December 09, 2016

Holiday Gift Guide

by Jude Feldman

Winter has well and truly come to San Francisco, which means that we're now hitting a (for the City) quite chilly 42 degrees at night.  Definitely the perfect time for curling up with hot cocoa and a good book, and for picking up some great books for holiday gifts.  We here present our usual Opinionated Gift Guide to help you out.  However, we're always happy to make custom suggestions for you or anyone in your life.  We'll even wrap 'em for you!  (A special note to those of you purchasing presents: we're happy to gift wrap upon request, although our typical caveats apply: first, if we're busy, you may have to wait a bit to have things wrapped, and, second, some staff members are MUCH better than others at it.  It is possible that your package may resemble a brightly wrapped Lovecraft-ian, batrachian, rugose, Thing of No Human Shape.  For some customers, this is not a problem . . ."better than I can do!," they say. However, if you are concerned about our, ahem, abilities, we're also happy to just hand you the gift wrap, scissors and tape.)

Let's start with some awesome signed books.  We have signed copies of brand-new ARCANUM UNBOUNDED and ELANTRIS, THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Brandon Sanderson, BABYLON'S ASHES by James S.A. Corey, FEEDBACK by Mira Grant, pretty much everything including all three of the VELVETEEN books by Seanan McGuire, GHOST TALKERS by Mary Robinette Kowal, most of the Sandman Slim books by Richard Kadrey, a handful of signed Dan Wells titles including the just-released EXREME MAKEOVER, BLOOD MIRROR by Brent Weeks, IMPRUDENCE by Gail Carriger, SNOWED by Maria Alexander, A BLADE OF BLACK STEEL by Alex Marshall, and so many, many more.

Upcoming Events

Sisters in Crime / Mystery Writers of America Northern California Holiday Party on Saturday, December 10th from 2:00 - 4:00pm

James S. A. Corey, BABYLON'S ASHES (Hardcover, Orbit, $27.00) on Saturday, December 10th at 5:00pm

Shaenon Garrity, SKIN HORSE VOL. 6 (Trade Paperback, Couscous Collective, $14.00) on Saturday, January 14th at 3:00pm.

November Bestsellers

Hardcovers
1. ARCANUM UNBOUNDED by Brandon Sanderson
2. REJECTED PRINCESSES by Jason Porath
3. GHOST TALKERS by Mary Robinette Kowal
4. INVISIBLE PLANETS edited by Ken Liu
5. PIRATE UTOPIA by Bruce Sterling
6. CROSSTALK by Connie Willis
7. DEATH’S END by Cixin Liu
8. THE BLOOD MIRROR by Brent Weeks
9. GOLDENHAND by Garth Nix
10. ALIEN MORNING by Rick Wilber

Trade Paperbacks
1. THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu
2. ROMANCING THE INVENTOR by Gail Carriger
3. STORIES OF YOUR LIFE AND OTHERS by Ted Chiang
4. THE FIFTH SEASON by N.K. Jemisin
5. THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M.R. Carey
6. MYSTIC by Jason Denzel
7. CYBER WORLD edited by Jason Heller and Joshua Viola
8. THE PAPER MENAGERIE AND OTHER STORIES by Ken Liu
9. EXTREME MAKEOVER: APOCALYPSE EDITION by Dan Wells
10. THE OBELISK GATE by N.K. Jemisin

Mass Market Paperbacks
1. BREAK THE CHAINS by Megan E. O’Keefe
2. MISTBORN by Brandon Sanderson
3. AURORA by Kim Stanley Robinson
4. THE NAME OF THE WIND by Patrick Rothfuss
5. AMERICAN GODS: TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Neil Gaiman
6. THE GUNSLINGER by Stephen King
7. WILLFUL CHILD by Steven Erikson
8. EMPIRE ASCENDANT by Kameron Hurley
9. ONCE BROKEN FAITH by Seanan McGuire
10. THE MIRROR EMPIRE by Kameron Hurley

December News

* Overheard in the store:

"Alright, then! Let's hear it for characters that aren't dumb!"

"It's a fire-juggling Santa-clown.  I hate clowns but I love fire.  I'm kind of having a crisis right now."

"Gee, who knew that writers were so moist?"

"I wish the cyberpunk dystopia that we actually live in had more ninjas and Day-Glo colors."

* Please help keep SF in SF at the American Bookbinders' Museum.  We've been working with SF in SF (Science Fiction in San Francisco) for a decade now, and they are wonderful people who have presented dozens of brilliant authors.  We received the following from Madeleine Robins; local author, sponsor, and Operations Manager for the ABM: ". . .[I]n 2016 the ABM became the new home for SF in SF, hosting eleven monthly readings and discussions in our beautiful museum space.  We hope to be the program's home for 2017 and beyond, but to do so we are asking for your support.  The ABM is a relatively new museum, filled with equipment, archives, and ephemera that tells the history of bookbinding--particularly of binding and the innovations of the Industrial Revolution.  In addition to telling this story, the American Bookbinders Museum is committed to supporting the book community in the Bay Area: this year, in addition to SF in SF, we have hosted events for Litquake, Quiet Lightning, and the Lantern Review.  In order to continue doing so, and to continue to provide programming to reach and enrich our community, we rely on the generosity of individuals and businesses. . . ." If you'd like to help support the American Bookbinders Museum and help ensure a home for SF in SF, you can use this link to donate to the ABM: http://bookbindersmuseum.org/support/donate/?mc_cid=4720e1f973&mc_eid=48692d0e31