Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** Today is the 233rd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. As they say, Semper Fi, Mac.
*** Generosity, ignorance or something more sinister? It seems that UK charity Oxfam found something quite unusual in its deposit bin, a set of 18th century books on the English Civil War, bound in leather and tooled in gold. Who put them there and why? You would think a charity would not look a gift horse in the mouth. But Oxfam, it would seem, has some cheek about them. It seems there are only 4 books and the set should have six. They want the rest.
That's right, they are looking for the original owner so they can possibly get the missing volumes and get more money for the set. This seems a bit risky, if you ask me. What if the owner has giver's remorse, claims they were stolen and wants them back? Or perhaps someone who was angry with them donated them without permission. Maybe the owner died and his heirs donated them not knowing they had value. We here a Billthebookguy.com will follow this story closely and report any updates.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7689339.stm
*** Some people would be sad to see a school sell of its treasures to fund repairs to its infrastructure. It seems that New Zealand's Nelson College is selling off part of a massive collection of rare works on New Zealand and the area to fund upkeep. That's too bad, of course, it really is. At the same time, it does seem sort of Circle-of-Life, doesn't it?
*** Quite by accident I popped onto Ebay yesterday, having clicked the wrong bookmark. What a surprise! The site looks awful, junked up with harsh colors hurting my eyes. I left quickly, so glad I no longer do business there. What a mess.
*** The purpose of this blog is not to promote movies or TV shows. However, since I'm the blogger, I can if I want to. And this promo for an upcoming BBC documentary even has a book to follow, so I can justify it even on those grounds.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/10/nosplit/bvtvlaurence-rees-1011.xml
Adolf Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust have long been considered the most evil regime of the 20th Century. One reason, frankly, is because they are such an easy target. Not only were they truly evil, but they were also quite memorable. The uniforms, the pageantry, the figures themselves. Who doesn't know the names of Himmler or Goebbels? And the numbers of deaths they are responsible for are staggering.
But by any measure you can think of, either numbers or just sheer wasteful brutality, Stalin and the Soviets are equally as bad and quite possibly even worse. Which is why the above linked article is so welcome to this friendly neighborhood bookseller. Despite the postwar hype about Hitler's plans for the West, the fact is that he never really had any concrete concepts about destroying the USA; his understanding of America was really quite poor. Stalin, on the other hand, knew America much better and was a far greater threat. And during the war FDR knew it, as did Churchill. But while Churchill viewed Stalin as an evil necessity, FDR cozied up to him and gave away half of Europe at Yalta, based strictly on the idea that he alone could control Stalin.
History, it seems, is finally beginning to deal with the truth.
How many people did Stalin murder before the war even began? http://www.projo.com/news/content/ukraine_award_11-09-08_3QC75DP_v14.2c2579c.html
*** It should come as no surprise that, despite the countless books already written on Churchill, major historians such as Carlo D'Este are still writing new biographies on the English Lion. Focusing on Churchill the soldier, the book looks fascinating, and I can think of at least one person for whom it would make an ideal Christmas gift.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/books/review/Kagan-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
*** Father Andrew Greeley is in critical condition at a Chicago hospital after falling and fracturing his skull. Author of more than fifty books, I'm betting a lot of people weren't even aware that he was a Catholic priest.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Give-away plays and he's not dead
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** I'm a lucky guy. Never denied it. So lucky, in fact, that a few years ago I was able to tour part of England (for the second time!) and, as part of that tour, spend a memorable afternoon at the Globe theater. You know the Globe, right? Shakespeare, Marlow, that crowd? Elizabeth I, Catholics being hunted down and murdered, fun times in jolly old England. Well the Globe is back and, according to the stories, this rendition is absolutely faithful in all respects to the original. It's doubtful that it's on the same exact site, but it's close and on the correct side of the Thames, so what the heck.
If you ever visit the Globe see if Kitty is still giving tours. She absolutely made our group's day, although I suspect she did not remember it the next morning. Kitty appeared to be in her cups. And, if she is giving tours and is NOT a bit wobbly, be kind enough to front her a glass of whatever she likes. It's worth it. We loved Kitty.
Anyway, the Globe is there, it's overwhelmingly impressive and now private US collector John Wolfson has pledged his amazing collection of early play texts to the theater, including his Shakespeare quartos and folios. If I ever get back I would dearly love to see them.
http://broadwayworld.com/article/US_Donor_Pledges_Collection_Including_Shakespeare_Folios_to_Shakespeares_Globe_20010101
*** Here's an anti-obituary: Forrest J. Ackerman has not passed away. It seems that yesterday Locus was reporting the legendary fan had died, only to learn that if he was dead then someone forgot to tell him. So if you heard it, it was wrong.
*** Dallas has lost another Indie. Or, at least, the Dallas area. We've spoken about this many times in the past, I'm sure you remember that memorable evening in front of the campfire warming expensive brandy in cheap metal cups over the flames, but it's always sad when a bookstore closes. Chains are one thing, but Indies are quite another. To David Norwood, owner of the Bookworm in Frisco, the staff here at Billthebookguy.com wish you only the best.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6612504.html
*** Neil Gaiman is once again turning to non-fiction. This isn't so surprising, fiction authors often write non-fiction also, but the subject is interesting: China and its journey to the west.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6612086.html
*** I'm a lucky guy. Never denied it. So lucky, in fact, that a few years ago I was able to tour part of England (for the second time!) and, as part of that tour, spend a memorable afternoon at the Globe theater. You know the Globe, right? Shakespeare, Marlow, that crowd? Elizabeth I, Catholics being hunted down and murdered, fun times in jolly old England. Well the Globe is back and, according to the stories, this rendition is absolutely faithful in all respects to the original. It's doubtful that it's on the same exact site, but it's close and on the correct side of the Thames, so what the heck.
If you ever visit the Globe see if Kitty is still giving tours. She absolutely made our group's day, although I suspect she did not remember it the next morning. Kitty appeared to be in her cups. And, if she is giving tours and is NOT a bit wobbly, be kind enough to front her a glass of whatever she likes. It's worth it. We loved Kitty.
Anyway, the Globe is there, it's overwhelmingly impressive and now private US collector John Wolfson has pledged his amazing collection of early play texts to the theater, including his Shakespeare quartos and folios. If I ever get back I would dearly love to see them.
http://broadwayworld.com/article/US_Donor_Pledges_Collection_Including_Shakespeare_Folios_to_Shakespeares_Globe_20010101
*** Here's an anti-obituary: Forrest J. Ackerman has not passed away. It seems that yesterday Locus was reporting the legendary fan had died, only to learn that if he was dead then someone forgot to tell him. So if you heard it, it was wrong.
*** Dallas has lost another Indie. Or, at least, the Dallas area. We've spoken about this many times in the past, I'm sure you remember that memorable evening in front of the campfire warming expensive brandy in cheap metal cups over the flames, but it's always sad when a bookstore closes. Chains are one thing, but Indies are quite another. To David Norwood, owner of the Bookworm in Frisco, the staff here at Billthebookguy.com wish you only the best.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6612504.html
*** Neil Gaiman is once again turning to non-fiction. This isn't so surprising, fiction authors often write non-fiction also, but the subject is interesting: China and its journey to the west.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6612086.html
Thursday, November 6, 2008
A great one gone, an old one found, a new one missed
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** By now I guess you know that Michael Crichton has died from cancer at age 66. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller really liked Crichton, although I never met him. His first book, A Case of Need, was a pro-abortion novel that wasn't particularly well written and was published under a pseudonym, Jeffery Hudson, because Crichton feared retaliation in the days before Roe v. Wade. He continued with the political thread running through his books for his entire life, and while one could argue that his stance in A Case of Need took the liberal viewpoint, in fact he displayed a life-long libertarian streak, much like Robert Heinlein did, in social and scientific matters. Crichton wasn't afraid to scoff at what he considered bad science, State of Fear being the prime example by skewering the global warming crowd.
Of course, he is best known for Jurassic Park and The Lost World, two of the best SFF monsters novels ever written. Congo was also a terrific novel, if you haven't read it you should find a copy now. Sphere, on the other hand, was hackneyed and stale, something long-time SFF fans would have found way too familiar and not very well written. Rising Sun might appear dated by today's computer magic, but at the time of publication if was fabulous and thrilling.
Crichton was a favorite and will be missed.
*** BBG has been to Dublin, Ireland, twice, and was just looking for an excuse to go back again. (And when exactly did BBG develop this annoying habit of referring to himself in the third person?) It seems that a rare text of the 1535 edition of Cicero's On Old Age has been found at the King's Inn Law Library in Dublin. Cicero, of course, was the Roman philosopher who writings have survived the ages. Just to see such a book would be quite a thrill and, while in Dublin, BBG could also take another, longer look at The Book of Kells.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1104/1225523343345.html
*** Okay, I'm really stretching the whole book-related thing here, but this did appear in the PNAS Journal of November 3. It seems that the burial sight of a 12,000 year old shaman has been discovered in Northern Israel. The linked article can supply the details but I find this absolutely fascinating. Put into context, we think of Ancient Egypt as being almost impossibly long ago, its founding being somewhere beyond 5,000 years in the past, but if the dating here is correct then this grave was already 7,000 years old when Egypt was founded. Staggering.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081105083721.htm
*** With Christmas coming gift ideas are sure to be important, especially this year. Aside from the sorts of things that I would think make great gifts, nice copies of signed books from a favorite author, or a book that you might not buy for yourself but would really like to own, there is also a new book for married folks that might... err...ahem...well, you read it.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/70127-mitchell-beazleys-guide-for-lovers.html
*** Lastly, I can only read and sigh and wish I could be there. The Miami Book Fair opens this weekend. The linked article has a great picture of one of the truly nice guys in the world of crime fiction, Jim Hall. I've met Jim once but feel like I've known him for much longer. He goes back to the old AOL Hardboiled board (which is still around but nearly abandoned now) in the rollicking days when the internet was young and blogs didn't exist. If you haven't read his Thorn books you've missed on the great series out there. (And if you start, be aware, it took three or four books for Just Jim to hit his stride)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_en_ot/miami_book_fair;_ylt=Avyg.xTV4bDXbZP7LmIDKZhREhkF
*** By now I guess you know that Michael Crichton has died from cancer at age 66. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller really liked Crichton, although I never met him. His first book, A Case of Need, was a pro-abortion novel that wasn't particularly well written and was published under a pseudonym, Jeffery Hudson, because Crichton feared retaliation in the days before Roe v. Wade. He continued with the political thread running through his books for his entire life, and while one could argue that his stance in A Case of Need took the liberal viewpoint, in fact he displayed a life-long libertarian streak, much like Robert Heinlein did, in social and scientific matters. Crichton wasn't afraid to scoff at what he considered bad science, State of Fear being the prime example by skewering the global warming crowd.
Of course, he is best known for Jurassic Park and The Lost World, two of the best SFF monsters novels ever written. Congo was also a terrific novel, if you haven't read it you should find a copy now. Sphere, on the other hand, was hackneyed and stale, something long-time SFF fans would have found way too familiar and not very well written. Rising Sun might appear dated by today's computer magic, but at the time of publication if was fabulous and thrilling.
Crichton was a favorite and will be missed.
*** BBG has been to Dublin, Ireland, twice, and was just looking for an excuse to go back again. (And when exactly did BBG develop this annoying habit of referring to himself in the third person?) It seems that a rare text of the 1535 edition of Cicero's On Old Age has been found at the King's Inn Law Library in Dublin. Cicero, of course, was the Roman philosopher who writings have survived the ages. Just to see such a book would be quite a thrill and, while in Dublin, BBG could also take another, longer look at The Book of Kells.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1104/1225523343345.html
*** Okay, I'm really stretching the whole book-related thing here, but this did appear in the PNAS Journal of November 3. It seems that the burial sight of a 12,000 year old shaman has been discovered in Northern Israel. The linked article can supply the details but I find this absolutely fascinating. Put into context, we think of Ancient Egypt as being almost impossibly long ago, its founding being somewhere beyond 5,000 years in the past, but if the dating here is correct then this grave was already 7,000 years old when Egypt was founded. Staggering.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081105083721.htm
*** With Christmas coming gift ideas are sure to be important, especially this year. Aside from the sorts of things that I would think make great gifts, nice copies of signed books from a favorite author, or a book that you might not buy for yourself but would really like to own, there is also a new book for married folks that might... err...ahem...well, you read it.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/70127-mitchell-beazleys-guide-for-lovers.html
*** Lastly, I can only read and sigh and wish I could be there. The Miami Book Fair opens this weekend. The linked article has a great picture of one of the truly nice guys in the world of crime fiction, Jim Hall. I've met Jim once but feel like I've known him for much longer. He goes back to the old AOL Hardboiled board (which is still around but nearly abandoned now) in the rollicking days when the internet was young and blogs didn't exist. If you haven't read his Thorn books you've missed on the great series out there. (And if you start, be aware, it took three or four books for Just Jim to hit his stride)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_en_ot/miami_book_fair;_ylt=Avyg.xTV4bDXbZP7LmIDKZhREhkF
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series- Part 2
The later books in Jordan's series had much higher production values and are generally found in better condition than the early ones. Higher print runs undoubtedly contributed to this as the earlier volumes were passed around from friend to friend.
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series- Part 1
Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' series is one of the most popular fantasy series of all time. Sadly, Mr. Jordan died far too young, but not before I had the pleasure of both corresponding with and meeting him. Very nice man.
The books themselves are fairly straight-forward Tor offerings. As is evident in the photos, his signature was anything but perfunctory. Indeed, one senses more than a little of the dramatic in his elaborate and happy scrawl. The copyright pages are typical, with first editions indicated by a number line down to '1'.
We have started with the third book in the series, The Dragon Reborn. Note that this copy is dated from his visit to Memphis in 2000. Like a number of books during this period, the paper used had quite an acidic content that
lent itself to toning.Next up is book five, The Fires of Heaven. Published in 1993 it was similar in most respects to the first four books, but by now the paper stock had improved so that toning was less of an issue.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Harry, MAC and the Kings
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
Today is election day in the USA, but this blog is non-political. I have very strong feelings regarding the outcome, but don't look for them here, they will appear in my political blog and that's not open to the public. Now, on to book stuff.
*** Australian writer Jacob Rosenberg has died at age 86. He wrote a number of books about World War II, most notably the novels East of Time and Sunrise West, both set in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. He lost his entire family at Auschwitz.
http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/03/1000709/australian-author-goldberg-dies
*** Those who know me know that Max Allan Collins is one of my top five favorite crime writers, although my favorite series of his, the Nate Heller books, has been dormant since 2001's Angel in Black. My review of his first collaboration with Mickey Spillane, The Goliath Bone, is in this month's iloveamysterynewsletter
The astute bookie will also have noticed that I just finished Black Hats written by MAC under the nom-de-plume of Patrick Culhane. And so along comes a very timely interview with this prolific and exceedingly creative guy. I found it quite enjoyable.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6610795.html
*** The family of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King are squabbling over her personal papers and, of course, there is a pot-load of money at stake. What a shock, relatives fighting over their inheritance. One has signed to write a book for $1.4 million, the others have the papers, who knows who believes what. It's a mess.
*** Wheels within wheels, as Bertie Wooster would say. Not only is Harry Potter still an avalanche of hype, now comes the definitive work on the fan and cyber worlds that go along with such a phenomenon. Melissa Anelli first gave up her life to run the second largest English language Potter site out there, and now she has turned obsession into prose with Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, his Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon.
This is my kind of story, by the way. Nothing better than a good obsession and to make a buck out of the deal is even better. Good for Melissa!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-11-03-harry-potter-history_N.htm
Today is election day in the USA, but this blog is non-political. I have very strong feelings regarding the outcome, but don't look for them here, they will appear in my political blog and that's not open to the public. Now, on to book stuff.
*** Australian writer Jacob Rosenberg has died at age 86. He wrote a number of books about World War II, most notably the novels East of Time and Sunrise West, both set in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. He lost his entire family at Auschwitz.
http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/03/1000709/australian-author-goldberg-dies
*** Those who know me know that Max Allan Collins is one of my top five favorite crime writers, although my favorite series of his, the Nate Heller books, has been dormant since 2001's Angel in Black. My review of his first collaboration with Mickey Spillane, The Goliath Bone, is in this month's iloveamysterynewsletter
The astute bookie will also have noticed that I just finished Black Hats written by MAC under the nom-de-plume of Patrick Culhane. And so along comes a very timely interview with this prolific and exceedingly creative guy. I found it quite enjoyable.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6610795.html
*** The family of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King are squabbling over her personal papers and, of course, there is a pot-load of money at stake. What a shock, relatives fighting over their inheritance. One has signed to write a book for $1.4 million, the others have the papers, who knows who believes what. It's a mess.
*** Wheels within wheels, as Bertie Wooster would say. Not only is Harry Potter still an avalanche of hype, now comes the definitive work on the fan and cyber worlds that go along with such a phenomenon. Melissa Anelli first gave up her life to run the second largest English language Potter site out there, and now she has turned obsession into prose with Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, his Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon.
This is my kind of story, by the way. Nothing better than a good obsession and to make a buck out of the deal is even better. Good for Melissa!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-11-03-harry-potter-history_N.htm
Monday, November 3, 2008
Go somewhere or win something
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** Have you ever attended a convention for books and/or authors? If so, then you know how much fun they can be, both as a chance to discuss mutual likes (or dislikes) with other fans of the genre, or to listen to favorite authors answer questions on a panel, to be exposed to new ideas...just to be stimulated and given new enthusiasm for something you already love. If you have not been to a convention, make it a goal in 2009 to go and have some fun. I'll try to keep you updated on some that I think might be fun. And to start off with:
http://www.mwaflorida.org/sleuthfest.htm
You love mysteries, so there's great writers to hob-nob with. It's March, so most of the country is cold, what's not to like about a Florida beach? The site only has the Guests of Honor currently but usually there is a contingent of Florida writers who show up, Florida having more than its share of great crime writers, and in the end who really cares, anyway. It's probably a lot warmer in Florida than wherever you are going to be.
If you prefer something a bit more general than a crime convention, and maybe something a bit more northerly, than you might try the Southern Kentucky Festival of Books.
http://www.sokybookfest.org/
Or, if you are really looking for something big, there's always the Virginia Festival of the book in Charlottesville.
http://www.vabook.org/index.html/
*** The World Fantasy Awards were announced yesterday at the World Fantasy Convention in Alberta, Canada. I notice some old favorites of mine on the lists, authors I read during the heyday of my SFF reading some 30 years ago. Kim Newman is still around and I loved Anno Dracula and its sequels, real ground-breaking stuff. Good for him!
http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/
*** Marilyn Ferguson, a new age author, has died at age 70. The extremely influential 1980 book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, tied together disparate threads of research, such as biofeedback, seeking a comprehensive whole. This gradually coalesced into the New Age Movement.
*** Have you ever attended a convention for books and/or authors? If so, then you know how much fun they can be, both as a chance to discuss mutual likes (or dislikes) with other fans of the genre, or to listen to favorite authors answer questions on a panel, to be exposed to new ideas...just to be stimulated and given new enthusiasm for something you already love. If you have not been to a convention, make it a goal in 2009 to go and have some fun. I'll try to keep you updated on some that I think might be fun. And to start off with:
http://www.mwaflorida.org/sleuthfest.htm
You love mysteries, so there's great writers to hob-nob with. It's March, so most of the country is cold, what's not to like about a Florida beach? The site only has the Guests of Honor currently but usually there is a contingent of Florida writers who show up, Florida having more than its share of great crime writers, and in the end who really cares, anyway. It's probably a lot warmer in Florida than wherever you are going to be.
If you prefer something a bit more general than a crime convention, and maybe something a bit more northerly, than you might try the Southern Kentucky Festival of Books.
http://www.sokybookfest.org/
Or, if you are really looking for something big, there's always the Virginia Festival of the book in Charlottesville.
http://www.vabook.org/index.html/
*** The World Fantasy Awards were announced yesterday at the World Fantasy Convention in Alberta, Canada. I notice some old favorites of mine on the lists, authors I read during the heyday of my SFF reading some 30 years ago. Kim Newman is still around and I loved Anno Dracula and its sequels, real ground-breaking stuff. Good for him!
http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/
*** Marilyn Ferguson, a new age author, has died at age 70. The extremely influential 1980 book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, tied together disparate threads of research, such as biofeedback, seeking a comprehensive whole. This gradually coalesced into the New Age Movement.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
New ILAM is up!
This just in: the best crime review site on the net is up with a new issue.
http://www.iloveamysterynewsletter.com/
I must say that the reviews of Stephen Hunter's Night of Thunder and The Goliath Bone by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins are absolutely brilliant, must reads for anyone who likes crime fiction.
http://www.iloveamysterynewsletter.com/
I must say that the reviews of Stephen Hunter's Night of Thunder and The Goliath Bone by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins are absolutely brilliant, must reads for anyone who likes crime fiction.
A sunny Sunday
Good morning bookies. Stand by for news.
It's Sunday, the first day of Standard time. Given that your friendly neighborhood bookseller hates cold weather and darkness, it's not a day he particularly looks forward to. I have been told that Christmas decorations fit nicely on a palm tree and finding out is one of my main objectives in life.
The growth of online bookselling has certainly had its high points, (me, for example) but as with any human endeavor there are also unintended consequences. The major selling sites, Amazon, ABE, Alibris, Biblio, are all overrun with 'booksellers' who wouldn't know a book if it bit them in the butt. They are commodities brokers and books are their produce.
You know the ones. Their descriptions all say something like 'may be ex-library, may have marks or writing, may have a dust jacket'. (I keep waiting for one to say 'may actually be a book.') These people haul in massive quantities of battered books, scan their ISBNs, pull out the ones their computers tell them to pull out, then list them on a site with no description and little interest in accuracy. They are usually called mega-listers and you often see a variation of them at book sales holding electronic scanning devices. (Watch for a future blog entitled 'Invasion of the Scanner People. Oh, and before some of you go berserk, I understand that scanners might be a useful adjunct for a true bookseller. I'm referring to those whose only basis for buying a book rests with the scanner)
BBG despises this practice. Sometimes a customer looking for a nice, well described first edition of a particular book may have to wade through pages and pages of this mega-lister crap first, and who wants to do that? So why do the sites allow this? Because as long as the mega-listers pay their fees on time, the sites don't care. For all of their advertising about great books and great sellers, etc., as long as the check clears they don't care what their listers do.
(On a side note, this is why www.worldbookmarket.com was born. A collection of booksellers who actually describe their books and have them in stock. What a unique concept!)
So, today, we bring you an article on one such mega-lister. This company is not particularly different from the others who do the exact same thing. I especially like the garbage chute with the books pouring from it; nothing like caring about what you sell, eh?
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/506388.html
*** The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
If you understand that reference, then you will probably want to read a new history of the band, Pigs Might Fly, the Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake. Every human being and a majority of aliens have, of course, memorized 'Dark Side of the Moon', but how many have seen the 1971 movie 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii'? Pre-dating 'Moon', the movie has the boys performing all of their early stuff to an audience of Roman ghosts. For your blog-host it's surreal, since I've been to Pompeii and stood at the very spot where they filmed. I haven't read Blake's book about the Floyd, and it's not generally the sort of thing I do read, but this might be an exception.
*** We may have found the perfect Christmas gift for a bookie. Coffee table books are always popular, large, generally printed on heavy, slick paper, bright photographs and illustrations, ideal for reading a few minutes and putting aside. So what better coffee table book could one ask for than Monsters: History's Most Evil Men and Women by Simon Sebag Montefiore?
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article5049974.ece
Certainly such a book could help to muddle through the awkwardness of Christmas with relatives or friends, the perfect conversation piece when things lag a bit.
"So, who is your favorite mass murderer?"
"Oh, I had always leaned toward Stalin, but after reading this book I have a new admiration for Madame Mao. More coffee or mince meat pie?"
*** I must admit that Neil Gaiman has not been one of my favorite writers. It's not that I dislike his work, it's just that by the time he came on the scene I was done reading SFF for a while. Fortunately, it's the nature of books that such things are easily rectified by simply buying someone's backlist. Indeed, the idea behind his new novel The Graveyard Book is so intriguing I might have to do that very thing. It's the story of a boy who escapes from a serial killer who wipes out his family and is raised in a graveyard by ghosts, vampires and werewolves. Such fun. Here's a very interesting interview:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5050156.ece
It's Sunday, the first day of Standard time. Given that your friendly neighborhood bookseller hates cold weather and darkness, it's not a day he particularly looks forward to. I have been told that Christmas decorations fit nicely on a palm tree and finding out is one of my main objectives in life.
The growth of online bookselling has certainly had its high points, (me, for example) but as with any human endeavor there are also unintended consequences. The major selling sites, Amazon, ABE, Alibris, Biblio, are all overrun with 'booksellers' who wouldn't know a book if it bit them in the butt. They are commodities brokers and books are their produce.
You know the ones. Their descriptions all say something like 'may be ex-library, may have marks or writing, may have a dust jacket'. (I keep waiting for one to say 'may actually be a book.') These people haul in massive quantities of battered books, scan their ISBNs, pull out the ones their computers tell them to pull out, then list them on a site with no description and little interest in accuracy. They are usually called mega-listers and you often see a variation of them at book sales holding electronic scanning devices. (Watch for a future blog entitled 'Invasion of the Scanner People. Oh, and before some of you go berserk, I understand that scanners might be a useful adjunct for a true bookseller. I'm referring to those whose only basis for buying a book rests with the scanner)
BBG despises this practice. Sometimes a customer looking for a nice, well described first edition of a particular book may have to wade through pages and pages of this mega-lister crap first, and who wants to do that? So why do the sites allow this? Because as long as the mega-listers pay their fees on time, the sites don't care. For all of their advertising about great books and great sellers, etc., as long as the check clears they don't care what their listers do.
(On a side note, this is why www.worldbookmarket.com was born. A collection of booksellers who actually describe their books and have them in stock. What a unique concept!)
So, today, we bring you an article on one such mega-lister. This company is not particularly different from the others who do the exact same thing. I especially like the garbage chute with the books pouring from it; nothing like caring about what you sell, eh?
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/506388.html
*** The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
If you understand that reference, then you will probably want to read a new history of the band, Pigs Might Fly, the Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake. Every human being and a majority of aliens have, of course, memorized 'Dark Side of the Moon', but how many have seen the 1971 movie 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii'? Pre-dating 'Moon', the movie has the boys performing all of their early stuff to an audience of Roman ghosts. For your blog-host it's surreal, since I've been to Pompeii and stood at the very spot where they filmed. I haven't read Blake's book about the Floyd, and it's not generally the sort of thing I do read, but this might be an exception.
*** We may have found the perfect Christmas gift for a bookie. Coffee table books are always popular, large, generally printed on heavy, slick paper, bright photographs and illustrations, ideal for reading a few minutes and putting aside. So what better coffee table book could one ask for than Monsters: History's Most Evil Men and Women by Simon Sebag Montefiore?
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article5049974.ece
Certainly such a book could help to muddle through the awkwardness of Christmas with relatives or friends, the perfect conversation piece when things lag a bit.
"So, who is your favorite mass murderer?"
"Oh, I had always leaned toward Stalin, but after reading this book I have a new admiration for Madame Mao. More coffee or mince meat pie?"
*** I must admit that Neil Gaiman has not been one of my favorite writers. It's not that I dislike his work, it's just that by the time he came on the scene I was done reading SFF for a while. Fortunately, it's the nature of books that such things are easily rectified by simply buying someone's backlist. Indeed, the idea behind his new novel The Graveyard Book is so intriguing I might have to do that very thing. It's the story of a boy who escapes from a serial killer who wipes out his family and is raised in a graveyard by ghosts, vampires and werewolves. Such fun. Here's a very interesting interview:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5050156.ece
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Good morning bookies! It's Saturday. Stand by for news.
*** Studs Terkel died yesterday at age 96. I was not widely read of his works, but I did read The Good War and found it a terrific example of oral history, very straight-forward and honest. Certainly they don't make them like him anymore, an activist with a love of country that surpassed all else. He wasn't to my taste most of the time, but that might be to his credit.
*** The International Horror Guild Awards were announced on Halloween and the names of the winners were all among the familiar. Peter Straub won the Living Legend award and Dan Simmons won the Best Novel Award for The Terror. As any Simmons fan can tell you he's a pretty remarkable writer. Whatever genre he's working in, be it SFF, Horror or really hard-boiled crime (to this day Joe Kurtz remains a favorite character of mine) the quality of his work is top-notch. I also like the award category of 'Long Fiction', in place of 'novellette' or 'novella'.
http://www.locusmag.com/2008/News_Awards_IHG_Winners.html
*** Studs Terkel died yesterday at age 96. I was not widely read of his works, but I did read The Good War and found it a terrific example of oral history, very straight-forward and honest. Certainly they don't make them like him anymore, an activist with a love of country that surpassed all else. He wasn't to my taste most of the time, but that might be to his credit.
*** The International Horror Guild Awards were announced on Halloween and the names of the winners were all among the familiar. Peter Straub won the Living Legend award and Dan Simmons won the Best Novel Award for The Terror. As any Simmons fan can tell you he's a pretty remarkable writer. Whatever genre he's working in, be it SFF, Horror or really hard-boiled crime (to this day Joe Kurtz remains a favorite character of mine) the quality of his work is top-notch. I also like the award category of 'Long Fiction', in place of 'novellette' or 'novella'.
http://www.locusmag.com/2008/News_Awards_IHG_Winners.html
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