in the 60s, you could conceivably read most major SF writers work. Or so it seemed. Then the explosion of Fantasy/SF crossover happened, and since then well gosh it's all a bit much to take in, innit?
This is true but, on the other hand, it's probably easier to keep up with certain subsets. For instance, I've often looked at the Locus lists of new books and they generally have a one-line pigeon hole for them: urban fantasy, fourth in a series; technothriller, second in a series; YA SF, ninth in a series. There are rarely any that just say "science fiction novel" for instance. So that wouldn't be too hard to keep up with.
I struggle when trying to read a series of books one after the other and will often break up a series in order to keep the reading fresh. It's not that I loose interest, but it can be monotonous reading the same author after a while. [...] Neal Asher's Polity books. I have read most of them and thoroughly enjoyed them. I have been saving Line War, The Warship and The Human so that I can read them back to back. I'll consider the Owner series later.
Yeah, I sometimes do that - a bit of a binge, then a bit of a break. I sometimes just skip from one thing to the other or go on a massive binge, but it's usually little patterns. When you stop in the middle, do you ever have trouble picking up again? I know, speaking of Asher, that
The Technician opens with a character and I'm mystified as to whether I'm supposed to know who he is from other books - he seems kind of familiar, but I can't place him.
As a teenager, I would read anything I could find written by Edmund Cooper.
Is that a case of outgrowing him or something in him changing? Or did you just run out?
Time permitting, I would like to finish Ben Bova's "Grand Tour" series of books. I read many of them in the 90's and early 00's but stopped for some reason.
I'm right there with you. I read Bova long ago, then stopped, then got back into him again (loved
Mars, though not
Return to Mars so much) and bought a truckload of books that I've only managed to read a few of, but I want to get to them. There's a Simak rediscovery thread; maybe we should have one for Bova.
If I love a short story, I'll seek out other short stories by that author, especially those with the same world or characters (such as Chris Willrich's Gaunt and Bone series).
Yep, that's how I discovered a lot of writers - reading the magazines and anthologies. Most novelists aren't really "real" writers to me unless they've published short fiction. Unfortunately, these days, while I have come across some people I like, I just read too much short SF I can't stand to wade through it anymore. Right now, there's still plenty of stuff to read (and there will always be stuff to re-read) but I wonder what will happen if I stop finding new authors.
If I do read the first novel of a series and enjoy it, I want to read the rest. The exception being if they have millions of books, like Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Then I prefer to dip in at any point in the series rather than attempting to read them all. Even once a year would be too prolific for me novel-wise. I have hundreds of short stories on my to-read list, but at least they're easier to manage.
How does that work for you? Like I say, I sometimes get lost in series where I'm supposed to know what's going on. The only time I can remember jumping in, off-hand, was reading the end of Aldiss' Helliconia trilogy and that didn't work so well. (At least, I didn't like it.)
I could relate it more to music. I'm a Ludovico Einaudi fan and used to look forward to his new albums. However, he released seven albums last year. I stopped at 3 or 4. I can also be overwhelmed when a favourite band releases a double album, like The Lees of Memory did a couple of years ago.
Both music and reading are pleasurable, and I wouldn't want to risk putting pressure on myself to listen to or read everything I want to. It's just not possible. So although I'm overwhelmed at times, I try to take a relaxed approach.
Exactly. Multiple releases within a year are just unmanageable. I mean, in a way, an author or musician might just have a lot to say and hopes someone will hear it. Or they want or need to make a lot of money. But there are some people I'm a fan of who I want to know fairly comprehensively and it's usually impossible. So you do sometimes have to let it go. Problem is, while I can casually get a book from someone here and there, when I've gone on a dedicated run and it stops for whatever reason, I often lose track of them altogether.
I'm the type to binge something full-on and really dive into it, rather then mix them up. [...] So I think I read almost exclusively Weber for over 10 years!
Wow! That's dedication. I'm not sure what the longest I've read one SF/F author has been, but probably not more than a month or so.
