1/2 price weekend for members, I joined! Tucson, Arizona Libraries Book Haul

[@sciencefictionreads]

Love those old hardcovers! Hunting for books is often my favorite part of being on vacation 😆

[@vintagesf]

@@sciencefictionreads My wife keeps asking me if any towns we are travelling through have used bookstores. Very easy to enjoy hunting for books with the support of your partner!

[@LiminalSpaces03]

Great haul!

[@adrianmcmahon5731]

I'm glad your bike's brakes didn't fail and you avoided getting a face full of cactus spikes 👍. I have donated books to my local library but I've never had them sell off unwanted books so far. You got a great haul of bargains and the Rinzler Planet of the Apes book is an awesome find. I always wished we saw more of the space flight portion and crew in the early part of the film as I always liked the external design of what you see of the ship when it scuttles in the lake. It's always amusing when you see behind the scenes candid shots of actors in full ape make up eating hamburgers and smoking. I think Roddy McDowell took a lot of photos on set if I remember rightly. I think you could do a good follow up on the book later on, perhaps combing it with the original novel and discussing the differences between novel and film adaptation and making of books features.

[@vintagesf]

@@adrianmcmahon5731 I will follow up with a video about the book. I like your suggestions.

[@jsck9683]

Man,that Planet of the Apes book looks awesome and for a good price too.

[@vintagesf]

@@jsck9683 I’ve been looking through it the last few days. Lots of info at the beginning about Pierre Boulle and first script draft writer Rod Serling. This is a great book!

[@GrammaticusBooks]

Great book haul Richard and great weather!

[@vintagesf]

@@GrammaticusBooks On Wednesday it will be about an 80 degree Fahrenheit difference between Winnipeg and Tucson.

[@GrammaticusBooks]

@@vintagesf Nice!

[@danieldelvalle5004]

I can't think of a better place to get books other than a library. I salute you for such a great video. We need to promote and support our libraries. Unfortunately where I live the only library is the university's. All the others that are public have gone digital.

[@vintagesf]

@@danieldelvalle5004 Tried around 2010 to go the digital route but I really craved the tactile feel, smell and experience of a physical book.

[@danieldelvalle5004]

@@vintagesf same here.

[@danieldelvalle5004]

@vintagesf you're right, there is nothing like the tactile experience of a book, especially a used book which has character. You can't get that through a monitor or screen.

[@OXyShow]

You look slick with that hat 🤠

[@vintagesf]

@@OXyShow 🕵️‍♂️

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Awesome bike Richard and that paved trail looks like a lot of fun, and the weather, oh man. I've got to get down to Tucson, on all my AZ trips its so far eluded me. I just got that same copy of Counterfeit Man by Nourse, we are synced up. I love traveling and book hunting, library sales are great. Have fun on the rest of your trip Richard.

[@vintagesf]

@@sfwordsofwonder So far we’ve found Tucson to have the best asphalt dedicated bike trails (separated from traffic) of the places we’ve tried in Arizona. Found some nice trails in Phoenix neighborhoods but as you can see, in Tucson you follow washes and even through deserts by military bases. Would be fun to ride a trail with you someday! ‘Counterfeit Man’ really looks interesting! May read it sooner than later.

[@User_Un_Friendly]

@@vintagesf I'm going to recommend Brightside Crossing...and the hilariously ironic Coffin Cure. Nourse was a real life physician. Coffin Cure certainly bears the hallmark of being written by a doctor. 😂🤣. Recommended.

[@vintagesf]

@ Getting excited for this book! May be my next read.

[@ScienceFictionRetroactivis-j1w]

Great Stuff. Volume 5 sounds particularly interesting. I do not think I have ever seen it.

[@vintagesf]

@@ScienceFictionRetroactivis-j1w Lots of great short stories in this haul. The Groff Conklin anthology was originally published in 1950 so a lot of older SF in that one.

[@ScienceFictionRetroactivis-j1w]

@vintagesf Conklin did great work with his anthologies. Counting... I have 12 Conklin anthologies!

[@User_Un_Friendly]

Richard, I was worried in your into, when it looked like you were about to end up impaled on the very militant and aggressive flora of the American Southwest. 😅 Alan E. Nourse is an excellent Science Fiction author and physician. He's best known for his excellent YA novel, Star Surgeon. Recommended! 😉 That Planet of the Apes looks awesome. I'm particularly partial to the movie adaptation, given that the shooting script was written by Rod Serling. ❤

[@vintagesf]

@@User_Un_Friendly A couple points, I may have accidentally had a cactus stabbing when setting up the camera🌵😫, and Serling wrote the first script draft but the shooting script was changed significantly with many hands involved. Will have an episode featuring this book. Early leader for the best book of my second year of Vintage SF.

[@User_Un_Friendly]

@ I know...but it's always been my fond hope, when I first researched this connection (after running across this factoid years ago) that the ending was Serling's. I have a tremendous respect for his immense creativity. 😉

[@vintagesf]

@ I’ll let you know according to the book whose ending it was.

[@paulcooper3611]

The Santa Fe Public Libraries have a separate room, staffed by Friends of the Public Library, where they sell used books. The rooms are open from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM, daily. Alan E. Nourse was a physician who also, occasionally, wrote SF from 1951 to 1983. His best known title is "The Bladerunner," published in 1974, which I happened to read and quite enjoyed. It is about a doctor who smuggles medical supplies, including surgical tools (hence the name), into a United States where medicine is banned. I was one of the people who were quite surprised when the movie "Bladerunner" came out, since it had nothing to do with the book. Rumor had it that the makers of the film had just decided to use the title, unaware of the novel's existence. When Nourse contacted them, they paid him an undisclosed sum not make any waves.

[@vintagesf]

@@paulcooper3611 I think Nourse’s ‘Bladerunner’ is a difficult book to find due to this tenuous connection to the film. Good to hear he got paid.

[@secretfirebooks7894]

Egad! He's in the states, getting great deals on vintage books! Somebody stop this man! 😂

[@chocolatemonk]

so prolific! I dont know if we can stop him; maybe not even slow him down. . .

[@vintagesf]

@@secretfirebooks7894 Be afraid … be very afraid!

[@vintagesf]

@@chocolatemonk I even was recognized in a used bookstore! Word is out on VSF!

[@unstopitable]

Some really interesting finds. That Planet of the Apes coffee-table book does look amazing. Gorgeous color stills. I'm curious. Are you driving from Canada to Arizona?

[@vintagesf]

@@unstopitable Driving yes. We bring our bikes with us. Plus it saves on shipping costs for used books. Too heavy to check on an airplane.

[@unstopitable]

@@vintagesf Wow. That's impressive.

[@CasperHulshof]

@@unstopitable I checked: that's about 2000 miles. In Europe, nobody would ever think of driving such a distance. But I think the trip is part of the fun.

[@unstopitable]

@@CasperHulshof Definitely a change in climate, that's for sure. Cheers.

[@waltera13]

You asked about our local library sales. I live in the SF Bay area, formerly an amazing area for books (like the Seattle area.) there used to be an incredible, vital, new and used book scene here. Every tiny neighborhood in SF used to have its own bookstore or two! Those days are gone, so my best supplier is the SFPL library sales, but Mass market paperback science fiction is not turning up the way it used to!! Membership is priced exorbitantly, and offers only a laughable 5% discount. As to the sales: SFPL has a "sale on the steps" every Wednesday, weather permitting (most of the time). Paperbacks $4, hardcovers $5, MMPB $2. Prior to covid they used to have sales two or three times a year add a giant Navy Pier building near Fisherman's Wharf, same pricing, members got access the first night, paid admission Friday Saturday and Sunday, Sunday had some additional percentage off. Most of the surrounding towns in the surrounding counties have small independent "friends of library book stores." With mass-market paperbacks hovering between $2, and $1 a piece / 3 for $2. Oakland public library for 1025 a year will give you a membership that offers 20% off. Because they are serious about helping get books into people's hands, and helping the community. The small shops in each township are quite quaint, the people are usually nice, These shops usually have a half-price sale 2 or 3 times a year and each has its own specialty except for San Anselmo who has a terrible selection, high prices, and an arrogant bias against science fiction of any flavor. . . Except for the writers that go in their huge literature section that they don't realize are writing SF.

[@vintagesf]

@@waltera13 Great information but sad to hear about the decline in affordability and availability in most areas. Looks like SFPL is the way to go when visiting the SF Bay area. I have a brother living south of San Jose in the valley so I may check out the SFPL.

[@waltera13]

@vintagesf will the last time they had any sort of big event was in June, so plan appropriately. 😁

[@vintagesf]

@ I don’t think I can go so far as planning my vacation around a book sale. Even eBay is cheaper.

[@waltera13]

@@vintagesf 🤣🤣 I didn't quite mean that, but traveling to their little shop in the main when you might just as easily arrive at the warehouse size sale seemed even craZier.😆