On 2012-03-23 Fri 10:17:26, tphile2 wrote:
> Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
> won't. That you did once but something killed your interest. Which
> seems to be happening in the other thread. The question was "buy
> anything" but many seem to have a limit.
> for me (your mileage may vary)
> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me. It turned into a boring
> formula gimmick series. I haven't read anything of his in decades.
> Shatner. TekWar wasn't that interesting and his taking credit for
> ghostwriting lost my respect. and his extreme hamitude has only
> gotten worse.
I don't know that it's any one thing but I've read a number of Anthony,
Foster, and Zahn (who are somehow linked a bit in my mind) long ago and
then ended up with none remaining on my shelves. I've recently recovered
a handful of Zahn for some reason but probably won't be getting much
else.
For older writers, this kind of touches on the "other kind" of "buy
anything" thread. Norman Spinrad writes stuff that would usually make me
want to punch the author and does it such that I often love it. But
after a brilliant run from practically the beginning, he had a string of
books he wrote in the mid-late 80s/early 90s that didn't work for me,
including one I really hated, and seemed to move in a more mainstream
direction late in that period, as well. I did buy _Greenhouse Summer_
(new, over a decade ago, and which I'll read Any Day Now) because it
seemed like genuine SF and got more buzz than I can remember him getting
for awhile but, generally, he's a "favorite author" I don't buy anything
from anymore.
Le Guin's catalog, other than a few stories, ceased to be interesting to
me at _Orsinian Tales_ and all the weird little things she did after
that and the _Always Coming Home_ junk. I know she's still a Big Deal
and people love her, though. (I have read _The Compass Rose_ which still
has some excellent stuff in it but wasn't consistent. And I did try
_Four Ways to Forgiveness_ and, while it wasn't bad, it didn't seem
utterly classically essential to me or anything.)
Clarke lost me around _Songs from Something_ (which was okay, I guess)
and _2061_ (a severe, pointless blow to the rep of the earlier two
(though some would argue the second was to the first)) and the Rama
sequels. But to anyone who gave up immediately after _Rama_ (_Imperial
Earth_ was inexplicably meh) I'd really recommend _The Fountains of
Paradise_.
Heinlein loses me in the vicinity of _SIASL_, with a long-standing
exception for _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_ (which I *have* to re-read
to make sure it actually deserves the exception - but I remember it as
deserving it).
Tiptree went from brilliant darkness (so to speak) to something just
really plain unpleasant shortly before she killed herself (surprise) so
_The Starry Rift_ and _Brightness Falls from Air_ didn't survive a
re-reading and I've never gotten anything else after _Out of the
Everywhere_.
Of course, all three of them are dead, so may not be on topic. But I
mean I won't be buying any more stuff by them after the period indicated
(though I've already read all but one (two, if posthumous) Heinlein
books and that was practically all the Tiptree, too).
Pat Cadigan lost me when she started doing almost exclusively outdated
VR stuff, bad media ties, and moved to England. (Not that there's
anything wrong with the last, but it seemed to mark an era.) I did read
a story I liked by her recently, though, so there may yet be hope.
I only buy Union/Alliance stuff from Cherryh now and even that may be in
danger. Dozens of Foreigner books (and her having so many books in
general) have kind of turned me off/worn me out. But I still love most
of the first 30 or 40 or so. :)
Gibson apparently lost me in the second trilogy which I have yet to
finish but may someday.
Then there are people like Anderson, Bear, Pohl, and Silverberg who
largely lost me at a fairly specific point but that I can't say I ever
followed or backtracked through very religiously in the first place, at
least not from their whole careers. (And I've been tempted to get _Hull
Zero Three_ and _Roma Eterna_.)
I can't think of any really "now" current/new authors that fit - I
either immediately dislike them or I still like them so far or their
careers more or less imploded without my having any say about it. And
there's really no author I'd absolutely rule out - who knows what
fantastically interesting thing someone may yet produce? - but these are
some of the people who have a lot of inertia to overcome.