2009 books
61) Olaf Stapledon, The Flames, 1947
I picked up this first edition novella from a dealer in Oxford a few years ago, and ISFDb tells me its most recent edition was as far back as 1975. It takes the form of a letter written by a researcher into the paranormal, currently incarcerated in a mental home, who claims to have discovered sentient alien life in the flames of a hearth fire in an English winter cottage. It's subtitled 'A Fantasy' but it's still science fiction, and it wasn't a huge hit when published: whereas Star Maker leaves readers feeling they'd been taken as far as the human imagination can go, this is a just a leisurely walk around the block in comparison.