GRENDEL'S BOOKSTORE
Hi there. Read any good books lately? If not, you can get some ideas from this page, and then order the titles from Amazon.com, Earth's largest bookstore. Order your favorite titles right over the Internet! Many titles can be shipped within 24 hours; at a discount. And don't worry about security. Your ordering information is completely safe. Just read their Safe Shopping Guarantee.
Since this is a science fiction website, I can't resist telling you about some of my favorite titles. Here you will find classics, favorites and how-to books on the craft of writing science fiction. I hope you enjoy this page and come back often, and don't be afraid to order a book or two! : )
Alfred Bester
You can't read science fiction without touching on the greats. Alfred Bester is one of the greats. He began selling short stories to Thrilling Wonder Stories in the 1940s, then started a career writing scripts for comics, radio, and television, where he wrote for such classic characters as Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern for DC (he wrote the famous Green Lantern Oath) and Nick Carter, Charlie Chan, Tom Corbett, and The Shadow.
The Demolished Man. Read the classic that one the first Hugo award for best novel. In the year 2031, guns can only be found in a museum and the world is at peace, thanks to telepaths who sweep the populace for any bad thoughts. See how a devious man plans to commit murder in a world where murder is impossible!
The Stars My Destination. This one tells of Gully Foyle, in a world in which people can "jaunte," or teleport, almost anywhere. Includes an introduction by Neil Gaiman.
Virtual Unrealities: The Short Fiction of Alfred Bester. Introduction by Robert Silverberg. This excellent collection of short stories gathers some of his best, including Disappearing Act, in which wounded soldiers can mysteriously travel to highly complex histories of their own making, and Oddy and Id, an interesting SF foray into Freudian psychology about a young man named Oddy Gaul, who has the power to have anything he desires, but which is controlled unconsciously by his selfish id.
Ray Bradbury
One of my favorite writers, Bradbury has been writing great works for decades. The man is a poet, and anyone who says they love books has to read some of his works. I have listed some of his greatest stuff here:
Classic Stories 1: From The Golden Apples of the Sun and R is for Rocket. A brilliant collection of short stories, from his haunting "The Fog Horn" to his prophetic future yarn "The Murderer." You'll never look at stuff like cell phones and FAX machines the same way after reading that one!
Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity: Expanded. Expanded from an earlier volume, with more essays on the craft of writing.
The Stories of Ray Bradbury.
Fahrenheit 451. This is my favorite novel of all-time. If you haven't read it yet, you need to. The title refers to the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns. It is the story of a dire future in which firemen burn houses which contain books. A very important work about censorship and political correctness which is all-too relevant to today's society. It's being re-made into a movie by Mel Gibson, who is trying to get Tom Cruise to star.
The Ilustrated Man. This collection of short stories is tied together by a strange tapestry: a tattooed man whose pictures move and tell stories, the stories in this book. Of special note the the story Kaliedoscope. If that one doesn't move you, nothing will.
Quicker than the Eye. Collects some of his most recent stories, many of which are more autobiographical than pure fantasy, but chocked full of gems nonetheless. Must-reads include The Finnegan, a wonderful horror story about doors and death, Last Rites, in which an inventor builds a time machine to travel back to the deathbeds of his favorite authors and thank them for the work they did, and Zaharoff/Richter Mark V, in which Bradbury attempts to explain why people keep building and rebuilding on top off fault lines.
This title is also available in hardcover.
HARLAN ELLISON
Controversial writer Harlan Ellison has been pumping out great work for years. Now, White Wolf has decided to release a proposed 31 volume set of books collecting all of his backlog. The first five are now available for your enjoyment.
Edgeworks 1: Over the Edge & An Edge in my Voice. A collection of short stories and wonderful essays, including Xenogenesis, his treatis on the relationship between authors and their fans.
Edgeworks 2: Spider Kiss & Stalking the Nightmare. Ellison's rock & roll novel Spider Kiss and a collection of his most terrifying short stories.
Edgeworks 3: Harlan Ellison's Hornbook & Harlan Ellison's Movie. Includes a script to a never-produced motion picture.
Edgeworks 4: The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World & Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled. This includes my favorite story of his, "Along the Scenic Route."
Edgeworks 5: The Glass Teat & The Other Glass Teat. This one is my favorite. It contains Ellison's two books of essays on television, which are taught in film and television courses at major universities all over the country.
Harlan Ellison's City on the Edge of Forever. Great for Trek fans and non-Trek fans alike. This is the original script for the famous Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever and includes an expanded, scathing 15,000 word essay by Ellison in which he tells what really happened with the script and how it was "creatively butchered" by the "hack" Roddenberry and Gene Coon. If you love Harlan, or love to hate him, you'll want this book for your collection. It includes two story treatments, the June 3, 1966 teleplay, a second revised draft from 1 December 1966, and afterwords by Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelly, George Takei, Peter David, Walter Koenig, Dorothy C. Fontana, David Gerrold, and Melinda Snodgrass.
Scholarly Stuff
If you're a serious SF aficinado, your library will be incomplete without these wonderful science fiction works about science fiction.
MORE COMING SOON!