Wednesday, May 21, 2008

word from Midnight House

Email rec'd:
Chris,

The books are still at the printers.
We hope to have them soon.

Kathy [Pelan]
---what I figured, but I wonder for how long (and how long they've been "at the printers" so far). Not that I'm complaining. Not at all.

word from Tartarus

Email rec'd:
Dear Chris,
 
We are very low on stock of both The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel and Morbid Tales by Quentin S. Crisp. If you would like last copies of either please let me know. I'm telling a few other dealers at the same time, so it will be on a first come, first served basis.
 
All best wishes,
 
Ray
---Maybe I ought to check my stock too.

Monday, May 19, 2008

pivoting away from amazon?

Haven't been paying attention to the details of my Amazon sales, so I didn't quite realize that a book I list for $1.50, for example, nets me $2.92 for the sale, out of which I pay probably $2.23 for Media Mail postage -- leaving me with a paltry 69¢. Methinks I need to go back to listing books more on biblio.com again, maybe individually as they are cataloged, rather than readying a bulk download from my current catalog inventory, as I had been doing before. That worked fine, but I had to go through a lot of rigamarole -- adding inventory numbers, inserting tabs to separate fields, etc. It ended up with me neglecting performing this chore, to the extent that I got only part of my inventory listed. The original plan was to get through and list everything, but now it’s been so long maybe I should deviate course. I see that I can list books on biblio one at a time, just as I have been doing on Amazon (and Half.com). Since my complete listings can at least be seen as Google Documents, the compulsion to have everything somewhere is obviated. So, I guess I’ll try the next batch of books I am cataloguing (many Adult Fantasy paperbacks) using Biblio rather than Amazon.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

word from Spectre Library

Email rec'd:

HELLO !

 

Announcement: Summer 2008 Book Release
 
The Spectre Library now is accepting advance orders for Rousseau's lost works of pseudo-science fiction stories "The Devil Chair." These stories have never been viewed by a single pulp fiction collector, and are now available for the first time, recovered from bygone newspapers. This is Rousseau's first-ever venture into the science fiction genre. The introduction is furnished by Michael Ashley.

 

The Spectre Library collects rare literature in limited edition jacketed hardcovers. I offer the standard
 
Further, there are limited copies of the second book still available: Victor Rousseau "The Tracer of Egos."
The first collection, "The Surgeon of Souls," is SOLD OUT.
 
Below are the list details. Cordially~~Morgan A. Wallace, The Spectre Library
  
Author: Victor Rousseau
Title: The Devil Chair
Publisher: The Spectre Library
Retail: $40
Jacketed, smythe-sewn hardcover
Limited edition: 200 copies
Introduction by: Michael Ashley
Available: Summer 2008
 
Inheriting multi-million dollar properties in America, Englishman John Haynes relocates his wife
and daughter from England to claim the inheritance. Upon arrival, Haynes, unaccustomed to
American corruption, is railroaded into the penitentiary. While serving his sentence, he creates a
scientific device in the machinist shops, a powerful gyroscope attached to a gasoline device, that
when strapped to any means of transportation, enables him to speeds of 200 miles per hour!
Escaping prison, Haynes searches for his lost family while hunting the league of villains, attacking
them both on the physical and psychological level.
 
"The Devil Chair" is a brilliant series, and among the best of his earliest and more thoughtful
works of literature, pre-dating "The Sea Demons" and "Messiah of the Cylinder."
 

Thursday, May 8, 2008

word from Golden Gryphon

Email rec'd:
Greetings from the Gryphon: 

NANO COMES TO CLIFFORD FALLS AND OTHER STORIES, by Nancy Kress, is now
available!

Multiple award-winning author Nancy Kress is well known for her novels,
but all of her awards were for her short fiction, and she is at her best
in the short form. Most of the stories in this collection have been picked
for various “Year’s Best” and Reader’s Choice lists. The title story is
typical of Kress; nanotechnology brings every wish to everyone, and yet
on the human level problems of a dire nature are created. This is always
the case with Kress: typically, you get two stories in one: a focus on
cutting-edge technology and the emotional effects of such technology. In
many of her stories the pathos of the human condition is explored, where
humans plant seedlings and have to decide to weed or not weed—that is, to
play God or let natural selection progress (“My Mother, Dancing”).
Interfering with a culture, even to save lives, is not so straightforward
in “”Ej-Es.” Not all of Kress’s stories end seriously; in “First Flight”
a Space Cadet shines, in homage to a 50s TV program. Artificial intelligences
also show in several of the stories, as a persecuted slave of man (“Computer
Virus”), or as the controlling force of the universe (“Mirror Image”), or
even as one indifferent to humans at all (“Savior”). There is also hidden
horror in Kress’s stories, in the method used to handle a sassy sixteen-year-
old (“To Cuddle Amy”). From the center of the galaxy, to explore the nature
of matter itself (“Shiva in Shadow”) to the swamps of Earth (“Wetlands
Preserve”) you always get the trademark mix of hard science fiction
interacting with humanity, with all the resulting emotions. These thirteen
stories will satisfy old fans of Kress and breed new ones.

NANO COMES TO CLIFFORD FALLS AND OTHER STORIES, by Nancy Kress
Cover art by Thomas Canty
ISBN 978-1-930846-50-0 / $24.95 (Trade hardcover)
324 pages
---Good to see Golden Gryphon is keeping going even without my recent support. I really need to rectify that!