“If I hadn’t been a novelist I would have been a rare book dealer. You’re always on a treasure hunt.” – Graham Greene Rare book dealers must lament the passing of an era. That is their job. There was a time, before the internet, when the mostly likely place to find a pristine first edition … Read more
It’s dark outside, the wind is howling, the oncoming headlights are blinding. I feel like a character out of Mad Max or Blade Runner. I’m wrestling my big rig (all right, it’s really only a 10-foot U-Haul, but to me it FEELS like a big rig) and trying not to think about the one ton … Read more
When did the powers that be decide that trade paperbacks were the right way to go? I understand why authors would welcome this format–I would gather that the more expensive the work, the more royalties paid. Mass market paperbacks give little return for the author. And maybe, maybe the print is larger, although, I’ve not … Read more
Recently, I found something interesting in a box of old books, which started me thinking about something new: cookbooks. I have been ignorant of cookbooks my whole life, treating them with an attitude similar to how I view my chainsaw instruction manual. But as a bookseller, I have quickly learned that, for many people, cookbooks … Read more
by Jas Faulkner He was the first critic to have his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Chicago Sun-Times reviewer was also the first of his profession to win a Pulitzer Prize. At a time when the word, “iconoclast” is almost tragically abused by dint of misapplication, Ebert lived a professional and … Read more
There are some writers who excel in the short story form, such as Ed Hoch did, opposed to full length novels. Another is Carla Coupe whose short story pastiches of Sherlock Holmes have garnered critical and reader praise. Not that she couldn’t and won’t lengthen her work in the future–as she explains in this author … Read more
by Carrie Bailey In Corvallis, Oregon on the 24th of March 2013, a cult organized by Nathan Dunham ritually burned a copy of The First Book of Urizen by William Blake. The work was prophetic in nature and the copy had been in the possession of Dunham’s father, Dr. Uri Dunham. It was reported to … Read more
