Evolution.

Munro's Bookstore in Victoria: behold the ongoing decline of the mass-market novel and the triumph of the trade paperback and the hardcover - it's like seeing the last few Neanderthals making their way down the path to extinction...

- Sid

For I have sinned.

It's so true...this particular visit to Munro's, I managed to be weak only to a price point of about $30.

- Sid

Losing my religion.

Yesterday I started my vacation on Vancouver Island by purchasing a hundred dollars worth of used books and felt a solid sense of satisfaction that I had done well in finding replacements for some of the more battered novels in my collection.  

Today we visited Munro’s Books in downtown Victoria. Munro's is an excellent independent bookstore, and offers a well-chosen selection of the best in current fantasy and science fiction. In spite of which, I left the store empty handed, enough of a departure from tradition that my wife commented on it with mild surprise. I just couldn't buy anything. After years of book shopping, it suddenly all seemed so unaffordably and unreasonably expensive - it broke me a little.

The problem has nothing to do with inventory as such.  Munro's science fiction section had some excellent options: N. K. Jemisin’s latest, The City We Became; the surprising paper publication of Martha Well's Murderbot Diaries novellas; the award-winning 2019 novel This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone; Andy Weir's third novel, Hail Mary, currently their top selling science fiction novel - which I confess to just having finished in bootleg ePub format rather than spending $38.99 CAD for a hardcover copy (or waiting until August 23rd for the release of the paperback version at $25.95, which hardly seems a savings).

All the shelves seemed to be just packed with expensive hardcovers and pricey trade paperbacks in lieu of cheaper mass market editions. I was particularly unimpressed by the impractical absurdity of a four inch thick collection of Ursula K. Leguin’s Earthsea series, an unwieldy sixty* dollar tome that would defy actual handheld readership.

I recently read somewhere that the end of the mass market paperback is upon us, and if that's the case, I'm sort of checked out as far as new book stores go.  I may well recover, there may be a gradual return to retail book purchasing, but for now, it would appear that for me new books have become the province of birthdays, Geekmas gift list postings and secret Santa suggestions - a sad truth, but a truth nonetheless. 

- Sid

* Actually $59.99, but I don't think that fools anyone anymore, does it?

Khlûl′-hloo?

The first syllable pronounced gutturally and very thickly. The u is about like that in full; and the first syllable is not unlike klul in sound, hence the h represents the guttural thickness.

H.P. Lovecraft

As we were paying for our purchases at Munro's, Karli glanced down at my little stack of books and said, "Oh, a Cthulhu book, good for you!"

I was a little touched by her comment - it's a testament to her ongoing support that she knows about Cthulhu, let alone being able to pronounce it correctly (insofar as anyone can).

Just when I think I can't find another reason to love you, Karli...

- Sid
 

A cover IS nice. (With apologies to Mary Poppins Returns)

Karli and I are spending the weekend in Victoria, and as part of our visit, we did a little shopping at Munro's, Victoria's excellent independent bookstore.  As I stood looking thoughtfully at the shelves in the science fiction section, I realized that in spite of conventional wisdom, I first judge a book by its cover.

As someone who works in the graphics industry, I appreciate a well-conceived book design, but outside of that, I have all kinds of memories and associations that go with particular books, which is one of the reasons that when I buy a replacement copy, I try to get the same edition - or at least, the same cover.*  As an example, I'm probably on my third copy of the 1965 Pyramid publication of E. E. Smith's Second Stage Lensmen and its unique Jack Gaughan cover artwork.  It's the version that my mother owned, and the one that I read first.

I feel that there's a time in the 60s and 70s when almost everything had a cover by either Jack Gaughan or Kelly Freas**, and a period in the 1970s and early 80s when almost everything had a cover by Michael Whelan - other times, other customs, as the Romans said. (I remember when Whelan generously withdrew his name from further consideration at the Hugos after winning 15 awards - 13 as best professional artist - and a SuperHugo at the 50th Annual Worldcon in 1992 for being the best artist in the last 50 years.)

My Edgar Rice Burroughs collection is all over the map in terms of cover art: green Martians by Gino D'Achille and Michael Whelan for the Mars books, the classic Roy Krenkel Jr. covers from the early 60s for the Venus series, Neal Adams' skillfully muscular take on Tarzan, and a couple of  Frazetta covers for Pellucidar - pretty much a who's who of fantasy art.  It's a little tempting to get some kind of consistent set of editions, but I bought all these books at different times in my life, and the covers all bring back different memories of those times.That being said, I'm a little tempted by the Michael Kaluta covers that I found while researching this posting, they have a great steampunk/art nouveau feel to them that's ideally suited to John Carter's adventures on Barsoom.

Burroughs, by Krenkel, Whelan, and Kaluta.

This posting could easily become a book on its own, there are so many memorable artists: Frank Frazetta's Conans, Josh Kirby's great work on Terry Pratchett's Discworld paperbacks, the Pauline Baynes illustrations that perfectly visualized Narnia and its inhabitants, the incredible mixed bag of Ace Double covers, and so on and so on and so on.

 

As with fans of vinyl and classic album artwork, I mourn the possible end of science fiction and fantasy cover art due to the switch to digital editions. I know that there will still be artwork - the cover artwork by Michael Gauss for the ebook version of my friend Annie's prequel novel, Children of Lightning, is brilliant - but somehow the impact of a 200 pixel thumbnail just isn't the same.

 - Sid

* I've never understood the surprisingly common habit of doing something strange with cover art in later editions of novels - borders, framing, and other little tricks that minimize the actual art.

** This mockup is a deliberate homage to Kelly Freas and his characteristic affection for red shadows on faces.
 

A foolish consistency.

 

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Karli and I are away for the weekend in picturesque Victoria, where we're staying in an AirBnB micro-loft that can't be much more than 250 square feet - now I know what life would be like in the space-challenged megacities of some Malthusian version of the future (although the ceilings will probably be lower).*

We've visited Victoria a couple of times now, and we've started to develop a list of things to do and places to visit, which, in my case, obviously includes Munro's, Victoria's excellent indie bookstore.

I have yet to visit Munro's without finding something that a) I didn't expect to find; and b) wanted to buy. This visit was no exception - there in the science fiction and fantasy section was the full four book set of Chris Wooding's Tales of the Ketty Jay, an entertaining steampunk fantasy series that I'd previously read and enjoyed in digital format.

Unlike most steampunk, the Ketty Jay series takes place in its own reality, rather than an alternate history version of our own world. As such, Wooding is free to populate his tale with airships, pirates, golems, zombies, daemonists, and whatever else catches his fancy. The result is a fun light reading experience, full of adventure, drama, conflict, romance and dry humour.

Finding the entire Ketty Jay series is a bit of a happy coincidence in terms of timing – my friend Chris has been going through a bit of a steampunk phase in his reading, and I’d recommended the series to him. However, since I only have it as e-books and he doesn’t use any sort of e-reader, I was unable to lend it to him.

The only problem was that the four books at Munro's - all British imports - didn't match.  Parts one, two and four of the series were Gollancz Fantasy editions, and part three, The Iron Jackal, was from Indigo, with a completely different design sensibility. (And a note on the copyright page that it had originally been published by Gollancz.)

It actually hurt me a little bit to buy this mismatched quartet of novels, although I can't quite bring myself to blame Munro's buyer for the situation. At least they had the full set, and if this is the price that they had to pay to make that happen, then so be it. It does make me a little curious, though. These aren't just different editions, they're different publishing houses. How does this happen? Did Wooding have contractual issues between the second and third books?

A little research reveals that the matching Gollancz edition of The Iron Jackal is available on Amazon.ca, so apparently he didn't have to switch publishers, but it's ridiculously expensive, clocking in at close to $60 for a new copy. Interesting - is there some reason that the third book in that production run is in short supply?

(Damn it...I also see that there's an omnibus edition of all four books for $30....no, wait, that's for Kindle, so I haven't made a huge mistake in buying them separately.)

I realize full well that it’s irrelevant that one of the copies came from a different publisher: the content will be the same**, it’s just a bit of foolish consistency to want the cover designs to match. Regardless, if I see the opportunity to purchase a (reasonably priced) replacement copy of the Gollancz edition of The Iron Jackal, rest assured that my little mind will jump, JUMP at the chance - hobgoblin or not.

  - Sid

* Actually, it's quite comfortable for a weekend away, as well as being affordable and perfectly located.  But small.

** Probably. After all, I have a Science Fiction Book of the Month Club omnibus edition of Michael Moorcock Elric novels which disappointingly omits a line from my much-read Lancer edition of Stormbringer, the final novel in the series. So you never know.

A Geek's Walking Tour of Downtown Victoria

 

Rather than just charging over to Vancouver Island to see Chris Hadfield perform and then heading back again on the same day, Karli and I decided that it would be fun to have some time to wander around Victoria on the Saturday - neither one of us had the opportunity to do any sightseeing there for several years.

 The man himself.  You know, sooner or later people are going to have to start using a different picture of Chris Hadfield, although, to be fair, it is the first image that pops up if you Google™ him.  Maybe a wider selection of media shots on your web site, Commander?

 

I'm constantly amazed by the degree to which geek culture has insinuated itself into everyday life.  In addition to the usual offerings of brightly coloured cooking utensils and semi-inspirational wall plaques, home decor store Paboom surprisingly features Minion Green Lantern and Totoro pillows, along with Star Wars tourist posters for local attractions. I feel that Minion tchotchkes have become fairly common, but isn't Totoro a bit obscure for the general public?

We also paid a visit to Munro's Books, the excellent independent bookstore which is centrally located in Victoria's downtown core.  As always, their selection did not disappoint, and I walked away with about eighty bucks worth of reading material: a paperback collection of short fiction by Terry Pratchett - A Blink of the Screen, a long overdue copy of Pulitzer-prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (based mainly on the title, to be honest) and an extravagant hardcover copy of collected Ursula K. Le Guin non-fiction, Words Are My Matter, which is nominated for a Hugo Award this year.

"Essential" gear - this is actually from the Friday night, and I'm a bit sorry that we didn't get back to Dragon Impact when they were open in order to find out if you could actually buy some kind of standardized package for dealing with the walking dead.  Based on the quantity of sharpened metal on display in the shop windows, I doubt that the package would include anything really practical, like a good pair of running shoes.

Speaking of which, isn't it a bit ironic to use a famous hobbit surname for a shoe store?  (Because, after all, hobbits never wear shoes.) *

However, the star of the day has to be the Little Shop of Strange, located near the entrance to Market Square at 566 Johnson Street.  If you're looking for a weird but wonderful (not to say strange) selection of music, local art, and taxidermy, this is your spot - where else could you buy a reasonably priced and beautifully made actual Plague Rat?

 

- Sid

* Purists will cite the Stoors, one of the three breeds of hobbits, who wore boots in muddy weather.

And they're close to an Irish pub, too.

"You do realize," said Zanna, "that you're stroking a milk carton."
"You're just jealous."

China Miéville, Un Lun Dun

I spent part of the weekend on Vancouver Island helping my niece and her boyfriend move, but I also managed to find some free time to do some shopping in Victoria. If you're visiting British Columbia's capital, I strongly recommend Munro's Books on Government Street to anyone whose interests lie in the literary world.

During a previous visit, I had wandered into Munro's without any particular expectations, since very few non-genre bookstores have anything unique to offer to the science fiction and fantasy shopper*. However, to my surprise and pleasure, I found a paperback copy of Terry Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, which I'd never even heard of, let alone seen on a store shelf.

As a result, I went in this time with more of a sense of optimism, and was rewarded by a trade paperback copy of China Miéville's Un Lun Dun for a mere $11.00, which is not all that much more than I would have expected to pay for a regular paperback. Even more surprising, the price was actually $11.00, rather than $10.99 or some similar insult to my mathematical intelligence.

Now if they can only overcome their identity problem - do they really need to have their name in that many places on their storefront?

- Sid

* In fact, there are some genre stores that don't have a lot to offer, either. White Dwarf, Vancouver's science fiction and fantasy specialty store, has done nothing to impress me, between their hard-to-browse shelving and the fact that they never have called me about the book that I ordered three years ago. Their dog is a pleasant sort, though.