Saturday, January 22, 2011

Weekend Update 1/22/2011 and the Answer to "Do You Know"

 Around the Internet
Comics!  A Personal Journal is the new place to read my comic book reviews.  It will have reviews of all the comics I read whether they are new or classic.  The Amazing Spider-Man I reviewed is the latest issue.  Morning Glories #1 was from last year.  I have become a fan of Nick Spenser's writing so I went back and started reading one of his series from Image.

Morning Glories #1
Amazing Spider-Man #652

New Additions to my Library

This was another big week for my library.  Most of this week's new additions are from Paperback Swap.

Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi
One of my best friends (thanks, Terry Kissinger) started reading The Windup Girl.  Based on his suggestion, I added this collection of short stories.  Terry describes Paolo's writing as being in the style of Frank Herbert.

Continuum 2 edited by Roger Elwood
Roger Elwood tried something different with this anthology.  I liked the concept behind it.  A post that will appear later this week will explain the concepts.  Now I am waiting for book four to arrive in the mail.  I already had books one and three.

Analog 3 edited by John W. Campbell
Classic Analog anthology edited by Campbell?  This is an automatic purchase for me.  This edition boasts the writing of Gordon R. Dickson, Christopher Anvil, Clifford D. Simak, Poul Anderson, and Randall Garrett.  It should be a fun trip down memory lane.

The 1978 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim
The 1977 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim
World's Best Science Fiction 1969 edited by Donald A. Wollheim
My quest continues to finish my collection of the Donald A. Wollheim "World's Best SF" series.

Worlds of if:  A Retrospective Anthology by various
How can I resist a retrospective collection from one of my favorite magazines?  The real question was why didn't I already own this one.

More Adventures on Other Planets edited by Donald A. Wollheim
A classic anthology from 1963 that contains stories by Leigh Brackett, Robert Silverberg, John Brunner, Stanley G. Weinbaum, and Poul Anderson.

The Best From Galaxy Volume IV edited by Jim Baen
In addition to Worlds of If, Galaxy was my other favorite magazine.  Especially when edited by Jim Baen.  This collection features Roger Zelazny, Larry Niven, Michael Bishop, Spider Robinson, Joanna Russ, and others.

The Answer

I did not expect anyone to get the answer to my "Do You Know" post based on the first appearance of my name in print.  The answer is...
the much maligned Perry Rhodan series.  This series was an important part of my early growth as a science fiction fan.  The American editions were a book/magazine hybird with one "novel", things to come, movie reviews, short stories, letter column, and reprints of classic serials.  One of the serials was "Cosmos", a round robin story where a different pulp writer wrote each chapter.

Gray Morrow did the covers for the first 103 books.  This seems like a record.

Steven Utley's first story was "The Unkindest Cut of All".

In Times to Come

Sunday will have the new "Short Story Sunday".

Reviews of 3 books this week:
"A Short, Sharp Shock" by Kim Stanley Robinson
"Works of Wonder" by Michael Whelan

"We3" by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

and various commentaries.

1 comment:

Carl V. Anderson said...

Well, I didn't exactly expect to be able to guess. :)

Your new acquisitions all sound great. I have read some of Pump Six but not all of it. Need to purchase my own copy. I had borrowed it from the library before.