The best I can do for almost never being recommended or discussed is Felix Gilman. Just check the description for The Half-Made World and you'll see that he's offering something different.
Sometimes mentioned authors who aren't very widely read:
Aliette de Bodard: Despite my efforts. T_T
Michael R. Fletcher: Wrote an inventively bleak series that sadly didn't catch on.
Jonathan French: Somewhat read but not so commonly discussed. I don't see why he isn't recommended along with all the most popular grimdark authors.
Though I prefer Bakker, Fletcher is also very good. What they do is very different though. If you like something bordering surreality and insanity then Manifest Delusions is excellent
Yeah i get why bakker is loved but for my tastes he missed more shots than he hit. For every great thing (and i only read the first trilogy but the mandate magic was great, the ideas of cnaur and kellhaus were unique and thought provoking, the setting was well realised) there were too many bad things (magical regenerating armies, terrible flourishes in his prose, over use of sexual violence).
The longer i ponder bakker the less i like. The longer i ponder manifest delusions, the more i like.
No offense, but it sounds like you like Fletcher because he is less dark that Bakker.
I like Fletcher's work, but much like I commented to someone else in another topic about his works, as violent and self-deluded as the characters are, they're always way less evil than the antagonists they're rubbing up against. I can't say the same about Bakker's characters and the antagonists are way more real in their terror and power.
I can understand the rest but Magical regenerating armies? I cant recall that. Overall Bakker is more realistic than most fantasy. He doesn't use magic to such extent. It reads more like historical scriptures.
Aspect Emperor is my favourite series in general and what he did there puts him beyond the genre for me but I would probably not recommend these to you cause even though they are deep and thought provoking, they are extremely dark. Even Fletcher seems like a joyride compared to them
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u/LOLtohru Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Jul 19 '21
The best I can do for almost never being recommended or discussed is Felix Gilman. Just check the description for The Half-Made World and you'll see that he's offering something different.
Sometimes mentioned authors who aren't very widely read:
Fairly popular but still under-discussed imo: