Or possibly 6, anyway the LOTR books and The Chronicals Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever. 

I have a fairly good sized collection of those paperback anthologies of horror shorts. Dark Masques, Shadows, Whispers, The Year's Best Horror Sories, Book of the Dead, The Pan Book of Horror Stories, etc. Most are from the 80's but I cover many decades including the gothic times. It doesn't display much literary sophistication on my part but the variety and imagination shown in these books is excellent. Many of the writers who contibute are hobby or semi-professional writers although these books almost always have some Stephan King, Clive Barker, Ray Bradbury etc. to spice to cover print. I find a lot more fun horror reads in shorts then I do in Novels. I get my books used. 

Well I intend to buy a russian edition of "The Brothers Karamazov", do you know which edition is best and what's the price?

Thanks! 

Vondur... 

For those of you who love magic and elfs and shit...

Steve Erickson series is remarkably well written. Don't be fooled by the lame covers and typical font.
the first one is 'Gardens of the Moon' 

i know only one edition. usual.
i dunno about foreign editions. 

Most of them are so lame/cheesy they scare you off even though there might be good books hiding behind them. 

it isn't generic sword and sorcery, in which case it probably doens't have a generic cover. 

and a bear-skin thong. Probably a badly-drawn dragon in there somewhere. And a lens flare.

That's the impression I get from most generic fantasy art, anyway. 

You forget the unnaturally over-muscled barbarian wearing nothing but a loin cloth and a scarily large sword 

It's a staple of any fantasy world. 

"Bulletproof Nudity" is an awesome phrase, and I shall endeavour to use it more often in conversation. 

... is full of fantastic phrases I can't think of any way to use in any other context. 

what's the price? 

KISS KISS ( a series of macabre short stories he wrote before moving on to childrens books)

oh and his kids books are good aswell. 

what's the price 

Foreign Language large frame paper backs run 12 to 20 US Dollars.

It isn't a good idea to taunt the Grand Inquisitioner ;) 

that price is not too bad 

[deleted by metlslime] 

yay 

Eh... to bump an old thread, but this is important.

Read all the Stanislaw Lem you can get your hands on. He is the genius.

(although there's some crap in the early production, maybe he had to write a couple novels of soviet propaganda to get the censors to relax while he published the _real_ writings)

Believe me, I've read a lot of scifi like heinlein, clarke, bear, vance, hoyle, le guin, dick, isom�ki, you name it.

I find Lem's "best" ones to be the tales of robots, like the short stories in Cyberiad (cyberias/kyberiad whatever it's translated in your language). They are both hilarious, cruel and extremely serious and philosophical at the same time.

All kinds of machines doing the strangest things. There are strange planets and kingdoms ... the speed is staggering and you feel like you've been on an intellectual highway after reading.

Last I read a short story about a cruel king who put uranium headsets on all his people (well, robots) so they couldn't gather around for a coup or the uranium would reach criticality and they'd blow up. But then, an... , well you can read it yourself. 

Read a little while ago:

Anselm Audley - Aquasilva Trilogy - (Fantasy) interesting idea, good setting, and an interesting political background, but too tedious overall, too much wittering on about politics and stuff, too much purposeless dialogue, and too little revelling in the curious world it's set it.

Iain Banks - Dead Air - (Real world) very down to earth, none of his earlier weirdness, a straight up semi-thriller sort of thing, but worth a read. Very well written as usual, plenty of sharpness, and actually captures the vibe of some aspects of modern Britain really well without descending into parody. Recommended

Stephen King - The Gunslinger - (Fantasy-ish) a good example of how horror writers can't write for shit. Starts of well with a strong alternate Wild West atmosphere, and descents into an incomprehensible journey full of lots of things that are named as if you should know about them and give no reason for you to care less about them. A pity as initially there seemed to be a chance I'd continue the series - not any more.

Tricia Sullivan - Maul - (Cyberpunk) might be good if you like this sort of thing, all annoyingly trendy exaggerations of what the world might be like in the future. Compared to her previous, more gripping (and more sci-fi themed) works, this is too much fashion and too little substance.

Robert Charles Wilson - The Chronoliths - (Sci-fi) another gem from this author, based on a premise that sounds quite brash and fantastical, it's actually executed quite subtly, with understated (rather than Hollywood-esque) writing and a nice twist. Recommended 

Read recently:

Ian Irvine - The Well Of Echoes series (Geomancer, Alchymist, Tetrarch, and awaiting Chimaera) -

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It appears I hit "Submit" instead of "Preview". Damn metl needs to iron these bugs (i.e. user stupidity) out... 

Read recently:

Ian Irvine - The Well Of Echoes series (Geomancer, Alchymist, Tetrarch, and awaiting Chimaera) - (Fantasy) one of the best fantasy series I've read for a long time. Despite a few non-sequitors, this is gripping stuff, with a strong background, plenty of depth and various threads, and quite a dark and bleak feel to it. Good characters too, who are never the typical shining heroes of some fantasy. Well recommended

Ian Graham - Monument - (Fantasy) simple, brutal fantasy, that similarly to Irvine's work has a bleak feel to it. The back cover introduction is very enticing, but the book doesn't quite live up to the promise of it's anti-hero - a bit heavy on the violence and a bit light on the moral depths it sometimes explores. Still pretty good though.

Adam Roberts - Stone
Adam Roberts - Polystom - (Sci-fi / Unreal fiction) Roberts is getting better and better, these books share the bleak, surreal vibes and originality of his earlier books but are notably more purposeful and intriguing. Atypical sci-fi that lacks the standard spaceships and computers and technology focus, and should go down well with fans of the subtleties of Iain M Banks and Christopher Priest. Recommended

Currently reading:

Liz Williams - The Poison Master - (Fantasy) fantasy with a different flava and somewhat of a sci-fi background. Interesting setting that could prove quite inspiring for you mapping sorts. However I'm finding the story flits around a little. Will be interesting to see how it all pans out...

Currently waiting for the softback versions of:

Iain M Banks - Alchemist

Adam Roberts - The Snow

China Meiville - Iron Council

Alastair Reynolds - ???

...and something else I've forgotten