From a Crawley Freecycler, today: thank you!

paricipants in the ray:

vekiki-UK-EU
kiyoitsukikage UK/EU
ronoren-UK/int
TomHl-us/int
bookowl1000-china/int
Davemurray101/Austrailia/int
madpocky-Phillipines/Int


Surface mail is fine, but please post here to let us know, in case it takes a while and we think the book is lost!

off to vekiki

arrived today - perfectly timed as I'm off for the weekend and this will go nicely in my handbag :)

Got it, thank you! :)

First of all sorry for the delay in sending the book on, it was due to circumstances out of my control :(

Some of the stories were based on interesting concepts, but overall I found them a bit too old-fashioned for my liking and I especially didn't enjoy the language/style they were written in.

Thank you for sharing, the book is on its way now!

Just arrived; thanks for sending it through, kiyoitsukikage! I've got another ring to read first, so will have to delay this one a little bit. The other one's not very big, so shouldn't take too long.

I thought these were lovely stories! While reading them, I've been trying to decide which one is my favourite, but had to give up and go for the easy option of "they're all great".

In a way, the best bit about the book was the introduction, in which Wyndham explains how he's trying to introduce different types of short stories into the sci-fi genre. It had me flick back to the introduction at least once in every story, to remind myself which genre is using now and see if I can recognise it. Almost needless to say, I failed rather miserably at the recognition bit; but then, I wouldn't know where to start with the difference between the American and British short story. Still, it could be an absolute goldmine for schoolkids, trying to learn the hallmarks of these genres.

Thanks for sharing this one, starflash: it was one of the loveliest reads I've had in a while! I'm sorry to say the book's struggling, though; I've done of sticky-tape surgery, which will hopefully help it last long enough to survive the rest of the ring. I'll get in touch with TomHl and get the book moving again soon.

Update 02/12/11: Just sent to TomHl. Sorry for the delay!

The book has arrived safe and sound in the US - Pewaukee, Wisconsin to be precise. Thanks starflash for launching the bookray, and RonOren for shipping it to me. I will read this very soon, next after my current book.

I've uploaded an image of the actual cover art here. It says right on the back "For copyright reasons this edition is not for sale in the U.S.A." Hurray for bookcrossing!

This small collection of John Wyndham's short stories was published in 1956. I can't find any info about where and when they were first published, but the style seems post-war 1940s and 1950s to me. That was a period during which concepts came to be emphasized over adventure in US science fiction, and judging from these stories the same was true in the UK. There is nothing really radical or innovative about the concepts Wyndham explores here, but I found his writing style relaxed and descriptive. Overall, I enjoyed reading this very much and would rank it among the best examples of that era. I've not read John Wyndham before, and will be watching for his novels now.

I mailed this book to bookowl1000 in Guongdong Province, China today, via US First Class International Parcel Post. I have no idea what that means in terms of time until delivery.

The book was with me for a short part of the Christmas season, and so here is a photo of it stuck into the branches of our Christmas Tree. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all on this bookray!

The book has safely arrived in Foshan. 2 weeks is pretty good for travel time to China - the Chinese address does help.

I do love sci-fi particularly classic sci-fi so am looking forward to reading this one.

Chronoclasm - Tavia travels back in time to meet her ancestor Gerald Lattery. This is really a story about predestiny. I liked the story, though not so sure that you can fall in love with someone once they told you that you are supposed to love them.

Time to rest - the earth has blown up and a loner wanders, not ready to settle on mars - I could feel the loneliness of the character

Meteor - a ship containing 1000 survivors from an apocalypse land on an unknown planet. This was one of my favourites. The battle for survival from a different perspective; reminded me a bit of the 1960s tv show Land of The Giants.

Survival - a meek woman accompanies her husband into space. Everyone underestimates her, considering her to be too soft and unable to survive, but she 'showed them' - just goes to show how you cannot judge by outer appearances, people can find inner determination when they have no choice - loved the ending.

Fawleys peepholes - tourists from the future make people feel like they are living in a goldfish bowl. What can you do when you cannot touch physically? loved how they turned the tables in the end.

Opposite Number - meeting yourself from an alternate reality. I think this happening would make any of us reassess our lives and think what could of been. Maybe we should all get such a visit to kick us out of complacency and go after what we really want.

pillar to post - can't say that this story of bodily transference really grabbed me that much

Dumb Martain - a man buys a companion for his work on Jupiters moon. Just goes to show that people do not forget being mistreated and with a bit of patience we can get what we want in the end.

Compassion circuit - I found this robot story to be a bit cliched. I think Asimov does robots better

wild flower - this one did not interest me, not quite sure why.

Overall, I loved his style of writing - easy to get lost in. I often prefer vintage sci-fi than modern stories that focus too much of computers and technology, rather then stories like this, which are more about the characters. It was obvious that he stories are written in different styles but I can't say that it is something that I ever pay much attention to - I just get lost in a story (or not).

Being posted to Davemurray101 today.

Is going airmail, but in China that can mean anything between 1 and 7 weeks.

Seeds of Time arrived this week. I should get to it soon. Thanks again to starflash and bookowl-1000.

John Wyndham is still one of my favourite SF authors. It would be his strong character development and reactions to adverse situations that make him slightly above most writers of the genre. These stories show a definite development and many have common links with his later novels. Posting on to Madpocky soon.

Madpocky has asked to be skipped so it looks like the ring has ended with me.

posted to the bookcrossing library in Tajikistan.

Arrived along with other books as a contribution to our OBCZ, thanks a lot! Will be released shortly via our shelf in the National Library.
Note: the cover image is different.

Available at our shelf in the American Corner (4th floor of the National Library, room 423) along with other books from all over the world