That Corum book set is gorgeous. I can sympathize with the TBR thing; it will easily outlive us all. These videos are so enjoyable, and I look forward to watching you talk about books. Wishing you good health in the new year, and I eagerly anticipate the good stuff you'll be sharing.
Your generosity again brings a warm glow to the channel support fund, thank you. I'm determined to finish my TBR before I shuffle off the coil- I'll be employing a 'no books' catchup period for a year or two when I retire and catch up with the backlog. I will be sharing many things....
Nice to see you. Happy New Year. Arthur C Clarke's The City and the Stars I read last year and is a very fine novel. The idea in Vicinity Cluster of settlers losing culture as they advance further reflects the Polynesian expansion into the Pacific, the further they got the more the left behind of their original tech. Sounds great TY.
Great video as always. Once again you seem to be spying on my life - I bought that same Corum box set a few weeks ago! Just wish I was able to keep up with your bookbuying as both my budget and my location preclude spending that much on old books. I least I can get new stuff from work.
The author who you mentioned while discussion the du Maurier book was Frank Baker. He wrote a book called The Birds that bears many resemblances to Hitchcock's film and du Maurier's story, except that there is much more of the supernatural involved. Baker is sadly forgotten by all but connoisseurs of the weird, but in addition to The Birds I highly recommend his books Miss Hargreaves and the masterful ghost novel Before I Go Hence. He was a friend of and aged Arthur Machen and wrote about their friendship in his autobiography, I Follow But Myself -- interesting in itself given that he tells his story through the lives of a handful of influential people who he knew.
Steve, I love your channel for many reasons- your breadth of knowledge, passionate championing authors, and sharing occasionally cranky opinions, etc.- but then it comes to Arthur C. Clarke, and we are so very opposite! Ha! The omnibus appears to be in fantastic condition and I am envious. Funnily, of the four novels included The City and the Stars ties with Deep Range as my least favorite. Shocking! I finally read and enjoyed, for what it was, A Fall of Moondust. Its speculations were quickly dated, and some of its characters are a bit dodgy, but it had better characterization than the normal Clarke novel. As for Rendezvous with Rama, while an at times tedious book, it does occasionally touch the mysterium tremendum of A Space Odyssey. Heck, I managed to mine the one semi-religious character from Rama and spin it into a chapter for an academic anthology on religion in science fiction. Keep up the fantastic work!
Many thanks. I think the odd cranky opinion is helpful- there's way too much consensus these days and not enough people are brave to step away from it- and of course some are actively aggressive when you do (not yourself, natch). I'll be reviewing 'City' here later this year. Thanks for watching!
I'm *loving* the return of the 'mood lighting', (except you're better at lighting now so it really works.) It has a real "outlaw / underground" feel. Were Chinese restaurants over there lit like that in the 60s too? Ahh, Atmosphere. . .
2023 was the year of Bob Shaw for me and I suspect 2024 will be Thomas M. Disch. Already read two Disch novels and have another 5 books on my shelves. Looking forward to your thoughts on Disch this year!
Bob is a great write to focus on, in his own way totally unique- wonderful blend of Hard SF, literary quality and suspense, shot through with sterling characterisation. The harder end of the genre needs more like him. Reading some TD at the moment, I've neglected him in recent years and am remedying that next few months, so watch this space! Great to hear from you Richard.
Hi Steve, thanks for another informative video. Not much to say, except I have fond memories of The City and the Stars. It was one of only 3 Clarke's I kept when I had my purge. The other two were 2001 A Space Odyssey and The Songs of Distant Earth, which I kept because of the Mike Oldfield association. I recently added The Sands of Mars to my collection, but that book was really seminal in my SF reading career. I'm really not sure I'd actually be able to read it now, but I'll give it a go. Other Clarke's I have fond feelings for are Childhood's End, Glide Path, The Deep Range and Rendezvous with Rama, so take that for what it's worth. Why I didn't keep these I don't know, CE and DR were Pan lozenges and Glide Path was a very nice NEL edition, which is probably irreplaceable. Clarke was the first author I fixated on, so my critical skills weren't very developed. Thanks again. :)
I have most of his books but have read only a few, as his prose displays a tin ear, I think. 'Childhood's', '2001', 'Moondust' , 'Rama' and some of the stories are the things I've read, lots of them I've DNFd. Obviously great ideas, but I first read him shortly before people like Dick, Bester and Ellison, who were flashing rapiers of wordery by comparison. I remain fond of collecting his books though...
Re:' The City and the Stars' I believe there is a shorter, earlier version which might be worth reading first? 'Against the Fall of Night' possibly which was a shared novella with 'The Lion of Commere' or summat like that.
That's a can of worms. Look at my videos in this playlist, some of whom are related to Symbolism, some not, but all are avant-garde: th-cam.com/play/PLClUjyQA4BcZrCbkUuaMutAZy3tSn3rrz.html
Hi Steve Happy New Year from NZ, My favourite content for 2023, thanks for all the info and musings. City and The Stars is one of my favourite Clarke reads, followed closely by Childhood's End. Thanks again for your knowledge I scored Heinlein's No Time For Love last week as part of a great haul, that will be my next read, drawn to it for some reason. Currently finishing Left Hand of Darkness which has been a great read and surprising.
Returns of the year back at ya, too. Gratified you are digging the channel. 'Childhood's' is one of the Clarkes I like, I often find him unreadable but collect them anyway for nostalgia reasons. 'Time Enough For Love' I'm struggling to find in the edition I want - in tip top condition that is (NEL). 'Left Hand' is amazing, a unique book, love it.
The corum books were my introduction to moorcock so I have a soft spot for them . Those covers are fantastic it’s what made me pick them up in the first place 79 how time flies . Tom disch I will be reading more of also. I ordered a copy of echo round his bones from wob and on wings of song arrived instead couldn’t be bothered to complain as it was a lovely copy and I’m collecting all his books anyway so anything you do on him will be appreciated. Great video.
ALWAYS complain at those companies; incompetence and neglect is part of their business model did they use to put real bookstores with caring booksellers out of business! If they f up, you should stand up for yourself (and by proxy other customers) or they'll never tighten their game.
@@waltera13 yes I agree sometimes they’re incompetents is extremely frustrating . I much prefer going to a bookshop but sometimes you just can’t get these books any other way . Only had a couple of mistakes to be fair they did send me a hardback instead of a paperback so it’s swings and roundabouts sometimes cheers Walter
@@themojocorpse1290 Hello! I don't want you to think me arguing with you, but I fear you misunderstand me. Rather than feed a fire, I'll drop it and say "be well."
Yes, another commenter has already reminded me it was Baker, but I don't think Hitchcock mixed anything up- he'd had a massive success with Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' twenty years earlier so would have kept an eye on her output.
Zelazny's Amber books are less of a series and more of a single narrative with arbitrary stopping points. At least, that's how it appeared to me, having read the Corwin Cycle over the last couple months. Each "novel" just kind of stopped, and the next one picked up where the last one left off. The middle drags a little (or a lot, your milage may vary). But what a delight to discover. The "walking shadows" concept is one of the coolest, most psychedelic plays on magic that I've ever read. Great characters too.
I don't think that makes them any less a series-yes, they are less 'planned' in that sense, but that's part of Zelazny's astringent, vinegary charm I'd say. There are too many of them, which is why I'll never bother going after the sixth to tenth in hardcover- reading some of them in an omnibus was enough for me.
Off-subject but, I'm liking that Shakespeare tee shirt, OB! One of my fav books of all time is Du Maurier's House on the Strand. I own both the Gollancz and Doubleday first editions first printings in hardcover. That said, I think my new holy grail has become my TBR list. Highly sought after with best intentions, but never realized. Oye. Enjoyed this one as I do all your posts! Cheers.
My mother bought that T in Stratford Upon Avon and I must say I love it. I'm wearing it a lot -"Will Power" LOL. 'Strand' is the timeslip standard, I feel!
Hi. Happy New Year to you. I keep wondering if you've read any Kenji Siratori (eg. Blood Electric)? I understand that a grounding in Burroughs' cut-ups is really useful in digging it, man.. If so, please review. All the best for the new year.
Can't say I have, though I know the name. A grounding in Burroughs' cut up/fold in literary collage techniques is important in understanding much New Wave SF and Modernism in general- check out my William S Burroughs videos here...
i like your eclectic reviews. i like the fearless negative review. you could say nothing , but i respect the negative review. i have a proposal for you review TH-cam authors - my new favorite is P E Rowe high quality and very prolific 50 videos his first year. He also narrates his own work well . He does have some books Misfits is one which is 16 of the episodes basically extracted from his whole universe . He also does his own thumbnails they are decent art imo. Also my new favorite TH-cam narrator. is The Bloody Bookmarker aka sonny Burton he is also super new and is doing an amazing job re narrating the already good narration of the 'Red Riding' series,, but his version is even better.
Thanks for your kind words but I am very, very unlikely to review 'TH-cam authors'. I'm simply too busy reading and re-reading books published in the professional, traditional way- this may seem anti-innovative, but a life in books has quite honestly strongly inclined me to this POV. You may want to watch my video on self-publishing in this context. Thanks for the tips though.
I'm on Day 3 of a self-imposed book buying ban. It's fine, i can handle it. Bites nails... I recently got In Ascension in hardback, looking forward to giving it a bash at some point. 👍
Be interested to see what you think. As I said, I find myself circling back to his second book. I am fascinated to see what he does next- he'll either split entirely away from SF or go more full-blown, I suspect.
Something I've been meaning to ask (hope you're recuperating) -- how many SF Masterworks are influenced by your 100 Must Read SF Books book? How many of your recommendations are part of that list? (See you soon..)
I don't think my book pushed anything into Masterworks, though I can't be sure, but as mine was published in 2006 and Masterworks got going in the 1990s its unlikely. How many of my recommendations are in Masterworks? Never counted, but lots of them. The fact is that the Canon of Modern Genre SF (and I mean 'Modern' not Contemporary) has been built up and discussed by loads of critics from the dawn of Genre SF in 1925 up until now. I'd say David Pringle's book is the most influential in a 'list' form - though of course in my and David's books the list itself is far less important than why the books are included- in mine they are there not because they are 'Best' but because to get an overview of the genres history and themes they are 'must reads' as they compliment each other. Were I doing a 'Best' or 'Top' or 'Favourite', the book would have been very different....
I was wondering if you could do a video one day talking us through some of the different SF genres, such as "Cli-Fi and any other obscure genres that most people including me will be unfamiliar with. I'm kind of looking for something different and hoping one day the next new wave might come along. Things are getting rather stale now!
Maybe- but these are Subgenres, not genres and I think there are basically too many of them being talked up now as if they are solid things- for example, 'Cli Fi' is a very recent usages and yet SF that has addressed these issues is nothing new. I'll probably do a mythbusting one, as I generally thinking this kind of fetishizing of subgenres goes too far- for example, ther5e are only a handful of 'real' Cyberpunk and Steampunk books/writers. I was at a convention a few years back and got very peeved with some of the writers there going on about their mash-ups of different subgenres, which for me only showed how unoriginal they were...watch this space!
I liked Rama. Probably because it was a complete unknown to me. Picked it up at a charity shop. Apart from the usual awful characterisation I enjoyed the "big dumb object" story. I read the sequels too. Ugh total drivel. Had time on my hands. I hear Denis Villeneuve has it in sights for a movie. That would be fun.
Well, that's why sequels are so often to be avoided- especially if they appeared after 1980: they are written and published almost entirely for commercial reasons really.
I was surprised when you mentioned that the famous Du Maurier novella - The Birds - may have been influenced by an earlier novel carrying the same title......do you recall the name of author of that novel?
Thanks Steve, yes, I'm looking forward to some more Moorcock coverage on your channel 👍
Watch this space, my friend!
That Corum book set is gorgeous. I can sympathize with the TBR thing; it will easily outlive us all. These videos are so enjoyable, and I look forward to watching you talk about books. Wishing you good health in the new year, and I eagerly anticipate the good stuff you'll be sharing.
Your generosity again brings a warm glow to the channel support fund, thank you. I'm determined to finish my TBR before I shuffle off the coil- I'll be employing a 'no books' catchup period for a year or two when I retire and catch up with the backlog. I will be sharing many things....
Nice to see you. Happy New Year. Arthur C Clarke's The City and the Stars I read last year and is a very fine novel. The idea in Vicinity Cluster of settlers losing culture as they advance further reflects the Polynesian expansion into the Pacific, the further they got the more the left behind of their original tech. Sounds great TY.
If you want to read an SF novel partially set in Polynesia, watch my 'SF to read in Summer' video where I talk about Garry Kilworth's work.
More greatness from the best book channel on TH-cam, cheers Stephen.
Great video as always. Once again you seem to be spying on my life - I bought that same Corum box set a few weeks ago! Just wish I was able to keep up with your bookbuying as both my budget and my location preclude spending that much on old books. I least I can get new stuff from work.
The author who you mentioned while discussion the du Maurier book was Frank Baker. He wrote a book called The Birds that bears many resemblances to Hitchcock's film and du Maurier's story, except that there is much more of the supernatural involved. Baker is sadly forgotten by all but connoisseurs of the weird, but in addition to The Birds I highly recommend his books Miss Hargreaves and the masterful ghost novel Before I Go Hence. He was a friend of and aged Arthur Machen and wrote about their friendship in his autobiography, I Follow But Myself -- interesting in itself given that he tells his story through the lives of a handful of influential people who he knew.
Thanks again for this, couldn't recall his name, but strikingly similar as you say.
Love the reference to Alternative TV How Much Longer - that brought back some memories 😎
Yes, still a favourite 7"!
Steve, I love your channel for many reasons- your breadth of knowledge, passionate championing authors, and sharing occasionally cranky opinions, etc.- but then it comes to Arthur C. Clarke, and we are so very opposite! Ha! The omnibus appears to be in fantastic condition and I am envious. Funnily, of the four novels included The City and the Stars ties with Deep Range as my least favorite. Shocking! I finally read and enjoyed, for what it was, A Fall of Moondust. Its speculations were quickly dated, and some of its characters are a bit dodgy, but it had better characterization than the normal Clarke novel. As for Rendezvous with Rama, while an at times tedious book, it does occasionally touch the mysterium tremendum of A Space Odyssey. Heck, I managed to mine the one semi-religious character from Rama and spin it into a chapter for an academic anthology on religion in science fiction. Keep up the fantastic work!
Many thanks. I think the odd cranky opinion is helpful- there's way too much consensus these days and not enough people are brave to step away from it- and of course some are actively aggressive when you do (not yourself, natch). I'll be reviewing 'City' here later this year. Thanks for watching!
I'm *loving* the return of the 'mood lighting', (except you're better at lighting now so it really works.) It has a real "outlaw / underground" feel. Were Chinese restaurants over there lit like that in the 60s too?
Ahh, Atmosphere. . .
Thanks Walter, I do like messing about with such things....
@@outlawbookselleroriginal BTW -
1) I feel your collector's pain.
2) I *love* that bizarro 4 out of 6 book collectors' box 'O Morrcock.
2023 was the year of Bob Shaw for me and I suspect 2024 will be Thomas M. Disch. Already read two Disch novels and have another 5 books on my shelves. Looking forward to your thoughts on Disch this year!
I just finished reading Night Walk by Shaw, which is really good. I'll be reading more Shaw and Disch this year.
Bob is a great write to focus on, in his own way totally unique- wonderful blend of Hard SF, literary quality and suspense, shot through with sterling characterisation. The harder end of the genre needs more like him. Reading some TD at the moment, I've neglected him in recent years and am remedying that next few months, so watch this space! Great to hear from you Richard.
'Night Walk' -such fun, so clever!
Hi Steve, thanks for another informative video.
Not much to say, except I have fond memories of The City and the Stars. It was one of only 3 Clarke's I kept when I had my purge. The other two were 2001 A Space Odyssey and The Songs of Distant Earth, which I kept because of the Mike Oldfield association. I recently added The Sands of Mars to my collection, but that book was really seminal in my SF reading career. I'm really not sure I'd actually be able to read it now, but I'll give it a go.
Other Clarke's I have fond feelings for are Childhood's End, Glide Path, The Deep Range and Rendezvous with Rama, so take that for what it's worth. Why I didn't keep these I don't know, CE and DR were Pan lozenges and Glide Path was a very nice NEL edition, which is probably irreplaceable. Clarke was the first author I fixated on, so my critical skills weren't very developed.
Thanks again. :)
I have most of his books but have read only a few, as his prose displays a tin ear, I think. 'Childhood's', '2001', 'Moondust' , 'Rama' and some of the stories are the things I've read, lots of them I've DNFd. Obviously great ideas, but I first read him shortly before people like Dick, Bester and Ellison, who were flashing rapiers of wordery by comparison. I remain fond of collecting his books though...
Re:' The City and the Stars'
I believe there is a shorter, earlier version which might be worth reading first?
'Against the Fall of Night' possibly which was a shared novella with 'The Lion of Commere' or summat like that.
Yes, 'Against' is the original short version.
I've always liked Piers Anthony's ideas more than the actual books. The Incarnations of Immortality series sticks in my memory.
I'd agree with that!
Great stuff! Would like to hear more about the french symbolists you mentioned.
That's a can of worms. Look at my videos in this playlist, some of whom are related to Symbolism, some not, but all are avant-garde: th-cam.com/play/PLClUjyQA4BcZrCbkUuaMutAZy3tSn3rrz.html
great thanks again @@outlawbookselleroriginal !
Hi Steve Happy New Year from NZ,
My favourite content for 2023, thanks for all the info and musings. City and The Stars is one of my favourite Clarke reads, followed closely by Childhood's End.
Thanks again for your knowledge I scored Heinlein's No Time For Love last week as part of a great haul, that will be my next read, drawn to it for some reason. Currently finishing Left Hand of Darkness which has been a great read and surprising.
Returns of the year back at ya, too. Gratified you are digging the channel. 'Childhood's' is one of the Clarkes I like, I often find him unreadable but collect them anyway for nostalgia reasons. 'Time Enough For Love' I'm struggling to find in the edition I want - in tip top condition that is (NEL). 'Left Hand' is amazing, a unique book, love it.
The corum books were my introduction to moorcock so I have a soft spot for them . Those covers are fantastic it’s what made me pick them up in the first place 79 how time flies . Tom disch I will be reading more of also. I ordered a copy of echo round his bones from wob and on wings of song arrived instead couldn’t be bothered to complain as it was a lovely copy and I’m collecting all his books anyway so anything you do on him will be appreciated. Great video.
Lots of Moorcock and Disch coming over the next month or so. 'Echo' is underrated, I feel.
ALWAYS complain at those companies; incompetence and neglect is part of their business model did they use to put real bookstores with caring booksellers out of business! If they f up, you should stand up for yourself (and by proxy other customers) or they'll never tighten their game.
@@waltera13 yes I agree sometimes they’re incompetents is extremely frustrating . I much prefer going to a bookshop but sometimes you just can’t get these books any other way . Only had a couple of mistakes to be fair they did send me a hardback instead of a paperback so it’s swings and roundabouts sometimes cheers Walter
@@themojocorpse1290 Hello!
I don't want you to think me arguing with you, but I fear you misunderstand me. Rather than feed a fire, I'll drop it and say "be well."
"My TBR is ridiculous" -- join the club 😂
A common problem, it seems.
Frank Baker wrote the first Birds and I strongly suspect that Hitchcock read that version and a mixup followed
Yes, another commenter has already reminded me it was Baker, but I don't think Hitchcock mixed anything up- he'd had a massive success with Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' twenty years earlier so would have kept an eye on her output.
Zelazny's Amber books are less of a series and more of a single narrative with arbitrary stopping points. At least, that's how it appeared to me, having read the Corwin Cycle over the last couple months. Each "novel" just kind of stopped, and the next one picked up where the last one left off. The middle drags a little (or a lot, your milage may vary).
But what a delight to discover. The "walking shadows" concept is one of the coolest, most psychedelic plays on magic that I've ever read. Great characters too.
I don't think that makes them any less a series-yes, they are less 'planned' in that sense, but that's part of Zelazny's astringent, vinegary charm I'd say. There are too many of them, which is why I'll never bother going after the sixth to tenth in hardcover- reading some of them in an omnibus was enough for me.
Another great video Dad! 🎉
Copy that!
Off-subject but, I'm liking that Shakespeare tee shirt, OB! One of my fav books of all time is Du Maurier's House on the Strand. I own both the Gollancz and Doubleday first editions first printings in hardcover. That said, I think my new holy grail has become my TBR list. Highly sought after with best intentions, but never realized. Oye. Enjoyed this one as I do all your posts! Cheers.
My mother bought that T in Stratford Upon Avon and I must say I love it. I'm wearing it a lot -"Will Power" LOL. 'Strand' is the timeslip standard, I feel!
The last Piers Anthony I read was 'The Magic Fart'. Didn't manage to finish it...
Understandable!
Hi. Happy New Year to you. I keep wondering if you've read any Kenji Siratori (eg. Blood Electric)? I understand that a grounding in Burroughs' cut-ups is really useful in digging it, man.. If so, please review. All the best for the new year.
Can't say I have, though I know the name. A grounding in Burroughs' cut up/fold in literary collage techniques is important in understanding much New Wave SF and Modernism in general- check out my William S Burroughs videos here...
Just bought Hawkwind - Palace Springs off the strength of your amazon
review!! Thanks for that!! Great album!! EDIT Sorry for going off topic!! 😂
Off topic not a problem. Let me know how you get on with PS.
I like this lighting - Moody production value.
It's a tad grainy, but fun.
i like your eclectic reviews. i like the fearless negative review. you could say nothing , but i respect the negative review. i have a proposal for you review TH-cam authors - my new favorite is P E Rowe high quality and very prolific 50 videos his first year. He also narrates his own work well . He does have some books Misfits is one which is 16 of the episodes basically extracted from his whole universe . He also does his own thumbnails they are decent art imo. Also my new favorite TH-cam narrator. is The Bloody Bookmarker aka sonny Burton he is also super new and is doing an amazing job re narrating the already good narration of the 'Red Riding' series,, but his version is even better.
Thanks for your kind words but I am very, very unlikely to review 'TH-cam authors'. I'm simply too busy reading and re-reading books published in the professional, traditional way- this may seem anti-innovative, but a life in books has quite honestly strongly inclined me to this POV. You may want to watch my video on self-publishing in this context. Thanks for the tips though.
I'm on Day 3 of a self-imposed book buying ban. It's fine, i can handle it. Bites nails...
I recently got In Ascension in hardback, looking forward to giving it a bash at some point. 👍
Be interested to see what you think. As I said, I find myself circling back to his second book. I am fascinated to see what he does next- he'll either split entirely away from SF or go more full-blown, I suspect.
Something I've been meaning to ask (hope you're recuperating) -- how many SF Masterworks are influenced by your 100 Must Read SF Books book? How many of your recommendations are part of that list? (See you soon..)
I don't think my book pushed anything into Masterworks, though I can't be sure, but as mine was published in 2006 and Masterworks got going in the 1990s its unlikely. How many of my recommendations are in Masterworks? Never counted, but lots of them. The fact is that the Canon of Modern Genre SF (and I mean 'Modern' not Contemporary) has been built up and discussed by loads of critics from the dawn of Genre SF in 1925 up until now. I'd say David Pringle's book is the most influential in a 'list' form - though of course in my and David's books the list itself is far less important than why the books are included- in mine they are there not because they are 'Best' but because to get an overview of the genres history and themes they are 'must reads' as they compliment each other. Were I doing a 'Best' or 'Top' or 'Favourite', the book would have been very different....
Thanks for your lengthy informative reply.. I hadn't considered the dates - I'd assumed yours came out late80s/early90s (laffs)
I was wondering if you could do a video one day talking us through some of the different SF genres, such as "Cli-Fi and any other obscure genres that most people including me will be unfamiliar with. I'm kind of looking for something different and hoping one day the next new wave might come along. Things are getting rather stale now!
Maybe- but these are Subgenres, not genres and I think there are basically too many of them being talked up now as if they are solid things- for example, 'Cli Fi' is a very recent usages and yet SF that has addressed these issues is nothing new. I'll probably do a mythbusting one, as I generally thinking this kind of fetishizing of subgenres goes too far- for example, ther5e are only a handful of 'real' Cyberpunk and Steampunk books/writers. I was at a convention a few years back and got very peeved with some of the writers there going on about their mash-ups of different subgenres, which for me only showed how unoriginal they were...watch this space!
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes, I wasn't clear. I did mean "subgenres." Thanks for the reply.
I liked Rama. Probably because it was a complete unknown to me. Picked it up at a charity shop. Apart from the usual awful characterisation I enjoyed the "big dumb object" story. I read the sequels too. Ugh total drivel. Had time on my hands. I hear Denis Villeneuve has it in sights for a movie. That would be fun.
Well, that's why sequels are so often to be avoided- especially if they appeared after 1980: they are written and published almost entirely for commercial reasons really.
I was surprised when you mentioned that the famous Du Maurier novella - The Birds - may have been influenced by an earlier novel carrying the same title......do you recall the name of author of that novel?
See my comment earlier in the thread
Thanks for that, saved me looking it up....
Thanks!
V kind! Contribs like these help the channel keep going!