Glen Cook. His older, long out-of-print stuff is now easily available from Baen, which is great, but his two best-known series, the Black Company and Garrett, P.I. books, are nowhere to be found.
C. J. Cherryh. She's written a ton of stuff, a lot of it long out of print, and almost none of it is available as ebooks.
Jack Chalker. Of the sixty books he wrote before his untimely passing, I can only find twelve available for sale.
I've been happily ploughing through the backlists of Lawrence Watt-Evans and Walter Jon Williams, who have self-republished their older works, and I'm starting in on F. Paul Wilson now, who's done the same. I like this trend and hope to see more of it.
1
Definitely Chalker. The first book of the "Dancing Gods" series is available, but none of the others. Huh? And I'd love to read the Soul Rider series again.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Saturday, December 08 2012 02:05 AM (+rSRq)
2
Wow. I feel like I've hit upon a secret room in minx.
Hi, Mr. Den Beste. I hope you are feeling well.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at Saturday, December 08 2012 04:28 PM (08zV/)
3
Wow - I didn't even know that Jack Chalker had died. I guess that's why there haven't been any new Well World books.:-(
Most of my Chalker books have come from used bookstores so I wasn't aware they were out of print.
Posted by: Maetenloch at Saturday, December 08 2012 05:43 PM (XkotV)
4
I've read most of Chalker's series, but not Soul Rider or Dancing Gods, and not much of his standalone stuff. If it was available as reasonably-priced ebooks I'd grab it. I have no idea what the situation is with the rights, of course, but even on a good day publishing is a nightmare realm of 18th century laws and 19th century business practices.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, December 08 2012 09:05 PM (PiXy!)
5
If you can find it, try "Downtiming the Nightside". One of the best time travel stories ever.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sunday, December 09 2012 02:41 AM (+rSRq)
6
Chalker was morbidly obese. It's not surprising, really.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sunday, December 09 2012 02:41 AM (+rSRq)
7
Pixy, I think we need some anti-spamming SWAT action. Wonderduck and Brickmuppet have been getting hit fairly constantly, and it's evidently always the same bastard.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sunday, December 09 2012 02:16 PM (+rSRq)
8
Swatted!
Not always the same bastard, though. It's a whole lot of bastards.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, December 10 2012 01:41 AM (PiXy!)
9
From what I've read on some SF professional blogs, it's quite difficult to get a deceased author's work into e-print. The problem is rights. Someone has to take the time to run down who was the author's literary executor, if there was one declared in the will; if the will didn't specify, then it's even harder to track down the person that can sign the contracts. Plus there's added legal risk, because you can't be certain that you did identify the person controlling the rights, and even if you are right, an unhappy rival heir can tie you up in court. All that to reprint books that are not going to sell huge numbers.
With a living author, there are none of the costs and delays of deciding who can sign away the rights. There might be some issues based on whatever the original publishing contract was. But that's typically not bad, as rights usually reverted once a book went out of print.
Posted by: Boviate at Monday, December 10 2012 11:32 AM (L1IVj)
10
The Duck is being hammered again.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Monday, December 10 2012 02:21 PM (+rSRq)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, December 10 2012 07:39 PM (PiXy!)
12
It's a whole lot of bastards.
Ban 'em all and let Pixy sort 'em out.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Wednesday, December 19 2012 03:01 PM (cymHZ)
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