I love books. They’ve been a best friend and favorite addiction pastime. This last week I’ve spent some time weeding through our book collection.

First, I had to shuffle our overflowing bookcases around, so I went through all of our paperbacks to try and reduce the number of double-tall, double-deep shelves. I tend to keep everything, but I needed to pare down – give away those that I knew I’d never read again , and store those I wouldn’t be revisiting anytime soon.

Some books are easy to part with – the new authors I didn’t click with, the mind candy I’d bought as one-time reads, the truly crappy books. But there were others, harder to say goodbye to… old dreams, old favorites, old friends that just didn’t fit anymore. I said goodbye to Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Lee Modesitt and more. I gave about 120 books to a charity book drive and stored another three bankers boxes worth.

My shelves are now sparsely populated and ready the next several shopping expeditions.

Second, I got a couple of Amazon gift certs for my birthday. Instead of spending them on yet another stack of paperbacks, I decided to start trading up our horribly tattered Heinlein paperbacks for hardbacks – first editions where I could afford it.

Mostly, I couldn’t. A non-library first-edition of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress runs $1,500-1,800. Unsigned. A first edition of Have Spacesuit, Will Travel runs $225. On the low end, a first edition of Friday or Glory Road is only $14.99.

So much for a fabulous collection of first editions. Still, I ordered, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Time for the Stars, Have Spacesuit Will Travel (a 1st), Glory Road (a 1st), and Expanded Universe.

I’m looking forward to diving into my new books when they get here.

Thank you, Michelle K, for the most excellent early birthday gift!

I started it last night and the book is lots of fun, I can see why it’s such a successful series.

::doing the loot dance::

Recipe for happiness: Mix together rainy day, great book, warm puppy and chocolate. Take care not to get any chocolate on the puppy or the book. Enjoy!

Michelle and Shawn have published the results online of their “What Discworld Character am I most like” quiz. (My result was “Carrot Ironfoundersson”.)

The results got me thinking. What fictional character – in books, film, comics – do I identify with most, admire most? If I could step into a character’s shoes and life, who would I choose?

Would it be Ista dy Baocia, from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls, who begins her journey as a defeated, restless madwoman and ends as a warrior-saint?

Or Susan Sto Helit, Death’s granddaughter, from Terry Pratchett’s Soul Music, Hogfather, and Thief of Time? She is a practical and accomplished schoolmistress with a secret, reluctant streak of magic, adventure and romance.

How about Aerin, from Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown, who grows from awkward unpopular princess to dragonslayer and savior of her kingdom?

Then there’s butt-kicking Ellen Ripley, from the Alien movies. She redefined the heroine role in film – and Sigourney Weaver played her well.

How about a male protagonist? Besides the obvious choices (Miles Vorkosigan, Lazarus Long, Aragorn), I’d have to say Westley, from William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. Why? Because we’d all like to think we’d make a good Dread Pirate Roberts.

Besides your Discworld quiz results, who are your favorite characters – the ones you like, the ones you identify with? Why do you like the character – and why is he or she memorable?

Attending the world science fiction convention gives members the opportunity to vote on the annual Hugo awards for science fiction & fantasy writing and related media. The Hugo awards are the only annual fan elected awards, but interestingly enough, participation is low – in 1999, a typical year, 2425 members were eligible to vote but only 438 did, 18%.

The entire list of awards is listed on the convention site. Many of the award-winning pieces and materials are freely available online, and I’ve compiled links to them below. Go, read, enjoy!

Sidewise award, Short Form (alternate history):

     ”Quaestiones Super Caelo et Mundo“, Michael F. Flynn (Analog Jul 2007)
     ”Recovering Apollo 8“, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s Feb 2007)

Hugo Award

Novella
     ”All Seated on the Ground“, Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec 2007; Subterranean Press)

Short Story
     ”Tideline“, Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Jun 2007)

Fanzine
     ”File 770“, Mike Glyer

Fan Writer
     John Scalzi, “Whatever”

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

     Mary Robinette Kowal

Let’s talk about awards for the creative arts.

Each of these winners is very different from the others, and the choice of who is nominated and who wins is purely subjective, the whim of a moment. These above are only the tip of the iceberg – there are hundreds of novels, short stories and fan sites published in print and online every year. All of them are winners too; their authors have taken the time to conceptualize them, grow them, perfect them and pursue publishing them.

So browse and read wherever your heart and mind take you – you will never regret it.