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Ever found an author whom you found relatively obscure (at least to you) but excellent?
Post your suggestions here!
For my part...
Jennifer Fallon and her Second Son's series. Those books count among my favorite SF/F titles. Twisty, great characters and a nice mix between SF subject matter and a fantasy setting. Check 'em out.
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Sarah Prineas who wrote The Magic Thief series (middle grade fantasy, but wonderful books that appeal to all ages) - though I hope that changes. Her first book just got onto the IL Rebecca Caudill list, a major award in IL for writers of fiction for 4th-8th graders.
I'm always surprised that Shannon Hale isn't more famous. Her books are really beautifully written, very gorgeous language. YA fantasy is what she writes, one was a Caldecott medal or honor book (The Princess Academy) but the best was The Goose Girl. Such beautiful treatment of language, though, I would think that she would have a greater reach (though many/most in YA circles are familiar with her.)
And the newer author who I can't stop talking about is Paolo Biacaglini or something along those lines - author of Shipbreaker, a really amazing YA dystopia future story. Beautiful story, beautiful writing, harsh and real, very easy to imagine yourself in that setting, wonderful. I hope he goes far with it.
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I'm also a fan of YA/MG and by far my favorite author is Megan Whalen Turner. The Thief is more MG, but the Queen of Attolia and the King of Attolia are just transcendent. The fourth book, A Conspiracy of Kings came out recently.
Her books have won many awards (The Thief was a Newberry honor), but for some reason, I don't hear a lot of buzz about her in the commmon reading populace.
She has the most fantastic skill in making you think you are reading one kind of story and then turning it on its head when you read a little farther. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
Hmm, new writers have been mentioned and I think along those lines I would add John Levitt. He has five books out in a UF series and two older books that I believe are detective or police books. Each of his UF series shows improvement, not that he started bad but I think you can see it as he gets even better. Of course I haven't read his latest yet so I can't say if he continues the pattern but I expect some great writing from him.
And evidently he is starting- or will start- a new YA series.
Than there's laura anne gillman whose first series is well written. Her second one seems, I don't almost YA-ish. It's hard to explain. Not badly done but I'm not sure if the writing is the same style.
And I spell her name that way because that is the way it's on all her book covers. If that is the way she wants it that is the way I will do it.
Than there's C. E. Murphy. She's not so new, with maybe around 20 novels split into three or four series. But I think her Walker-Urban Shaman series is well done. I have found myself subconsciously trying to write like her at times. Even though in her last book I think she blew it with her story telling. She had her MC do something that didn't fit with a major emotional characteristic that has been mentioned in every book. Maybe even two characteristics. But even with that if I can her newest series I think I will give it a try. Some day I may even read her other two series even though they may not be my usual cup of tea.
I had thought about adding the writer of a book I read a great many years ago, as far as I knew he only wrote two books-unless he used a pen name just for those two- but as I double checked on that I found that he wrote more. I found his place on Wikipedia but didn't find any listings for writing awards, well one for a short story. So I'm not sure if he fits here or not. He's dead which I wondered about and is a great disappointment
So his name is Sterling E. Lanier and the book was Heiro's Journey. He wrote a sequel but the story in the sequel didn't end and now as I suspected after all this time there won't be a third. He wrote another two book series which according to one web site might be made into a movie. or has been.
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Robin McKinley is one of my favorites, but it seems like not that many people have heard of her.
Love Jennifer Fallon. She has lots of books that have been published, but only a few in the US. I’ve actually thought of trying to order them directly from Australia, but haven’t pursued it that far as of yet.
James A. Hetley has written a couple of books that have really stuck with me; I just wish he was more prolific.
Fantasticfiction has become one of my all time favorite websites, especially for finding obscure authors. It provides very concise information about various authors, and is IMHO the very best place to find a complete list of an author’s works. The authors are listed alphabetically and the stars next to their name are a simple representation of how many times people have looked up that author on that website. The stars don’t pretend to be an accurate rating of quality, but they are a pretty good gage of popularity. They also have a column for genre: (s)science fiction (f)fantasy (h)horror (m)mystery (t)thriller (r)romance (w)western (c)mainstream.
Right now she is doing a series of posts on revising her next book.
But she has publish gobs of short stories with about every pro market you can think of. Don't think WotF is included though. Anyway she has three or four books publish in one series. A Urban fantasy series that is rather dark. Her magic makers are not called wizards, they work with the undercurrent. Compared to other wizards they are rather weak I think, except for a couple of exceptions.
But her storytelling ability is out of this world. I must say that I am in love with her storytelling while at the same time, as I have mentioned before, she is one of the very few writers I'm jealous of. Well, litely jealous. Is there a word for less than jealous? That's not envious seems like there is.
Anyway, one reason for this is that about the same time I discovered Beneath Ceaseless Skies, after my first or second rejection, I check out her web page. There, on a list on the side, staring me in the face is BCS...and Analog and Asimov and F&SF to name a few.
I know why she made it in all of those...and why I haven't.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited April 29, 2011).]
Looking for obscure writers...well, a lot of guys I used to read and enjoy are the older types, long out of print, and often very obscure.
Emile C. Schumacker, writer of a book called True Tales of Terror, which influenced me in a number of ways (not the least of which was "Don't write like this!" 'cause he wasn't the most technically excellent writer out there.) Also a volume of his called Nothing's Sacred on Sundays, detailing his adventures at the Hearst Sunday supplement in the 1940s.
Also one John T. Phillifent / John Rackham---at least those are the two names I know for sure he published under...probably there were others. Turned up quite often as half of an Ace Double, with some great SF adventure stories.
*****
Memo to "LDWriter2"...Sterling E. Lanier is deceased.
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Kayti: I'm glad someone mentioned Paolo Bacigalupi, I'll definitely check out The Shipbreaker. I read one of his stories called The Calorie Man in some anthology I picked up and it was absolutely amazing. The best thing I've read in years.
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Robert, I know Lanier is dead. But I think he was a good writer even though it took him years to do the sequel to Heiro's first book and looks like it took him so long to do part two to the sequel there won't be a two. In other words he died before he could finish it. Or before he could start it...unless they get someone to finish it for him. Or find the finished manuscript somewhere.
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I was going to add a Bill Baldwin to this list even though he may not be a top writer. Still he's good and I enjoyed his "Helmsman" series very much. I thought he might have died a while ago but evidently not. He's web page disappeared and even though he said that he was planning on continuing the series after the publisher nixed it I have heard nothing for years and as I said his web page went down.
But looking him up for this note I find he is still alive and still writing.
He has out a WWI thriller and I think finally continuing the "Helmsman". I say I think because it's possible he has already done that. He has reprinted all of the original novel with some "updates" in e-books and paperback.
Anyway, if you like Space Opera you will like him. I don't think he is as good as David Weber, David Drake etc but he's not bad.
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James Stoddard [http://www.sff.net/people/james-stoddard/index.html ] --THE HIGH HOUSE, THE FALSE HOUSE, and hopefully soon EVENMERE: THE WINKING HOUSE. He recently (Jan/Feb & Mar/Apr)had stories, including another Evenmere tale, THE IFS OF TIME, published in back-to-back issue of F&SF. He writes fantasy in the tradition of the masters: Lord Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, William Morris [all of whom are must reading for fantasy lovers and writers] and the great Balantine Books Adult Fantasy Series edited by Lin Carter. These series of books inspire "wonder" and I find James' has the gift of doing the same. I am re-reading THE HIGH HOUSE now, and am just in awe. He is one writer who just makes me want to give up and stick with my day job--and I hate him and love him for it.
Robert Don Hughes wrote a wonderful trilogy of light-hearted fantasies: PELMAN THE POWERSHAPER, which are more in the Jack Vance GUGEL THE CLEVER and L.Sprague DeCamp THE INCOMPLETE ENCHANTER. Great fun.
Others? William Hope Hodgson, Jo Clayton, A.E. Merritt, P.C. Hodgell, Manly Wade Wellman, Patricia McKillup, Phyllis Eisenstein,...
I have owned Stephan Lanier's Heiro novels for decades--but never read them (my bad).
I love every novel by Robin McKinley I have read (too few) and lovingly recall her THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD.
I think I said this before, but I loved Christmas at Hostage Canyon in the Jan/Feb issue of F&SF. Don't tell me what happens in THE IFS OF TIME. I have not read it yet. I am slowly getting through my March/April issue. I always read it cover to cover.
Of course I didn't know much about his other works until recently.
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I have seen Robin McKinley's books but even though some sound interesting I don't think I have ever read any.
Oh, speaking of Patricia-s. There is Patricia Wrede. I used to talk with her online..she was another pro, maybe still is, who spent time giving advice to new writers. I have only a couple of her books, partly because I don't find many. She never mentioned using a pen name that I can recall but sometimes I wonder. She writes fantasy.
Oh that partly reminds me of another writer. She wrote a few books about dragons coming into our dimension. Human intelligent dragons, one type was close to human size. She has a long swedish sounding last name and I have no idea how it is spelled. But those very few books were good.
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LD - if you haven't read Robin McKinley but you like Patricia Wrede, run, don't walk. I recommend starting with The Hero and the Crown. Then do The Blue Sword (which she wrote first, but came chronologically AFTER the Hero and the Crown.) Beauty is also lovely. I had some trouble with some of her other books (I'm extremely against reading about sexual violence, which she dips into in some, Deerskin in particular.) But it's not because her writing wavers. She's honestly one of my primary inspirations (which is saying something, because I don't write fantasy!) Read. Read. Read.
Patricia Wrede is EXCELLENT. Dealing with Dragons is the first in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Very silly and excellent story. Princess who becomes a dragon's princess by choice, and gets annoyed at all those silly princes who are trying to rescue her.
I've really enjoyed this thread - I'm reading Megan Whalen Turner's book (The Thief) at the moment. So far, so good.
Another that not nearly enough appreciate for what she is - Diana Wynne Jones, who just recently passed away. Howl's Moving Castle is a masterful work, as are her Chrestomanci books, which my husband (who is not a big reader) is reading to the children at the moment - and he's LOVING them. A non-reader loving a title is a big vote in that author's corner, if you ask me.
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Howl's Moving Castle is a masterful work, as are her Chrestomanci books, which my husband (who is not a big reader) is reading to the children at the moment - and he's LOVING them. A non-reader loving a title is a big vote in that author's corner, if you ask me. 
