Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: ecstatic
  • Music: Little Shop of Horrors, 'Feed Me (Git It).'

I have a copy of 'Emergence' and you (probably) don't.

I am enormously lucky in that there is a fabulous genre-oriented bookstore, The Other Change of Hobbit, within a reasonable distance of my home. (I'm also enormously unlucky in this regard, because I enjoy being able to pay my mortgage, but that's another story.) As it's basically a straight shot from OCoH to Kate's place, I tend to stop in once or twice a week to pet the cats and chat with the staff. Last time I was in the store, I noticed that they had a copy of Threshold, by David Palmer, on the used shelf.

Now, I've never read Threshold, and I've never particularly wanted to -- no judgment intended or implied, the concept just doesn't grab me and I have too much to read already -- but my housemate was looking for a new copy. So I asked him if he wanted me to snag it for him the next time I was in the store. He answered in the affirmative, and I stopped in on my way to Kate's.

Dave was at the desk. Dave tends to have an encyclopedic knowledge of what's in the store at any given time. Dave is scary like that. So I stopped, on a whim, to ask whether he thought there was a chance in hell of them having a copy of Emergence in the store. Emergence was David Palmer's first book. It's been out of print since it was first published in 1984, and used copies start on Amazon at almost fifty dollars (before shipping). Why?

Because it's damn good, that's why. I went to look at the book's Amazon page just now, and almost all the reviews are five stars. Not unusual, except that all the reviewers have so clearly read and loved the book. I think that the reviewer who says the science doesn't stand up is right...but this book was never about the science for me. This book was about being made of awesome. And it does a very, very good job of that.

Dave laughed at the foolishness of my question, but -- in a rare gesture of quantum helpfulness -- called down to the basement to see if they might have a copy.

They had a copy. Just one copy. Just one copy of that original 1984 printing.

I'd never even seen a copy of the original 1984 printing before.

I paid twenty-five dollars for a twenty-year-old paperback today, and I feel neither regret nor remorse at this action. Because now I have a copy of one of the most overlooked and under appreciated gems of speculative fiction, a book that makes me happy in every possible way, and I am consumed with joy. If you have the chance to read Emergence, you totally should.

What book fills this role in your personal ecosystem of the fabulous?
Tags: good things, reading things
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  • 65 comments

spectralbovine

August 28 2008, 00:54:43 UTC 8 years ago

Random book I have awesome memories of but have never seen since junior high or whenever I read it: An Experiment in Terror, by Bernal C. Payne.

Also, The Dark Green Tunnel and The Wand, by Allan W. Eckert. Looking back, I can kind of see the obvious Narnia comparisons, but I don't care. I loved them.

seanan_mcguire

August 28 2008, 13:55:57 UTC 8 years ago

Dude, I've never even heard of those.

That is dead cool.

spectralbovine

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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ryanitenebrae

August 28 2008, 01:08:01 UTC 8 years ago

The earlier Bordertown anthologies, edited by Terri Windling. The series got me into urban fantasy, and the first few books are out of print and hard to find.

dawn_metcalf

August 28 2008, 02:53:49 UTC 8 years ago

Woo! I have some of these!

Also two offshoots by Will Shetterly.

ryanitenebrae

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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ryanitenebrae

8 years ago

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ryanitenebrae

8 years ago

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mabfan

August 28 2008, 01:09:22 UTC 8 years ago

In case you're not aware, David just published a sequel to Emergence. Called "Tracking," it was serialized in the July/August, September, and October issues of Analog.

kyrielle

August 28 2008, 01:48:46 UTC 8 years ago

...you rock. *goes magazine huntin'*

mabfan

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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dormouse_in_tea

8 years ago

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mabfan

8 years ago

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More Expand

kyrielle

August 28 2008, 01:26:12 UTC 8 years ago

I own that book. I love that book. I had not realized it had gone out of print, though. I've owned it for...years. I adore it.

dormouse_in_tea

August 28 2008, 13:55:41 UTC 8 years ago

Yes, after you made me read your copy, I had a bitch of time finding my own. But I did!

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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dormouse_in_tea

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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notalwaysweak

August 28 2008, 01:27:54 UTC 8 years ago

Shadowdancers, by sallyodgers. I had a copy and I think it must have vanished when I moved house. I managed to contact Sally directly and got a copy. About a year later I was browsing in a bookshop and found Translations In Celadon, which is set in the same universe (to a degree), and emailed her again to squee about it.

Now we're LJ friends and she regularly kicks my arse at Scrabulous on Facebook (when it's not being banninated, that is.)

mariadkins

August 28 2008, 01:32:15 UTC 8 years ago

If you didn't know, you can now play Wordscraper. It's made by the same people who made Scrabulous. It's no Scrabulous, but it'll do. It beats the Scrabble game Hasbro put up by a mile. Imho.

notalwaysweak

8 years ago

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mariadkins

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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mariadkins

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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palmer_kun

August 28 2008, 01:41:01 UTC 8 years ago

Me: Emergence? Never heard of it.

My GF soberloki: "OMFG SHE GOT A COPY OF EMERGENCE? *flail-gibber* I wanna read it again now!!!"

We are filled with joy for thee.

soberloki

August 28 2008, 01:44:38 UTC 8 years ago

(from across the room & using Machine Baby)

He's not even kidding. Maaaaan, I love that book. I'm thoroughly jealous and want my own copy now.

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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dormouse_in_tea

8 years ago

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soberloki

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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greenmansgrove

August 28 2008, 02:38:35 UTC 8 years ago

Got a copy. Haven't read it in years, but now I want to go back and read it, to see how it holds up.

As for another book that fills that role for me? Bridge of Birds, by Barry Hughart.

tibicina

August 28 2008, 03:42:53 UTC 8 years ago

Bridge of Birds is fairly easy to find, though. At least I've never had a problem and it's had a bunch of reprintings. it's still a great book, but it doesn't usually involve multi-year hunts to track down a copy or paying much more than cover price for it.

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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dormouse_in_tea

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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dawn_metcalf

August 28 2008, 02:59:20 UTC 8 years ago

Hmm. Might need to do some hunting...

For me, I have a copy of The Architect of Sleep by Steven Boyett (as well as Ariel) which, although left unfinished and dangling [See: @#$%^&*!} is still one of my favorite parallel-world speculative fictions. Other gems include: The Girl, The Gold Watch and Everything by John D. Macdonald for one of the first and classic-making books on time manipulation/stopping/travel, Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury which is a find from high school and reminds me something like Jacqueline Carey meets The World According to Garp (don't ask) & my favorite mind-bender, Mindkiller by Spider Robinson that turns even the simplest of concepts like multiple-POV on its head.

Brilliance!

idancewithlife

August 28 2008, 03:06:02 UTC 8 years ago

Janet Kagan's books. I buy every copy I can find so I have a lifetime supply and/or can give them to friends.

Wow. I have the original edition of Emergence and will stop banging it around so much. I didn't realize it was worth that much money. I've only read it 20 times after all.

hms42

August 28 2008, 03:52:27 UTC 8 years ago

Any clue if there was a sequel to Emergence or Threshold? They were decent reads and I occasionally will reread them when they turn up. I think I got my copy around 1984.

catnip13

August 28 2008, 05:30:33 UTC 8 years ago

Gael Baudino's Gossamer Axe and Tanya Huff's The Fire's Stone are my two favorite out-of-print gems.

The Dragon Never Sleeps and other delights

amberley

August 28 2008, 07:34:04 UTC 8 years ago

Congratulations on your score! Emergence is awesome; I'm happy to hear there's finally a sequel (mentioned above). I liked Threshold too, but not as much. I see on Amazon Emergence is $48.64 and Threshold is $0.50, although Emergence isn't 100x better than Threshold! Ah well, supply and demand. Maybe Nightshade Press will bring them back into print, along with Tracking. One can hope.

Do you check for your favored edition of It every time you go to OCoH? Do you have standing orders for it (just that edition) at all the local bookstores?

Subterranean Press is bringing The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox back into print with Bridge of Birds and its two sequels all in one fine volume.

Publisher Night Shade Books in San Francisco has brought lots of wonderful books back into print; I was especially happy to see Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps return, although I have several copies of the 20-year old paperback so that I might never be without. They also deserve adoration for bringing all Lord Dunsany's Jorkens bar tales back into print in a nice 3-volume set; which were otherwise nigh impossible to find without backing up a truckload of money.

NESFA Press back east has also been brilliant at bringing back golden age favorites like Eric Frank Russell.

Powell's Books in Portland will send you an email notice when a book you're looking for comes in; I've used that to fill out my Amy Thomson collection and any number of excellent but infrequently seen backlist.

Re: The Dragon Never Sleeps and other delights

dormouse_in_tea

August 28 2008, 17:12:25 UTC 8 years ago

Subterranean Press is bringing The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox back into print with Bridge of Birds and its two sequels all in one fine volume.

I love you.

ayoub

August 28 2008, 09:32:47 UTC 8 years ago

Oddly, not a book in the traditional sense... But I do have a leather bound copy of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns... :D

bobmage

August 28 2008, 13:08:21 UTC 8 years ago

Actually, I think I do. Somewhere.

As mentioned earlier, there is a sequel serialized in Analog, and hints of another sequel in the works.

seanan_mcguire

August 29 2008, 03:41:19 UTC 8 years ago

YAY!

tikiera

August 28 2008, 15:39:10 UTC 8 years ago

Threshold isn't as good as Emergence.

But then, Emergence is _my_ book, the one I read very young, and found, by happenstance, at a used bookstore for $2.00. I snapped that up, felt guilty as I normally do when I find books severely under-priced, and then consoled myself with the fact that I had Emergence.

My second personal fabulous books is the "I Hate to Cook Book". Been way too much on amazon, got for $20 on ebay by waiting for all the very expensive ones to go by , have the book I learned to cook from now.

seanan_mcguire

August 29 2008, 04:02:39 UTC 8 years ago

I think we all have books that are 'ours.' Mine is actually Mermaid's Song, by Alida Van Gorres.

tikiera

8 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

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chatworthy

August 28 2008, 23:56:49 UTC 8 years ago

For some reason, when I read the recent 3-part serial of the sequel (last 3 issues of Analog), I mentally cast you as Candy. Yeah, I know, she's only ten. I'm just strange, that's all.

I gotta go out to the garage and dig my copy out.

seanan_mcguire

August 29 2008, 04:02:13 UTC 8 years ago

Hey, I had a dream the other night in which I cast the entire Newsflesh movie. So strangeness is totally allowed.

idancewithlife

8 years ago

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mkellis

August 29 2008, 03:59:15 UTC 8 years ago

Seanan,

You have been in my house. You have actually looked over my bookshelves. Which had, at the time, both Threshold and Emergence sitting on the front row. (Middle shelf of the big wooden thing, on the left.)

No kidding. You've been within a meter of my copy. Multiple times.

You may scream now.

seanan_mcguire

August 29 2008, 04:01:40 UTC 8 years ago

Darlin', unless this leads to 'and then I burned them,' I don't need to scream -- the goal wasn't to take the books away from everyone else, it was just to get a copy of my very own.