About 48 years ago an Illinoisian wrote a science fiction novel and spent a fair bit of effort publicizing it; even wangling an interview on a local radio station. In order to keep his science fiction un-prejudiced by current trends, he hadn't read any science fiction--mostly romances. I did my part for the university sci-fi club and spent the money and read the book, and wrote a review. I kept the copy around for a few years until I decided that emptiness was nicer to have. (A beta-reader told him the book was too long, so he cut out the only chapter with action/exposition. No, I'm not making this up; he said in the interview that's why he cut out a chapter. A reader could figure out where and what was missing.)
I don't know what brought that to mind yesterday, but I checked to see if the book had made any more of a splash. According to google (which is less than stellar for pre-internet things), the answer is no; it was listed among new books, but nobody's review (not even mine) was findable. No loss.
However, his self-publishing firm had put out two more books in 2017, with the same pen name. I read the blurb for one of them, and it is odd enough that I wonder if he read any more sci-fi in the intervening forty years. I'm guessing not.
The press published a bunch of books by somebody else, with titles like "Atomic Spirituality" and "Alien Threat from the Moon." I'll pass on all four of the writers.
Once burnt, twice shy.
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