Ah welcome back - I thought your thesis had eaten you :)

Yes, these are fabulous but I found myself losing patience with the edition; I hadn't realised how widespread the problems were. I shall apologise in advance if this sounds like I'm talking with my head up my arse, but the more I think about it, the more it seems not only desirable but absolutely *necessary* that the Masterworks series maintain their quality. I mean, it's one of the few mechanisms by which the value of genre fiction can be acknowledged. I don't want to get into the bowels of canon v popular debate but I was so impressed by the existence of the masterworks series when they first came out, and I still am in principle.

A nasty feedback loop seems to be in place:

- Gollancz publish some Masterworks books.
- People seize upon them, praise them unto the heavens, are massively grateful that OOP SF/fantasy is back in print.
- Gollancz notice profits, publish more.
- People rave and party in the streets.
- Gollancz realise that this is a licence to print money, publish more but are a bit sloppier about it.
- Reading public notice a few problems but don't really complain, because they're just glad to be able to buy these long-vanished books in the shops again. Buy more.
- Gollancz stop giving a shit and stop bothering to budget for maintaining the quality of the things.
- Reading public still don't care because your average fan of literary fantasy will wade through an ocean of turds if it means getting their hands on a rare classic.

Which will lead, in the end, to:

- Cycle continues until Masterworks become unreadable and readers finally see through it. The series dies and the books go out of print again. Gollancz are firebombed by disgruntled critics, Stephen Jones is pushed down a flight of stairs over and over again until he's no longer capable of wielding his editorial pen.

That's a less loop than a descent (Stephen Jones's included). The problem is that as far as public perception goes, in the end the so-called masterworks series just ends up confirming to those inclined to dislike the genre that sci/fi and fantasy is a load of crap.