An Unexpected Glimpse into Irish Book Buying Habbits

The fact that I'm operating this blog renders the following statement redundant but, I am an avid reader of books. As such, I regularly pre-order titles that pique my interest ahead of time. This in itself doesn't warrant a post, but in recent weeks something has been happening that caught me by surprise. February has seen a number of books released that are of interest to me, and of course I pre-ordered them all in anticipation.

The first of these books to release was Stars Above, a collection of stories set in Marissa Meyer’s wonderful Lunar Chronicles universe. Upon popping into my local book store to get my pre-order, I received a trade paperback copy of the book, rather than the hardback that I had anticipated. Having already gotten the previous volumes in the series in paperback, this didn't cause me any due concern. However, two further pre-orders that I picked up today were in the same format.

I enquired with the manager of the store, and she informed me that this was something that was becoming more and more common in Ireland (specifically in the Republic.) From what I gathered, Ireland has never been strong on the uptake of hardback editions and as a result the store’s systems, upon receiving a pre-order by title or author, process the request as a paperback rather than as a hardback.

For many this won’t be an issue, trade paperbacks generally price somewhere between mass market paperbacks and hardbacks, offering a more resilient edition than the former, while being lighter, and cheaper than the latter. And as I've stated before, these books were thankfully additions to series’ in which I already owned paperback copies of previous entries. I doubt I would have been quite so happy had this not been the case. 

My SF Masterworks Project

Over the decade encompassing 1999-2009 Victor Gollancz Ltd. published a wonderful, numbered collection of 73 classic Science-Fiction novels as part of their SF Masterworks series. For me this series provided a gateway into the amazing worlds and futures created by the brilliant minds of the genre. It was with no little sadness then, that I learned of the impending discontinuation of the series sometime before Gollancz ceased publication of the series (It would be rebranded in 2010 with different titles and colouring.)

By the time the books began to disappear from bookshops I had collected 53 of the 73 titles available, and had always planned to complete the collection at a future date. Now, with 2016 in its infancy, I’ve decided to follow my dream and collect the remaining books from the SF Masterworks series. Just this week the latest book for my collection arrived after I found a listing for it on eBay. The First Men in the Moon (SF Masterworks #38) by H.G. Wells has become the 54^th title to be added to my collection; hopefully it will be followed by others soon enough.

A list of the remaining titles I need;

#09 Gateway by Frederik Pohl

#10 The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith

#17 The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard

#24 The Time Machine & The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

#30 A Case of Conscience by James Blish

#31 The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison

#37 Nova by Samuel R. Delany

#41 Jem by Frederik Pohl

#45 The Complete Roderick by John Sladek

#47 The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

#49 A Fall of Moondust by Arthur. C. Clarke

#53 The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock

#59 Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg

#61 The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman

#64 Tau Zero by Poul Anderson

#66 Life During Wartime by Lucius Shepard

#67 Where the Sweet Birds Sing by Kate Wilhelm

#69 Dark Benediction by Walter M. Miller Jr.

#73 The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick