It should also be a bit odd and a tad obscure

January 4, 2022 7:55 AM

Defining a cult book is not easy. However, here is one attempt, or at least a list of them.

This is MeFi, so please feel free to agree, argue, and suggest your own cult books (not necessarily favourites) good or bad in the comments.

posted by Megami (102 comments total)

It's interesting to see Gravity's Rainbow on there and then not see Infinite Jest, which seem to gather the same audience, just shifted by a generation.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:05 AM on January 4, 2022 [7 favorites]

I found the Codex Seraphinianus to be a most delightful read.
posted by whatevernot at 8:15 AM on January 4, 2022 [11 favorites]

The Power Broker is Infinite Jest for white people who wear their bus pass on a lanyard
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:17 AM on January 4, 2022 [7 favorites]

I immediately scrolled through looking for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, completely missing that it was the very first one 😅

I guess it makes a lot of sense that Dianetics is on here, although that's not where my mind first goes when someone says "cult book"
posted by wesleyac at 8:21 AM on January 4, 2022 [9 favorites]

And their captions are a bit messed up. Didn't know that L. Ron Hubbard wrote the Doors of Perception... LOL
posted by Windopaene at 8:23 AM on January 4, 2022 [9 favorites]

These seem more like books likely to start a cult, rather than in the same sense as "cult movies"; for books that are similar to cult movies, I'd list the Illuminatus Trilogy and Snow Crash.
posted by sagc at 8:29 AM on January 4, 2022 [18 favorites]

Surprised not to see the Illuminatus Trilogy on here.

On preview: fnord
posted by ejs at 8:30 AM on January 4, 2022 [38 favorites]

this phone booth reserved for superman.
posted by j_curiouser at 8:35 AM on January 4, 2022

I wear my bus pass on a lanyard and now I'm not sure what that's supposed to say about me. Do I have to read The Power Broker to find out?

Also, I am amused by the inclusion of an Alice Starmore knitting book on the list. I'm not sure I see them as culty, but they are damned difficult to get your hands on sometimes.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:38 AM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]

I'm reminded in some ways of something I once read about fandom in general, which is arguably the less intense stage of cultishness. A minor luminary of the interactive fiction renaissance, Stephen Bond (who had many contrarian opinions and a fairly abrasive personality) posited that in order for something to attract a fan following, instead of mere acknowledgement as a good work/creator, it must be, in some respect, actually laughably awful.

Bond's website disappeared years ago, but here's an archive of his argument.
posted by jackbishop at 8:39 AM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Can I be the person who says there sure are a lot of white men on this list, then turn around and point out the absence of a couple of 'em?

No Joseph Heller, Ken Kesey, Hunter Thompson, Armistead Maupin...
posted by box at 8:41 AM on January 4, 2022 [8 favorites]

And some books that aren't by white men but still seem like cult books: Girl, Interrupted, Geek Love, The Handmaid's Tale, The Color Purple, This Bridge Called My Back...
posted by box at 8:43 AM on January 4, 2022 [11 favorites]

The Game by Neil Strauss. It spawned the cult of pickup artists and all that followed.
posted by interogative mood at 8:47 AM on January 4, 2022 [8 favorites]

There was a time when The Magus was my favorite book. I'm surprised that it was considered a cult book.
The movie they made from it, however- that was truly bad enough to be called a cult movie.
posted by MtDewd at 8:49 AM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'm also curious about Illuminatus! not being on the list as well. I'd add Principia Discordia to the list, too.
posted by Spike Glee at 8:52 AM on January 4, 2022 [9 favorites]

Many of the titles we've selected have barely seen the light of day beyond their incredibly dedicated and perhaps obsessive following.

really

you literally have Pulitzer Prize winners and NYT bestsellers on this list

why does every list of cult books seem like it's just another clickbaity ego-stroke for undergrad creative writing majors (of which I was one, lol)
posted by paimapi at 8:52 AM on January 4, 2022 [14 favorites]

I guess it makes a lot of sense that Dianetics is on here, although that's not where my mind first goes when someone says "cult book"

It's more of a cult manual, really.
posted by slimepuppy at 8:56 AM on January 4, 2022 [15 favorites]

Most of what I read these days is comics, and most of that is manga. Here's a few of my picks for "cult manga", with links to commentary by manga experts Jason Thompson and Shaenon K. Garrity. I hope this isn't too off-topic.

Barefoot Gen - said to be the first manga translated into English. A gripping tale of a young boy who survives the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, written and drawn by a survivor of that bomb. This isn't a personal favorite of mine, but it is one that, more than any other manga, I think everyone should read.

Blame! - another non-favorite, but definitely a cult classic. While it was out of print, complete sets commanded a princely sum on eBay. A dystopian science-fiction story with incredible artwork.

The Drops of God - this is one of my favorites, and it has changed my life, introducing me to the world of wine. A fantastic wine-themed competition manga that is sexier than its nearest analogue Oishinbo (another favorite). Supposedly, they love it in France.

X - a lot of CLAMP works could go on this list, but this is one of the cultier-following ones (Tokyo Babylon and Legal Drug seem to be like that too), and is notoriously unfinished. A dark urban fantasy about the end of the world, and probably the most violent shoujo (girls) comic ever written (it gives some violent manga aimed at men a run for its money). It has been pretty influential, though as far as I know, nothing quite like it has been attempted since.
posted by May Kasahara at 9:00 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

gormenghast, even cowgirls get the blues, dune, cat's cradle, devil's dictionary.

and, in the interest of establishing a new one, everyone read "Rocket City" by Cathryn Alpert.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:00 AM on January 4, 2022 [9 favorites]

You Rang?
posted by fnord at 9:01 AM on January 4, 2022 [16 favorites]

I’m so happy for this thread because I get to mention The Steerswoman.

My definition of a cult book is one you’re so passionate about, but secretly worry your crazy because no one else has heard about it or mentions it. Am I in love with a great book, but objectively it’s bad and I just don’t know it, maybe no one’s heard of it so I need to bring it up in every conversation about books, or what the hell is wrong with everyone else?
posted by herda05 at 9:01 AM on January 4, 2022 [20 favorites]

If we're talking about books we'd like to become cult books, can I nominate In The Dream House? It's probably the best book I read in 2021, but most people I bring it up with haven't heard of it :(
posted by wesleyac at 9:08 AM on January 4, 2022 [6 favorites]

So, the first time I ever even heard of Dianetics was sometime in the 1980s, when I was a teenager, and there must have been some kind of reprinting because I started seeing TV ads for it now and again.

However, this was also about the same time that Bobcat Goldthwait was starting his career, and I remember a clip used to promote his standup special Share The Warmth where he was standing in front of a mike and screaming (as only Bobcat Goldthwait can) that "I AM A LIVING EXAMPLE OF DIANETICS!!!!"

And now any mention of Dianetics reminds me of screaming Bobcat Goldthwait.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:10 AM on January 4, 2022 [7 favorites]

based on the ones I've read (or started anyway), I suppose you could call them all dangerous -- some in a good way, some in a bad way.

And yes.

ctrl/f: Robert Anton Wilson

There's an awful lot missing.
posted by philip-random at 9:22 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

The titles that immediately came to mind when I read that description are the three that were constantly being stolen from my college library when I worked there: The Anarchist's Cookbook, SCUM Manifesto and (natch) Steal This Book.

How it is that not one of those made the list is kinda baffling.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 9:24 AM on January 4, 2022 [11 favorites]

I think of cult books as, in part, books people won't stop talking about. Looking at you, house of leaves.

This list seems to have a British bias, with some strange inclusions I've never heard of at all, and I'm the person who goes to used book shops on vacation.
posted by cobaltnine at 9:25 AM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hah, I came here to mention House of Leaves, which I have never read (although the POE album gets a lot of airplay in my house). Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas should also have earned a mention.
posted by PussKillian at 9:46 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

To me, a cult book is a book that never goes out of print, has a tiny but extremely dedicated (and somewhat influential) readership, and has a substantial but subliminal impact on the culture.
posted by Omon Ra at 9:48 AM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

What, no Kathy Acker?

There's like a whole subsection of NYRB Classics right now that are basically "Cult Books" that have become less cult books since re-publication.
posted by thivaia at 10:08 AM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]

No Dioretix: The Science of Matter Over Mind by A. Rum Bobb?
posted by NoMich at 10:15 AM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]

This is a really odd list, for the reasons already mentioned, but also because it has some canonical books on there. Whatever definition you go by, a cult book can’t be in the canon.
posted by Kattullus at 10:24 AM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

No A Fiery Flying Roll? Pshaw.

I feel like most of this list is too easy to find out about/get ahold of to really count as “cult books.” If it’s had a general release film made from it, it’s not a cult book. If it’s sold more than 500,000 copies, it’s not a cult book. If it’s had more than a few editions, it’s probably not a cult book. Cult books, by their nature, are not popular, even if they have an enthusiastic following. They are easier to find now, with the internet; back in the day, you would need to scour specialist used book shops or their catalogs to find things you’d heard of by word of mouth or mentioned in equally obscure essays. I’ll try to come back with some suggestions later.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:24 AM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

for some reason I got my dianetics and my dialectics confused and I don't care if you're Hubbard or Hegel, no thanks

really enjoying the comments, and taking notes on reading material for the 22
posted by elkevelvet at 10:39 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

AlonzoMosleyFBI, the absence of Steal This Book and The Anarchist's Cookbook did strike me as odd.

In the niche of hip-hop related cult books, Getting Up, Subway Art, and Bomb the Suburbs absolutely belong on the list as well.
posted by May Kasahara at 10:51 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

What others said about the entire works of Robert Anton Wilson - also Geek Love.

A few others...

A Child's Garden of Grass

T.A.Z.

Venus on the Half-Shell (Philip Jose Farmer writing a parody of Vonnegut)

Godel, Escher, Bach

All the RE/Search publications, or anything by J.G. Ballard.
posted by chbrooks at 11:03 AM on January 4, 2022 [15 favorites]

Science and Sanity (1933) by Alfred Korzybski (1879–1950). He called his work General Semantics and there is a Facebook group with 2.9k members.
posted by xtian at 11:10 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

While I wouldn't call it a cult book, there's a line describing one of my favorite novels that I found to be true. Michael Chabon said that not that many people have read The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson, but those that have love it immoderately.

A few years ago I was chatting with my next door neighbor about books, and he mentioned "this viking novel" he really loved. Reader, you guessed it. We are the only two people we know who have read the thing. And we both love it immoderately.

The Long Ships is about a viking in the time of Harald Bluetooth who roves far and wide. Written with charm and style, in a distant yet witty tone, filled with events both wild and everyday, it's a goddamned treasure. (For added points: Bengtsson wrote it in the early 1940s, so he added a heroic Jewish man into the book as a raised middle finger to the fascists surrounding and inside his native Sweden. I appreciate raised middle fingers to fascists.) I've never read anything quite like it and recommend it. I love it immoderately.
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 11:14 AM on January 4, 2022 [17 favorites]

rippling out from xtian's mention of Korzybski, there's also Gall's Systemantics
posted by elkevelvet at 11:26 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

The three castle books are missing.
posted by betweenthebars at 11:29 AM on January 4, 2022

I was wondering what was so obscure about the Jerusalem Bible (given that the text is missing), but when I clicked through, I discovered it was the Salvador Dalí edition, which makes a bit more sense.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:43 AM on January 4, 2022

not convinced "cult classics" can still be a thing now that fandom is mainstream, marketing is hyper-segmented, and the internet makes up a new microaesthetic every week

but i vote darryl by jackie ess
posted by Gerald Bostock at 12:34 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Power Broker is Infinite Jest for white people who wear their bus pass on a lanyard

I'm just going to assume that the person who tweeted that is being completely facetious.

I'd exclude any book that has been adapted into a movie. The edition of The Regulators that looks like it's been shot is cute, but I'd also exclude just about everything of Stephen King's. I'd add Greil Marcus' Lipstick Traces, Ted Nelson's Computer Lib/Dream Machines, Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III's Promethea, Neal Stephenson's The Big U (Stephenson dismissed it later as "juvenilia", but I think that it's much more successful than some of his later works), and just about anything that Chris Ware has done.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:35 PM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]

Hegel, Phenomenology Of Spirit
posted by thelonius at 12:48 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

I would ditch almost the entire list as "not cult enough." Cult books need to be:

* Not completely obscure, but not particularly well known
* Enthusiastically endorsed by at least some people
* Out of the mainstream in some critical way; slightly off-kilter at the least
* Out of print often enough that it's a little hard to find
* At least a whiff of the wondrous, poisonous, or both

Suggestions
Little, Big by John Crowley for Fantasy
Liber Null or the Liber Null/Psychonaut reprint by Peter Carroll for Magick
The Factory Series by Derek Raymond for mysteries
A Fiery Flying Roll by Abiezer Coppe for outsider writing
The SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas for politics
Pussy, King of the Pirates by Kathy Acker for literature
Things by Alexander Trocchi for pornography
The Lesbian Body by Monique Wittig for literature
The Mad Man by Samuel Delany for pornography
Arcology by Paolo Soleri for architecture

Some of these may be a little too well-known, and we could argue about works by specific authors. Some of the books are "heavy going," and I recommend approaching them with caution; content warnings apply. A few are by people who are reprehensible.

I am leaving out a whole bunch of books by fascists and fellow travelers because I don't care to advertise them.

I spent a decade selling cult books.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:08 PM on January 4, 2022 [19 favorites]

William Kotzwinkle has published a pile of novels and every single one is a completely different genre from the others. So that's something.
posted by ovvl at 1:20 PM on January 4, 2022

no Georges Perec...
posted by supermedusa at 1:25 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

One comment brought up in the last Rolling Stone Top 500 thread here, from Belarius, was: "If Rolling Stone ever publishes "The Best 200 Albums That Never Once Appeared On The Billboard 200 Chart," let me know."

I sort of want to ask that here, too Not what's the best cult book you've got, that's "a bit odd" or "a tad obscure" but: what's the best book you know that _nobody_ knows about?
posted by mhoye at 1:48 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

Len Deighton's Action Cookbook, was an intriguing selection I have to say! That might be more kitsch than cult but I would love to see it.
posted by storybored at 1:54 PM on January 4, 2022

It's not very obscure, but I've only met one other person in the United States who's read it, but Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time series (12-part novel?) is magnificent, sort of like Proust turned inside out.

I am a big fan of Gemma File's Experimental Film, and I never hear anyone talk about her, either.

Basil Bunting used to be better-know, but he might be the best of the Modernists, leaving Pound (and maybe Elliot) behind.

Everyone should read Joanna Russ's How to Suppress Womens' Writing as though their lives depended on it.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:05 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

I would like to nominate a cult author, rather than any one of his books, as many of them would stand on their own status as cult books and some of them include works of poetry. Richard Brautigan was all the rage among those of us who considered ourselves "hip" readers during the late 1960's/early '70's.
posted by Lynsey at 2:06 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure I buy L. Ron Hubbard or Ayn Rand. I guess they are technically cults, but not the fun kind of cults. (The Dice Man, though, really defines the category for me and is well chosen.)

Seconding Geek Love. And adding The Glass Bead Game, Coin Locker Babies, and The Woman in the Dunes. I don't actually know how broadly popular they are, but fans sure are passionate. They feel like cult novels to me.

I sort of want to ask that here, too Not what's the best cult book you've got, that's "a bit odd" or "a tad obscure" but: what's the best book you know that _nobody_ knows about?

"Best" is a challenge. I'm tempted to suggest The Roaches Have No King and Eric Garcia's "Rex" novels. They are deeply flawed, but more interesting than any serious fiction bestseller in recent years. I've yet to meet anyone who has read them.
posted by eotvos at 2:07 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

I would ditch almost the entire list as "not cult enough." Cult books need to be:

Should we be looking at the books to determine cult books, or looking at the cult?

I'm not trying to be flip here, and I just deleted a rambly post about trying to figure out what a book cult looked like compared to a movie cult (because the organisational modes their media facilitate are very different) as it ended up with way more questions than answers. But not every oddball etc book or movie generates a 'cult' following, though I'm sure many would like to, so what's particular about the relative level of engagement of those that do that makes them 'cult'?
posted by Sparx at 2:09 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

Yeah, about half this list is way too mainstream. These should be books that had listservs with eighteen members dedicated to them back in the day.

I nominate John the Balladeer.
posted by praemunire at 2:19 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

eotvos, I really really enjoyed Eric Garcia's "Rex" novels, I think they are very under rated. I am now going to check out The Roaches Have No King.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 2:21 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Does the Voynich manuscript even qualify as a book in the context of “cult books”, or would it be better on a list of objets d'art and/or mysteries? By definition, nobody has read the Voynich manuscript, in the sense of parsed the text and gotten meaning from it, and while there are nonverbal books which tell stories (like, say, Little Nemo in Slumberland), the Voynich Manuscript does not have the coherence (to those unable to decode its script) to function in this way. While cult books change your life when encountered, if the Voynich Manuscript changed your life, it would have probably done so more like, say, the identity of D.B. Cooper or the question of who killed JFK than Illuminatus! or The Glass Bead Game.
posted by acb at 2:25 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

I nominate John the Balladeer.

What about The Eye of Argon?
posted by acb at 2:27 PM on January 4, 2022

There's no Norman O. Brown. Walden Two is missing. And, most crucially, where is Chariots of the Gods? by Erik Von Daniken?
posted by Morpeth at 2:27 PM on January 4, 2022

Baelzebubs Tales To His Grandson, Gurdjieff. Altered States, John C Lilly. Be Here Now, Alpert/ Ram Dass. Philip K. Dick, any. The Urantia Book. Carlos Castaneda's body of work. I second, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Day of the Triffids, Wyndham. Dahlgren, Delany.
posted by Oyéah at 2:33 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

Should we be looking at the books to determine cult books, or looking at the cult?

I think they feed off each other but the text is central. At least that is what makes sense to me.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:34 PM on January 4, 2022

The Morning of the Magicians - Pauwels and Bergier
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind - Jaynes
The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon - Sei Shōnagon
Dogra Magra - Kyūsaku Yumeno
Dictionary of the Khazars - Pavić
posted by jabah at 2:34 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

All the RE/Search publications, or anything by J.G. Ballard.
I'm gonna go with The Atrocity Exhibition for Jim.

And Hogg for Delany...

That's an exceedingly mainstream collection of 'cult books', imo.
posted by Bron at 2:39 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

I like the focus on the actual, original book covers. But this is a pretty limited (and sloppily edited) list. And why all the cookbooks? I would be surprised at one cult cookbook, but several?
posted by zardoz at 3:04 PM on January 4, 2022

A Humument by Tom Phillips
posted by chavenet at 3:14 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah, Little, Big definitely.

Oreo is getting a lot of much-deserved love these days, but I'd probably put that on a list. Mostly because I'm always going to find a way to recommend Oreo to people
posted by thivaia at 3:45 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health by L Ron Hubbard is cult, alright.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:16 PM on January 4, 2022

Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health by L Ron Hubbard is cult, all right.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:17 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

Little, Big was one of my first thoughts too.

How about Lost In the Cosmos: The Last Self Help Book By Walker Percy.
posted by fimbulvetr at 4:29 PM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]

As to cult books, there is a book which led me to join a cult - Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. There is a long history of groups of people coming together to read this book. Robert Anton Wilson ran one of these reading groups in the 60’s. I had a coworker who was in that group. Back in 90’s I found out about a UC Berkeley extension class about this book. I crashed the class, and the instructor was fine about that. It was a great class and at the last class the instructor invited me to come to a weekly group he ran on the side. This was a group of about 10 to 15 people who met every Tuesday evening to read from the book out loud, discuss it, drink wine, eat food. They had been doing this for over twenty years. I would tell people that I was in a cult based in Berkeley. After their confused looks I would explain that it was a cult about a book. More confused looks. I was involved with this group for almost four years until some life changes made it difficult to continue. Really a great group of people. And the book itself requires a group reading…
posted by njohnson23 at 5:59 PM on January 4, 2022 [7 favorites]

I find myself smiling at the idea that two titles by Hubbard and none by Heinlein was an intentional snub.
posted by Revvy at 6:01 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay.

GED definitely. Lipstick Traces too.

For authors, I'd suggest Colin Wilson. Weird old school sci-fi mostly, but his conclusion at the end of his Criminal History of Mankind was most memorable.
posted by bigZLiLk at 7:11 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

Based on the type of books on the linked list, I was surprised not to find Ishmael on there.
posted by fairmettle at 7:54 PM on January 4, 2022

The Book Of The Subgenius isn't on this list? It's an X-ian conspiracy, I tell you!
posted by Fuzzypumper at 8:21 PM on January 4, 2022 [9 favorites]

I’d forgotten about G.E.B. a book I’ve never managed to get through. Every time I’m back to where I was in the book and a few pages more; I get side tracked by some idea in the book and years pass before I get back to the text.
posted by interogative mood at 9:34 PM on January 4, 2022

I just wanna pop in and say that reading all of the Delaney you've never heard of is a fantastic thing to do. Treasures and multitudes, lemme tell ya.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:00 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]

The Book Of The Subgenius isn't on this list? It's an X-ian conspiracy, I tell you!

This was a real movement back in the 80s and 90s. A tongue-in-cheek, meta-movement, but nonetheless a real thing. Sadly I doubt many millennials or younger have any idea about the Church of the Subgenius. And frankly it does seem a wee bit quaint these days.
posted by zardoz at 11:09 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

Generation Xist.
posted by acb at 1:25 AM on January 5, 2022 [5 favorites]

Despite his popularity I think Terry Pratchett deserves a mention.
posted by bunderful at 6:23 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

English As She Is Spoke
posted by thelonius at 7:05 AM on January 5, 2022 [4 favorites]

I was also going to mention The Dictionary of Khazars by Milorad Pavić (which jabah mentioned above). Among other treats, twists, and turns in the story, woven out of historical fact and fiction, the author managed to convince the publisher to print two separate hardcover versions of the book, male and female, which differ only by a single word. And, incredibly, when you read either version you'll know exactly which word that is when you get to it, even though it's never explicitly stated.

(All of Pavić's books are worth a peek.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 7:24 AM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Sadly I doubt many millennials or younger have any idea about the Church of the Subgenius. And frankly it does seem a wee bit quaint these days.

quaint?

"Guaranteed Eternal Life or Double Your Money Back"

How is that quaint?

And worth noting. I did a google search on that wording and got zero hits. Is it alarmist to suggest that the Church of Bob has been deliberately kept off the interwebs? Maybe not entirely, but definitely not available in its entirety.

there is still the book
posted by philip-random at 8:31 AM on January 5, 2022

Is it alarmist to suggest that the Church of Bob has been deliberately kept off the interwebs?

Apart from their official website, their quasi-official Mastodobbs instance, the SubGenius Foundation's Bandcamp of doktormusic and rants, and probably a few other places
posted by acb at 8:49 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

I haven't thought about the SubGenius in years.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:07 AM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Can someone point me in the direction of my slack? I seem to have lost it.
posted by mollweide at 9:17 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

I’d add
Bore Hole by Joe Mellen

Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast books are well known, but I have the damndest time convincing people to read them. They’re engrossing.

I just went down the Gene Wolfe Book of the New Sun rabbit hole. It’s definitely an entryway to what feels like a secret society of aficionados.

I’d argue that O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin books could be considered cult-ish. Fans of the series, myself included, tend to proselytize them to anyone who’ll listen.
posted by rock swoon has no past at 9:43 AM on January 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

I like the focus on the actual, original book covers.

That Neuromancer cover is something, all right.
posted by praemunire at 11:30 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

I am a cult of one for Ian McDonald, as far as I know. His reaction to me fanboying out at him with every single book he'd ever published, asking him to sign them, at NYC Comic Con in 2015, was gracious but taken aback. I was the only person there, in that line, who already had his book which they were giving away for free. I went to all of his panels. (His earlier stuff, like Terminal Cafe/Necroville or Evolutions Shore/Chaga (American vs British titles) is not as well written, but much more visceral than his later stuff.)

Anyway, he's my nomination for cult work. His stuff became popular enough that he was picked up by Tor, but still, the only people who have heard of him that I know are either in SF publishing or have been forced by me to read his stuff.

If not him, then K. J. Bishop who wrote a single novel, The Etched City, a short story collection, The Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote, and then went back to doing art. Or Ian Tregillis, who's Milkweed series is a great look at the true horrors governments would go to/use with those of extraordinary abilities. Or Shariann Lewitt who wrote mostly pulp with her initials, (S. N. Lewitt), but managed to transcend the stories, and when she moved to "serious" SF, really managed to write beautiful books.

Of all of them, it seems only McDonald is still getting novels published.

(Recomended for each author: McDonald: The Dervish House, Bishop: The Etched City, Tregillis: Bitter Seeds, Lewitt: Interface Masque.)

I don't haunt libraries the way I used to, so I don't have any new authors I've read in a cult-like manner who aren't popular already.
posted by Hactar at 11:31 AM on January 5, 2022 [4 favorites]

I really liked Ian McDonald's River of Gods, I should give The Dervish House a try once my attention span returns. The Milkweed Triptych by Tregillis was great as well. I obviously need to check out the other authors you mention, Hactar.
posted by mollweide at 12:03 PM on January 5, 2022

Can someone point me in the direction of my slack? I seem to have lost it.

Truly these are dark times; it has been stolen and transformed by wicked means into a business productivity application that ruthlessly rules the lives of millions during every waking hour, creating a state of perpetual employment.
posted by mubba at 2:56 PM on January 5, 2022 [4 favorites]

praemunire: That Neuromancer cover is something, all right.

It’s from the Phantasia Press edition of Neuromancer. They were an interesting little publisher, they made hardcover editions of popular genre books that had generally only been published in paperback before. They were, essentially, making books for collectors. There used to be a number of these publishers out there, but there are a lot fewer now, as far as I know.
posted by Kattullus at 3:06 PM on January 5, 2022

Kathe Koja's The Cipher and Skin might count, although they seem so tethered to the 90s for me that maybe their age is past?
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:26 PM on January 5, 2022

Slaughterbouse Five, Vonnegut; Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut. Trout Fishing In America, Brautigan.
posted by Oyéah at 3:37 PM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

On a side note about the Church of the Subgenius, I'm a little surprised it hasn't had a resurgence as part of the exvangelical movement.

A few years ago, Stang (or Doug Smith, as his real name is) revealed the history of the CotSG and its inspirations, presumably out of fear that it may metastatise into some Q-adjacent form of neofascism.
posted by acb at 4:06 PM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Cult books need to be:

* Not completely obscure, but not particularly well known
* Enthusiastically endorsed by at least some people
* Out of the mainstream in some critical way; slightly off-kilter at the least
* Out of print often enough that it's a little hard to find
* At least a whiff of the wondrous, poisonous, or both

I am pleased that, by this logic, Animorphs counts.
posted by hapaxes.legomenon at 4:54 PM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

I feel like I would be remiss to not mention The Interrogative Mood: A Novel?
posted by interogative mood at 5:11 PM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Heh, Hactar - I read King of Morning, Queen of Day way too young and…enjoyed it? Was confused by it? But it was compelling. And I have read Interface Masque because I’ll pick up anything set in Venice and give it a try.
posted by PussKillian at 8:05 PM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Scholastic has been trying to milk that Animorphs as hard as they can - they reprinted a bunch a decade ago, then a few years ago they released them all as e books, then did audiobooks?! As I am typing this I have the box set of the first six that was just released last year. But hapaxes.legomenon is correct, it's a little bit culty, a complete set runs 600 bucks.
posted by zenon at 8:53 PM on January 5, 2022

The Regulators

Really. They could have picked any book at all by King and they chose this? I’m just imagining the sheer force of will it must have taken for them to overlook The Dark Tower.

(also, The Regulators was a terrible book, and I’m saying that as a lifelong King fan)
posted by panama joe at 10:52 PM on January 5, 2022

Symbolic Wounds Bruno Bettelheim
Love's Body Norman O Brown
Laws of Form G Spencer Brown: "beautifully written, but content free" — J H Conway
On Numbers and Games J H Conway. NOT content free, very densely writtten
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind Julian Jaynes
A Course in Miracles Helen Schucman, a much stranger book than people seem to realize, with a reasonable claim to be diabolical
Arthur Bremer's Diary
Reign of the Phallus Eva C Keuls. Would revolutionize the study of the classics if taken seriously, but would also partially destroy it by completely obliterating any case for emulating the Ancient Greeks
Symmetry Herman Weyl. I was never able to find a discussion of this book that made a credible claim to have gotten anything significant out of it, but I was also unable to quell a looming sensation of impending revelation whenever I read in it.
posted by jamjam at 3:20 AM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

The Entropy Law and the Economic Process Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. I got so excited by this book I had to stop reading it, and somehow never went back.
posted by jamjam at 3:27 AM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Stang (or Doug Smith, as his real name is) revealed the history of the CotSG and its inspirations

The article/interview in the Texas Monthly is here, for what it's worth.
posted by acb at 4:30 AM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Ian McDonald I imprinted on is Desolation Road.
posted by bleary at 5:05 AM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

I still think about Desolation Road! I love the line (paraphrased) “he stopped for the night, and it lasted 20 years.”
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:23 AM on January 6, 2022