A skiffy meme

"I found this nifty quiz over at Jason Bennion's blog, and given its focus on books and sci-fi, it's right up my alley."

   So says Jaquandor of Byzantium's Shores, and I concur. Forthwith, here are my answers.

1. Science fiction, fantasy, or horror?

Not horror. I used to own a couple of H. P. Lovecraft books, but I never really got into them. "A Cask of Amontillado" is about as horrorish as I get.

2. Hardback, trade paperback, or mass-market paperback?

I like hardcovers, but they're so damn expensive these days. Trade paperbacks are the work of the devil. Sure, sell me a paperback, and charge me almost the same as a hardcover? Why would I think that was a good idea? Trade paperbacks have all the fragility of a mass market paperback and none of the convenience. So for me, it's mostly mass market paperbacks. The exception is if I don't want to wait the year for a book to arrive in that format, or if I want the hardcover for personal reasons.

3. Heinlein or Asimov?

Both. The genre wouldn't be the same without either of them. However, if you were going to make me choose, I'd have to say Asimov. Sometimes Heinlein's oh-so-perfect characters get on my nerves.

4. Amazon or brick-and-mortar?

Brick-and-mortar. I'm with Jaquandor on this one. I have never purchased anything online, with the exception of a few CDs by an obscure artist that I tried to special order from a brick and mortar and just couldn't get. I want to pick up a book and flip through a few pages to get a feel for it. Call me old fashioned.

5. Barnes & Noble or Borders?

[Jaquandor says: I suppose that Canadians answering this quiz should do Chapters or Indigo.]

Uh, Jaq, Chapters and Indigo are the same company. As is Coles. In fact, it's hard, in the great wilds of Suburbia to find any book stores that are not a part of the great evil bookselling empire that is Chapters/Indigo. There are a couple of really good used bookstores in my area that I do not spend nearly enough time visiting. I believe I shall remedy that this year.

6. Hitchhiker or Discworld?

Never read any Discworld. Should I? Am I missing something good?

I suspect by 'Hitchhiker' the books being referenced are The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (A Trilogy in Five Parts). Brilliant stuff, as are Adams' more recent Dirk Gently novels. There was a man with a sense of humour. I'm laughing just thinking about him.

7. Bookmark or dog-ear?

Grrr. Eef anyone dog-eerse one uff my books I weel keel them. Ditto to placing them face down open to save one's page. It just isn't done in this household.

8. Magazine: Asimov's Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction?

Either or. I don't pick up either one often, but if I'm in the mood, it will depend on which one looks more interesting that month. I used to have a subscription to Asimov's, but that was many years ago.

9. Alphabetize by author, by title, or random?

By author, then date of publication.

10. Keep, throw away, or sell?

I tend to keep books forever. I can re-read the ones I like over and over again. A couple of years ago we had a garage sale where I sold off a bunch of books. It was the first time I had got rid of any books in probably twenty years. I currently have a couple of boxes full in the crawl space that no longer rate a place on our limited shelving space. I really should cart them over to the used book store and trade them in. There you go, a good reason to visit.

11. Year's Best Science Fiction series (edited by Gardner Dozois) or Years Best SF series (edited by David G. Hartwell)

Neither. Years ago I used to buy all of the "year's best" SF books I could find, but I read less short fiction than I used to, hell, I read less in general than I used to, and I just don't have time for those.

12. Keep dust jacket or toss it?

Keep. I find it easier to identify books on the shelf if they are in their original dust covers. I may or may not remove the dust covers during reading depending on how unwieldy the book is.

13. Read with dust jacket or remove it?

Uh...yeah. See above.

14. Short story or novel?

Either, but read the answer to question #11.

15. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

My son has all the Lemony Snicket books, but I have notread anyof them. So, for now, Harry Potter. Maybe one day I'll read the other and make a fair comparison. Or maybe not.

16. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?

I prefer to wait until a chapter break to leave off, but some books have huge chapters. If I'm really ready to put the book down, I just try to find an obvious pause in the narrative.

17. "It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?

First lines are over rated. A great first line means nothing if the rest of the book doesn't live up to it. By the same token, I've never put a book down after reading just the first line.

18. Buy or borrow?

I prefer to buy, because, as I said above, I can read a favourite book over and over. It's just so darn expensive these days, that I find the lure of the public library to very strong.

19. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation, or browse?

I usually only buy a new book by an author I am unfamiliar with on a recommendation from someone I know well. Or at least whose taste in books demonstrably runs similar to mine. Especially in the genre market, buying a book based on its cover and liner blurb is pretty much a crap shoot. It might turn out to be great, or it might be pure, unadulterated crap. I only put so much stock in reviews, because I usually don't know what the reviewer has liked in the past that I also liked. Just because Joe Blow in the local paper liked it is no guarantee that I will. In fact, I find I disagree with professional reviewers more often than not.

20. Lewis or Tolkien?

Tolkien. Lewis is children's literature.

21. Hard SF or space opera?

Generally Hard SF. Space opera has to be more than just space opera. If it doesn't rise above its genre, then it's just an SF version of Robert Jordan, and me no likee.

22. Collection (short stories by the same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?

Whatever.

23. Hugo or Nebula?

Whatever.

24. Golden Age SF or New Wave SF?

Whatever.

25. Tidy ending or cliffhanger?

Depends. A cliffhanger in a stand alone novel would be pretty stupid, wouldn't it? I think the cliffhanger outlived its usefulness when they stopped putting a new episode of a serialised movie into the theaters every week. Even in a series of novels, whenit might beseveral years until the next installment comes out, cliffhangers can be pretty frustrating.

26. Morning, afternoon, or nighttime reading?

Whenever I have time.

27. Stand alone or series?

Doesn't matter if they are good.

28. Urban fantasy or high fantasy?

Doesn't matter if they are good.

29. New or used?

I don't really care, as long as the book's in pretty good shape. (I simply left Jaq's answer in place for this one).

30. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?

The Stone Dance of the Chameleon trilogy, by Ricardo Pinto

31. Top X favorite genre books read last year? (Where X is 5 or less)

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, Susanna Clarke
Baudolino, Umberto Eco
Old Man's War, John Scalzi
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Ringworld's Children, Larry Niven

32. Top X favorite genre books of all time? (Where X is 5 or less)

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Slaughterhouse-five, Kurt Vonnegut
The Holy Bible, Various Authors

33. X favorite genre series? (Where X is 5 or less)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Foundation Series, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Ringworld, Larry Niven

34. Top X favorite genre short stories? (Where X is 5 or less)

"Nightfall", Isaac Asimov
"Hinterlands", William Gibson
"Enemy Mine", Barry B. Longyear
"Fondly Fahrenheit", Alfred Bester
"A Boy and His Dog", Harlan Ellison

"That's it, folks! Tag yourself if you like the skiffy, move along if you don't." -Jaq

Tags: memes, skiffy, SF&F, science fiction, fantasy