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Enda80
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
108 Posts |
 Posted - 04/11/2009 : 09:22:05 AM
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Just wondering; does anyone know if science fiction novel series sold well outside of Star Wars?
Obviously, if one excludes 19th century authors such as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne (who did not write series), exclude Brave New World as an one-off, exclude Edgar Rice Burroughs, and exclude 1984 as an one-off, the only big seller I can think of in the publishing world for science fiction amounts to Frank Herbert's Dune. (On the fantasy side of things, I recall the Lord of the Rings, perhaps Conan.)
This stands in contrast to mystery/crime fiction, which has Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason novels, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer novels, the Godfather, and earlier in the century S.S. Van Dine's Philo Vance novels. I remember someone once saying that they saw some woman in Italy reading and they did not think they would find that woman ever reading a Tarzan novel.
However, in recent years, despite the precedent the genre has in print, the formal detective story and private eye story, as noted elsewhere, has disappeared from the silver screen, despite new authors staying emerging and older authors staying in print. Ever notice that you do not hear about a Perry Mason movie in development after Burr's death? |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2009 : 09:54:51 AM
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You know it's really a shame. I'd love to see some movies made from Michael Connelly's books. Or even Harlan Coben's books.
As for the sci-fi / fantasy novels, I can't say if they were much succesful in my country, save for Tolkien and a few others. I did buy some cheap editions of Frank Herbert's Dune series and Lovecraft back in the 90s, but some other authors, such as Philip K. Dick or Clive Barker were harder to find. Whoever published the paperbacks, they hadn't bothered to do many reprints. And I still have to see a single copy of stuff like Burrough's John Carter of Mars.
At least these days I can order books directly in English from Amazon. That's how I read the entire Dave Robicheaux series from James Lee Burke. |
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Bobby-G
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
904 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2009 : 2:36:39 PM
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Not sure what you mean "sold well" - do you mean a series that sold so well that people not even into SF knew about the books/characters?
I think Andre Norton had several different series that sold well, for SF books, starting in the 1950s or '60s:
http://www.andre-norton.org/books/serie.html
Some of the books would be in the Fantasy catagory.
Rob |
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Enda80
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
108 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2009 : 3:38:41 PM
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Continuing my thought from the first post:
http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/reply/374721/t/Sci--Fantasy-series-largely-focused---single-character--pros.html#reply-374721
I made some interesting historical development observations and comparisons of how different genres develop or tend to attach themselves to certain mediums.
It seems to me that most series in prose largely figured around a central character usually belong to the mystery or crime fiction genre (e.g. Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, Perry Mason, Poirot, Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Nero Wolfe, Ellery Queen, etc.). Most of the well-known fictional detectives seem to have debuted in prose (though TV did later produce Columbo and Dick Tracy obviously started in a comic strip-his first several years had no paranormal elements).
On the other hand, many of the well-known science fiction character debuted in comic strips or TV or movies (e.g. Superman, Godzilla, Flash Gordon, Captain Kirk, Luke Skywalker, the Doctor from Gallifrey, Indiana Jones [all of the Indiana Jones movies involved the paranormal, he never had a mundane Wilbur Smith/Dark of the Sun style adventure on the Silver Screen] etc.) instead of in prose. Buck Rogers seemed to many synonymous with the genre ("that Buck Rogers stuff") of science fiction, and he technically debuted in prose (as Anthony Rogers in Armageddon 2149 AD), but that serves as an exception. Tarzan also serves as an exception (I include Tarzan as primarily in the genre of the paranormal as opposed to a general thriller or adventure character since Burroughs wrote many of Greystoke's paranormal adventures, and he created Tarzan). Regarding which side of the fence the Saint or the Batman or the Shadow fall on (crime fiction or sci-fi/fantasy)....I tend to treat them as more polyvalant across genres. Anyway, of the well-known sci-fi multimedia franchises, I do recall that Dune started in prose, but could think of few other examples. |
Edited by - Enda80 on 04/11/2009 3:48:09 PM |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2009 : 4:13:21 PM
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I'm too lazy to Google right now but I'm pretty sure Asimov's Foundation series was considered a best seller. And the Dune books, of course.
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I sleep now!! |
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niccolom
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Canada
118 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 08:13:05 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sardu
I'm too lazy to Google right now but I'm pretty sure Asimov's Foundation series was considered a best seller. And the Dune books, of course.
If you are counting number of books sold, I'm not sure that Asimov's Foundation series would be classified as a best seller. However, among SF aficionado's it was considered as a classic.
As for other SF series, someone already mentioned Andre Norton. She had a couple of short series going, plus her Witch World series which, if I remember correctly, was more fantasy then SF. Besides the Star Wars franchise, there's a whole hockey sock full of Star Trek books by various authors, including William Shatner, who also wrote the TekWar series.
As for other SF series, I'm sure there are more out there, including from '70s-'80s time period, but for the life of god I can't think of any right now.
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo" |
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niccolom
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Canada
118 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 08:44:52 AM
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It never fails, you post something and no sooner have you hit the 'enter" key then you remember something else. I just remembered that Arthur C. Clarke's wrote a couple of SF series. The most famous one being his Odyssey series; 2001: A Space Odyssey, then 2010: Odyssey Two, both made into movies. Followed by 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey which have not been filmed.
Then there's his Rama series, starting with Rendezvous With Rama and followed by Rama II, The Garden of Rama, and Rama Revealed. The last three with written with Gentry Lee. According to Wikipedia the film rights to Rendezvous With Rama were optioned some time ago, but nothing has happened so far.
There's the Time Odyssey series, which includes Time’s Eye, Sunstorm, and Firstborn. Stephen Baxter collaborated in writing all three.
Finally, there's the Tales from the White Hart which includes 16 stories written between 1949 and 1957. I'm not familiar with this series, so I have no idea what they are about.
A complete Arthur C. Clarke bibliography can be found here:
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Arthur_C._Clarke
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo" |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 10:35:27 AM
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I thought abut the 2001 and Rama series but had my doubts about their ultimate sales the same way you were wondering about Foundation. It may well be true that at least the original 2001 novel outsold them all just on the popularity of the film. I guess at some point we'll have to find some numbers for all this...
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I sleep now!! |
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Bobby-G
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
904 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 7:59:38 PM
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There is also the COLOSSUS trilogy by D.F.Jones:
COLOSSUS
THE FALL OF COLOSSUS
COLOSSUS AND THE CRAB
COLOSSUS was adapted to film as COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT (which is being remade by Ron Howard). I think they'd planned to do movie sequels, but the original flick didn't do too well boxoffice-wise (though it is a great movie).
Rob |
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RossM
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
427 Posts |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 9:11:21 PM
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| Frederick Pohl's long series of the Heechee saga was also a best seller. Science Fiction, more so than other genres, tend to lead to series as people want to visit the author's universe over and over. The Heechee series actually began as a shore story called The Merchants of Venus and was then expanded into a novel called Gateway which was actually written as a stand alone novel. Gateway is, like all of Pohl's novels, hilarious and sarcastic along with being a great story. The followup novels aren't as good and can be repetitive but are still very entertaining. I have no idea why there has never been a movie from merchants or Gateway. |
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Enda80
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
108 Posts |
Posted - 04/13/2009 : 01:01:43 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by RossM
Science Fiction, more so than other genres, tend to lead to series as people want to visit the author's universe over and over.
In recent years, yes, but before the 1970's, probably the crime/mystery genre produced more series characters than sci-fi/fantasy, at least in terms of stories of novel length.
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Pip
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
333 Posts |
Posted - 04/13/2009 : 01:15:02 AM
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I don't how well they did (pretty well, I think) but the series by Dan Simmons called Hyperion comes with my highest recommendation. In my humble opinion, they are one-of-a-kind in a genre that had never engrossed me that much.
Pip |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 04/13/2009 : 12:59:22 PM
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| Wouldn't that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy thing count? |
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Flangepart
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
2329 Posts |
Posted - 04/14/2009 : 08:26:25 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
Wouldn't that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy thing count?
I should think!
Between that and Dirk Gently, yeah...Adams for sure.
How about Combat Sci-Fi? STARFIST and the David Drake's HAMMERS SLAMMERS fit that butchers bill.
Marvin the Paranoid Android to Buzz Lightyear "Too infinity and beyond-i've been there, its rubbish!"
"Hoody Hoo, i waste 'em with my cross bow!" Bob Herzog- KODT
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niccolom
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Canada
118 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2009 : 8:19:10 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sardu
I thought abut the 2001 and Rama series but had my doubts about their ultimate sales the same way you were wondering about Foundation.
According to Amazon.com Rv with Rama has a Sales Rank of 303,912. To Kill a Mockingbird is ranked at 32,213. Isaac Asimov's Foundation series on the other hand is ranked at 17,059.
Very inexact science I know because there are so many different versions of these books (paperback, hardcover, abridged, etc) but is does give some idea of their standing.
I didn't check for every book in the series. To much trouble, plus, I've never heard of the third and fourth books in the 2001 series, and I'm a pretty hardcore SF fan.
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo" |
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niccolom
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Canada
118 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2009 : 8:53:09 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sardu
I thought abut the 2001 and Rama series but had my doubts about their ultimate sales the same way you were wondering about Foundation.
According to Amazon.com Rv with Rama has a Sales Rank of 303,912. To Kill a Mockingbird is ranked at 32,213. Isaac Asimov's Foundation series on the other hand is ranked at 17,059.
Very inexact science I know because there are so many different versions of these books (paperback, hardcover, abridged, etc) but is does give some idea of their standing.
I didn't check for every book in the series. To much trouble, plus, I've never heard of the third and fourth books in the 2001 series, and I'm a pretty hardcore SF fan.
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo" |
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