Science Fiction Book Club is the world's leading book club committed to science fiction and fantasy books. Universally recognized as a major influence on the genre, the club has been supplying the science fiction fans with inexpensive, often hard and often impossible to find titles, for five and a half decades – since 1953.
SFBC relies on what could be called a standard operational procedure for book clubs: an enticing introductory offer is combined with an obligation to buy a certain amount of books within a certain amount of time at a discounted price, and spiced with an attractive catalog that helps its members wade through the plethora of reading choices.
SF Book Club features two different selections. Initial selection is intended for prospective members: it is available for everyone to search through and browse. This is where you choose your six introductory books from. Member selection expands on this inaugural library significantly, and is accessible to active members only.
Initial Selection
To potential members, the Science Fiction Book Club offers an extensive selection of fiction (and some non-fiction) spanning every possible sub-genre from this hugely popular literary direction: alien worlds, alternate history, time travel, space adventure, near future, first contact... the list goes on. Fans of witches, dragons, vampires, elves and other supernatural beings will be at home at SFBC too: from contemporary fantasy via mythology and folklore to supernatural romance, SF Book Club has it all covered.
If you are into mainstream bestsellers, you need look no further: Sci-Fi Book Club features all the mega-popular authors which include sci-fi and fantastic elements in their work, such as Michael Crichton, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Patterson... to name just a few.
True SF fans, however, will probably be much more interested in names that are not as widely recognizable in the general public's eye, but are well known and highly regarded within the genre: Terry Brooks and his Shannara series of novels; Laurell K. Hamilton, best known for her Anita Blake series, published in comic book/graphic novel form; the indestructible Ann McCaffrey, who had been writing SF novels and winning awards well before the majority of the club's current membership body was even born; Terry Pratchett, UK's best selling author of the 1990's, best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels; Orson Scott Card, the only author to win both of science fiction's top prizes (the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award) in consecutive years, with his novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead; and many others, too many to list them all.
Classic SF and fantasy authors aren't neglected either: George Orwell, Arthur C. Clarke, J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ray Bradbury... they are all featured with reprints of their best work, often in the shape of an omnibus edition – a rather popular means of delivering the goods within the Sci-Fi Book Club.
Talking about classics without mentioning such influential series as Star Wars and Star Trek would be, well, unfair. Star Wars: The Legacy of the Force is a series of 9 novels set in the Star Wars fictional universe some three decades after the conclusion of events in the last movie (Return of the Jedi). If you'd like to know what happened with Luke Skywalker and the gang afterwards, you can't miss this series. Star Trek is a series of books based on the popular TV series; most of the books were (co)written by William Shatner, the popular captain Kirk, himself.
Conspicuously absent from SF Book Club's introductory selection is the Harry Potter series of novels. If you are looking to make a collection of it through the introductory offer, you will be disappointed: at the time of this writing that, unfortunately, isn't possible. The books, however, are available to members, so you can use them to fulfill your obligation.
Comics and graphic novels are another area where Sci-Fi Book Club offers a decent selection. Batman, X-men, Conan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy... Ever wonder how would Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman get along? Now's your chance to find out: in Trinity, a graphic novel by Matt Wagner, the trio join forces to thwart another evil plan.
Finally, non-fiction: it is not a very populated category within SF Book Club, but the few items present still deserve some attention. What exactly warps when you're traveling at warp speed? This and other questions related to Star Trek's imaginary technological wonders are answered in the bestselling book The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss. If you're more interested in some tidbits related to the actual filming of the series, you might want to check out Up Till Now, William Shatner's memoirs. Star WarsŪ: The New Essential Chronology is a comprehensive and official account of that extraordinary galaxy so far, far away: inside you'll find out all about the pivotal events from all epochs of Star Wars history, plus profiles of key players from every movie, novel, comic book, TV special, video game and cartoon. Indispensable for any true Star Wars fan.
Member Selection
Full members of Sci-Fi Book Club have a wider selection of books to choose from. Much wider, actually, as they are granted access to all the books carried by other Booksonline.com clubs (over 70,000 titles), including Doubleday Book Club, Book-of-the-Month Club (for a bit more "literary" selection), The Literary Guild, One Spirit Book Club (spiritual and inspirational books), The Good Cook, Rhapsody (romance books), Mystery Guild, Children's Book of the Month, Black Expressions (books by, for and about African Americans), History Book Club and many others. Note that all the same rules apply to these books (a purchase counts toward member's commitment obligation etc).
Joining
Joining Science Fiction Book Club is quite easy: it takes only a few minutes and can be done on the club web site. Not even a credit card is necessary. To each new member the Sci-Fi Book Club extends a great introductory offer: 5 books of your choice for $5, plus a sixth book free. Simply start shopping and add six books to your cart. When done, you will be taken to a page where you can review the contents of your shopping cart. At this point you can still remove an item if you change your mind and continue shopping for another one. You are also offered an opportunity to buy one more book for $5.99 (look in the upper right corner) and thus reduce your commitment right away. It's a fair offer, so you might want to take it.
At the next stage you will need to enter your personal information, which includes your name, shipping address and e-mail address. Phone number is optional. That done, you will be prompted to choose your billing method. You can either pay by credit card, or select the “Bill Me” option in which case you will be sent an invoice to the address you provided on the previous page.
The last step requires you to set up a password which you'll need to access the members only area. Setting up the password will also confirm your membership. And that's it. You're in.
Modus Operandi
As a member you will receive the free Science Fiction Book Club Magazine approximately once every 3 weeks. Each issue of the Magazine features two Selections, new books chosen by SF Book Club editors as the most interesting reads of the moment. In addition, there is over 100 other books for you to consider.
The Magazine offers real value. There are tons of science fiction and fantasy books being published each month, so the editors have to wade through a lot of titles to come up with the ones you should consider. The Magazine, therefore, provides a great way to keep current with the happenings in the SF and fantasy literary world, find out about the latest titles from your favorite authors, or discover some fresh new talent. Many people actually keep memberships in different book clubs mainly for this reason: to receive recommendations on what's hot.
The current Featured Selections will be sent to you automatically, unless you tell the club otherwise. You can do so online, via the club web site, or by returning the Member Reply Form (included with the Magazine) through regular mail. This practice is known as “negative option” or “advance consent” marketing and it has been utilized by associations such as the SF Book Club for more than eight decades. Some people consider it a nuisance, a relic of the past, others find it convenient.
While we are inclined to agree with the former group, in all fairness it needs to be said that these days the hassle really is reduced to a minimum: it's just a matter of logging in to your account on the club's official web site, selecting the “Featured Selections” tab and clicking on the “Don't Send” button. And that's it. You're done. It only takes a minute or so of your time once every three weeks. The important thing is not to forget to do it, and the Science Fiction Book Club will even assist you in the matter by sending you a reminder e-mail before the Selection is shipped.
Finally, if you do happen to forget to cancel the Selection, you can always send it back if you really don't want it. You won't even have to pay for the return postage so long as the package was not open.
Managing Your Account Online
In this respect the Science Fiction Book Club deserves much plaudit: the web site makes it easy and convenient to manage every aspect of your membership online. View detailed order and payment history; check the account balance, remaining commitment, and the shipping status of all recent orders; respond to the current Featured Selection or view older Selections; change your billing and shipping address and other personal details including payment method; choose shipping method, and, of course, browse or search SF Book Club's entire library and place orders.
You might also want to participate in SFBC's online community and share your own book reviews and recommendations with other club members. This is also the place to find exclusive interviews, read profiles of your favorite authors and excerpts from their latest books.
Science Fiction Book Club membership is not exactly a “till death do us part” affair. Once your commitment is fulfilled, you are free to cancel your membership. The process, not surprisingly, is a trifle more difficult than joining. You don't have an option to simply close your account online, but instead have to send an e-mail to the Sci-Fi Book Club customer service, or a written cancellation request to the Member Service Center. A bit of a complication, in our opinion not entirely necessary. But then, perhaps we are being too finicky here. It is, after all, just one simple e-mail.
It goes without saying that you will always be welcome back should you decide to rejoin. You can do so simply by visiting the club web site and enrolling again, as described earlier in this review. However, there might be an even better way to do it. If you don't cancel your e-mail subscription as well, you are likely to receive periodic invitations from Science Fiction Book Club to rejoin the club; usually there is a special offer attached to such an invitation, and these offers are often even more advantageous than the standard one available on the web site (no S&H on the introductory offer, for example).
From the great introductory offer, via club discounts to various special offers, savings are undoubtedly one of the best things about Science Fiction Book Club and for many probably the #1 reason to join. This being such an important subject, we have put together a separate page with detailed information on it and a real-world example.
If you have a thing for aliens, space ships, time travel, advanced science – or are into fairy tales, vampire books and other supernatural stuff, then joining the Science Fiction Book Club is certainly worth a serious consideration. You get first six books for a pocket change (literally), up to 65% discount (or more, with sales and specials) on all subsequent books you purchase, plus a shiny magazine in your mail every three weeks or so with book reviews, author interviews, and book-industry related articles.
Since you are not required to part with any money up front, joining is completely devoid of risk. If for whatever reason you don't like the introductory package, or if you simply change your mind, just return the package to the SF Book Club within 20 days and that's that. No strings attached.
The only real downside to the whole deal is the somewhat awkward business model the club employs, which requires you to take action if you don't want to take action – that is, buy the proposed book. In our opinion, however, just getting a free magazine with recommendations on what to read outweighs this inconvenience.
Good thing is, even if you feel the practice is an absolute deal breaker, you can still take advantage of the incredible introductory offer of 6 books for $5 if it tickles your fancy. How? Join, take care of the commitment at once and cancel. You can walk away with 10 hardcover sci-fi and fantasy books for less than $70, and that includes shipping charges. Hardly a deal you will find anywhere else.
