When I was in my
10s, 20s and 30s I used to read huge numbers of books. Over some early years it
averaged out at 10 books a month. Maybe this was because the books I read back
then were slim SF volumes from the likes of Asimov, Blish, Aldiss etc. As I transitioned
into a full time writer that number grew smaller but I still always had a book
on the go. Events four years ago (which I have gone on about enough) killed my
urge to read, but it has been slowly recovering. Now it seems I have broken
through some barrier thanks to Terry Pratchett.
Over the last
month I polished off 12 Pratchetts in the collection above. I then felt the
urge to return to my habit of old which was wandering around second-hand
bookshops in search of sfnal (and fantasy) gems. Last week Julie and I went
down to Brighton and then Hastings to visit my old editor, Peter Lavery. There
I wandered into a shop and this happened:
My first choice
out of these was perhaps the best and, reading Philip K Dick’s Zap Gun reminded
me of why I have none of his books in my collection. But onward and upward!
Next I’ll try a Van Vogt who, thus far, has never disappointed.
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