Four Day Geekend 2022: Conclusion.

My last shopping stop for the 2022 Toronto trip is Bakka-Phoenix Books, which will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. I didn't notice that there was still a used book section in my last trip, so I'm hoping to spend a bit of time there and find some of the more obscure replacements for my collection, as per the ongoing (and apparently never-ending) book cataloguing project. 

Unfortunately, the store's been closed over the Easter weekend, my flight home leaves at 4:00 PM, and they don't open their doors until 11:00 in the morning.  It shouldn't be a problem, I just need to keep an eye on the clock and make sure that I have enough time to grab my luggage from hotel storage and get down to the Union Pearson Express train at Union Station for the 1:00 PM departure at the latest.

I'm confident enough that I don't camp on the doorstep - as I mentioned in my Silver Snail posting, that makes you look a bit overeager - but I'm there within ten minutes of opening.

I've done some pre-shopping research, so I stop at the New Releases display to get a copy of Escape from Yokai Land by Charles Stross, in hardcover at $26.99.  Not a crazy price for hardcover, really, and it's part of Stross' excellent H.P Lovecraft-meets-John le Carré Laundry series, which I've quite enjoyed and is overdue for a new book in the Bob Howard narrative. At least, it's not a crazy price until you get to the store and discover that it's only 96 pages.  I take a hard pass and head downstairs to look at the used book offerings.

The lower area is a bit industrial, rather like visiting someone's partially finished rec room.  Based on the setup, it's being used for signings and other public events in addition to housing the used books and TV/movie franchise material.  Having enough space for group events is a smart addition, things used to be quite cramped at the original Queen Street location - maybe I won't recommend that they move back after all.

I'm a bit surprised to find that even Canada's best known science fiction bookstore doesn't have a comprehensive catalogue of used books, at least by my standards - in fact, I don't see anything on the downstairs bookshelves that's of interest.  

However, I don't leave empty-handed, although I'm a bit concerned about loading too much more into my carry-on luggage.  I pick up A Practical Guide to Conquering the World, the third novel in K. J. Parker's entertaining fantasy series in trade paperback, and a signed copy of Memory's Legion, the postscript to the Expanse series that collects all the short stories and novellas that act as grace notes to the main storyline.  In addition to it being signed, at least at 432 pages for $35.00 I feel more like I'm getting my money's worth out of the purchase.

Coda:

I pay for the books, charge out the door and up to the Spadina subway stop, switch to Yonge, jump off at Dundas and collect my luggage, jump back on, and it's straight down to Union.  It's a bit of a hike from the subway exit to the Pearson platform, but I still make the 12:30 train.  It conveniently stops at my terminal, NEXUS gets me through security in short order, and I'm at the gate with lots of time to spare.  Good to see that I've kept my skills through two years of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

- Sid

Four Day Geekend 2022: Space Cadet!

Space Academy, USA, in the world beyond tomorrow. Here the Space Cadets train for duty on distant planets. In roaring rockets, they blast through the millions of miles from Earth to far-flung stars and brave the dangers of cosmic frontiers protecting the liberties of the planets, safeguarding the cause of universal peace in the age of the conquest of space!

Introduction: Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

As part of my last trip to Toronto, I did a chilly February tour of bookstores that left me just a little too overextended to visit the BMV Books outlet that I passed on my way back to the hotel at the end of my day. This time I plan to start with BMV - albeit not the same one - and see where I end up.

I have a choice of locations to visit because BMV has three outlets in Toronto, which is a strong indicator of a more than successful used bookstore - I've always felt that most used bookstores are constantly one step away from having to hock the family silverware to keep the doors open.  However, BMV is not just about books, their mandate includes magazines, comic books, DVDs, CDs and vinyl albums, and similar vintage media. The downtown location is a convenient couple of blocks from my hotel, so I start there.

I find a few books of interest in their science fiction section, including a couple of replacement texts for my collection, but I'm not overwhelmed by the selection - which happens, I do have a large library to compare against, and this wouldn't be the first used bookstore that has had fewer genre books than I do.  With a bit of a mental shrug, I decide to do a walk around the store just out of curiousity to see what else they have on display.

At the back of the store is a solitary bookshelf of what appears to be selection of older and more collectable books, where I'm intrigued to see a trio of Tom Corbett: Space Cadet novelizations with printed case wrap covers, like a Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew book.* They're not in perfect condition, there's some minor scuffing and wear at the top and bottom of the spines, but other than that they're in excellent shape, and if they're original copies from the 1950s I would consider them to be a bit of a find.

However, they could easily be reprints, so I spend the next fifteen minutes burning some of my cellular data allowance trying to nail down the printing history of Tom Corbett adaptations, without finding anything definitive.  I finally decide to have some faith in the flyleaf publication info, and buy all three for a total cost of about $35.00 - which, sadly, would probably not quite buy me a single new hardcover at the current market rates.

Although Tom Corbett, Space Cadet has dropped off the cultural radar over the years since it first appeared on the airwaves in 1950, it was in many ways the Star Trek of its era, both in terms of popularity and spin-off marketing. 

The term "Space Cadet" originate with the 1948 novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein, one of the dozen** juvenile/young adult SF novels that he wrote for the Scribner's publishing house after WWII.  Space Cadet moves the Horatio Hornblower concept into the future:  young Matt Dodson becomes a cadet in the Interplanetary Patrol, makes new friends and foes at the training academy, then undergoes challenges and perils while serving on a Patrol ship with his fellow graduates. 

Although an early version of Tom Corbett had been in unsuccessful development as a radio play and daily comic strip using the name Tom Ranger, Heinlein's novel inspired creator Joseph Greene to change the character's name (and title) and relaunch it in 1950 as a TV series starring Frankie Thomas in the titular role of Tom Corbett.***  It was an instant hit, and spawned a wide selection of merchandise: toys, books, a daily newspaper comic strip, comic books, and finally, in 1952, the radio version that was the concept’s origin, using the same cast as the television show.

Eight Tom Corbett novelizations were published between 1952 and 1956, and I’ve purchased the first three: Stand By For Mars, Danger in Deep Space, and On the Trail of the Space Pirates.  My copies of Danger in Deep Space and On the Trail of the Space Pirates are from additional print runs in 1953, but the first book, Stand By For Mars, appears to be a first edition from 1952. (Pro tip: if a book lists all the novels in a series, including the ones that come after it, it’s not a first printing.)

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction web site confirms that the Grosset and Dunlap editions of the Tom Corbett hardcovers were only printed in the 1950s, so the oldest of my acquisitions is in fact 70 years old, and all three are in pretty good shape for their age.  I’m pleased to have found them, it’s like discovering a little piece of science fiction history – although it’s a little sad that being a space cadet is no longer something to be proud of.

- Sid

* Apparently this is not the obvious description that I think it is - my friend Colin, aka Cloin of the Campbell Brothers, said that he has never seen a Hardy Boys book, which I find to be surprising.  It's less surprising that he's never heard of Tom Corbett.

** The thirteenth novel was Starship Troopers, which was rejected by Scribner's.  You can probably make a case for Heinlein's 1963 novel Podkayne of Mars being a YA novel, but apparently Heinlein didn't consider it to be one of his juvenile works.  Come to think of it, I don't own a copy of Podkayne of Mars, I originally read my mother's copy many years ago and haven't seen it since.

*** For anyone in search of extra credit,  you can watch a couple of episodes of the show on YouTube™:

Assignment Mercury
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uOeGK6zuiE 

Mystery of the Missing Mail Ship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6E3_A2A7uY

Four Day Geekend 2022: Is The Snail Slowing Down?

Every time I visit Toronto, I’m surprised by the degree to which Queen Street has remained fundamentally unchanged over the decades. It’s gotten a bit gentrified in terms of its shopping options, and a couple of tall buildings have crept in, but it’s still very much the two and three story street that I first encountered in the 1970s.  The old Silver Snail location near Spadina is still a vacant lot – surprising that prime real estate on a central Toronto thoroughfare could remain undeveloped for so long. 

I walk on past the empty spot, and eventually arrive at the new location, about halfway between Bathurst and Ossington. I’m a bit early for their Good Friday hours, so I take advantage of the lack of walk-in traffic to take a picture or two of the storefront. The current branding is substantially different from the slick presentation of years gone by – more cartoon, less comic book.  

Waiting on the doorstep for the door to be unlocked is a bit of a fanboy thing, so I decide to do a lap around the block instead. When I get back, the store is open, and I head inside. 

I’m a bit surprised to see that the new Silver Snail footprint is considerably smaller than their previous location – logic says that moving to a location on Queen West West* would have let them at least match the square footage of a Yonge Street address. The front counter is just a stand with an iPad on it, the number of used comics bins seems much reduced, and the range of action figures and other toys seems to be a bit crammed in and cut back. It also appears that their coffee shop has fallen by the wayside.** However, there’s still a comprehensive selection of graphic novels and specialty publications on display, and the new comic racks are in good shape.

I would never leave the Snail without buying something, but my online subscriptions to DC Infinite and Marvel Unlimited are taking care of all my comic book reading needs - which may go a long way toward explaining their reduced footprint. It’s possible that online reading may be starting to push out paper-based purchasing, although I’d expect that collectors would still want the real thing. 

As I browse the store for alternatives, I'm a little tempted by the Jack Kirby Fourth World**** boxed set - after I see the price tag, not $180 tempted, but tempted nonetheless. Price aside, it probably weighs more than all my carry-on luggage together, so it’s with only minor regret that I keep looking.

I finally settle on an action figure: a McFarlane Toys Sister of Battle from the Warhammer 40K universe, to compliment the Space Marine that I purchased last year.  It will take up some of the empty space in my luggage, but certainly not as much as the Kirby collection.

As I head back to my hotel, I notice that the original Bakka Books location at 282 Queen West is vacant. I suspect the prohibitive rent situation that pushed them out is still in place, but it would please my sense of balance to have them move back to Queen Street as well. Well, I’m headed to their current Harbord Street home on Monday, if I see anyone I know perhaps I’ll suggest it to them and see how it goes over.

- Sid

 

* Not a typo - Queen West West is a thing.

** Some follow-up research indicated that the Black Canary Coffee Shop has unexpectedly gone solo and set up shop over on the other side of Yonge Street at Sherbourne and Adelaide.  Hmm, maybe they should change the name to Nightwing.**

***Batman joke.  Well, Robin joke, really.

**** It’s funny - when Kirby originally introduced the Fourth World in 1971 with the publication of Mister Miracle, The New Gods, and The Forever People, even his stellar reputation in the comic book industry wasn’t enough to sustain sales of the comics. But over the years since then, Darkseid, brutal ruler of fiery Apokolips and grim master of the Anti-Life Equation in the Fourth World, has become the de facto main villain of the DC Universe. Trust Kirby to recognize the need for an ultimate evil to balance out all the good guys.