Posts Tagged ‘Michael Moorcock’

What Should I Read in 2010?

Monday, February 8th, 2010

In the Before Time, the Long Long Ago (i.e., before I started this blog), I would ask The Vast Wisdom of Usenet (i.e. rec.arts.sf.written) what books I should read this year. Now that I have the blog, I’m posting the question here.

Below are 100 books (or a more, counting multiple titles by a single author) of fiction I’m considering reading in 2010. With a few exceptions (like forthcoming books), they’re all books I already own in first editions. Most likely I’ll get to considerably less than 100. The first few are books I’ll probably get to (or have already read), whereas the rest are a little vaguer (and in alphabetical order by author). That’s where you come in. Tell me which of the books below I should or shouldn’t read, and why. If a book’s not on the list, it’s probably because I’ve already read it, or have no interest in it, won’t get to it this year, etc., so save your electrons instead of suggesting alternates (there are plenty of other places for that). And if I list Book #2 in a linear series, rest assured I’ve already read Book #1.

I don’t promise I’ll read all the highest rated works, but those most highly praised are considerably more likely to be added to the reading stack, which is what’s happened the previous years I’ve done this.

  • Gene Wolfe: The Sorceror’s House
  • John Scalzi: The God Engines
  • Joe R. Lansdale: Vanilla Ride
  • China Mieville: King Rat
  • Steven R. Boyett: Elegy Beach
  • Joe Hill: 20th Century Ghosts
  • Philip K. Dick: Collected Stories Volume II or Radio Free Albemuth
  • Michael Moorcock:The War Hound and the World’s Pain or The Final Programme
  • Greg Egan: Crystal Nights
  • Peter Ackroyd: Hawksmoor
  • J. G. Ballard: Crystal World
  • Iain Banks: Against a Dark Background or Matter
  • John Barnes: Kaleidoscope Century or Mother of Storms
  • Stephen Baxter: Traces or Mayflower II
  • Peter S. Beagle: A Fine and Private Place
  • Greg Bear: The City at the End of Time
  • Poppy Z. Brite: Plastic Jesus
  • Tobias Buckell: Sly Mongoose
  • Octavia Butler: Fledgeling
  • Jack Cady: The Night We Buried Road Dog
  • Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
  • John Christopher: No Blade of Grass
  • Susanna Clarke: Ladies of Grace Adieu
  • Hal Clement: Iceworld
  • Avram Davidson: The Adventures of Dr. Esterhauzy or Limekiller
  • L. Sprague de Camp: A Gun for Dinosaur
  • Bradley Denton: Laughin’ Boy
  • Paul Di Filippo: Lost Pages or Fractal Paisleys
  • George Alec Effinger: What Entropy Means to Me
  • Harlan Ellison: Deathbird Stories
  • John M. Ford: The Dragon Waiting
  • Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things or The Graveyard Book
  • John Gardner: Freddy’s Book or The Wreckage of Agathon
  • Ray Garton: Night Life or Nids
  • Jane Gaskell: The Serpent
  • Joe Haldeman: The Accidental Time Machine
  • Peter F. Hamilton: Mindstar Rising
  • Robert E. Howard: Conan the Barbarian
  • Nalo Hopkinson: Brown Girl in the Ring or The Salt Roads
  • Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle or The Lottery
  • M. R. James: More Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary
  • K. W. Jeter: Noir or Dark Seeker
  • Ha Jin: Waiting
  • James Patrick Kelly: Strange But Not a Stranger
  • Stephen King: Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass or The Colorado Kid
  • Russell Kirk: The Surly Sullen Bell (and yes, I’ve read the 2 Arkham House collections)
  • Henry Kuttner and/or C. L. Moore: Mutant, Fury, Black God’s Shadow or No Boundaries
  • R. A. Lafferty: Archipelago or The 13th Voyage of Sinbad
  • Fritz Leiber: Night’s Black Agents
  • Stanislaw Lem: Solaris
  • Jonathan Lethem: Motherless Brooklyn
  • Thomas Ligotti: Grimscribe, Noctuary, or The Shadow at the Bottom of the World
  • Ian MacLeod: Breathmoss and Other Exhalations
  • Ken MacLeod: Giant Lizards from Another Star or The Execution Channel
  • Gregory Maguire: Wicked
  • Barry Malzberg: Hervoit’s World
  • Richard Matheson: Duel or What Dreams May Come
  • ian MacDonald: River of Gods
  • Maureen McHugh: Mission Child or Nekropolis
  • Sean McMullen: The Miocene Arrow
  • Larry McMurtry: Lonesome Dove
  • Ward Moore: Bring the Jubilee
  • Pat Murphy: The Falling Woman
  • John Myers Myers: Silverlock
  • William F. Nolan: Things Beyond Midnight or Wild Galaxy
  • Naomi Novik: Throne of Jade
  • Patrick O’Leary: Other Voices, Other Rooms
  • Chad Oliver: The Shores of Another Sea or The Winds of Time
  • Susan Palwick: The Fate of Mice
  • H. Beam Piper: Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen
  • Tim Powers: Three Days to Never or Pilot Light
  • Alastair Reynolds: Redemption Ark
  • Rudy Rucker: Master of Time & Space or The Secret of Life or White Light
  • Matt Ruff: Fool on the Hill
  • Salman Rushdie: Midnight’s Children
  • Joanna Russ: The Female Man
  • Karl Schroeder: Permanence or Lady of Mazes
  • David J. Schow: Crypt Orchids
  • Michael Shaara: The Herald or The Killer Angels
  • Michael Shea: A Quest for Simbilis
  • Lucius Shepard: Floater or Aztechs or Viator
  • Lewis Shiner: The Edges of Things or Black and White
  • Dan Simmons: The Terror or Hard as Nails
  • Robert Sladek: Roderick
  • Neal Stephenson: Zodiac or The Big U
  • Charles Stross: The Fuller Memorandum (forthcoming)
  • Theodore Sturgeon: Microcosmic God: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon Volume 2
  • Steph Swainston: The Year of Our War
  • Thomas Burnett Swann: The Day of the Minotaur
  • Karl Edward Wagner: Darkness Weaves
  • Howard Waldrop: The Moone World (forthcoming)
  • Manly Wade Wellman: The Sleuth Patrol, The Last Mammoth or Fastest on the River
  • Martha Wells: The Element of Fire
  • John Whitbourne: To Build Jerusalem or Binscomb Tales
  • Liz Williams: The Demon and the City
  • Jack Williamson and James E. Gunn: Star Bridge
  • Connie Willis: To Say Nothing of the Dog
  • Jack Vance: Star King, The Languages of Pao, or Ports of Call
  • Roger Zelazny: Wilderness or DonnerJack

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My Book-Hunting Trip to Archer City and Points East (and New Acquisitions Found There)

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Since I attended a family event in the Dallas Metroplex over the 1/15/10-1/17/10 weekend, I took the opportunity to do something I had long wanted to do: Visit Larry McMurtry’s Booked-Up book store (actually spread across four buildings) in Archer City.

The drive itself (a solid five hours) completely redefined my “ass end of nowhere” scale. It’s pretty far away from anything else, so only serious bibliophiles need apply.

As for the store itself, there’s a huge amount of stuff for a general book hunter to look for (especially in areas like pamphlets, foreign language books, Texana, literary criticism, and probably several others), but not a whole lot of SF/F/H. I found about $50 worth of stuff, most of it in the general fiction section.

Then I drove to Recycled Books in Denton, and bought $1,200+ worth of stuff (and that was after my dealer discount).

By contrast, I found very little of interest at the main Half Price Books just of 75 in Dallas; all they seemed to have were multiple copies of very common titles. (I did a lot better when they were in a smaller building just down the block, the one with the boat-shaped section in the middle of the store.) Maybe their non-fiction section is more worth browsing.

Below is the list of books I’m adding to my own library, including items from Recycled Books, Booked Up, and a three different Half Price Books. All of these are Fine/Fine first edition hardback copies, unless otherwise noted:

  • Ash, Brian. Who’s Who in Science Fiction. Elm Tree, 1976.
  • Beagle, Peter S. The Folk of the Air. Del Rey, 1986.
  • Bear, Greg. Beyond Heaven’s River. Dell, 1980. PBO. VG+. Also have the hardback.
  • Bear, Greg. Quantico. HarperCollins (UK), 2005.
  • Blaylock, James P. The Rainy Season. Ace, 1999.
  • Brunner, John. No Future in It. Gollancz, 1962.
  • Cherry, C. J. Voyager in Night. DAW, 1984. (Book club and only hardback.)
  • De Camp, L. Sprague. Solomon’s Stone. Avalon, 1957.
  • Emshwiller, Carol. Joy in Our Cause. Harper & Row, 1974.
  • Franzen, Charles. Cold Mountain. Fine/Fine save for name written inside. Pulitzer Prize winner that I’d been looking for for several years, and an example of why you look at 199 copies of an otherwise common book to see if each is a first edition, because that 200th copy just might be it…
  • Jackson, Shirley. Come Along With Me. Viking, 1968. Fine in a Near Fine- dj with price sticker on inner flap and very shallow (less than 1/32″) chipping at head and heel.
  • Koontz, Dean R. (as Leigh Nichols). Shadowfires. Avon, 1987. Book club and first hardback edition.
  • Kornbluth, C. M. Christmas Eve. Michael Joseph, 1956.
  • Lafferty, R. A. The Devil is Dead. Gregg Press, 1978. Replaces a more worn copy in my library.
  • Le Guin, Ursula. Rocannon’s World. Garland Press, 1975. First hardback edition, Fine, sans dj, as issued.
  • Lupoff, Pat & Dick. The Best of Xero. Tachyon Publications, 2004.
  • Malzberg, Barry. In the Stone House. Arkham House, 2000.
  • Moorcock, Michael. The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius. Alison & Busby, 1976.
  • Moorcock, Michael. The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius. HAARP, 1987. (Contents differ from the above.)
  • Morrow, James. The Wine of Violence. Holt, Reinhardt & Winston, 1984.
  • Mundy, Talbot. The Purple Pirate. Gnome Press, 1959. (First Gnome Press edition.)
  • Niven, Larry & Jerry Pournelle. Oath of Fealty. Phantasia Press, 1981. One of 750 signed, numbered copies, Fine/Fine in slipcase.
  • Pratt, Fletcher. Well of the Unicorn. William Sloane, 1948. Fine/Near Fine dj, with review slip laid in.
  • Sheckley, Robert. Journey Beyond Tomorrow. Gollancz, 1964. First hardback.
  • Sheckley, Robert. Mindswap, Delacorte Press, 1966. Signed.
  • Standish, David. Hollow Earth: The Long and Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced Civilizations, and Marvelous Machines Below the Earth’s Surface. De Capo, 2006.
  • Temple, WIlliam F. 88 Gray’s Inn Road. Sansato Press (AKA Ferret Fantasy), 2000. Roman-a-clef that features a thinly-disguised Arthur C. Clarke (who provides the introduction) as a character, with Clarke’s signature plate affixed to the FFE), reportedly one of only 50 such copies. Replaces the trade edition in my library.
  • Wilhelm, Kate. Juniper Time. Harper & Row, 1979.
  • Vance, Jack. Bird Isle/Take My Face. Underwood/Miller, 1988. One of 500 signed, numbered sets in slipcase.
  • Vance, Jack. The Dark Side of the Moon. Underwood/Miller, 1986. One of 200 signed/numbered copies. Replaces a trade copy I’ll sell via my next Lame Excuse For a Book Catalog (in preparation).
  • Vance, Jack. Trullion: Alastor 2262. Ballantine Books, 1973. (PBO)
  • Waggoner, Diana. The Hills of Faraway A Guide to Fantasy. Atheneum, 1978.
  • Williamson, Jack. Wonder’s Child: My Life in Science Fiction. Bluejay, 1984.
  • Williamson, Jack (& E. C. Tubb). The Iron God (& Tomorrow). Gryphon Double Novel, 1999. TPO.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Bridge of Ashes. Gregg Press, 1979. (Replaces my Ex-Library copy.)
  • Zelazny, Roger. Nine Princes in Amber. Doubleday, 1970. An Ex-Library copy, but cleaner than the Ex-Library copy previously in my collection.

I also found a bunch more books that are going in this month’s Lame Excuse Books catalog.

So, if you’re going to be book shopping in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, by all means visit Recycled Books, which seems to be the best used bookstore in Texas. Visit Booked Up if you have the time to drive out that way, but the SF selection is fairly poor.

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Books I added to my library this week

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

And now some book geeking, for those interested in same.

All first edition hardbacks:

  • Howard, Robert E. Conan the Barbarian. Gnome Press, 1954. Fine copy in a Fine- dj with very slight fading to spine. Bought from a book dealer off the Internet.

  • King, Stephen. Under the Dome. Simon & Schuster, 2009. Signed/limited edition (which came out just before the trade), one of reportedly 1,500 copies signed by King, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with limited edition trading cards, a belly band, better paper than the trade edition, and full-color maps on the endpapers. Bought pre-publication from the publisher.
  • Lansdale, Joe R. Vanilla Ride. Random House, 2009. The latest Hap & Leonard novel. Would have bought a copy off Joe at Armadillocon, but all he had were second printings. From Half Price Books.
  • Moorcock, Michael. The Opium General. Harrap, 1984. A Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. From Half Price Books. Formerly Scott Cupp’s copy.

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Posted in Books, Horror, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »