Friday, April 27, 2007

The nether realms of the subconscious

I occasionally have dreams that relate to books I've read or authors I like. Here's one I had a few nights ago; maybe someone out there can tell me what deep truths about my mind it reveals.

I dreamed I was reading a column written by one of my favorite authors, Alastair Reynolds. So, what was the column about? Science fiction? His new book, The Prefect? Cutting-edge physics? Astronomy?

No. It was a column about labor disputes. Unions, picket lines, collective bargaining. Maybe it was a prophetic dream, and in his next Revelation Space book the Ultras will unionize. You'd certainly have to pay me pretty well to work on one of those creepy lighthuggers.



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Thursday, April 19, 2007

Glen Cook reissue

Well, related to my last post, I was at the book store the other day, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Glen Cook's Sweet Silver Blues, the first book in the wonderful Garret series, is back in print from Roc books. Previously, the only way to get that one (and most of the other Garrett books) new was through the Science Fiction Book Club. I hope the rest of the series will follow; it deserve the exposure.



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Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Bringing back old favorites

A reader comment at this post got me thinking: what out-of-print works would you like to see reissued?

My first choice would be Poul Anderson, which is why I'm so pleased that Baen has released their second book of Anderson stories. I hope they sell well enough to do more; there are so many Anderson stories and novels that deserve an audience. What I'd really love to see is the complete Technic History gradually brouight back into print, but that would be a huge project, and I dimly recall reading on Baen's Bar that there's some sort of rights issue that would make it a difficult undertaking. The other stumbling block might be tone- the Baen editors have talked a lot about wanting to publish stories with an upbeat and optimistic sensibility, and the Technic History has a rather melancholy feel.

David Drake has been getting some reissues from Tor, first The Forlorn Hope and then Bridgehead. What I'd like to see out again is The Sea Hag, one of Drake's lesser-known fantasy books. I can understand why it wasn't a huge hit- it's a weird book with a sort of fairy tale structure- but it's greatly underrated in my opinion.

So, those are my picks. What are yours?



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