KILLING FLOOR by Lee Child

Killing Floor by Lee Child. Putnam, 1997. The first in Child's uber-popular ex-military cop Jack Reacher was a typical offering of the late 90's. Construction was quarter cloth and paper boards, with the front board embossed from the top edge with the narrow chevron pictured on the title page. Not particularly well built, pristine copies are hard to come by these days and command a premium.

There was a time when remaindered copies of Killing Floor were to be found quite easily, and second hand copies were cheap. That went on until about the mid 2000's, circa 2005, when prices began to climb. Child is fun in person and free with his signature, nevertheless, signed copies of Killing Floor command a great premium.

Comics come of age

Good morning bookies!

Your friendly neighborhood bookseller is a fan of The University of Memphis Tigers. This would usually have no bearing on a blog devoted to books, however, it's relevant because today's blog praises the University Press of Mississippi, the publishing arm of The University of Mississippi at Oxford. Ole Miss.

Memphis Tiger fans don't like Ole Miss. Thus, my conflict.

And yet one has to give credit where it's due. Memphis State University once had a flourishing press and if Mississippi still does, and if it makes a valuable contribution to the study of comics, a field that yours truly once found obsessive, well, I have to give them a shout-out.

So today's link takes you to a nice article about UPM's contribution to the study of comics, a scholarly study. And yes, comics deserve a scholarly study or three. As one who grew up having his reading habits questioned by authority figures, and who is still traumatized by his history teacher confiscating the X-Men issue he was reading during class, I recognize just how important comics can be in developing the reading skills of the young person.

Comics in the classroom, on purpose

The books that never were, or will be

Good morning bookies!

As you all know this blog is all about books. A boy, his books and a bunch of words. However, today's blogette is about books that may never be written, because the author has been arrested. And what is the crime of this evil-doer? Trying to find out what happened to German prisoners of war during the Stalin Era in the USSR.

See, those in power in Russia don't think Stalin was such a bad guy. Sure, a few tens of millions of Soviet citizens were killed on his orders during his reign, but so what? Just a necessity, right? Those are the numbers generally put out but coming up with an accurate count is hard, the USSR wasn't exactly what you would call an open society.

So today we live in an era we can call Stalin's Rehabilitation, when Vlad Putin and his buddies want to present Stalin as more misunderstood than anything else. And along comes a researcher writing a book about the fate of Wehrmacht POWs and bingo! He's arrested. For what? Does it matter? His apartment is cleaned out, his research materials confiscated. And now those two books he was going to write that would, no doubt, have added tremendously to our understanding of WW2 in Russia, may never get written.

The new Russia sure looks an awful lot like the old Russia.

R.I.P. Stuart Kaminsky

Sadly, crime writer Stuart Kaminsky has died. I hate it when authors I like and have met pass away, even moreso than the sadness I feel at every author's death. Kaminsky was immensely popular with his core fans and deserved to be much better known than he was. I met him at EyeCon in St. Louis in 1999, thanks to Robert J. Randisi, who worked like a dog to pull off the best convention of any sort I have ever attended.

Stuart Kaminsky

DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Walter Mosley

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley. Norton, 1990 Octavo hardback. Mustard quarter cloth, cinnamon paper boards. The novel that introduced Easy Rawlins to the world of crime fiction is surprisingly well constructed, with a striking art deco inspired cover. Paper is of much higher quality than typical for first authors, probably representative of the pre-publication praise and type. One would have thought that Mosley would open the door for a new world of African-American crime writers, and in a way he did, but none have had near his level of success, despite some being arguably better writers.

Your friendly neighborhood bookseller attended Mosley's signing here in Memphis a few years ago. Unlike most signings, the majority of the audience was black, and I was thrilled by this. It was great to see such a turnout to support one of that community's better writers. When one of the audience asked Mosley what other African-American mystery writers he would recommend, Mosley asked the audience who they would recommend before he answered. Nobody said anything for a while, so I did. Wow, did I get some dirty looks, as though I wasn't supposed to read black authors. I recommended Gar Anthony Haywood and Robert Greer as my two favorites. Mosley then nodded and agreed those were the two best out there. He was a very nice man, if you ever get a chance to see him in person, take it.

Gluecksfall

Good morning bookies!

Today's new word of the day titles this blog: gluecksfall. To be accurate, there should be an umlaut over the 'u' and no 'e' at all, but that's what happens when you write German with an English keyboard. The word means 'stroke of good luck', and that's what happened to Germany when an aging GI decided to return two books that he took as souvenirs during World War II.

As a bookie myself the part of this story that stuck out most was when the gentleman described walking into an underground salt mine filled floor to ceiling with antique books. Sure, they're in German. So what? That's what online translators are for.

Aging GI returns souvenir books to the Germans

e-pirates. Ahoy, me buckos!

Good morning bookies!

As most of you know, your friendly neighborhood bookseller hates e-books. He doesn't dislike them, he wishes they would burn in hell, their pages curling into ash beneath the fires of perdition. Except, of course, that an e-book doesn't actually exist or have pages or anything. You aren't actually buying a tangible item when you buy an e-book, you see, you are buying a lot of words that are stored electronically on a device that has a finite lifespan. And once you've read what you have bought? Try re-selling it, or lending it to a friend. Good luck with that. And I can't wait to see how an author is going to sign one.

Well, now this scam has new problems, the same ones the music industry has dealt with: piracy. People stealing e-books on file sharing sites. Who knew? But just like the local Memphis book thieves used to steal choice volumes from my store (and yes, I know who you are) they are now stealing e-books. The biggest difference is probably that with e-books they have to steal some batteries to go along with them.

Blackbeard's ghost on work among e-books

More trees that died in vain

Good morning bookies!

You may have noticed that the last few blogs have been shorter than usual, and that's my new trend. Bullet blogs, I'll call them, and hopefully it will mean that I keep this updated the way it should be, on a daily or near-daily basis.

Dan Brown's latest monstrosity is selling as well as you would expect, and today's link is about the positive effect it is having on other titles. I'm glad about this, I really am. If The Symbol is taken alone and without the ripple effect it has on the entire industry, then one can only weep for the trees that died so that it might be printed in its millions of copies. I have not, of course, read it. After reading The Da Vinci Code there is no need. When one writes the second worst book I have ever read it isn't required that I read new stuff to see if the author plumbs new depths of ineptitude.

If you have read this latest, however, and liked it, then make no mistake: I am glad. I have no problem with those who like his work, just as I have no problem with people who like reading almost anything. Reading is reading and there is value in even the most worthless piece of trash.

Dan Brown actually has a positive influence on the purchase of good books

Dean R. Koontz HELL'S GATE

Hell's Gate by Dean R. Koontz, Lancer Books, 1970. Paperback original. Koontz's 7th book was typical of Lancer publications of the time, printed on cheap, high-acid paper, the cover held on by cheap glue that easily lets go. It is quite common to find Lancer volumes with the cover loose and the paper very browned. Note the small torn spot at the top of the spine: you find this a lot with Lancer's of this era. Which is why, with a now-popular author like Koontz, these early editions tend to be pricey and with a premium on condition. They just weren't built to last.

Terry Pratchett's MONSTROUS REGIMENT

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett. Doubleday, 2003. The Australian First Edition is published by Doubleday, full black cloth boards, very well constructed with a sturdy paper stock. The signature is 2006, just before the news of his early-onset Alzheimer's was leaked. He looked exhausted, but then, the following story should illustrate why.

The story behind this is that he appeared at MidSouthCon, I waited 2 1/2 hours in line, only to be told that he was due at a panel and could not sign again until that night. So we were given stubs and had to drive all the way back to the hotel, for me about a 45 mile round trip. But I did, and got the autograph.

What makes this rare is twofold: it's a UK edition in the USA, and it's signed. Given the obvious demand for his ultra-popular stuff, signed Pratchett material will only continue to escalate in value.