At the Library Sale
October 2021
Time once again for the local library's Fall 2021 Used Book Sale. As always, I elbowed my way past the predatory Dealers who tote cardboard boxes and scan titles with apps on their smartphones, and carefully examined the sci-fi section.
Amidst the predictable surfeit of books from Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Mercedes Lackey, James Blish, and David Webber, I was able to find some nice vintage paperbacks (above) for a buck each.
I also picked up a couple of hardcovers; one is a trilogy of 'Riddlemaster of Hed' novels by Patricia McKillip, the other, an anthology of Leigh Brackett short stories.
Always good to visit the Library Sale. You can find some offbeat little treasures.....
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4 comments:
I find Dickson hit or miss. I've always been fascinated by the premise behind Sleepwalker's World but have never read it due to my average experience with his other work.
Do you have any Dickson favorites? Short fiction?
To tell the truth, I've been underwhelmed by the Dickson novels and anthologies I've read. 'Wolfling', 'Hour of the Horde', 'Time Storm', and 'Ancient My Enemy' all seemed staid, with few demonstrations of imaginative or innovative concepts.
Dickson wrote sf to earn a living, so it's perhaps unsurprising that many of his works were shaped by the need to meet expectations and dictates of editors and publishers.
That said, I think it's telling that he never was featured in 'Dangerous Visions' or 'Again, Dangerous Visions', the two touchstone anthologies of the New Wave era, even while many of his contemporaries did get invited to contribute to those volumes.
Yeah, I agree on the anthologies as well. I read Ancient, My Enemy and thought the title story was okay, “Tiger Green” (1965) was almost good, and I called “In the Bone” (1966) the best in the collection. Everything else was terrible.
Oh, and his attempts at writing a "masterpiece" were awful as well.... i.e. The Far Call (1978) which, mysteriously, was nominated for the 1979 Hugo. I reviewed that one on my site.
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