Used Books

I was having new tires put on the family van, so I had a half hour or so to waste. I wandered around the shopping center to see if there was any interesting stores to check out. There were six restaurants, a couple cell phone stores, a wine seller, and a used book store. Since I failed to find Jack Vance at the library a few days ago, and I hadn’t been able to get over to Barnes & Noble, yet, I figured I might find something in the used book store.

Used book stores are great ideas, but I just prefer new books. I don’t mind paying cover price for a good book, but that’s the drawback: you never know what’s going to be a good book.

I looked for a Jack Vance novel but couldn’t find any. Failing twice to find his books, in two different places, made me wonder if I was misremembering his name. Surely I wasn’t. Jack Vance, The Dying Earth. I decided to double check it on the Internet when I got home. [My Web search shows Jack Vance, The Dying Earth is correct.]

But I did find a few other classic books that I’ve not read. The prices for these used books are enticing. It’s hard to pass on grabbing classic paperbacks for two and three dollars each. I ended up buying four books for ten bucks, total:

Three Hearts and Three Lions, by Poul Anderson
Redwall, by Brian Jacques
The First Book of Swords, by Fred Saberhagen
Robot City, by Isaac Asimov

All of these are books I’ve heard of through the years, but never read. I know some science fiction and fantasy fans reading this are saying I’m terribly inexperienced to have not already read these. In my defense, I have to say that I’ve probably read a lot more history and non-fiction books than many sci-fi/fantasy fans have. At least I’m trying to improve my classic book knowledge.

When I got the books home and started examining them closer, I discovered a trick. The Robot City book is not actually written by Isaac Asimov. I found the book with all the other Isaac Asimov novels (many of which I have already read), and the spine says, “Isaac Asimov’s Robot City Book 6 Perihelion.” But at the bottom of the front cover, in a font half the size of Asimov’s name at the top, are the words, “by William F. Wu.”

I’ve never heard of William F. Wu. I bought the book to read Isaac Asimov’s words, because I’ve read some of his other books and found them fascinating. William F. Wu? Bait and switch? Yeah, sure, technically, his name is on the front cover, but so is “($4.50 Canada) – $3.50 U.S.”

Meh. I’ll toss the book on my book shelf and maybe some day I’ll read it. Maybe Wu’s work is good on its own, without riding Asimov’s coattails. I just don’t like being baited and switched.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com