The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

Post all the new sci-fi (or non-sci-fi) books you've picked up. I'm personally a fan of owning a book, I don't have an e-reader. So I sometimes scan used bookstores or books sales for good finds.

Today was one of those days spent checking out book shops and I picked up a few books.

The Left Hand of Darkness
Ender's Game
The Martian Chronicles

As well as a slew of sword & sorcery paperbacks.

My local public library has on of them friends of the library bookstore. It's really cool they sell donated books for very cheap usually from .50 cents for mass market paperbacks to two dollars for hardcovers the money goes to buying supplies for the library.

Some of my most recent finds there.
Gateway
The Shrinking Man
The Fountains of Paradise
Expedition To Earth
The End of Eternity
Titan

Brussels has a good thing for books, a monthly bookswappers club where you take your old books and then just swap for something else. Not so much Sci-fi but some good stuff from time to time. Latest acquisitions are:
Mockingbird
Cold as Ice
2010: Odyssey Two
Cosmopolis

Today I picked up Accelerando by Charles Stross and The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga. Sadly one of the Engish bookshops in Brussels is downsizing but hey for once I had a bargain!

Jo wrote: "Brussels has a good thing for books, a monthly bookswappers club where you take your old books and then just swap for something else. Not so much Sci-fi but some good stuff from time to time. Lates..."

Mockingbird is fantastic, my favourite robot book.

I was able to buy:

Hyperion
The Fall of Hyperion
Sundiver - trilogy
Ancillary Justice
Blue Remembered Earth

Pickle wrote: "Jo wrote: "Brussels has a good thing for books, a monthly bookswappers club where you take your old books and then just swap for something else. Not so much Sci-fi but some good stuff from time to ..."

I read Mockingbird not so long ago and I really loved it. I'd like to read something else by Walter Trevis.

I see you have Hyperion, i've heard a lot of good things about it. I'm going to have to buy it when I reduce my pile of to read books.

I've finally got The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress so I can read for this months group read. I've also just got Lord of Light. Looking forward to both of them.

Can't you make it bigger? I usually read on the smallest text on my Kindle DX, but bump it up a couple of notches in low light conditions. I love epaper & the large, 10.5" screen.

Clare wrote: "I found both Lord of Light and The Left Hand of Darkness online in PDF form, but damn the text is tiny on the Kindle!"

I read a novel on PDF recently, thankfully it was short. I found it much easier to read it on my PC and/or on a 10" tablet easier than trying to squint at the Kindle. I think the pages were standard letter size. Even on the tablet, I had to zoom in a little bit and scroll. PDF is certainly not the best format for reading a book.

I love the smell and feel of an old paperback in my hands, and I was slow to adopt an e-reader. But I bought a Kindle Touch and never looked back. I read about twice as fast with the e-reader than with a paperback in my hands. It has something to do with being distracted by the page number or how many pages are left or some such neurotic reader condition. :)

I did agree with you about things being easier to read on the Kindle until I started reading Cryptonomicon. I seem to read forever until the percentage increases, it's not a bad book just v long!

I think it is a bad book, personally. If you think it'll make any sense half way through or even at the end, forget it.. nothing happens. That isn't a spoiler because nothing happens in that book. NOTHING AT ALL. I think 99% of the "fans" really just love the title.

I've been reading it for ages, I read a few pages then switch to something else. I keep thinking i will get hooked at some point. Clearly if nothing is going to happen it really will take me forever to finish :-(

I got half way, felt like I was being patronized or something... LOL. So I started skipping ahead, 100 pages at a time, clear to the end, and nothing was happening.. same characters... not doing very much. I really don't get this book at all.

While I enjoyed Cryptonomicon I think that was mainly because I'm a math nerd and interested in crypto, and I really liked Enoch. That said, I have to agree with Jon, the story goes nowhere. I'm not likely to read any more Stephenson.

I've heard from a friend that Crypto is Stephenson's weakest novel, that Snow Crash and Diamond Age are excellent, so I'm going to give them a try.

Jon wrote: "I've heard from a friend that Crypto is Stephenson's weakest novel, that Snow Crash and Diamond Age are excellent, so I'm going to give them a try."

i've read Snow Crash, my only by the author, and it was odd, peculiar and nothing like ive read before but i enjoyed it.

Im kind of reluctant to read any others as they look huge and i'll admit dont overly appeal to me.

I plan to pick it up when I read all the cyberpunk classics again soon (starting with Gibson). It's been 20 years since I read Neuromancer and its kindred. I like everything Gibson wrote except for The Difference Engine, which was very bit as stupid as Crypto. So every author is allowed one stinker.

I just received gifts on my Kindle, as if by magic:

Old Man's War
The Mote in God's Eye
Mission of Gravity

They were on my Amazon.com wish list because my library doesn't have them as ebooks, audiobooks, or printed books. And now they're not.

Browsing in the second hand bookshops I've managed to acquire Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, Knight of Shadows by Roger Zelazny and Bellwether by Connie Willis. Quite a random selection!

Good haul, but I hope you have more of the Amber books than just "Knight of Shadows". It's the 4th in the second pentalogy, so starts & ends with several a lot hanging.

I didn't care for the second pentalogy as much as the first, especially since it started on such a sour note. The introduction, a short story, only appeared in the first hardback run of the book (the SF Book Club edition, I think). For those of us who got the paperback, we had to pick it up in Manna from Heaven or the Collected Works - both expensive & limited. Ditto with the other short stories that fill it out. Or pirated copies, of course. I hate it when publishers actually make people want/need to pirate to complete their reading.

Jim wrote: "Good haul, but I hope you have more of the Amber books than just "Knight of Shadows". It's the 4th in the second pentalogy, so starts & ends with several a lot hanging.

I didn't care for the seco..."

Oops I seem to be making a habit of picking up books from the middle of a series. Guess I will have to find the rest now :)

I recently received on my Kindle, as a gift from my lovely spouse, The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester which I am currently reading; and Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison. Both of these are anthologies of which he is the editor. I remember reading and enjoying Ellison years ago, but have had trouble finding anything by him lately. Again Dangerous Visions contains a work by Le Guin The Word for World is Forest. Some one here, I can't remember who, told me about that and so I got the Le Guin book and all the rest is a bonus.

One of the bookshops that sells English books in Brussels has had a clearance sale so i've picked up Lord Soho by Richard Calder, Freedom™ by Daniel Suarez and The Complete Short Stories of J G Ballard. I've never read any of J G Ballard's short stories so really looking forward to that one. Not really in keeping with my New Years resolution to keep reading my backlog but nevermind.

I really like the Ballard's Vermillion Sands short stories. 'The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D' is great for instance.

Dune, Helliconia Spring, Clockwork Orange, Wizard of Earthsea, Kon's Opus, Frankenstein, That Hideous Strength, Food of The Gods, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, Homer's Odyssey and many more I can't remember... I went on holiday to the Peak District not to long ago and when I wasn't trekking I was exploring the many 2nd hand book shops!

Probably the most interesting thing I've picked up recently is the first two volumes of The Collected Short Fiction of R. A. Lafferty: The Man Who Made Models and The Man with the Aura: The Collected Short Fiction. I unfortunately missed the first printing of volume one, but Centipede did a second printing to coincide with the release of volume 2. I'll be on board for the rest of the collection. If you're at all interested in them you should grab them while they are still available from the publisher at the discounted price here:
http://www.centipedepress.com

I usually get a book or two a year from Centipede Press. Great quality & often unique collections, but pricey. Sometimes I wait for the scratch & dent sale. What Jared considers scratched or dented is rarely even noticeable by me. He's a real perfectionist, but many books don't make it that far.

I'm really looking forward to this fall when he will FINALLY be releasing the complete Kane stories by Karl Edward Wagner. I've been after him for it since he published 2 books that contain most of Wagner's other short stories, Where the Summer Ends: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 1 & Walk on the Wild Side: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 2. I believe I have all the stories in one book or another, but he'll also be putting them in chronological order, I think. At least, I voted for that. Anyway, it will be nice to see them in one book that will last. My old paperbacks are falling apart.

I just bought two Charles Beaumont books from the scratch and dent sale. It's good to hear the scratches and dents may be extremely minimal.

I used to think of these types of books as pricey, but usually you can get them at half price directly from the publisher. In a lot of cases, once they're out of print, the prices soar, particularly on the tougher to find volumes of multi-volume sets. I thought those Wagner books would be great to have. The best I can do right now on volume 1 is $145.

I bought the five volume set of William Hope Hodgson from Night Shade books a few years ago. The third book, The Collected Fiction, Vol. 3: The Ghost Pirates and Other Revenants of the Sea is the toughest to get. There are a few copies from different sellers on Abebooks for $3200 and up. My outlay of $50 no longer seems terribly pricey. These books can be investments. Some don't increase much but some do unbelievable things in the secondary market. But I seriously doubt anyone will buy the Hodgson book for $3200.

Here's the current Scratch & Dent page for Centipede Press.
http://www.centipedepress.com/scratch...

I picked up The Left Hand of Darkness this past week. Starting it this week. Ha. It will be my very first sci fi.

Jackie wrote: "I picked up The Left Hand of Darkness this past week. Starting it this week. Ha. It will be my very first sci fi."

My favorite book ever.

Jackie wrote: "I picked up The Left Hand of Darkness this past week. Starting it this week. Ha. It will be my very first sci fi."

Wouldn't be my recommendation for a first, but you've read "1984" & "Frankenstein" plus a fair amount of fantasy, so you shouldn't have any trouble.

I've picked up Forever Free and Forever Peace by Joe Halderman which i'm looking forward to. I've also got The Storm Lord by Tanith Lee.

Hi Jo
Forever Peace is good.
Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I haven't read Forever Free.

I'm reading Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom now. It's interesting to see modern writers in ERB's world. Pretty good.

Jim wrote: "I'm reading Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom now. It's interesting to see modern writers in ERB's world. Pretty good."

I've never read any ERB, I've been meaning to but not got around to it yet. A Princess of Mars is up for nomination in next months poll so if that wins I may finally get my chance.

I haven't nominated a book because I thought I'd vote for A Princess of Mars. The only caveat is that we'll really need to read the next 2 books (The Gods of Mars & The Warlord of Mars) to read the entire story arc. They're short & quick reading, though.

I'd highly recommend at least reading them before 'Under The Moons'. While each story does have a short introduction that helps explain where the characters or area came from, it's not as good as having read ERB's stories.

There is a twice a year charity book sale in Brussels where the books are sorld by their height! In sci-fi I picked up 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson and Nova by Samuel R Delaney. They can now be added to my huge backlog of books to read :-)

I went to the Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday. So, naturally, I acquired some books. I also got some autographed. Every year this festival gets bigger and better. All day long, from 10 am to 6 pm, there is a choice of about 10 panel discussions, interviews, etc., every hour. If you live near it, you should definitely give it a try. I like it because it gets me out of my comfort zone (SF, fantasy, horror). There is no genre focus to the event, but genre books are included, so you can go and stay in your comfort zone, if you want to. One of the main attractions is it's free and hundreds of authors attend each year.

My acquisitions were, an autographed copy of Salman Rushdie's new book, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, which appears to be science fiction/ fantasy. I got Joyce Carol Oates to autograph my copies of Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque and The Tattooed Girl.

My outside the comfort zone purchases was:
A YA novel by Jessie Ann Foley from Elephant Rock Books about a young girl who moves to Ireland in the 90's. It has stuff about the Grunge scene too. The Carnival at Bray. I started reading it already and the writing is quite nice.

Subway: After the Irish by Horace Mungin. It's about the transition of the New York subway system from Irish to black workers. He had his own table, so I got to talk to him about it and his other books.

Toward the end of the show, Columbia University Press was selling everything for $5 each. They had a lot of interesting books. I picked three: The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom, Spirals: The Whirled Image in Twentieth-Century Literature and Art and Born Translated: The Contemporary Novel in an Age of World Literature.

For $5 I also bought a 3 pack magazine sampler from One Story, which is exactly what it sounds like. They publish one story in a small magazine form 15 times a year. They've been doing this for a surprisingly long time. http://one-story.com

I also picked up catalogs from a number of the small presses there. It was a wonderful day.

That sounds like a fantastic day, David. I had no idea Oates was still alive. I don't know why since she's about my mother's age & she's still riding a couple of sets a day plus taking care of a farm.

Jim wrote: "That sounds like a fantastic day, David. I had no idea Oates was still alive. I don't know why since she's about my mother's age & she's still riding a couple of sets a day plus taking care of a ..."

And she continues to write novels at a rate even Stephen King would be proud of. She seems pretty shy.

Jim wrote: "That sounds like a fantastic day, David. I had no idea Oates was still alive. I don't know why since she's about my mother's age & she's still riding a couple of sets a day plus taking care of a ..."

Yeah, it was. This event never disappoints, but they do keep you running around.

So, this isn't a recent acquisition, but it would be if I had this kind of money burning a hole in my pocket. Heritage auctions is auctioning a copy of JulesVerne's From The Earth To The Moon autographed by nine astronauts. Take a look at it here:
http://historical.ha.com/itm/explorer...

Wow. That would be awesome to have.

This is a question on other peoples acquisitions. Has anybody read any of the books in the good reads sci-fi nominations for best sci-fi of 2015 which can be found here? I'm always behind on things and was wondering if any are must reads?

I'm reading Ancillary Mercy. It's very good. You really do need to read the first two books in the trilogy first: Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword. and I'd recommend reading them in close succession.

Buck wrote: "I'm reading Ancillary Mercy. It's very good. You really do need to read the first two books in the trilogy first: Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword. and I'd recommend reading them in close succ..."

I read Ancillary Justice a while ago, I hadn't got round to continuing. I think maybe I will add them to my to read list. I'm so far behind on my up to date reading, i've only just started Station Eleven!

Jo wrote: "I read Ancillary Justice a while ago, I hadn't got round to continuing. I think maybe I will add them to my to read list. I'm so far behind on my up to date reading, i've only just started Station Eleven!"

I read Station Eleven. It's good, strange. I may or may not read the next two in the trilogy. I think the Ancillary trilogy is quite good, though it takes some getting used to. I had six months between Justice and Sword. Started Mercy right after Sword. wish I had read Sword sooner after Justice. My memeory had gotten vague on some important aspects.

I have a couple of recent acquisitions that may be of interest. I just bought Jeff Vandermeers' Area X:The Southern Reach Trilogy. It was put out by a publisher I've never heard of, FSG. The cover design is simple, with no title or words on the front. Only every other page is numbered. Why is this important? The design is completely in service of the books plot. Very interesting. I don't think this design would have made it through one of the large publishing houses.

The other book is The Man Underneath: The Collected Short Fiction of R. A. Lafferty volume 3. Lafferty is unlike anyone else. Centipede Press is collecting all of his short fiction in a multi-volume limited edition series. I managed to get on board with volume 2 and picked up the second printing of volume 1. The introduction of this new volume is lengthy and written by a friend of Lafferty. I never knew much about him, so this was interesting. Those who have been into the small press scene for a while will recognize the editor of these volumes, John Pelan.

I'm on Centipede's e-mail list and been getting the e-newsletter for over a year now. I quite enjoy reading it. Jerad, the publisher, answers return e-mail, so I've had a bit of correspondence with him. We're about the same age and we were into some similar stuff, so the remembrance sections of the newsletter we overlap on a lot. He often has me web surfing the stuff he mentions and sometimes I need to send a reply after with my own memories. He also sometimes throws out new ideas for books he's thinking about doing to get an idea if his readership is interested and asks for ideas.