Galaxy bookshop review by Tim Hughes

It is not that often that I actually go to a bookshop. With the AUD so strong compared to the USD and the ease of online shopping, Amazon gets my dollar and attention more than offline equivalents. For Galaxy I make an exception, especially when I am challenging the sci-fi/horror seventeen year old that I once used to be. Galaxy is the best bookshop for the sci-fi/horror fiction lover. It is is not the range of choice that makes them the best (though they have a very comprehensive section). Rather it is that the staff are just as in to sci-fi and horror geekery as the customers. In the days of customer data collection and preference engines, websites like Amazon should be better than a store in providing new recommendations and linking your love of one book with a recommendation for another. But there is still something enjoyable and rewarding in having a conversation with a fellow geeker like a Galaxy bookstore assistant. Telling them that you liked a particular book and having them be able to take you straight to the section of the store with similar material. Sure Amazon can do it faster and most likely has more to choose from, but the human experience of discovery a new way for a zombie fiction to come alive beats doing via machine. If you like sci-fi, horror (and fanatasy) novels and are not ashamed to say it then Galaxy is the choice.