I'm sad to hear you don't have a Pile of Shame collection for mocking and jeering. When I worked for a quick print chain, we had a collection of worst things customers ever gave us, and we even filed them in case we needed to be cheered up and feel superior to the customers for awhile.

My favorite document came to us as a resume. The guy stated that he'd spent the last few years hiking the mountains of Santa Cruz and smokin' God's ganja. We were pretty sure he'd have had trouble transitioning to the 9-5 grind in a manner that would have benefited us, so alas. No interview for Weed Man. But his resume lived on anyway.

I have achieved a book acquisition goal by finally buying The Great Book of Amber, which is all of the Amber novels in one place. Ten books. Maybe now I can keep track of all the politics. God, how I miss new books by Zelazny.

Oh. Man. That's going on my wish list.

I get paid on Friday (for the first time since October); my priorities are bills, then a haircut, and then I am going to buy a new damn book. Maybe in HARDBACK.

But first, I have go look and see what I've missed that I would love to sit down and read for an afternoon. I am so excited.

Ah, the new Kim Harrison. I'ma go for that. Or maybe I'll see if it, and the new Anne Bishop, are at the library.

Yay!

Maybe now I can keep track of all the politics.

Dear lord that got confusing just in the first series. Loved it anyway (love Zelazny - Doorways in the Sand is a favorite of mine).

(love Zelazny - Doorways in the Sand is a favorite of mine)

A Night in the Lonesome October. I think I want to be buried with a copy of that book. Or hope that the Library of the Great Beyond has lots of copies.

I remember vividly the experience of reading Nine Princes in Amber for the first time as the story began to open up. Just thrilling.

I also loved Lords of Light and This Immortal and "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" (the story that made his reputation).

(Amych, did you know Zelazny fenced with the epee in college?)

I keep trying to read Zelazny as a writer, watching what he's doing and how, then I get caught up in the prose and have to go back a page or two to look more closely. I want to throw his books at the people who say "never use an adverb" and "said is the only word you should ever use to describe dialogue." Of course, everyone else isn't Zelazny.

edit: I got Great Book of Amber from Barnes & Noble, but couldn't find it in the SF&F section--it was on a "buy two get one free" table that had no other SF&F on it, WTF?--and I said "Do you have other Roger Zelazny books?"

"Who?" the clerk said. "What did he write?"

I named a couple of titles.

"Hm, they must be out of print. Is the one we have his new one?"

It was Lord of Light on their shelf. "No, it's been out for about thirty years."

Fortunately she found Great Book of Amber before I gave her the whole lecture.

I don't recall the reason (perhaps limited libary sci-fi section?), but I read The Guns of Avalon first, then to the end of the original Amber books, and only went back and read Nine Princes in Amber years afterwards. Didn't like it nearly as much, and I can't judge if that was due to the book itself or just me being exposed to the subsequent story at an earlier age.