SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Spurred by a diversion in another thread, here's a question:

Who are the authors you buy new and/or at full price without question?

There are only two for me right now:

Tamsyn Muir - if her upcoming novellas are ten bucks I'll flinch and hold off, admittedly. the third Locked Tomb will be pre-ordered as soon as it's possible.

(redacted) - I know them in person so it isn't fair to list them. It isn't just my friendship that makes me think they're great!! :D

aha, i know where this comes from...

Patrick Rothfuss
George R.R. martin, but only the GoT books

Lois McMaster Bujold and Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London series).

For me, it's:

- Tamsyn Muir
- Brandon Sanderson
- Patricia Briggs
- Eleanor Catton
- Hilary Mantel
- Brent Weeks

I've also bought everything by Jane Austen, so if she came back from the dead and started publishing again, I'd buy that sight unseen. And I have almost everything by Lois McMaster Bujold, but I'm still working through her backlog. And I'm scared of reading Gentleman Jole because I don't want the character that is dead in that novel to die - ever. If I don't read it, that person stays alive, right?

Mark Lawrence,
Ann Leckie
Becky Chambers
Laini Taylor
Martha Wells
Stephen King
Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman (alone and together),
Joanna Nell (Australian fiction writer who is an aged care doctor and used to work on a cruise ship and writes uplifting books about senior citizens in retirement villages and nursing homes and is wonderful),
Sophie Green (also Australian who writes beautifully about friendship),
Alice Hoffman,
Jessica Townsend (Nevermoor)

Mark I usually order and pick up on release day. Ann, Martha, Becky, and Laini I pick up when they’re cheaper a year later or sometimes I cave and get them earlier. Sometimes I read them on my iPad. The rest I can pick up for $16 ($12 for YA) at Big W on release.

Must buy?

Tana French
Peter F. Hamilton
Brent Weekes
Richard K. Morgan

Probably buy...

Louise Penny
Ian Rankin

Mark Lawrence.
Brandon Sanderson.
Daniel Abraham (James S A Corey included)
Joe Abercrombie.

And those might be the only 4 that are automatic "I'll try this out" even if there aren't stellar reviews on the books.

CBRetriever wrote: "aha, i know where this comes from...

Patrick Rothfuss
George R.R. martin, but only the GoT books"

You've been saving money, CBR... ;)

Oh, I had forgotten Brent Weeks! I agree, for me he's also on auto-buy.

No question at all: Kameron Hurley, Annalee Newitz, Hao Jingfang, Daniel Abraham/James SA Corey, (edit: now adding Yoon Ha Lee too!)

The rest are those whose series I am currently following: R.F. Kuang, GRRM, Mary Robinette Kowal, Joe Abercrombie, F.C Yee, NK Jemisin, Marlon James, Ben Aaronovitch, Rich Larson, etc.

:D since I have to pay for nearly everything I read this us a question that is not only of theoretical means to me.

I admit, my list of 'I will never pay a single cent more for this author' is a lot longer than the other one. ;p

At the moment the only author I will buy all books of without looking at the price is Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Gabi wrote: ":D since I have to pay for nearly everything I read this us a question that is not only of theoretical means to me.

I admit, my list of 'I will never pay a single cent more for this author' is a l..."

Same, having no library access we have to be more selective.

Sometimes even though I like a writer the price is often the biggest obstacle. Or if I only read one work so far. They would be in my discount watch list.

Beth wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "aha, i know where this comes from...

Patrick Rothfuss
George R.R. martin, but only the GoT books"

You've been saving money, CBR... ;)"

I'm just cheap and patient - I know that the prices will eventually be reduced when their next book comes out or when the paperback version does (this is when Kindle books prices typically go down)

Eva wrote: "I've also bought everything by Jane Austen, so if she came back from the dead and started publishing again, I'd buy that sight unseen."

The "died two centuries ago" aspect is a mild setback, but I completely agree with you! I have all of her novels both in paper and audio, and her letters are on my teetering TBR.

For me it's:

Mark Lawrence
Ben Aaronovitch
Josiah Bancroft (thanks, Mark Lawrence!)
Joe Abercrombie
Craig Schaefer
Oscar de Muriel
John Connolly

I don't even have to think about those, it's a blind buy and I will read new books by those authors INSTANTLY.

Also, Stephen King. But I still have a lot of catching up to do with his works so there is still much to discover anyway and buying ALL of it would probably put me on the streets.

There are of course many other authors who have a place on my "must read" list, but they are less of a compulsive blind buy and more of a "I get there when I get there". Some of those would be:

Heide Goody
Benedict Jacka
Vivian Shaw
Jonathan L. Howard
Wilkie Martin
Grady Hendrix

Auto-read authors is a different topic! We have a thread for that, too 😄

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Going by the strictest interpretation of the question, who would I buy full price, no questions asked? Only Emma Newman. I have other authors whose books I will automatically buy, but not if the price is horrible, or I'll get it on Audible, where I control the price of the credit, so it's not the same thing.

Will absolutely buy, no questions asked:

Emma Newman

Will almost certainly buy, even if the price is higher:

Yoon Ha Lee
Zen Cho
Emmi Itäranta

Will buy, but will wait to see if I can get it somewhere else first, or if price goes down:

N.K. Jemisin
Nnedi Okorafor
Maureen F. McHugh

Special category, will buy non-horror, but not horror:

T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon)

I think the only books I buy full price without prior knowledge of content are the Stormlight Archive books. having lots of library options, and preferring trying new to me authors over favorites, I stay out of trouble mostly.

I think it's safe for me to say I'd buy any book written by someone who'd returned from the grave, I think they'd have earned it.

Allison wrote: "I think the only books I buy full price without prior knowledge of content are the Stormlight Archive books. having lots of library options, and preferring trying new to me authors over favorites, ..."

Yup, I actually consider buying them in physical form despite owning them as audiobooks and partly as ebooks.

I should've mentioned that I've bought most Emma Newman books in all three formats! Audio and ebook for myself, and physical as gifts :)

I will have to go comment on the auto-read thread as well, the only authors I have on my auto buy list, for completely different reasons are

Adrian Tchaikovsky because my library apparently had some sort of grudge against him? (It is getting better)

Marko Kloos because his books are great, almost always cheap and I want them as soon as they come out.

Aaronovitch's Rivers of London audio books. I absolutely love the narrator and save at least one Audible credit for each new one.


Everything else on the auto read list is fairly easy to get from the library, I am lucky.

Anna wrote: "I should've mentioned that I've bought most Emma Newman books in all three formats! Audio and ebook for myself, and physical as gifts :)"

Yeah! <3

Anna wrote: "I should've mentioned that I've bought most Emma Newman books in all three formats! Audio and ebook for myself, and physical as gifts :)"


Ok, for me it's pretty much the same though, at least for those I listed first. I want to read those books as soon as they are released so I'll buy them as soon as they are released :P. Although I admit that I buy a lot of stuff on Audible.

I've also been without a library, and for years I had to buy almost every book I read anyway, so the answer was rather different.

Now that I have access to library ebooks from overseas... in practice, almost no one. I'm good at waiting for my holds to come through. But I have and would for

Madeleine Miller
C.S. Pacat
Martha Wells
Becky Chambers
Michael Sullivan
森薫

Japanese novels and manga are much cheaper though, so the difference of 500円 to 100円 on sale is less on an issue.

@Melissa: Mori 👍 Delighted to see them here; definitely one of the most wholesome mangaka out there.

Matt Haig comes to mind.

Because I have a great library system to borrow e-books from, I tend to only buy books if they are on sale, or if they are my absolute favorite self published authors. In the past before the e-books in libraries were so common I bought a lot more physical books, but for the last 8 years or so, my habits have changed.

That being said, my only two current must buy authors are Drew Hayes and Will Wight. They are both self published, so I can't get them from the library. Also, they both have made some of their books free at different times, which I know is a self published author's marketing strategy, but it worked in my case.

Will Wight has actually made every single book he's written free at various times, aside from the one that released this month. So I ended up with 15 free books, and bought the most recent 2. Drew Hayes is the opposite because he got me much earlier, so I only got 2 free books from him and bought the most recent 16 or something like that.

Gabi wrote: "I admit, my list of 'I will never pay a single cent more for this author' is a lot longer than the other one. ;p"

I am so not starting that thread. Relentless positivity only! :D

It's interesting to see the responses of the folks who have easy and/or frequent access to libraries. Am I correct in thinking that your home libraries tend to be smaller*, and are focused on a few favorite authors and books that you know you'll turn back to many times in the future?

*this is ignoring ebooks, because ebook libraries are more resistant to this kind of curation.

My personal library? Hmmmmm

Well, I have many books from before ebooks and a lot of reference texts from school. I'd say I have maybe four 6 foot by 2.5 foot bookshelves worth of books? Most are either beautiful antiques, or delightfully "vintage" from my childhood /inherited [mumble mumble] years ago. I think I have maybe a single shelf worth of books written in the past decade.

Let's not talk about my ebook collection though.

None at full price. But I will buy anything by these if the price is right, and it's not fantasy:

Alastair Reynolds
Greg Best (except for books in commercial universes like Star Wars or Halo)
Peter F. Hamilton
Ken MacLeod

For me, it would be:

Lois McMaster Bujold
Carol Berg
Bernard Cornwell
Janny Wurts
Megan Whalen Turner
Michael J. Sullivan
Patrick Rothfuss

Jim Butcher used to be in the Must Buy list, but after Peace Talks...

I'm the odd duck out here in that I don't have any auto-buy or must-buy authors. There's nobody that I can't wait a bit to read. LOL

Beth wrote: "Am I correct in thinking that your home libraries tend to be smaller"

I have not stopped laughing yet at that comment. If I were single, absolutely, my wife however accepts book donations for our local library foundation which then resells them for 50 cents - $1 at big sales.....I think you all know where I am going with this

Hank, next VBC we need to see your book fortress!

This is an interesting question, right now, the only two authors I can think of are Craig Alanson and Neil Gaiman.

I'm currently in love with the books of a lot of authors but besides Derek Künsken, whose had three published novels to date, I've not read everything currently available by my favourite authors. Knowing that I can pick up something new to me by Emma Newman, Peter F. Hamilton, Claire North, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mary Robinette Kowal, Daniel Abraham, T. Kingfisher and a few others is what allows me to dabble with stories from different authors. They're my safety net for when I get into a reading slump or read a series of irksome books. I don't own all of them yet so I can't call them 'must buy' authors. Its easier to name authors that I'll never read the work of again.

I like to think that I'm willing to give every author a chance and don't put anyone on a pedestal where I'll unthinkingly buy whatever they release. It's more important to me to find other authors that write of things or in a way that I enjoy than it is for me to read the stories by my favourites.

Maybe I just like being miserable. :)

I've almost entirely committed to digital books these days and donated most of my physical collection to my two local libraries. Past me was too much like the protagonist of one of Emma Newmans stories. Digital hoarding is so much easier to hide from my loved ones.

Anna wrote: "Hank, next VBC we need to see your book fortress!"

Happy to share although it is more of a tribble like explosion of small book spires dotted around the house.

you need these

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/billy-bo...

I have several sets of these. One bedroom has them on every wall that will fit them and another bedroom has them on two walls plus I have two stand alone book cases in my living and dining room. $ are filled with cookbooks, one has language books, one has chess books, 4 have my paperbacks, 2 have Mr CBR's paperbacks and HBs and one of the skinny ones holds my scarf collection

Ooh, these are NICE! My son, wife and two children are supposed to buy a house in the spring, and I plan to turn their biggest room into a library. I may have to look into these shelves :)

CBRetriever wrote: "you need these

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/billy-bo...

I have several sets of these. One bedroom has them on every wall that will fit them and another bedroom has them on two..."

I do need these, we splurged on a big full wall one when we moved into the new house but it is now fully utilized, shall we say.

I will head off Anna's eventual comment and direct us to a better thread to discuss this :)

Show off your IRL book shelf

*sniff* Anna, they grow up so fast, with their on topicness and their links

Michelle wrote: "Ooh, these are NICE! My son, wife and two children are supposed to buy a house in the spring, and I plan to turn their biggest room into a library. I may have to look into these shelves :)"

Billy Bookcases are the BEST. Here's what I have set up in my office:
(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

This is an old picture, and they aren't arranged the same way anymore, because one of my hobbies is rearranging all of my books periodically, but these shelves are so great.

Allison wrote: "*sniff* Anna, they grow up so fast, with their on topicness and their links"

Dang it. :P

Allison wrote: "*sniff* Anna, they grow up so fast, with their on topicness and their links"

XD

Hank, you da man!

haha I'm proud m of you and your photo sharing too Becky!

Becky wrote: "I'm the odd duck out here in that I don't have any auto-buy or must-buy authors. There's nobody that I can't wait a bit to read. LOL"

Add me to your flock... now. Although I sill go on author benders, I can wait for a sale or library. But as I said, now. In the past had to collect them all and am down to 6 bookcases (not Ikea) and a few thousand physical books. SciFi/Fantasy bookshelves have Robert Jordan, Robert A. Henlein, John Varley, Joe Haldeman and lots of anthologies and Best of collections.

For me it isn't about needing to own the book, it's about supporting the authors. For example I've pre-ordered all new Yoon Ha Lee and Zen Cho audiobooks in the past few years, althought they're all available "free" on the audio service I subscribe to. It's also not about having access to it immediately after publication, I still haven't read the newest YHL, despite having it both on Audible and Storytel. I'll listen to it when I'm in the mood for it :)

Exactly Anna. I have free access to thousands of books online but the ones I want to read I still buy the physical book. Which is why I’ve pretty much filled 4 bookcases in 3 years. I want to support the author. Even though nearly half of them are second hand which doesn’t give money back to the author. Which is sort of like taking money away from them by not buying the book and downloading it when you think about it.

Hubby is retiring this week and apparently my book buying will be curbed. I’ll just have to remind the kids that gift cards to my favourite book selling stores will be most welcome. Again. Last year the eldest and youngest gave me gift cards. The eldest gave me one for $100 and I’m down to $4.70. Lots of good book buying there especially when the books were between $9 and $16. Also some dog toys but we won’t tell him that lol There are always libraries but I never feel like reading the books I get out of the library once I get them home. I’m very much a mood reader. Still going to have to become a member of the one near me up at the Farm

Allison wrote: "haha I'm proud m of you and your photo sharing too Becky!"

I know it's pity, but I'll take it! Hehe.

Back in topic, I have been known to buy a book specifically to monetarily support an author. (And NOT buy for that reason too.)

That does not, in known history, translate to READING said book at the same time though. Usually it needs to ripen on the shelf for a couple years at least.

This thread is delightful!

There’s only been one author that I bought the hardcover of each new book, more or less as soon as it was published and that’s Robin Hobb. I have the full Realms of the Elderlings in hardcover. Plus the Soldier Son trilogy, but let’s not talk about them.

The only other author by whom I have remotely close to everything is Ursula K. Le Guin. But she’d written the bulk of her novels before I discovered her in the mid 90’s. I still have a few gaps in my collection of the later non-Fiction and her earlier poetry collections. Not sure if those are even obtainable.