This is my favorite short story collection. If you are not biased against sf and like things that will stretch your mind, this collection is for you. I’m not real fond of To Here and Easel(?) the first story or a few others, but the bulk of the stories in this book are world class!

This is considered a YA (young adult) novel because it starts with the hero as a youth. It is a dark fantasy and I’d hesitate to give it to a very young, impressionable child because of this. Wonderfully written and well researched. Worth reading and don’t be put off by the YA category.

This is the only magazine I have a subscription to. NYRSF is a magazine of sf reviews for sf readers, by sf readers. It is literary in tone rather than academic, although it is occasionally academic. Literate, articulate, and written by those who know and love the field.

You can find information about NYRSF here:

http://nyrsf.com/

This album contains some of my favorites of theirs: The Gas Man Cometh, The Horn Concerto, and Built-Up Area (spoken only) as well as an update about the Hippo. Not all the cuts are winners perhaps, but enough are!

If you like light comedy, political satire, and a dry wit, this album is wonderful fun.

Favorites: Reluctant Cannibal, Have Some Maderia M’Dear, the Hat song, and the Hippopotamus. A great fun listen!

This is not your standard fairy tale suitable for children. But it’s well worth reading!

(More later.)

This is a memoir by the brillant writer Samuel R. Delany. If you don’t know his stuff, you are missing some incredible writing.

I bought I thought a complete version of this book, only to find that I had purchased volume 2, which I read. Then I found what appeared to be volume 1, but it is a condensed version of both volumes 1 and 2. Some of the data I was looking for was present, some was not.

Very frustrating. Make sure if you buy this book you know what you’re buying: a condensed version of 1 and 2, or one of the single volumes.

jkd

This book hits me on several levels. I have always been interested in WWII espionage for some reason and I’m a bookseller. So, when I found a book about WWII codes and cryptoanalysis by the son of a famous antiquarian bookseller, I just had to read it.

It was entertaining and instructive. I feel that I know a great deal more about codes and coding after reading this book.

It is well written and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for information about codes, coding, or the SOE in WWII.

Although the book is not new, if you ever wondered about the attraction that science fiction has for some people, this book was written for you. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is incredibly well written and approachable for people who just don’t “get” what sf has that other genres do not.

I have read sf most of my life, and sold it for most of my professional life as a used bookseller.

If you’re still not sure if the book will have what you’re looking for, follow the link to Amazon and read the first two pages of the introduction. David Hartwell states clearly who he’s writing for, and why.

Although, as an sf “fan” I also would recommend this book to other sf fans. There are conclusions here that I had not quite reached about the field. I spent the entire time reading this book going, “Oh yeah. Absolutely.” and “Exactly!”.

You should read this book AND recommend it to your friends, whether they’re sf readers, or not.

Note: David Hartwell, the author of this book, won the Hugo for best professional editor in 2006.