Month: October 2016

Recently I picked up six volumes of the collected stories of Paul Anderson, published by NESFA press between 2009 and 2014. Since the last book appeared over two years ago, I’m not sure if there are future volumes planned.

Each book is hefty, full of classic short stories, novellas, occasional poetry, cover art by Bob Eccleton, John Picacio and introductions by noted writers in the SF field. Reading through all the stories could take a year or more, as each book is so dense and rich. I’ll have more to say as I read the books. For now I’ll just enjoy the covers.

From 1965 to 1975 appeared ten novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, collectively titled The Story of a Crime. The protagonist, police detective Martin Beck, links all the novels, though he by no means acts alone.

It took me a couple of years to find and read all ten books. I think I read them more or less in order, although I read them as I bought them. I intend to re-read them in proper sequence.

These ten novels are hailed by many writers and critics are essential to anyone interested in Scandinavian crime fiction. Some aspects are timeless, some horribly dated. They’re not the best books I’ve read, but I can see how they influenced other writers.

I’ve wanted to read Nick Hornby for quite some time. Now I have a nice matching set from which I can pick and choose. It’s not a complete set, and I face the tough task of finding books in the US that match this format. To start with I picked Fever Pitch.

More or less complete now.