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I think someone said it...the first S F I ever read was Bradbury's Illustrated Man.

Two short stories from Robert Sheckley The Leech Watchbird

Threshold looks amazing, haha. I also picked up that Duende Meadow recently; love that future pastoral art.

That Return of the King, in the late 1960s edition, is the same as my copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. I’m always trying to find the other two because they would fit nicely with my copy of the Harvard Lampoon’s Bored of the Rings in the same era and cover style. The Bradbury story I recognized in The October Country was The Crowd, which was adapted by The Outer Limits in the 1990s. It’s more of a horror story but still quite good. The adaptation of Bradbury I can remember from that series was Th Banshee, starring no less than Peter O’toole, and was Bradbury’s recollection of writing Moby Dick for John Huston! Nice haul and happy new year!

Journey to the Center is the first of a trilogy that takes place on a shell world. I spent a few years waiting to find book 2 & 3 but it seems like they didn’t get a US release. I found a nice copy of the UK edition on eBay and I enjoyed the series. I thought the world was neat.

Definitely agree with you that "Speaker for the Dead" is the best of the Ender's Game series... Card himself has stated that he wrote "Ender's Game" basically to set up "Speaker for the Dead". I have seen the mini-series "The Martian Chronicles" but I must read that or something by Bradbury some time as well. I do get why you stated the large Hamilton series might be too much for you, have heard that before that for some people his writing / universe building is too detailed and some of the details sometimes feel unnecessary... personally I love the detailed descriptions by Hamilton, makes his universes more immersive to me... but I do have the same issues with Kim Stanley Robinson and don't enjoy reading his novels, so I know where you're coming from.

Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles

Take care. Look forward to those reviews you do get to but, obviously, your health must come first.

Good stuff

After Such Knowledge is the Blish 'Trilogy'. A Case of Conscience, Dr Miriabilis (historical fiction about a monk, I think) and Black Easter/Day After Judgement (which I guess he treats as one book - I think these are more fantasy/occult). So far I've only read ACoC but I'm interested to get around to the rest at some point.

Nice haul Matt, that looks like it was a good bulk lot. Good luck with selling your spares/rejections. Look forward to seeing the rest.

Mordred: Armageddon 2419 is 'the Buck Rogers book'. So, that's kinda weird

Mack Reynolds: I haven't read any, but I have exactly the same read on him solely based upon the vibe as I find his books while used book hunting. However Outlaw Bookseller has recommended a couple, so either I need to give him more of a chance, or I need to track down those two specific books. That is not one of them. Frank Belknap Long: He was in lovecraft's circle, so Syfy by him sounds like it could be interesting, or unusual, or just really weird and antiquated. Sounds like a keeper. Leiber: Swords and ice magic is the final book in the series. He wrote a later book in the 80s, but he was an old guy, who needed money, and had thrown **all** his fucks to the wind. I've been told it's only a must-read if you are already a big fan.

Do you have any Barry Malzberg?

As a Moorcock fan I can come up with the reasons why you should read everything he's written, but as a fan of *yours* I've got to look out for your best interests, so I wanted to mention that you might want to try these two stand-alones: "Behold the Man" & "The Warhound and the World's Pain." The first is an historically important SF novel about a man who goes back in time looking for Jesus, and what he finds. The other it's about a heartless mercenary, approached by Satan who asks him to find the Holy Grail, so that he may be accepted back into God's good graces. . . Yeah, and if you don't like Elric I'm just flying to Canada and slapping you. Outlaw Bookseller and I will get all "office space" on you.😂

As the Curtain Falls is constantly staring at me, luring me in every time I go to pick the next read.

That series by Tom Deitz is worth a full read. Nine books published over about 13 years. The first book, Windmaster's Bane was nominated for a Locus. They're not hard to find.

Well, your 2025 is off to an interesting start, eh Matt? Those old Mayflower paperback copies of the Swords Trilogy rock! If that series didn't hit quite right for you, Elric will probably be closer to the mark. It's way darker and a little more complex.

Nice, I’ve also been stocking up on books lol

Splinter of the Minds Eye was written by Alan Dean Foster, and was the first novel after the film novelization (also written by ADF). I think you would really enjoy that one. It is a bit weird because Luke and Leia are NOT siblings in the book, and they are crushing pretty hard on each other. I love that book and have reread it several times.

My first Bradbury was" The Illustrated Man ". And "The Martian Chronicles " I like Bradbury, try any of his many anthologies . " Something Wicked This Way Comes " is good .The movie is worth a gander . Some of the episodes of the X Files were very unnerving even for me .

I'll buy the F. Paul.Wilson if you want to get rid of them! I have The Tomb and I read The Keep. I'm in Canada too.

I gasped when you said you have read no Bradbury. I first one I read, back in elementary school, was S is for Space. Or maybe R is for Rocket. The Martian Chronicles is beautiful too. I mean, everything he does is magical.

I read 102 books in 2024, but only 7 were scifi! I am so ashamed. More sf and horror in the new year, I vow! My library has no David Brin ebooks at all, which is absurd. I want to finally read the Uplift series.

The October Country by Ray Bradbury is horror & fantasy - virtually no SF is in it at all. The stories are good, but being an SF reader, maybe you should start by reading Bradbury's SF instead. My favorite short SF story by Ray Bradbury is The Long Rain ( astronaut is marooned on another planet, where - you guessed it - it rains continually ). That one blew me away, but I liked many others of his as well. Start with his fix-up novel ( which isn't really a novel ) : The Martian Chronicles, his short SF story collections, & his only full length SF novel : Fahrenheit 451,

Here we go again. I almost posted that Resnick - Birthright onto the website today but swapped it out last minute before taking pics. It will show up in the next few days.

Thank you. I have a chance to pick up a copy of this so I wanted to know more. Definitely one to not pass. Cheers!

here showing support and loving the channel!

Great video / Great information and - I remember Telsey stories

Oh my indeed!

How cats give reviews!

Urgh! I just lost a long comment when I tried to copy it so as not to lose it. And I had watched the video a second time to refresh my mind.. And I had more to say! So I'll come back later if Krampus doesn't get me this week.

Beowulf's Children is not about Beowulf Shafer.

Pulpmortem rated Laumer's Dinosaur Beach as his favorite book of the year.

Akers is Kenneth Bulmer. The series is fun, but I didn't read all of them.