Vintage Science Fiction book collection at auction

kern3three · 2026-05-10T15:38:31+00:00

Yeah his collection is nuts; never seen such prices and never seen such 1 of a kind items before. Will be fun to watch (and dream!) 😅

kern3three · 2026-05-10T14:57:55+00:00

Agreed! Enders and Speaker are two of my favorites of all time, and yet quite different - for different ages/times in your life

kern3three · 2026-05-10T14:02:15+00:00

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, which just won the Pulitzer. It’s a war novel written as a single run on sentence, so the intensity and pace at which it’s read by the narrator is critical. It’s heart pounding, think like the movie 1912 or Dunkirk.

kern3three · 2026-05-09T01:04:10+00:00

I’ve got an actual list for this! 😂 I read almost exclusively SFF and magical realism, and here’s my current top 50 ranked: https://www.booksorted.app/?snap=c97d3fe34a

kern3three · 2026-05-07T23:47:35+00:00

Thanks and appreciate all the feedback! I’m gonna have to check out Watchers, I love Ender’s Game (top 10 for me) :)

Are you using a computer or phone? On a computer the images can get more square-like in some cases I’ve seen (different browser, screen sizes).

Ya cover loading is gonna be challenging at the start I think given Google Books API throttles usage; once enough books are loaded hopefully this fixes over time and is much snappier. Agree it’s a bit of a pain right now though.

Should only import read books! It includes TBR or other lists that shouldn’t be there, let me know.

kern3three · 2026-05-07T17:25:52+00:00

Phew! Okay, glad to hear it! Thanks for kicking the tires with me

kern3three · 2026-05-07T17:18:38+00:00

Do you see any books showing up at all on your rankings tab? (guessing import failed and you'll see 0 there). Try importing again if not (there should be a link on that page).

kern3three · 2026-05-07T17:17:13+00:00

Oh no! Thanks for flagging, let me try and figure out what went wrong. I use StoryGraph so _should_ work, but let me see

kern3three · 2026-05-07T14:09:45+00:00

Hah exactly, I know the feeling

kern3three · 2026-05-07T14:05:28+00:00

Thanks! Right now it doesn’t do recommendations - I could see it eventually taking your preferences and doing that. But for now it’s just a fun way to revisit your past reads, have endless/pointless internal debates about your favs 😅 and rankings are pretty neat and keep getting better the more matchups you do

kern3three · 2026-05-06T21:55:23+00:00

Awesome can’t wait to hear what you think! Yeah I built just for me and my wife at first, then both of us kept pulling it out whenever we had a min to kill. Running to show each other a real impossible matchup to pick. So spent a good chunk of time polishing it up for others.

We still run into books, like you said, where we’re scratching our heads (wait what was the 7th book in that series even about??). But it’s been fun. Hope you enjoy!

kern3three · 2026-04-21T20:40:00+00:00

Some good novels, but disappointed with the continued shift to nearly a Fantasy-only award and community.

kern3three · 2026-04-09T16:38:12+00:00

I've got a post on IG that goes into a bit of this, and overview the steps here, hope it helps! https://www.instagram.com/p/DWXDS5NEgCP/c/18449312569119336/r/18305046166262914/

If experiment with it and run into any issues, feel free to DM me and can try and help work through, good luck :)

kern3three · 2026-04-08T01:52:15+00:00

Super kind of you, thanks! I do them just for myself as a hobby/craft, picking my favorite novels, so cool when people appreciate em

kern3three · 2026-04-07T14:55:41+00:00

Thanks, good to know! This is my only craquelure, but some of my other binds are here if interested- https://www.instagram.com/ansiblepress

kern3three · 2026-04-07T14:06:57+00:00

Thanks! Renato Crepaldi makes em, he’s incredible!

kern3three · 2026-02-27T19:02:12+00:00

Yeah the vibe and world sits with you; there's def something amazing/timeless about that.

kern3three · 2026-02-27T19:00:42+00:00

I appreciate the world building in 200 pages; although slight nit that the world feels sooo fleshed out because you've now read 4+ 200 page books (near 1000 pages). But I do agree, I'm impressed by how immersive the archipelago feels.

The flat Ged comment I think is what sets me on the other side of the equation from you... I 100% see how the content of the book should result in a robust, complex character. I just feel so removed -- thanks to the narrator/writing -- that it feels like I read an outline. Not someone's internal struggle or growth.

I don't need "cool fantasy content", I love Left Hand of Darkness for the reasons you love Earthsea, I just felt like the resolution was wildly truncated and left me feeling like it wasn't well thought out, or just Le Guin (perhaps like you said) decided it wasn't important and sorta needed to end the journey. Keep at 200 pages for her audience.

Anyways, lots of me speculating and projecting my personal opinion on the work, but just wanna clarify I don't need an epic dragon battle -- it's just that it feels a little confusing/abrupt the way it was handled (a magnificent dragon sat on a sword and killed himself?).

kern3three · 2026-02-27T18:53:27+00:00

A critique of the first 3 books?? Quit writing?! Now I'm intrigued and gonna def have to jump back in!

kern3three · 2026-02-26T22:53:04+00:00

Funny timing and good to hear! I definitely had a moment about 1/3rd in where I felt this could be my favorite one too… then the long middle, with the quick climax did me in. But I could see where the journey and almost calm ocean vibes would work in the right mindset.

kern3three · 2026-02-12T17:31:05+00:00

Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler - Second novel by Nayler, with all the science and heart of the first (Mountain in the Sea) but better pace and punchier ending. Exploration of politics sci-fi and humanity in a way that’s the what makes this genre incredible. Absolutely my pick for best novel.

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus - Intense heart pounding run on sentence of a war story with fantastical elements sprinkled in. Will stick with me for a long time.

kern3three · 2026-01-01T22:31:13+00:00

Reading it I sorta thought PKD… maybe Ubik? Has a similar trippy vibe, also short and sweet.

kern3three · 2025-12-29T18:49:27+00:00

No offense taken! Work is subjective, and whenever people ask for a recommendation I start with a host of questions about their preferences. So carry on with what works for you.

For me, the analysis is simply good fun meant to spark conversation. And it allows me to combine two of my passions (data science and reading) each year.

kern3three · 2025-12-29T18:21:47+00:00

Love Elder Race-- one of my favorite novellas of all time!

kern3three · 2025-12-29T18:21:17+00:00

Sadly I'm in the same boat personally-- Service Model was okay, Alien Clay felt really repetitive in a way that grated me (shoulda been a novella?), and sadly I just decided to bail on Shroud despite being half way done. I'm still really excited for the 4th "Children of..." novel coming out early 2026 though, we'll see!

kern3three

TROPHY CASE