An impressive book haul, Jon! I have the self-same edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and it IS a weighty tome, although, tbh I much prefer to have a physical book over the online variety. And talking of weighty tomes...the third book in the Snow Queen cycle - "The Summer Queen" certainly fits that bill. It's interesting that Jim Burns collaborated with Frank Herbert - he also collaborated with Harry Harrison in: "Planet Story" but this was a much more illustration-heavy trade paperback.
Hi Andrew, inevitably i will find i want to get the Joan D Vinge books in hardback (if they're available. Perhaps the encyclopedia can tell me?). Thanks for watching 👀!
I love Zenna Henderson! I live one state over from where she spent her life. She has a story called the "Anything Box" which is one of my favorites. Enjoyed the book haul!
Happy Easter, Jon! Impressive haul! I did actually like Rendevous with Rama more than the Clarke/Lee follow-ups to be honest. I adored the original Blackcollar when I did first read it. The second one was ok but I was a bit disapointed by the third. Same for the first Cobra book. It was a bit too overpowered IMO. Got to find Zenna Henderson (never heard of her before) and that book by Joan Vinge. Cheers!
Love the video. I bumped into you there when I picked up a science fiction book, more out of curiosity, by Dennis Wheatley! I too picked up a couple of Edgar Rice Burroughs ‘Mars’ books, and a couple of John Wyndham Penguin paperbacks- The Kraken Awakes and The Midwich Cuckoos, among others. That Furies paperback looks gorgeous. And for a fiver! Very envious.
A well-rounded haul, Jon. I saw some great cover art in those choices, as well. Speaking of cover art, I wonder if Chesley Bonestell has ever done SF cover art. Perhaps he has and I missed it. That aside, I hope you will be posting more footage of the book fair, despite it having looked a bit claustrophobic! Cheers.
Bellend...either a quaint town in the Cotswolds that used to cast chapel bells or the common derisive term often used by James May. Ha! Anyway, *_Pilgrimage_* looks particularly interesting (jots note to keep an eye out for it) as I am a sucker for hidden communities here in the States. *_Where Late the Sweet Bird Sings_* isn't my thing; however, I am intrigued by an SF book set in Appalachia, a region more the butt of jokes than eco-fiction locus. Great haul, as usual.
Nice haul John! Thanks for sharing some footage as well. The galactic empires jacket artwork is very nice. Do you have a website that you sell? Thank you
My brain just blew up...🤯🤯🤯 I casually opened up my ebook copy of Eye, and found the exact page you had open in the paperback, in your video. It was the illustrated beginning of Dragon in the Sea. 😳😳 Tim Zahn is not that great in Blackcollar and Cobra. You might like Cobra better because there's a side effect to the Cobra process, which forms a big issue in the sequels. I actually like Blackcollar better, personally, but that might be due to my dislike of the second Cobra book. 🤔 Jon, you just made me spend some money. 😂🤣 When you mentioned how you ended up getting a refund for the Bendford book, I immediately thought of last night. Roadmarks by Zelazny had some typos, which weren't in the tattered, and much beloved paperback in my (small) paperback collection I still have. I applied to the seller for a refund, and after explaining and justifying myself, I got it, so the big financial hit for a Triple Kindle Points day was a bit reduced. 🙄 So, after reading some alarming reviews about waiting too long, and losing the great sale price, I snapped up the complete (original) Twilight Zone. I don't know if you've seen it across the pond, but it is one of the most awesome shows ever. Cheap, bad costumes and special effects, offset by some of the greatest scripts in Television History. So utterly good, easy to binge on. 🎉🎉🎉🙂 Jon, thanks for making me feel not so bad on my recent binges on books and streaming media. 🐶 We (your viewers) can always rely on watching your out-of-control-spending videos to feel better about our own lapses in self control. 😂😂🤣🤣
I am a walking example of what can happen when intent, ignorance, and not insignificant disposable income combine! Nice job on your refund! Happy to be of service. Thanks for watching 👀!
Yep, quality over quantity at the book fair I'd say. Didn't see any of those books - probably because you bought 'em all. Slipcased Asimov? How do you find this stuff? A dog-eared copy of Foundation is about my level. Gawd . . .I hate Terry Pratchett but love the Josh Kirby covers so if I see a bunch at 2 quid what do I do? BTW I read Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang last year. Very good and I would suggest a place on yer next TBR. Or the one after that etc etc.
Rama 2 was a very swift dnf. Pages and pages of arid worldbuilding infodumping like a high schooler's creative writing assignment that felt like Lee was trying to retcon the story into testosterone soaked military skiffy. A shame because I enjoyed Rendezvous with Rama.
Will you be on the lookout for the companion to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, namely the Encyclopedia of Fantasy. If you do get both don’t place then on a high shelf. Just in case.
I read the "Three Eyes" trilogy ages ago. The only thing I remember is that I thought It was pretty good. I think I bought that Kenneth Bulmer book because of the cover; always wondered what the deal was with the human pterodactyl, but never got around to reading It. Hope you'll clear up that mystery now... Those Rama sequels by Gentry Lee aren't worth the paper they were printed on, imo. Lee's an atrociously bad writer. Shame on old Arthur for allowing that to exist!
That might be unfair to Lee...Clarke pretty much defined the genre (Big Ideas, Sweeping Concepts, crammed into a little, tiny book.) Though I agree with you on Lee. The original Rama book is the only one I owned, and have read. 🐶 I also find Bill Ransom's collaborations with Frank Herbert to be atrocious. The best collaboration that comes to mind is the Niven Pournelle collaborations. And some of the David Weber collaborations are decent, and then there's SM Stirling, who's actually a better writer when collaborating. 🙄🙄🐶
@@User_Un_Friendly I'm not sure how much "collaborating" went on between Clarke and Lee. I think Lee did pretty much all the writing while Clarke just gave It his blessing. They had incompatible writing styles; I can't see Clarke writing garbage like Rama II, not even If he was totally senile. It was one of only two books that I ever threw in the waste basket. Successful collaborations are pretty rare, imo. Don't recall enough of Dies Irae to say If the Dick/Zelazny partnership was any good. PKD's collab with Ray Nelson, The Ganymede Takeover, was quite awful. I guess Niven and Pournelle IS one of the best SF partnerships, like you said.
@@luiznogueira1579 Well, if you consider the dumpster fire that was the last Odyssey book, I found myself unable to read Clarke's later books, after Fountains of Paradise. And Imperial Earth was at best ok. Excepting Asimov, who put out some decent books toward the end of his life, (poor guy...so sad) all three of the Big Three (Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov) put out some questionable books towards the end of their careers. Though in Asimov's case, he was a victim of his own success, as the Foundation sequels and prequels were awful, and were the result due to the nagging of his publisher. 😂 But they were MAGNIFICENT at the heights of their careers. 🙂🙂
@@User_Un_Friendly I totally agree. I didn't even consider reading that last Odyssey atrocity! As a teen and in my 20's I loved averything written by Clarke, but nowadays I really don't care for his stuff anymore. Last time I read him It was a struggle not to hurl the book across the room! Heinlein's last novels were essentially unreadable, imo, unless you were his shrink or otherwise concerned about his mental health. Asimov went out with dignity, I suppose, prematurely, too.
Yes, not a terribly diverse clientele. It was nearly all white blokes of a certain age, with a small number, 2 or 3 that I saw, of women and non-white folks. Suspect that reflects the demographic that a lot of SF was aimed at back in the day. Less true of SF these days perhaps. Thanks for watching 👀!
