How to tell the powers that be what you think:

Via avt_tor
http://heynielsen.com

This is a brilliant new site where fans can let some of the Nielsen Company people know what shows (movies, personalities, etc.) they like or don't like. Anybody can log in, and they run an algorithm to compute what's popular among people with opinions. It's comprehensive but simple. If you like television and care about what's on, this site is worth looking at.

The state of science fiction novel browsing:

One of the great pleasures of my life has been browsing science fiction novels. One heads out to any local store and browses the shelf looking for overlooked novels by favourite authors and works by authors you have never heard of before. Over the years I have new authors, usually by looking for Darryl Sweet cover art, and new works by authors I had heard of.

However this activity is not as fun or productive as it used to be. Why is this? It is because I live in a small city with out access to a specialty science fiction store or to a big box store like Barnes and Noble, Borders or Chapters. So my searching is limited to small independent general bookstores and small chain stores.

These stores mainly stock paperbacks and paperbacks these days are mainly reprints of bestsellers and media tie ins. The former I usually already own or have read and the latter I do not read. I find new authors these days tend to get published in hardcover and the small stores are not willing to take a chance on stocking their limited shelves with them. So unless I hear of them through word of mouth or internet or Locus I do not know to order them. The most recent example was "Ragamuffin" by Tobias Buckell. I looked for it every where and ended up buying it on the Internet. I know about it because I know Toby but if I had not met him I might never had known about it.

So my question is how do you find new science fiction authors to read?