Posts Tagged ‘Vintage SciFi’
Well, January is nearly here (scary isn’t it?) and I’ve started going through my crumbly moldy old paperbacks, trying to narrow down my list of what to read for the upcoming Vintage Scifi Month.
So far, I’ve got:
The Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1916)
Conan the Warrior , by Robert E Howard, (1935)
The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert Heinlein (1950)
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov (1954)
The Planet Buyer by Cordwainer Smith (1964)
The Goblin Reservation by Clifford Simak (1968)
The Zero Stone by Andre Norton (1968)
That’s a good start, don’t you think? I’ll have one more opportunity to visit John King Books in Detroit before New Years, and my John King Wish list includes Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids, Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar, Bester’s The Stars My Destination, and as always more Heinlein, Norton, Smith and other random goodies which I’m sure will change up the list above. Realistically, I’ll only be able to get through eight to ten books in January.
My tastes tend to run Golden Age and New Wave, but that doesn’t mean you’re locked into that time frame or those kinds of speculative fiction books. The original pseudo-rules hold true, and you can find excellent recommendations here, and a new growing list, here. Feel free to post more recommendations or what you’re planning to read in the comments.
on twitter? use hashtag #VintageSciFi
are you excited? cuz I am!!
It is a dark time in the northern hemisphere. Although Black Friday has been survived, the upcoming holiday season drives bookworms from their hidden libraries, and pursues them across the galaxy. . .
Evading the dreaded TV toy commercials, a group of bloggers led by yours truly established a secret plan for January reading.
It will be known as Vintage Science Fiction month, and many vintage books will be read, into the far reaches of the blogosphere. .. . .
I suddenly kinda feel like watching Star Wars. hey, the first one came out before 1979, so it’s vintage. . . right?
Ok peeps, here’s the deal: A while ago I realized I was horribly underread in the classics of Scifi. Sure, the stuff is dated and sexist and clunky and sometimes the language is archaic, but damn if I don’t enjoy reading about Martians and black holes, and old Star Trek books and Jules Vernian adventures, and stories from back when everything was possible because no one knew what might not be possible. The more of the stuff I read, the more I liked it, but I was so distracted by new shiny stuff that, well, you get the idea.
So last January I hosted Vintage Science Fiction month, and a whole ton of ya’ll participated by reading Vintage-y stuff and blogging about it, and we linked it all together here. My definition of Vintage is anything before 1979, and my definition of Scifi is pretty loose: scifi, sci-fantasy, sword and sorcery, robots, magical swords, near future, far future, pulp scifi adventure, satire, War of the Worlds, Jules Verne, Mary Shelley. . .
And guess what? It was buckets and buckets of fun! I had the opportunity to read obscure out of print goodness, met a bunch of new blogger friends, researched some authors, worked and read my butt off, and had the best month ever! On a more serious note, I gained a deeper appreciation for books that were written in the last 30 years by reading what came before them. From a genre-evolution standpoint, it’s truly fascinating.
Vintage SciFi month was so much fun, in fact, that I’m doing it again this year! Same month, same channel, same badge. Start your countdown to interstellar adventure and link to your January reviews in the comments of the Vintage Scifi tab at the top of the page. But this time, there’s a twist. I’ve got some surprises up my sleeves for you!
comments? questions? thoughts? shout ‘em out!
Recent Comments