# Prolific authors who have faded into obscurity **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439 "2014-11-23T21:48:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/101 "2014-11-30T22:12:16Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > You can’t give her books away. The same thing is true for Dick Francis. You can give the Dick Francis books to me. Danielle Steel? Faugh. I’ve also got some Captain W. E. Johns: [QUOTE=wikipedia] “W. E. Johns was a prolific author and editor. In his 46-year writing career (1922–68) he penned over 160 books, including nearly one hundred Biggles books, more than sixty other novels and factual books, and scores of magazine articles and short stories.” [/QUOTE] His popularity was sparked by his early “true fiction” accounts of WWI flying. The later books are achieving well-deserved obscurity. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/102 "2014-12-01T00:29:22Z")
I’m not making a statement on the quality of his work but Piers Anthony was a mainstay of genre fiction from the 70s to the early 90s when he released dozens of books in several popular series. Now he is barely footnote who is probably only still discussed because he is a creep. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/103 "2014-12-01T00:47:49Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Both movies recently aired on TCM, too. > > Frank Slaughter is another once-prolific author who appears to be largely forgotten. He wrote medical thrillers in the 50s and 60s. Slaughter also wrote Biblical novels. Btw, I believe he was also an M.D… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/104 "2014-12-01T17:47:09Z")
Well, here’s one author whose name you probably don’t know, but who was EXTREMELY prolific and whose books were immensely popular in the 1930s: Warwick Deeping. > **[Warwick Deeping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwick_Deeping)** > > George Warwick Deeping (28 May 1877 – 20 April 1950) was an English novelist and short story writer, whose best-known novel was Sorrell and Son (1925). > Born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, into a family of physicians, Warwick Deeping was educated at Merchant Taylors' School. He proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, to study medicine and science (receiving his MA in March 1902), then went to Middlesex Hospital to finish his medical training. During the First World War, he served in the Royal Arm... ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/105 "2014-12-02T20:29:50Z")
How about Helen MacInnes? The Salzburg Connection was a bestseller for many weeks. Ross MacDonald the author of the Lew Archer novels? John D. MacDonald the author of the Travis McGee series? John R. Tunis and Clair Bee both authored many books about baseball and basketball respectively. John Dos Passos. Leon Uris Len Deighton Eric Ambler ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/106 "2014-12-02T20:47:23Z")
Daphne DuMaurier is not exactly forgotten- she’s remembered for the popular movie versions of some of her works- especially Alfred Hitchcock’s\*\*\* Rebecca \*\*\*and _ **The Birds.** _ Still she was a VERY prolific writer and an extremely popular one. Given that, it’s amazing how few of her works have endured. The following novels by Daphne DuMaurier reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List, but I’ll bet most SDMB regulars have never heard of any of them (I hadn’t): Frenchman’s Creek The King’s General The Parasites My Cousin Rachel Mary Anne The Scapegoat The Glass Blowers ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/107 "2014-12-02T21:01:05Z")
If we look only at authors who have hit #1 on the New York Times Best Seller Lists multiple times but who are pretty obscure today… 1. John P. Marquand - his #1 novels include\*\*\* Point of No Return\*\*\*, \*\*\*Sincerely Willis Wayde, \*\*\* \*\*\*So Little Time \*\*\*and _ **BF’s Daughter.** _ And his “Mr. Moto” detective stories were hugley popular once. But today? I think he qualifies as obscure. 1. Ever heard of Thomas Costain? He was a Canadian journalist who sarted writing historical novels late in life. He hit #1 on the Times Best Seller list three times, with _ **The Black Rose** _, \*\*\*The Silver Chalice \*\*\*and \*\*The Moneyman. \*\* 2. The Scotish physician/novelist AJ Cronin had 3 #1 best sellers, but isn’t widely read any more. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/108 "2014-12-02T21:40:39Z")
Probably not obscure in Britain, but in the US John Wyndham might be getting to obscure. Wyndham wrote “The Day of the Triffids” and “The Midwich Cuckoos” both of which were made into a pretty good 50s scifi horror movies. (The Midwich Cuckoo movie is called “Village of the Damned” and I suspect is the better known of the two.) ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/109 "2014-12-02T21:57:07Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Probably not obscure in Britain, but in the US John Wyndham might be getting to obscure. Wyndham wrote “The Day of the Triffids” and “The Midwich Cuckoos” both of which were made into a pretty good 50s scifi horror movies. (The Midwich Cuckoo movie is called “Village of the Damned” and I suspect is the better known of the two.) Wow, haven’t thought of him for years (I grew up largely in the UK.) In the same vein, [J.P. Donleavy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Donleavy). Best known for [The Ginger Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ginger_Man) that got panned for being obscene. He wrote many delightful books, including one about a man with three testicles (three grapes on the end of his stem IIRC) and I read them all in the 1970s. He is in his 90s and still alive and kicking. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/110 "2014-12-02T21:58:31Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > I don’t think so with Harry Potter. 95% of the book is set in a timeless location; however, when British boarding schools fade from common acquaintance, then Potter might fade away. I doubt that, as most of the people reading Harry Potter are already unfamiliar with British boarding schools. As long as their are schools, it’ll work, even if you think living on campus is strange. It would just seem like yet another anachronism kept going by magic and lack of contact with the rest of the world. I think they’ll more likely fade for seeming cliche. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/111 "2014-12-02T23:36:49Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Probably not obscure in Britain, but in the US John Wyndham might be getting to obscure. Wyndham wrote “The Day of the Triffids” and “The Midwich Cuckoos” both of which were made into a pretty good 50s scifi horror movies. (The Midwich Cuckoo movie is called “Village of the Damned” and I suspect is the better known of the two.) He also wrote REbirth and From the DEpths, but I haven’t seen either of those on a bookshelf in years. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/112 "2014-12-03T00:23:13Z")
I don’t believe anyone has yet mentioned [Max Brand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Brand). According to the Wikipedia article, “(Brand) rivalled Edgar Wallace and Isaac Asimov as one of the most prolific authors of all time”. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/113 "2014-12-07T01:58:32Z")
On a tangential note (popular, not prolific), Olive Schreiner From the first half of the last century, I’ve got volumes from the “Little Leather Library Corporation New York”. Most of them feature names that are still well known today, if less popular. Tennyson. Wilde. Kipling. Shakespeare. Dickens. A.C.Doyle. And then I’ve got “Dreams”, by Olive Schreiner. ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/114 "2014-12-07T03:04:26Z")
Gaston Leroux churned out dozens of novels-sometimes publishing two or three in a single year. At one point his books were being made into films as soon as they were printed. The only one widely recognized today is “Phantom of the Opera,” and I think people are starting to associate that with Andrew Lloyd Webber instead. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/115 "2014-12-07T03:45:45Z")
Pearl S Buck who won a Nobel prize for literature for God’s sake. I read a number of her books from the library in the seventies but haven’t heard anythign about her for years. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439/116 "2014-12-07T13:30:33Z")
When Pearl S. Buck came up when there was [a similar thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12780380) back in 2010 and someone suggested that she was completely forgotten in the UK, I observed: > [@Huge successes then, completely forgotten now](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huge-successes-then-completely-forgotten-now/549315/107): > > Though here in the UK is surely precisely where Pearl S. Buck is currently going through the once-in-a-generation temporary blip/re-assessment in reputation, courtesy of the new Hilary Spurling biography of her. Duly reviewed in all the broadsheets earlier this year, etc. > > I even saw a London bookshop do a special in-store display of about a dozen of her titles in the last couple of months. Granted it was a branch of [Daunt’s](http://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/) and most of them were imports, though offhand I believe _The Good Earth_ is still in print here (Penguin Modern Classics?). I may as well take the opportunity to recommend Christopher Fowler’s 2012 book _Invisible Ink_, based on his long-running _Independent on Sunday_ column. The whole idea is to highlight once-famous authors or works that have been forgotten. He doesn’t quite recommend all of them, but it’s a good source of off-beat reading material, as well as a meditation on the vagaries of literary reputations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prolific-authors-who-have-faded-into-obscurity/705439.md?page=5)