Skating the Edge of A Gentle Madness

Here we go again.

Robert of Booktopia in Libis texted me recently that a shipment had come in with a couple of books I ordered abroad. In this case, it was a copy of William Hope Hodgson's classic horror The House on the Borderland (Wildside Press edition) as well as the last book of Holly Lisle's The Secret Texts trilogy, Courage of Falcons.

The above books were part of a list of I asked Booktopia to fill and it took quite some time. I'm not blaming them; it was a pretty hard-to-find kind of list. Of the ten books or so I asked them, only three of have come in: the aforementioned two and Paul di Filippo's penultimate Steampunk Trilogy (Four Walls, Four Windows edition).

Patience is a virtue, they say.

Thankfully though, I haven't succumbed to this gentle madness called bibliophilia or worse, bibliomania. Paramount to me is the story of the book itself. Sometimes, however, I can't help but admire the cover art or the presentation of the book or sometimes even just the rarity of the work.

Dean and his wife Nikki once mentioned falling under the spell of Christopher Priest's well-designed book, The Prestige. I have to agree: the lovely etching-artwork and the feel of its soft, almost-sandy cover always makes me want to wipe my palms first before handling my copy.

It's not an addiction, I swear... not yet anyway.