Four Day Geekend: Memory Lane

 

To start my four-day weekend in Toronto, today I visited two stores that used to be the focal points of my life as a fan:  Silver Snail Comics and Bakka Books, officially Bakka-Phoenix since 2003.

My experience with both stores started when I was still in high school, although, in retrospect, I find myself wondering how I even knew that they existed, in the long-lost dark ages before the internet.  The Toronto Star newspaper, perhaps? Probably some kind of review in the Arts and Entertainment section, I can't imagine that either store actually advertised in the Star.

Regardless, my desire to shop at Bakka and the Silver Snail was the start of a series of semi-annual Saturday bus trips to Toronto in the later years of my high school career - and probably also the start of my interest in travel, at that point in my life visiting Toronto was certainly an adventure, equally intimidating and invigorating.

A round trip bus ticket on the Ontario Northlander was under twenty dollars back then - I looked it up, it's a hundred and eight now - and you had to catch an early bus, 6:00 or 7:00 AM, to get the most out of the day before catching a late afternoon bus back.  Generally I'd start the day with a hundred dollars, and earnestly do my very best to come back with nothing but loose change and a couple of bags filled with comic books and paperbacks.

When I moved to Toronto in the 80s to attend Ryerson Polytechnic, I visited the two stores almost every Saturday or Sunday.  At that point in time, they were conveniently located almost across the street from each other on Queen Street, and it made for a pleasant little ritual on the weekend to take the subway downtown and do a little shopping.

That tradition continued for about twenty years - in case you've ever wondered how my library reached its current size - but finally came to an end when I relocated to Vancouver in 2004.

It saddens me to think of all the pre-internet ephemera from the two stores which has vanished over the years, lost to water damage, spring cleaning, or sheer lack of forethought - the Silver Snail newsletters, the commemorative posters that they used to hand out for free, copies of the Bakka Bookie Sheet with reviews, recommendations and new arrivals, their distinctive bookmarks, and all the other little bits and pieces of promotion and branding.  It's not all gone - I still have most of my celebratory Bakka birthday buttons, although it looks like I've misplaced the B12 button that I think started the run, and my Silver Snail Club button is battered but still with me - but as far as I know, that's all that I still have, unless there's a bookmark or two hidden away in storage.

My hotel is conveniently only a block or so away from the Silver Snail's second-story Yonge Street location, so that's the first destination of the day. 

The Silver Snail has stayed true to its roots over the years.  Although there's a small selection of toys, action figures and statuettes, along with a token gaming section, the Snail is still predominately aimed at the reader and collector, with bins of back issues, a wide selection of new comics, and a full range of graphic novels.   

I'm a bit bemused by the addition of the Black Canary coffee shop to the layout - I've previously encountered a couple of book stores that combined the two, but I do wonder if that space might be better used for retail purposes.  On the other hand, I'm not a coffee drinker, for all I know it's quite popular, although there are only a couple of patrons during my visit to the store. 

 

It's been years since I bought a single-issue comic book (although graphic novels are still part of my Christmas list) but in a fit of nostalgia, I pick out a couple of comics, one new, one used.

My used selection is issue 7 of OMAC, the One Man Army Corps, a character created by Jack Kirby* for DC in 1974 - I find it surprisingly affordable at $6.00.**  (Like so many of the Kirby characters, OMAC has periodically been revived by Kirby fans who went on to work in the comics industry - the black-and-white John Byrne miniseries from 1991 standing out as a particularly well done example, although I'm not as sure about the blue-skinned 2011 version by Keith Giffen.)

 

My new comic of choice is the first issue of an alternative reality comic, Tales From the Dark Multiverse. In its first storyline, it takes a look at what might have happened when villain-turned hero Azrael took over the Dark Knight's mantle after Bane broke the Batman's back in the 1993-1994 Knightfall saga.  Given that I'm unlikely to start buying comic books again, especially with my Marvel Unlimited subscription, it seems prudent to not engage with an ongoing series.  (As a sidebar, both Marvel and DC have produced a wide range of alternate history/timeline/dimension versions of their characters, I suspect that it demonstrates a degree of franchise fatigue on the part of the comic book creative community.  After all, some of the DC characters date back to the 1930s, and most of the Marvel universe has been in existence for close to 60 years, that's a long time to keep tilling the same ground, so to speak.)

From the Snail, I proceed to lunch at the Rivoli, a Queen Street institution since 1982, which is located just one block away from the original locations of both Bakka and the Snail.  I'm a bit saddened to see that the previous Silver Snail location is now just an empty lot, there isn't even a building left.

After lunch - I strongly recommend the Riv's pad thai - I head up Spadina Avenue towards the University of Toronto and nearby Harbord Street, the latest location of Bakka Phoenix Books.

 

Even after a sustained absence, it still feels a bit like coming home to walk into Bakka.  The new books are still racked up to the right of the entrance, they still use little hand-written notes to indicate authors and recommended books, and the selection remains comprehensive and well curated - Bakka has always enjoyed staff members who were both knowledgeable and dedicated in their interest, which is probably why the store's alumni includes so many science fiction authors.

This is my first visit to this location, and I'm pleased by the spacious layout and the general setup of the store.  To an even greater extent than the Silver Snail, Bakka isn't interested in t-shirts or toys or other ancillary merchandise - it's a bookstore, plain and simple.

As I browse the shelves, I'm a bit astonished by the high percentage of trade paperbacks*** - it's like I wasn’t paying attention and the mass market paperback died while I was looking the other way. That being said, they might as well be hardcovers, I was a little offended by the opportunity to replace my battered old first edition of Again, Dangerous Visions with a $19.99 trade version.

I pick out four books (needless to say that three of them are trade editions): Made Things, one of the unpurchased books from my 2019 Geekmas list, by Adrian Tchaikovsky; Wasteland, by W. Scott Poole, a scholarly examination of the origins of modern horror in World War One, which struck me as an intriguing idea; The Long and Short of It, a collection of time travel stories by Jodi Taylor;  and a replacement paperback copy of The Atrocity Archives, the first book in the outstanding Lovecraftian Laundry series by Charles Stross.  I haven't catalogued the S part of my library yet, but I'm reasonably confident that my current copy is more than a bit the worse for wear.  To finish my shopping, I take a fifth book from the SALE table - Wild Fell, a horror novel by Michael Rowe. I'm not a big fan of horror, but I always liked to make a random selection when shopping at Bakka, just to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

Sadly, after I pay for my books, not only do I not receive a bookmark, but my purchases go into a plain blue bag.  Apparently the days of the branded bag and bookmark have come and gone at Bakka Books, along with so many other things from years gone by.

- Sid

* I really have to do a posting on Jack Kirby.

** It turns out to be a bit rumpled, but still in good shape.  But how do you rumple a comic book?

*** In case you don't speak printing, trade paperbacks are paperbacks more or less the size of hardcovers, whereas mass market paperbacks are 4x7 inches, give or take.

Four Day Geekend: Itinerary

 

As I type this, I'm in a departure lounge at YVR, waiting to board a flight for a solo four-day weekend trip to Toronto. In addition to getting together with my friend Colin (aka Cloin – you know, the pretty Campbell Brother) I've also put together a bit of a geek itinerary for my four day trip: a visit to the Yonge Street location of Silver Snail Comics, which apparently now also has a coffee shop; some shopping at Toronto science fiction and fantasy mainstay Bakka-Phoenix Books, currently located on Harbord Street near the University of Toronto; and a comparative dinner (or perhaps lunch) at the Toronto branch of Vancouver's geek and gaming franchise, the Storm Crow Manor on Church north of Wellesley. If time (and weather*) permits, I’ll also be doing a bit of a used bookstore crawl along College and Bloor Streets - after all, I have books to replace.

"Now boarding Zone 1 for Air Canada flight AC120...Zone 1, passengers for Zone 1...."

- Sid

* They're calling for a substantial winter storm on Saturday, which feels a bit unfair given that I just experienced a substantial winter storm in Vancouver.

"Endlessly entertaining."

“I think one reason people like hearing about these sorts of things is that it helps them see the world slightly differently, perhaps even with a sense of wonder. On Earth, it's just a given that if you put a fork on the table, it will stay there. But remove that one variable, gravity, and everything changes. Forks waft away; people sleep on air. Eating, jumping, drinking from a cup – things you've known how to do since you were a toddler suddenly become magical or tricky or endlessly entertaining, and sometimes all three at once. People like being reminded that the impossible really is possible, I think, and I was happy to be able to remind them.”

Chris Hadfield, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Okay, full disclosure - my workplace lost about 30 minutes of my time this morning:  off task, mission abandoned, KRIs ignored, complete dereliction of duty.  Now, admittedly, there was almost no one in the office, Vancouver got hit by a substantial winter storm last night, most of the city was shut down, the only deadline-specific item on my desk was the bi-weekly newsletter, but even so, I feel an apology of some sort is in order.

But you have to understand the circumstances.  As part of the process of building our newsletter, I spend a certain amount of time every morning doing research online: looking for articles of interest, checking in on professional news, and watching for upcoming events.

Part of this process involves sifting through Twitter for useful links - I follow a wide range of industry accounts, with only two personal exceptions:  the Canadian Space Agency and Chris Hadfield.  And that's where the train left the tracks...

Normally I just glance at those accounts as I scroll through the latest tweets  - Chris Hadfield's wry wit makes for a nice break - but today, the CSA was retweeting a live feed from NASA featuring two astronauts doing a spacewalk in order to do some upgrades to the International Space Station.  Astronauts Christina Koch and and Jessica Meir were replacing nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries, taking the new batteries from a pallet attached to the Canadarm2.

 

It was a struggle to close the low-res video window and return to work.  Which is funny, because it was admittedly the most mundane thing in the world, I might as well have been watching a mechanic change tires, except for the fact that it was two people in spacesuits, working in zero gravity on a space station orbiting the planet at 7.66 kilometers a second.  To make it even better, part of the feed involved POV from helmet-mounted cameras, so we could see exactly what the astronaut saw.

 

I was simply fascinated. The process itself was a clumsy one, but then, imagine doing something as simple as changing a light bulb while wearing heavy gauntlets, a helmet, and 280 lbs of airtight insulated fabric and associated mechanisms.  Admittedly, a spacesuit weighs nothing in zero gravity, but it's still a restrictive and cumbersome barrier to easy movement.

That being said, they have to take those factors into account when designing the access points, fasteners, required tools and operating procedures for work on the surface of the ISS.  For example, I had no idea that the ISS was equipped with a system of safety bars to which the astronauts attached themselves with snap locks when working or moving from place to place - certainly a good idea, at least based on my recollection of countless science fiction stories where astronauts lose their tethers and come to a bad end.

 

After doing a handful of screen grabs, I finally closed the video window and returned to Earth, reminded, as Mr. Hadfield points out, that the impossible really is possible - a good lesson to take with me for the rest of the day.

- Sid

Great Quotes From Lunch.

I can't decide between the thunder and the storm.

KT, January 11, 2020

Admittedly, it's only about burger choices at the Storm Crow, but gosh, it certainly sounds epic.

- Sid

"It's a Christmas miracle!"

On Thursday, I joined Karli's family in celebrating her mother's birthday at Hy's Steak House. (Which I found to be an unexpected choice of venue, given that both Karli's mother and stepfather are vegetarians, but apparently they have some good options for the no-meat crowd.)

While we were waiting for our drinks to arrive, Karli's sister Lisa presented us with a surprise gift, which she had picked up at The Flame, a monthly storytelling series based around true personal stories that she had attended the day before.

To our surprise, it was a copy of the Epic Yarns version of A New Hope, which Karli had originally wanted to give me for Christmas, but had been unable to locate, and ended up substituting The Empire Strikes Back in its place.  It turned out that Lisa had attended The Authors Edition of The Flame, and Epic Yarns co-creator Holman Wang had been among the local authors who spoke that night.  Lisa, who was completely unaware that A New Hope had been on Karli's shopping list*, or that I had attended Holman's talk at the Vancouver Writers Fest*, spontaneously decided to buy us a copy of the first Star Wars book from Mr. Wang, thereby providing an unexpectedly happy postscript to the holiday season.

Now that I have the first two, I decided that it made sense to get the third book in the Epic Yarns series - after all, it's a trilogy - and just out of curiousity, checked on A New Hope while I was on Amazon.ca.  Not only was it out of stock, but third-party sellers had apparently decided that if Amazon™ didn't have it, they could charge as much as they wanted, with prices for new copies set at an oddly consistent $69.61.

 

Fortunately, Amazon™ did have the Wang brothers' take on The Return of the Jedi in stock, and I ordered a copy, thereby completing the set.  Oh, and other book sellers?  List price is $14.95 - just sayin'.

- Sid

* Sadly, it would appear that Lisa is not part of The Infinite Revolution's readership.

Hunting for Books: Fit the First

"For the Snark's a peculiar creature, that won't
Be caught in a commonplace way.
Do all that you know, and try all that you don't:
Not a chance must be wasted to-day!"

Lewis Caroll, The Hunting of the Snark

I started my hunt for replacement books on a rainy December 31st in downtown Victoria with a visit to Russell Books, a large new and used bookstore which had just recently moved to a new location on Fort Street.  I'd made a reasonable start on my book cataloguing project and part of the result was a list of almost a hundred timeworn books that I wanted to update with less damaged copies, some of which I hoped to find at Russell.

In my mind, I imagined toting an armful or two of books to the checkout, and had already mentally budgeted for a first installment of purchases, but to my mild surprise, I was only able to find two books out of my list of 95.  Feeling a bit disappointed, I didn't even buy those two texts, thinking that I would rather buy in bulk than take a piecemeal approach to the hunt.

My next stop was Bastion Books, a used book shop which specializes more in rare books, and has a substantially smaller science fiction and fantasy collection as a result.  In spite of which, I was able to find three or four of the books on my list, but their condition was only marginally better than the ones I was replacing.

However, although I hadn't made a start on listing my Ace Doubles yet, I selected one that I was certain was in better shape than the copy on my shelves, and spotted two that I was confident I didn't already own.  I also picked up a book by Lloyd Biggle Jr. - because why would you not want to buy a book by someone named Biggle?

The young woman on the checkout desk smiled when she saw my selections, and as she began to log their titles*, mentioned that she’d just watched a movie the night before in which the credits had been done with classic SF covers as backgrounds.

Realizing that my carry bag was not waterproof, I cautiously asked if she might have a plastic bag - a bit of a hot button question in Victoria, which banned single use plastic bags in 2018.  To my relief, she was able to dig out a small contraband bag that perfectly matched my purchases, and taped it closed as well - full points to Bastion for customer service.

In conversation while she was doing this, I mentioned my mostly unsuccessful quest and commented that I wasn’t looking for anything particularly esoteric, at least by my standards, and was surprised that I didn't see more matches for my well-worn existing copies.

She made a bit of a moue with her mouth and shrugged, then delivered the epitaph of the science fiction paperback.

"They really weren’t terribly well made in the first place.”

She suggested that I pay a visit to the Cavity Curiousity Shop, which she said had an excellent selection of science fiction, in spite of the fact that they don’t list themselves as a book store, which kept most casual shoppers from going there.

After a brief look at Google Maps™, I hopefully hiked the kilometer and a half to Cavity's location, only to discover that they were closed for the holiday season - although they certainly had an intriguing window display.  Thwarted on all fronts and wet to the knee, I trudged back to our borrowed apartment to seek solace in hot tea, a sausage roll, and dry jeans.

On paper, my day looked like a failure, but I have to say that in practise, I rather enjoyed it.  It gave direction to my shopping, took me to a couple of new locations, and made me really look at the books on display.  Apparently you can have a good day of fishing even if you don't get anything on the hook.

- Sid

* This is a thing that old school book shops traditionally do to record their sales.

"Let the final battle...begin."

"Taking one last look, sir, at my friends."  

C-3PO, The Rise of Skywalker 

"This will be the final word in the story of Skywalker."  

Emperor Palpatine, The Rise of Skywalker

When Karli and I invited her sister Stefanie to join us on Boxing Day to see The Rise of Skywalker, she initially wasn't sure if she wanted to attend or not, but finally decided to come, commenting that, "...the upside of the movie is participating in a cultural phenomenon".

And she's completely correct in her description, not only in the case of this movie, but for Star Wars in general.  Fond though I am of Star Trek, it doesn't have anything close to the extreme depth of cultural penetration that Star Wars has achieved.  One of the characters in the movie talks about finishing the fight that their parents started, and it's pretty much the same for the audience - Star Wars has become a multi-generational tradition that parents share with their children.

 

On our way to the movie, Karli asked me if I thought that she would enjoy the movie more than I would because she had no expectations about the ending.  When I thought about it, I realized that, surprisingly, neither did I.

Because, really, how do you end a story which spans over 40 years, a story that has ended each chapter with a monumental struggle between good and evil, between the dark and light sides of the Force? How do you pull all of the strands of the Skywalker family's story together to create an ending worthy of a saga like this?

The Rise of Skywalker certainly does its best to answer that question by providing an epic conclusion to an epic story, a conclusion which is monumental in scope and presentation, while offering appropriate codas for the character arcs of Rey, Po, Finn and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo - as with C-3PO's quote, this movie takes a last look at the characters in order to say goodbye to them.  It also ties the story's past into its present, as symbolized by brilliantly using the wreckage of the Death Star on the ocean moon of Kef Bir as a setting, and by placing the final scene of the movie on Tatooine, where it all began.

However, there are some odd turns on the path that the movie takes to reach that final scene.  The Rise of Skywalker is full of plot points that we should have found out about sooner - in fact, there were times when it felt a bit like I was learning things that really should have been in the second film:* the power of the Force to heal (which could have easily been introduced at the end of The Force Awakens when Finn is wounded); Leia's Jedi training; Po Dameron's background as a spice smuggler - odd that he managed to make it to the third film without any sort of back story;   Finn's unexpected connection to the Force;  the true nature of the power behind Snoke and the First Order; and, in spite of her experience in the caverns of Ahch-To in The Last Jedi, the critical - and unexpected - importance of Rey's parentage.*

 

There are also some less than perfect decisions in the script.  The character of Rose Tico, who is so beautifully introduced in The Last Jedi, is completely pushed aside,* C-3PO's "sacrifice" really isn't, it's just a mechanism for some jokes, the presence of a spy in the First Order is used once to allow for an easy escape and then tossed away without any further development, and the focus of the final battle seems to jump around for no reason  - not to mention the ongoing convenience of easily destroyed critical failure points for the bad guys.  Oh, and in traditional Disney style, a supporting character is apparently killed but then miraculously turns out to be alive, thereby allowing them to have their emotional cake and eat it too.

I also would have liked to see some kind of interaction between Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren, who finally make an appearance in this movie, rather than just have them be silent, faceless opponents.**

After the movie, as we were walking to the car, Stefanie asked if that was really the end of Star Wars.  Karli laughed and said, "It's made a lot of money, and Disney owns it - of course it's not the end."  And she's completely correct too - it's impossible to imagine Disney turning their back on a cash cow of this magnitude, as evidenced by The Mandalorian and the planned Obi-Wan Kenobi series for Disney +.

Really, though, this isn't about the end of Star Wars - as the Emperor points out, it's about the end of the Skywalker saga, and ultimately, the movie does signify that ending, while still leaving the door open for a new beginning.

Now that the saga is over, I'd like to be able to change one thing in the final trilogy:  the end of Luke's story.  It would have made me very happy to see him make his last stand in the final conflict with the Dark Side, thereby allowing a Skywalker to finally bring balance to the Force as was foretold all those years gone by.

 

But at least Chewbacca finally gets a medal - that only took 42 years.

- Sid

* Logically, this is what happens when you alternate writers in the creation of a trilogy:  it would be interesting to contrast a Rian Johnson script for the third movie with the J. J. Abrams/Chris Terrio version that's on screen.

**For that matter, why does Ben Solo change his name to Kylo Ren in the first place?  Did I miss something in a movie where that was explained?  I understand why he changes his name, obviously he wants to turn his back on his original life as Ben Solo, but why Kylo Ren?  If you're a Sith, you take the title of "Darth", which apparently means Dark Lord in whatever ancient tongue is native to the Sith, but everyone treats Kylo Ren as a name rather than a title.

Geekmas 2019: Unlimited.

In my posting on the geek-themed Christmas gifts that I received this year, I left out the best gift of all - and it's certainly a gift that will keep on giving, as cliché would have it.  My wonderful wife Karli was generous enough to purchase me a subscription to Marvel Unlimited, an online service from Marvel Comics that essentially opens the doors to the collected history of the company, with an ever-growing catalogue that currently contains over 25,000 comics.

We set up my Unlimited account on Christmas Day - there's an option for either monthly or annual subscriptions - and I instantly fell in love with it.  The quality is astonishing: the pages are in high resolution, and look incredible on my 27 inch 5K iMac display.  That being said, the web browser interface is a bit clumsy - it's much better to read the comics through Marvel's Unlimited iOS app.

Both the browser and the app offer the option of reading comics as the original full pages, or in Smartframe mode, which shows individual frames in full-screen animated transitions, a much better option for readers on smaller iPhone screens.  Subscribers also have the option of downloading comics for off-line reading.

I took a look at some of the older releases, and they're the same high quality as more recent digitally created issues.  Rather than scanning copies of the screened four-colour artwork, Marvel has apparently scanned black and white line art and digitally coloured it, and the results are incredible. 

The Unlimited service, which debuted in November of 2007, is obviously a work in progress. Because the list of available comics is so gigantic, I started out looking for things that I used to own, and there are selections from the back catalogue, such as the 1979 Micronauts series, or Ghost Rider 2099 from 1994, that don't appear on the list - or, perhaps more accurately, don't appear on the list YET.  This isn't a complaint:  it would be an epic undertaking to convert the complete Marvel archives, and the service has come a long way from its initial 2,500 comic book offering.

Unlimited also trails behind the newsstand editions by six months, which makes sense in terms of maintaining print sales.

For myself, I don't consider either one of those factors to be a problem.  Marvel Unlimited offers readers access to the full print runs of Marvel standards like the Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and all the rest of the Marvel universe.  And because it's all-inclusive, I've found myself reading comics that I would never have purchased as individual issues - simply because I can.

Overall, I would completely recommend Marvel Unlimited.  Merry Christmas, Karli, and thank you for such a wonderful gift - or is it more appropriate to call it marvel-lous?

-  Sid

Geekmas 2019: And A Partridge in a Pear Tree.

 

I have to say that I'm gratified by the degree to which people followed the suggestions from my Geekmas gift posting this year (with the obvious exception of my Secret Santa at work and my friend Chris, and I really can't complain about the results in either case). In fact, Karli has suggested that in the case of her family, the shopping process was based on screen grabs from the posting, which is probably why I didn't receive anything that didn't have an image in the post - because it would have been challenging to read the fine print under those conditions.

In practical terms, this means that I received a glow-in-the-dark Canadian Space Agency t-shirt (which does glow in the dark as advertised); Ruthanna Emrys' H. P. Lovecraft-inspired* novel Winter Tide; The Five Doctors, The Android Invasion, and The Sea Devils episodes of Doctor Who on DVD, and the Batman: White Knight graphic novel, which I've already found time to read - it's an intriguing take on the Batman - Joker relationship that turns things around several times in the process.

 

In addition, Karli broke away from the pack and picked up a copy of the Epic Yarns adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back,** by Jack and Holman Wang - which I've also already finished, but to be fair, at a total of twelve cleverly chosen words it's not a challenging read.

My thanks to all the parties who saw fit to indulge my interests once again this year - merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

-  Sid

* This originally said "Cthulhulian" but my internal copy editor has issues with that particular turn of phrase.

** She actually wanted to get me A New Hope, but they were out of stock.  This resulted in my receiving an enigmatic text asking which movie I liked better, The Empire Strike Back or The Return of the Jedi.  Fortunately I get this sort of text now and then, so it didn't spoil the surprise.

"Scary scary scary scary solstice!"

(To the music of "The Carol of the Bells") 
Look to the sky, way up on high 
There in the night stars are now right. 
Eons have passed: now then at last 
Prison walls break, Old Ones awake! 
They will return: mankind will learn 
New kinds of fear when they are here. 
They will reclaim all in their name; 
Hopes turn to black when they come back. 
Ignorant fools, mankind now rules 
Where they ruled then: it's theirs again 
Stars brightly burning, boiling and churning 
Bode a returning season of doom 
Scary scary scary scary solstice 
Very very very scary solstice. 

The Carol of the Olde Ones, The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society

My friend Chris got in touch with me about an exchange of seasonal gifts, so we met up this evening at a local pub.  Chris has an astonishing ability to select the unexpected when it comes to gifts, and this year was no exception, as he presented me (no pun intended) with a downloaded copy of An Abhorrent & Ancient Solstice, an album of H.P. Lovecraft-themed seasonal carols. The use of "seasonal" here isn't isn't political correctness -  with titles like Death to the World and Silent Night, Blasphemous Night, these are NOT Christmas songs.

I was a bit curious as to the origins of this unique gift, and after a bit of research, discovered that it had been produced by The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society.  The HPLHS was started in 1986 by a group of friends in Boulder, Colorado, and now has over 2,000 members worldwide. The group produces a wide variety of H. P. Lovecraft-themed material, including props, fonts, and, of course, music.

 

If this album is an example of their work, they have high standards - the production values are professional, the vocals are excellent, and the lyrics are quite well written.  It's so good that it's a bit subversive - it would be very tempting to replace the standard shopping mall muzak with this album and see if anyone was actually listening to the lyrics.  All in all, a great unique gift, and, in its own way, completely appropriate for the season - thanks, Chris, and I hope you have a very scary Solstice.

-  Sid

Resolute.

I was doing some seasonal shopping on Main Street last Saturday, and decided to take a bit of a break and pay a visit to Pulp Fiction, an excellent book store that features a wide selection of both new and used books.

I wandered back and forth along the shelves of the science fiction and fantasy section, morosely straightening books as I went*, and after half an hour, I left empty-handed and a bit depressed.  Why?  Because I didn’t know which books I didn’t already own.

So, as an early New Year’s resolution, my plan for 2020 is to catalogue my library.

 

Given that I have thousands of books, this seems like a ridiculous undertaking – how bad is your OCD if you need to record the names of all your books, for heaven’s sake?

However, this isn’t about being compulsive, it’s about management. I’ve crossed some kind of threshold where I am unable to keep track of everything that I own, and as a result, what I want to buy.  I have a pretty good feel for the majority of my collection, but if someone asked me if I wanted a copy of the Ace Double edition of Planetary Agent X by Mack Reynolds, backed by Kenneth Bulmer’s Behold The Stars, I’d be a bit stuck. I own about 60 Ace Doubles, and whereas I can recognize most of them on sight, some of them I just don’t know offhand,** and those are exactly the kind of lesser-known niche purchases that I’m interested in these days.

The other side of this coin is the books that are so well known and familiar that I don’t think I own them:  this is why I ended up with two copies of Fahrenheit 451, and I actually don’t know whether or not I have paper copies of Brave New World and 1984.

I’ll also be creating a secondary list as I go: replacements. My collection has its origins in used bookstore basements, library discard boxes, dollar bins and yard sales, and as such some of my older books were more than a bit battered when I got them, not to mention the cumulative effects of time and handling – although at least I’m past the point of owning any books that are held together with elastic bands. (I think.)

There was a nice copy of Pat Frank’s cautionary post-atomic 1959 novel Alas Babylon at Pulp Fiction, and I know that I’m due to replace my Scholastic Books edition from 1970 (although, really, I’d love to get a matching copy, not just because I like to do that, but because it seems such an unexpected choice for Scholastic’s pre-teen library).

I also took a thoughtful look at some of the options for replacing my early Ace editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the ones with the Roy Krenkel Jr. covers and interior illustrations, with matching copies that are in better shape – but which ones?  Age isn’t the only factor, of course - I can’t imagine getting rid of my autographed copy of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, regardless of wear and tear.  (Fortunately I have a hardcover copy as well.)

And that’s the last reason for my resolution: duplicates.  In some cases, such as the one above, there are actually good reasons for owning two copies, but in others, it’s simply because I didn’t remember that I already owned that book - which takes us back to where we started.

Behind all of this looms the unthinkable possibility of actually getting rid of books that aren’t damaged or duplicates, but rather just ones that I don’t need to keep. Obviously this goes against the grain, but let’s be honest, there has to be a book or two in there that I shrugged indifferently after reading, but shelved regardless.

Oh, and I’d also like to start off 2020 by losing ten pounds, but by comparison, that seems like a much easier undertaking.  Regardless, let’s hope that both of my resolutions come to pass in the coming year.

-  Sid

* Sorry, but if someone has left a book sticking out from its fellows, decades of book ownership compel me to push it back into place.

** I carefully chose this example from an online list of Ace Doubles, and having done so, I had to get up and look to see if I do have it. As it turns out, I don't, but in the process of looking, I found three Ace Doubles that were duplicates - and so it begins...

 

"I find your lack of pivot tables...disturbing."

Another workplace Christmas potluck has come and gone, and once again, my Secret Santa has chosen to go rogue and ignore the suggestions from this year's Geekmas posting.  However, full points for staying within my area of interest, and I always like an unexpected gift - not to mention that I actually now have a collection of head-shaped mugs to which I can add this sterling example of Art Vader.

The down side is that, realistically, head-shaped mugs aren't terribly practical for actual daily use, due to the challenges of keeping their convoluted interiors clean.  (Note to mug manufacturers - I know it would involve more clay, but maybe if the inside was cylindrical?)

Regardless of practicality, let's take a step back and look at the workplace potential for a mug like this.  After all, as graphically demonstrated in A New Hope, Anakin Skywalker sets a high standard for staff etiquette - not that I'm suggested Force choking anyone during the annual budget meeting*, but maybe having Darth Vader glowering at the person across the table would have a salutary effect on their delivery.

- Sid

* Come on, admit it, you've thought about it.

UPDATE: my wife has cheerfully suggested that as different people speak during the meeting, you just rotate the mug so that Darth is looking directly at them. As previously, this is how you know you've found the right person.

Apparently the answer is 24.

Pulp Fiction, Main Street, Saturday afternoon.  Okay:  no question, Dune is certainly one of the great science fiction novels, but really, how many copies do you need to have in active inventory?

- Sid