Latest SF/Fantasy Acquisitions

[I'm Murrin]

Ways to waste money no.175: Buy a book you already own.
I was in Waterstone's today, and for some reason I cannot fathom I decided to pick up the copy if Hal Douncan's Vellum they had there and have a quick flick through it. Imagine my surprise when I find, on the title page, that it was signed by the author! I wouldn't usually - ever - get a second copy of a book I already have, but it just seemed too lucky to have found this, and I bought it. I'm now trying to work out what I should do with the copy I already have - I've compared the two, and think there's a fair chance I might be able to take it to Waterstone's and get a refund, heh.

[Loredoctor]

Still waiting for my copy of Cyteen to come in.

[Loredoctor]

Bought Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter.

[Roland of Gilead]

Ways to waste money no. 176:

Buy a book, let it sit on the TBR pile for awhile, decide it won't be very good after all, resell it . . .

Two years later, change mind again, and buy the book again, but for more money than you paid the first time.

[I'm Murrin]

Went and got refunded on the old, unsigned copy of Vellum without a hitch. However, adding up money spent on bus fares and food today and saturday (mostly the fares), it probably comes to almost the cost of the book anyway. I'm making myself feel better about it by reminding myself that I would have spent the money on saturday whether I bought the book or not.

[Ainulindale]

Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
Proven Gulity by Jim Butcher
Bridge of Dreams by Chaz Brenchley
Icarus by Roger Levy
Tall Dark and Dead by Tate Hallaway

[I'm Murrin]

Salman Rushdie - The Satanic Verses.

[Loredoctor]

Richard Mathesan - I Am Legend.

[Ainulindale]

I just got this anthology entitled Mythic, edited by Mike Allen, that I was really interested in reading after seeing the talent assembled participating in it in some press releases. It features work by Catherynne M. Valente, Ian Watson, Matthew Cheney who is one of the truly outsanding souces of opionion on fantasy, so I'm interested in seeing his fiction), Theodora Goss, Joe Hadleman, Sonya Taffe among others.

[I'm Murrin]

Walked into Borders on my way home tonight, and on the first table I come to, right in the doorway, are a bunch of Penguin Modern Classics - almost all of which I had seen the names of on the essential fantasy reading list Jeff Vandermeer posted recently. They were on three-for-two, along with a lot of other books, so:
Orlando, Virginia Woolf
Fictions, Jorge Luis Borges
And, not from the classics but still on offer:
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller, Italo Calvino

[duchess of malfi]

Duncan's Vellum and Novik's His Majesty's Dragon. Both sounded interesting, and I had a coupon to make my own sale at Border's, so....

....my TBR pile is still pretty big, though, even though I've been whittling it down. So I am not sure when I will get a chance to read them.

[I'm Murrin]

Yesterday I bought Mark Z Danielewski's House of Leaves. I already know I'm going to get lost in that book, and enjoy every minute of it. I've resisted shelling out £20 for it until now, but couldn't help myself any longer.


Duchess, I hope you enjoy Vellum. It can be difficult - what with interchangeable realities and characters hopping between times, places, realities and even identities from chapter to chapter... Hal weaves an intricate tale, made up of lots of fragments all connected to the whole. It can seem a bit of a mess, though it is all carefully structured.
I should probably mention also that there is a lot of foul language, some sex, and occasional violence - it can be quite graphic at times.

[duchess of malfi]

I do not know if anything could be worse than the latter books in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, which I recently read. The early books in that series were tightly plotted and fun mystery stories that happened to have lots of supernatural elements like vampires and zombies. The end of the series was nonstop icky sex (pretty much every sex scene ended up with someone either screaming in pain or bleeding) and no plot at all.

[danlo]

Just bought a beautiful black hardbound edition of the Silmarillion that matches my LOTRs set and Vol. 4 of the Otherland series (now if I could just find Vol. 3) for 3 dollars and 30 cents.

[Peven]

Ways to waste money no.175: Buy a book you already own.
I was in Waterstone's today, and for some reason I cannot fathom I decided to pick up the copy if Hal Douncan's Vellum they had there and have a quick flick through it. Imagine my surprise when I find, on the title page, that it was signed by the author! I wouldn't usually - ever - get a second copy of a book I already have, but it just seemed too lucky to have found this, and I bought it. I'm now trying to work out what I should do with the copy I already have - I've compared the two, and think there's a fair chance I might be able to take it to Waterstone's and get a refund, heh.

i already owned a hardcover copy of Runes of the Earth when i bought another hardcover copy...but signed by SRD. the signed copy sits on my bookshelf in a spot of reverence, while the other i use for rereadings.

[Sorus]

Just got House of Chains AND Midnight Tides.

[duchess of malfi]

Just picked up Charlaine Harris's new novel in her Southern Vampire Mysteries series, called Definately Dead.

I also picked up a collection of novellas by Mary Janice Davidson called Dead and Loving It. She has a funny series of little books about vampires living in the Twin Cities. Think of Sex and the City where Carrie and Mr. Big are vampires.

[Ainulindale]

I do not know if anything could be worse than the latter books in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series, which I recently read.

Robert Newcomb.

[duchess of malfi]

I haven't tried that yet. But I've read some bad stuff - Eragon and Pillars of Creation being amongst the worse. But Hamilton's Incubus Dreams is right up there - which is a true shame, as that series was fun in a "guilty pleasure" sort of way and devolved into porno drivel. And the sex was completely unappealing to me - too much blood, too much pain, too much domination/submission games. And rather than being part of the story - there was no story. There was only one ugly sex scene after another ugly sex scene strung one after another likes beads in a necklace.

[[Syl]]

The Bonehunters came in the mail yesterday.