I’m taking a risk here, and I’m probably the only person on the face of the planet who agrees with…well, me. But I discovered Zenna Henderson’s “The People” when I was in high school and was blown away. The stories were deeply spiritual, a fact that didn’t and doesn’t bother me as an atheist and very much added to my appreciation of how people of faith live their lives in the face of great trial. Not earthshaking in any way. But great stories. Zenna Henderson’s work
I’ve only read the one Julian May trilogy (The Galactic Mielieu, which was interesting, not having read The Pliestocine Exile) most of the Alvin Maker books (should never have gone past three) most of the Riverworld series (but that was when I was a little kid, I don’t remember much about it now except that it totally fell apart at the end) the first Deryni book (don’t remember a God-damned thing about it) and the first Deathstalker book (one of the single worst books I’ve ever read. And that’s saying a hell of a lot).
Of the lot, pretty much the only one that doesn’t get the attention it really deserves would be May’s books. Really great ideas, but the characters are kinda thin. The rest are justifiably overlooked, IMO.
The author that I’m surprised isn’t routinely mentioned as one of the giants of the genre is C.J. Cherryh. She’s plenty succesful and critically acclaimed, no doubt about that, but I’d expect her books to be mentioned right of the bat in any discussion of great science fiction novels, but I seldom see her name come up. Only seen her mentioned a few times on the boards, too. Although there is a poster named Bren Cameron, which is way cool.
I quite liked ‘The People’ when I was in high school. Admittedly, I haven’t read it since but my impression is still good.
Let me throw out a shout for John Wyndham, he of ‘Day of the Triffids’ and ‘The Polinators of Eden’. The world should simply pay more attention to those books. If it doesn’t it’s stupid.
Beyond that I’m well known as an H. Beam Piper partisan. His ‘Terro-Human Future History’ series is, quite possibly, the greatest future history ever written.
And I couldn’t stand the Deryni books. But I think that’s less the quality of writing than the almost reflexive dislike I have of fiction that has elves, knights on chargers, etc. I really dodge the whole ‘fantasy’ thing in favor of the ‘rockets and ray guns’ side of the equation.
Oh, yes. Thank you for mentioning her. The stories have recently been re-issued in hard cover, and I continue to think them excellent.
True. Though I think over the last decade or so her writing style may have gotten densely-packed enough to get in her way.
But Cyteen and Downbelow Station are superb; and I very much wish somebody would film Pride of Chanur.
Nope, me and Polycarp (among many others) love Henderson’s work! 
If you haven’t already gotten it, let me recommend the NESFA book “Ingathering” which collects ALL the Henderson people stories including some (4?) that have never been reprinted elsewhere!
I own the collected “People” stories in hardcover.
An insanely great read.
I will simply agree with Fenris in re: Zenna Henderson. For 40 years now I have wanted a rappoor like That Fancher Kid had. 
(For those not already aware, Fenris and I have so close to identical tastes in SF that it gets spooky – even we sometimes have to check the name next to the post to see which of us said it! :D)
In regards to Piper, I’d like to see more discussion of his work. There have been a couple of recent re-releases of his material (particularly short stories), with some background on his metaphysics, that made for fascinating reading. And my wife, with a good intellect and an unabashed fondness for schmaltz, finds the Fuzzy books absolutely terrific.
The problem with this thread is that there are so damn many great authors in the field who don’t get talked about much. Michael Bishop, or D. G. Compton, or Thomas Disch. Or authors with one book towering over the rest of their careers, like Keith Roberts with Pavane. Or especially writers whose short fiction was even better than any of their novels: Kate Wilhelm, or James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon), or Avram Davidson, or William Tenn, or James Patrick Kelly.
But for downright totally obscure off-the-wall favorites you can’t beat these three:
Mel Gilden: Surfing Samurai Robots, and its sequels Tubular Android Superheroes and Hawaiian U.F.O. Aliens. All star Zoot, an alien who’s read too much Raymond Chandler, and more surfer dudes than at Venice Beach. Probably the funniest private eye spoofs ever written in sf, but they didn’t sell and Mel had to go back to writing young adult novels to survive.
Michael Kandel: Strange Invasion, In Between Dragons, and Captain Jack Zodiac. Kandel is an editor by trade, and is also Stanislaw Lem’s translator. He did three weird, wildly imaginative, and highly literate novels, found that no one bought them and went back to editing.
Mick Farren’s trilogy: The Quest of the DNA Cowboys, Synaptic Manhunt, and The Neural Atrocity. Former rock musician and critic writes the only true psychedelic sf trilogy. Didn’t sell, but he came back later and started writing again. Sells in England, utterly unknown in the U.S.
I get a little frustrated that so few people seem to know of Barbara Hambly’s work. She’s been writing since the early 80s, starting with fantasy, then branching off into mysteries, and now historical not-quite-fiction. She got her Master’s in medieval history at UC Riverside, so she’s got the chops to create very real, very credible worlds.
She came up with a very believable system of magic and then explores the effects that magic would have on the political and socio-economic settings of her books. Her characters are well-though out, consistent, and likeable - both men and women. Pretty much all of her stories have some element of mystery to them. Humor shows up, not in a hamhanded manner of an author trying to stick something funny in, but as a result of three-dimensional characters coping with the absurdity around them. Her plots are tight, consistent, well paced, and gripping.
Plus, the woman can write sonnets. Like the following from Traveling with the Dead:
Some of my favorite books of hers include:
The Darwath series:
The Time of the Dark
The Walls of Air
The Armies of Daylight
The Mother of Winter
Icefalcon’s Quest
Her vampire books:
Those Who Hunt the Night
Traveling with the Dead
and a delightful stand alone horror/action/comedy titled Bride of the RatGod set in Hollywood of the early 1920s and populated with a silent screen actress, her widowed sister-in-law, a Jewish cameraman, a Chinese wizard, and three Pekingese.
Go out and read her stuff.
I like Bride of the Rat God and her vampire books especially. I tend to prefer science fiction to fantasy, in part because it seems to be too easy for a fantasy writer to bend the world for the sake of the story. But when Hambly has the grounding of a real historical setting to work with, she can do outstanding work.
I’m getting around to Hambly. I have at least one Star Trek book by her, have read one of her books set in New Orleans with a black freedman doctor, and loved a fantasy by her called, I think, Sisters of the Raven.
Hambly is supposedly writing a sequal to Rat God, set in Hollywood, with Nora & one or two others, later on in film history.
Does Octavia Butler qualify for underappreciated? I read her book Mind of My Mind a long, long time ago and thought it was fantastic. I then went out and read everything she’d ever written and continue to do so. What’s so cool about her is that she’s female (which was a real rarity when I was a girl) and she’s black, which is still rare for some reason. Anyway, her books include The Kindred, The Parable of the Sower and its sequel, and the Xenogenesis books. Great writer, truly unique stories.
I love Barbara Hambly’s Benjamin January mysteries (the ones set in 19th century New Orleans that jsgoddess mentioned), but her SF stuff leaves me cold. I liked Bride of the Rat God, not for the plot, but for the wonderful way she gives you a feel for early Hollywood. I think she’s much better at historical fiction than SF.
As a writer, Poul Anderson is well known, but one of his works, Tau Zero is not. A very short novel first published in 1970, it is the hardest of hard SF; nothing in the science of the book is made up (although there are some non-trivial engineering details to be worked out).
A Bussard ram ship departs for a star some thirty light years away. Aboard are some fifty souls who are leaving their loved ones behind forever. They will accelerate to near-light speeds to the halfway point, then decelerate to their destination. Subjective ship time (due to time dilation) – five years. A probe has reported a probable habitable planet. If true they will set up a colony and never return. If not, it’s five years back (for them) but on earth, at least eighty will have passed.
This is okay with the passengers and crew; they all volunteered for the trip and were subjected to psychological testing before they were accepted, but just short of the halfway point they run into a wisp of cloud which at relativistic speeds, smacks into them like a wall, destroying the brakes.
Now, they’re in a pickle. They can continue to accelerate. In fact they have to. Stop the engines, the collector fields collapse, and they are no longer shielded from the onslaught of hydrogen atoms smacking into them. But they can’t slow down again. Instead of a five, or maybe ten, year trip with a whole planet waiting for them at its completion, they’re stuck on a tiny bucket for the rest of their lives. Anderson explores the stresses this causes.
DD
I’m not sure if you people are talking about books that are not well remembered now, or at the time of publication. If the former, with limited number of books being reprinted, and short memories of many, there are inevitably good books being forgotten. If the latter, I’ve got to disagree with a lot of these.
Cordwainer Smith was immensely respected when his books came out. I don’t know how well they sold, but they got featured coverage in reviews, and magazines, and I have them and love them. Linebarger’s death was greatly mourned.
Zenna Henderson, though maybe not a best seller, had the People stories turned into a TV movie, and they also got featured coverage, like magazine covers. I think they’re sappy myself, so I think they were over-rated, if everything.
Tau Zero was quite the hit when it came out. People appreciated the gimmick. It might not be remembered as well now, since it is not part of a series.
They can’t all be remembered all the time!
Good point. But as I understood the original post, both would be helpful. Maybe the question could be rephrased: “what science fiction or fantasy books could you recommend to people who like the field but only know a few authors?”
In that context, I really think most of the best books are older. (That’s not an “in the good old days” comment, but rather, over fifty years or so there’s time for lots of good books to get written and forgotten.
But there’s also an interesting issue with good new writers who, for whatever reason, don’t get noticed. And consequently stop getting published, to the detriment of the field; which gets way too much flooded with hack writers telling the same story for the umptieth time.
Great point, and terrific story. In fact, one reviewer commented that Tau Zero was…
perhaps the only novel ever to use the Big Bang simply as a device to advance the plot.