racial liberal in his day, his attitudes toward the Aborigines are patronizing at best. For example, his detective is half Aboriginal, and Uphill has him having to fight his "wild" tendencies all the time.

Other than that, very enjoyable books.

[KG]

38. Bukowski

[nomorenomore08]

64. How is he "forgotten"? I see/hear him mentioned all the time.

Good writer, I like his brusque style. But I feel like he and Kerouac have been somewhat overrated, probably by people who just haven't read enough. Not that I'm saying that applies to you.

[WCGreen]

41. Franklin W.Dixon...

[First Speaker]

44. The politically incorrect originals, I trust...

...the sanitized 50s versions of our boys were terrible. The originals were the best juvenile mysteries ever written..I can still *see* Frank and Joe prowling around good old southern Jersey, plump Chet Morton in tow...

[WCGreen]

48. I fell in love with reading when I stumbled onto the series

when I was in fourth grade...

[mulsh]

46. Ring Lardner

here's the Introduction to his book "How to Write Short Stories, with examples"

1
How to Write Short Stories

A glimpse at the advertising columns of our leading magazines shows that whatever else this country may be shy of, there is certainly no lack of correspondence schools that learns you the art of short-story writing. The most notorious of these schools makes the boast that one of their pupils cleaned up $5000.00 and no hundreds dollars writing short stories according to the system learnt in their course, though it don't say if that amount was cleaned up in one year or fifty.

[rrneck]

49. Lucretius nt

[AsahinaKimi]

50. Rex Stout

I always enjoyed the Nero Wolf Stories. I was also a huge fan of Michael Crichton. He will be missed...

[boilerbabe]

52. Definitely a good choice!

I would like to add Hans Fallada to this list. His realism (he based the novels I read on certain time periods during the severe economic troubles in Germany just after WW1 and later periods (He apparently wrote 25 books, but I have only been able to get 4 of them). If you get his books on Kindle you will find a wealth of research and backstory that will just blow your mind! So far, I have read: ""A Wolf Among Wolves", "The Drinker", 'Every Man Dies Alone", and am just starting "What Now, Little Man?" These all are a slice of realism that will leave you stunned. Melville House Press brought out newer translations, and if you get the Kindle version, you will also get scholarly commentary, and even interviews with his son and grandson (plus the Stasi-plagued archivist of his work). I read a LOT, and I recommend anything you can find by this author!!!

[pscot]

62. Joseph Conrad

For Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim and many more.

[nomorenomore08]

65. Anna Kavan. She had fleeting success right after her death (late 60's) but not much else.

'Ice' is probably one of the best (and most original) apocalyptic novels ever written. The trippiest thing about it, though, is that much of the plot may only be taking place in the narrator's mind.

Honestly I like everything I've read by her, she's one of the most unique and distinctive writers I can think of. 'Asylum Piece,' 'Who Are You?,' 'Sleep Has His House' are all recommended by me, though the latter is anything but accessible - she described it as "an autobiography in dreams." 'Julia and the Bazooka' - the "bazooka" refers to a syringe - may not be her best work, but it is a good starting point.

[jmowreader]

66. Harold Robbins

[annabanana]

68. Robertson Davies

Spectacular storyteller!