I've always had a fascination with forgotten authors. Given the huge amount of books and stories that have written in different languages over the years and the exploding number of new material being added to that vast library, it's no wonder that books and writers fall out of fashion then fade into obscurity.
The most recent writer to come to my attention is the intriguing Homer Eon Flint who wrote pulp fiction, some of it science fiction. He died young in what might have been an attempted robbery, not of him, but by him.
Some of his books are available on Project Gutenberg for free, but a small publishing house is working on releasing some of his other works.
The ever-reliable Science Fiction Encylopedia has an entry about him. (As an aside, check out this good interview with Peter Nicholls, one of the founders of the SFE.)
The pulp era had more than its fair share of forgotten authors, but what is interesting is that you could argue that the rise of the ebook is creating a similar market for short, disposable fiction by obscure writers, most of whom will be long forgotten in 50 years.
Remembering forgotten authors
