Scifi in Chiangmai

Greetings fellow Scifi fans. Huge apologies for not having written much but I am currently in Laos – a place that is very far from the futuristic realms I always dream about. In fact it distinctly feels like the past.

Consequently, I don’t have a whole lot of Scifi related news. I am reading an awesome Scifi book though called Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Very heavily into the geek stuff, so it may not appeal to all. It seems to be aimed at someone exactly my age (nearly 40) who has grown up obsessed with computer games, Scifi, movies, comics, books, etc. The main character that causes this obsession in the book (although he isn’t the protagonist) has a birthday two weeks from mine in 1972. Spooky. Anyway, I will do a full review later.

I realised that a lot of people travel these days and my blatherings on this site get a surprising number of hits. So, and this may seem a bit random, I will give you a travel tip if you happen to be passing through Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Statistically, it is bound to happen (Chiang Mai gets millions of visitors a year and so will this site soon).

Near the Thapae gate just outside of the old city walls you will see a sign pointing to Gecko books. Go there. On that road are several sizeable second hand bookshops that have surprisingly good Scifi book sections. You can get old editions with the original cool artwork (which is a minor obsession of mine).

I bought ‘The number of the beast’ by Heinlein and ‘Empire Earth’ by Arthur C. Clarke and they both have awesome covers. Especially Empire Earth as it has a double cover thingy.

If you aren’t in Chiang Mai when you read this, you should definitely go there. I bet it’s warmer than where you are for a start.