# Favorite OBSCURE Author(s)?



## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

I first discovered Penelope Evans over 10 years ago when I bought a used copy of her book  "The Last Girl" . A very unique story of a serial killer told from his point of view as he observes his next victim. I kept picturing John Hurt as Larry, the killer and storyteller... I then read _Freezing_, which I also liked but don't remember much. Evans is from the UK, so it was not easy to find her other books which were not widely released in the states. I finally got a copy of _First Fruits_ and loved it... my favorite so far. _A Fatal Reunion_ was probably my least favorite but I did like it... I am now reading _The Weight of Water_ which I had to order from the Amazon UK site. Loooooving it so far. None of her books are kindle-ized... I hope that changes... I would not put down my kindle for just anyone!...she has such a unique voice and her writing is not overly complicated, simple, yet not and I am immediately drawn into her stories like a moth to a flame.

Has anyone else discovered this fantastic writer? Evans has published 7 novels and has a small but loyal following...but I bet few here, as well read as every here is, has ever heard of her.

I would love to hear about other obscure writers you love and have wondered why they are not better known. Please include links!


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

Really? No one has a favorite unknown, or lesser known to add?


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## 41419 (Apr 4, 2011)

*Rawi Hage.*

He wrote De Nero's Game - the best book I have read in the last year (but it was published a few years ago). It is truly stunning. Set in Lebanon in the 80s during the civil war, it's brutal and beautiful and nobody I have ever met has read it or heard of it.

It won the IMPAC literary prize (netting him a $150,000 cheque), but he hasn't seem to have had any impact in the States (kindle ranking is outside the Top 100000 meaning he is selling maybe 1 a day). Lives in Canada now I believe.

Kindle link: http://www.amazon.com/Niros-Game-Novel-ebook/dp/B001C4NXNE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=A2HD1FRBBEUS3N&s=digital-text&qid=1305060029&sr=8-2


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Joseph Hansen. He was one of the best "hard-boiled" writers to ever grace the pages of a mystery novel and largely unknown.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Chad Oliver - SF and Western writer from the fifties through the eighties
Victor Canning - thriller writer, mid twentieth century
William C. Anderson - writer of humorous, semi-autobiograhical novels
Martin Woodhouse - writer of thrillers (and episodes of the Avengers TV series) from the sixties
Gerald Hammond - writer of mysteries from the eighties to the present
Guy Gilpatric - writer of many short stories for The Saturday Evening Post, as well as novels 


Mike


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## Gregorythompson (Mar 1, 2011)

Jim Aikin (sometimes James Aikin) is a Sci-Fi writer with only two novels, but they are phenomenal. Funny thing: years ago, I thought he had passed away but came across his website http://www.musicwords.net/ and found out he's alive! He's not writing as much as he use to, but you'll find short stories available for free to read.

His novels are: _Wall at the Edge of the World_ and _Walk the Moons Road_.


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

Lauren F. Winner is my favorite author.  I don't know how unknown she is.  She's not Stephen King, JK Rowling or Amanda Hocking if that's what you mean.

Dawn


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## Courtney Cantrell (Mar 16, 2011)

Susan Cooper. I don't know how unknown she is, but I've met very few people who've heard of her _The Dark Is Rising_ Sequence. It's long been one of my favorite fantasy series.


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## Guest (May 11, 2011)

Courtney Cantrell said:


> Susan Cooper. I don't know how unknown she is, but I've met very few people who've heard of her _The Dark Is Rising_ Sequence. It's long been one of my favorite fantasy series.


That might be a regional issue. She's fairly well known in the UK (partly due to school libraries offering the series).

Another book that seems to have niche appeal is "Beyond the Midnight Mountains" by Frank Charles. It's a very good children's book, but until I started looking through Google I'd never found anyone else who'd read it.


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## spex.kowalski (May 10, 2011)

Gerard de Nerval, author of Aurelia and Other Writings.

He had a pet lobster that he took for walks in the Palais Royal gardens.  The leash was a blue silk ribbon.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Breece D'J Pancake comes to mind. Too bad he didn't write more than he did.

As for fantasy literature, I've always had a soft spot for the works of Andrew J. Offutt.


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

Christopher Golden or Jim Moore.  Both lean towards Horror/Suspense.


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## VanillaEps (May 5, 2010)

Stephen Carpenter. Just read his first novel titled, Killer. Amazing read. I'll be keeping an eye out for the follow up.

http://www.amazon.com/KILLER-ebook/dp/B003TZLM3M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1305133118&sr=1-1


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

Rose Macaualay -- I don't know if she's really obscure, but she's less read than she deserves to be. 
Eric Kraft -- his Little Follies is one of my all-time favorite books! some self-contained excerpts from it were free for the Kindle for the while, but the whole book doesn't seem to have been Kindleized yet.
Sunetra Gupta -- Gorgeous, dreamy novels


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## aaronpolson (Apr 4, 2010)

Olaf Stapledon.

Maybe not that obscure in SF circles, but Siruis was brilliant and sad.

Not on Kindle, but great.

http://www.amazon.com/John-Sirius-William-Olaf-Stapledon/dp/0486211339/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1305136424&sr=8-2


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## J.L. McPherson (Mar 20, 2011)

I'll second the Stephen Carpenter vote, _Killer_ was an awesome read. That reminds me, I've been meaning to check out his second book !


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## Tamara Rose Blodgett (Apr 1, 2011)

Laura Dewey..."Protector." Don't think she is well-known but loved the flawed protagonist and how no matter what occurs, she has integrity, even during periods of self-hate. Remarkable~!


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## NotActive (Jan 24, 2011)

content


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## Guy James (May 2, 2011)

Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials. I recently read the first book in the series and loved it. It's YA fiction with a female protagonist, and I liked it more than the books I usually read.


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## Mike Cooley (Mar 12, 2011)

Not sure how obscure these are, but I like them both a lot.

Colin Wilson
http://www.amazon.com/Colin-Wilson/e/B000AQ24VW/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

George Alec Effinger
http://www.amazon.com/George-Alec-Effinger/e/B000AQ8RSG/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1305215576&sr=1-1

Mike


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## azariahkribbs (Mar 13, 2011)

Clark Ashton Smith. If you like fantasy in the Weird Tales tradition, he's wonderful. He was a part of the H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Howard school; they shared themes and motifs and settings . . . CAS's Hyperborea is a great collection. There's a fair amount of his work still available on Amazon, some of it in ebook format. Can't get linkmaker to play along when I just enter his name, though.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

Courtney Cantrell said:


> Susan Cooper. I don't know how unknown she is, but I've met very few people who've heard of her _The Dark Is Rising_ Sequence. It's long been one of my favorite fantasy series.


Oh, I love that series! I've read it several times. Hmm, I think I'm due for a re-read - thanks for the reminder.


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## Steve Silkin (Sep 15, 2010)

darkbow said:


> Breece D'J Pancake comes to mind. Too bad he didn't write more than he did.


Yes, I read one short story of his that was excellent. I'd like to read more.

Some of Mine:

Glenway Wescott: Outsold Hemingway and Fitzgerald in their day with his family history, "The Grandmothers." His later books are even better: "Pilgrim Hawk" and "Apartment in Athens."

James Purdy: I read "Cabot Wright Begins" years ago, "Eustace Chisholm and the Works" recently and I just started "Malcolm." Purdy's just great. (I only learned recently that Franzen admires him.)


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

This book is so obscure that Amazon doesn't even have a picture for it!!! But I really liked THE FREEBODY HEIRESS; it had sort of an old-fashioned, Gothic vibe, and it was romantic, as well. A nice little book.

http://www.amazon.com/FREEBODY-HEIRESS-Ethel-Edison-Gordon/dp/0440126967

Julia


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## navythriller (Mar 11, 2011)

James Blaylock. I'm not a fan of his horror novels, but his contemporary fantasies are hysterical. As I wrote in a review once, every time I read a Blaylock novel, I get the distinct impression that the author is either an inch from understanding the secrets of the universe, or he's a complete idiot. I can never figure out which.


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## kurzon (Feb 26, 2011)

Claudia J Edwards - very good fantasy novels indeed. Sadly she is out of print and almost completely unknown.

http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Shining-Tiger-Claudia-Edwards/dp/0445206268/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2


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## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

This is a GREAT thread! There are so many great authors out there who can use some good publicity.

Two that I can think of off the top of my head: Storm Constantine who writes a mind bending series about beings called the Wraeththu. They are mind bending, though, so they aren't for everyone.
The other author I love I never see anywhere is Octavia Butler. Unfortunately, she died a few years ago, but her book, _The Fledgling_ is one of the BEST vampire books I've ever read. And this from a person who is kind of sick of vampires right now.


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## Mike Cooley (Mar 12, 2011)

kCopeseeley said:


> This is a GREAT thread! There are so many great authors out there who can use some good publicity.
> 
> Two that I can think of off the top of my head: Storm Constantine who writes a mind bending series about beings called the Wraeththu. They are mind bending, though, so they aren't for everyone.
> The other author I love I never see anywhere is Octavia Butler. Unfortunately, she died a few years ago, but her book, _The Fledgling_ is one of the BEST vampire books I've ever read. And this from a person who is kind of sick of vampires right now.


I met Octavia (at a Science Fiction convention). She was really nice and super smart. I like her book _Kindred_ a lot. 
Definitely underrated.

Mike


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## w0rdvirus (May 16, 2011)

I think these two authors are obscure:

Will Christopher Baer
http://www.amazon.com/Will-Christopher-Baer/e/B001H6O4IK/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1305768996&sr=1-2-ent

Craig Clevenger
http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Clevenger/e/B001K7LKT2/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1305769125&sr=1-1


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## Tatiana (Aug 20, 2010)

Betty Smith who wrote *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* an absolute a favouite and *Joy in the Morning*.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

I just finished William Maxwell's So Long, See You Tomorrow. It was such a good read! I just now searched his name here on Kindleboards and came up with nothing! I can't believe no one has mentioned his work on these boards. I will have to read more of his work. Sadly, he passed away in 2000, age 92.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

Any other authors?  Just a bump to see......


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

For me, it's Thomas Tryon.  Sadly, he passed away a few years ago, but when it comes to thrillers and horror, he has two of my all-time favorites.  Harvest Home and The Other will knock your socks off.  Of course, I do not believe they are Kindle-ized and might even be out of print, but it is worth finding them!

Robert R. McCammon is another favorite horror writer.  I guess he isn't entirely obscure, but he is not as well known as he should be, I feel.


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## ChrisHoward (May 14, 2010)

Daniel Keys Moran--especially his book The Long Run (Not on Kindle unfortunately)

Chris


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## herocious (May 20, 2011)

Noah Cicero. I would've just said Herocious, but that would be vainglorious.


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## Michelle Muto (Feb 1, 2011)

Depends on what you mean by obscure, by I remember reading and enjoying The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield quite a bit. It's been a few years since reading, but the story and the writing still stick with me.


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## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

I just read The Wild Grass and Other Stories by Davin Malasarn and truly loved it. It's a genre I only dabble in, literary short stories, but they are beautiful. Another book I read recently by an unknown author is The Poppet and the Lune by Madeline Claire Franklin.


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## wonderfulray (May 5, 2011)

I'll mention Richard Brautigan, author of such books as Trout Fishing in America, A Confederate General From Big Sur, In Watemelon Sugar, So the Wind Won't Blow it All Away, and a string of "genre parody" books. Inventive stuff, whimsical but with a decidedly dark undercurrent.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Courtney Cantrell said:


> Susan Cooper. I don't know how unknown she is, but I've met very few people who've heard of her _The Dark Is Rising_ Sequence. It's long been one of my favorite fantasy series.


My mother bought me a complete set of this series when I was first getting into fantasy back when I was 6 or 7 ... I loved them and just donated those copies to the library last summer .... so that someone else can love them as well.

_When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone._


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## anne_holly (Jun 5, 2011)

I love Spider Robinson - more obscure than he deserves, and always interesting.

http://www.spiderrobinson.com/


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## ColinJ (Jun 13, 2011)

VanillaEps said:


> Stephen Carpenter. Just read his first novel titled, Killer. Amazing read. I'll be keeping an eye out for the follow up.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/KILLER-ebook/dp/B003TZLM3M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1305133118&sr=1-1


I've got this on my Kindle waiting to be read.

Nice to hear that it's a good read.


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## JCF (Feb 16, 2011)

Mike Cooley said:


> http://www.amazon.com/George-Alec-Effinger/e/B000AQ8RSG/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1305215576&sr=1-1


Glad you mentioned him. _When Gravity Fails_ should be a classic.


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## SJCress (Jun 5, 2011)

Is John Steakley obscure? I really enjoyed _Armor_. His one other book, _Vampires_ is one I haven't read but I did really enjoy the movie version starring James Woods


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## John Zunski (Jun 8, 2011)

Micheal Perry  - Author of Population 485...  A great non-fiction read about being a rural firefighter/EMT.  

Roland Cheek  - Chocolate Legs - a story of a rogue grizzly bear in and around Glacier National Park. Part of the story is told from the Bear's perspective. 

John Kennedy Toole - Confederacy of Dunces -  dont' really know if this is obscure of cult.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

B. Traven, who wrote Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and other Mexican novels.


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## Julie Christensen (Oct 13, 2010)

Tillie Olsen's Tell Me A Riddle.  Great short story about a elderly woman who can't cope with the anger she has from sacrificing her own dreams to raise her family.


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## Tim C. Taylor (May 17, 2011)

aaronpolson said:


> Olaf Stapledon.
> 
> Maybe not that obscure in SF circles, but Siruis was brilliant and sad.


Wow. Good call. I was going to say Olaf Stapledon myself so I second you. Before I read this thread, I posted something about Stapledon in a thread about which books do you re-read.

If you liked his Star Maker and Last & First Men, check out Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence (not an obscure author at all but someone who often quotes Stapledon as an influence).


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## Tim C. Taylor (May 17, 2011)

kCopeseeley said:


> This is a GREAT thread! There are so many great authors out there who can use some good publicity.
> 
> Two that I can think of off the top of my head: Storm Constantine who writes a mind bending series about beings called the Wraeththu. They are mind bending, though, so they aren't for everyone.
> The other author I love I never see anywhere is Octavia Butler. Unfortunately, she died a few years ago, but her book, _The Fledgling_ is one of the BEST vampire books I've ever read. And this from a person who is kind of sick of vampires right now.


Someone else mentioned that they'd met Octavia Butler. Well I never managed that but I did meet Storm Constantine. A very nice lady. I taught her bloke how to play cribbage and he promptly thrashed the pants of me. So I warn you that if you meet Storm she may be surrounded by cribbage hustlers. By the way, I think a lot of her books were out of print so she set her own imprint up a few years ago to do her back catalogue and then wound up publishing mostly other people. http://www.immanion-press.com/
Tim


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## Paul Jones (Jun 11, 2011)

Has to be Tim Powers for me. One of his novels, On Stranger Tides was just adapted into the latest Pirates of The Caribbean  movie.

If you have not read anything by him, I would recommend you start out with The Drawing of the Dark (just an absolutely fabulous fantasy novel), or On Stranger Tides.


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## kiyash (Jun 9, 2011)

Danilo Kis - Yugoslavian author influenced by Jorge Luis Borges. He wrote an amazing collection of short stories called "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich," which, amazingly, is not showing up on the kindle store, but you can read it the old-fashioned way here: A Tomb for Boris Davidovich (Eastern European Literature Series)

Agree this is a great thread. I'll be checking out a number of these authors - I love finding cool obscure voices!


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I also really liked Velda Johnston; she was similar in style to Mary Stewart, but didn't seem to get as much attention.  I had several of her books.  I've found other fans of hers on mystery listservs, but she is quite the mystery woman online--no substantial biographies of her.

Julia


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