Mood:
incredulousNow Playing: The Venture Brothers
Topic: Literary Survey
AbeBooks' sends me a genre related email list every once in a while. I was amused at this recent topic. Here are the top prices paid for SF & F books in 2006. * Book images are not of those that actually sold. | |
1. 1984George OrwellFirst edition, first impression of this 1949 dystopian classic. There were two versions of the dustjacket issued, one green and one red. There is no priority between them. Copies in this condition are deeply uncommon. The jacket has a nick or two at the odd corner and a trace of rub but is one of the best copies. Sold for $8,258.40 | 2. (tied) Neuromancer (2), Count Zero, Mona Lisa OverdriveWilliam GibsonThree first edition Gollancz hard covers and one Ace paperback of Neuromancer. The Gollancz copies are in fine, unread condition in fine unclipped dust jackets, and all are signed by Gibson. Sold for $7,500 |
2. (tied) The Dark Tower: The GunslingerStephen KingFirst edition. One of 500 numbered copies signed by King and artist Michael Whelan. This copy, #97, sold for $7,500
| 4. (tied) I, RobotIssac AsimovA very fine copy with a very fine dust jacket of this 1950s collection of short stories. Review slip laid in. Sold for $4,500
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4. (tied) The Healer's WarElizabeth ScarboroughSigned original manuscript with corrections by the author and notations by the copy editor. The 1989 Nebula award winner for best novel, this draft was written in the third person. The author abandoned this method of writing when she found that it removed her too far from her characters. The later drafts are all written in first person. Sold for $4,500 | 6. Brave New WorldAldous HuxleyVery good to near fine example of this 1932 dystopian novel. The true first edition, preceding the American in original yellow cloth with blue gilt-lettered spine label. Sold for $4,025 |
7. The Ship That Sailed to MarsWilliam TimlinFirst edition of this 1923 novel about a group of dwarves and elves who join together to build a ship and go to Mars. Includes forty-eight mounted color plates and forty-eight mounted pages of calligraphy-like printed text, both by Timlin, on gray background paper. Sold for $3,995 | 8. Where Late the Sweet Birds SangKate WilhelmNear fine original manuscript package of this 1976 Hugo award winning novel. Contains: Original ribbon copy and carbon-copy typescript, final draft, setting copy. Signed with a few corrections in authors hand. Also containing file folder with maps, charts, diagrams, rewritten section and correspondence, all pertaining to the novel. Sold for $3,975
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9. Brave New WorldAldous HuxleyFirst edition. Limited issue; one of 324 numbered and signed copies. Sold for $3,250 | 10. The HobbitJ.R.R. TolkienThis second impression published 1937, same year as the first. It is important for the addition of the 4 color illustrations by the author. This is the first and only early UK edition published with four of Tolkien's color illustrations. One of only 1877 copies of the original 2300 that survived the bombing of London in November 1940. Sold for $3,000 |
No huge surprises here; except for the Kate Wilhelm and Elizabeth Scarborough. I well recall the buzz created when THE DARK TOWER was new; those limited edition copies were snapped up quickly and they only rarely resurface. The other books on the list are a mixed bag; I'd never pay that much for 1st ed. Gibson, but that's me. I just don't want it that badly.
accident prone
In both of the novels I read, the plot centered on the natives finding out about Crosstime Traffic and the trouble it causes. The first one I read was CURIOUS NOTIONS, about a father son team that set up a "curiousity shop" in an America that got invaded by Imperial Germany. Clearly, Turtledove is trying to recreate a style very similar to the early (1950s era) Heinlein novels, a la HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL. And that's okay by me. Curious Notions was a good read, not at all spectacular, with the central conceit of Crosstime Traffic and German-Conquered America being the most interesting elements of the plot. The good points are that the novel will be very accessible to younger readers-- and there just isn't a lot of good juvenile SF being written these days, so more power to him!
The second novel in the series that I read, IN HIGH PLACES, shows a maturing plot line and more interesting characters. In this installment, the central characters are traders with a timeline that had been decimated by the Black Plague to such an extent that Europe was almost depopulated. Therefore, Islam has taken root almost all over Southern Europe. The Christian kingdoms remaining have a strange form of dual Christianity, featuring a "younger brother" to Christ named Henri. Turtledove explores what might happen when someone without the ethical standards of Crosstime Traffic gets their hands on the technology to move between timelines and seeks to use it to their own ends, for profit. I think this is a great improvement and adds much to the series. I will keep my eyes open for the other installments in this series, GUNPOWDER EMPIRE and THE DISUNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
cheeky
In honor of my recent purchase of ESSENTIAL ELLISON, a gigantic tome-like collection of almost every short story the celebrated author has ever written, I got to talking about him online, and the inevitable Harlan at Conventions" stories cropped up. Which led to the following blatant ripoff of a SNL sketch, so with apologies both to SNL and Harlan, here's a left handed tribute.
sad
chillin'
celebratory
Most of us remember Terry Jones as "the Nude Man" from Monty Python's Flying Circus, or "King Pellinore" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or Brian's obnoxious mum in "The Life of Brian". So it's hard to grasp that that same Terry Jones who used to dress in drag and make silly faces on TV is really quite a gifted and clever author, and a learned fellow to boot. I had some prior experience with Jones' kid's fiction: ERIK THE VIKING, NICOBOBINUS, and one of his history books: CHAUCER'S KNIGHT: A MEDIEVAL MERCENARY, so I knew what he was about.
There's a guy in my office that is one of the most rabid Harry Turtledove fans I know; he reads virtually anything HT writes in the novel line (except the blatant fantasy stuff). I am not like that guy. I enjoyed Turtledove's early work (especially AGENT OF BYZANTIUM) but I don't feel like his talents lay in the area of the larger novel. Turtledove can write a wickedly good alt-history short story with a twist ending at the drop of a hat, and he can edit compendiums of similar material. His novels tend to be overly long, hugely repeitive and so complex each one requires a glossary appendix. 
a-ok
