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You Can Never Have Too Many...

I've admired fantasy author Glenda Larke's work for some time and I have her blog subscribed in Google Reader so I can always read her latest posts.

But I never knew she just lived down the road from me!

I randomly met her on Friday evening in a restaurant near where we lived and recognised her from her pictures on her blog, so I went over and said hello. We had a short chat and then she asks me, "Would you like some reading matter?"

Turns out Glenda's cleaning her house out and is culling some of her books from her personal library. Well, obviously, I'd be happy to help!

The next day, I was over at her house with four shopping bags and look what happened:

Cataloguing this will be very interesting, to say the least.

188 books. 10 books in each stack, except for one stack which has 8 books.

That's altogether 188 books, mostly fantasy but there are some science fiction (finally, I have a copy of Frederick Pohl's elusive Gateway!) and some crime fiction as well.

But the most wonderful discovery amongst these treasures was a book I had been looking for the better part of the last decade. It was a tough search as I had forgotten the title and the author's name and I only remembered a vague outline of the story.

I had read the book back in secondary school and in a moment of extreme dumbness I sold it to NovelHut, a second-hand book store which I've mentioned on this blog several times before. I liked that book, so I don't remember why I actually sold it off. I must have been really desperate for money.

When I pulled the book off Glenda's bookshelf and saw the cover, I took a deep breath as recognition set in and I couldn't believe I had finally found it.

Finally, in my hand, was a copy of The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein:

The cover isn't much but it's a really good book. Honest!

Can't wait to reread it and blog about it. Meanwhile, Jo Walton's writeup on Tor.com is a good introduction to the series. (Wow! I didn't know it was a series!)

Anyway, looks like I now need to go buy some planks of wood and drill some new shelves into the wall or else two-year-old Sophie is going to play librarian and the next thing I'll know she'll shelving these books under the toilet bowl, rather than under "Fantasy/Science Fiction".

And if you haven't read any of Glenda Larke's books, you should, especially if you're into fantasy. The Last Stormlord, book 1 of The Watergivers trilogy is a good place to start. You could also check out Heart of the Mirage, which is the first book of the Mirage Makers trilogy.

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  1. Elizabeth Tai29/1/12 7:03 pm

    Glenda Larke lives in Malaysia? ZOMG! Must interview her! ;D BTW, is the sale still on? I know some Star journos who are fantasy fans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ted Mahsun29/1/12 7:17 pm

      Um. It wasn't a sale... she just gave them to me. And I don't think she has any books left. I took almost everything she was giving away... :D

      And yah, you should interview her. She probably has some interesting things to say about the current state of publishing. I think Eyeris interviewed her before but that was yeaaarrrsss back.

      Delete
    2. Elizabeth Tai30/1/12 2:44 pm

      Yes I should! You don't happen to have her number, do you?

      Delete

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