Paperbacks
14. Dec, 2009 
17 Comments
A good portion of the collection I’ve been sorting and alphabetizing all weekend (not straight through, but Karen did insist that she get her living room back by Monday) is paperbacks.
Some folks look down on paperbacks, but I love them.
True, they aren’t as sturdy as a hardback or a trade paperback, but: they’re less expensive, many more of them show up at the used book store and of perhaps greatest importance, many titles were not originally offered in hardback (or, if they were, it was from a relatively expensive specialty imprint, expensive and printed in limited quantities).
A first edition paperback is just as collectible (to me) as a first edition hardback.
The only real drawback is the aforementioned lack of durability: there are several much-read books of which I have multiple broken spine, missing cover, separated sections copies. I think the record belongs to Niven’s Ringworld, or perhaps Heinlein’s Starman Jones.
Anyway. I’ve finished the SF & Fantasy paperback sorting. I only ended up with four out-of-place books (they’ll get properly placed as time passes) and have labeled shelving through the ‘T’s. For those who like such things, here is an author list (through T) of the writers in the pb section. (Note that this does not include other authors who are represented only in trade, hardback or ‘ginormous odd size’ publications, nor are some names that appear as co-authors or editors in the second position only.)
There’s 251 names here – how many of them do you recognize?
F ACKERMAN
M ACRES
D ADAMS
Ri ADAMS
Ro ADAMS
B ALDISS
B ALDRIN
K AMIS
C ANDERSON
P ANDERSON
P ANTHONY
I ASIMOV
M AVALLONE
J BAEN
J BALLARD
M BANNISTER
C BEAUMONT
E BEESE
A BESTER
L BIGGLE
E BINDER
D BISCHOFF
J BLISH
A BOUCHER
P BOULLE
S BOUNDS
B BOVA
L BRACKETT
R BRADBURY
M BRADLEY
D BRIN
T BROOKS
F BROWN
J BRUNNER
A BUDRYS
K BULMER
A BURGESS
E BURROUGHS
F BUSBY
J CABELL
M CAIDIN
J CAMPBELL
T CARNELL
T CARR
L CARTER
C CERF
J CHALKER
L CHARBONNEAU
R CHASE
C CHERRYH
A CLARKE
J CLAYTON
H CLEMENT
A COLE
G CONKLIN
E CORLEY
R CURTIS
M CRICHTON
J DALMAS
A DAVIDSON
L DECAMP
R DECONDIDO
S DELANY
L DELREY
P DICK
G DICKSON
T DISCH
S DONALDSON
A DOYLE
G DOZOIS
D DRAKE
W DREW
D EDDINGS
G EKLUND
M ELDER
H ELLISON
R ELWOOD
C EVANS
R FARLEY
P FARMER
M FARREN
J FAST
E FERMAN
C FORT
R FORWARD
A FOSTER
R FOSTER
E FRIEDEL
H FYFE
D GALOUYE
D GERROLD
H GERNSBACK
W GIBSON
A GILLILAND
D GLUT
H GOLD
S GORDON
P GOTTLEIB
R GOULART
W GOLDMAN
R GRAHAM
R GREEN
I GREENFIELD
W GREENLEAF
J GUNN
H HAGGARD
I HAIBLUM
J HALDEMAN
B HAMBLY
E HAMILTON
H HARRISON
D HARTWELL
R HEINLEIN
F HERBERT
D HEYDT
J HIPPOLITO
J HOGAN
I HOWARD
R HOWARD
F HOYLE
Z HUGHES
IF (from the editors of)
D ING
N JONES
L JANIFER
J JOHNSON
R JORDAN
P KARR
W KEITH
D KETTERER
D KEYES
S KING
O KLINE
F KNEBEL
D KNIGHT
Y KONDO
D KOONTZ
C KORNBLUTH
J KOSINSKI
K KURTZ
H KUTTNER
M LACKEY
R LAFFERTY
K LAUMER
S LEE
U LE GUIN
F LEIBER
M LEINSTER
S LEM
C LEWIS
J LICHTENBERG
H LOVECRAFT
G LUCAS
S LUNDWALL
R LUPOFF
E LYNN
C MACAPP
R MACBRIDE
L MACGREGOR
S MACKAY
B MALZBERG
L MARGUILES
S MARSHAK
D MASON
R MATHESON
A MCCAFFREY
D MCDANIEL
R MCDONALD
R MCENROE
V MCINTYRE
F MCSHERRY
J MERRILL
A MERRITT
W MILLER
R MILLS
D MOFFITT
T MONTELEONE
M MOORCOCK
J MORRIS
S MOSKOWITZ
L NIVEN
W NOLAN
J NORMAN
AL NORTON
AN NORTON
A NOURSE
P NOWLAN
K O’DONNELL
A OFFUT
G ORWELL
T PAGE
D PALMER
E PANGBORN
A PANSHIN
D PARKINSON
L PETERS
H PIPER
PLAYBOY (editors of)
E POE
F POHL
J POURNELLE
F PRATT
E PRICE
A RAND
A RAYMOND
M REYNOLDS
K ROBESON
S ROBINSON
M ROSHWALD
D ROSELLE
J ROY
J RUSS
E RUSSELL
F SABERHAGEN
C SAGAN
SAT EVE POST (from the editors)
J SAUNDERS
J SCALZI
J SCHMITZ
M SCOTT
B SHAW
L SHAW
R SHECKLEY
C SHERRELL
R SILVERBERG
C SIMAK
D SIMMONS
C SIODMAK
CORDE SMITH (cordelia)
CORDW SMITH (cordwainer)
E SMITH
G SMITH
N SPINRAD
P STANTON
O STAPLETON
J STEAKLEY
G STINE
W STREIBER
W STUART
T STURGEON
H SUTTON
P TELEP
W TEMPLE
W TENN
J TIPTREE
J TOLKEIN
L TRIMBLE
K TROUT
W TUCKER
H TURTLEDOVE
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO MY FEED
I recognize most of them – I started counting and lost rack – probably 20 that didn’t connect, based on first initial, last name. I imagine eventually this will end with R ZELAZNY, right?
Paperbacks rock! And, I’m guessing your list is going to end with R Zubrin.
Lots of familiar names.
That’s quite a collection.
Wish I were as organized as you.
Joan
Hey Joan!
Thanks for stopping by.
FYI, the Saberhagen section of the library pretty much has its own shelf! Fred is one of my long time faves. (In fact, there was a time a few decades ago when my universe consisted almost entirely of Rim Worlds and Beserkers.)
Saberhagen is a real favorite of mine too, but I admit to a lot of ignorance about his books. I have never figured out how EMPIRE OF THE EAST fits in with the SWORDS books, and if there is a “best” reading order of that part of Fred’s work.
Richard, if you go to Berserker.com, the blurb on the front page announces the publication of a title that ties the two worlds together.
My favorite thing about Saberhagen was his outright ‘theft’ of the Greek myths as plots for many of his short stories. This ‘borrowing’ impressed me at a very young age and I’ve been doing it shamelessly ever since.
Is C. Siodmack Curt Siodmack the screenwriter who penned a lot of Universal horror flicks? What did he put out in paperback?
Yes, it is. I’ve never read it. The title is Riders to the Stars and it is apparently a novelization of a film of the same title. You can watch it on video detective
They are both from 1954 (and surprisingly a flick I never heard of, from Ivan Tors, no less).
The book is from Ballantine and clocks in at a modest 35 cents cover price.
I’ll have to read it now and add the flick to the classic science fiction channel. Thanks for asking about that John! Turn over an SF rock and look what crawls out!
(edit)
and dig a little deeper and you shall find even more. Apparently the novelization was written by “Robert Smith based upon the screenplay by Curt Siodmak” – even though only Siodmak’s name appears on the cover.
Interesting also, Ballantine chose to advertise the following titles inside this one: more than human – sturgeon, out of the deeps – wyndham, expedition to earth – clark, star sf short stories 2 – pohl, dark dominion – duncan.
puts this one in pretty good company
Thanks for checking, Steve. I remember seeing Riders to the Stars at a matinee in Philadelphia way back when. Richard Carlson of Creature from the Black LAgoon fame was in it. Curt Siodmack had a brother, Robert, who also wrote and directed. His most famous film was Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers.
So practical question: how do you have your shelving set up?
I’ve found most standard bookshelves end up with a lot of wasted space both above and in front of the paperback. My inelegant solution is to make vertical stacks of the books, but it doesn’t look very pretty and gets all out of order if I pull a book out from the bottom.
Peggy,
Back in Florida I had 9 sets of that sheet steel industrial shelving. 5 shelves per unit, 30 inches per shelf.
I had them standing perpendicular to the wall, so I was able to use both sides (books arranged in traditional fashion facing outwards on either side), so I had roughly 225 feet of shelf space.
Halve that if the shelves are parallel to the wall and you place books traditionally.
It still wasn’t enough for all of the books – but it came close. Two more units would likely have done it.
(Got a ways to go to equal the strands ‘a mile of books’ – but I am about 1/20th of the way there, lol.)
Now, the shelves are parallel to the wall and I am stacking the books horizontally, in two stacks, one behind the other. Four of these fit across the width of each shelf.
Figure an average of 21 books per stack, 8 stacks per shelf. I’ve got three units right now (a fourth to go up soon) so 3 (units) x 5 (shelves) x 8 (stacks/shelf) x 21 (books per stack) = 2,520.
I’ve got roughly 3,000 books, most paperbacks, so the above comes pretty close to shelving them all.
Of course I will NOT be happy until I have a library room with built-in book cases (glass doors in front of all), one of those ladder tracks and the collectible magazines placed in hermetically sealed, UV protecting, nitrogen filled frames….
Peggy & CoF: I have some books stacked vertically but really, really don’t like to do that, I want the books horizontally on the wall, organized by author left to right. For mass-market paperbacks I use shelves 6″ deep and 7.5″ tall. If you need to also shelve trae paperbacks on the same shelves, you can still use 6″, or 6.5″, but you have to raise the height to 9.5″. If you want to – or have to – double shelves your mass market paperbacks, increase the shelf depth to 9″. It’s also worth noting that mass market paperbacks can be shelved in the wall between the studs (works with CDs also) if you’re willing to cut the sheetrock. Avoid the level with the outlets, there’ll be wiring that will prevent enough depth.
I have a “study”, a bedroom turned into a library-office, with built-in shelves on three walls (one is floor to ceiling – no doors, they are too expensive and heavy) all of them adjustable. I put the paperbacks in one area, the hard covers in another. It runs to about 300 linear feet. There is also about 8 ft. of shelving for the big coffee table type books, the art books and so forth, 20″ tall, 16″ deep, that doubles as a window seat.
Of course that doesn’t count the four bookcases in the other room, the two bookcases for ToBeRead books (vertically stacked) the CD cabinets not eh DVD cases. My wife has one hard and fast rule: no books in the living room. None. And there aren’t any.
…except the one I’m reading at any given moment, of course.
Happy Holidays!
Ooh, you guys make me jealous – both of the size of your libraries and the excellent-sounding shelving you have. Unfortunately new shelving isn’t currently in my budget. I prefer to spend my discretionary funds on books, and as long as there isn’t a major earthquake they should at least be OK on my current shelves, despite being hard to get to.
“Some folks look down on paperbacks, but I love them.
True, they aren’t as sturdy as a hardback or a trade paperback”
YM you like rack-sized or mass market paperbacks, not “paperbacks,” then.