'Ossian's Ride' by astronomer Fred Hoyle and 'Rogue Moon' by Algis Budrys.Every year in July, writers and readers of fiction gather for Readercon, in Burlington, MA. The conference, which has been held every summer for the past quarter century (at least), is devoted in its own words to 'imaginative literature' - literary science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the unclassifiable works often called 'slipstream.'
Among this year's panelists were Pulitzer Prize winning book critic Michael Dirda, authors such as James Morrow, Ellen Kushner, James Patrick Kelly, Michael Swanwick and Peter Straub among many others.
The program of panels is always interesting-but what draws me to conventions like this (e.g., Boskone, and Arisia in the Boston area) is the Dealer's Room-sometimes called Huckster room- which is usually set up in the largest ballrooms at the hotel.
This is where inveterate science fiction geeks like myself can mill about from table to table of independent booksellers to find out-of-print paperbacks of genre classics.
Here are just a few from one day's haul.
A lot of people don't know that the late British astronomer and proponent of the Steady-State theory, Sir Fred Hoyle, also wrote some excellent science fiction in his younger days.
I have a copy of his most famous, Black Cloud. But Ossian's Ride leapt out at me.
Then there's Algis Budrys's Rogue Moon, whose ingenious central idea, has been pilfered in derivative works in print and on screen since it first appeared.
Philip K. Dick's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, which Michael Dirda has described as the author's best novel. A Torrent of Faces, co-written by the too-soon forgotten James Blish.
And for James Bond fans, check out these two Signet paperbacks of Ian Fleming's Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me.
Among the booksellers: one of science fiction's most respected editors, David G. Hartwell of Tor|Forge Books. He stands behind his own table of books with Michael Swanwick, veteran author of some of science fiction's best short stories and novels of the past few decades.
Larry Smith and his partner Sally Kolbee specialize in the latest in science fiction and fantasy and every year bring a truly staggering number of titles to conventions all over the country.
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