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Overlooked Books
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htaccess
Posted 2009-12-28 5:54 PM (#1750)
Subject: Overlooked Books



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Do you have any books that you think are absolutely fantastic that you would score a 10 but for some reason they never got any awards?

Mine would be Schild's Ladder by Greg Egan.

I'm interested to know what others think.
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Deven Science
Posted 2010-01-03 4:24 PM (#1761 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: RE: Overlooked Books



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Location: Sacramento, California		Armor, by John Steakley. I love this book, but don't believe it won any awards or anything.
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MT in Austin
Posted 2010-05-11 5:15 PM (#2036 - in reply to #1761)
Subject: RE: Overlooked Books



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Deven Science - 2010-01-03 4:24 PM

Armor, by John Steakley. I love this book, but don't believe it won any awards or anything.


I second that!

Armor is a great book. The battle scenes are very well written. This is one of those books I hated to finish.
It shares many of the same elements as Starship Troopers and Forever War as far as technology goes.
It is much darker, though.

Too bad, Steakley has only written two books, Armor and Vampire$ (very liberally adapted into John Carpenter's Vampires).
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Deven Science
Posted 2010-05-11 5:39 PM (#2038 - in reply to #2036)
Subject: RE: Overlooked Books



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Location: Sacramento, California		@MT in Austin,

Yeah, once I finished, I was bummed that he didn't have more books to pick up and read.
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Administrator
Posted 2010-05-11 6:52 PM (#2039 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: RE: Overlooked Books



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@htaccess:  I've never read Egan before but have heard good things about him.  We've only got Permutation City in the DB right now. 

@Deven Science and MT in Austin: I was really intrigued with Armor when it came out but had forgotten about it.  Thanks for the reminder.  Too bad there was no sequel.

So, what do you guys think of an "Overlooked Books" list?  We can use this thread to post recommendations and then vote or something to determine a list of say 50 books.  I'll add them to the DB and build a list page for them.  It could be a running list that we can add to as we go along until we reach 100.

Some thoughts:

  • We can start with 10 and add more in stages - maybe 10 at a time.  Easier for me to add them to the DB and easier to come up with a shorter list to get the ball rolling.
  • There should be a minimum of noms needed for a book to be considered.  Armor has been nominated and seconded so far.  How about 3 or maybe 5 thumbs up?
  • Should it be a simple free-for-all pick any book you think of or should we pick books from specific years?  The best book in 1995 that was overlooked by Hugo and Nebula etc.?  The latter is more work but we would end up with a more representative list in the long run methinks.
  • Just SF or SF/F combined?
  • How do you quantify "overlooked"?  Never got a single nomination for the 10 awards here on the site?  I like that idea because it means we'd get more new books added to the site.

Do you think we can get enough participation to make a go of this?  I'm not so sure but it's fun to think about at any rate.  What do you guys think?  Any suggestions?

 

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MT in Austin
Posted 2010-05-11 10:00 PM (#2040 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Sounds good to me.

"Overlooked" could also mean forgotten. Not necessarily from unknown authors but lesser know books as well.
I like the "not nominated" criteria although there are so many awards that it's hard for a good book not to at least get a nod from somewhere.
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BigBen
Posted 2010-05-20 7:04 PM (#2076 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: Suzhou, China		David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series is one of my all-time favorites. And I hardly see it mentioned anywhere!
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MT in Austin
Posted 2010-05-29 9:19 AM (#2102 - in reply to #2076)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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I would submit Craig Shaw Gardner's original work as overlooked as a whole.

His writing is similar to that of Terry Pratchett. Silly English humor (though he is American) and loads of fun.
The first two, The Ebenezum Trilogy and The Ballad of Wuntor, are my favorites.
These series, in particular, are much fun.

Ebenezum

1. A Malady of Magicks (1986)
2. A Multitude of Monsters (1986)
3. A Night in the Netherhells (1987)

Wuntvor

1. A Difficulty with Dwarves (1987)
2. An Excess of Enchantments (1988)
3. A Disagreement with Death (1989)

The Cineverse Cycle

1. Slaves of the Volcano God (1989)
2. Bride of the Slime Monster (1990)
3. Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies (1990)

Arabian Nights

1. The Other Sinbad (1991)
2. A Bad Day for Ali Baba (1992)
3. The Last Arabian Night (1993)

CSG also wrote "serious" fantasy and several film novelizations. I haven't read those.

Edited by MT in Austin 2010-05-29 9:19 AM
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Administrator
Posted 2011-03-13 11:33 AM (#2352 - in reply to #2076)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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BigBen - 2010-05-20 7:04 PM David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series is one of my all-time favorites. And I hardly see it mentioned anywhere!

The Middle Kingdom

 

I found this old thread the other day and I thought I'd get some of these books added to the database.  The Chung Kuo series is in now.

Gardner is next.  If you've got any series that you like that we don't have in our database post it here and I'll get it added.

 

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whargoul
Posted 2011-03-13 2:23 PM (#2353 - in reply to #2352)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Administrator - 2011-03-13 11:33 AM

If you've got any series that you like that we don't have in our database post it here and I'll get it added.

I hear the Twilight series is quite popular
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Administrator
Posted 2011-03-13 2:36 PM (#2354 - in reply to #2353)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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whargoul -I hear the Twilight series is quite popular

That's the sort of thing that could get you banned.

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Administrator
Posted 2011-03-14 11:45 AM (#2355 - in reply to #2102)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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MT in Austin - 2010-05-29 9:19 AM I would submit Craig Shaw Gardner's original work as overlooked as a whole. His writing is similar to that of Terry Pratchett. Silly English humor (though he is American) and loads of fun.

 A Malady of MagicksA Difficulty with DwarvesSlaves of the Volcano GodThe Other SinbadDragon Sleeping

All the Gardner books are in now: 5 trilogies.  The first of each are pictured above and link to the trilogy list for each set.  Enjoy!

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gallyangel
Posted 2011-03-27 3:06 AM (#2361 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: The Wilds of Washington		How about Madeleine L'Engle's time Quintet? No nods from the SF awards but boatloads from the childrens book awards.
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gallyangel
Posted 2011-03-27 3:09 AM (#2362 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: The Wilds of Washington		There's John Christopher's Tripod foursome. It's fading away. I don't know if that qualifies as overlooked.
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gallyangel
Posted 2011-03-27 3:30 AM (#2363 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: The Wilds of Washington		I've got one more, at the moment. Alexander Key's, The Case of the Vanishing Boy. I just read the reviews of the book over at Amazon. All three had a fondness for this book. I agree. This one is something kids reread and adults pass on to the kids, even if it hasn't been reprinted in years. An overlooked classic.
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Administrator
Posted 2011-03-28 2:39 PM (#2364 - in reply to #2363)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: Dallas, Texas		@galleyangel:  I'm in the middle of putting all the "SF Mistressworks" books into the DB right now.  I'll check out these recommendations once I'm through with that.  Thanks for posting.
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Administrator
Posted 2011-04-09 8:48 PM (#2370 - in reply to #2362)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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gallyangel - 2011-03-27 3:09 AM There's John Christopher's Tripod foursome. It's fading away. I don't know if that qualifies as overlooked.

Tripods are in now with some nice 2003 reprint editions from Simon Pulse.  We definitely want to get more Young Adult books in our DB but the other books you mentioned are more for children than YA which is outside our baileywick.  Thanks for the recommendations and keep them coming!

 The White MountainsThe City of Gold and LeadThe Pool of FireWhen the Tripods Came

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gallyangel
Posted 2011-04-27 12:53 AM (#2380 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: The Wilds of Washington		How about C.J. Cherryh's Wave Without A Shore? That's another one which is long out of print, but probably could support a larger circle of readers. One of the themes of the book is unseeing parts of reality, which is exactly what drove Mieville's The City and The City. I wonder if Mieville has read Wave or took inspiration from it? Unseeing reality, since the main character is an artist, that sounds like a very stupid or at the very least, a limiting position for any artist to take.
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Administrator
Posted 2011-04-29 9:16 PM (#2383 - in reply to #2380)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: Dallas, Texas		Wave without a Shore
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gallyangel
Posted 2011-05-14 10:05 PM (#2390 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: RE: Overlooked Books



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Location: The Wilds of Washington		How about these two from Hal Clement: Needle and it's sequel, Through the Eye of the Needle?

Doesn't Needle have the first use of a symbiotic parring between a human and an alien? That would make it slightly important in the history of SF innovation.

You only have two books in the database by Clement and he's seems to be one of the golden age authors who's fading fast. Adding another two by him might be a good idea.
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gallyangel
Posted 2011-06-08 2:34 AM (#2448 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: RE: Overlooked Books - Hitchhikers



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Location: The Wilds of Washington		I was wondering about the Hitchhikers series.

Are you going to include Eoin Colfer's And Another Thing... as well since it does continue the series?
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gallyangel
Posted 2011-06-08 2:41 AM (#2449 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: RE: Overlooked Books - Foundation



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Have you considered adding the second Foundation Trilogy?

Foundation's Triumph by Brin
Foundation and Chaos by Bear
Foundation's Fear by Benford

Three heavy hitters at work there.
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Administrator
Posted 2011-06-08 1:09 PM (#2453 - in reply to #1750)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: Dallas, Texas		@Galleyangel: Lots of Hal Clement coming, stay tuned! I just put Hitchhiker's in last week. Guess I should have included And Another Thing! I'll get it soon. The Killer B's! Another obvious series I've overlooked... and I read them too! Thanks for the suggestions.
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Administrator
Posted 2011-06-15 8:05 AM (#2465 - in reply to #2453)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Ask and ye shall receive....

NeedleThrough the Eye of a Needle

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Emil
Posted 2011-06-20 8:49 AM (#2468 - in reply to #2465)
Subject: Re: Overlooked Books



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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia		The Man Who Fell To Earth - Walter Tevis
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