Book Hauls!

[blacknorth]

A good day - two Alan Nourse Faber First editions, Star Surgeon and PSI High, and The Vampire's Bedside Companion.

Sadly the latter will have to go up for sale to pay for the former.

[Connavar]

Since we dont celebrate christmas i bought gifts to myself.

Morningstar - David Gemmell
The Dark Moon - David Gemmell
When The Sacred Ginmill Closes - Lawrence Block
Out on the Cutting Edge - Lawrence Block
A Ticket to the Boneyard - Lawrence Block

[Fried Egg]

I found these books in my christmas stocking:

"We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin
"The Lottery and Other Stories" by Shirley Jackson
"The Wine-Dark Sea" by Robert Aickman

[j. d. worthington]

My most recent was my pre-ordered copy of the new University of Tampa Press edition of Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward... a beautiful book by any standards; exquisitely done, with extensive annotations, loads of photos of locales used in the tale, and a fascinating and informative afterward by S. T. Joshi....

[Rodders]

Waterstones are having a bit of a sale so i bought a few books that i'vbe been meaining to get for a while.

Surface Detail - Iain M. Banks
The Evolutionary Void - Peter F. Hamilton.
Ciaphas Cain: Defender of the Imperium - Sandy MItchell.
The Skinner - Neal Asher
Brass Man - Neal Asher

[Hari Seldon]

Originally Posted by Connavar

Since we dont celebrate christmas i bought gifts to myself.

Morningstar - David Gemmell
The Dark Moon - David Gemmell
When The Sacred Ginmill Closes - Lawrence Block
Out on the Cutting Edge - Lawrence Block
A Ticket to the Boneyard - Lawrence Block

I liked Morningstar a lot. A unique take on Robin Hood. I'm a big Gemmell fan and this one is no exception.

[jojajihisc]

Quarantine - Greg Egan
Return From the Stars - Stanislaw Lem
Pendulum - John Christopher
Sweeney's Island - "
Natural History - Justina Robson
Inverted World - Christopher Priest
Accelerando - Charles Stross

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

I found these books in my christmas stocking:

"We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin
"The Lottery and Other Stories" by Shirley Jackson
"The Wine-Dark Sea" by Robert Aickman

Excellent set that Fried Egg. I myself only recently picked up that collection of short fiction by Jackson; We is a classic Genre piece I also have and most things by Aickman are worth reading as you yourself I think have attested to.

[GOLLUM]

My first post Christmas haul....

The Body Snatchers - Jack Finney *SF Masterwork series. My latest acquisition off the shelf of the excellent Masterwork series. Alternate Blurb: Originally published in 1955 Jack Finney's sinister SF tale has outgrown the initial debate about whether it satirized Communism or the conformity of US society at the time, to become a classic of paranoia; an examination of our fear of 'the other'. Most people know the story from seeing THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Here's your chance to read the original source; a story that has resonated with readers and viewers for more than 50 years.

Wild Cards I - Ed. George RR Martin. *Expanded version. Blurb: Back in print after a decade, expanded with new original material, this is the first volume of George R. R. Martin’s Wild cards shared-world series. There is a secret history of the world- a history in which an alien virus struck the Earth in the aftermath of World War II, endowing a handful of survivors with extraordinary powers. Some were called Aces- those with superhuman mental and physical abilities. Others were termed Jokers- cursed with bizarre mental or physical disabilities. Some turned their talents to the service of humanity. Others used their powers for evil. Wild Cards is their story. Originally published in 1987, Wild Cards I includes powerful tales by Roger Zelazny, Walter Jon Williams, Howard Waldrop, Lewis Shiner, and George R. R. Martin himself. And this new, expanded edition contains further original tales set at the beginning of the Wild Cards universe, by eminent new writers like Hugo-winner David Levine, noted screenwriter and novelist Michael Cassutt, and New York Times bestseller Carrie Vaughn.

The Big U - Neal Stephenson *Reissue Blurb: The New York Times Book Review called Neal Stephenson's most recent novel "electrifying" and "hilarious". but if you want to know Stephenson was doing twenty years before he wrote the epic Cryptonomicon, it's back-to-school time. Back to The Big U, that is, a hilarious send-up of American college life with an imaginative element or three thrown in, The Big U is required reading for anyone interested in the early work of this singular writer.

The Unknown Masterpiece/Gambarra - Honore De Balzac *NYRB edn. Blurb: One of Honore de Balzac’s most celebrated tales, “The Unknown Masterpiece” is the story of a painter who, depending on one’s perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius — or both. The story, which has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cezanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette, is, in critic Dore Ashton’s words, a “fable of modern art.” Published here in a new translation by poet Richard Howard, “The Unknown Masterpiece” appears, as Balzac intended, with “Gambara,” a grotesque and tragic novella about a musician undone by his dreams.

[Hilarious Joke]

For my birthday I got:
- Standing My Ground by Matthew Hayden
- Machine of Death edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo & David Malki

And for Christmas I got:
- Parky by Michael Parkinson
- The Art of the Album Cover by Richard Evans
- The Captains by Malcolm Knox
- Eye of the Labyrinth by Jennifer Fallon

[sloweye]

Emperor - The Gates of Rome - Conn Iggulden
Emperor - The Field of Swords - Conn Iggulden
Emperor - The Death of Kings - - Conn Iggulden

127 Hours (Between a Rock and a Hard Place) - Aron Ralston.

[thatollie]

The Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. Hamilton
Kraken - China Mieville
The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi

[ktabic]

Engineering Infinity Edited by Jonathan Strahan (I preordered this ages ago and forgot about it until it turned up today)
The Science of Dune Edited by Kevin Grazier PhD (the science advisor for the new BSG and Eureka, and NASA scientist - quite how he makes time for writing books as well, I don't know)

Next year, I'm going to try buying most of the books I get in electronic formats (except when I'm at conventions or find something that I need in hardback) just to see how I get on. Also because I have run out of shelf space.

[Fried Egg]

I found "Fugue For a Darkening Island" for only 50p second hand. An early Christopher Priest novel...

[elvet]

Stonewielder (Esselmont) arrived today .