My Favorite January Event!

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Everybody is already talking about next year's reading, and I can't keep up!   I'm only just starting to think about it and I don't know exactly what I'm going to change, if anything.  I've been pretty happy with my reading ambitions.   

 
 
But I do know what I'm looking forward to in January, and that's the Vintage Sci-Fi Reading Month.  I love it so, and I tend to hoard books up for it.  Just a couple of weeks ago I found two Ace Doubles and I'm saving them for a treat!  I have a decent pile right now, but I'm kind of wishing for an Andre Norton title -- I got a fun kick out of the ones I read last year.  And, my clever sister found a treasure trove of old SF/F/weirdo stuff magazines available as PDFs, so I'll be dipping into that too. (I'm always hoping to find some James Tiptree, Jr. stories to read, so that seems like a good possibility!)

My current pile has some re-reads on it, because I listened to a podcast talk about C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy and thought I might like to read it again.  I've also read Simak's City before, but I don't remember much.  At least half these authors are new to me, and there's a good chance that some of them are...not very good.  However, since I adore bad science fiction, that isn't really a problem.


Is anybody else going to join me for Vintage Sci-Fi reading?  It's a great way to start the year!

Comments

  1. bookertalkDecember 9, 2020 at 2:06 PM

    I can't face thinking about 2021 plans just at this moment beyond the fact I should learn from this year's experience and take more care not to over-commit. I get so enthused about reading months etc and then realise I've planned my reading so much there is no space for choosing books at random

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  2. mudpuddleDecember 9, 2020 at 3:43 PM

    i'd like to, if it's all right... i have a collection of the Ace doubles, also, a couple dating back to when i bought them in high school, in the fifties... great idea, lol...

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  3. JeanDecember 9, 2020 at 10:13 PM

    Oh, bookertalk, yes indeed. It pains me to miss out on things like AusReading in November, but I can't do them all and for the past 2 months I pretty much haven't done any! It's important to leave room for random reading.

    Mudpuddle, please do! It's so fun. I just found another Ace double today, and they make me so happy. :)

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  4. IzaBzhDecember 10, 2020 at 2:21 AM

    The picture for the challenge is priceless, lol ! I won't be joining in this time, but later... I'll think about it :)

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  5. JeanDecember 10, 2020 at 1:17 PM

    It's one of my favorites! It's from a very old collection of stories called Crashing Suns.

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  6. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzDecember 11, 2020 at 4:30 AM

    I picked up The Stars My Destination yesterday. I typically like to start a lot of books in late December and finish them on January 1st for a big start to the new year. I suspect this book will be one of those.

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  7. MarsDragonDecember 18, 2020 at 9:59 PM

    The Internet Archive also has an excellent collection of weird old magazine in general, with a lot of sci-fi magazines over in the Pulp Magazine Collection. (Amazing Stories definitely has the best covers, Galaxy probably has the better stories) I believe there are also some magazine collections that haven't made it to the general pulp set yet, but you'll probably have to search for them. Subject:science fiction also gets you a ridiculous number of texts, though many of them are books to borrow. (well, you can always get an account) As always with archive.org, the problem is less the lack of texts so much as sorting through them. It's great if you have an idea of what you want to read, but otherwise the choice can get overwhelming.

    Or there's Project Gutenberg, which is starting to get to digitize the pulps (example) but it's even harder to browse than the Internet Archive. You really need to know what you're already looking for to get anything out of it. On the other hand, if you want some 18th century sci-fi they've got you covered. (by the way Tom Corbett is remarkably fun)

    I'd volunteer to join the challenge, but as you can see, seeking out and reading vintage sci-fi is my baseline existence and therefore should not count.

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