Category Archives: books
A James Blish Fix-Up
After reading A.E. van Vogt’s fix-up novel Mission to the Stars, I was still in the mood for some classic science fiction, but I hoped for something of higher literary quality. Matt of Bookpilled has described James Blish as one … Continue reading
van Vogt’s Fix-Ups
In my younger days, I was an avid reader of science fiction, and long ago I documented my favorites. One Golden Age author whose name was familiar to me was A.E. van Vogt, born Alfred Vogt in a tiny Russian … Continue reading
Reading & Watching Rinehart
American mystery author Mary Roberts Rinehart was described as our version of Agatha Christie. Some years ago I read most of Christie’s 66 detective novels and various short-story collections, excepting the Tommy & Tuppence ones, and at this point I’ve … Continue reading
Bricking Books?
Back in 2008, I bought the first generation Kindle e-reader from Amazon. It was fun but somewhat awkward, with a keyboard of tiny buttons below the screen and big page turn buttons on the sides, plus an odd little scroll … Continue reading
The Rise & Fall of the Mass Market Paperback
The mass market paperback is dead. Not all paperback books, mind you, for the larger and more expensive trade paperbacks are still with us. But it shook me to realize that the pocket paperback, which was so important in my … Continue reading
Meador Manor 