A Plea for the Book-lovers
Since andrew eldritch and aa were asking people to spot a book or two for them, I thought I should put in my request.
I remember seeing a hardcover of this before in National Bookstore but-- not being well-versed in the field of speculative fiction yet-- I put it down. However, the cover's stayed with me throughout these years and when I found out the author was actually fantasist Paul Witcover*, I rued my ignorance then. Especially when I discovered it came out only in hardcover and is now quite hard to find-- much more second-hand. Yes, there are some available online but the cost! the cost!
*Interesting triva: Witcover also wrote, together with a fave author of mine Elizabeth Hand, a comic book for DC called Anima.
(I also have to admit I once saw a hardcover of George R.R. Martin's first volume of A Song of Fire and Ice, A Game of Thrones, but didn't get it. Years after, I found out that such copies are now considered exceedingly rare and are worth a pretty penny on the book market. Bloody shit.)
In any case, this is Waking Beauty:
What is Beauty?
To the men of the Hierarchate, it is death...and worse than death: A scent that rises each evening from the depths of the forest called Herwood, luring them to eternal damnation.
To the women of the Hierarchate, Beauty is a rival, an enemy to be fought tooth and nail. Each night, the women bind their men, plugging their nostrils to protect them from the evil scent and keep close watch over their sleep.
In this astonishing first novel, part parable, part fantasy and all erotic adventure, Paul Witcover transports readers to an awesome world where the visionary and the voluptuous are at war. It is a world deeply strange and strangely familiar, a new literary landscape lying somewhere between the fabulous realms of Anne Rice and Salman Rushdie.
Talk about alluring, yes?
So, if anyone finds a copy (or has one), I'd be willing to shell out some hard-earned money for this. In return, I promise to keep an eye out for stuff any book-lover is on the look-out for.
Pretty please?
Update: Of books I've seen in the wilds of second-hand bookshops, these include
(1) Wild Cards book 1, one of the best concept anthologies around edited by George R.R. Martin, mass market paperback
(2) Tales of Old Earth, a short-story collection by Michael Swanwick, hardbound
(3) Syrup by Maxx Barry, an earlier effort by a really funny SF writer, hardbound