One Hit Wonders (SFF Authors that are noted for just one story)

[rai]

I got to thinking, I am currently reading "Flowers For Algernon" and can't think of a much better example.

What are examples of this where an author is known for one book or story and heck you can't even recall whatever else they did?

And why do you think this happens? I can think of other examples in Literature such as "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane

Or "Catcher in the Rye" by Sallinger

So what great examples do you have? And why do you think it happens?

I mean I read a lot of Stephen King, he probably can't go a minute without writing something and it gets published, he's one end of the spectrum but there probably are a lot that have one great story and not much else.

If I wrote a story like "Flowers for Algernon" and that got a name for me. I would try like heck to get the next story and the next. I mean I'd try a hundred times to get another success. But it seems that just as many authors are know for one work than are know for multiple works.

 

[GOLLUM]

Hey I like this thread Raj!

Thanks for posting.

I'll have to put my thinking cap on now....

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Daniel Keyes never repeated the success of Flowers For Algernon, but it would be wrong to assume he never wrote anything else, or anything else that was good. The Minds Of Billy Milligan is a fascinating non-fiction study of multiple-personality; my copy happens to reside on the shelf right beside my computer.

Tom Godwin is best remembered, if at all, as the author of the story The Cold Equations. In this case, I have read a collection (from Baen I think) of other stories by this author. Not especially inspiring.

So I suppose it's down to quality in some cases and chance in others.

 

[rai]

yea, it's almost like pop-songs, I mean bands/singers can do a lot but may only be known for one song, like Manfred Mann's Earth Band "Blinded by the Light"

You get an Author like Stephen King or Robert E. Howard or Asimov or a hundred other great authors who can write it would seem a story a month or a book every 6 months. I'm sure they have a real gift. And it would seem like heck it can't be so hard to do. But it turns out it's probably harder than it looks ot be a prolific author.

 

[GOLLUM]

The other benefit of this thread is having folk post other books by authors that may be less well known but still good AND potential stinkers.

I've never heard of Minds of Billy Milligan nor Cold Equations so already my horizons become broadened again.

 

[Connavar]

I dont know much about John Sladek but i know he is 10/10 times mentioned with The Complete Roderick novel.

 

[gully_foyle]

John Sladek had a brilliant satirical take on nanotech before it existed in The Reproductive System. I think there are lots of one hit wonders. The one that springs to mind for me is Walter Tevis with Mockingbird, I'm pretty sure (without googling) that he had a couple of other books, but Mockingbird was brilliant.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Is it wrong to put JK Rowling on this list? She's written several books but they're all essentially 1 extended narrative or spin-off work from the same fantasy creation; and I regard that as little better than a one-off success.

I suppose you could argue that Tolkein falls into a similar statement but at least he wrote unrelated non-fiction work.

 

[blacknorth]

John Sladek! Come on now - he's a well established author with a string of great books. He's written many short stories, anthologised in year's best collections throughout the 70's and 80's.

John Sladek, indeed. I don't know what the world's coming to, (rhubarb rhubarb, slopes off...)

 

[Connavar]

John Sladek! Come on now - he's a well established author with a string of great books. He's written many short stories, anthologised in year's best collections throughout the 70's and 80's.

John Sladek, indeed. I don't know what the world's coming to, (rhubarb rhubarb, slopes off...)

None of the authors mentioned are real one hit wonders like in music with a hit and then gone forever. They are author who has other famous,rated works but also a classic or uber famous story,book that eclipse the others.

Plus its different from place to place. Some are known for many works in a place and in other places have only a novel that everyone know most.

I'm not talking about Tolkien,Rowling level but regular SFF famous authors.

 

[blacknorth]

But, Connavar, most authors usually have one book singled out as their best. The danger comes when that particular book takes on a life of its own, away from the authors body of work, and is dangerously hyped up to the detriment of the author's other, usually, out of print books. When balance disappears from the appraisal of a writer's career, then we get talk of one-hit-wonders. It's that balance we need to reach for as readers.

 

[J-WO]

Miller and A Canticle for Liebowitz. I know he did a few short stories and half-completed a follow up, but this is definitely his masterwork. I think a lot of its to do with exorcising demons--he bombed Monte Casino during the war.

 

[Connavar]

But, Connavar, most authors usually have one book singled out as their best. The danger comes when that particular book takes on a life of its own, away from the authors body of work, and is dangerously hyped up to the detriment of the author's other, usually, out of print books. When balance disappears from the appraisal of a writer's career, then we get talk of one-hit-wonders. It's that balance we need to reach for as readers.

Yeah that's natural but there are many famous authors who arent prolific and tend to be known for one work because their other works are rare,out of print ei not as famous today.


Everyone isnt like Heinlein,Vance,PKD for example who wrote 50-100 books and have 10 famous ones.

I choosed Sladek but there are always the big popular suspects for this thread Tolkien,Rowling,Herbert etc

Frankly SF authors have it easier they tend have several works that stand out. Awards,critical wise. I checked my online bookshelfd in Goodreads and most my SF writers had 2-3 at least they are known for.

Fantasy is more series oriented. Hardly anyone is known for one work.

 

[steve12553]

None of the authors mentioned are real one hit wonders like in music with a hit and then gone forever.

It's worse than that. The only musical group mentioned was Manfredd Mann who was definitely not a "One Hit Wonder." I believe Do Wah Diddy Diddy sold some serious records a few years earlier. You got to think along the lines of the 1910 Fruitgum Company or somebody equally forgettable. I'm hard pressed to think of an author that I've read other than Harper Lee who is a one hit wonder. And she definitely didn't do Science Fiction or Fantasy.

 

[rai]

sorry, got carried away with Manfred Man there, forgot about the ever popular "Do Wa Ditty Ditty"

I would have to go with (at least here in the US) the famous "99 Luftballons" by Nena

or "Come on Eileen" Dexys Midnight Runners

-

for Lit, as mentioned Harper Lee "To Kill a Mockingbird"

and "A Tree Grows in Brooklin" By Betty Smith

For SFF, definitely not Tolkien or Rawlins as they have thousands of pages and millions sold of each book. True they are mainly about a similar subject but not the same as having one book or story above all others.

 

[blacknorth]

or "Come on Eileen" Dexys Midnight Runners

Huh!

Dexy's had at least six or seven top ten hits, including two number ones - Come On Eileen and Geno. Young Soul Rebels was a top ten album in 1980. Too-Rye-Aye was a multi-million selling abum in 1982. Their third, Don't Stand Me Down, didn't do much business, but it's widely recognised as one of the finest albums of the 1980's.

And Kevin Rowland is a genius.

Difficult, isn't it?

 

[j d worthington]

I've never heard of Minds of Billy Milligan nor Cold Equations so already my horizons become broadened again.

Eh? "The Cold Equations" is often considered one of the hallmark stories of sf. There has been some controversy about it on various points (influences and the like), but so far Godwin's story has stood up against all of that quite well. You can find it in quite a few anthologies, including The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1, ed. by Robert Silverberg. I think you'll find it a story that stays with you....

John Sladek had a brilliant satirical take on nanotech before it existed in The Reproductive System. I think there are lots of one hit wonders. The one that springs to mind for me is Walter Tevis with Mockingbird, I'm pretty sure (without googling) that he had a couple of other books, but Mockingbird was brilliant.

Yes, Sladek was one of the shining lights of the New Wave, with such pieces as that mentioned above, The Steam-Driven Boy collection, The Muller-Fokker Effect, and the disturbing (and, frankly, spot on) "The Happy Breed", etc....

Tevis -- one other title definitely comes to mind: The Man Who Fell to Earth; but there were others which certainly got attention....

I suppose you could add Clemence Housman here, for "The Were-wolf", one of the best tales ever written on the theme, with a feeling more of folklore than anything else....

 

[thepaladin]

Though it's not SFF the example that jumps out at me is To Kill a Mockingbird. This is a Pulitzer Prize winning best seller that inspired a movie which in turn won golden globe and academy awards.

 

[iansales]

Andrew M Stephenson wrote two sf novels in the 1970s, both very good - The Wall of Years and Night Watch. He never wrote anything else.

Ernest Hogan wrote the excellent Cortez on Jupiter and High Aztech in the early 1990s, then disappeared for a decade before Smoking Mirror Blues in 2001 - but has written no novels since.

Michelle Shirey Crean's Dancer of the Sixth was published in 1993, and is her only novel. It's not bad.

Although he was SFWA president for many years, Michael Capobianco's only novel is 1990's Burster.

Jane Emerson's only novel is City of Diamond from 1996. Carolyn Ives Gilman's only novel is Halfway Human from 1998.

 

[Ian Whates]

Huh!

Dexy's had at least six or seven top ten hits, including two number ones - Come On Eileen and Geno. Young Soul Rebels was a top ten album in 1980. Too-Rye-Aye was a multi-million selling abum in 1982. Their third, Don't Stand Me Down, didn't do much business, but it's widely recognised as one of the finest albums of the 1980's.

And Kevin Rowland is a genius.

Difficult, isn't it?

Very. I had a similar reaction to mention of Manfred Mann's Earthband who, in addition to the already noted "Blinded by the Light" also had hits with "Joybringer" and "Davey's on the Road Again", and were themselves evolved from Manfred Mann, who had a string of hits.... Ah, I see Steve12553 has already made a similar point.