December is here and with it the holiday gift-giving season!
When it comes to objects, I’m a minimalist. Those authors who have been in my home know this. Though nice, I have few things. I have my signed books—some on bookcases, others on my desk. I have two pieces of artwork on my walls, both framed Michael Whelan signed prints. I don’t have a couch. I don’t have a recliner. I have a Mac on my desk, an iPad on my night stand, and a new television powered by Netflix that I watch from my computer chair when I need to decompress while doing web work.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have a wish list though. There are some really cool items out there and this is the season I begin thinking, “Wouldn’t it be neat if I had X or X or X or X?”
For the month of December I’ll post some of my own personal picks, some of which I’m sure will also excite some of you, maybe to the point you add them to your own gift wish lists!
Day 13: Songs of Love & Death
Tor Books has been producing some of the best anthologies going. Earlier this year they released Warriors, edited by George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, a book filled with stories of assassins, soldiers, knights, and even a fighting dog. Those editors were not done though with their work. They also had another anthology up their sleeves, one coming from a different angle—Songs of Love and Death.
Songs of Love and Death is packed with wonderful writers from beginning to end, all of the authors powerhouses in the sci-fi/fantasy genres. Here is a summary of the book that will do a better job of convincing you this is the perfect book for a geek:
Seventeen of the greatest modern authors of fantasy, science fiction, and romance explore the borderlands of their genres with brand-new tales of ill-fated love. From zombie-infested woods in a postapocalyptic America to faery-haunted rural fields in eighteenth- century England, from the kingdoms of high fantasy to the alien world of a galaxy-spanning empire, these are stories of lovers who must struggle against the forces of magic and fate.
For me personally, authors Peter S. Beagle, Jim Butcher, Jacqueline Carey, Diana Gabaldon, Neil Gaiman, and Robin Hobb make this collection an important part of my own library. I’m also excited to read work many of the other writers listed. What I love about anthologies is their capacity to open up our reading habits by introducing us to new writers we may not otherwise try. I plan on taking advantage of that!
You might want to consider doing it as well. Give the anthology as a gift this holiday season and then “borrow” it to immerse yourself in some of the best writers of our time.
To view the other Gifts For the Geek, click HERE!
More tomorrow!
