SF Signal: Splurging For the Holidays

Splurging For the Holidays

The holidays can be a stressful time of the year what with all the holiday shopping, the crowds, the family arguments, renewals of restraining orders... When I went shopping this year, I splurged on a couple of extravagances for myself - which is nothing but a gentle way of saying I caved into some impulse buying.

I was at a bookstore a couple of weeks ago and found a nice, hefty science fiction cover art coffee table book: Art of Imagination: 20th Century Visions of Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy by Frank M. Robinson, et. al. I had been eying this for a while, but even at the discount price of $30, I was having a hard time convincing myself I needed it. When I saw it for $10, I caved. The book is a collection of the previously-sold-separate Science Fiction of the 20th Century, Fantasy of the 20th Century and Horror of the 20th Century. Fun to read, fun to thumb through.

Another splurge occurred just last week. I was at Annoying Book Guy's bookstore (note to self: tell some of the fabled stories of ABG.) as he was having his annual December hardback sale (50% the already-halved (or less) price). On his 3-for-a-dollar rack, he had reams of old Asimov's Science Fiction Magazines from the 80's and 90's. I started hand-picking a few choice ones until I realized that I was passing none of them by. I walked out of there with about 54 of them. I probably never get around to reading them, but they're mine, mine mine! What's the point of buying on impulse if it's going to be something you'd actually use, anyway?

On final impulse buy two nights ago: In the "nostalgia" section (translation: the place where old books are marked up way higher than their worth), I ran across a copy of Pel Torro's Galaxy 666. You remember this one.. .with the U.S.S. Enterprise ripoff cover? At the very least, I'm thinking that it will provide humorous blog content for weeks to come.