Sunday Book Thread

Dearest pudding-heads, unlike Mr. Reads-Anything Monty, I'm not nearly as likely to forage among genres other than science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and the occasional (ahem) gay novel. Still, I thought an interesting book thread topic would be your favorite books that are out of print. Here are mine, which may be of some interest for science fiction and fantasy fans.

I recently discovered at a library book sale CJ Cherryh's Morgaine novels --- Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, and Fires of Azeroth --- all of which are out of print. (BTW, it is absurdly satisfying to find a complete trilogy among the scattered boxes of a library book sale. Small victories, right?) Now, I've been a fan of Cherryh forever, having devoured her Fortress series and several of her other novels in high school, but I had never even heard of these novels before. It turns out they, um, predate me and were out of print before I started reading.

If you can find them, I cannot suggest any better out-of-print reads. And, actually, they're now atop my "favorites" list keeping company with Niven and Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer. They're short and unlike some of Cherryh's later works, she writes with a spare style that keeps the pages turning on what is basically an After The End (civilization fallen back to barbarism science fiction disguised as fantasy) novel. You might be able to find them in "collected" editions; three such compendiums were published.

So, what out-of-print books do you like?

posted by Gabriel Malor at 08:27 AM

| Access Comments