Book Hauls!

[J-Sun]

The Complete Amber Reader (all 6 Amber books together in one volume) by Roger Zelazny.

But there are two sets of five books each.

--

My haul:

Jack Campbell - The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield
Jack McDevitt - Firebird
Karl Schroeder - Lady of Mazes
Brad R. Torgersen - Racers of the Night

 

[The Bluestocking]

Found Stephen King's Danse Macabre in the bargain section of my local bookshop. SCORE!

 

[Bugg]

Took a trip to Forbidden Planet and bought C J Cherryh's Invader and Inheritor (I got Foreigner a few weeks back).

 

[Extollager]

Three paperbacks -- the Strangers in the Universe on omitting a few stories from the hardcover edition:

 

[dask]

ASIMOV'S MYSTERIES, my first collection of sf and one of the first two books that introduced me to the field, the other being Edmond Hamilton's THE STAR KINGS. Unfortunately I cannot remember which one I read first.

 

[Bugg]

Went to Waterstone's today and got:

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
The Iron King by Maurice Druon


Then made the mistake of turning the wi-fi on on my Kindle and suddenly it downloaded a load of books without my permission!

The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
The Void Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton
Blade of Tyshalle by Matthew Stover
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
Traitor's Blade by Sebastian de Castell
Drakenfeld by Mark Charan Newton
The Complete Empire Trilogy by Raymond E Feist
Firefall by Peter Watts
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury

 

[dask]

Found this in one of the "good books for good homes" boxes out front of a local bookstore:

Not sure why someone didn't grab it before me.

 

[dask]

My haul:

Brad R. Torgersen - Racers of the Night

Never heard of Brad Torgersen, but as one who has always put a higher premium on short story collections than novels I'm interested. Is he any good?

 

[J-Sun]

Never heard of Brad Torgersen, but as one who has always put a higher premium on short story collections than novels I'm interested. Is he any good?

I think so, but it would be a matter of taste. He writes stories that tend to be focused on positive characters with a definite tech-focus and might be seen as "old school" though not "old". Cleanly written, plot-centric. His background as a Mormon in the Army Reserve shows through a little but it's interesting to me that only a couple of his stories are particularly focused on religion and that's both non-denominational and uses basically an atheist as the protagonist/POV character and only a couple are particularly "military SF"-like and not overly gung-ho. So I can see those stories appealing to all kinds, even if they wouldn't ordinarily like religious or atheist or military or pacifist stories. Quite a bit of variety otherwise, though usually in the "center core SF" regions. He says Niven really turned him on to both SF and short fiction and Mike Resnick was a major mentor. He also likes Allan Cole and Chris Bunch but I don't really know them, so don't know if it indicates anything useful. He's published a few places but is an Analog regular and his first novel (actually a fixup/expansion of the two "Chaplain" stories) is out from Baen. Been nominated for Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell awards. All I know is that I got back into Analog a couple of years back and, while I've enjoyed several things, he's the one guy I've bought books by so far.

-- Oh, I should probably say that I've only read Lights in the Deep, his first collection. Racers is his second and contains "Life Flight", which is excellent (though it has a technical/science flaw) but that's all I've already read from that one. The first has both Chaplain stories (one good, one great), as well as "Outbound" (though it's got similarities to "Life Flight", and "Exchange Officers", "Ray of Light", and others.

 

[dask]

Okay, sounds good. Will keep an eye open for him. Thank you.

 

[J-Sun]

Welcome. (I don't know if it matters or if you saw it or not but I edited my first reply to mention which collection I actually knew about. )

 

[dask]

Welcome. (I don't know if it matters or if you saw it or not but I edited my first reply to mention which collection I actually knew about. )

Your experience reminds me of my discovery of Orson Scott Card who I also discovered in Analog. I don't recall when I found out he was Mormon but I probably knew by the time I read CAPITOL and HOT SLEEP and it never seemed to be a problem. I met him at Norwescon and you couldn't meet a nicer guy.

 

[Bick]

Your experience reminds me of my discovery of Orson Scott Card who I also discovered in Analog.

I picked up (near) complete year collections of old Analog magazines recently, from 1973, 1976, 1978 and 1979 (for $10 the lot!). Included in these issues I note are quite a few Orson Scott Card short stories and novelettes that pre-date his Ender saga output. I'll be interested to dip into these.

 

[dask]

I picked up (near) complete year collections of old Analog magazines recently, from 1973, 1976, 1978 and 1979 (for $10 the lot!). Included in these issues I note are quite a few Orson Scott Card short stories and novelettes that pre-date his Ender saga output. I'll be interested to dip into these.

One of my all time favorites --- perhaps my favorite --- is a story called "I Put My Blue Genes On." Hopefully it's in the treasure trove come across. I mean, forty plus Analogs for ten bucks? That's more mind-boggling than quantum physics!

 

[J-Sun]

Your experience reminds me of my discovery of Orson Scott Card who I also discovered in Analog. I don't recall when I found out he was Mormon but I probably knew by the time I read CAPITOL and HOT SLEEP and it never seemed to be a problem. I met him at Norwescon and you couldn't meet a nicer guy.

I don't recall either but I know it was after I'd quit reading him. I read some shorts and Songbird (or something like that) and Ender's Game, even, and just didn't like them so I've avoided him in the years since. But I know I'm in a real minority there.

I picked up (near) complete year collections of old Analog magazines recently, from 1973, 1976, 1978 and 1979 (for $10 the lot!). Included in these issues I note are quite a few Orson Scott Card short stories and novelettes that pre-date his Ender saga output. I'll be interested to dip into these.

Man, what a steal. I'm jealous. Probably a lot of great Sheffields and maybe some Vinges - Anderson, Clement, maybe even Haldeman, etc. All the science fact articles from when the L5 colonies were going up any day. Thick stock covers where the ink doesn't rub off. You've got a couple of years of Bova's editorship and of the very first Schmidts. The handover was in '78, right?, so - depending on how near-complete - you've probably got Bova's last and Schmidt's first. Neat!

 

[Bick]

Ok, here's a few more details of the Analog stash I picked up in an online auction last week (for approx 22 cents each ):

1973 - 8 issues (missing Jun, Jul, Oct, Nov) Ed. Bova
Authors include (1 story each, unless indicated otherwise): Norman Spinrad, Spider Robinson, John Brunner, Jerry Pournelle, Gene Wolfe, George R. R. Martin (2 stories), L.E. Modesitt Jr.; & a complete serial: Poul Anderson ("People of the Wind")

1976 - All issues. Ed. Bova
Authors include (1 story each, unless indicated otherwise): Greg Bear, Isaac Asimov ("The Winnowing" which I think its new to me!), Stanley Schmidt (2 stories), Christopher Anvil, Joe Haldeman, Bertram Chandler, Vonda McIntyre, Joan Vinge, Spider Robinson, Randall Garrett; & two complete serials: Frank Herbert ("Children of Dune"), and Robert Silverberg ("Shadrach in the Furnace")

I'll go through '78 and '79 shortly, as they're not immediately to hand (limited shelf space outside cellar!)

 

[Bick]

To continue...

1978 - 11 issues (Jan missing). Ed Bova (through Nov) & Schmidt (Dec)
Authors include (1 story each, unless indicated otherwise): Charles Sheffield (2 stories), Vonda McIntyre (2 stories), George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card (7 stories), Algis Budrys, Joan Vinge (2 stories), Gregory Benford (2 stories), Randall Garrett, Jack Williamson (3 stories), Jack L. Chalker, L.E. Modesitt Jr., Harlen Ellison, Greg Bear, Frederick Pohl, Barry Malzberg, Poul Anderson, Joe Haldeman; & a complete serial: Joan Vinge ("The Outcasts of Heaven Belt")

1979 - All issues. Ed Schmidt
Authors include (1 story each, unless indicated otherwise): Orson Scott Card (3 stories), Frank Herbert, Gregory Benford, Niven & Barnes, Alfred Bester, Mack Reynolds
& two complete serials: John Varley ("Titan") & Clifford D. Simak ("The Visitors")

I also got two Amazing Science Fiction issues thrown in (May & Nov 1978), with stories by Charles Sheffield, Mack Reynolds, Christopher Anvil, Bertram Chandler.

The last year that Bova edited Analog (1978) looks fantastic. It is notable that the number of stories published by household names drops off immediately and markedly as soon as the editorship went to Schmidt. I'm not saying this was down to him, as there may have been other reasons, but the cut off is sharp and obvious once you flick through every issue as I just have. Interesting... Anyway, I'm looking forward sampling from these. It's interesting to see how much Orson Scott Card published in this time period too: 10 stories over just a two year span!

 

[Bick]

One of my all time favorites --- perhaps my favorite --- is a story called "I Put My Blue Genes On." Hopefully it's in the treasure trove...

So yes, it seems I do have it!

 

[Vince W]

William Gibson's latest:

 

[dask]

How much Anvil can you get between two covers?

903 pages if you know what you're doing, and obviously Eric Flint does. The Federation Of Humanity has never been in better hands. (Cost me fifty cents to help keep it that way.)