[ChrisW]

Slighty different than just who are your favourite authors. It is for me anyway as living in australia means that to get some authors in Hardcover I have to order from overseas and so they usually cost me around $40-$50 aussie http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/frown.gif.

Hardcover must haves:

Robert Jordan*
Kate Elliott*
Melanie Rawn (Ruins of Ambria series)*
J V Jones*
Raymond E Feist
Terry Goodkind

*imported http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/frown.gif

Trade Paperback must haves(thats the big paperback):

George R R Martin
David Gemmell
Chris Bunch**
K J Parker**
Orson Scott Card
Robin Hobb
Steven Erikson**
Lynn Flewwelling**

**Authors that would be Hardcover must haves if they were published in Hardercover(damn publishers!)

[azaz]

Hardcovers Must haves:

Steven Erikson* (Malazan series) - (I think they will publish it in HB soon)
GRRM (ASoIaF)
J V Jones (Sword Of Shadows)
Kate Elliot (Crown of Stars)
Sean Russell (The Swan's War)
Robin Hobb (Farseer + Tawny man)
Lord of the Rings (Just)

Tradepaperback must haves:
Dave Duncan (Kings blades)*
David Farland (Runelords)
Tad Williams (Memory, Sorrow & Thorn)*
Juliet Marillier (Sevenwater's trilogy)
Carol Berg (The Rai-Kai)
Paul Kearney (The Monarchies of Gods)*
Anne Bishop (The Black Jewels Trilogy)*

I got all these books, but not in what I would have wished for, and some of them aren't available in certain formats anymore.

* = Wished I had in that format.

[Hobbit]

This is a good topic, Caldazar - it shows how many authors there are out there who would be bought in HB if publishers had the confidence to have the books published in HB in the first place.

There are for example in the UK (as far as I know at the moment) no HB's of Steven Erikson's series, nor Juliet Marillier's (Sevenwater's trilogy) nor Carol Berg's Rai-Kai series. I understand that John Marco's Tyrants and Kings have not been in HB in the US (though later books have been in the UK).

Every now and then they do go back and produce a HB though - the latest being the Elizabeth Haydon 'Rhapsody' series, which they published the first (Rhapsody) in HB with the HB publication of the second (Prophecy), after Rhapsody had been out in PB here in the UK. Unusual though.

Would agree with a lot of those already mentioned - though things can be a little confused here by the use of Book Club Editions - the size of a paperback, but HB, published at the same time as the HB, and cheaper! (This has been talked about in another thread somewhere round here!)

Got lots of those.

Other recent 'proper' HB must have's I have got:

Peter Hamilton's series
Ash A Secret History by Mary Gentle
Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles series
Tad Williams' (of any sort!)
George RR Martin's (especially when they split the book for the PB release as has just happened here in the UK)

China Mieville's Perdido St Station (and The Scar when it appears!)

I'm probably going to get John Marco's next in HB too when it comes out.

Lots more, but I'll let others mention them.

I'm a big sucker for signed books too...

Hobbit

[Valada]

To tell you the truth, in sf/f I avoid getting the hardcover, simply because I find them difficult to hold and read. The epic nature of sf/f has its downsides! Sure, they look great on a shelf, but the practical aspect is more important to me.

As for Trade Paperback, I definitely have to get GRRM in this format, since I hate the way they split the smaller paperbacks, and don't like the way the normal paperbacks in the aSoIaF series turned out anyway.

Having said all of the above, if it was a signed hardback... well that's a different matter.

[The Fortyish Man]

Like Valada I prefer paperbacks to hardbacks because they're easier to read, but there are two writers whose books I can't wait to read so I buy them in hardback, Robin Hobb and Gene Wolfe.

[Shehzad]

Must-haves in hardback:


(none, since I can't afford them-- I'm sure Sammie will have words on the issue)

[Barbarossa]

Dito Shezhad, as far as I'm prepared to go is trade paperbacks of SoIaF

[Sammie]

Must haves in hardback: Anything where i can't bear to wait for the paperback - ie ongoing series like jvj's Sword of Shadows.

Personally i don't like trade paperbacks. I think they have all the disads of hardbacks - price, unwieldly size, heavy etc and of paperbacks - they don't wear well, they tend to gradually disintergrate the more they're read.

And, Shehzad, sympathy is actually forthcoming this time! Technically i can't afford them either.

Sammie

[Rob B]

HC Must Haves:

Tad Williams
Stephen King
George R.R. Martin
Robin Hobb
David Farland
John Marco (now that he will be in HC in USA)
Orson Scott Card

HC Must Haves (if they WERE available in HC)
Matthew Woodring Stover
China Mieville

[Caly]

I usually only buy in hardcover b/c they are out sooner than pb, not b/c I love hardcover or something. I like hardcover, but the prices are rather prohibitive.

Anyway, these are the authors I will shell out the extra money for to have the book immediatly. I think some are just published in trade paperback (which I don't like) but I'm just lumping them all together.

Dean Koontz
Robin Hobb (assuming Tawny Man is as good as Liveship and not like Farseer)
Juliet Marillier
Jan Seigal
Neil Gaiman

The only books I've ever bought in hardback just to HAVE in hardback were Empire series.

Caleyna, who feels this post is lacking some basic grammatic structure but it too tired to care