Lost Books? Until now you probably thought Lost Books were those books that never made it from your college dorm room to your first apartment. Or those books that your significant other sold at a yard sale when you were on a business trip. Perhaps it was a book you read and treasured in your youth but can't remember the title. The most grievous Lost Books are those you lent to your x-friends and were never returned. I say "x-friends" because any true book aficionado has had to delete a name or two from their address file due to books that were first loaned and then became 'lost'. It is so sad to have this deep and binding conversation with a friend about loved books, only to discover they do not treasure books as you do. I once let a woman I was dating borrow my leather bound, gold lettered, 1897, first edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker. She sat on it and broke the spine so badly pages began to fall out. We did not remain friends.***

An "official" Lost Book is one that is out of print and forgotten or back in print and forgotten. It can be a book written for young adults that is relatively unknown in mainstream speculative fiction (Diana Wynn Jones vs. J. K. Rowling). A lost book could be one that was overlooked by the Hugo and Nebula ballots. Or it could be a main stream speculative fiction publication that was ignored by the general readership. In other words, it has been marginalized in some way. Finally, as editor of this column, Card has given me the freedom to call any book lost for which I can find the justification. This is especially helpful given the current trend in publishing to reprint classice Speculative Fiction novels, usually in trade paperback size. Such a tread makes it difficult to stick to my original idea of making the criterion for "lost" being out-of-print.

A good example of a "Lost Book" would be the first book I ever read in this genre and my first review, "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart.. Originally published in 1949, "Earth Abides" has been recognized by several sources. It won the very first International Fantasy Award in 1951. Was included in the reference book "Science Fiction: The 100 Best Books" in 1985 and Locus Magazine's "All Time Best Science Fiction Novels" in 1987. Finally, in 1990 "Earth Abides" was a finalist for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. Although reissued in 1989, "Earth Abides" is hard to find in most bookstores. One would need to know what to look for to make a special order or search Amazon.com. Thus, one reason for this review column.

Lost books can be found in used paperback book stores. Find where those bastions of dusty books with wrinkled spines are in your region - they are a pot of gold at the end of the book search line. Lost Books can also be found in attics, at yard sales, and sometimes in specialty book stores such as Between Books here in the northern Wilmington, Delaware area. "Earth Abides" is sitting there waiting for you. It is one of those books endowed with the rare quality that, when mentioned in conversation, elicits two responses. Either the other person has never heard of it or they cannot stop talking about it. Such conversational phenomenon are giant X's on the treasure maps to the land of lost books. I have received numerous e-mail from readers of the "Earth Abides" review just to tell me they read it when they were twelve or fourteen and it has remained one of their all time favorites.

Through this column, I hope to bring to your awareness the lost books I have found and continue to find. We will share the thrill of the hunt, the satisfaction of the read, and the joy of recommendation. Read away!

*see Thinner by Stephen King

**Special thanks to Scott J. Allen for all his web wizardry.