Two-part query

[mrissa]

So, if an American SF geek was to find herself in London:

1) Where should she go to buy British SF novels? It doesn't have to be a genre-specialty bookstore -- I just don't want to walk into the equivalent of an airport bookshop and say, "Oh, look, they've got a quarter of the Terry Pratchett we've got at home and some Dan freaking Brown novels," and walk out again.
2) What's out in the UK but not (or not yet) in the US that she should look for? (Speculative fiction in particular, but other genres welcome with some kind of description of what, exactly, it is I'd be dealing with. Er, she'd be dealing with.)

Comments

[valancy.livejournal.com]

Gwyneth Jones' newest books are out there and not all out here. You should definitely grab those. :)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I've read a few of hers and have put her on the list to look for.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

you might want to post your question here, loads of Brit SF fans are members - http://www.livejournal.com/community/instant_fanzine/

I'll toss out River of Gods as a suggestion.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Noted.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I always always always recommend Maggie O'Farrell. Her most recent is The Distance Between Us (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0755302664) which was soo lovely. I customarily buy her books and then not read them for ages because it's not special enough to read them then. Wiscon though was judged special enough to finally read this one, and oh. So lovely. It's not quite as good as her first book, which is available over here called "After You'd Gone" which is memorable for making me cry on the metro home from a friends house. Hannah also loves her stuff, as does everyone I ever gave a copy of After You'd Gone, so it's not just me. It's not speculative, not even as much as Alice Hoffman's stuff, but still lovely. There's also Kate Atkinson, but I think all of her stuff is out over here too (Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Human Croquet, Emotionally Weird, Not the End of the World, and Case Histories). She's closer to Alice Hoffman on the 'weird things happen and no one makes a big deal about it.' scale. Hmm. I need to read Turtle Moon again.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Kate Atkinson is on the list of things I should read, but I haven't managed to find the one on my list when I was looking.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Iain Banks. Most bookshops of any size will have most of his stuff. For you, I'd particularly recommend The Crow Road of the mainstream and Against a Dark Background and Use of Weapons of the SF. I love The Wasp Factory beyond reason but I suspect it might be too close to horror for you.

Ian McDonald. I believe Desolation Road had a reprint within the past couple of years, so you may well be able to get hold of a copy. Do so. Also, you need to read Sacrifice of Fools.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I second the rec for Iain Banks. You can get a lot of his stuff over here, but there's probably something new.

I've enjoyed stuff by Ian Watson but don't know what he has out right now.

[markgritter.livejournal.com]

I'm the Iain Banks fan in this household (I win because Marissa can't stand Feersum Endjinn.) We have AaDB and UoW, and I think The Wasp Factory.

I can't get The Algebraist from Amazon at the moment, though.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

hmmm amazon uk? because they sent it to me.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

But I suspect it might be too close to horror for you.

I confirm your suspicions.

[ellarien]

The best concentration of bookstores, both new and used, is on Charing Cross Road (turn south at the eastern end of Oxford Street, or get the tube to Charing Cross Road). I think the first big one on the left-hand-side going south is a Waterstones now, but it had a pretty good selection last summer whatever the name was.

Juliet Marillier's latest is already out in the UK, K. J. Parker has a new one out, Ken MacLeod's latest will be out in August. The first five of Steven Erikson's Malazan series are all out in paperback. I think Jasper Fforde has achieved simultaneous publication now. Robin Hobb's new one will be out in July, but to my mind it probably isn't worth putting up with the lower quality of British hardbacks for the sake of a couple of months. Hardcover prices are about the same as here, or used to be before the exchange rate went crazy, but there don't seem to be many hardcovers printed and the large-format paperback often comes out at the same time; paperbacks are expensive. Expect to pay trade-paper prices for what looks like mass-market (but technically isn't; no rip-and-return system, and the paper's usually a bit better.)

Also, you might want to look for cheap editions of out-of-copyright C19 classics, some of which are hard to find here, and not-so-cheap editions of obscure Wilkie Collins, if that interests you at all, and the Gollancz Sf and Fantasy Masterworks series.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

But the best specialist shop in the area is Forbidden Planet, on Shaftesbury Avenue. Fight your way past the action figures, etc, and go downstairs.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I read KJ Parker. I am unfond of Jasper Fforde (he thinks he's a good deal more clever than I think he is), but I have noted the others, except that you're right, I don't want to pay for Robin Hobb to have it sooner. I can wait. (Also, we're going in early July, so it might not even be an option.)

[katallen.livejournal.com]

Forbidden Planet tends to be where I head for concentrations of US imports, it's just got a lot of SF. I'm mildly out of touch, but there was a nice big Borders on Oxford Street, turning left and heading for Centrepoint when you come out from the Central Line ::ponders:: it's either Bond Street or Oxford Circus. Getting off at Tottenham Court used to get you to Forbidden Planet but they moved :o) And New Worlds closed this spring. But getting off at Tottenham Court and turning up Charing Cross road will get you past some remainder shops (a few of which can have pleasant surprises sometimes) and to Waterstones, another largish Borders across the road, and Foyles - who did have a pretty good mostly British selection. Last time I went down was a year ago and I only got time for Forbidden Planet and New Worlds :o).

There's also a Waterstones inside Harrods... should you wish to mix a slightly more modest range with a peek at the food halls and some pretty things (plus the pet department is nearby and there can be kitties and puppies and rabbits errr yes halfway through coping with the crowds and people I tend to like standing and looking at rats and kitties sleeping ::grins::) Selfridges (Oxford Street across from the Bond Street station IIRC) also has a general book department - though for some reason I find Selfridges hard to navigate, and there was still a Book's Etc across the road and an HMV (but again I've had shops vanish one month to the next, and it's been a while longer since I *did* the Oxford Street book tour start to finish) But they'll almost all be better than the nearest WHSmiths (also on Oxford Street but in what I guess would be a mini-mini mall of shops and fast food places).

Should it be of interest the big Virgin and HMV stores were also the Tottenham Court Road end of Oxford Street - though the prices and those of the electronics will likely not be attractive unless they're not things available in the US. (Yes, I have seen your prices ::envies:: and the exchange rate just makes it worse :o) )

For what's out here but not there - it might not just be new you might want to think on - I was surprised to find frex that Robin Hobb's publishing here as Megan Lindholm and those books don't seem to have made it back across to the US at all. It just gets tricky to know if some of those, and some of the rereleased golden age stuff is available where you are :o)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

All notes on location very much appreciated, thank you.

Waitwaitwait. There are realio trulio Megan Lindholm books over there that aren't over here?

Ooooooh.

[ellarien]

Ones that are out of print here, anyway;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/026-4046277-4959634

The Reindeer People/Wolf's Brother duology might be of interest, if you haven't come across it before.

[ellarien]

Sorry, the link doesn't work. (Computers hate me today.) It was just the page I got by putting Megan Lindholm into Amazon.co.uk's search box.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I've heard of it but haven't read it. I've read others of the Megan Lindholm books, but mostly borrowed.

[katallen.livejournal.com]

::grins:: I just heard it from someone when I mentioned a title I'd bought -- it may well be that they're just long out of print, or maybe that the US distribution was small and not noticed by the person in question.

[ckd]

There's the big Waterstones at Piccadilly Circus, the concentration on Charing Cross Road (mostly between Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square IIRC), etc.

Most of what I'm looking for when I'm there are the proper editions of Pratchett; most of the other folks I read are getting simultaneous or nearly so US editions that I'm not trying to match against an existing shelf-full....

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Having just been to Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, oh, 6 days back, I'm pretty sure that the Waterstones is actually in Oxford Circus. Especially as I had to walk with friends from Piccadilly to get there.

Ditto everyone on Charing Cross Road and the downstairs of Forbidden Planet, though. I picked up the next two Steven Erikson novels when I was there, though I looked at the Tiste (thingie) one and decided I really didn't need to start on a new story arc set in that world.

[ckd]

The one I'm thinking of is 203/206 Piccadilly SW1 according to their store finder, and the map shows it as being right near Piccadilly Circus tube. It looks like you're thinking of the one listed as 311 Oxford Street, west of Oxford Circus tube. (There's also one at 19-23 Oxford Street, which is closest to Tottenham Court Road tube.)