Member: andyl

Hi Andy,

Belated thanks for getting the BSFA Postscript Sampler entries combined. Strictly speaking (using library cataloguing rules) your entry (without Pete Crowther as the author) was correct. However, common practice here seems to count editors/compilers of collections/magazine issues as 'authors'. I assume this is because LT operates on the common assumption that everything is a 'book' with an 'author', which does make things simpler.

PS have you noticed that LT has added a whole raft of non-US sources for book records, with quite a few (BL, NLS Amazon UK etc) from the UK. It does make it a lot easier to get a correct record for a UK book.

Alan

posted by AlanPoulter at 5:09 pm (EST) on May 15, 2009

Andy,

We seem to have entered the same work twice, the Postscripts BSFA Sampler. Your version is at http://www.librarything.com/work/8149705..., mine at http://www.librarything.com/work/8225198. I presume one gets binned?

Alan

posted by AlanPoulter at 3:08 pm (EST) on May 6, 2009

Thanks for the response. Apparently the revised edition of The Man Who Folded Himself (published by BenBella Books in 2003) includes more current events, such as 9/11 in the United States. I'm not sure if it's just a few chapters tacked on the end, or if it is somehow integrated within the original text. I haven't actually been able to find out much about it. Cheers!

posted by PhoenixTerran at 12:26 pm (EST) on Apr 22, 2009

Hi Andy, I saw you refer to The Man Who Folded Himself in one of the Talk threads. I've not read it myself yet, but have been meaning to. I was doing some investigating and discovered that there's a revised version that came out in 2003. Do you have an opinion on which version I should track down to read?

posted by PhoenixTerran at 10:53 am (EST) on Apr 22, 2009

Andy, thanks for the heads up on the Roberts. Enclave was moderately entertaining. I suppose one would call it a kind of dystopian satire. Still, I think I wanted more from it and was somewhat disappointed.

I see Allegra Goodman's "Intuition" made the Orange Prize longlist. It's great fiction in a science setting (as opposed to SF) or as dukedom would call it "lab lit".

Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 9:15 am (EST) on Mar 22, 2009

Damn you, Andy, we are trying to cut back on books! Jones and Roberts are very tough to resist. Must check them out.

Thanks for the thumbs up on the McAuley (I've been a fan of his for quite some time). I would like to see him win a Clarke. btw, I rarely read LT reviews before I read a book; however, you are one of the few SF readers here on LT I might listen to:-)

Thanks again, Lois

posted by avaland at 3:41 pm (EST) on Nov 26, 2008

andy, did I ask you yet if you have read the latest Paul McAuley? Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 1:40 pm (EST) on Nov 26, 2008

I finally got around to fixing (and acknowledging you assistance for,) the G!G! reference to Mike Harrison on my dedications wikipage. Thanks again.

posted by justjim at 5:36 am (EST) on Sep 27, 2008

Looked you up after you disliked a cover I liked enough to post about it in the "favorite covers" thread. Of course people will like different things, particularly when it comes to art. I was amused to discover out of my 1208 listed SF books and your 2076 SF books, we only had 166 books in common minus a couple of non SF! What an opportunity to browse your rather large collection to discover some new books of interest!
Gwen

posted by GwenH at 9:30 am (EST) on Aug 17, 2008

ok..so you're legitimately awake @ 4:AM EST (NCarolina time), geing in GB an all.(unlike myself who is just a crap sleeper) Thanks again, if i bother to make tables...maybe i'll see if i can just go ahead and do that!
bob

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 4:29 am (EST) on Jun 14, 2008

Andyl, I'ev been adding some awards to the common knowledge fields. It looks like we were working our way through the same list in opposite directions. Any thought for continuity purposes: British Science Fiction Association Award vs. BSFA Award?

Looks like I've been using the long form, would you prefer I change it?

posted by thegreattim at 3:08 pm (EST) on Oct 11, 2007

Ok, cool. Was just wandering what you thought whenever you get around to reading it, as looks somewhat interesting.

posted by bluetyson at 1:15 pm (EST) on Aug 22, 2007

Hi Andy,

Are you going to get the Moorcock Interzone issue?

bt

posted by bluetyson at 6:28 am (EST) on Aug 22, 2007

Wow, we have 99% affinity. I see McAuley is a favorite of yours, although I didn't see any ratings or reviews about his works in your catalog. I haven't read him yet, but I own: Whole Wide World, Mind's Eye, and White Devils. Which should I read first?

posted by readhead at 11:57 pm (EST) on Jul 30, 2007

I admit I'm trying to cram the Roberts' novel inbetween stuff I should be reading for my classes. I'm about 2/3 the way through the book and I have to give Roberts some credit...at just about the point where Cavala's revenge mantra (and his pledge of undying love for this women) was becoming tedious, he throws in a totally bizarre (and riveting)scene inserted as a 'vision'. Certainly prevented me from dozing off:-) I thought the battlefield had an artificial feel, like it was a set and they were the actors and some of the speech is somewhat 19th century, no? Perhaps he is playing his hero in the vein of the 19th romantic heroes? I'm very much enjoying the book. It is really too bad that more readers haven't been exposed to Adam Roberts'novels. Best, Lois PS: Dukedom was home with a cold after the convention and polished off MacLeod's 'Execution Channel' and Elizabeth Hand's 'Generation Loss' - both of which he really enjoyed.

posted by avaland at 3:57 pm (EST) on Jul 18, 2007

Just got my copy of McAuley's Players, did you read it yet? If so, what did you think? Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 10:13 am (EST) on Mar 6, 2007

Yay, Kaeti and Company . It's good to see someone else track that down.

- bob

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 11:38 pm (EST) on Jan 29, 2007

Oops, thanks for that!

posted by diehardkev at 2:20 pm (EST) on Dec 28, 2006

Thanks for the help. I think I now have the books comined correctly. Of course someone will not believe me and separate them again, but I can only try.

posted by ringman at 7:10 am (EST) on Dec 21, 2006

Arrgh - mental crossed wires! Thanks for pointing this out. I've fixed it.

posted by geoffmiles at 4:55 pm (EST) on Dec 16, 2006

Hi Andyl - dunno if this interests you but I have an Excel file listing all the short story entries in my many SF magazines, anthologies and collections. It's 22,300 lines. For instance under Asimov I have Marooned Off Vesta thrice - twice in two paperbacks and once in the 1939 Amazing. It also tells you things like this was his first publication. Seeing as we have many of the same magazines, I thought you might like a copy of it.

posted by Nanaimo at 4:30 am (EST) on Sep 11, 2006

Thanks for the Grimwood suggestion Andy. Will definately have a look at that. Like your SF collection, will have a look for more ideas as well. Have you ever read any Hugh Cook stuff? I would definately advise you looking at his books. Its a bit of a cross between Pratchett and Gemmell and some of the best SF/Fantasy I have ever read. On a slightly different note I liked the way you have catalogued your journals. I think we do need a SerialsThing type site. Don't know whether you have tried http://www.citeulike.org/, its not bad for recording articles and let you link to the online version if you have access.

posted by GeoffLewis at 4:53 pm (EST) on Jul 24, 2006

Oh, hi. On the subject of duplicates -

Yes, part of it is from 'acquiring books cheaply and not being ruthless in weeding'.

More of it, though, is having variant editions -- hard- and soft- covers, British and American, ex-library copies that I keep on hand as a loaner after I find a better copy - there's really little resale value in most ex-library book,s after all) - that sort of thing; and a bit of it is overlap from annexing my wife's old sf into 'my' collection.

Some of it - say, Philip K. Dick - is from my being sentimental about ratty old paperbacks that I read as a kid, books that I've since replaced with less fragile reprints. (Sometimes the BETTER copy gets treated as the Reading Copy...).

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 6:28 pm (EST) on Jul 22, 2006

Nah, I think what matters is the original language of the text(s) not the language this collection of them was published in.

posted by Aquila at 8:05 pm (EST) on Apr 27, 2006

Thanks for cleaning up the Philip K. Dick listings.

posted by grunin at 5:06 am (EST) on Feb 25, 2006

I suppose I should use TOE in the usual physics sense as I have books on that too. So many of my evolution books however refer to "theory of evolution" though, so I'm not sure. I think some re-tagging is in order. Thanks for the comment.

posted by jamclash at 9:46 am (EST) on Oct 24, 2005

Quite a nice sf collection. Don't know if you've read it, but you might like Octavia Butler's "Kindred" too.

posted by jamclash at 1:08 am (EST) on Oct 14, 2005

Whoops! It's always when criticizing things that I make stupid mistakes. Teach me not to look it up. Thanks for the heads-up!

posted by Aquila at 4:41 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2005

I disrecommend Vurt for a couple of reasons; the sexual nastiness is secondary, but the primary one is that the central conceit of the book just didn't work for me. The idea of being able to exchange physical objects between reality and virtuality seemed ludicrous, and the only way I could reconcile it was to assume that _everything_ in the book was all virtual, something which is not even hinted at by the text. If I have to go to such lengths to make the basic premise of the book work, I'm not going to recommend it to anyone.

posted by lorax at 12:16 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2005