SF Masterwork series continued...

[iansales]

Ian - I already had many of the yellowjacket books in other editions, so I never bothered with any of them. I don't think I've ever seen that NEL series you mention -- oh wait: I have this one.

Gollum - ah, I was referring to the texts themselves. Many of the books republished in the SF Masterworks series are easy to find in other editions second-hand. But I've not found that to be true of those in the Fantasy series.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by iansales

Gollum - ah, I was referring to the texts themselves. Many of the books republished in the SF Masterworks series are easy to find in other editions second-hand. But I've not found that to be true of those in the Fantasy series.

Well, some of the SF and Fantasy Masterwork series are out of print, hence my point about it being a challenge to source the entire sets....

Also agree wih your general observation about Fanatsy Masterwork books, collections in particular, not easy to source otherwise in a single volume if even possible in several cases.

Cheers...

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by iansales

But it does matter. A British publisher is only concerned with the British market. They don't care if a book is still in print in the US because Americans won't be buying their edition. Until the advent of Amazon and other online book retailers, the biggest importer of US paperbacks into the UK was Andromeda Bookshop, a sf/fantasy book shop in Birmingham. They made their money from supplying US books to British readers.

Yeah i see how it matters for them but they need to put in books of masterworks quality too. Not have books like Maze of Death which is the weakest PKD i have seen....

Still a great series Masterworks, you only get annoyed when you see 2-4 book by the same author.

[iansales]

Originally Posted by Connavar

... but they need to put in books of masterworks quality too.

No argument from me there :-)

[Werthead]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

Helliconia, really? That's a very good call in my opinion. From what I've read, I would say that's his best work.

Looks like an omnibus edition from this entry on Amazon which says it will be published on 8th July. That's going to be one beefy paperback volume...

I'm hoping it's a reprint of the existing omnibus edition, which has some specially-written appendices on the geography of Helliconia and the orbital mechanics of the Helliconia system (which play a major role in the story).

[Lamont Cranston]

SF Site maintains a list of the Fantasy & SF Masterwork series

[dask]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

I wasn't aware of the NEL 'SF Master' series. Thanks for the tip. I've heard of some of those titles but not all.

I know this isn't the book cover thread but what the nel! Here's the three I have that I know of:

[jojajihisc]

Originally Posted by Connavar

Yeah i see how it matters for them but they need to put in books of masterworks quality too. Not have books like Maze of Death which is the weakest PKD i have seen....

Still a great series Masterworks, you only get annoyed when you see 2-4 book by the same author.

I think A Maze of Death deserves to be a part of the masterworks. I've only read 6 or 8 of his novels though so I wouldn't be surprised if there are better ones.

[Fried Egg]

Originally Posted by jojajihisc

I think A Maze of Death deserves to be a part of the masterworks. I've only read 6 or 8 of his novels though so I wouldn't be surprised if there are better ones.

Well, given there are about 70 titles in the SF masterworks, PKD has an unprecedented 14 titles in there:

The Man in the High Castle
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Martian Time-Slip
UBIK
A Scanner Darkly
Dr. Bloodmoney
Valis
Now Wait For Last Year
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
A Maze of Death
Time Out Of Joint
The Simulacra
The Penultimate Truth

Ok, he's good but he's not that good. He should probably have been trimmed to four or five. Which would you have left out?

[Connavar]

PKD is great but his minor works dont belong there.

He is just a dream for Gollancz. He had big out of print issues few years ago.

As a PKD fan its nice to get quality paperbacks from this series but 14 is way too much no matter how much i enjoy his works.

[jojajihisc]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

Well, given there are about 70 titles in the SF masterworks, PKD has an unprecedented 14 titles in there:

The Man in the High Castle
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Martian Time-Slip
UBIK
A Scanner Darkly
Dr. Bloodmoney
Valis
Now Wait For Last Year
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
A Maze of Death
Time Out Of Joint
The Simulacra
The Penultimate Truth

Ok, he's good but he's not that good. He should probably have been trimmed to four or five. Which would you have left out?

Hard for me to say because I haven't read all of those but if it were just 4 or 5 I'd probably go with The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, A Scanner Darkly, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and A Maze of Death. It's pretty arbitrary although that's the nature of anything as subjective as literary criticism so I wouldn't care that much which ones were present. If, say Ubik, Martian Time-Slip, VALIS, Dr. Bloodmoney or Flow My Tears.. were substituted for any other one that I picked I wouldn't have any complaints. As for having 14 out of the total 70? I agree, that is way too many. Apparently he's flavor of the month(s) with more than just the fans at this forum.

[williamjm]

Originally Posted by AE35Unit

2 I Am Legend Richard Matheson great film, not read the ook tho

I've not seen any of the films (I think there are three of them?), but I thought the book was excellent.

3 Cities in Flight James Blish I have it on my shelf

I didn't like it, didn't finish it. Some great ideas, admittedly, but they failed to make an interesting story.

4 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Philip K. Dick read it years ago-it was…ok

I liked it, but I preferred the film version.

5 The Stars My Destination** Alfred Bester read,very good

I agree this was good, a bit difficult to take seriously at times, but good fun and had a good ending.

7 Lord of Light Roger Zelazny I have this very book on my shelf!

I thought this was another excellent book, although arguably I thought it felt more like a fantasy book than science fiction.

9 Gateway Frederik Pohl on my wishlist

I thought this one was very good Science Fiction as well.

14 The Demolished Man Alfred Bester Read,superb

16 The Dispossessed Ursula K. Le Guin not sure about this one

18 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut hmm, Vonnegut,not sure

26 Ubik Philip K. Dick err…

31 The Centauri Device M. John Harrison so want to read this!

47 The Invisible Man H.G. Wells again,its in an anthology,unread

I've got these, but haven't read them yet yet.

24 The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells Have it in an anthology,must read!

I have to read The Time Machine sometime, I did think The War of the Worlds was good.

27 Timescape Gregory Benford want to read as I like Benford.

I thought the characterisation was a bit weak, other than that I thought it was a good book.

35 Pavane Keith Roberts had it once,never read-not sure I class alt hist. as SF

It is definitely Science Fiction, despite initial appearances. I thought it was an excellent collection of stories.

39 The City and the Stars Arthur C. Clarke read it,superb

Great ideas, I can't say the same about the characterisation but still liked the book.

65 Rendezvous With Rama Arthur C. Clarke brilliant!

I'd repeat my comments for The City and the Stars.

71 Dune Frank Herbert tried to read,not my cup of SF tea

I thought it was a great book, didn't like the sequels, though.

73 The Man In The High Castle Philip K. Dicknot sure

Now this one is definitely Alternate History. I thought it was pretty good.

[jojajihisc]

For the hell of it..

I've read:

1,5,9,11,14,21,24,33,43,44,52,58,62,63,65,71,72,73

On the shelf:

6,12,15,16,25,28,32,40,51,54,56

[AE35Unit]

2 I Am LegendRichard Matheson great film, not read the book tho
I've not seen any of the films (I think there are three of them?), but I thought the book was excellent.

3 of them??

7 Lord of LightRoger Zelazny I have this very book on my shelf!
I thought this was another excellent book, although arguably I thought it felt more like a fantasy book than science fiction.

Thats what I thought when reading about it-will have to make my own mind up.

[Fried Egg]

Yes, "I am Legend" has been adapted for film three times:

I Am Legend - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The Last Man on Earth", "The Omega Man" & "I Am Legend".