I Love Paperback Sci-Fi

Chris — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:20:27 +0000

The other day I picked up Sun of Suns: Book One of Virga by Karl Schroeder. It’s good, really good. It’s sort of a Flash Gordon meets Victorian England/Steampunk in a no gravity bubble. This is really beside the point though. What I really wanted to talk about is my love of the Mass Market Paperback. One day during the summer between 7th and 8th grade I wandered up to our attic because I was bored. Up in the attic I found my father’s bags of paperback sci-fi novels. I think I was up there for 6 hours before I finally came up for air. I had always been a reader but it was that event that not only got me hooked but also had me forever addicted to sci-fi. To this day flipping through paperback books reminds of a warm dusty attic and the smell of old paper. I also forgot how nice paperbacks can be. I’ve been reading a lot of trade paperbacks which are about the size of a hardcover so I haven’t had the luxury of a Mass Market Paperback. Mass Market paperbacks are small enough to fit in your back pocket. You can carry them around with you and pull them out whenever you have a moment to read. Sometimes I think that sci-fi is meant to be read in a paperback format. There is something about the genre that fits nicely on those 4″ x 7″ pages.

Losing Sleep » Book

I Love Paperback Sci-Fi