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Decent Book Clubs for Sci-Fi Fans?
willyhill writes "I'm a Sci-Fi and Fantasy book nut, but in the last few years I've found it more and more difficult to find the time to read. Contrary to what most people would think, I actually have a hard time finding books, rather than cuddling up with them. In reality, I don't have time to mess around at my local Barnes & Noble and browse books, and I find it dicey and expensive to do the same at Amazon or other online retailers. I was looking at a magazine the other day and I found an advert for the Science Fiction Book Club. While my experience with CD clubs and the like in the past has not been entirely positive, I was prepared to give it a shot given the fact that it would be less expensive than Amazon in the long run. The problem was that their selection is not exactly grand. Having read the Simmons Hyperion Cantos, for example, I was ready to give Ilium a go, but I could only find its sequel. How do other readers get their hands on Sci-Fi books? I tried Googling for book clubs and the like, but there's too much static out there, mostly caused by Oprah. Any suggestions would be appreciated!"
Check your city library. I know, it's not as fancy as a book club or a CD, but that's where most people used to go to find books.
Orkut has recently added some features related to reviews on books and you could find some leads.
BTW, FP?
hilarious
I'd recommend Audible.
.aa files.
They have a decent selection of SF books (including some first rate cast based unabridged versions of the Dune books that I'm currently enjoying).
I've been using it for about eight months, and I like it.
Also, they let you convert the books to mp3. It's a bit long winded, you have to export to cd/virtual cd using a version of nero they supply, then convert them. I use mediamonkey to do that, then mp3 tag tools to sort out the tags/rename the files.
Or you can leave them as
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
Join a bloody library!
Most (free!) librarys have a decent SF section and will cary SF periodicals if you ask nicely.
Lots of fellow geeks will be hovering around the Fantesy/SF section also, so you can meet a few people.
It isn't rocket science dude.
Anyone quoted by a reporter knows how little they understand
Don't believe what you read is the truth.
This might seem obvious, but the yearly Hugo awards usually give a good selection of new books. Even the runners up are usually worthwhile.
I looked through the website, and they're very, very vague about what you really have to pay. For one thing, it's 5 books for a dollar each (and one free), but you also pay $13.70 in S&H. That's a pretty good price for six hardcover books, but then you're committed to buying four books from them - and it seems like the books they have mostly aren't new. I tried looking some of them up on Amazon for comparison with their "member prices", but most of the ones I chose apparently weren't for sale any more - except Spook Country, which I knew was new. It's about a dollar more expensive there. The one thing I can't seem to find without becoming a member is the S&H on the further books you purchase. I wouldn't be surprised if that's a ripoff. Anyway, it seems like their strategy is to get various interesting-sounding novels for cheap when they stop selling well, and then seed somewhat slightly more popular books in to that.
I'd recommend going to a good used book store and looking for some older titles. Should be cheaper, and you'll probably find better quality too.
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> too much static out there, mostly caused by Oprah.
http://www.google.com/search?q=book+club+-oprah
Firstly, let me warn you about the Illum books. The first one is okay, but the last one is really bad. Simmons gets lost in the quantum magic of the story and never really finds his way back again...
I can't tell you about SFBC as they don't do the rest of the world outside of the US...
Amazons recommendation system seems to work okay.
Looking at who wins the Hugo or Nebula, can work, but should be taken without a grain of salt.
Forums and news groups like rec.arts.sf.written can be a really good source of inspiration, but can consume so much time that you will not have time to read books.
But if you are ready for something different I'll recommend you the "new" wave of authors from Britain. People like Charles Stross (he has a few free e-books out), Peter F. Hamilton (Nights Dawns trilogy is not a good place to start), Ken MacLeod.
Read up on them on wikipedia.
TC - My Photos..
"I don't have time to mess around at my local Barnes & Noble and browse books..."
I suggest you re-prioritize your life if your life doesnt allow an hour or so spent in a bookstore, then worry about finding books.
I have seen some forums where fantasy readers will trade/share their used copies of books (eg, The Dragonlance forums, among others). This could help you track down copies, plus would be another good resource for asking that specific group of fans where to find more of them.
I have had some luck increasing my fantasy library through used bookstores such as Half Price Books.
Locus Magazine is a real magazine put together by Science Fiction Fans (notably Charlie Brown who has received many Hugo awards for it). Contains lots of reviews, you'll learn which reviewers have the same taste as you. Yeah, it's not a book club.
The Young Adult section of the library (don't sneer - the quality of the Science Fiction there is very high) shouldn't be forgotten. Cory's Little Brother is a must-read, and is a YA novel.
Recursion: To curse repeatedly.
Tor regular sends me free SciFi/Fantasy books for free (you have to register but Tor doesn't spam you)...
/. poster for cluing me in on this deal...
kudos to another
The best list I've seen in the past year was the one published by Marc Andreessen. I've worked my way through almost all of these now and, aside from one or two clunkers, its a stellar list of books and authors I had not heard of. http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/top_10_science_.html
I visit the American Book Centre in either The Hague or Amsterdam. Either one is a comfortable half hour by train from my house, and it has the widest selection of F&SF books you will encounter anywhere in the world - including the large bookshops in the US.
;-)
Online here: http://www.abc.nl/
And before you protest that travelling to the Netherlands might not be any easier or cheaper than joining an online club, you never mentioned what country you were in so I have no reason to assume you are an american
If you let someone else select your books, you'll get books that are to someone else's taste. That being said, I'd have to agree with bball99 - Tor has sent me about 10 books for free and so far I've read (and liked) the first 3.
Here in Portugal it's next to impossible to find good sci-fi. My local bookstore (which is pretty big) has had practically the same books for years. They're hidden under a shelf, less than 30 books and many are sequels without first volumes. I think I'm one of the few people who ever bought from that shelf. However, fortunately, I can order from Amazon UK. Not only are they cheap (certainly cheaper than local retailers), and have second-hand books for sale, but they're also REALLY fast - books arrive in a couple of days through the normal, inexpensive shipping method, and no customs to pay since they're within the EU. Also, I know there are many horror stories about Amazon going around, but whenever I had trouble, I was always treated with courtesy and my problem solved in a manner satisfactory to me, even when that resulted in a loss for Amazon. I'm not affiliated with Amazon in any way. I don't work for them, none of my relatives of friends works for them, I have no reason to be defending them here other than my own experience as a customer. Buying from them has never been dicey or expensive to me.
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
Worth a look. Features a group blog by established authors and up-and-comers in the SF field: SF Novelists. You'll find links to new and previous releases, and the sidebar contains sample chapters and so on.
(Disclaimer: I'm a member of the group, but firmly in the up-and-coming category. So to speak.)
Hal Spacejock: Science Fiction with Nuts
I think it is obvious. Just make bi-monthly "What new SF/F book do you recommend"
I am sure a LOT of people would find that useful. (hint: not a sarcasm)
Tapping large geek pool of shashdot should be enough to get good recommendations.
Other than that, geeky literature majoring friends are great source of recommendations, i suggest making one!
-- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this. Ask your friends. I have to ward off my friends' unsolicited Sci-Fi recommendations with a hockey stick.
Also, ask older readers, there are a lot of older books that are very good reads, and will turn up in used bookstores.
Try amazoning a bit more. I've found a lot of good reviews and then followed the recommended book lists for those good reviewers and usually find a wide selection of the theme that reader is interested in.
Personally I walk in the local bookstores when ever I pass by. Write down names of interesting books, go home and order them online at www.play.com as they're much cheaper than the bookstores here with books in English.
I love Mysterious Galaxy (http://mysteriousgalaxy.booksense.com/). The staff there are awesome, and can find books for whatever your personal tastes are.
They're great people, and I think F&SF specialty stores like that deserve our support.
My wife works at a county library branch, where the vast majority of donated books are sold very cheaply for fundraising (only a few are suitable for adding to the library's collection). She recently snagged two SF anthologies for a total of forty US cents.
"I actually have a hard time finding books, rather than cuddling up with them."
Let me guess...Not married?
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
Imagine a pile of 100 best sci-fi books ever, and a new one is out once every 3 years or so. When you are just getting into sci-fi as a teenager, you can be assured to have a big pile of great sci-fi to read ahead of you.
As you finish it all, it becomes harder and harder to find new good ones, which gives the impression that "today sci-fi is not as good as the years past". Its only the impression, because you wen't thru 50 years best sci-fi in maybe 5-6 years.
Now you have to wait 2-3 years to discover another gem, while before you could have just went to any "best 100 list" and picked any one up.
My recent great finds: The bright of the sky: Entire and the Rose (can't even begin to describe it), Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space universe, Commonwealth Saga + Dreaming Void by Peter Hamilton.
My recent disappointments: Neal Asher. Tried to read Gridlinked, could not even finish.
Don't forget the Baen Free Library - they also sell ebooks with NO drm.
http://www.baen.com/library/
http://www.webscription.net/
Once you've found the authors and/or titles you want to read (google 'top 10 SF 2008' or something) head on over to addall.com or bookfinder.com Not only will these sites show you the amazon and b&n books but they will also lead you to the independent book search services like biblio.com and abebooks.com There is no reason why anyone should pay retail for mass market paperbacks. There are also many more out-of-print SF books than in-print.
I have all but given up on science fiction and fantasy - it is as if all you can find is interminable series of massproduced soap-operas. Everybody tries to be 'Epic', but nobody has quite what it takes to pull it off. Maybe I am just getting too old, though I also find that authors like Asimov and Niven are strangely shallo, too much children of their time.
Perhaps it is because the newer authors have run out of visions - in the last century science seemed to be roaring forward; new, mindblowing discoveries were reported, technology and living standards were improving fast, and maybe science fiction was easier to write. But what can you write about now: Physics seems to have run up against a wall as far as the big discoveries go, and the future looks increasingly grim, what with climate change and the impending collapse of the global eco-system; and we just can't seem to imagine a solution any more. And that is what science fiction has traditionally been about: our glorious future, and how we the problems against all odds.
But enough of that - maybe I am just getting too old. Is there any good science fiction out there?
Baen have put quite a few SF books online ( here and then choose Free Library). Read them online or download them to pretty much any e-reader out there. It certainly allowed me to get into a few authors I might otherwise have 'overlooked'. I prefer the dead-tree variety so after sampling some of them like here, I Amazoned them.
Seriously, Have you checked out goodreads.com ? To me it is like pandora for books (website which recommends music based on likes and dislikes ala slacker).
wit is the salt of conversation, Not the food.
A method my parents used years ago to become members of the Science Fiction Book Club without having the unsolicited mailings of books was to write RETURN TO SENDER on all the books sent by the SF book club unsolicited.
After a short time (a few months I believe), they were added to the "No Unsolicited Mailings" list (I don't really know what the SF book club calls it). Now they get the catalogs and offers on well-priced books along with the early releases and omnibus editions that may be unavailable elsewhere, but not books they don't really want.
The book club's policies may have changed since that time, but I know that worked for them.
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
Here in the UK at least, the local library is free, and you can get (almost) any book delivered there for free (used to be 30p I think!).
:-)
Although my library is very small (probably 1000 books), the staff are more than helpful and will be able to get the book you want from some other library.
I haven't bought a book for years. What's the point when a good quality, hardbacked version can be borrowed for free.
Have I said free enough
No sharp objects, I'm a programmer!
The "Read More..." link never seemed so appropriate :-)
On amazon or similar, search for SF masterworks. This is collection of some of the best sci-fi ever written and you're sure to find a few you haven't heard of. Also if you're buying on the cheap, "The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke" is good value for money (almost 1000 pages of SF goodness by one of the greats for £10). Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with amazon except as a customer.
I used to get books from SFBC a long while ago, but things have changed financially, so...
What you will want to do early on is have your profile set to NOT auto-ship the monthly selection. This way you won't ever have to worry about the selection card getting lost in the mail (in either direction) or simply being delayed.
With each monthly mailing you will get a list of available alternate selections, and quarterly or so they will send out larger catalogs. I certainly had no problem getting my 4 required during the next year, and usually got 2 or 3 per month.
Another option is to check out your local used book store. The one in my area has an affiliate program such that if they do not have a specific title I am looking for they can search other stores all over the country.
I go to a used book store, and buy books for anywhere between $3 and $6. I you buy 10 books for an average price of $4.50, then you can take more chances on authors that you do not know. Even if one of the books is absolutely horrible, and two are so-so, you are still getting your money's worth, considering new books run $12.
Here in Toronto, the BMV stores are great.
I listen to the 'StarShipSofa: Science Fiction Audio Podcast' The stories are narrated and usually last 30 min to 1.5 hours. It is a good FREE way to find new (to me) authors.
You can always check out http://baen.com/ they have an online library of free books and sample chapters for new books. They also have the webscription site where you can read e-Arc (advance reader copy) books yet to be published and other books for a monthly fee.
Also, check out http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ which have all the CD's Baen has published. The CD's are free to copy for non-commercial use and contains alot of books in digital format.
None of the books you get in digital format from Baen is encumbered with DRM in any way.
--- Reality doesn't care about your opinions, it happens anyway and if you are in the way you'll get squished.
Tor.com is pretty good -- I think you can still sign up there to get a new ebook every week for free, plus they have a bunch of non-free books, podcasts, etc. I've been getting them for 6-8 weeks now and they're pretty good!
A computer without Microsoft is like ice cream without ketchup.
a slashdot book club ! :-)
My rights don't end where your feelings begin.
The Hugos are voted on by SF readers. The Nebulas are voted by SF authors. Occasionally the same title will win both honors.
"Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
"Money is a sign of poverty." - Iain Banks
As others have pointed out the British Sci-Fi scene seems much more interesting these days and not mired in N book trilogies and the like. There have been some fantastic authors from the UK lately such as Iain Banks (not that recent admittedly), Peter Hamilton and my personal recent favourite, China Mieville. If you want to try the latter try The Scar or Perdido Steet Station. Very different style so they may not be for everyone but I found them engrossing.
scifi.reddit.com is a good upcoming SciFi community
In this part of the US, the local public libraries have a program to pass books back and forth by request. I read by author, so I may have 4-6 requests each year (out of an average 30 @ year). It isn't perfect (finding location of a copy you want, requesting, waiting, etc), but with a little effort and patience, you can get most anything you want.
Lost in space at an early age. Survived the vacuum. Now rebuilding castle in air.
This might have already been mentioned... but for a list of "award winners", you can check out the Hugo Awards: http://www.thehugoawards.org/.
I find that these books tend to be pretty good.
regexes
I like to use the Baen Free Library (http://www.baen.com/library/). They have a nice collection of good books that you can read online or download and read later. I also shop at a store called Half Price Books. The Science Fiction Book Club wasn't bad, especially if you wait for the sales. But beware of the shipping costs.
Good luck!
and other anthologies are good sources of new authors for me. I buy one book...Year's Best SF10. I get to read a bunch of unusually good short stories and the authors often have larger bodies of work available.
I recently discovered Alistair Reynolds very good work this way. Buy on Amazon if you don't have a good library. In my experience Barnes & Noble and Borders usually stock their SF and F sections with mostly dreck.
Baen is OK for military SF fans who are more interested in war adventures or fantasies with the setting being space or the future but not so great for core sci-fi fans. Of course there are a few gems hidden in there - Keith Laumer's books being a great read (and not just the Bolo and Retief novels). Stay away from Ringo or even Taylor (when collaborating with Ringo) unless you are a white teenager with a very racist viewpoint of the world. (I am not saying that Ringo or Williamson are racist just that they write for a racist audience. They are probably liberals who laugh their hearts out at making their living from Redneck fans)
**Life is too short to be serious**
www.fantasticfiction.co.uk
is a great site listing authors and their works (with links to buy from abeworld books).
But the best feature of the site is the Author Recommendations! Not every author does this unfortunately (Dan Simmons being one of them-probably because he has his own website for that). But what with the people looking at "Dan Simmons" also looked at section, you shouldn't find it hard to get similar material.
Oriental Hero "I want to live in a city where the Police don't shoot you" Jean Charles de Menezes
Cryptonomicron is a great book, until the last 10 pages or so. Is that cyberpunk?
Best Slashdot Co
A science fiction book store? Sure, there's more to pick from than at Barnes & Noble,
but these small shops are run by voracious readers who are more than happy to share...
Were that I say, pancakes?
I'm am a rabid collector of books, especially Sci-Fi and Fantasy (along with almost everything else EXCEPT romance.) I have over 5K books in my personal library. Finding good books online is nice, but hit the local used book stores. Yeah, I know it requires you to get off your ass and do some walking, but you'll find what you want more often than not there. Hit up library book sales.
Again, it requires actual physical activity, so this may not work for you it seems.
Pax Vobiscum
I've belonged to the Sci-Fi Book Club for well over a decade now, and while I don't buy from them very often, they are a good source of inexpensive hardbacks (I've built up quite a library of hardbacks over the years). I also end up browsing the various book stores in the malls.
However.
I have the same problem everywhere I go. It seems that most of what is out there is fantasy, rather than Science Fiction. I prefer the stuff with the nuts and bolts, thank you very much, even though I *do* enjoy the occasional Dresden Files and Thomas Covenant. I don't know what it is that seems to attract people to swords and sorcery rather than hard science. Tastes change, I suppose.
Still, it makes a good book awfully hard to find. You just have to keep looking, and accept the dreck along with the gems.
As for those suggesting a trip to the local library, I take it you've never tried to find a good sci-fi book there. If you're "lucky", you might find a few (arrgh) Star Trek or Star Wars books. Most of them aren't sci-fi by any stretch of the imagination. They're more like a bit of cotton candy: tasty but insubstantial and unsatisfying.
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." --Senator Carl Schurz (1872)
Trust me. I was a member for a while, the prices aren't terrible, but if you're like me you prefer paperback anyhow, and they're almost entirely hardcover. Plus, the Featured Selections are a pain if you forget to cancel them.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Then expand past Sci-FI and read some of the good stuff. Grab books by Kurt Vonnegut (start with Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's cradle also rocks), go read Clockwork Orange, Hell read the old old classics from HG wells. Most youngsters (under 28) turn up their nose at the classics. you CAN NOT run out of good things to read that will interest you.
Also check out each years' Nebula awards. every year I find a new artist to put on my read list.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Listen to my Podcast, Read More Science Fiction.
My buddy and I read and review Sci-Fi books...Mostly older, but recently we reviewed "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi...
Yeah, we don't stay on-topic very well, but I think we're entertaining anyway, or we wouldn't keep doing it...
Goofy, Geeky Gifts and More!
Most local libraries will do a used book sales twice a year, at least in my area. If you're a bit patient and don't mind waiting a couple of years for the latest titles, you can enjoy reading for pennies to the book. The trick is to come in early on the first day to get your choice selections at US$ 3 to 4; then show up again at the very end for the "bag sale", in which you can buy a few bags for usually $5 each and then leave with as many books as you can fit in your bag. Once I discovered library sales I very rarely shop anywhere else.
The venerable Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has two book review sections each month. Past issue reviews can be viewed on line. http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/ The magazine itself is worth a subscription since Gordon Van Gelder became the editor.
There are a few science fiction magazines out there, such as Asimov's, that are worth subscribing. http://www.asimovs.com/
Admittedly, the short stories are a mix. Some great, some good, some decent, and some mind-raping-awful ones. But its a great way to sample new/unknown to you talent. If you find a serial in the magazine you really enjoy, the author tends to also write books... And bingo - instant reading list.
And then, there is your local science fiction and fantasy bookstore (A dying breed, unfortunately. Almost all of the independent specialized bookstores I once went to are gone.). Now I know you are short on time, but if you live near one, and the bookseller is the type that thrives on customer interaction, you are all set. After buying there for a year, you will never really need to spend more then a minute in the store... My local bookseller pulls a pile in advance these days for me when I go in (about once every three months), and it has been tailored to my reading taste. With something new thrown in every now and then that I might enjoy. In, out, and when I pop in in three months we discuss which ones I liked the best and the refining process continues. And if you're an excellent customer on good terms with the owner, then there is a chance you may be blessed with free "Advanced reader's editions -Do not sell"... Which are much like the stories in Asimov's, now I think of it...
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
Now here's a sensible comment that's been here for hours and hasn't been modded up at all. Shelfari is a great resource for ANY type of reader.
This guy's the limit!
No time to read your SciFi? Check out the Escape Pod podcast. Steve does a great job with presenting short stories from acclaimed authors.
http://escapepod.org/
Both libraries and SFBC have the time factor against them: the new, hot stuff won't be there for a while.
To naysayers above who think the quality has declined, you're just stuck in a rut. The recent Hugo noms such as John Scalzi and Charlie Stross are writing a large volume of old-school-friendly SF: if you liked Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov when you were a teen, you'll still like this stuff.
A bit out there on the SF front would be Cemetary Dance -- they publish a couple of limited-edition hardbacks a month, and offer them as a subscription. Mostly horror, but good stuff. Cemetary Dance is an irregularly-published magazine of extremely high editorial quality.
I mentioned John Scalzi above, I'll mention him again because of his "Big Idea" entries in his blog at http://scalzi.com/whatever -- authors are invited to write about where they get their ideas from. Much more illuminating than cover blurbs, it reveals the heart of the story from the authors POV, and I haven't found a loser from that list yet.
Design for Use, not Construction!
Here's a review from someone who's NOT anonymous.
:-/
I used to subscribe to the SFBC. They did have a lot of good books. Especially in the form of omnibuses. (e.g. I got the entire Lucky Starr series in one book, whereas it was nearly impossible to find even one of the books in the series anywhere else!) I also found one of my favorite books ever through them: Jeffrey Carver's Eternity's End.
That being said, I eventually ended my subscription due to several frustrating issues. The first is that there was no way to completely stop the Book of the Month mailing. If I didn't want the book, I had to send a postcard or log online the month before. If I forgot, I would receive a book I didn't want, which I'd have to send back. My next issue was that they almost always messed up the billing. They send books with a bill in the box, then would try to apply late fees when I payed the bill as soon as I got it. This got really annoying and I wish they had just allowed me to pay up front.
The final nail in the coffin for me was that they started focusing too much on Fantasy. I joined the SFBC because they had a kick-ass selection of classic and modern Sci-Fi. But once the Lord of the Rings came out, they were better described as the "Fantasy Book Club". I could have put up with the other problems they had, but that took away the entire value proposition for me. So I canceled. Which was a hassle unto itself.
So if you're a hardcore Sci-Fi fan who likes classic Sci-Fi and is looking for hard-to-find stuff, the SFBC does have something to offer if you're willing to forgive their multitude of sins. But if you just want something fun to read, I recommend passing. It just isn't worth the hassle.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I've started using the Library heavily... and it has cut down my $$ spent.
If I find a book I really like... I buy it. Why should I buy... I've already read it?!! Well. Because if you don't reward the people who brought you good content... then fewer people will be attracted to making content... and thus fewer great works will be out there.
You can check out science fiction clubs online (li
You gotta support 'em or lose 'em!
Amazon is usually a good place to start and failing that, try Bookfinder.com
I have been getting books from the Science Fiction Book Club for almost a year now and I am quite happy with their selection and with their customer service.
I have gotten books from old favorites and tried several new authors, some of which I have been very happy with.
I would say to give them a try
WI've been a long-time science fiction fan and this has been THE book for me each year, in filtering out the diamonds from the shit.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I didn't see any mention of Baen in the first most-of-a-page of comments, so I'll just mention they have a great free e-library and reasonably priced ebook program, as well as a science fiction e-magazine.
The other site I'd like to recommend is one to bookmark and check back every month or so: Alexandria Digital Literature, or AlexLit, used to have a truly marvelous collaborative filtering engine, where you'd tell it what books you like and dislike, and it would tell you what books you haven't already read that you're likely to enjoy. I found some of what are now my most favorite books that way. But the site is down right now and they promise a revised version "sometime in 2008." So keep checking it.
(I interviewed Dave Howell, the guy behind AlexLit, on one of the episodes of my Biblio File podcast.)
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Go out to http://www.baen.com./ They have the Baen Free Library project, links to many Authors web-sites, a very good online "baens Bar" where you can interact with authors, and the right approach (IMO) on how to deal with free content.
Do some leg-work! As others have pointed out, go visit a local book-store, and not just one of the chains. Find a used book-store, or two.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class" Oscar Wilde
You could save $ by buying used books at a place like BetterWorld.com
Goto http://www.betterworld.com/list.aspx?Category_ID=25 and click on Used-Only
Fahrenheit 451 for $4.48, that's less than the title
:-)
Try Shelfari. That and facebook now has a visual bookshelf system as well. I find that usually I have one or two friends who are very knowledgeable and if I can find a network of people with the same general tastes, usually one of them has some good stuff coming in.
The real problem is finding quality authors and stories. Back in the early 70's, I was growing tired of cookie cutter Edgar Rice Burroughs stories; "modern man put in a savage environment, finds pretty girl, and becomes king of all he surveys" was just too templated for me whether it was Tarzan or John Carter. I was introduced to Heinlein through "Door into Summer" and followed that with "Stranger in a Strange Land", heavy reading for a 12 year old but Heinlein forever changed my political, social, and religious views. (No, I was more into the "Jubal Harshaw" school of thought.) That was followed by discovering Tolkien in 1974 through a friend, and then joining the SF book club (back then we consided the term "Sci Fi" to be a perjorative) and quickly found Stephen Donaldson. From there, I found and fell in love with Zelazny. In between was a host of others, Asimov and Clark. By the time "Blade Runner" came out, I was ready to try PKD. Moving onto Niven I discovered more.
I took a break from SF and tried Higgens, Clancy, Griffen, Pope, and others. Lately, I've tried to pick up more recent SF only to be sadly disappointed in the quality. None of the current authors seem to rise to even half the level of authors I've mentioned.
When you go to BN or Borders, the SF aisle seems to be burdened with Star Trek, Star Wars, and other TV series related books. The shelves are stocked with Tolkien knock offs, and I was never able to get past Bowser not being in the Sword of Shanana series. Some of the "what if" titles sound good but after awhile, even that gets tiring when they really stretch to provide alternate pasts and futures.
Where are and who are the great visionaries?
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
Most things by baen I'll check into pretty quick.
I love thier free library and their DRM free ebooks.
If I'm still lacking I'll check this:
http://www.locusmag.com/
I usually check thier list of books recently published in last month or whatever.
If there's a book I think I'm interested in, I'll check into it further (they link authors website or publishers website for instance), and one thing I'll often do if its a new author or series is check amazon. If it has a decent average score and/or reviews I'll grab it.
Also sometimes browsing library or bookstore helps too.
At Bookmooch, you can trade books with many, many others. The only cost is postage for mailing out books. With Media Mail, that's under $3 for several books.
Try listening to some podcasts for new authors.
Here are two outstanding sf podcasts:
Escape Pod
StarShipSofa
sfsite.com has a yearly list of books to read for both SF (SciFi) and FF (Fantasty) at http://www.sfsite.com/yearsbest01.htm They also have Industry wide lists, reviews of new releases, interviews, lists of each author's books and a lot more info, but all you really need to get started is the best of the year lists.
I compared the books on the lists to what was available at my local libary and developed a reading list. Here are something things I'm looking to read the next few years (look on wikipedia for the names of individual books in the Hamilton and Reynolds series):
Hamilton, Peter: Night's Dawn Trilogy
Reynolds, Alastair: Revelation Space
Scalzi, John: Old Man's War; The Ghost Brigades; The Last Colony
Sean McMullen: Souls in the Great Machine; The Miocene Arrow; Eyes of the Calculor
www.librarything.com
I was a member of the Science Fiction Book Club (run by Bookspan) for quite a few years.
The introductory book offer (five "free" books) is a really good deal, but once you're done that I found that even the club member prices for their books are higher than in any online bookstore.
So I reluctantly fulfilled my membership "obligation" (I think four books at regular price) and called it a day after a few months of not buying anything. Overall I think I still came ahead, but not by much and it wasn't worth the hassle of answering "no, I do not want the monthly selection" every month.
In Soviet Russia, I ruled you
Try out these blogs:
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/
http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/
One alternative is to work with a good book dealer to build whatever sort of collection you might be interested in creating. Most of my business is in collection/library development, most often for people in the situation you describe...people who love books, want to read what comes into their collection, but lack the time to properly track down material.
.ijk
Several of my favorite clients are on personal "book of the month club" programs, where I send them a random book within their interest area(s) each month. Thus far, I've never had anyone complain about a choice.
I strongly encourage you to find a good book dealer and have a chat. In the alternative, drop me a line *g*...my personal collecting is in hard spec. fiction and cryptography.
Good luck.
--
Ian J. Kahn
Lux Mentis, Booksellers
Antiquarian & Fine First Editions
211 Marginal Way, #777
Portland, ME, 04101
http://www.luxmentis.com/
Member ABAA/ILAB
p.s. You should also check out the SF comm. at www.librarything.com.
I only read Science Fiction that's been recommended by Oprah.
Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
I agree, of the many websites that organize/recommend content, I think the librarything.com does a great, great job! excellent use of tags, you can input several of your favourite titles and see who else picked them and what their OTHER favourite titles are. I personally am not into fantasy, more sci fi, but thelibrarything.com helped me discover asher, and also Ian Banks.
enjoy!
Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so.
Try http://www.booklamp.org/ a website offering statistical analysis of book types. It analyzes the structure of a book and offers samples of other books that match the style of the selected book. This should identify books similar to what you already like (likely by different authors), without the need for reading through them first to see if you might like them.
Reading is a lot better if you have the book in your hands. However, I agree with you about the translations. They get increasingly crappier, more expensive and take longer and longer to be released.
One publisher over here released the first two books of a triology and then just didn't release the third book. The first books were really interesting and I would have liked to read the final one, but I've been waiting for over three years and every year they have the nerve to promise it 'for the next Christmas'. The original is not in a language I understand, and the english translation is nowhere to be found.
Since then I stopped buying from this publisher, but unfortunately only two publishers have a near-monopoly over here, so it's hard to find books - unless I order them from another country via the Internet, paying a half of the price, getting the book at least one year earlier and not even having to leave home.
2 places that I use: Library Thing http://www.librarything.com/ and Mobile Read http://www.mobileread.com/
You can also try short stories. The mamooth books of best new science fiction can keep you entertained for some time.
Try Tor.com I've found it to be an excellent source and they'll email you weekly with a link to a free ebook.
You mentioned it in your Summary. I have to ask did you go to the site and login or did you only see the available selection for new subscribers? The last time I was a member there "3-4 years ago" The majority of the books were past the login screen. Not where new subs would see them. I was a member on and off of SFBC for 12 years. I can't recall ever missing a book in a series from them. One of their benefits was they'd take a lot of trilogy's and move them into a single book. This saved on publishing cost I'm sure. I've read/purchased around 100 books from them. I have since moved to reading almost exclusively ebooks. Fortunately my parents and I share at least some of my likes with books. I am never without something to read.
Inane Comments are Generously Disregarded
Try http://www.abebooks.com/ . This site links up book stores from all over the world. I have used it many times to complete previously owned SciFi series and other rare books that are no long in print. Highly recommended. James
I am a (reasonably) satisfied member of SFBC, and can share one trick with you. One of the annoying things about these clubs (this includes most CD/DVD clubs as well) is their policy of sending monthly selections unless you opt-out. But, once you satisfy your obligation to the club (mine was 2 books at regular price), you can ask to have your account changed to "request-only," which means they will only send what you order. SFBC is a nice option if you're someone who usually buys hardcovers right when they come out--SFBC will get them a little later (but not as late as the paperback) at as much as 1/2 off.
Having been a member since the early 60s I can recommend the club. I have bought at least 1,000 books from them. When I first started you could get a hardback for $2.50, now they are $15.00 or so. They don't always keep a great back catalog but if you stick with them over the years you'll be able to build a nice collection. They added they web site a few years ago but I still go to Amazon for comments first.
Seriously... Ebay is a FANTASTIC place to pick up used books on the cheap. I'll usually just buy a "lot" of like 20-30 books... with Media Mail (if you're in the States), it is MEGA cheap to get them shipped to you. You usually average around 2 bucks a book if you do it this way... often times even cheaper.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I'm involved with a web project that might be of interest to you if you're too busy to read as much as you'd like. The site is http://www.dailyreader.net/ and the idea is that we have a bunch of novels that you can subscribe to (for free) and choose to have a few minutes emailed to you each day, perfect for getting some reading done at work (if you're like me and spend all day in front of the computer). Unfortunately, we're all classic novels right now - so our sci-fi library is limited to that, but if you've not read some of the classics you might want to give it a shot.
I was a member of the Science Fiction Book Club for a very long time (probably over a decade). I joined back in the pre internet days (in the early 90's). Early on I thought it was just great, I would keep up with the mailings (you had to explicitly say you didn't want the book(s) of the month in order for them to NOT automatically mail it to you) and felt like it was a pretty good deal (although with shipping I was always a little bit unsure).
But after I got somewhat of a life (and forgot to fill out those cards saying I didn't want the book of the month on a monthly basis) they started bombarding me with books (which I always sent back), but it was a hassle (and I'm sure my mail person hated me). I did eventually get on the list so that they no longer automatically sent me the books, but by then I was done with them.
To me the web (Amazon, B&N online, etc.) and the proliferation of huge physical book stores totally obsoleted the need for the SFBC, especially in the age of cheap shipping. Also, I agree with some of the other posters, your library is probably a good first stop, that's were I got started back before I had money to burn on books.
I was a member of the Science Fiction Book Club for a while. They have a pretty good selection, the only problem is it changes fairly frequently. They only tend to have new book releases and such, older titles get dropped off their selection list.
Overall I was pleased with the selection and quality of the books, though it's worth noting that some of the books have poor quality page cutting or things like that.. not sure what it's really called, but the 'edge' of the pages were uneven, or other minor defects. They may get batches of lower-quality books (ones with printing or binding defects) at a discount in order to save money or offer them cheaper or such like that. (Of course, they may have stopped that, it's been a few years.)
I didn't really 'unsubscribe', just moved a few times and didn't update my info, or didn't order enough books and they auto-canceled.
You do have to pick a certain number of books to start with, and then buy a certain number more, their web site will have the details.
I use Windows... like a two dollar wh.. why don't I just go ahead and not finish that sentence.
tm
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Go with a specialist sci-fi bookstore. I use Borderlands Books. I just walk in and ask them what's good; after some discussion over my particular standards of good, they'll happily drag me to some favorite they have. They are awesome.
Even if you're not in the area, that's fine; they have a newsletter, and do mail order. And I'm sure that you could call them up, give them a credit card number, and just ask them to ship you a good book every month. Or if you can find a bookstore in your area like that, try them!
This is how I find out about 90% of the stuff that I've read in the past several years, and the results have been excellent, IMO. You can start with mine (link above) and the sites it links to, and the sites they link to, etc. Googling for booklogs is a pretty good tactic, as well. The key is to find out what the blogger likes, and look for congruence (or useful contrast) with your own tastes.
I also highly recommend searching through the Open Threads of Making Light, as book recommendations are a frequent topic. The blog itself is hosted by Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, senior editors at Tor, and SF luminaries are frequent commenters. The community at Scalzi's Whatever is another good place for hunting down SF recommendations, and he frequently has stuff from or about interesting new authors on their works.
The Humblest Mollusk on the Net
Lots of sci-fi/fantasy folk have tremendously enjoyed literature outside the genre, too--Shakespeare comes to mind, if you haven't finished his complete works. He's hysterical and a good diversion, though he's not necessarily as effortless as a lot of S/F.
The Last Unicorn's a wonderful book, if you haven't read it, btw. Beagle's first book--A Fine and Private Place--is also wonderful, and with many similar themes to TLU.
The Scarlet Letter is good if you read it sentence-by-sentence. (Pretend you're reading it out loud to someone, and it becomes good.)
Thoreau's Walden is definitely a perennial geek favorite.
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a quick but thick read, and played a huge role in American History.
River of Innocents is a book about human slavery today.
There are a lot of books out there--SF/F can be wonderful, but stepping outside the conventions of a familiar genre can be rewarding and insightful.
Thousands are enslaved every day. A River of In
Looks like at least part of your problem is "where do I find a particular title?" Bookfinder and Addall have already been mentioned, but there are other ways and sources if you're okay with used books (many excellent novels are out of print and thus ONLY available used), in RL (if you're willing to dig) as well as more online. I discuss these and more here:
http://ben-bradley.blogspot.com/2007/08/how-and-where-i-buyget-books.html
Six months ago I bought the Star Trek/New Generation novels "A Time To Be Born" and "A Time To Die" at a thrift store for 25 cents. I "don't read" ST novels, but I was going to put them up on paperbackswap.com to send out to get "points" for books I really want. Unfortunately, I started reading...it's an 8-book series and I'm now on book 7. I got books 3 through 8 on paperbackswap.com, and have the ones I've read listed on there.
It's space opera, the science sucks in these things, but I found the books entertaining because I liked the ST "New Generation" TV series and am of course familiar with the character. But once I get to the end of this, I swear I'll never read another ST novel. Give me some Real Hard SF, as in (an slightly older novel I recently read) Greg Bear's Eon.
Tag lost or not installed.
Looking at a shiny small screen in the dark late at night is not good for your eyes!
Also, don't forget about comic books and manga. Although most comic books are firmly in the superhero genre, there are also some excellent sci-fi titles. Among them is "Y - The Last Man," which is set in a world identical to ours until the Summer of 2002 when, at the same time all over the entire world, every mammal with a Y chromosome instantly dies. Only two males survive: One man and his helper monkey. This series just ended with issue #60.
With manga, there are a massive number of sci-fi stories, including:
http://www.baen.com/library/ has a nice collection of e-books in several formats, or read online.
Also there is a link to something they call 'webscriptios': http://www.webscription.net/
Free registration, then hang out in 'the Baen's Bar Forums'
: http://bar.baen.com/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2FDefault.aspx
A lot of good stuff is here at Baen's Library, with an online active community.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
I've found several interesting OLDER stories at Wikisource which I found quite enjoyable:
;))
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Sleeper_Awakes
and others by H.G.Wells:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:H._G._Wells
Similarly, you can read classic stuff from Jules Verne. Lots of short stories and such by various authors.
Their index of stuff doesn't seem very complete, but if you search for an author (google "wikisource $AUTHOR"), it seems to work very well.
Other good stories I've read recently:
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/Cory_Doctorow_-_Little_Brother.htm
The metamorphosis of Prime Intellect (may not be worksafe
http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/
(I enjoyed this more than LB, though LB was very engaging as well.)
Especially since they got onto the web and you can now reply to your member selections via their website. They don't have the selection of Amazon...but they don't claim to. What they do have is hardback books for an average price of $10-14, plus the intial teaser deal of your 5 books. They do a lot of member editions where you can pick up all the titles in a popular series in one volume (I have Jim Butcher's Wizard at Large 2-in-1 on my desk right now) which I really appreciate. They WILL send emails to you fairly frequently (average of 2 a week) but if you read them and wait until something good comes around you can get some amazing deals. Fairly regularly they do buy 2 get 1 free, on rarer occasions they do buy one, get 1 free. When this happens, I usually buy up everything on my wish list and spend $100 to get a bunch of hardbacks at an average price of $7 or so. There are pretty regularly offers of $2 shipping. All-in-all I've really liked being a customer of theirs because they expand my reading universe and give me a chance to get cheap books.
1. I recommend bittorrent downloads - yes, of copyrighted materials for a specific reason: you can browse the book at your leisure and decide if you want to buy it. Especially useful for Audiobooks when you don't have the 50 bucks to buy them. Also, I stumbled across Zelazney's Amber series read by the author himself - a recording you can't even get at the library.
2. Books.google.com - granted it's difficult due to get the latest versions, but the sample size there is getting large enough to be useful, and frankly, their interface to finding books has something left to be desired.
Others mentioned Hugo and Nebula award winners - I always try to read the nominees each year, keeping the best authors in a "check out all their new books" list.
Check with your local SciFi club to see if they have a library.
If you live in the Los Angeles area, look for the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS). Shameless plug: the LASFS has the largest (most number of volumes) private lending library of Science Fiction and Fantasy in the world. Only the Eaton Collection at UC Riverside has a larger collection but they are public (being a university).
If you live near Boston, try the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA).
If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, seek out the Bay Area Science Fiction Assocation (CASFS).
And in Arizona, it the Centreal Arizona Science Fiction Sociery.
Most of these sites (Google the acronyms) have links to other groups that may be closer to you.
Just my $0.02 worth.
The Science fiction book club is a scam. They are just as bad as BMG -- which I never used, but have heard similar stories from friends that had it. I was a member for about a year when I was too busy to get to the store and realized that a lot of the books that they were selling I wanted and were cheap to book club members. The major problem with the club is that they, like BMG, send you books you don't ask for and if you don't send them back within the alloted time frame they charge you for them and WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO RETURN THEM. I worked the night shift when I had this service and I didn't have time to get to the post office (plus I didn't have a car) so it made it really difficult to return these unwanted books. I attempted to contact the company about this problem and they were impossible to get a hold of on the phone -- phone system hell...please press your parties extension if you... anyway making a long story short I ended up buying 45 dollars worth of books that I didn't ask for and couldn't return at the same time I quit because they wouldn't stop sending me books I didn't ask for. On the positive side however they do have a large amount of popular books that are selling for very cheap prices. Also, all of these books are available at a approximately the same time the retail chains are selling them so you can get them quite rapidly.
....like abebooks.com and alibris.com. But be careful when ordering, cuz you'll pay at least $4.00 per book for shipping.
Also good, online discount book outlets like daedalusbooks.com and edwardrhamilton.com.
How to know what to read? Well, slashdot readers are good at picking books, run a search for slashdot SF book reviews. I also use sfrevu.com occasionally. Then there's the grandaddy of them all, locusmag.com. That ought to get you started. Have fun!
SFBC is a good place to look for new books, but not necessarily to buy them!http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ has a large list of books that can be searched in many ways, not just Science fiction though, they have everything! Baen.com gets top marks from me! Both printed and eBooks!Here's Ohio we have SearchOhio at the libraries websites through it you can reserve titles from many of the library systems in Ohio, which will be shipped to your local library for pickup! You can also use the ILL or interlibrary loan system, but that is like a message in a bottle, you never know when or if you are going to get the book you requested!!
I am also a long term member, and have the Readers Rewards VISA card. I haven't actually BOUGHT a book from them in quite a while, but have gotten many free books, as I run all my expenses through my card. Every $1500 I spend allows me one "book" selection up to $25, with free shipping... fortunately this includes multi-book deals up to $25, so I've received a LOT of books. I'm probably sitting on 15-20 books yet to read (havent had time lately), and at least another dozen or so free book certificates to use up.
Since I always pay balance off in full, I have no finance charges to worry about either. Using a credit card is a nice safety buffer between the bank account and merchants.
They often have new releases as well, I think I've gotten the majority of the Harry Turtledove alternate history books I've read through them, usually within a few weeks of release.
After a few years as a member they offered me another "We'll give you 6 books for $5 if you commit to buying another 4."
Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
Hugo winners are a good way to start, Nebula winners not so much. That's more of a popularity club for members of SFFWA. Your best bet, besides libraries or newsgroups, is to find a local sf club, usually one that runs a local SF convention. Many have reading groups which are an excellent source of new books to look for. Also, if you have an independant book or comic store that specializes in SF/Fantasy, talk to the employees. They actually read books unlike B&N employees. Bookdealers at cons are also a great source. You can usually tell them what authors you've liked, or the kind of book you like, and they'll recommend something you should enjoy.
For past 5 or so years over half of the titles i've been reading(i read quite alot) i got from either http://www.iblist.com/ directly (they got rating charts) or their very supportive forums. try it ! cheers
I always use http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ to see what's out and what's coming. I've discovered many books through recommendations on similar authors.
Used book stores, man. If you live in a city then there's a bunch of them around; one of them will have a good SF section. Go browse. If you browse a couple stores and find nothing, then ask - the people running the store might well say "Oh, SF? Yeah, we don't really carry much of that, we kinda specialize in art books - we direct everyone looking for that to McFoozle's over on Main and Foobar."
Also specialty stores. Here in Boston, for instance, there's a nice SF bookstore called Pandemonium that carries a good mix of new and used.
Sometimes you'll browse the used stuff and find that book you've been wanting for years. A rare treasure! For only four bucks! And the day is instantly better. And if you don't want to wait for that, you can always ask the bookstore to do the hunting for you - most non-chain bookstores are networked nowadays, so you could go chat with the bookseller and say "Hey, can you hunt me up a copy of Dan Simmons' Illium?" and they'll poke at their computer and say "No problem, I can get that by next week for twelve bucks." You can even find rare stuff this way; I had a copy of the collected Ralph Steadman Alice/Looking Glass/Snark that came to me due to this kind of inter-store swapping, for instance - for about a third of what most of the sellers that had it were listing it for.
egypt urnash minimal art.
My family reads a lot of science fiction and fantasy and has been buying a lot of it through SFBC because they make hardback versions. (Paperbacks are nice but they wear out too quickly.) We have to wait a bit before they come out in SFBC editions, but that is fine with us. We are not the types that need to read the books the moment they are published. We DO reread the ones we like though, which is why we recently bought ten seven foot tall book cases. While not all the shelves are filled with SFBC books, those books do occupy a lot of linear feet.
The biggest thing you have to worry about is responding to the selection cards they mail out. Not responding means you get the books they offer, whether you want them or not. That can be spendy if you don't take care.
Things have improved since they set up an internet site where you can refuse books online, IF you remember to do it in time. It is all a matter of personal responsibility. (Also check into the Negative Response option so they DON'T send things unless you say otherwise.)
One of the nice things they've been doing as part of their 50th anniversary celebration is bringing out reprints of classic science fiction. In some instances there are several books in a single volume. (i.e. Heinlein juveniles) We've been picking up many of these classics when they come out. It has been filling gaps in our collection.
As far as recent books are concerned, it can get a little hard picking up early volumes in a series, especially if the series has been going on for a number of years. But SFBC does listen to their customers and they will do reprints of what they have put out if there is enough demand. I KNOW that some of the early Valdemar books of Mercedes Lackey, in three-in-one editions, were reissued recently. (I seem to recall that H. Beam Piper's 'Little Fuzzy', a SF classic, was reprinted again after a decade or more of being out of print. They should be due for another round soon.)
As with any book club, there will be negative aspects. But for the most part, SFBC does a good job within limits. And if you are a long time subscriber, who keeps up on the authors you like, you don't have to worry too much about missing things if you are patient and the authors are part of the SFBC stable. (Pratchett, Lackey, McCaffrey, Cherryh, Varley, Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov and others fall into this group...)
If you are lucky, and the local libraries haven't been gutted by 'cost cutting' programs or 'SF&F is not literature' types, a library can be a decent location to get a feel for good reading. (Unfortunately, the family SF&F library appears to be bigger than the local branch libraries and the downtown library has parking and open hours issues.)
Another good source can be local, regional and national SF&F conventions. There you'll meet a lot of fans and a lot of authors, even with a local con. Attending panels can lead you to a lot of good reading material, especially when authors talk about other authors. (The local con in my area had CJ Cherryh as a frequent attendee before the con faded away. Her commute to the con was less than thirty miles.)
One of my family's favorite techniques for choosing good reading is the 'favorite author' technique. We have a couple of dozen 'favorite' authors that we like a lot and tend to pick up their books through the Science Fiction Book Club when they come out, despite what critics may say. While the books may not be award winning, they keep us entertained, which is what it is all about from our point of view. Thankfully our 'favorite authors' publish frequently enough that we have fresh material coming in every month or so. (And, often, if the new book is part of a series, we'll be rereading favorite parts of the rest of the series.)
Another favorite technique, used when we want to explore new territory, is to go to a bookstore, with cash, and browse. Doing this once every six to ten months is enough to keep up on new stuff from new writers. If combined with dinner out, it can make a nice, economy stimulating day.
You could say that Science Fiction and Fantasy are two sides of the same coin. Both share the 'What if' premise that divorces them from the 'reality' of mysteries, westerns, modern novels and the like.
On the Science Fiction side, the 'What if' premise is based on science and extrapolations of 'reality', though there are many times when that 'reality' is not our own.
On the Fantasy side, the 'What if' premise is based on 'magic' and the realities portrayed may not have any link to our reality, even in legend.
In some instances, there can be problems telling Science Fiction from Fantasy, especially if the author intentionally crosses genres. I recall a series where a wizard in a fantasy universe 'summons' a computer programmer from our world and sets up a situation where the computer programmer becomes a powerful 'wizard' through his programming abilities. (Spells are programs of a sort. You need to be careful how you write them though. Crashes can be VERY unhealthy.) While the target world uses 'magic', there is a lot of tech stuff brought over. Most would consider it fantasy, but I could see where a tale reversing the situation could be called science fiction.
Personally, having the two lumped together in the bookstore makes it easier for those of us who follow specific authors, especially when those authors write in both genres.
I've been a member of SFBC for about 15 years.
The selection isn't always great, but the books generally are cheaper than amazon. I find the monthly mailer catalog helpful. I can go through the catalog in about 10 minutes and get a list of "maybes". Then I'll read the whole review online to make up my mind.
There is a good selection of harder to find "classic" Sci-Fi material. Any Sci-Fi reader should be able to cover their commitment just back-filling their library with classics.
It is a book of the month club, so you have a minimum commitment and you'll get 2 books in the mail every month, unless you send back the mailer or reply online. I called them up and had them stop sending me the books automatically about a decade ago (after I meet my commitment).
They've been running a lot of specials lately, usually along the lines of "Buy two, get the cheaper one free", so I've been stocking up. I've taken this opportunity to fill in as much of Terry Prachett's Discworld series as SFBC has. They have a quarter to a third of the series. Or if I have an odd number, I'll throw a "maybe" into the cart, and it'll cost me about $1 in S&H.
One of the things I love about the SFBC is all the books are hardcover and are the same height and depth. The thickness and the font size vary, but every SFBC book stacks neatly on my bookshelf. No more bookshelf Tetris! You do miss out on the fancy color maps that some books have. When I care, I get those book from Amazon.
All in all, I buy about 50% of my books from SFBC. I get the must-have new releases from Amazon (if I remember to pre-order) or a brick and mortar. Anything I can wait a few months for comes from SFBC.
If M Atwood is Margaret Atwood, then many people wouldn't consider her to be a science fiction writer.
Of course, some people who write 'speculative fiction', like Atwood, don't want to be called SF writers because the public would reject them. Their books meet the criteria of SF, whether it be science fiction or speculative fiction, but they stay clear of the genre because of the 'taint'.
When you get down to it, there are a number of very popular writers, like Tom Clancy, that write SF involving technology but market them under 'action adventure'.
I suspect that the reason that these, and others, don't make the Nebula Award lists is that the authors wouldn't consider accepting a Nebula because they don't write SF&F from their points of view.
Been told that regularly since the early 80's. Nothing yet.
Maybe 30-40 more years of staring at shiny screens in badly lit rooms for the greater part of the day will do the trick?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I second that commotion, even if it is from an AC. Just the ability to post YASID's (Yet Another Story ID - read the r.a.s.w FAQ) is invaluable when a scene or situation from a story comes to mind that you read decades ago but can't remember the author or title to save your life...it's one corner of Usenet that's still alive and thriving in spite of the spam posts.
Tag lost or not installed.
Despite the preposterous premise, it's one of the best, most enjoyable books I've ever read. I got mine for a song (an unsold hardback in nearly mint condition) through Amazon's second hand book service.
If your conscience permits you.. there is always bittorrent.. http://verified-p2p-links.com/torrent_details/39945029/narnia?tab=summary Download a few thousand Sci Fi books and read on the john if time is short ;)
Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
Being quite frugal and a bleeding heat liberal tree-hugger I have a Pocket PC bought used and on it I read e books downloaded from a variety of sources. [http://www.baenbooks.com/] has a tremendous library of books for free download. [http://www.fictionwise.com/] has very reasonable downloads and a free library for members where you can borrow up to 3b books at one time for up too 16 days. There are other sources too.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
::Angels sing:: http://www.powells.com/psection/ScienceFictionandFantasy.html Notice they have a used book button ^.^ and there's a $7 and under link. ^.^ ^.^ Anyway, that's where I'd go to get books. I used to live close enough to walk into the main store. Then, I'd look to see if any of my favorite authors had signed any of the posts, while I found a book... It's not a book club thing, so you're not going to get stuff sent to you. You can buy whenever, it's MUCH better than Barnes and Noble and there's a lot more choice than there is at the library. Trust me, I know, the sci-fi and fantasy sections are like the last stocked at the library. There's hardly ever anything there...
So, I realize this article is getting a little long in the tooth, but I did just want to echo the sentiments of everyone who suggested the local library. This really is a great resource. When paired with John Udell's Library Bookmarklet http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/stories/2002/12/11/librarylookup.html and the Interlibrary Loan program I've saved a ton of money over the past couple of years and read a lot of great books.
If anyone's still reading this...
Yeah, the sf book club has been around for 75M years, and yes, they do carry a lot of good stuff.
Me, I wouldn't even think of it, since most of my 3,000+ sff library is paperback, and I don't have *space* for hardbacks.
A note on bookstores: Barnes & Noble? Just say NO! Last fall, a) nearly two weeks after Worldcon, they had no clue who'd won the Hugo for novel, and b) in the next couple of months, I noted that they had not updated their SF&F AT ALL. This was not the only thing - I was looking for a model RR magazine, and 10 days after the beginning of the month, they still had the previous month's mag on the shelves (they are *supposed* to remove them). Those two datapoints tell me that they've lost the point of a bookstore, and are focused on something other than actually catering to readers....
Borders, on the other hand, in a smaller store, has new stuff every month, incl. sf&f.
mark
Does anybody know of a really decent cataloging program for their personal book collection? I run Linux and have heard of a couple like Tellico, but that's a lot of books for me to enter manually in the database. Anybody sharing databases like this?
I'm good with numbers -
It sounds to me that you might benefit from a reading guide to science fiction novels. I can think of a few.
The best guide I know is Neil Barron's _Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction_. It identifies Barron's take on what constitutes the "core" of a well-rounded science fiction library. The first edition of this volume came out in the 1970's, but it has been updated every few years thereafter. The most recent is the 5th edition from 2004. One may quibble with some of the selections, but for the most part, Barron's picks are quite solid.
A more quirky little volume is Baird Searles _A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction_. It is dated, as it came out in 1979 and hasn't been updated. Still, it's a decent way to discover authors you might not otherwise know about. It consists of capsule reviews of many authors. Each of them concludes by telling you "if you like this author, you'll probably like one of these writers, too" - and then naming two or three others to try. As I said, it's a bit quirky, but useful just the same.
Finally, let me suggest that you tap into _The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction_ compiled by Peter Nicholls and John Clute. I picked up the first edition around 1980 and found it to be very readable and quite useful. The second edition is a great update and improvement. One of the features you may find useful is that you can look up a particular subject or theme in SF that interests you (e.g., time travel, alternate history, galactic empires, telepathy, etc.) and find an essay about it that points to dozens of worthwhile books that explore the theme.
You find some of these at a library. For an out-of-print volumes like the one from Searles, I suggest a used book source such as www.alibris.com or Powell's Books.
No doubt there are other worthy guides that I've neglected, but I can vouch for these. Happy reading!
Steve
-- Steve Swope
The Internet Archive -- www.archive.org -- is a great place to find reviews for SF books. Search for a book you already know you like and find a reviewer who liked it too. Her other reviews might point you to books you'll enjoy. (Full disclosure - I am Managing Editor at Strange Horizons -- www.strangehorizons.com).
Back, demented Ogrons.
Lots and lots of great SF discussion on usenet, rec.arts.sf.written. There are a few trolls and sometimes some spam, but a pretty high signal to noise ratio overall (Signal to Noise was a pretty good book, too).
And you can even check it out on Google Groups if you're NNTP impaired. But don't, 'cuz web forums suck.
chuk
I see a lot of good suggestions here to find really good Sci-Fi and Fantasy. I cannot believe that no one suggested http://www.paperbackswap.com/ You select a paperback you want and someone sends it to your mailbox. You trade the ones you don't want to keep. Comes with detailed descriptions, reviews, and recommendations. It only costs postage which is currently about $2.30 per paperback for the ones you mail out. Titles are mailed to you for free, and you post books that you want to mail to someone. Tons of titles and a wish list for those hard to find titles that are not posted yet. Can't beat http://www.paperbackswap.com/. A daily digest of new arrivals by category can be sent directly to your mailbox. It truly is an excellent resource for a good read. http://www.jollymoon.com/
I use mobipocket (free ebook reader s/w) on my PDA phone. I have over 400 scifi ebooks on my phone in a micoSD flashcard, and it takes less than a gigabyte of storage. You can adjust the font and font size to anything that looks good to you. I get most of my ebooks from www.baen.com and www.fictionwise.com . They each have free ebooks that you can download to see if this format works for you. Almost all ebooks at www.baen.com have sample chapters you can read. It's easy to find a pre-quel or sequel to a book that you really like (if there exists one). You can buy a kindle ebook reader from Amazon books online. There are many ways to be able to select new scifi books to read without spending time in a bookstore.
This is why I like Slashdot so much :)
Cheers.
The twitter monologues. Click on my homepage and be amazed.
I have two copies of the novelization of the movie WarGames. One has a green title, one has a red title. The red-titled book came via the Science Fiction Book Club and has been edited to remove the drug references (particularly in the first scene) and to improve David Lightman's and Jennifer Mack's overall performance in school and their own experimental use of tobacco and marijuana.
However, it left in David Lightman's reading a shoplifted copy of another book by the same author.
I'd post a comparison, but I only recently got the green-titled copy back in my possession and haven't found my red-titled expurgated copy yet. Someday I'll post the complete diff somewhere. But discovering those differences was enough to keep me from joining that club.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?