That Oxfam or whatever it is you keep visiting has some good stuff in it virtually every time you pop in. One phenomenon I found interesting over the years in bookselling is how sometimes authors seem more popular in some cities than others- for example, I used to sell tons of McCaffrey in Bath but couldn't shift her stuff in Bristol...which must have a weird knock-on in the secondhand side of things. Glad to see you got 'Take Back Plenty' in hardcover, never managed to find one myself in decent nick - it's a fun book. On the Adrian Tchaikovsky pricing front Solaris (?) have published around five or six of those signed limited novellas now and my take on it is that they're trying to imitate the Newcon Press/PS Publishing method inherited from the great small presses of the 1980s-who of course to put bigger prices on things as they're so small and do the real specialist stuff. For my money, they're simply not special enough and they're signed in Sharpie! When I host an author event, I simply NEVER allow this to happen, it's so cheap and tossed-off looking. The first three of those hardcover novellas have since appeared in a single paperback omnibus at around £9.99 so I suspect the others will later. Nice haul.
i think it's shameless profiteering, charging same as a full length book. It better be good, s'all I'm saying. That oxfam is a pretty good one, but there have been times i walked out with nothing, or one or two. Cheers Steve, thanks for watching 👀! PS not sure what happened to your comment re the MacLeod novella, seems to have disappeared. 🤷♂️
@@SciFiScavenger It's certainly opportunistic, I agree. Well, pride prevents me from leaving an incorrect comment of mine online- I even got the bloody title wrong, shows how unwell I am at the moment...take care, mate.
I live in Birmingham, but little SF in the Oxfam shops there, though the Oxfam in Coventry has a large SF section with great stuff. I could have got another copy of Dying Inside, or Sheckley's Dimensions of Miracles, though that wasn't in good condition. I asked them if they priced on condition; they did, but also on availability. They know their SF! I also visited a Coventry library and bought in their sale two of the Vandermeer triology and a hard back of Le Carre's Tinker Tailor, with the Russian doll on the cover. Really pleased to get that a week after getting a h/b of Smiley's People. It looks like I'll be spending more time book-hunting in Coventry. Loved that charity shop you visited.
Hi David, yes it's funny how much they vary. My local oxfam bookshops (2 of em, lucky me) generally have a flat price of 1.99 for a pb, 2.99 for a hb, sometimes 2.49. I get annoyed when charity shops behave like actual used bookshops in their pricing of less common books. Takes all the luck and joy out of it! Thanks for watching 👀!
Never even heard of John Wyndham. So many authors I never heard of. Just listen to a couple of hrs of "The Kraken Wakes" audio book. excellent so far. Thanks
Wyndham is great. Kraken is one of his big 4 novels, the others being Day of the Triffids, Chrysalids, Midwych Cuckoos, all excellent in a rather understated 1950s British way. I hear you on being ignorant of authors, i experience this frequently. Fun to find "new" authors to read. Thanks for watching 👀!
Hi Jerry, I've read Needful Things, back in the day. If i find a King hardback in good condition in a charity shop, i buy it. It'll turn up one day. Thanks for watching 👀!
It pains me to see you walk by a nice Banks (or two) in hardcover. Never have I seen a hardcover Culture novel in Niagara, nor Toronto. Colour me envious! Side note. Robert J Sawyer is criminally underrated. If ever you come across The Terminal Experiment, it’s much worth a read.
I do see the occasional Banks in the wild, not uncommon, and easy to find online (not the earlier ones, of course). I have a few Sawyer books but am yet to read any, will definitely give hime the once over. Cheers Neal, thanks for watching 👀!
Wow, that 1st edition of the Difference Engine is a great find! That book blew my mind when I read it. I wonder if your edition includes the afterword which explains a little more about what is going on. I think my best recent find in a second-hand shop was a copy of the first part of Aldiss' Helliconia - signed by the author! I done think the shop owner realised as it was going for very cheap. Also picked up Market Forces in an Oxfam recently - will definitely get to reading it soon, though I must say I was lukewarm on Altered Carbon. Great haul, great video 👍
Blimey Jon I'm bloody exhausted just watching it. Your hauls are an education to me because I've no clue about the contemporary stuff . . .HOWEVER I do know about Moderan because it is one of my favourite novels. I was willing you to buy it when you were poring over the stuff because that US edition is quite scarce. It was out of print for a long time although it's back in now. Wish I had such a well-stocked Oxfam near me. There's one about 15 miles away and it's $hit€.
Hi Kenny, I'm intrigued by Moderan, i hear good things, which often means i end up hating it. 🤷♂️ it was a good haul, a nice mix. Thanks for watching 👀!
Glad you finally picked up a Sheffield. I've checked, and found your book is sorta a sequel to the Mind Pool. (don't get the Nimrod Hunt, the author was dissatisfied with the original ending). I haven't read the Mind Pool yet, as I found Sheffield's Proteus series impenetrable to comprehend when I was younger. But I love his Great War series and the McAndrews chronicles, and he reminds me of a slightly more academic Clarke, in the McAndrews Chronicles. 😂 Currently binging on anime, and hopefully soon getting some more. 🙄 Eminence in Shadow is my latest addiction, which is frankly hilarious. 😅. Have fun gloating over your newest acquisitions. 🐶😛
The Spheres of Heaven is actually the sequel to Mind Pool, wich is revised and expanded from his earlier novel Nimrod Hunt. Same goes for Benford's The Sunborn, a sequel to his The Martian Race. Good thing is that it's very much stand alone. Mcauley's War of the Maps is pretty awesome, Austral, however, despite some nice touches, is rather mediocre. I just read his two mainstream crime novels back to back, Mind's Eye, that has some elements of sf, and Players, that is straightforward procedural, both very good. Check them out. Baxter's Anti Ice is really about the discovery of antimater. It's very good. There were a fair number of great stuff you failed to pick up - Carroll's Land of Laughs, Robert Mcammon's Wolf's Hour and They Thirst, Stephen King's brilliant and criminally underatted Needful Things... Great video.
I'm not interested in Horror as a genre, generally, but i gather the McCammons are uncommon, should have grabbed them to sell. I think I have Needful Things in hardback somewhere. I have the Benford Martian Race book, but I'll have to look out for the other Sheffield. I did notice afterwards that i passed a Michel Faber (he of Under the Skin), fortunately it was still there when I went back a week or two later. Looking forward to reading Anti-Ice now! Cheers, thanks for watching 👀!
@bookswithabel well they shouldn't be at all. It's great fun, one of my favourite sci fi series. There are those that look down on anything published after, ooh, say 1990, or that would consider it insufficiently serious, or too long, or too commercial, too successful, or any number of other picky reasons for denying themselves the enjoyment of just reading a good yarn. Thanks for watching 👀!
It’s obvious that I was born in the wrong country. Here, we don’t have so many used book stores, and when you find one, it has usually german classics only. So I have to to rely on WoB and Amazon and eBay and the sometimes ridiculously high shipping costs. But it is what it is. … SNOW CRASH is an amazing book. It’s one of most interesting and thought provoking conspiracy theories, disguised as a Cyberpunk story that was the basis and inspiration for many novels and games even decades later. The aptly named Hero Protagonist is a sword wielding street samurai, hacker and occasionally pizza delivery guy. I love that book so much.
@DieMeiseWasabi - I´m constantly thinking the same when I watch Jon´s videos. It´s depressing to see all those amazing used books shelves. Something that also annoys me really by now is that you often had plenty of defective copy sci fi books in bargain tables in supermarkets and similar stores. And the amount of SF/F has diminished over the years considerably - I haven´t found any this year so far. Another thing that hit´s me increasingly is that a lot of good stuff has either never translated or has been translated or has given weird names and very strange back cover summaries. So much, that I several times missed out good books because the summaries told something totally different of what I heard about the English originals. It´s really sad.
@@ronin47-ThorstenFrank So true. When I was a teenager, we did a lot of book hunting after school, and we usually found 2 or 3 gems in the wild … and that was in a small town. But those days are gone. And I have the same mixed feelings about German versions. They are probably a bit easier to read, but the more originals I read, the more it occurred to me that it’s basically like watching a cover band. And yes, sometimes you don’t have a clue what book you are holding in your hands. Same goes for series that weren’t continued after 2 or 3 books. …. It’s really depressing, but I’m happy there is at least the possibility to get some of those gems online. I snatched a beautiful hardcover edition of ANGEL STATION a while ago, for instance. I grew up in the GDR, so I know the feeling that most of the good stuff is not only hard to get, but downright impossible to get.
If not for Neuromancer Snow Crash would be THE cyberpunk book. I read Kethani a long time ago, one of my favorite reads. I just finished The Mercy of Gods and it is tied for my favorite of the year. I have Anti-Ice on my TBR, but it's a long way off.
22:39 The McCammon's are really rare/valuable
If they're still there next time I go i may grab them to sell on. Didn't appeal to me at all....cheers!
That Oxfam or whatever it is you keep visiting has some good stuff in it virtually every time you pop in. One phenomenon I found interesting over the years in bookselling is how sometimes authors seem more popular in some cities than others- for example, I used to sell tons of McCaffrey in Bath but couldn't shift her stuff in Bristol...which must have a weird knock-on in the secondhand side of things. Glad to see you got 'Take Back Plenty' in hardcover, never managed to find one myself in decent nick - it's a fun book. On the Adrian Tchaikovsky pricing front Solaris (?) have published around five or six of those signed limited novellas now and my take on it is that they're trying to imitate the Newcon Press/PS Publishing method inherited from the great small presses of the 1980s-who of course to put bigger prices on things as they're so small and do the real specialist stuff. For my money, they're simply not special enough and they're signed in Sharpie! When I host an author event, I simply NEVER allow this to happen, it's so cheap and tossed-off looking. The first three of those hardcover novellas have since appeared in a single paperback omnibus at around £9.99 so I suspect the others will later. Nice haul.
i think it's shameless profiteering, charging same as a full length book. It better be good, s'all I'm saying. That oxfam is a pretty good one, but there have been times i walked out with nothing, or one or two. Cheers Steve, thanks for watching 👀!
PS not sure what happened to your comment re the MacLeod novella, seems to have disappeared. 🤷♂️
@@SciFiScavenger It's certainly opportunistic, I agree. Well, pride prevents me from leaving an incorrect comment of mine online- I even got the bloody title wrong, shows how unwell I am at the moment...take care, mate.
Ah, wondered if that might have been the case. Take care Steve.
Got a good laugh out of the John Barnes bit.
@@SciFiFinds excellent, glad someone did!
I live in Birmingham, but little SF in the Oxfam shops there, though the Oxfam in Coventry has a large SF section with great stuff. I could have got another copy of Dying Inside, or Sheckley's Dimensions of Miracles, though that wasn't in good condition. I asked them if they priced on condition; they did, but also on availability. They know their SF! I also visited a Coventry library and bought in their sale two of the Vandermeer triology and a hard back of Le Carre's Tinker Tailor, with the Russian doll on the cover. Really pleased to get that a week after getting a h/b of Smiley's People. It looks like I'll be spending more time book-hunting in Coventry. Loved that charity shop you visited.
Hi David, yes it's funny how much they vary. My local oxfam bookshops (2 of em, lucky me) generally have a flat price of 1.99 for a pb, 2.99 for a hb, sometimes 2.49. I get annoyed when charity shops behave like actual used bookshops in their pricing of less common books. Takes all the luck and joy out of it! Thanks for watching 👀!
Well done on your finds, btw. I think I have that tinker tailor edition too.
Moderan by David R. Bunch is in the Bookpilled current Top 5 video.
Yes, I'll probably hate it! 😀
Never even heard of John Wyndham. So many authors I never heard of.
Just listen to a couple of hrs of "The Kraken Wakes" audio book. excellent so far.
Thanks
Wyndham is great. Kraken is one of his big 4 novels, the others being Day of the Triffids, Chrysalids, Midwych Cuckoos, all excellent in a rather understated 1950s British way. I hear you on being ignorant of authors, i experience this frequently. Fun to find "new" authors to read. Thanks for watching 👀!
Looking forward to hearing more about the Leeshore!
If you get a chance to go back there, you should grab "Needful Things" by Stephen King.
Hi Jerry, I've read Needful Things, back in the day. If i find a King hardback in good condition in a charity shop, i buy it. It'll turn up one day. Thanks for watching 👀!
It pains me to see you walk by a nice Banks (or two) in hardcover. Never have I seen a hardcover Culture novel in Niagara, nor Toronto. Colour me envious!
Side note. Robert J Sawyer is criminally underrated. If ever you come across The Terminal Experiment, it’s much worth a read.
I do see the occasional Banks in the wild, not uncommon, and easy to find online (not the earlier ones, of course). I have a few Sawyer books but am yet to read any, will definitely give hime the once over. Cheers Neal, thanks for watching 👀!
Wow, that 1st edition of the Difference Engine is a great find! That book blew my mind when I read it. I wonder if your edition includes the afterword which explains a little more about what is going on.
I think my best recent find in a second-hand shop was a copy of the first part of Aldiss' Helliconia - signed by the author! I done think the shop owner realised as it was going for very cheap.
Also picked up Market Forces in an Oxfam recently - will definitely get to reading it soon, though I must say I was lukewarm on Altered Carbon.
Great haul, great video 👍
Nice find on Helliconia! I have the three 1sts in hardback, but not signed, had to hunt them down online. Thanks for watching 👀!
Blimey Jon I'm bloody exhausted just watching it. Your hauls are an education to me because I've no clue about the contemporary stuff . . .HOWEVER I do know about Moderan because it is one of my favourite novels. I was willing you to buy it when you were poring over the stuff because that US edition is quite scarce. It was out of print for a long time although it's back in now.
Wish I had such a well-stocked Oxfam near me. There's one about 15 miles away and it's $hit€.
Hi Kenny, I'm intrigued by Moderan, i hear good things, which often means i end up hating it. 🤷♂️ it was a good haul, a nice mix. Thanks for watching 👀!
Glad you finally picked up a Sheffield. I've checked, and found your book is sorta a sequel to the Mind Pool. (don't get the Nimrod Hunt, the author was dissatisfied with the original ending). I haven't read the Mind Pool yet, as I found Sheffield's Proteus series impenetrable to comprehend when I was younger. But I love his Great War series and the McAndrews chronicles, and he reminds me of a slightly more academic Clarke, in the McAndrews Chronicles. 😂
Currently binging on anime, and hopefully soon getting some more. 🙄 Eminence in Shadow is my latest addiction, which is frankly hilarious. 😅. Have fun gloating over your newest acquisitions. 🐶😛
Not my first Sheffield, i have a few, I think. There will be book fondling....
Cheers, thanks for watching 👀!
@@SciFiScavenger 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯. Book FONDLING?! 🫢😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣☺️🫡
Doesn't everyone fondle their books? That's a major disadvantage of e-books, of course....
Amazing haul again - can´t wait for your reviews.
Have a good week, Jon-
Thank you! You too!
Was that the Cowardly Lion singing Whitney Houston?
The music in the shop? I dunno, but it was pretty awful. Thanks for watching 👀!
Some good ones - reminder for me to reread James P Hogan books 📚
i'm looking forward to reading it. thanks for watching 👀!
The Spheres of Heaven is actually the sequel to Mind Pool, wich is revised and expanded from his earlier novel Nimrod Hunt. Same goes for Benford's The Sunborn, a sequel to his The Martian Race. Good thing is that it's very much stand alone. Mcauley's War of the Maps is pretty awesome, Austral, however, despite some nice touches, is rather mediocre. I just read his two mainstream crime novels back to back, Mind's Eye, that has some elements of sf, and Players, that is straightforward procedural, both very good. Check them out. Baxter's Anti Ice is really about the discovery of antimater. It's very good. There were a fair number of great stuff you failed to pick up - Carroll's Land of Laughs, Robert Mcammon's Wolf's Hour and They Thirst, Stephen King's brilliant and criminally underatted Needful Things...
Great video.
I'm not interested in Horror as a genre, generally, but i gather the McCammons are uncommon, should have grabbed them to sell. I think I have Needful Things in hardback somewhere. I have the Benford Martian Race book, but I'll have to look out for the other Sheffield. I did notice afterwards that i passed a Michel Faber (he of Under the Skin), fortunately it was still there when I went back a week or two later. Looking forward to reading Anti-Ice now! Cheers, thanks for watching 👀!
Honest question, why would anyone be ashamed of liking the Expanse? Does it have a bad reputation between sci-fi fans?
@bookswithabel well they shouldn't be at all. It's great fun, one of my favourite sci fi series. There are those that look down on anything published after, ooh, say 1990, or that would consider it insufficiently serious, or too long, or too commercial, too successful, or any number of other picky reasons for denying themselves the enjoyment of just reading a good yarn. Thanks for watching 👀!
@@SciFiScavenger thank you for the quick reply! And yeah, now I understand what you mean. Love your videos BTW
It’s obvious that I was born in the wrong country. Here, we don’t have so many used book stores, and when you find one, it has usually german classics only. So I have to to rely on WoB and Amazon and eBay and the sometimes ridiculously high shipping costs. But it is what it is. … SNOW CRASH is an amazing book. It’s one of most interesting and thought provoking conspiracy theories, disguised as a Cyberpunk story that was the basis and inspiration for many novels and games even decades later. The aptly named Hero Protagonist is a sword wielding street samurai, hacker and occasionally pizza delivery guy. I love that book so much.
I generally like Stephenson's books so I look forward to Snow Crash. Just need to climb Mount TBR! Cheers Michael, thanks for watching 👀!
@DieMeiseWasabi - I´m constantly thinking the same when I watch Jon´s videos. It´s depressing to see all those amazing used books shelves.
Something that also annoys me really by now is that you often had plenty of defective copy sci fi books in bargain tables in supermarkets and similar stores. And the amount of SF/F has diminished over the years considerably - I haven´t found any this year so far.
Another thing that hit´s me increasingly is that a lot of good stuff has either never translated or has been translated or has given weird names and very strange back cover summaries. So much, that I several times missed out good books because the summaries told something totally different of what I heard about the English originals.
It´s really sad.
@@ronin47-ThorstenFrank So true. When I was a teenager, we did a lot of book hunting after school, and we usually found 2 or 3 gems in the wild … and that was in a small town. But those days are gone. And I have the same mixed feelings about German versions. They are probably a bit easier to read, but the more originals I read, the more it occurred to me that it’s basically like watching a cover band. And yes, sometimes you don’t have a clue what book you are holding in your hands. Same goes for series that weren’t continued after 2 or 3 books. …. It’s really depressing, but I’m happy there is at least the possibility to get some of those gems online. I snatched a beautiful hardcover edition of ANGEL STATION a while ago, for instance. I grew up in the GDR, so I know the feeling that most of the good stuff is not only hard to get, but downright impossible to get.
If not for Neuromancer Snow Crash would be THE cyberpunk book.
I read Kethani a long time ago, one of my favorite reads.
I just finished The Mercy of Gods and it is tied for my favorite of the year.
I have Anti-Ice on my TBR, but it's a long way off.
Jolly good. Anti-Ice sounds like fun. Cheers Montie, thanks for watching 👀!