June 2026 epic book haul from UK visit

[00:00:01]Hello and welcome to what may well be the book haul of the century or at least my book haul of the century. I think I've I've said this is the ultimate book haul several times in the history of this channel, but this is definitely the biggest and it may remain the biggest unless I get another chance to go overseas.

[00:00:20]Because this is the book haul of my visit to the UK in which I spent way too much on books. So, let's begin.

[00:00:34]Man, that's heavier than >> [sighs and gasps] >> So, I visited multiple places in my hunt for books and they were all heaps of fun and magnificent.

[00:00:44]The memories are already fading, but I do remember some of the places I got some of these.

[00:00:50]So, as I said in a previous video, I visited Dorset Books, Zardoz Bookshop, Zardoz Warehouse, and I made it to Hay-on-Wye, so I visited Fahrenheit um 451? 541? I always get that wrong.

[00:01:12]That's so embarrassing.

[00:01:13]Anyhow, I visited it. I also visited about five or six shops in total in Hay-on-Wye and I had a fantastic time there. I visited in a couple of other miscellaneous shops along the way, of course, as you do. But, that's those iconic locations of BookTube lore are where most of the books came from.

[00:01:34]So, let's begin.

[00:01:37]And we're beginning with one that doesn't come from any of those places. I found Marina I can't pronounce that.

[00:01:46]Lewicka, A Short History of Tractors in the Ukraine and I found it in an Oxfam Bookshop shop in Brighton and I picked this up because the title just sounded so random. Also, I do like these particular penguins that are the non-glossy fiction ones. I've got a couple of them.

[00:02:04]And it turns out it's got nothing to do with tractors per se and as such, it sounded interesting. It's a comedy of near east meets very near west. And I think I will enjoy that one.

[00:02:16]So, I picked it up.

[00:02:20]What else have we got here that I can identify? Okay, I have got two Margery Allinghams. Where are the other ones?

[00:02:26]Okay. And these ones were from the Zardoz um warehouse because they're in good condition.

[00:02:35]I'm partial to Penguin crime fiction and Margery Allingham wrote beautifully. I've got a couple of hers that are in destroyed condition and I've definitely reviewed at least one of them on this channel. I think it was Tiger in the Smoke. But these two, as you would expect from the warehouse, are in excellent condition. There were many more Margery Allinghams that I might have picked up, but I didn't. I just got these two. I'm quite excited for them.

[00:03:02]Nice cover art here and I actually don't mind this one either.

[00:03:07]I did however pick these books based on the ones I thought I most wanted to read rather than anything else.

[00:03:14]I do believe that this door and possibly the other doors that I got all came from Dorset Bob's. I'm not sure about that, but I think all the Tanith Lees I got were also from Dorset Bob's. I may have picked up one from Zardoz as well, but again, I didn't find Tanith Lee anywhere near as easy to find in the wild in England as I hoped. So, here I've got Delusions Master.

[00:03:41]Um Delusions Master is one of the two that I'm missing from the Flat Earth series, so I'm quite happy to get that. Please don't chew that, bird.

[00:03:50]Please don't.

[00:03:51]Um and it's got some fantastic cover art. The The cover art is credited and I did know what it was a minute ago and then I forgot.

[00:04:01]Hang on. We have got Oh, it's a first printing. I didn't know that.

[00:04:09]Awesome. First printing. Cover art by Ken W. Kelly.

[00:04:15]And this one doesn't have front cover art by Tanith Lee as some of them do.

[00:04:20]>> [clears throat] >> A Mirror for Observers by Edgar Pangborn. I'm not sure where I picked this up, but it's in beautiful condition, so I'd say it was either from the warehouse or from Dorset Bobs.

[00:04:31]Pangborn is one of those authors that I have been hearing about and reading about for some time without ever finding any of his Oh, yeah, it was Dorset Bobs.

[00:04:40]That's it. I remembered it now.

[00:04:43]On the stairs. And it's a Penguin science fiction. I'm fond of Penguin science fiction. Don't know that this is the best artwork cover I've seen on a Penguin science fiction, but it's in good nick and I'm keen for that.

[00:04:56]Tanith Lee, Companions on the Road.

[00:05:00]I did not have this one before. I do not believe I've ever read it either and it's wrapped in plastic again. I'm going to go with Dorset Bobs on this one.

[00:05:10]Once again, Tanith Lee, Sybelle. This was actually and it's a DAW. Yes, of course it's a DAW.

[00:05:18]Number 380. I've always wanted this particular DAW of Sybelle which I don't own in any shape or form, so I'm very happy to have this now. In fact, I think I doubled or tripled my DAW collection as well as my SF Masterworks collection on this trip.

[00:05:34]Here we have Frederik Pohl, The Eighth Galaxy Reader.

[00:05:38]Short stories. I didn't get too many short stories.

[00:05:41]I have more short stories than I read already and I I this one was from Zarathus.

[00:05:50]I have got no idea where Oh, I do too.

[00:05:53]This was a Hay-on-Wye book.

[00:05:55]Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope. I've been thinking I should get into Trollope. I've actually never read any Trollope at all. And I came across this in the alley next to Addison's where all the books were £1. So, I figured how wrong can I get? I will get to it at some point or at least some Trollope somewhere.

[00:06:14]Captive Universe by Harry Harrison is also in fantastic shape if you ignore the fact that at some point someone contacted it. Without which it probably wouldn't be in spectacular shape.

[00:06:28]Uh very fun Harry Harrison and this is a standalone which I haven't read. So, keen for that one too.

[00:06:35]City by Clifford Simak is one of the Clifford Simaks that I've not owned. I did read it many years ago. I haven't been able to reread since I got rid of my copy. Regrets. Regrets. Whatever.

[00:06:47]Fantastic artwork on this and in much better condition than my original copy of City was, I believe. This is a Four Square book.

[00:06:57]>> [sighs] >> In my [clears throat] excursions with John the Sci-Fi Scavenger, he was aware that I am quite keen on the Pan Lozenge books. So, another Theodore Sturgeon couldn't pass up that one. Again, Theodore Sturgeon's very difficult to find in the wild and a Pan Lozenge in good condition. Here we've got Robert Sheckley, another Pan Lozenge. I've got a feeling that this was a recommendation from someone on site and it might have been from John.

[00:07:25]Um I don't have, I don't think, any Robert Sheckley and I think I wanted some, but I didn't know that book in particular.

[00:07:33]The Rakehells of Heaven by John Boyd is a book that I owned in my teenage years and enjoyed. And then I got rid of it cuz I moved somewhere, goodness knows where, goodness knows why's. But I did get rid of it. I'm very pleased to get it back and in this haul there are a number of books that are basically re-finding ones of my childhood that have gone.

[00:07:53]John Brunner wrote The Jagged Orbit. I don't know anything about it other than the fact that I have minimal John Brunners and I was very glad to find it.

[00:08:01]It's got some fantastic wrap-around artwork. It's a pretty hefty book for a Brunner. Most of the other ones that I've got of his are not that hefty. And it was apparently the winner of the British SF Award for 1971. Hopefully '71 was too long ago for them to have truly screwed up the awards like most modern awards seem to be.

[00:08:21]Personal opinion.

[00:08:24]Yet another lozenge is Bob Shaw's Medusa's Children. I was very happy to find this and it is in really good condition.

[00:08:33]Bob Shaw, I want more of. I don't really have very much Bob Shaw. Medusa's Children is actually one that I had in my nifty little book wish list written in pencil hoping that I would find it.

[00:08:45]Another one that I never expected to find but was delighted to, Damon Knight Off Center. Again, an author who's difficult to find in the wild.

[00:08:54]Love his writing. Don't love his critics, but I don't think anyone did love his critics.

[00:09:00]So, keen for this one. Some truly disturbing artwork on the cover which I suspect truly reflects the contents. He is he wrote some weird stuff.

[00:09:09]Alexei Panshin, Rite of Passage, winner of the 1969 Nebula Award in Sphere Science Fiction book here.

[00:09:16]Panshin is an author that I've been hearing a lot about online and have wanted to read but haven't owned anything.

[00:09:25]I now own two Panshins. This is the second one.

[00:09:28]Keen to find out what they're all about.

[00:09:32]There's a bit of a queue though. Might not get to it immediately.

[00:09:36]I was thrilled to find today we choose faces by Roger Zelazny. Roger Zelazny is an author for whom I would like to own every single thing he ever wrote, and it's difficult because the people who loves Zelazny tend to keep Zelazny. And so, this is actually a signal double, so I've got Today We Choose Faces and Bridge of Ashes in one.

[00:09:58]It's in good condition. The spine is not never read, but it certainly hasn't been read extensively.

[00:10:04]So, I'm very, very thrilled. Getting a new Roger Zelazny is always a thrilling day.

[00:10:10]Here we have door number 211, Brian M. Stableford, The Florians. This one I would have bought in any condition um when found because The Florians is part of the Daedalus Mission, and I have read the [clears throat] first three.

[00:10:28]Definitely the first three. I've been waiting for number four and number five to complete the series.

[00:10:32]I'm pretty keen for this one.

[00:10:36]Controversial opinion, I think the artwork on this door is not as beautiful as the artwork on the Where are they?

[00:10:47]The other ones I've got. Fantastic artwork. This is okay artwork, by Michael Whelan.

[00:10:55]Sorry, Michael Whelan. You're You're a great artist. This just isn't my favorite um for Stableford. And we have here that one of those lovely little black and white the door gives us so frequently.

[00:11:08]In this teetering pile at the front, we have got The Outward Urge by John Wyndham in Penguin Books.

[00:11:16]Um it's number 1544.

[00:11:19]It's in good condition. It's actually in quite amazing condition. It's kind of shiny and intact. It doesn't have Oh, they're just so readable. It goes and Mhm.

[00:11:34]The smell of the penguin.

[00:11:36]Uh keen for that. I love John Wyndham. I have most John Wyndham, but I didn't have that one.

[00:11:42]Here we have got The Deadly Image by Edmund Cooper. Edmund Cooper, a very very strange and apparently argumentative English author who went through publishers and annoyed people left, right, and center. Also, many people claim he's misogynist. I don't see it myself, but I really love his books. That's another author that I would like to own all of their books.

[00:12:03]It's sometimes a bit hard to find a full list because they did publish a skip a little bit. But, either way, Deadly Image is one I didn't have and now I do and I'm very happy about that.

[00:12:15]Five to 12 by Edmund Cooper was also on my list of books that I would like to own. I'm pretty sure I've seen this image out there a few times.

[00:12:24]Um maybe not.

[00:12:27]This is the harder paperbacks. Maybe not my favorite cover art for an Edmund Cooper, but it's an Edmund Cooper. It's in good condition and I was keen to get it.

[00:12:38]Still on Edmund Cooper, Five to 12. I think these was adult's books.

[00:12:43]I don't think I found any Edmund Cooper adult's books.

[00:12:47]We've got that Coronet style artwork. A lot of my Edmund Coopers are Coronet.

[00:12:53]Um indeed, keen keen for more Cooper.

[00:12:57]Will I read them all at once or not?

[00:12:58]Gather Darkness by Fritz Leiber.

[00:13:01]Fritz Leiber, good author.

[00:13:05]Haven't read this one. I think that's all that needs saying about it, really.

[00:13:12]Ah, yes, The Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett. That's a book that I owned when I was young and I liked it and I read it multiple times. I'm glad glad to get it again and I will reread it somewhere in the list of time.

[00:13:26]Oh, yes, Delany. Samuel R. Delany wrote a few things out of the Dead City. Look at that cover art. It was just spectacular. I actually picked this up thinking that I might have out of the Dead City, but my notebook insists that I didn't. So, hopefully this won't be a double-up.

[00:13:43]Cover illustration by Russell FitzGerald. I'd I'd hang a canvas by FitzGerald on my wall, absolutely.

[00:13:50]Okay, here's another book that I've been looking for for donkey's years.

[00:13:55]Philip José Farmer, The Lovers, is a strange book. I remember reading it as a teenager. I was probably too young to read it. It's got some contentious issues in it. It would definitely never be published today, and I suspect the reason that you find so little of it out and about is because of those contentious issues. It's slowly being shuffled off the availability list. This one was from Zardoz's shops. It's in poor condition, and I'm guessing you wouldn't be able to sell that online, and that's why I got it cheap. I think this might actually even be the same cover art that I read back in the '80s, maybe, thereabouts.

[00:14:39]Okay, Bridge of Ashes by Roger Zelazny.

[00:14:42]Have I mentioned how much I love Roger Zelazny and I want to own everything he ever wrote? Well, here's one more.

[00:14:48]This one is a Dorsett book, and it's in plastic, and it's in excellent condition. Much unlike nearly all my Roger Zelaznys. Okay, The Half Angels by Andrew Lovezey. Someone on BookTube recently mentioned this, and I feel it might be Jacob Port-Bly Morton, but I'm not sure. This is one another one that I had as a teenager. I read it multiple times, but I'll be honest, I only got it for the fantastic cover art with that very, very strange face on that strange woman who's being eaten by a snake.

[00:15:24]Looking forward to rereading this one.

[00:15:26]I've got a feeling it was marginally a good book. However, ah yes.

[00:15:31]Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines.

[00:15:33]Another one that I had when I was young and I read when I was young and I haven't been able to find. This was a hair on my find Addison's books. This was in the children's section.

[00:15:43]But, and it's puffin.

[00:15:45]But, I don't believe it's abridged. I spent some time wondering about that. I don't think it is.

[00:15:51]Either way, I don't have any King Solomon's Mines. So, I'll have it anyway. Oh, yes.

[00:15:58]Masterworks, Joseph O'Neill wrote Land Under England, of which I have never heard. Early on when I was in London, a friend of mine grabbed me by the collar and yanked me along to Foyles bookshop. New books, not second hand. Uh but, I had a fantastic time there. I found a few books. And Land Under England, I picked up because it was a FS Masterworks that I'd never heard of.

[00:16:24]It's not well printed. The printing is dodgy and smudgy. However, it sounded like an excellent book and the fact that I hadn't heard of the author or the book itself didn't really phase me. I'm keen for that one.

[00:16:40]Okay, we're moving before I went to England, someone, thank you Sue, gave me a whole pile of books. One of them was Jane Harper, which I Last One Out, which I read on the plane over. And a few Enclaves.

[00:16:52]I have read Enclaves, but not a huge focus of mine. I'm not quite sure how I've come to own three of them, but I have. White Nights.

[00:17:04]Raven Black.

[00:17:07]And The Killing Stones.

[00:17:10]Enclaves is a best seller and she writes thrillery detective-y stuff. Um it's the sort of thing that I can read very, very fast, and I've got three of them, and they were gifted to me. So, there you go.

[00:17:23]Also gifted to me, I am 99% certain, was The Water Rising, a novel by Sheri Sheri S. Tepper. I think my friends in Brisbane had multiple copies and put this one aside for me.

[00:17:34]I didn't get it in the UK.

[00:17:37]That's all I can say. There's more Tepper from the UK, but not that one.

[00:17:41]Okay, let's move swiftly through Oh, yes.

[00:17:44]Masterworks Arcadian Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Hard to Be a God, has been on my list of books that I want to find and read for some time. I loved Roadside Picnic by these authors, and not easy to find here. Masterworks aren't easy to find here, either. So, when I found this one, and I'm pretty sure I found it in Hay-on-Wye.

[00:18:09]I did go through a lot of books in a lot of places, um, but I do believe this was a Fahrenheit 451 bookshop in the UK, in Hay-on-Wye.

[00:18:26]So glad I got to go to Hay-on-Wye, by the way. Oh, yes.

[00:18:30]Howel ap Owain the Great. I'm told I need to pronounce this.

[00:18:35]This was a prince or king, depending on your perspective, of Wales around about the 1200s, um, he married the bastard daughter Joan of King John. This is a period of Welsh and English history that I've been fascinated by for a long time. I've never seen a whole book about this particular individual. It's non-fiction.

[00:18:54]I bought it from the Welsh Senate bookshop when I went and visited the Senate in Cardiff Bay. I also visited, um, the Torchwood site, but there you go. That's what you get for being a sci-fi geek.

[00:19:11]Edmond Cooper, Who Needs Men?

[00:19:13]Controversial one, I believe. I have never read it or owned it. It's difficult to get hands on. Very happy to get to get this one. I believe this was a Zardoz find.

[00:19:24]Dennis Wheatley, In Shocking Shocking It's not shocking. It's a really old book. They Found Atlantis by Dennis Wheatley. I don't know who else remembers that Dennis Wheatley used to be around everywhere back in the '80s and '90s, and now he's around nowhere.

[00:19:40]So, when you want to reread a Dennis Wheatley, you have to go to the United Kingdom and track down a old falling apart Arrow Book edition from I don't think it even tells me when it's from.

[00:19:54]Oh, yes, it does. '63.

[00:19:56]I'm keen to read Dennis Wheatley. It's been a long time. You don't find him anywhere.

[00:20:02]Okay. Cronk by Edmund Cooper. That's been on my wish list for a long time. I also wanted Son of Cronk, but I couldn't find that one. Cronk, I am 99% certain came out of Bob's shop.

[00:20:15]>> [clears throat and cough] >> Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon.

[00:20:22]Where was this one? Was this Hay on Wye?

[00:20:25]Or was this the Zardoz warehouse? I'm not sure. But anyway, I think I let out a small squeal when I found it because Flowers for Algernon is one that I've been hearing about for a long time. I actually like the Masterworks cover better than I like some of the older book covers that I've seen out there, which is rare for me.

[00:20:45]Okay. John, the sci- Wonderful, wonderful sci-fi scavenger, also gifted me a number of books.

[00:20:53]I was winging and whining about how Terry Dowling, one of Australia's most new agey, new wavy, extraordinary authors is impossible to find in Australia. And John mentioned that he had all numbers one the complete rhinoceros number one, two, and three. And that I think he's got a folio edition now, and he's upgraded them possibly without reading. The artwork on these is spectacular and wrap-around. And yes, this is not a small book. But that's volume one.

[00:21:29]Volume two is even chunkier. It's a hard cover.

[00:21:33]The artwork I would absolutely hang on my wall.

[00:21:37]It is phenomenal. The cover doesn't even bother to tell you what is. It's that special. Doesn't need to. It's uh got the inside printing.

[00:21:48]It's uh got that lovely little attached bookmark. I do like those. It's a small thing, but I like it. Uh complete rhinoceros, the adventures of Tom Rhinoceros volume two.

[00:22:00]I recently read a couple of the rhinoceros volumes, but they weren't the complete ones. They were the old ones that I found in op shops many years ago.

[00:22:09]John also gifted me volume three, the complete rhinoceros.

[00:22:14]Again, [clears throat] spectacular artwork and wrap-around. This one is a thin volume.

[00:22:20]Why? I don't know.

[00:22:22]I don't know why. Do I care? Not a whole lot.

[00:22:25]It's got that inside cover art. And this one, I believe, yes. This has got a whole lot of other cover art and photographs and associated memorabilia on the inside. It also has some poetry.

[00:22:41]So, here we've got a coffee shop writer working on Larrikin Wind, February 1989.

[00:22:50]Robert um Terry Dowling.

[00:22:54]Fantastic. Now, just before I went to the UK, a viewer online, I'm sorry if you're watching this, I've I've who I've forgotten your name, but thank you very much.

[00:23:03]In my comment section, told me how to go to Dip Editions and order um Terry Dowling.

[00:23:15]And I did that.

[00:23:16]It's not great. It's an Australian author. I don't think I should have to go to the United Kingdom um site to order them. I don't think I should have to pay the the postage. I've grumbled about this for years, but I finally gave in and bought Bedlam Rose.

[00:23:31]This is the Terry Pratchett that I always Sorry, the Terry Dowling that I've wanted for years and I've never found. And here it I have it. I own it.

[00:23:40]It's new. I bought it online, paid the exorbitant postage, no regrets.

[00:23:46]John also gifted [clears throat] me Extra Solar edited by Nick Gevers? Gevers? Gevers?

[00:23:54]Lovely wraparound artwork. I don't know much about these. He upgraded, I think again, to Folio Society.

[00:24:01]And and the Telemas Quartet by Eric Brown.

[00:24:04]Again, don't know much about them. Happy to find out.

[00:24:08]Receiving free books. I mean, who's really going to object to that? Okay, that's the tray done.

[00:24:14]But wait, there's more.

[00:24:21]There is a whole box full of more, in fact.

[00:24:26]This is making me so happy. It's ridiculous. If I were to sit down and read for a year, I wouldn't get through all of these books. But just having them here makes me happy.

[00:24:37]Okay, right off the top. Oh, yes.

[00:24:39]Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.

[00:24:43]That might have been a Zardoz warehouse one. Um I do love the Penguin science fiction artwork, and this is a Verne that I used to own, own no longer, but now I own it again.

[00:24:57]I also found For Love of Mother Not by Alan Dean Foster. I've got a fair bit of Alan Dean Foster. He wrote many books. This is one that I've had on my list of wanting to read for some time because I've got most of the Flinx books. I didn't have this one. This one is also in great condition. Where did I get that?

[00:25:17]Mhm.

[00:25:18]I don't know where I got that.

[00:25:21]It's a really good condition. I'm going to guess that that was at those Bob ones.

[00:25:26]Oh, yes. The Jew- Dreaming Jewels, Theodore Sturgeon. I've already read this one.

[00:25:32]It was the last book I read in the United Kingdom. I remember reading it partly on Brighton Beach.

[00:25:37]Brighton Beach surprised me. I knew it was a pebble beach. I didn't know they were flint.

[00:25:42]That was pretty exciting.

[00:25:44]Also, what's the water wasn't quite as cold as I expected.

[00:25:48]Anyhow, great book. Review forthcoming.

[00:25:51]Have read it already. Um where did I get it? It was in good condition, but not spectacular condition.

[00:25:58]I suspect this was warehouse or those it Bobs?

[00:26:04]Or was it Hay on Wye? Look, you know, I bought it in the UK. What can I tell you? I have no memory.

[00:26:10]And Theodore Sturgeon is always welcome because he is an author that is so hard to find in the world. Mostly wrote short stories, which I don't love. That was his first novel.

[00:26:22]Tan Earth Lee to master or The Indian Nights. This is another door. I really like the artwork on this one. It's in not too terrible condition for a door in a Tan Earth Lee, but the spine is faded to white. Other than that, it's in good condition. It's still got flex and the pages are still attached. I'm perfectly happy with that.

[00:26:45]And I'm 90% certain that this is a Tan Earth Lee I've never read.

[00:26:49]Okay, I bought a small Celtic pattern drawing design that we don't need to go into too much because unless you draw you won't care.

[00:26:58]Uh, Evelyn Waugh Brideshead Revisited. I already have a copy of this. This was a gift. Someone thought that this would be an upgrade for me. It is a beautiful Penguin edition with nice artwork by Peter Bentley, I think.

[00:27:14]Clifford Simak, Why Call Them Back from Heaven. That is one of the Simaks that I don't have and it is in lovely condition. It's right near the bottom.

[00:27:23]That might be a Dorset one as well.

[00:27:26]The Drunken Forest was one from Addison Hay-on-Wye. They had a lot of Gerald Durrell. I very much want to own all the Gerald Durrells and read them sequentially, which I've never done before.

[00:27:41]I love the Penguin ones especially because they inevitably have these wonderful black and white sketches of the animals you're reading about. I'm very pleased to have this one.

[00:27:54]There were a few authors that I love and collect and I could have collected so much more, but I tried to get a little bit from all of them.

[00:28:03]Turning On by Damon Knight is a short story collection with that spectacularly psychedelic or possibly mushroom cover.

[00:28:12]I've already read this one. I'll be po- posting the review shortly.

[00:28:17]This was a Zardoz feel your boots book.

[00:28:21]It's not in good condition. It's been scribbled over, but it read perfectly well.

[00:28:27]Okay.

[00:28:30]Sonia by Hilary Ford is a gothic, I suspect. It's a pan in the great tradition of Susan Howatch and Victoria Holt.

[00:28:41]I There's no castle with a lighted window and she isn't running. She's draping herself over a guy in an improbably tall hat.

[00:28:50]But I think it's kind of gothicky. I found this one in an Oxfam bookshop and it's the sort of thing you never see here, so I picked it up with a bit of a laugh.

[00:29:00]Berserker by Fred Saberhagen. I wanted Saberhagen. I think I had two or three that I really wanted that I didn't find, but I did find this and it is a Penguin science fiction with great artwork. And now I at least have some Saberhagen, if not necessarily the Saberhagen that I particularly wanted.

[00:29:22]Still in pursuit of Roger Zelazny, I Cat, Sphere science fiction.

[00:29:28]Another one I didn't have, now I do. I must remember to update my list so that I don't buy it again.

[00:29:34]Oh, well. Worse things could happen. I'm never going to find another Roger Zelazny in the wild in Australia. Let's be honest, you just don't.

[00:29:43]Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Welcome to the Monkey House. Vonnegut is another one that you do not come across often, frequently, at all.

[00:29:54]So I haven't read any for a very long time.

[00:29:58]Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster. This is another one of the um Alan Dean Fosters I didn't have and have been looking for for some time. This is another Dorsai book one.

[00:30:10]I was really, really happy to find this.

[00:30:12]I have wanted it. I think I read it once a very long time ago when I was a teenager. I didn't enjoy it much at the time, but it was [snorts] circumstantial and I'm pretty sure I would enjoy it more now. James Hadley Chase was an English author who decided in the whenever it was. I'm going to say 50s. I could be wrong.

[00:30:35]To write Chicago gangster fiction. Yes, 50s. First published in a 54.

[00:30:43]And I find his books very endearing.

[00:30:47]I especially in I've got some of the older even a hard cover more probably valuable ones, but this 80s re-release with the black livery and the women in improper lingerie and the title like in whatever font that is. They're the actual series that I find the most enjoyable to read and I am collecting them. So I was happy to get that. That was a Zardoz warehouse book. There were about a dozen James Hadley Chases. I wanted most of them. I restrained during myself to one.

[00:31:22]The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander.

[00:31:24]Lloyd Alexander is a Australian fantasy writer. He wrote young adult fantasy fiction. And another one who used to be in every single second hand shop and op shop you could find but who is no longer out in the wild much. So I saw this one and I picked it up.

[00:31:44]John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar. The one of those iconic 100 science fiction books you must read if you want to be a serious science fiction reader.

[00:31:55]Whatever.

[00:31:57]Thicker than I imagined or remembered.

[00:31:59]Have I read it before? Still not sure about that. Nice wrap around cover though with serious fading on the spine.

[00:32:07]I think this was another Dorset book and I think that's a book you don't come across too long. So I was glad to have it.

[00:32:15]The Weapon Shops of Isher A. E. van Vogt with that very very annoying sticker on it.

[00:32:22]I need to heat them up in the sun to get them off, I think. It's an older book.

[00:32:26]It's got um this two shillings, I believe, with that rather fascinating artwork. I really love the artwork on it.

[00:32:36]This is Nova SF novels and I'm not sure that I own any other Nova SF novels. But I was delighted to find it because The Weapon Shops of Isher is the one of the Isher is the the one Isher series book that I don't have and I've been wanting it for a while.

[00:32:55]Also in the warehouse, Daughters-in-Law by Henry Cecil. Henry Cecil wrote this Penguin series of humorous English law books. I used to have quite a few of them. I now only have one left, but now I've got three.

[00:33:11]Daughters-in-Law I remember as being one of the better ones.

[00:33:14]Very funny, very enjoyable to read.

[00:33:18]Earth Abides by George R. Stewart is a Corgi science fiction and I've been want had that on my wish list for a while as well. Very pleased to find it.

[00:33:29]Oh, yes.

[00:33:32]The City and the City.

[00:33:33]This was a present from Dorset Bob. Very kind of him.

[00:33:37]I have not had a good history with China Miéville. I'd only ever read or attempted to read Perdido Street Station before. I didn't like it. I discontinued it. It may have been Hello.

[00:33:51]It may have been the point at which I was reading. I was just not in the mood for that particular book, but since then I've had this aversion therapy feeling about China Miéville who I know I need to try again. The City and the City I've been told many multiple times by many people is the one to get back into.

[00:34:12]At Dorset Bob's, I was having a chat with him and John and Jules. No, I'm not name-dropping. Of course I'm not name-dropping at all.

[00:34:19]Yes, I am.

[00:34:21]And they all agreed that this is the China Miéville to um read and when I was leaving, this was a present. I I going to be buying it.

[00:34:31]Yeah.

[00:34:32]I believe it's a first printing.

[00:34:34]Um very thrilled. Have already read this. I'm going to need to think about it for a while before I review it.

[00:34:41]It is definitely warned me to try and enable. I really enjoyed that book. It's quite extraordinary.

[00:34:48]Okay, somewhere in here is the first of the Penguin weird fiction that I found and read. But here is one that I bought having read that first one so much and enjoyed it.

[00:34:58]Ancient Sorceries by Algernon Algernon Blackwood is the second in the series that I bought.

[00:35:03]It doesn't have the glossy cover. It's got a matte cover.

[00:35:08]Apparently they did that. Oh look, here we have another door. It's Brian M.

[00:35:12]Stableford. It's Swan Song and it's number 149.

[00:35:17]Um Stableford was a recent discovery for me last year. I really loved his writing and I want more of it. This one also has a lovely little black and white in the front.

[00:35:30]And still another door. Surprise, surprise. M. A. Forster wrote The Morphodite.

[00:35:37]The Genetic Time Bomb person. It's a door. It's in good condition. Look at that. The spine is actually visibly still yellow.

[00:35:46]Not the best condition. A little bit trashed, well read, does have um the internal art.

[00:35:52]There was a reason I bought this which I have now forgotten. I have also forgotten where I bought this.

[00:35:58]But I will read it.

[00:36:00]With enjoyment and pleasure and happiness.

[00:36:02]Ciao.

[00:36:04]Penetrating the biting the sun was a gift. My sister had two copies and this was one she loaned out uncautiously to someone and has experienced fading and toasting. It looks to me as if what happened is the book got wet, which is not how you treat a book if someone is kind enough to lend you a book, and then was put next to the heater to dry, hence this toastiness. I do have Biting the Sun, of course I do.

[00:36:32]I think that's my third copy, but that'll make a good reading copy. And it's got that lovely artwork um similar to some of the fantasy artwork that was coming out at the time.

[00:36:44]Sheri S. Tepper, Dervish Daughter. I didn't have this one. I'm starting to collect the Sheri S. Teppers a little bit. I haven't read that many of them.

[00:36:53]Uh I've enjoyed the ones I have.

[00:36:56]And here we have a Kate Wilhelm, The Clewiston Test. More Kate Wilhelm and Life Is Necessary.

[00:37:04]Good author, love the books I've read, hard to find.

[00:37:08]And yet in the UK you can find them.

[00:37:11]Robert Silverberg, Up the Line. I'm not I believe this was a recommendation from John as well. I think he came over while we were in the Zardoz shop and said, "Have you read any Silverberg?" I of course said, "Yes, I have read some Silverberg." He said, "This is a good one."

[00:37:27]I'll take that.

[00:37:29]The Road Road to Corlay by Richard Cowper. I don't have enough Cowper.

[00:37:33]Don't know much about this one aside from the fact that the author is one that I want more of. The cover art is beautiful and wrap-around. It's in pretty good condition. Can't remember where I got it.

[00:37:44]Voices in the Dark by Edmund Cooper.

[00:37:48]Still working on the Edmund Cooper collection. This is a beautiful old Digit book.

[00:37:53]And it's in pretty good nick for its age. The spine is not unbent, but it's still it's still great. Look at that artwork.

[00:38:02]Can't resist.

[00:38:03]Didn't resist.

[00:38:05]Here is the other Henry Cecil book, Settled Out of Court. Again in that legalese humor uh series from England.

[00:38:17]Again with a sticker on it. That will be a Zardoz warehouse one, I am pretty sure.

[00:38:25]No.

[00:38:26]No, we don't chew books, remember? It's a thing we don't do. Here's the other Kurt Vonnegut I got. It's not in great condition. It's got some smearing on the cover. I think that was another warehouse book. Um but Vonnegut, again, difficult to find and good cover art. I can give it a clean.

[00:38:45]William Tenn, The Wooden Star. This is a book that I had in my childhood. I remember enjoying it considerably.

[00:38:51]Someone recently reviewed it on BookTube and did not enjoy it at all, but they did like the livery. It reminded me that I used to read it but I didn't remember it. So, when I saw it, I picked it up.

[00:39:03]And then, I found in the same livery, William Tenn, The Square Root of Man, which is not one I've read, but they're the same livery. I resisted picking up the other four from the same livery, so I do have some self-restraint, just not very much.

[00:39:16]At least when it comes to books. I'm fine with gambling.

[00:39:21]John Christopher wrote The Long Winter and that is one that I've had on my wish list for a while. I want more John Christopher, hard to find. The Long Winter is one that I have wanted. So, the interest terrorizing story of what happens when a new ice age devastates the northern hemisphere.

[00:39:40]I feel like I may have read this or a short story of the same theme once upon a time in the past, but I don't remember it and I am keen to reread it.

[00:39:50]The Dark Tower 2, The Drawing of the Three. I read The Dark Tower number one. I've never read any of The Dark Tower series, but I read the first one on the flight over to the United Kingdom. I reviewed it briefly in the wild while I was there and then I came across the second one. I was kind of looking out for the rest of The Gunslinger series, but I didn't find any of the other ones.

[00:40:14]Harry Harrison, Planet of the Damned. I don't know where I got that. I don't know why I got that except that it's in spectacular condition the spine uncreased and I like Harry Harrison.

[00:40:27]Next we have got still working on that Edmund Cooper connection. Edmund Cooper wrote under a number of pseudonyms. One of them is Richard Avery. Richard Avery is actually the character name of the main protagonist in his book Transit. I figured that out all on my own back in the 80s before the internet.

[00:40:49]I'm so proud of myself. The Expendables was a pulpy series that Cooper wrote.

[00:40:58]I read the first one and I loved it. I owned it for many years and reread it frequently. I couldn't find the first one but here's two and three. I will hold off reading these until I find the first Expendables cuz that's the one where they set forth the characters and I remember it as a spectacular book.

[00:41:15]Oh, here we go. The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson Penguin weird fiction. I finally found it after all these years of drooling over other book tubers reading this. I finally found it in Foyles in London and read it and reviewed it already.

[00:41:31]So happy to have that one.

[00:41:33]Worth every second. Encounter with Animals by Gerald Durrell is another one of the ones I picked up in Addisons and Hay-on-Wye.

[00:41:41]It's a Penguin so it still has those internal um drawings. I'm not sure if I've read that one or not. I've read a lot of Durrell.

[00:41:50]Now this I don't remember where I got this.

[00:41:57]The Female Man by Joanna Russ is apparently a book that you must read if you are science serious science fiction uh reader or whatever. I remember reading this when I was a teenager. I didn't like it one bit.

[00:42:11]I got rid of the book on one of many moves and never read it again. I've been looking for it for a couple of years now. I want to reread it and find if it was a time and place thing or if I genuinely loved this book. I suspect that I genuinely loved this book. I suspect that makes me a philistine in science fiction circles, but whatever.

[00:42:29]I'll let you know when I read it. Let me know what you think of it if you have read it recently. Did you like it? Why?

[00:42:35]If you didn't, why? Okay.

[00:42:38]This was expensive. I probably shouldn't have. It is a Pan Losenge Robert Holdstock I Among the Blind. I bought it from a strange second-hand shop in Brighton on my last day. I'm not going to tell you how much I paid for it. Um it was too much, but it was my last day. I had that frenzy I must buy books. There isn't much time left type of feeling. I'm sure every serious book buyer knows that one.

[00:43:09]Okay.

[00:43:11]Also from Addisons 1 pound aisle there were a lot of magazines and I kind of wanted all of them, but I only had a two suitcase return allowance and I couldn't do that. So I treated myself to this one, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

[00:43:30]This one was in really good condition compared to some of them and I like the artwork. It looks like it was originally on the inside of the shop for a higher price, but maybe it didn't get bought for a while. The original price on the inside is listed as 4.95.

[00:43:47]Okay, so why did I choose this one aside from the artwork and the good condition?

[00:43:51]It's got a few attractions.

[00:43:54]It's got a Ron Goulart. Haven't read that much Ron Goulart. I feel like a short story is the way to go there. Uh it's got a Brian Aldiss.

[00:44:06]And it has got It's got Isaac Asimov.

[00:44:12]The real enthusiastic one for me here was A, this month's featured story Hothouse by Brian W. Aldiss. Now, Hothouse of course is one that I've read in the fix-up book. And I'm quite curious to see how the short story compares to that book. But the other attraction was the Ubiquitous Wife by Marcel Aymé, who is French and this is a translated story. I feel like I haven't been reading enough science fiction from many of the other nations and languages that write science fiction. I don't know how to quite quite correct that, but this was a start. The Ubiquitous Wife is a fascinating story. It's about a woman who can replicate herself fully, body and soul, and one copy of her can go off and do one thing while the first one is doing whatever she's meant to be doing.

[00:45:06]It's a great story. It gets thoroughly out of hand. Um and it's well written.

[00:45:14]It's odd. It's overly moralistic, but always tongue in cheek and quite entertaining. It's translated by Burnett, I'm pretty sure, from the French.

[00:45:24]The whole feeling is very very French.

[00:45:27]Okay, this particular edition of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction I've got 1961 in my head, but I can't see it written anywhere. I did check.

[00:45:43]Oh, there we go.

[00:45:44]Yes, protected by copyright 1961.

[00:45:48]And we're ending on this high note of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I think that's all the books that I bought.

[00:45:55]I haven't completely unpacked my second suitcase. I may find something else lurking there, but this is a long book haul.

[00:46:04]I need to get cracking with that reading and reviewing, don't I? So, thank you very much for watching my enthusiastic wander through all the many books that I have got from visiting the UK.

[00:46:21]And yeah.

[00:46:26]Read good books.

[00:46:27]Watch my reviews. Thank you for subscribing. Many of you have and I do appreciate that.

[00:46:33]And look forward to seeing you in review videos in the future. Bye-bye now.