Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Yes, it's a thread stolen blatantly from the Horror Aficionados group - but I was hoping there would be some interest in a SF&F version over here. Largely inspired by my making a big score yesterday ;)
Yes on a random visit to the local charity book shop my attention was immediately caught by a decent sized pile of paperbacks next to one of those day-glo cards with the words "SCI FI 50p" sharpied on to it. I dove in and selected this little lot...



The top row is all Leinster : The Aliens, The Other Side of Nowhere, Invaders of Space, Time Tunnel, and Operation Terror. I've not read a lot of Leinster (only The Pirates of Ersatz springs to mind) but I enjoy some pulpy goodness so these will get read.
Next row is year 2018!, A Torrent of Faces, New Worlds SF 154, The Jewels of Aptor, and D-99 by the criminally underrated H. B. Fyfe.
Bottom row: One Million Tomorrows, The Stainless Steel Rat ( already have a 1997 edition but couldn't resist the cover on this 1961 edition), The Counterfeit Man and Other Science Fiction Stories, Strangers in the Universe, and A Way Home.
All that for the princely sum of £7.50p! There's some good reading there. And a few editions don't seem to be on goodreads, so I'll be firing up the scanner later.

Anyone else like to show off their hauls?

I am on a visit to my Mom's in Chattanooga, TN...been hitting the bookstores pretty hard, lots of cool finds....today's big prize was finding a near-perfect hardcover copy of Stephen King's The Bachman Books for $9...not a big deal, EXCEPT this one has Rage in it, a book King has pulled from publication because it deals with a school shooting, and King doesn't want to give anyone any ideas. It's a solid novel, surprising given King wrote it in high school...I have a couple of copies of this version of The Bachman Books already, but I'll be keeping this one and dumping the other two as this one is in such good condition.

There is a second version of The Bachman Books, instead of Rage it has The Dark Half. Both versions have 3 other novels King wrote under the name Richard Bachman, Road Work, and two SF entries, The Running Man, and my fave King novel, The Long Walk.

There was a bit of excitement a week ago, when I thought I had scored a 1st print of Carrie for cheap, but sadly it wasn't the case. :(

Excellent scores! Congrats!!!

My big triumph was at the Writers Center in Bethesda, MD, in the days when they were still selling used books to make ends meet. People would drop off bags full of books on their doorstep, like foundlings. I scored a very nearly complete set of the novels of H. Rider Haggard, in a uniform edition probably 80 years old. These books are all public domain and can probably be found on Gutenberg. But I have the hardbacks!

I really enjoy Leinster. My favorite is Nightmare Planet. The Pirates of Ersatz was a lot of fun. Am I wrong in detecting a hint of Pirates of Penzance?

I also really enjoyed Leinster's Operation Terror, an excellent Cold War/alien invasion story with good pacing that keeps the reader guessing.

nice score Brenda!!!!

Sarah wrote: "I also really enjoyed Leinster's Operation Terror, an excellent Cold War/alien invasion story with good pacing that keeps the reader guessing."
Sounds good. I think I'll move that one up the TBR pile!

I'm afraid I don't hauntvused book stores the way I used to. More disposable income for new books, fewer used book stores near me and the ones left seem saturated with paperback romance novels.

I do remember finding some real gems as a kid. My dad was a reader, and he used to take me to a charity store in the city once in a while. They had a whole room of used books, mostly hardcovers, too. Picked up some great old golden age SF in that store for 25-50¢ each. :-)

A different shop this time, but a few decent finds...



Top row : Echo Round His Bones, Restoree, The Green Odyssey, and The Naked Sun (the same edition I used to own but seem to have mislaid - result!).
Bottom row : The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales, I Am Legend (hiding in the horror section!), and The Gods Themselves (one of the few Asimov sf books I've never read).
Not quite as bargain-tastic as last time. I paid as much as two pounds for the Poe hardcover! Still some nice additions to my collection.

Excellent. I think "Restoree" was the first McCaffery book I read.

I guys, I'm back from my trip. I am still unpacking, but it looks like I made it back with about 20 or so shelf feet of books....time to build new shelf space!!!

I'll be reporting my finds here, at least the high points, in the next day or so as I unpack.

Can't wait to find out what you've got!

My local city used to have many used bookstores. Those bookstores are largely gone. Sigh.

I wouldn't mind using online used bookstores but the shipping rates are extremely awful. The ones I've looked at actually charge a shipping rate by the book which is prohibitively expensive. Due to cost and my extremely voracious reading, I use the library as much a possible. I don't mind used books for what the library doesn't have, but the shipping costs...oy!

It may be that ebooks are cheaper for the most part. Double sigh.

Abebooks.com, that's my go to for used books. I've found some excellent deals on there. I'm a sucker for hard covers, and I can generally get one for about 3 bucks on there, a dollar of which goes to shipping.

We used to have five or six excellent second-hand bookstores to haunt. They are gone now. Our shrine to the used bookstore is my husband’s complete collection of Doc Savage.

There will be a library book sale this weekend, so there is hope for a good find.

Hey! I have a complete collection of Doc Savage, too!! Thanks to used bookstores and the omnibuses!

Doc Savage is kewl...Isaac Asimov was a fan way back when it was coming out in magazine form...if you can find the old paperback reprints today they will cost ya...you use to could find them all on-line at blackmask.com for free download, not sure if you still can

this isn't part of my Chattanooga haul, I went to 2ed and Charles two towns over today, got some wonderful Halloween books...one is Nameless Cults by Robert E Howard of Conan fame...it has the Cthulhu Mythos stories by REH...that's right, the man who gave us Conan playing in H. P. Lovecraft's sandbox...the publisher is Chosium, Inc. a gameing co. they had several volumes by these guys there, all Lovecraft-related, I snaged em all. Also got Grumbles from the Grave by Robert Hineline in hardcover for $5...SWEET!!!

I've often been tempted by those chaosium anthologies. Some great stories there. Spooky1947 you're right, those Doc Savage books seem hard to come by now. Someone should release ebook versions!

benn takeing alot of time with my book haul last week...I sanged lots of good stuff...in the SF-related category I got lots of Fortean goodies, includeing the Dover edition of The Books of Charles Fort (intro by Damon Knight), a book by Major Donald Keyhole (a big shot back in the early days of the modern UFO movement here in the US), The Hynek UFO Report by Dr J. Allen Hynek (he use to work for the Air Force in the Project Bluebook days where he got the nickname "old swamp gas" before the changed his tune and started CUFOS), a anthology version of In Search of, a companion book to the tv show from the 70s (hosted by Mr. Spock himself, lol), a gem-mint copy of The Roswell Incident (printed on acid-free paper no less) and others.

In the biography category, I got a book of Philip K. Dick interviews, Secret Windows by Stephen King (it's a collection of essays and short stories he did about writing but contains plenty of bio meteral...ment to be a companion volume to his book On Writing)...non-SF includes a book on Robert Oppenheimer, Teller, Chairman Mao, and a 13 volume set of bios of famous and historical figures, about 4 or 5 lives per volume (price was less than $10 for the set) among others.

in the science category (hey, we read SCIENCE fiction), I got a copy of the illustrated version of Stephen Hawking's A Breif History of Time, another book by Hawking about the theory of everything (sorry, don't rember the title, it is about unified field theory, string theory, ect.), The Origin of the Universe by John Barrow, and one that falls between the cracks called Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena by William R. Corliss (it's about Fortean-type phenomenon, but most all the reports come from scientific journals). Same deal, this is just the highlights.

oops, forgot to add in the biography category, Excelsior! a autobiography by Stan Lee...EVERYBODY loves Stan!!!

in fantasy, I got some of the newer books in the Myth Adventures series...I'm getting close to completing my set...a volume of Robert E Howard's Conan stories, complete except for The Hour of the Dragon, the Conan novel he did (this is just the stories Howard did, de Camp and Lin Carter got together several years back and did a series where they completed half-writen stories by Howard, and constructed stories from notes Howard had made twords more Conan stories). Also picked up some books I didn't have yet in Stephen King's Dark Tower series yet (in good shape that is), and a couple of other fantasy odds and ends.

in the graphic novel category I only picked up 3, so I'll name them all...Nick Fury vs. S.H.E.I.L.D., Star Trek: The Key Collection vols. 2 & 3 (these are part of a series reprinting the Star Trek comics published by Gold Key back in the 1960s...I loved those comics). All were in near mint condition, and at less than half cover price....SWEET

NOOOOO....I just spent 30 minutes typeing out my SF finds (on my kindle fire no less), and Goodreads LOST it because I had to log back into the wi-fi hotspot I'm at.....I'll re-post later....

Well what you've posted so far sounds amazing. I'm particularly lusting after the PKD interviews book and those Myth Adventure volumes!

I'll list them slower this time....I got a small stack, maybe 7 or 8, of Ace Doubbles and Tor Doubbles....nothing rare or anything, just fun fun fun....snagged what looks like a early hardcover reprint of RAHs Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.....some Asimov/Greenberg anthologies...I found 2 of Ted White novels and some Berry Malzberg novels....Ted White use to be editor of Amazing Stories back in the 1970s, Malzberg was always a fav of mine, sure he wrote alot of stinkers, but when he hit the mark he hit it hard...more later

got to go back to Chattanooga tomorrow...not looking foward to the 5 hour drive, but at least I'll get to hit some more bookstores and see my Mom again...I basically gave up on recording the last haul, but this time I'll record them as I drag em back to my Mom's apt.

a few scores from today....a trashy ufo book titled "Beyond Earth"...I had a copy when I was a kid...three Tor Doubles...#2,7, and 16....and a non-fiction, In the Footsteps of Eve by Lee Berger (a book about human origins)...also got a nice book cover from The Book Rack, a sort of fux leather thing for paperbacks....

but the BIG SCORE....I went to McKay's here in Chattanooga Tuesday, took 1 box of books and some old video games...nothing special about any of it, except one Nentendo game, it wasn't in a standard case, but a light blue one....it was produced by a co. that didn't pay proper tribute to Nentendo, got sued and shut down....I guess it was rare or something, because I got $291 in trade....that for a box of books I paid like $8 for a some games I got 4 for $5..what's more, that $291 in store credit was in a BIG bookstore..I was the candy store kid!!!!...examples of the hual follows...

The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking(Hardcover)....Year's Best SF, ed by Gardner Dozois, #24 and 17, Doctor Who: A Celebration by Peter Haining (hardcover), Cycle of the Werewolf, The Dark Tower vol. 5 and 7 by Steve King, Marvel Comics The Untold Story by Sean Howe, Star Trek Speaks, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds by Clarke (hardcover, nice shape, 50 cents!!), Bradbury Stories (hardcover)....that's just one box folks, I got several boxes off that $291....WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

You've done well Spooky! Those Dozois "Best New..." anthologies are always worth having, I think.

:D

I am back from Chattanooga again...another 2 week trip, my last for awhile...did alot of "shopping therapy" again, namely hitting the bookstores....made big scores in trade again, and again returned with boxes of books...two books are stand-outs to me, one being a novel by Dish, The Prisoner, from the tv series, and a book from Aharham (sp, sorry) House...the author of that one I have never heard of, I just got it because it's a historically important publishing house in the SF world and it's the only book by them I own...now if I can just find a Gnome Press edition of something....I'll post more stand-outs as I unpack....

The Arkham House edition is a nice find. Hardback?

yep, hardback. paid $6 in trade for it. :D

Well I'd been trying to curb my book-buying for a while, telling myself I had plenty to read... but I broke down yesterday and ducked into one of the local charity shops. And I'm glad I did!
image:

The Science Fiction Source Book is a real score. Additions to the reference shelf are a rare treat, and a perusal of the table of contents makes this one look fascinating.
Revolt in 2100 is a Heinlein I'm pretty sure I've never read.
The Unreasoning Mask looks like a standalone novel, which seems unusual for Farmer ;)
Masters of Time - van Vogt doesn't impress me as much now as when I was 15, but its usually good pulpy fun and this has a great cover.
Then there's three anthologies of ghost stories for when I fancy a break from the sf!

The Science Fiction Source Book is a cool find...I have a copy and love thumbing thru it

:D

just made a nice score....went to the used bookstore two towns over...snagged Isaac Asimov The Complete Stories volumes 1 and 2...I think there was a vol. 3 published, but alas, they didn't have that one....they were hardcover book-club editions, but gem mint, $4 a pop. I think the idea the publisher had was to publish all of Isaac's short SF in a uniform set, I don't think that's ever been done, and if I'm right and there were only 3 volumes, then they fell woefully short of the mark.

Also got "the deluxe illustrated edition" of H G Wells' War of the Worlds from sourcebooks mediaFusion, foward by Ray Bradbury, afterward by Ben Bova, including a CD with the 1930s broadcast that scared half the US to death, with other Wells goodies on the CD....and yes, the CD is in nice shape...a steal at $6

Nice score. That War of the Worlds edition sounds a bit special - I wouldn't mind owning that myself!

Noice!

Yeah, pass it this way when you've finished:) I've been trying to pare down my books - as we had a lot of duplicates and I've got a lot on Kindle now. There is something lovely about print, especially old ones.

Here's a possible real used book shop score - buy the contents, about 400,000 books. Bids starting at $3000 in Lexington, KY.
http://lexington.craigslist.org/bks/5...

hey guys, summer is sneaking up...time to get out and hit the garage sales, library sales, and bookstores both new and used!!!

it's also vacation season...consider a "bookstore vacation"...take a weekend, or even a whole week, and take a road trip hitting bookstore after bookstore...they are easy to plan these days, just use Google to scope out the stores and Google maps to plan your route...also check out Book Sale Finder (Google it) for help finding the big sales (some having a million or more books, not to mention crazy last-day deals (how does $10 for a big bag of books, you pick sound?)

I wanna see some SCORES!!!!

I just made a couple of nice scores...Frontiers and Frontiers II, both by Isaac Asimov, both in hardcover....Frontiers II is billed as Isaac's last book of science essays, with his wife Janet shareing the by-line...I got em at 2ed and Charles, a small used bookstore chain...they have been getting alot of Asimov lately, both fiction and non-fiction...I'm watching their shelves like a hawk for more.

:D

OK, I've been slack about posting finds, so here's a bunch from the past couple of months....Some will not Die by Algis Budrys...it's a Starblaze edition, illustrated by Kelly Freas...The Starflight Handbook by Eugene Mallove and Gregory Matloff...it's a main-stream science book about next-gen propulsion....The Damned Highway by Brian Keen and Nick Mamatas...it's sub-titled "Fear and Loathing in Arkham"...love it when people play in Lovecraft's sandbox...speaking of Lovecraft, I got The Library of America edition of Lovecraft's stuff titled "Tales"...very nice edition, lovely shape, cost me a whole $4....Hugo Gernsback's Ralph 124C 41+...I think I already have a copy somewhere, but this one had a into by Fletcher Pratt (and it was cheap)...Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis...this one goes under the Fortean category, I love me some sea monsters...now I have saved the best for last...two hardcover editions, both from NESFA Press, both perfect condition, both by Cordwainer Smith...Norstrilia (his only novel) and The Rediscovery of Man (his complete short fiction)...price, $5 each...and a find from today, The Great SF Stories 25 (1963) ed by Asimov and Greenberg...this to my mind is one of the greatest anthology series EVER...The Good Doctor and Greenberg started this series with the year 1939, and devoted one book to each year, reprinting along the way some of the best SF ever published...the series only saw 25 volumes, I think the only reason it didn't get futher was due to Asimov's death...I wish he and Greenberg could have completed it...I only have 13 of the 25 volumes, the first 12 are pretty easy to find, after that I haven't had much luck til this one.

Ah yes, I've sadly neglected this thread, too. "Some Will Not Die" is one of my favourite novels ever. I'd like to get hold of that illustrated edition. Good score!
My recent pick-ups: Backdrop of Stars, edited by Harry Harrison (also known as SF Authors choice, I really like the look of this one); The Florians by Brian M Stableford; The Sands of Mars by Arthur C Clarke (already have this but this is the early 60s Pan edition, in great shape!); and having recently read and thoroughly enjoyed The Final Programme, I figured I might at last be 'into' Michael Moorcock (after a few failed attempts over the years) so I've aquired The Knight of the Swords, The End of All Songs, The Queen of the Swords, The Black Corridor and Behold the Man. I've already blasted through Behold the Man in one sitting (it's quite short) and thought it was amazing.

Behold the Man is a great novel!!!