Posted on 12/13/2013 8:49:04 PM PST by Kip Russell
Everybody (well, everybody who reads sf/fantasy) has their favorite novels in each genre...which are usually a bunch of other people's favorite novels as well. This only makes sense, since cream rises to the top.
But even so, there are plenty of obscure books that for whatever reason, never really caught on. They might well be great reads, but no one seems to have heard of them...so what's your favorite sf and fantasy novel that still lies in not-so-deserved obscurity?
With any luck, we'll all discover a bunch of great books that we've never heard of before!
I'll start off with mine: for sf, "The Killing Star" by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski.
In the late 21st Century, our solar system is attacked by aliens using "relativity missiles"...boulder-sized hunks of metal accelerated to 90% of the speed of light. Thousands of them. 99.9999% of humanity is wiped out in a few hours. There's no need for a spoiler warning, this happens in the first 20 pages. The rest of the novel follows the desperate struggle of the few survivors spread throughout the solar system.
For fantasy, "A Personal Demon" by Richard Brown, David Bischoff, and Linda Richardson.
When Willis Baxter, a frustrated professor at a New England university with a penchant for drink and remarkable talent for failure in romantic relationships, got too drunk at his own party, unexpected results ensued. Instead of just impressing his guests with his knowledge of obscure magic rituals, he summoned an absolutely stunning female half-demon, Anathae. The demon, who looks like a naked sixteen year-old redhead with small horns, hooves and a tasteful tail, has been unhappy in Hell, and is extremely grateful to her "liberator". Luckily, most guests attribute the summoning to a party trick, with amusement value pretty much divided by gender.
Hilarity ensues. "I Dream of Jeannie" meets Faust...
Yeah - when I was a kid I lived near one of those used book stores that sold books with the cover torn off....
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