60: Premium.

On the way back to the ferry from our Ucluelet holiday, Karli requested that we make a stop in the small community of Coombs to visit the Coombs Old Country Market, whose rooftop herd of goats and wide-ranging retail selection make it a perennial tourist favourite.

As we wandered around after visiting the Market (and photographing the goats, I can add a photo if anyone's interested), we stumbled across the Cozy Corner Bookstore, a large used bookstore in the nearby mall area - large enough that, like the Market, it must rely heavily on tourist traffic rather than just the local community.

Unfortunately, as with Raven's Book Shop near Joshua Tree National Park, the Cozy Corner looked like it was losing the fight - boxes stacked in the aisles, books double-stacked on the shelves, and a general feeling of too many books and not enough time.

There's no denying that the Cozy Corner has a comprehensive inventory, but there's also no denying that it's not set up in a fashion that makes it convenient for the casual shopper.  I did manage to find some selections from my shopping list, along with a few new acquisitions, but it involved a lot of book juggling in order to get a look at everything.

My replacement books included a beautiful mint paperback edition of Bug Jack Barron, Norman Spinrad's brilliant 1969 masterpiece - I honestly don't know why Bug Jack Barron isn't better known than it is, it's beautifully written and the story remains topical and relevant 33 years later.*  I also found an excellent copy of Terry Carr's Jandar of Callisto, the first in a series of enthusiastically overwritten pastiches that pay homage to the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars novels, and a good quality version of Pat Cadigan's Synners, a dynamic novel which is generally classified as cyberpunk but really doesn't fit the mould. I've always found it more like a Philip K. Dick novel than anything else, although it's much more accessible than Dick.

Just for fun, I added The Guns of Terra 10, by Don Pendleton, to my stack of books - Pendleton is best known for the 70s Executioner series that "inspired" the Marvel Comics Punisher character. In this case, it wasn't a replacement copy, but rather based on a vague memory of signing it out from the high school library in my early teens. I honestly don't think I've seen a copy since then, and I have a good memory for books.

As I was paying for my books, I mentioned to the proprietor that I had a substantial list of replacement books that I was working on, but I didn't really have the time to take full advantage of his stock.

He gestured to the area behind me and announced, "See those boxes?  They're all SF and fantasy. Come back in a week after we've got them sorted out and shelved." I looked over my shoulder and was astonished to see a wall of Dole Banana boxes, presumably packed with paperbacks rather than fruit. 

With absolutely no offense intended, I couldn't help but think that adding 27 additional boxes of books to the Cozy Corner's stock would only exacerbate the embarrassment of riches that the store is already struggling with. In fact, the whole idea is maybe a little bit (slowly removes sunglasses)...bananas.

- Sid

* Unfortunately so, given the nature of the plot.

60: "One Ring to rule them all, one ring to find them."

Today we decided to go for a hike along the relatively manageable Ucluelet Lighthouse Trail located to the west of the town, and there was this little hiding place under some rocks and tree stumps that seemed terribly, terribly familiar...

- Sid

60: The needs of the one.

As tends to be the standard for my birthday, I received a variety of science fiction and geek related digital birthday greetings this year. (Thanks for the Doctor Who TARDIS card, Christi!)  To my surprise, the best genre birthday salutation actually came from my departmental VP, John Beckett, on the e-card from my workplace.

 In case you’re unaware of the provenance of this statement, it’s derived from the dramatic climax to the 1982 Star Trek movie The Wrath of Khan, the second featuring the original series cast, in which Spock sacrifices his life to save the Enterprise.* 

Spock: Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh...
Kirk: ...the needs of the few...
Spock: ...or the one. I never took the Kobayashi Maru test until now. What do you think of my solution? 

I've worked with John for almost 12 years, and during that time he's demonstrated about the normal level of geek knowledge (if that's not a contradiction in terms), and this was such an appropriate and clever birthday greeting for a science fiction fan that I actually wondered if John had asked for professional assistance** in crafting it.  

Regardless, I sent John a note congratulating him on what I consider to be THE BEST slightly obscure but perfectly phrased science fiction movie reference birthday greeting that I have ever received in my life, and he brilliantly doubled down with a simple reply:

“Thanks, Obi-Wan.”

- Sid

* I realize this is a spoiler, but honestly, The Wrath of Khan was released almost 40 years ago, I think that’s outside the statute of limitations on spoilers.

** Or asked Google™ - same thing.