Karsa Orlong

Yeah, a lot of them have been re-issues, though. I don't mind the yellow spines so much as the yellow tint the cover art seems to take on. It's good to have so many of them back in print again, however.

Oh yeah, I wish I could play guitar like him. He was my first 'guitar hero', back in the late 70s. It's such a lovely little song, that one above. It came to mind because I was watching 'Guitar Stories' on tv the other night, and it was about him and his favourite guitars. It was a really interesting programme, and he went and visited John Monteleone, the guy that song is about. You can watch the whole show if you're interested I've been having a bit of a Knopfler evening. This one's gorgeous, too

I thought it didn't seem comprehensive. I was trying to think of books that are missing from it. I also thought it's the first list I've seen on BCF where I've actually read a few of the books Also worth looking at is the Gollancz SF Gateway, for the ebook versions, because many of them may not be available in paperback anymore (A Fire Upon the Deep would be one I'd definitely recommend - amazing book)

Michelle, I'd definitely recommend: Hyperion by Dan Simmons Dune by Frank Herbert The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester The Forever War by Joe Haldeman Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny Mockingbird by Walter Tevis The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula le Guin I've read these ones from the list: A SCANNER DARKLY Philip K. Dick BEHOLD THE MAN Michael Moorcock CHILDHOOD’S END Arthur C. Clarke DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP Philip K. Dick DOWNWARD TO EARTH Robert Silverberg DUNE Frank Herbert EARTH ABIDES George R. Stewart EMPHYRIO Jack Vance FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON Daniel Keyes FRANKENSTEIN Mary Shelley GATEWAY Frederik Pohl GRASS Sheri S. Tepper HYPERION Dan Simmons I AM LEGEND Richard Matheson INVERTED WORLD Christopher Priest LORD OF LIGHT Roger Zelazny MOCKINGBIRD Walter Tevis NON-STOP Brian Aldiss RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA Arthur C. Clarke ROADSIDE PICNIC Boris Strugatsky, Arkady Strugatsky TAU ZERO Poul Anderson THE BODY SNATCHERS Jack Finney THE DEMOLISHED MAN Alfred Bester THE FALL OF HYPERION Dan Simmons THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON H.G. Wells THE FOREVER WAR Joe Haldeman THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY Douglas Adams THE INVISIBLE MAN H.G. Wells THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU H.G. Wells THE LATHE OF HEAVEN Ursula le Guin THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE Philip K. Dick THE SHRINKING MAN Richard Matheson THE STARS MY DESTINATION Alfred Bester THE TIME MACHINE H. G. Wells THE WAR OF THE WORLDS H.G. Wells

Still my favourite song this year, from my favourite album so far this year, too

It's marvellous, I'm sure you'll enjoy it I've just ordered another copy of The Shrinking Man, to replace the one I've obviously given to charity at some point Still, it was only £3.80, including postage. I noticed there's a new SF Masterworks edition coming out next year, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLAaac5sk9U

There have only been a couple where I've thought formatting was a major problem - the prime culprit being A Dance with Dragons. Some older books have had spelling errors, which I think is down to a deficiency in the OCR software used. But, generally, most I've read have been good. To be honest, I'm noticing a lot of spelling errors in paperbacks these days as well. There was one on the back cover of The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend where they'd printed Druss's name as 'Dross' Obviously someone at the publishers isn't a fan Ooh, I'd definitely suggest his Arthurian 'Warlord Trilogy', starting with The Winter King. Those are three of my favourite reads of the last few years

Nice! I wish I had the shelf space to collect them all in paperback. Hopefully the Kindle versions will be okay (I checked the samples before buying and the formatting looked decent).

Yeah, it's all your fault Did you get any of them in the end? ETA: oh yeah. you got the Saxon ones, didn't you?

560 pages into The Darkness Comes Before. Only started it on Saturday, should finish it today. 640 pages in four days is very fast reading for me. My mojo is okay at the moment

My Kindle appears to have downloaded these: The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell The Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell Also, I got The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane (Robert E. Howard) through the post

True, but this one is a genuine classic. I just ordered the dvd - it's only a fiver on Amazon

Actually, Charlton Heston was in The Omega Man, which was an adaptation of I Am Legend The Incredible Shrinking Man starred Grant Williams, and it's an absolutely brilliant film, far, far better than any of the filmed versions of I Am Legend. I think it's probably where I got my arachnophobia from It used to be on tv a lot, but I haven't seen it for years. Would love to see it again I tried to find my copy of The Shrinking Man a few weeks back when Richard Matheson passed away, but I couldn't find it Your brilliant review has got me wanting to re-read it. Must be 30+ years since I read it, so I'm really looking forward to it

Yeah, you're probably right . . . <<heads back to Amazon>>

I've managed to restrain myself. Think I should read the first book before buying any more of them. Probably. Until tomorrow

I've only got the first one so far - thanks for the heads up! <<heads over to Amazon>>

Some others you could have a look at are Tim Powers, Stephen Gallagher and Kelley Armstrong ETA: oh and Jasper Fforde

Have you tried China Mieville? Perdido Street Station is very different and well worth a look

Now 400 pages into The Darkness That Comes Before. I'm quite surprised - I thought I might find this one a struggle, but I'm getting through it a lot faster than I expected

^^ Thanks for that, Ruth - I want to give Hornblower a go at some point (I'd been thinking I'd get to it when I'm finished with Patrick O'Brian's series), so I've been looking at this book on and off for a while but haven't quite bought it yet. Might have to change that, now. Glad to hear you enjoyed it

Glad you enjoyed it, Tim. Agree with you that it wasn't as good as The Coldest War. Interesting!

Friday Night Lights 5x11. Only two episodes left. I'm going to miss this show

Oh well, at least you'll know what Jeff's going through when you start it again I'm 300 pages into R. Scott Bakker's The Darkness That Comes Before, plus I read a couple more Conan stories: Iron Shadows in the Moon and Xuthal of the Dusk