In Hardcover

I had a coupon for Borders (30% off) and I'm a sucker for coupons. I went over during lunch to see if there was anything I couldn't live without. It seemed like a good chance to buy something I otherwise wouldn't.

Maybe that's why I ended up browsing the new hardcovers. Usually I avoid hardcovers. They're inferior to paperbacks in every way: they're heavier, difficult to hold with one hand, too expensive, and present the reader with the conundrum of what to do with a jacket that wants to slip off every second.

But when I spotted a new release from Alastair Reynolds, my favorite sci-fi author, I found myself quite willing to tolerate its hard cover, and, with the help of the coupon, its price. That's high praise.

But now I'm in a paperback pickle. Reynolds has a new hardcover out every June; the previous year's hardcover hits paperback each June, too. I've always been on the paperback schedule, for reasons mentioned above. Now I've crossed over onto the hardcover schedule. Which means next June I'll have to buy hardcover again, perpetuating the hardcover cycle, or miss a summer in Alastair's crazy brain.

Darn coupon, messing me up.