A nice (varied) selection of finds….
I’ve continued to be on the lookout for Malzberg’s novels and, due to the proliferation of comments by my readers about what is his best, I’ve acquiesced and picked up a copy of his acknowledged masterpiece, Beyond Apollo (1972). I suspect it will be as good as In The Enclosure (1973).
If there is any area (besides sci-fi from the 21st century) that I haven’t read a good portion of the classics, it’s works from around the turn of the century. I have read a large swathe of Verne’s works and from beginning of the 20th century all of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter series — but, only a few of H. G. Wells’ oeuvre (The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine). So, when I came across a 60s edition of The First Men in the Moon (1901) with a nostalgic looking cover I snatched it up!
The two short story collections are unknown commodities: Frederick Pohl’s In The Problem Pit (1976) and James Gunn’s Station in Space (1958). I’ve never heard of Gunn and sort of dislike what I’ve read of Pohl so far. Regardless, both works have intriguing covers!
Enjoy!
1. Beyond Apollo, Barry Malzberg (1972)
(Don Maitz’ cover for the 1979 edition)
2. The First Men in the Moon, H. G. Wells (1901)
(Uncredited cover for the 1965 edition)
3. Station in Space, James Gunn (1958) (MY REVIEW)
(Walter Murch and Jerry Powell’s cover for the 1958 edition)
4. In The Problem Pit, Frederick Pohl (1976)
(Uncredited cover for the 1976 edition)
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
Just mentioned on my blog about how Pohl loves to include his short story The Man Who Ate the World in his collections. I wasn’t taken by it the first time I read it, but when I read it again last week, taken into the greater context of Pohl’s post-mass-consumerism Earth, I thought it was a thoughtful inclusion. I DO suggest picking up Midas World. I suspect you’ll enjoy his short work; it’s usually witty and insightful… unlike his novels :p Good haul this time!
What’s your single favorite Pohl short story? After April 23rd (my PhD qualifying exams) I will have SO much more time to read — so, expect many many many many more reviews — Pohl and Dickson’s shorts included.
Top five Pohl shorts:
1) The Census Takers
2) The Wizards of Pung’s Corner
3) The Midas Plague
4) The Snowmen
5) The Waging of the Peace
Thanks — I wonder if any of my collections have those stories….
I come to your blog strictly to read about awesome old scifi books that I’ve never heard of. And it is awesome.
Good job sir, good job indeed. Keep up the good work.
Thanks! That is indeed the purpose of the blog 🙂 And some random movie review, but haven’t put one up in months….
MOAR MOVIE REVIEWS! 😀
well, they weren’t sci-fi film reviews…. rather, those more esoteric in nature — I have a series problem reviewing things which people review all the time — most of the sci-fi books I review have no reviews online which I can find with ease.
Just dropping in to say that I stumbled across your blog via io9 and now I’m hooked! I LOVE these acquisition posts! I’ve been making a point to explore more old science fiction books and I’ve added 4 or 5 books to my to-read list already, from the first page alone!
That said, I’ve never heard of Malzberg, let alone “Beyond Apollo”, but it sounds great! I plan on tracking that down ASAP.
Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by! I’ll post a plethora of reviews in a bit… Looking at my various reviews and lists is probably a better way of finding worthwhile books/authors. I haven’t read my recent acquisitions yet! They could be horrible dregs forgotten for good reason 😉
Oh, I’ve been digging through the reviews too! I like to explore a bit though as well, so I get a good mix of ‘That sounds good’ and ‘that *looks* cool!’ 😀
Cool! If you need and recommendations (for example, along the lines of “I a good novel about telepathy”) just ask.