Galactic encounters of the 1970s

Posted on March 18, 2012 by iansales

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, several publishers brought out colourful coffee-table sf books. Usually, they were filled with cover-art from sf novels, around which someone had written some text to tie the pictures together. Stewart Cowley’s Terran Trade Authority is probably the best-remembered example. I used to buy them whenever I saw [...]

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Yet more Durrelliana

Posted on February 4, 2012 by iansales

As I was writing my post about the Durrell Centenary (see here), it occurred to me that I hadn’t posted photos of my more recent Durrell acquisitions. And since this is Larry’s year, I felt I should do so. Durrell’s books also, as someone put it, constitute high-class book porn, and that’s always welcome. Three [...]

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Books from my collection: Park and Robson

Posted on July 22, 2011 by iansales

Back in the 1990s I was in a BSFA Orbiter with Justina Robson, so when her first novel was published I bought it. I’d already seen some of its chapters, so I knew it was good. I continued to buy Justina’s novels because I know she’s an excellent writer and she rarely disappoints. Paul Park [...]

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Books from my collection: Brooke & Brown

Posted on July 15, 2011 by iansales

I’ve known both Keith Brooke and Eric Brown for a number of years – I may well have met them at the first convention I ever attended back in 1989. It’s been a long time, anyway. And throughout those many, many years I’ve also enjoyed their novels and short stories. My collection of both authors’ [...]

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Watsonia

Posted on June 28, 2011 by iansales

I suspect Ian Watson himself would probably scoff at being described as a national treasure of British science fiction, but in four decades he has written twenty-nine novels and a dozen collections and every single one of them is worth reading. As Adam Roberts can attest, as he’s been on something of a Watson kick [...]

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A critical bookshelf

Posted on May 30, 2011 by iansales

Over the years I’ve picked up a number of book about science fiction and about science fiction writers. These are books I’ve mostly dipped into, rather than read from cover to cover. Not all of them cover authors I still read, and some of them aren’t at all useful as critical works… but still I [...]

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Books from my collection: Phillip Mann

Posted on September 27, 2010 by iansales

Phillip Mann was born in the UK but has been resident in New Zealand since 1969. Between 1982 and 1996, he wrote nine well-regarded science fiction novels. He’s had nothing published since, although Wikipedia claims he is working on a new novel. I hope so. His first, fourth and fifth novels. The Clute and Nicholls [...]

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John Fowles

Posted on July 8, 2010 by iansales

I came late to John Fowles’ novels – the first novel of his I read was A Maggot, which I started on the train journey to alt.fiction in 2006. I seem to recall buying it because it’s actually a sf novel. Whatever the reason, I thought it very good indeed and decided to read the [...]

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Books from my collection – Gwyneth Jones

Posted on February 21, 2010 by iansales

Gwyneth Jones has been one of my favourite authors since I first read Kairos back in the late 1980s (see my review of it here). I’m not alone in considering her one of the best British science fiction writers currently being published. She has appeared on the Arthur C Clarke Award short list six times [...]

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Book Porn – Shepard & Shiner

Posted on September 28, 2009 by iansales

Lucius Shepard and Lewis Shiner are among the finest writers of fantasy (and the occasional science fiction) currently being published. Shepard has won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, two World Fantasy Awards, a Sturgeon Award, a Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (France), a Kurd Laßwitz Award (Germany), five International Horror Guild Awards, a Rhysling (poetry), [...]

Filed under: book porn, lewis shiner, lucius shepard | 1 Comment »

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