Monday, August 27, 2007

Wish to Read

And in the spirit of listing books, here are a handful of books I would absolutely love to read but for various reasons have had an will have a very difficult time finding copies.

The Last Dancer, by Daniel Keys Moran: This is the third Continuing Time novel (Emerald Eyes, The Long Run) and while this is not top tier SF, I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Run and the story of Trent the Uncatchable. See, it's been a decade or so since I read the book and I still remember the hero's name. Out of print and Moran seems to have stopped writing after some health issues.

The Sagan Diary, by John Scalzi: A Subterranean press novella set in the Old Man's War universe. It gets into the head of Jane Sagan. It’s a limited edition and while my library is decent at picking up Subterranean limited edition novellas, there are some that slipped through the cracks early on.

Questions for a Soldier, by John Scalzi: Far more rare than The Sagan Diary, this is a chapbook and it is highly questionable I'll be able to find a copy of this to read. I don't need to own it, I would just like to lovingly read it. An Old Man's War story.

The Healthy Dead / The Lees of Laughter's End, by Steven Erikson: These two are Bauchelain and Korbal Broach stories set in the Malazan universe. They are slowly being published stateside and my library system is slowly getting copies. I'll probably have the chance to read these novellas.

Night of Knives / Return of the Crimson Guard, by Ian Cameron Esslemont: Two more Malazan novels, but written by the other co-creator. I have questions of quality compared to Erikson, and while reportedly these will be published in America I'm not holding my breath.


Most everything else I have on my list is either in my library system or there are concrete plans to publish in America and make it easier for me to get copies. The above is what I would like to read but really do not have much hope of being able to read except for The Healthy Dead. I don't really want to spend the money to purchase a used copy of The Last Dancer.

4 comments:

Ed said...

Looking for books not published Stateside, and prepared to pay for them. Check these guys out, free postage too
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/WEBSITE/WWW/WEBPAGES/homepage.php

Nick said...

So, why don't you read Name of the Wind and Red Seas Under Red Skies instead? Forget all that other stuff, go read those two ;p

No, I mean it, go.

You trumpet Scalzi, and I'll trumpet Lynch and Rothfuss.

Joe said...

I am number 3 of 8 on the hold list for Red Seas. When I get through with my stupidly large library pile at home, I'll reserve the Rothfuss

Ed: Thanks for the link. However, My book budget for US published books is almost non-existent, so it'll be even less likely for more expensive books from overseas. Thanks, though.

Nick said...

Oh, I'm back home now after working in Stockholm. Starting to build up that pile for the fall. Brasyl and Then We Came To The End coming up soon, I think.

3 of 8? Cool in a way, even if it sort of sucks for you, of course. I rarely have more than one, if any, lending the books I want. Either the sff readers are scarce over here in south Sweden, which - considering all the emos walking around town - I doubt, or there's some other library they go to! Mysterious. Maybe I have bad taste.