Book Hauls!

[K. Riehl]

Picked up this beauty. From the early days of Harlequin, when they also printed Science Fiction.

 

[nomadman]

My Secret War - Kim Philby
The Spy's Bedside Book - Hugh and Graham Greene
Double Cross - Ben Macintyre
Agent ZigZag - Ben Macintyre
Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov
Atomsk - Carmichael Smith
7 Steps to Midnight - Richard Matheson
Button Button - Richard Matheson
Somewhere in Time - Richard Matheson
Edge of Dark Water - Joe R Lansdale
The Bottoms - Joe R Lansdale
Mucho Mojo - Joe R Lansdale
Freezer Burn - Joe R Lansdale
The Best of Joe R Lansdale
The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M Cain
Double Indemnity - James M Cain
The Return of the Thin Man - Dashiell Hammett
Lost Stories - Dashiell Hammett
If He Hollers Let Him Go - Chester Himes
All Shot Up- Chester Himes
Act of Passion - Georges Simenon
On the Black Hill - Bruce Chatwin
Offshore Human Voices the Beginning of Spring - Penelope Fitzgerald
The Best of Michael Moorcock

 

[dask]

I just won a first edition copy of 3 From Out There (edited by Leo Margulies) off of E-Bay, shipped for $3.99. I largely wanted it for the excellent cover*, but I'm not going to argue with picking up a first edition copy with my opening bid, and it will be interesting to see how the stories turn out.


*

If anyone needs a good definition of sf just look at this cover. This is what I'm constantly looking for. (Not the book itself, I got that, I mean the "feel" of the artwork.)

 

[dask]

Picked up this beauty. From the early days of Harlequin, when they also printed Science Fiction.

Somebody hit the jackpot and it warn't me!

 

[Southern Geologist]

If anyone needs a good definition of sf just look at this cover. This is what I'm constantly looking for. (Not the book itself, I got that, I mean the "feel" of the artwork.)

Wholly agreed! I was very impressed by Library of America's decision to use that cover as the cover for the one of the books in their two volume SF set. (That's why I sought out that book, actually.) Now, if only I could find a poster sized print of that painting...

Meanwhile, from Bookmooch:

Alfred Bester -- The Demolished Man
Groff Conklin (ed.) -- The Golden Age of Science Fiction

And on Kindle (for 99 cents!):

C.M. Kornbluth -- Eight Worlds of C.M. Kornbluth

 

[j d worthington]

Meanwhile, from Bookmooch:

Alfred Bester -- The Demolished Man
Groff Conklin (ed.) -- The Golden Age of Science Fiction

And on Kindle (for 99 cents!):

C.M. Kornbluth -- Eight Worlds of C.M. Kornbluth

Um, with all this sort of thing you've been picking up, have you by any chance considered Asimov's Before the Golden Age? I'd suggest the hardbound (1 volume) rather than paperback (3 vols.), both because of convenience and because it had a book club edition, hence is fairly easy to come by for very good prices... even with a pristine dj!

Also -- and forgive me if senility has set in and the question is a bit dim given previous postings, but -- is this your first encounter with Kornbluth on his own? Have you read the Best of collection, or His Share of Glory?....

 

[Southern Geologist]

Um, with all this sort of thing you've been picking up, have you by any chance considered Asimov's Before the Golden Age? I'd suggest the hardbound (1 volume) rather than paperback (3 vols.), both because of convenience and because it had a book club edition, hence is fairly easy to come by for very good prices... even with a pristine dj!

Also -- and forgive me if senility has set in and the question is a bit dim given previous postings, but -- is this your first encounter with Kornbluth on his own? Have you read the Best of collection, or His Share of Glory?....

I have a copy of Before The Golden Age (hardcover single volume) sitting on the shelf that I picked up last month. As soon as I knock out a few books I have sitting around on the 'to read' list it will be the first anthology I dig into.

And yes, this is my first encounter with Kornbluth on his own but I'm happy to look into the other collections. I damn sure wasn't going to argue with 8 of his short stories for 99 cents, though.

 

[j d worthington]

Would you mind posting the TOC, or perhaps sending me a PM with it? At any rate, I would imagine you'll quite like his stuff.... Oh, and I'd really like to hear what you think of The Demolished Man when you've got around to it.....

 

[Southern Geologist]

Would you mind posting the TOC, or perhaps sending me a PM with it? At any rate, I would imagine you'll quite like his stuff.... Oh, and I'd really like to hear what you think of The Demolished Man when you've got around to it.....

Sure:

Introduction by Bud Webster
1. The Cosmic Expense Account
2. The Adventurer
3. The Altar at Midnight
4. The Marching Morons
5. Little Black Bag
6. The Theory of Rocketry
7. Make Mine Mars
8. Time Bum

I'll try to remember to comment on The Demolished Man when I get to it.

 

[j d worthington]

Some quite good things there. Of course, the most famous would be "The Marching Morons" and "The Little Black Bag", two closely related stories, and certainly two of his most biting.....

 

[dask]

For what it's worth, THE DEMOLISHED MAN was cool.

 

[AE35Unit]

Some quite good things there. Of course, the most famous would be "The Marching Morons" and "The Little Black Bag", two closely related stories, and certainly two of his most biting.....

I have an old copy of F&SF magazine with an editorial called The Marching Morons by Larry Niven I believe.

 

[Mangara]

Just finished Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollak. Despite winning the Arthur C Clarke award and being a member of the SF Masterworks I don't feel it to be a SF book, it maybe has a tenuous link as a piece of speculative fiction. Here is what I thought:


Despite being a SF Masterwork, Unquenchable Fire is very much a piece of speculative fiction. Set in an America following a spiritual revolution, science is the last thing on their mind when surrounded by miracles and spirits.

Immensely imaginative the story follows Jenny, a young woman chosen for great things who just wants to live a regular life. The main theme of the book is how losing control affects Jenny who is trapped in a world where ritual and religion is the only thing holding society together.

The imagery in the stories of the founders is rich, and the stories will stay with you a while after reading them. I can’t help but feel that there is a lot of the spiritual aspect of the book which went straight over my head, due to lack of familiarity with subjects such as Tarot, a subject the author is an expert on.

I found this book to be a challenge, by taking a location familiar to the reader but changing the rules of society so completely led to a disorientating feel to much of the book. A bit too abstract at times I found it difficult to follow, but the narrative is rewarding enough if you can manage to stick with it.

 

[Fried Egg]

Whilst visiting Lyme Regis I found a copy of "Drawing of the Dark" by Tim Powers in a second hand book shop for a bargain price of 60p !

 

[Mangara]

Picked up an unused copy of

for £2.

Seemed a steal!

Also the highest ave. rating on goodreads I've ever seen!

 

[AE35Unit]

Picked up an unused copy of

for £2.

Seemed a steal!

Indeed! Heard good things about this one on Goodreads and LibraryThing

 

[Southern Geologist]

On Kindle:

Isaac Asimov - Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation
Ian Sales - Adrift on the Sea of Rains

 

[Lobolover]

Finaly got my copy of The Obscene Bird of Night. Had to order a second one from a different store after the first one just dissolved into the ether on the way over, as it was sent on December 11th and didn't arrive by February 10th.

Also this second copy arrived when no one was answering the doorbell so they gave me a slip to call to arrange a new delivery. The only problem is the number the person wrote on the slip doesn't exist.

So I went over to the company's website to try and call one of their contact numbers on any of their delivery servises (they have like four seperate ones, and my note only had the name of the company, no further specification what sub-company/branch was responsible for my delivery).

Not a single one of those numbers exist either. I eventualy managed to find one guy on the link to international orders (as in people ordering stuff to be delivered from our country, so he realy wasn't responsible for anything that had to do with me) and I got the message through and they called me the other day but damn, for a moment I was a bit paranoid thinking this was one of those scam deliveries where they send you crap you never ordered and charge you a massive amount of COD only to realise the product you got is either useless or non functioning and no one will even consider giving you your money back and the like.

 

[Fried Egg]

With a view to driving on with my quest to finish the Fantasy Masterworks series:

"Grendel" by John Gardner
"Land of Laughs" by Jonathan Caroll

 

[Southern Geologist]

Just managed to find John Christopher's The Death of Grass on Amazon for $0.12 + shipping (generally runs around $7 +).