ecstaticNow, 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?
The Dragon Never Sleeps and other delights
August 28 2008, 07:34:04 UTC 8 years ago
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
August 28 2008, 17:12:25 UTC 8 years ago
I love you.