For today’s A to Z Challenge I don’t have one book, I have… fifty of them! But believe me, the superb series by Polish publisher is worth mentioning, and since all these books are available in English, any speculative fiction fan should find something for themselves.

Uczta Wyobraźni (The Feast of Imagination) is a series created by a Polish publisher MAG and its purpose was to bring the most interesting contemporary speculative fiction to Polish readers. Most of the books in the series have never been available in Polish before, some considered too risky to market, others too obscure, so MAG’s initiative instantly caught my interest. Not to mention the effort they put into the book designs: beautiful cover pictures, hard cover, good paper.

I’ve already mentioned some books available in the series, Peter Watt’s “Blindsight”, Catherynne M. Valente’s “Orphan’s Tale”, and some of Ian R. MacLeod’s works, including “Song of Time”, but there’s so much more to discover.

My collection is not complete yet (I only own 37 out of 50 books), though the second reason comes from my rare visits to Poland which is when I buy the books (shipping them abroad would cost a lot…), and I’ve read only few of them, as these titles are more than one evening’s entertainment, but so far every book brought something interesting along: style, a new perspective, interesting plots or problems mentioned.

Of course, I have my own favorites, some of which you already know. One book I haven’t mentioned yet is K. J. Bishop’s “The Etched City” that got me glued to the pages for long hours, even though the book itself is rather slow-paced and the plots meander through the storyline and considerations about life, one’s goals, and other things.

I’m sure not all the books in the series will leave me stunned, especially that the selection is broad, spanning across sub-genres of speculative fiction and styles, but I look forward to reading them all.

It would be impossible to mention all the books in one post, so if you’re curious about the collection, or simply want to admire beautiful covers, you can check the Goodreads list I’ve compiled (the order of the list reflects the publishing order). I’ve kept the Polish titles to display the beautiful covers, but I’m sure you’ll find English titles with ease.

Speaking of covers, I’ve never considered myself a collector (and I’m happy to have many of my favorite books as ebooks only), but Uczta Wyobraźni, with its beautiful design, made me want to have them all. And read them all too, of course.

So, how about you? Do you have your precious hard cover editions, or you don’t care what form the book comes in as long as you can read it?