5 Forgotten Sci-Fi Books

The science fiction genre is always pushing forward, and generally that’s a good thing. However, it also means that some excellent works tend to be left behind. Indeed, sometimes even sci-fi works that are known or respected for a long time eventually fade away from the public consciousness.

In order to keep at least a few books like these alive, I wanted to take a look through five forgotten sci-fi books that every fan of the genre ought to read.

This is classic old school science fiction: a 50s novel with a post-apocalyptic vision of aggressive plants taking over the world after all of mankind is stricken blind. It was actually mentioned on another list of forgotten sci-fi novels (which has some terrific additional selections), which noted that it "feels like a modern Doctor Who without the whimsy."

That’s probably not the description I would have gone with, but it nevertheless captures the general quality of the novel. It’s a great, fun read—surprisingly spooky for its relatively goofy subject matter, in fact. Oh, and the aggressive plants are called Triffids, if you wondered about the title.

Cecelia Holland is actually something of a historian by trade, but the struck gold with this 1976 novel. The subject matter is fairly straightforward: it’s set in a future in which there is much interaction between planets, and Earth is something of a left-behind disaster.

Oddly enough, it reads at times like as much of a political drama as an adventure tale, as various conflicts between humans and strangely evolved twists on humans are managed. It’s certainly a read unlike any other—almost a scaled down Star Trek with a more primitive tone.

This is likely the most recognizable title I’m listing, though it seems particularly relevant as a forgotten story because it came so close to being revived. First, a game was designed based on the 1930s film adaptation.

The game was merely a themed slot machine arcade, but still reached a lot of players online. Then, Universal Studios made noise about putting out a fresh version of the film—though the project is apparently in jeopardy right now.

Hopefully it will at least have sparked some interest in the tale, which is a classic late-19th century horror/sci-fi blend. It concerns a crazed scientist who turns himself invisible and winds up more or less haunting a small English village. It’s an older brand of sci-fi, but a wonderful one.

This is a 1967 novel that no one seems to remember, despite its distinctive title and solid reputation among critics. It’s basically about an adventurer named Bart who seeks a planet to conquer and ultimately lands on a very difficult one: Sangre, a monstrous place ruled and controlled by the barbaric and terrifying “Brotherhood.” If that’s not a gripping mini-synopsis for you, you’re exploring the wrong genre!

If The Invisible Man is the most recognizable title here, Galactic Pot-Healer may be a close second. Philip K. Dick is certainly known as one of the best writers ever to involve himself with science fiction.

That said, Dick has enough famous works that this one seems to get lost in the shuffle, which makes it a perfect forgotten novel to look up. Unfortunately, it’s an extremely difficult book to describe. Suffice it to say an exceedingly ordinary man in an exceedingly bizarre future receives a message from a deity via his toilet bowl, and must set out on a sort of galactic quest thereafter.

It almost sounds more playful than it is, and was maybe best described by a review that called it "both delightful and serious in its eccentric appraisal of humanity."