Books bought today

Dropped by Bakka today for the first time in about four months, and of course the first time in their new location. It's a huge improvement over th Yonge St. location: much more space, better layout, less claustrophobic. Unfortunately for me, it's in a location I'll be able to visit much less frequently that even the 3 or 4 times a year on Yonge.

• The mammoth book of best new horror: 15 edited by Stephen Jones.
  
• The hedge knight by George RR Martin, Ben Avery, Mike S Miller and Mike Crowell.
  
• Shadows over Baker Street edited by Michael Reaves and John Pelan.
  
• The bloody crown of Conan by Robert E Howard.
  
• Lust by Geoff Ryman.
  
• Air by Geoff Ryman.

Most of these were no-brainers. The Jones Year's Best is automatic for me -- I've been reading it every year for about 10 years. The volumes are quite variable in quality, with always a least a couple of stories I detest. However, there's always a few that reward my time. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire is the only fantasy series I'm following right now, and it's a keeper for sure. The Hedge Knight is a graphic novel adaptation of a story he published in Legends a few years ago. Since I never read that book, I'm really looking forward to this story and I expect to get to it fairly soon. The Conan collection continues the series of definitive editions of Howard's tales so it's something all fanatasy & weird fiction fans should have. It'll also gives me an excuse to reread all the old classics and lets me clear out a bunch of other editions that I have. I plan to eventually get the (already published) Soloman Kane and (forthcoming) Bran Mak Morn collections as well. As for the two Ryman novels, well, they both have received great reviews and I've really enjoyed the Ryman books I've read so far.

SoBS is more of a wildcard. The Gaiman story "A Study in Emerald" won the Hugo and is very widely acclaimed, however the rest of the book has had a mixed reception. The idea for this theme anthology is Sherlock Holmes meets Cthulhu. Hopefully it won't be as lame as it sounds.