When I’m in Half Price Books I glance through the SF section. I rarely find books that I want these days, as I tend to focus on specific authors. I usually already have almost all their books, with rare exceptions. I know that I won’t find those rare exceptions in a used book store, not in the age of the internet, anyway. Still, if I find some nice editions of books from the 1980s and early 1990s, I’ll reconsider. This time, I did see a few books that must have been offloaded from someone’s collection, possibly an estate sale. I honed in on two of these.
Frederick Pohl’s The Years of the City (Timescape Books, 1984). This is the first edition hardback of a book I’d bought in a paperback edition many years ago. The book was in pristine condition, had a nice mylar cover, and was irresistible, especially as my 1995 BAEN paperback pages were already yellowing. The cover is sort of bland, with Pohl’s name and the title of the book dominating a small image. Curiously, some of the fonts in the paperback mirror the hardcover, but it’s nice to read crisp white pages vs. brittle yellowing ones.
George Turner’s The Destiny Makers (AvoNova/Morrow, 1993). Years ago, a friend of mine—who coincidentally shares the same last name as this Australian author—gave me a couple of George Turner paperbacks. I can’t remember if I’ve read them, but when I come across hardcover editions of his books I feel compelled to buy them, as I rarely see books by this author in my area. Turner died a few years ago. His stories are focused on eco-disasters, but I’ll probably try to read this one some day, and maybe I’ll find his other books at some point.
