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

[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.)