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I've got two questions for a project i'm working on: Does anybody have a good source(s) for first editions besides eBay and AbeBooks? Does anybody know where I can get sales data for sci-fi/fantasy for the past few decades? It doesn't necessarily have to be that detailed, even lists of the top 20 books each year or something like that would be good although more detail is always better! TIA
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Feb 9, 2021 02:24
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Ccs posted:So I'm now reading what might be one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read? Still too early to say but scene-wise, this has had passages that haven't been equaled in other work I've encountered. The book is Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. I picked the audiobook of this up during work after getting steamed at some really bad pacing in Words of Radiance. I was kind of not on board since the first half hour or so was about a man trying to rape a little girl. Once it got past that, I was enjoying it much more. It moves along, has a great atmosphere, a good audiobook reader, great mood. I made it to just after that lake demon fight and I'm looking forward to getting further into it.
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Feb 9, 2021 02:30
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D-Pad posted:I've got two questions for a project i'm working on: Note that AbeBooks is owned by amazon. For first editions I've found that you have to explore ebay/alibiris/abebooks/thriftbooks/etc and hope you get lucky. I don't know of any sales data listings, sorry!
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Feb 9, 2021 02:48
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D-Pad posted:I've got two questions for a project i'm working on: You might want to consider looking for rare book dealers in your area. Even if they don't have what you want they may have the connections to get it for you.
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Feb 9, 2021 03:15
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Pennsylvanian posted:I picked the audiobook of this up during work after getting steamed at some really bad pacing in Words of Radiance. I was kind of not on board since the first half hour or so was about a man trying to rape a little girl. Once it got past that, I was enjoying it much more. It moves along, has a great atmosphere, a good audiobook reader, great mood. I made it to just after that lake demon fight and I'm looking forward to getting further into it. Yeah the intro is a bit skeevey but it establishes that the protagonist is not the sort of person who’d do that. Im at the 30 percent mark now and each section is better than the last.
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Feb 9, 2021 03:20
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I've been reading a lot of books lately that all seem to have the looming "DARK SPAWNVOID HUNTERS" on the horizon. It was cool to just have a few establishing bite-sized stories with no more than a paragraph or two of lore per ten pages of story. The interaction of a jaded knight with a sweet little girl just seems like that type of fantasy movie that would come out in the 1990s and I'm extremely into that. Pennsylvanian fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Feb 9, 2021 |
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Feb 9, 2021 04:12
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pradmer posted:Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton - $2.99 This is a fun little story that takes the tropes and behaviors of old Victorian novels that sound so weird to a modern reader and reworks them so that they are the result of the fantasy biology of dragons. I enjoyed it immensely, partly because I've never liked any of the Austen or Bronte etc that I've tried.
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Feb 9, 2021 04:21
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Selachian posted:You might want to consider looking for rare book dealers in your area. Even if they don't have what you want they may have the connections to get it for you. I am planning on doing that, but I'm looking for modern firsts that are in the $100-$300 range and typically the higher end dealers aren't bothering with those. eBay and Abe Books are good sources and I can occasionally find something on dealer sites, but I wasn't sure if there were any big sources I have missed. Once I make a final decision on which book I'm going to use I'll probably post here and ask if anybody has one, I'm gonna need a lot. I also don't care what condition the covers etc are in as long as the page block is good, even then if the outside is stained it's fine. D-Pad fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Feb 9, 2021 |
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Feb 9, 2021 04:21
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Pennsylvanian posted:I've been reading a lot of books lately that all seem to have the looming "DARK SPAWNVOID HUNTERS" on the horizon. It was cool to just have a few establishing bite-sized stories with no more than a paragraph or two of lore per ten pages of story. Yeah the nice thing about it being set in our reality is we don’t need exposition on who these religious figures are or why certain symbols are showing up. The lore is all baked into our worldview and understanding of history. At the beginning of each major act we get a bit more information about how the war between heaven and hell is going. It’s written differently from the rest of the narrative but I’m not sure how to describe it. Faux-Biblical? It’s a really hard thing to pull off without sounding pretentious or cheesy but this author can manage it.
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Feb 9, 2021 05:40
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:anything interesting come up about Wheel of Time? Yes. A few people have made amazing predictions on the Wheel of Time series throughout 1991-1993. Other folks thought Robert Jordan didn't have enough story content to fill out a WoT trilogy, and groaned hard when Jordan/TOR Books expanded the trilogy into a pentalogy. I did not bookmark any of this, so fans of the Wheel of Time series will have to dig into the SFL Archives themselves to find out who guessed right/wrong. 1993 things of note: Martha Wells first novel came out in 1993 %%%%%%%%%%%% Date: 15 Aug 93 03:54:32 GMT From: gwiseman@uoguelph.ca (Geoffrey A Wiseman) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Request For Info If anyone has read "The Element of Fire", by Martha Wells could they let me know what they thought? %%%%%%%%%%%% from Ansible 77 %%%%%%%%%%%% ### THE ELLISON APPRECIATION SOCIETY ### _CHARLES PLATT explains his new, philanthropic project:_ More than eight years ago, Harlan Ellison struck a glancing blow to the side of my jaw with the immortal words, `That's from Larry Shaw, motherfucker. Who's dead.' This tap of the knuckles was retribution for my public expression of disgust at the tastelessness of an obituary-like `tribute' to the then still living Larry Shaw that Ellison had staged at a worldcon. (Shaw was an editor who bought some early Ellison stories.) Anyway: following the fisticuffs, Ellison heard that I was planning to publish a work by critic and author Gregory Feeley, listing in relentless detail every novel that Ellison had ever claimed he was currently writing. (In at least one case, he claimed he had _finished the manuscript_. None of these works has ever been seen by an editor, and most of them never got past the conceptual stage.) Outraged by my refusal to shut up, Ellison threatened to sue. I responded with a suggestion that we could have a peace treaty. If Ellison would apologize for hitting me and would promise to withdraw his legal action, I would promise not to write about him any more. Ellison agreed. He went further: in a letter dated April 19th, 1988, he described his assault on me as `both violent and inappropriate.' He said, `I fully and sincerely apologize' for any public embarrassment caused. He added, `I assure you that if your reticence in private and in public and in print about me is maintained, that I will punctiliously refrain from making any comments of any kind about you.' Fair enough. As of mid-1988, I stopped making any references to Harlan Ellison. I pretty much forgot about him. Years passed. My involvement in sf diminished, to the point where I literally wasn't sure whether Ellison was still alive. This year, I heard that he had started using an absurdly dramatized version of our `violent' encounter as a humorous anecdote at sf conventions. Finally in November I received a call from the _Comics Journal_, which plans to print, verbatim, a speech which Ellison gave at a large comics event. The speech describes how he pulverized my face to the point where I could not speak and was forced to bump my head on the floor in order to plead for mercy. It alleges that everyone who saw this encounter was so much on Ellison's side, and so hostile to me, they all claimed they had seen nothing. (Actually, Fred Pohl spontaneously offered to testify on my behalf, but that's another story.) I admit I was pissed off that this sanctimonious champion of human rights had risen from the grave and unilaterally reneged on his written word. I called him and told him he was a silly old bugger. He shouted a few obscenities, threatened to `pop me one' if I didn't leave him alone, and hung up on me. I have now written to him requesting (another) cessation of hostilities. This time, he has to apologize publicly - perhaps in a letter to _Locus_. If he is unwilling to do so, wearily, I will take steps of my own. I will subsidize a new business venture: the ELLISON INFORMATION LIBRARY. This will serve as a clearing house for anyone who has a story to tell about Mr. Ellison. Serious critical analyses, reminiscences, testimonials from ex-wives - the Library will be open to all data, the only proviso being that it must be _true_. It will be a long-overdue resource for scholars, critics, and readers who want some counterpoint to the self-aggrandizement which continues to emanate from Ellison Wonderland. With any luck, the Library will endure as a monument to Ellison long after his death - and maybe even after mine. The Ellison Information Library will be available online. The first few documents will be `golden oldies', such as Christopher Priest's _The Last Deadloss Visions_ (never before circulated in the United States) and my own `LDV/RIP', in which I tabulated the death rates of contributors to _The Last Dangerous Visions_. In due course, I'm sure I will be able to publish more timely work, including Gregory Feeley's much-anticipated but still-unseen overview of those many, many, MANY unwritten novels. Naturally, I have better things to do, but if Harlan Ellison is going to go around spreading gossip about me, the least I can do is spread some truth about him. [charles@mindvox.phantom.com, 21 Nov 93] Ansible 77 (c) Dave Langford, 1993. Thanks to Anon of Oregon, Jon Atack, Paul Barnett, David `Oops' Bratman, Steve Green, Steve Jones, Ken Lake, Janice Murray, Joseph Nicholas, David Pringle, Vicki Rosenzweig, Ian `Credit Me, You Bastard' Sales, Ben Yalow. 2/12/93 %%%%%%%%%%%%
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Feb 9, 2021 09:30
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fandom is messy bitches all the way down
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Feb 9, 2021 12:18
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thotsky posted:fandom is messy bitches all the way down Yeah, but Harlan Ellison has always been a particularly awful element.
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Feb 9, 2021 14:21
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Harlan Ellison was an impressively awful person, who if you wrote a 'fiction' book about nobody would believe.
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Feb 9, 2021 16:32
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I have no hands. And I must grope
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Feb 9, 2021 16:42
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I always kind of respected Harlan Ellison because he seemed like the last and most famous fiction author to be completely and publicly out of his mind without having anyone feel sorry for him.Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Well, tell him some random dude on the internet said he can't wait to read it cause it sounds neat. It me. Thank you for saying nice things. I'm working very hard on it. Penn sold me on getting an account like twenty years after I used to read front page articles and old Let's Plays. I'm really interested in the Creative Convention forum. It looks like a good place for advice and feedback.
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Feb 9, 2021 17:04
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https://twitter.com/xasymptote/status/1359135280607936514 https://twitter.com/xasymptote/status/1358834502802546690
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Feb 9, 2021 17:37
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I'm 60 % through Between Two Fires and it continues to be great. There's a nice variety in the range of supernatural horrors the protagonists come across in plague stricken France, and the way those horrors are used to flesh out the character's own backstories is very inventive and elevate them from "oh it's a monster" to "drat it's a cool monster that's also giving me insight into who the people facing the monster are." I also found out the author has the first book in a fantasy series coming out in May. Up until now all his books have been self contained, ranging from historical horror to southern gothic to urban fantasy, which is great, but a series with this level of skill behind him will be amazing. Already the goodreads page is full of praise from ARC readers, including the likes of Robin Hobb and Nicholas Eames.
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Feb 9, 2021 18:03
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StrixNebulosa posted:Note that AbeBooks is owned by amazon. What? Godfucking damnit anti trust laws should force companies to keep this kind of thing visible. They're basically just the same site with a different front, aren't they? Masquerading as competitors. Where can I buy obscure used books that isn't Bezos tainted
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Feb 9, 2021 18:04
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Ccs posted:I'm 60 % through Between Two Fires and it continues to be great. There's a nice variety in the range of supernatural horrors the protagonists come across in plague stricken France, and the way those horrors are used to flesh out the character's own backstories is very inventive and elevate them from "oh it's a monster" to "drat it's a cool monster that's also giving me insight into who the people facing the monster are." I also started this based on your recommendation. I really, really like it so far. I've been going through high fantasy stories lately and have become exhausted with excessive and self-congratulatory world building. Two Fires really feels like if someone took the best parts of something like the Witcher books and used them to build a good, character-centric story. I really appreciate you sharing it.
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Feb 9, 2021 18:34
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quote:It me. Thank you for saying nice things. I'm working very hard on it. Coquito Ergo Sum posted:I also started this based on your recommendation. I really, really like it so far. I've been going through high fantasy stories lately and have become exhausted with excessive and self-congratulatory world building. Two Fires really feels like if someone took the best parts of something like the Witcher books and used them to build a good, character-centric story. I really appreciate you sharing it. Awesome! The series he has coming out in May will be his first secondary world fantasy, but this quote from Robin Hobb's ARC review mentions that the prose isn't laden with description. Personally I don't have much patience for the kind of world building many of the giants of fantasy put into their work. The books I used to read were full of characters studying maps, characters receiving lectures from mentors about details of their own country’s history and the philosophy behind invented gods, chapters beginning with quotes from fake texts and ending with diagrams or sketches with their own notes. Now an author can and maybe should have that level of detail about their world in their mind, but I don't need them to show their work. If the worldbuilding doesn't give me some greater sense of the characters who are interacting with the worldbuilding, I don't want or need to hear about it. quote:Then there are books that hit all those marks, and go beyond them. The Blacktongue Thief does so. The description of the setting and history go beyond the minimum needed, to give the world a more solid reality. The magic is imaginative and unusual. The protagonist is engaging and the style of narrative enjoyable. There are underlying cultures to the various other characters that shape who they are. Ccs fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Feb 9, 2021 |
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Feb 9, 2021 18:58
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CommonShore posted:What? Godfucking damnit anti trust laws should force companies to keep this kind of thing visible. They're basically just the same site with a different front, aren't they? Masquerading as competitors. Alibris is still independent AFAIK. There are also large used/new bookstores like Powell's, Half Price, the Strand, and Better World.
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Feb 9, 2021 19:10
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Hey, I got an ARC of Blacktongue Thief. I know the editor, she's very cool.
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Feb 9, 2021 19:38
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Selachian posted:Alibris is still independent AFAIK. There are also large used/new bookstores like Powell's, Half Price, the Strand, and Better World. Thanks! I made an account with Better World, as half of what I got from ABE turned out to be from them anyway.
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Feb 9, 2021 19:47
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https://twitter.com/aliettedb/status/1359203770379468802
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Feb 9, 2021 19:59
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Ccs posted:Awesome! The series he has coming out in May will be his first secondary world fantasy, but this quote from Robin Hobb's ARC review mentions that the prose isn't laden with description. Personally I don't have much patience for the kind of world building many of the giants of fantasy put into their work. The books I used to read were full of characters studying maps, characters receiving lectures from mentors about details of their own country’s history and the philosophy behind invented gods, chapters beginning with quotes from fake texts and ending with diagrams or sketches with their own notes. Now an author can and maybe should have that level of detail about their world in their mind, but I don't need them to show their work. If the worldbuilding doesn't give me some greater sense of the characters who are interacting with the worldbuilding, I don't want or need to hear about it. I'm there with you as far as world-building goes. When a book interrupts interesting character moments with lore dumps like "Tadith'kier looked out upon the Hakto-Carbi Mountains where 1,000 years ago, Emperor Ascotobirio was handed the hammer and crown of Heaven Blood and swore on the eighteen Gods' names which were..." I start to get the feeling that an author doesn't trust me. It also sort of gives me the same exhausted feeling that I get from those crafting games on Steam where I have no idea what to do unless I'm constantly just looking up Wiki pages to figure out how to do basic tasks. I think too many Sci Fi/Fantasy writers get very proud of their worlds and systems to the point where they think they're too good for an outsider character who can just be ignorant of the foreign land they're in so they can learn about the world at the same pace as the reader. But even with Two Fires, while Thomas has information about the world they're in, the reader is still introduced to events through the limited purview of both Thomas and the characters he encounters along the way, and even those other characters know what they know from mostly questionable second- and third-hand information. I really like when sometimes I'm questioning what I know alongside a book's characters.
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Feb 9, 2021 20:00
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Coquito Ergo Sum posted:But even with Two Fires, while Thomas has information about the world they're in, the reader is still introduced to events through the limited purview of both Thomas and the characters he encounters along the way, and even those other characters know what they know from mostly questionable second- and third-hand information. I really like when sometimes I'm questioning what I know alongside a book's characters. There's a part I just got to yesterday where they argue over where some rivers in France are as they're trying to figure out the best way to get someplace and it was really funny. The characters are completely lost because they haven't paid attention to a lot of their world because it wasn't relevant to them, which is normal.
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Feb 9, 2021 22:48
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Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Dark Star #1) by Marlon James - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DP5W1LT/ Lilith's Brood: The Complete Xenogenesis Trilogy by Octavia E Butler - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HALOMI/ The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001RTKITG/
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Feb 9, 2021 23:56
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Adding impressions:pradmer posted:Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Dark Star #1) by Marlon James - $1.99
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Feb 10, 2021 00:15
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pradmer posted:The Magician's Apprentice by Trudi Canavan - $0.99 This is the standalone prequel to the Black Magician trilogy. I like it quite a bit, it goes into the founding of the Guild, you discover more about Sachaka and what caused the wasteland. A lot of similarities between Tessia and Sonea but the characters feel distinct enough that I wasn't bothered by it. Recommend if you like Canavan's other stuff.
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Feb 10, 2021 00:42
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$3 is an absolute steal for the whole Xenogenesis trilogy. Definitely one of the first series that comes to mind for me when thinking of things where the aliens are actually appreciably alien.
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Feb 10, 2021 01:04
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CommonShore posted:What? Godfucking damnit anti trust laws should force companies to keep this kind of thing visible. They're basically just the same site with a different front, aren't they? Masquerading as competitors. Amazon isn't the actual seller, though, right? I mean the seller is still usually what I imagine to be some gigantic book warehouse like Reusabook or Better World Books, but I have occasionally bought from what appears to be just some second hand bookstore that puts its stock on Abebooks.
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Feb 10, 2021 02:11
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freebooter posted:Amazon isn't the actual seller, though, right? I mean the seller is still usually what I imagine to be some gigantic book warehouse like Reusabook or Better World Books, but I have occasionally bought from what appears to be just some second hand bookstore that puts its stock on Abebooks. It is all third party sellers, but they take a heavy cut. A friend of mine built up a used bookstore in her basement from her wide connections of mostly nerdy friends and she can’t afford to sell through them
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Feb 10, 2021 02:18
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I started reading Armor and I liked the opening section with Felix but once it switched to Jack Crow the story just started to drag. The way everyone just fawns on Crow whenever he introduces himself plus every time he gets into a fight he just effortlessly beats up whoever got a little old real quick.
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Feb 10, 2021 03:52
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Stuporstar posted:It is all third party sellers, but they take a heavy cut. A friend of mine built up a used bookstore in her basement from her wide connections of mostly nerdy friends and she can’t afford to sell through them Yeah I have a friend with a large used bookstore (without the books I want, I tend to check there first when it's not Covid) and they only put books that they think they can sell for at least $30 on there or else it's not worth it.
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Feb 10, 2021 03:59
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muscles like this! posted:I started reading Armor and I liked the opening section with Felix but once it switched to Jack Crow the story just started to drag. The way everyone just fawns on Crow whenever he introduces himself plus every time he gets into a fight he just effortlessly beats up whoever got a little old real quick. It's been a while since I've read it but I really only remember the Felix parts. They were pretty good though.
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Feb 10, 2021 04:16
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StrixNebulosa posted:Adding impressions: Not speaking for you, I really don't think the problem otherfantasy genre readers have with BL,RW is that it's too grim (it's not any darker than GRRM or Abercrombie or half the other poo poo people read and post about). It's difficult, for sure, in that it doesn't make the same assumptions about the reader that most fantasy does, it's not obviously written by someone who spent all his time reading other fantasy novels, and it's not plot-focused the way most fantasy is.
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Feb 10, 2021 15:36
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i picked this up last night and it's your classic "princess is swept off her feet by other colonialist princess, then rejects her in favor of a fire elemental" story i liked it enough that i'd read more in the same setting, but it was too brief (it's basically a long short story) to really get too attached to any of the characters. i had fun though
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Feb 10, 2021 15:45
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buffalo all day posted:Not speaking for you, I really don't think the problem otherfantasy genre readers have with BL,RW is that it's too grim (it's not any darker than GRRM or Abercrombie or half the other poo poo people read and post about). It's difficult, for sure, in that it doesn't make the same assumptions about the reader that most fantasy does, it's not obviously written by someone who spent all his time reading other fantasy novels, and it's not plot-focused the way most fantasy is. I wonder if r/fantasy readers aren't used to reading that kind of grimdark by someone who, well, actually writes literature and can convey it in a way that GRRM/etc can't.
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Feb 10, 2021 15:55
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Kestral posted:If it holds up by the end, you just picked my next book for me, this sounds great. Let us know how you feel about it once you've reached the conclusion, please! So I finished Between Two Fires last night. It was good! My favorite part of the book is still the bits where the devils are deceiving everyone, and even the protagonists aren't sure exactly what's true and what's false, although they usually have more of an inkling than everyone else. But eventually there has to be a climax and outright conflict, and I thought it was well handled. There were a couple of really good bits near the end that raised anticipation. Each of the five parts provide some description of how the war between Heaven and Hell is going, and the first four end with "But the Lord made no answer." The introduction to part 5 is just one sentence; "The Lord made answer." Incredibly effective. Throughout the narrative Delphine is trying to prevent Thomas from killing anyone, and the one time he does kill another human they both suffer for it. There's a bit before Part 5 starts where they're heading to where the false Pope is. Thomas asks "Am I still not to kill anyone?" "Not men." "What does that mean?" "We won't be facing men." So yeah, great stuff. Anticipation and suspense is almost always better than payoff, so I can't fault the book for not matching those bits with it's actual battle descriptions, which are suitably horrifying and intense. And there's a few more twists in store before the book actually ends.
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Feb 10, 2021 16:00
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StrixNebulosa posted:I wonder if r/fantasy readers aren't used to reading that kind of grimdark by someone who, well, actually writes literature and can convey it in a way that GRRM/etc can't. About 70% of r/fantasy is more into YA fantasy or want to post about Stormlight in my experience. I only still read the sub because it's a good place to find a post where someone will blurt out the name of surprisingly good novel that has only sold like eighty copies. Also in my experience if you're trying to get Redditors to critique a story you're working on, exactly 1 out of 7 will try to doxx you.
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Feb 10, 2021 16:43
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