Some goodies! Half Price Books in Dallas, TX Part IV (Part I, Part II, Part III)…

Some early satire by the late master, Frederik Pohl—Drunkard’s Walk (1960).  An early metafictional SF novel in the form of Frederic Brown’s Martians, Go Home (1955).  I suspect works such as this one, about a SF writer presented with a real alien invasion, inspired Brian N. Malzberg’s numerous similarly themed experiments.  Also, Brown is one of the more famous 50s/60s authors I’ve yet to read.

Added to the mix are two unknown quantities—Arsen Darnay’s post-apocalyptical A Hostage for Hinterland (1976) and Lloyd Biggle, Jr.’s All the Colors of Darkness (1963) with a wonderful (and bizarre to boot!) Hoot von Zitzewitz cover.

Any thoughts? Comments?

1. A Hostage for Hinterland, Arsen Darnay (1976)

(Boris Vallejo’s cover for the 1976 edition) Continue reading →

Dallas, TX Half Price Books haul Part II [Part I].

Only 2thD at Potpourri of Science Fiction Literature has read more John Brunner novels than me (an overstatement of course).  At last count I have read somewhere near eighteen of his novels (as diligent readers of my site know, I consider the 1968 masterpiece Stand on Zanzibar my single favorite SF novel).  So, when I encounter any of the legions of his novels/short story collections that I have not yet read I snatch them up without a second thought.  The most appealing thing about Double, Double (1969) might be the delightful name Brunner came up with for a band that somehow features in the plot–Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition.

Pamela Sargent’s Cloned Lives (1976) is the “other” SF novel about cloning released that year — the more famous is Kate Wilhelm’s stunning (and moody) Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (1976).  I had high hopes for Sargent’s vision but considering I have already read more than half the novel I think they have been dashed to small bits — alas (review forthcoming).

And there is nothing wrong with more Clifford D. Simak and Harry Harrison.

As always, some intriguing covers….

1. Double, Double, John Brunner (1969) (MY REVIEW)

(Uncredited cover for the 1969 edition) Continue reading →

Some fun recent purchases (online and used bookstores in Chicago)!  I saw the potential in Kate Wilhelm’s first collection of SF, The Mile-Long Spaceship (1963) so I tracked down a first edition of her second collection, The Downstairs Room and Other Speculative Fiction (1968) — I have high hopes.

I’ve found Josephine Saxton’s work hard to come by — her works were rarely reprinted.  The Hieros Gamos of Sam and An Smith (1969) was a fascinating SF infused allegory so I splurged a bit and procured Vector for Seven: The Weltanschauung of Mrs. Amelia Mortimer and Friends (1970).

I am less interested in the other two purchases — The Sign of the Mute Medusa (1977) by Ian Wallace was a dollar at the thrift store and has a great domed city on the cover.  I had previously read his massively disappointing Croyd (1967).  And the Theodore Sturgeon volume, A Touch of Strange (1958), contains some of his best known short works — hopefully it’s rather more satisfying than A Way Home (1956).

1. The Downstairs Room and Other Speculative Fiction, Kate Wilhelm (1968) (MY REVIEW)

(Ron Walotsky’s cover for the 1970 edition) Continue reading →