Who Do You Think Are The Most Neglected and Forgotten Writers?

[dask]

Don’t people read sf anymore?

 

[BAYLOR]

And the list goes on and on .

 

[Droflet]

Ahh, so do you mean apart from me? Yes, I'm being indulgent in calling myself a 'real' writer but hey, get over it.

 

[worldofmutes]

Ahh, so do you mean apart from me? Yes, I'm being indulgent in calling myself a 'real' writer but hey, get over it.

You’re too busy not teaching chickens how to dance

 

[psikeyhackr]

Don’t people read sf anymore?

Do you mean science fiction or speculative fiction?

 

[dask]

Do you mean science fiction or speculative fiction?

Probably both.

 

[Bick]

Two things:
(I) I don’t understand why psikey simply listed loads of well remembered authors.
(II) that Venn diagram is all sorts of wrong.

 

[dask]

When I first heard the term speculative fiction I had the impression it was something like science fiction spread thin or science fiction and new wave shuffled together. You don't have to look far for clarification:

 

[Randy M.]

Two things:
(I) ...
(II) that Venn diagram is all sorts of wrong.

I'm not seeing the wrong. At least, nothing completely out of whack.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Two things:
(I) I don’t understand why psikey simply listed loads of well remembered authors.
(II) that Venn diagram is all sorts of wrong.

That is the list from post #226 but in alphabetical. Just exercising my OCD.

 

[psikeyhackr]

When I first heard the term speculative fiction I had the impression it was something like science fiction spread thin or science fiction and new wave shuffled together. You don't have to look far for clarification:View attachment 85748

I prefer Robert Heinlein's version of Speculative Fiction which excludes Fantasy and a lot of stuff called Science Fiction. The current definition of "speculative fiction" is so broad I do not see what use it is.

Probably both.
View attachment 85747

What work fits into the purple science fiction circle but not the yellow speculative fiction circle?

 

[dask]

What work fits into the purple science fiction circle but not the yellow speculative fiction circle?

Someone else can answer this. I have no idea. Those bubble diagrams only appear to make sense. How to work meaningfully with them takes a keener mind than mine.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

While there are a few names on that list that I have never heard of (and it might be nice if we were told why it might be rewarding to look for their books) and some I recognize and have even read but must admit I never hear about these days, there are a large number of authors on that list who are certainly not forgotten and I wouldn't call neglected, since they are highly respected and still in print.

I sometimes wonder why we spend so much time here lamenting older authors who have slipped into obscurity (especially those who have not, in fact, slipped into obscurity at all) and not an equal amount of time recommending present-day authors who deserve more attention than they are getting.

 

[hitmouse]

On a blog elsewhere, a discussion on:
"Classic Authors Who You Like(d) and Who Have Pretty Much Been Forgotten"
went on for some time. I initiated it but deliberately left it to others to name whomever they wanted, using their own definitions.
Of course there were many objections, for whatever reasons, to many who were named. SF readers are a rancorous, picky, bunch.
There are a few who I certainly thought were not "classic"(Neil Gaiman ?)
Anyway, here's the full list of everyone who anyone mentioned.
C.M. Kornbluth
Phil Klass (William Tenn)
Henry Kuttner,
Ted Sturgeon
Fredrick Brown
Stanley Weinbaum
Wilmar Shiras
Eric Frank Russell
Bertram Chandler
Harry Harrison
Fred Hoyle
Frederik Pohl
Cliff Simak
Poul Anderson
E.E. 'Doc' Smith
M.K. Wren
Mary Gentle
Bruce Sterling
John Varley
Murray Leinster
Olaf Stapledon
Jack Williamson
Robert Sheckley
L. Sprague de Camp
James H. Schmitz
Bob Shaw
Richard Cowper
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Lewis Padgett (Kuttner & C. L. Moore)
C.L. Moore
Arthur Clarke
Robert(s) Shea & Wilson
Roger Zelazny
John Brunner
JG Ballard
Michael Coney
John Wyndham
Barrington Bayley
Charles Harness
Michael Moorcock
Brian Aldiss
Norman Spinrad
Frederick Pohl
Richard Cowper
James Blish
Barry Longyear
Keith Laumer
Keith Roberts
Philip José Farmer
George Orwell
Aldous Huxley
H Beam Piper
Fred Saberhagen
Fritz Leiber
Eando (Earl & Otto) Binder
Andre Norton
Robert Silverberg
Philip K Dick
Kingsley Amis
Damon Knight
Leigh Brackett
Raymond F Jones
Algis Budrys
Cordwainer Smith
A. E. van Vogt
John Carr
Edgar Pangborn
James Tiptree. (Alice Sheldon)
Randall Garrett
John Sladek
Lionel Fanthorpe
C J Cherryh
Daniel Keyes
Octavia E. Butler
Joanna Russ
Jack L. Chalker
Vonda McIntyre
Charles G Finney
Ray Bradbury
Dan Simmons
Geoffrey Chaucer
Chad Oliver
A. J. Deutsch
Theodora Goss
Tananarive Due
Ib Melchior
William Shakespeare
Lester Del Ray
Robert Heinlein
Joseph Heller
H. L. Gold
JP Martin
Neil Gaiman
George R. Stewart,
Pat Frank
Jack Vance
John Myers Myers
Thorne Smith
Henry Miller
James Branch Cabell
Lin Carter
Howard Waldrop
Isaac Asimov
John Cambell
Ursula LeGuin
L. Ron Hubbard
H P Lovecraft
Ron Goulart
Wilson Tucker
RA Lafferty
DG Compton
Avram Davidson
Alexei Panshin
Gordon Ecklund
Suzette Hagen Elgin
David Zindell
Ian Watson
Eleanor Arnason
Zenna Henderson
Christopher Priest
George Zebrowski
John Crowley
Sydney Van Sycoc
SP Somtow

Who is this Shakespeare fellow to whom you refer? Never heard of him. Neither have my fellow members of the Illiterates Club of Pyongyang.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Who is this Shakespeare fellow to whom you refer? Never heard of him. Neither have my fellow members of the Illiterates Club of Pyongyang.

He was an obscure fantasy writer with deep philosophical commentary.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be." - Puck, Midsummer Night's Dream

 

[Valtharius]

He was an obscure fantasy writer with deep philosophical commentary.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be." - Puck, Midsummer Night's Dream

It's even better in the original Klingon.

 

[Bick]

I'm not seeing the wrong. At least, nothing completely out of whack.

The historical has no overlap with horror or SF here but it surely should to produce alternative history, all horror is a subset of fantasy, and either all fantasy and SF is speculative (if you agree with Heinlein and Ellison and such like), in which case it should cover them both completely, or it is another expression for SF, in which case fantasy shouldn't overlap with it at all. Either way it's wrong. I don't see how any SF could not be considered speculative. Basically, its a bit iffy. Perhaps I'll draw a proper one sometime

 

[Bick]

Here you go:

 

[Valtharius]

Here you go:

View attachment 85753

Since we're overanalyzing things, what would be an example of speculative fiction that isn't science fiction, fantasy, horror, or alt-history?

 

[Bick]

Since we're overanalyzing things, what would be an example of speculative fiction that isn't science fiction, fantasy, horror, or alt-history?

It's an empty set, but I couldn't think if a way of drawing it that wasn't a larger circle.
(I don't personally like 'speculative', as its used to mean a broad description of SF, horror and fantasy; however, while SF clearly makes speculations about the future, fantasy doesn't really speculate per se, unless you mean in a very broad sense (speculating on how the world would be with unicorns in it). I think folk used 'speculative' because on-one's come up with a better word, rather than because it's accurate.