Blog about SF Author Bob Shaw

Monthly Archives: November 2009

Galactic Tours Arrived

Bought from eBay this arrived today; in quite good condition but it is the paperback edition. So, hardback copy still to get.

Galctic Tours Paperback

Galctic Tours Paperback

Ebay bit

Great, I won Galactic Tours by Bob Shaw, illustrated by David Hardy, for only £2.99 on eBay. It’s been £10 and upward any time I’ve searched for it online. I had set a maximum bid of £9.99 for it and it turned out I was the only bidder. Max bids on eBay are quite helpful. It sets a limit.

I’ve yet to receive it so we’ll see what condition it’s in when it arrives. I haven’t read it at all so this will be a new book for me. I’ve got more bids on other Bob Shaw books and I’m considering a few others. I’m a bit behind in posts here, but I don’t want to post too much too soon: Bob Shaw did only write a finite amount and I doubt if there are any new works to be released. So there is only a set amount of his works that I can blog about.

Any Idiot

The problem with the Internet is that any idiot can set themselves up as a bookseller. They just create accounts for eBay Amazon etc and punt them out. Service and customer care can take a massive dip online, although there are exceptions. I’ve been caught a couple of times with Bob Shaw novels; SFBC editions instead of Gollancz editions, ex-library copies which I only find out are ex-library when they arrive.

And it’s happened again. A Bob Shaw hardback at a cheap price which turns out not to be the Gollancz edition as advertised. I now have two copies of that book, both useless to me, seeing as it would cost as much as I spent on it to send it back.

Is it too much to ask book dealers to be accurate in their descriptions? Apparently it is. They punt it out and hope for a sale, ignoring the service to customers.

I suppose it’s a case of that old saying, if it looks too good to be true it probably is. I’ll make it a policy to always enquire before purchase from now on.

(This is the first blog post to be posted to all four of my blogs.)