I did it again...

Earlier this year I signed up with Planet Stories Ongoing Subscription service, which sends me a new book every other month or so. In the mail Monday comes their latest book, Steppe by Piers Anthony. I did not plan on reading this book next, but you know how it is. I opened it up, I read the introduction by Chris Roberson, I read the first couple of pages of the book to see how it grabbed me and the next thing I know my legs go numb from sitting so long. So, Steppe is now my "downstairs" book.

A quick word about Piers Anthony. I know a lot of people don't like him. Many dismiss his Xanth series as juvenile (hmmm, how are YA books selling these days?). I know he had a bad reputation with publishers for years because he actually expected to be paid the amount of royalties called for in his contracts (shocking!). I know he was involved in some famous feuds in the 1970s. Personally, I've read about a dozen of his books and enjoyed them all, especially the Incarnations series. But more to the point, I have reached out to Piers three times, each time asking him for something (always related to Philip Jose Farmer) and each time he came through. Came through big in fact. So in my book, Piers is a prince and a very good writer, I have nothing but admiration for him.

I finished reading Nick and the Glimmung yesterday. It was interesting to see Philip K. Dick writing for a younger reader. Written in 1966, the book didn't feel dated, though it did seem somewhat incomplete to me. It's definitely worth checking out if you have read a lot of PKD and are running out of his books (as I am).