Just got started PL-ing an Arnold Bennett novel, Riceyman Steps. This sentence at the beginning of chapter two caught my ear:
"The King's Cross Road window held only cheap editions, in their paper jackets, of popular modern novels, such as those of Ethel M. Dell, Charles Garvice, Zane Grey, Florence Barclay, Nat Gould, and Gene Stratton Porter."
So of course my mind wandered off to wonder how many books by these authors are awaiting the attentions of Librivoxers, and, because I'm procrastinating on the stuff I really should be doing, I decided to find out! (I only checked Gutenberg, I'm sure there are lots more books by the authors on Internet Archive, Hathi and other sites)
Ethel M. Dell (1881-1939)
Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_M._Dell
It appears that Ethel Dell was very popular in the 1910s through 1930s with a string of best-sellers, but the sort of writer that serious authors turned up their noses at and from the Wikipedia entry, seemed to work as a shorthand reference to indicate that someone who liked to read Dell had lowbrow tastes, kind of like someone saying nowadays that a person likes to read Danielle Steel or Debbie Macomber.
There are 16 books by Ethel M. Dell at Project Gutenberg, including 3 short story collections, and a very surprising Ethel M. Dell-shaped hole in the Librivox catalog, as we have recorded exactly none of her works yet!
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Ethel+Dell
Charles Garvice (1850-1920)
Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Garvice
Another writer of romance novels (also used the pseudonym Caroline Hart) who was an enormous bestseller at the time, very prolific, and is now almost completely forgotten. There is only one work by him in the Librivox catalog so far, a short story.
He wrote well over 100 novels, but only 10 novels by Garvice currently on PG, including his big breakthrough novel, Just a Girl: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=garvice
Zane Grey (1872-1939)
Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zane_Grey
Zane Grey was insanely popular AND insanely prolific -- he had so many manuscripts stockpiled at his death in 1939 that he continued to have a new book come out every year until 1963! He was President Dwight D. Eisenhower's favorite author, which led to another resurgence in his popularity in the 1950s, and there are countless movies, radio dramas, and tv episodes based on his books and stories. He is best remembered as a writer of westerns, but he wrote numerous other books as well, including kids books and books about baseball, hunting, and fishing.
Unlike Dell and Garvice, Zane Grey is well-represented in the Librivox catalog already, but it looks like there are some books of his on Gutenberg that haven't yet made it to Librivox, including:
Betty Zane
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1261
The Day of the Beast
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15673
Desert Gold
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/502
The Desert of Wheat
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10201
Ken Ward in the Jungle
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45974
The Light of the Western Stars
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1095
The Man of the Forest
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3457
The Redheaded Outfield, and Other Baseball Stories
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/385
Tales of Fishes
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29346
The Young Forester
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1882
The Young Pitcher
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19246
Florence Barclay (1862-1921)
Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_L._Barclay
Barclay wrote 11 books in all, and two have been recorded for Librivox, including her runaway bestseller, The Rosary (top selling book for the year in 1910). But here are several that have not:
The Following of the Star
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40640
Through the Postern Gate
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33309
The Mistress of Shenstone
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26235
The White Ladies of Worcestor
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16368
Nat Gould (1857-1919)
Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Gould
A lot of his books seem to involve horses and horse-racing, if that's something that floats your boat!
There's one book by Gould on Librivox (called Who Did It?) but there are 6 others on PG that have not been recorded:
Fast as the Wind
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35618
The Rider in Khaki
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24804
The Second String
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35782
The Runaways
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39631
The Sweep Winner
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36480
Settling Day
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35496
Gene Stratton Porter (1863-1924)
Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Stratton-Porter
Besides Zane Grey, Porter is probably the best-known author on the list. Not surprisingly, most of her books available on PG have already been recorded here. But there are two still waiting:
The Fire Bird
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35188
Her Father's Daughter
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/904
Maybe Arnold Bennett's momentary spotlight will help these authors find some new fans, a century on...
Colleen
..."popular modern novels" according to Arnold Bennett
That is very cool, Colleen. I am always very ineterested in these popular-but-forgotten, "ex-classics" and the like. It is a conversation I've had with students more than once. Enter a bookstore now, look at the best-sellers shelves and guess which ones will be around in 100 years... probably none, tbh. 
Leni
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