Comments on: The Big Idea Index, 2009

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:42:30 +0000

Two names missing! Mathew Reilly ( Australian Author) yes we do have em Down Under
and Robert Buettner. If you need a read both serve us (their masters) well.

By: tolladay

tolladay — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:02:19 +0000

I totally dig the whole Big Idea concept, and this end of year compilation is teh awesome. That being said, author names, especially new (to me) authors, are an almost useless referent as I am one of those visual artistic types.

I know it would be a ton of work, but your list would be more helpful if each author was also listed with a thumbnail of the book cover, and possibly the title as well.

Being out of books at Che Tolladay is a serious problem, your Big Ideas concept has done much to prevent this needless crime. Raging, lunatic, under-read artists are such a menace to society. Congress should give you a medal or something.

By: B. Durbin

B. Durbin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:24:07 +0000

The Big Idea is an invaluable resource to those of us who read too damned fast. (Evil Rob has a saying: “We’re out of books again!” said while looking desperately at the Wall-O-Books that have been re-read one too many times.) We’ve gotten many of them and discovered many new favorites in the process.

Once you get the Big Idea site launched, just treat it as you do your AMC columns, with a link and the comments turned off. That should keep up the traffic while not cluttering up this site too badly.

By: KateH

KateH — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:01:06 +0000

I’ve only read two of the BigIdea’s author (3 books total), but I probably wouldn’t have found them otherwise, so I say Thank You! This has been the first year in a while that of the 100 or so books I read, on the fiction side, the ones that made the best impression on me were all unusual scifi/fantasy. I’m not sure what that means, if anything (and it probably doesn’t, in the big scheme of things), but I like it, and that’s what counts.

By: Gerald Ocker

Gerald Ocker — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:47:03 +0000

woot! this is perfect. I’ve already purchased 5 of these books based on the posts and now I get to read more.

As someone whose read science fiction for 35 years, these are great intros to new and not so new writers I may have missed. especially since I no longer live near powell’s in portland

By: Ozbon

Ozbon — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:49:13 +0000

The one writer I’m really surprised you haven’t done a Big Idea with is Naomi Novik – it strikes me that “How would the Napoleonic wars have worked out if dragons existed?” is a pretty big idea!

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:46:58 +0000

While I was aware of a number of these authors before reading their Big Idea posts, I’d like to thank you for the tremendous number of new authors I’ve found through your blog. Some of them I’d heard of but had never gotten around to reading (like Robert J Sawyer); others I’d never heard of, but purchased on the strength of their interview and your recommendation (like Harry Connelly). It’s been a great source of new lit, thank you.

By: christy

christy — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:50:43 +0000

The Big Idea has been like a Christmas gift all year long for me this year, helping me find several books that I might not otherwise have looked at. Thank you for all of your efforts.

By: Greg van Eekhout

Greg van Eekhout — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:27:19 +0000

Thanks for the Big Idea, John. I appreciated access to all the eyeballs when my book came out.

By: VultureTX

VultureTX — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:06:52 +0000

Damn I only bought paperbacks of 9 of them. Admittedly a couple of those I have all their paperback books ;)

Must review list further.

Thanks for bringing to our attention these great authors as unfortunately there is no longer a local reliable source(indie sf bookstore) for recommendations for all too many of us.