tracer:
You ever have one little detail that throws off an entire book for you? Re: Riddley Walker, I could not get the question out of my head of where they were getting the tea. It doesn’t grow in the British Isles, and I doubt that they had much trade with the tropics…
(I don’t know why The Wife thinks I obsess over trivial details.)
Henry Kuttner!!!
I cherish my copy of “Robots Have No Tails.”
your humble TubaDiva
Shipped out with Tiger on a Hospital ship…
A lot of these books are real good, but aren’t lost. Now NO Simak or Smith is bad.
Burroughs is heavily online. Read The Land Tiem forgot and the other 2 in the series at work. Had 'em on a floppy. Recommended the Barsoom series to TruePisces when she borrowed the Dream Park sequel (Was it Barsoom Project?)and gave her links to Princess of Mars. Long live the Gutenberg Porject and the like for the oldies.
H.G. Wells- The First Men in the Moon.
Hugely entertaining- more so than any of his other works except War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. I’ve never understood why The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Invisible Man (both of which put me to sleep) are so highly regarded while The First Men in the Moon (fast-paced and engrossing) is neglected.
I’ll second Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy series. And don’t forget there were three of them.
But I’ll throw a shout out for Piper’s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen novel. It’s a compilation of three novella’s in Piper’s ‘Paratime’ universe.
Wonderful stuff about a Pennsylvania State Trooper who slips into an alternate reality.
But really…most of those mentioned here shouldn’t be considered lost. I could obtain many of them in an hour if I wanted. That’s hardly ‘lost’ status.
This post reminded of a series of anthologies by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg called Isaac Asimov presents the Great SF Stories. Volume 1 started in 1948 and included only stories from that year. Nice little intro before each story. I discovered so many of the authors listed in Cal’s post. ( I would add C. M. Kornbluth, BTW, though his work is limited.) There are 20 plus of these books, all great, all out of print as far as I know.
About the same time I found these anthologies, I found a list 100 SF classics. Most are not in print. It’s always a coup when I find one. I’m thrilled to hear that The Stars My Destination is available. That’s a must buy, at least so I hear.
Of course, I’ve read the Martian Chronicles. Absolutely fantastic, I break it out every couple of years. At least this and The Illustrated Man are still in print.
Book of the Month Club had a 4 volume Bradbury set as its main selection about 3 months ago. Illustrated Man, Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way comes (my pesonal favorite) and something else.
A second vote for anything by Allan E. Nourse.
The Stainless Steel Rat books by Harry Harrison.
The Compleat Werewolf by Anthony Boucher.
Short Story “The Marching Morons” by C. M. Kornbluth (I think)