#death of a bookseller

[highsummonertemptress]

Books about bookshops and booksellers 📚

[blogmollylane]

Currently reading: Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slate

[sunscreenstudies]

June Reads

Can you tell which was my favourite?

-> my bookstagram

[aliteratewolf]

Death of a Bookseller

Death of a Bookseller

Alice Slater

Rating: 4.0

Ohhh boy this one was tough. As someone who listens to her fair share of true crime podcasts, this book made me look at myself and how I engage with that kind of content, something that I think was part of the goal of this book. This dual narrator set up gives two vastly different perspectives of the true crime phenomenon that has taken over the podcast world and has an entire channel devoted to shows just about various true crime mysteries, shocking stories, and cautionary tales.

The first point of view we are introduced to is Roach. (It’s her last name) She’s spent her entire life thriving as the dark emo kid we all remember dipping our toes into being in our teen years, however she dived head first and never surfaced. She listens to true crime podcasts, calls the other fans of said show ‘normies’, watches true crime documentaries, and fantasizes about serial killers. She’s intrusive of other people’s experiences and asks questions that make others uncomfortable to watch them squirm. She doesn’t like most other people so of course, she has a job in retail customer service. Roach doesn’t seem to thrive in any of her environments but instead complains about each aspect of her life from her home life, her job and later in the book her boyfriend.

The other point of view is Laura. She is also closely tied to the true crime world but as a reluctant victim rather than a spectator, something she discusses only when she’s had enough alcohol to lower her inhibitions. And by ‘discuss’ I mean she’ll drop the bomb that her mother was killed by a serial killer, then answer no questions about it. It feels like in those drunken moments she wants to get the truth out, but is still unwilling to talk about it further. Laura hates the spectacle that has become true crime and protests by writing her own poetry that highlights the women and their mundane lives before everything changed.

Both of these things fuels Roach into thinking that she and Laura connect in their passion for True Crime, and won’t stop pursuing said ‘connection’ until Laura agrees and hangs out with her. However Roach’s approach to her love of true crime is the exact kind that Laura is against, and each time Roach tries to befriend the other woman, it just turns Laura more off. 

Laura seems to get the ‘ick’ from Roach right from the get go, and her prejudice against the other woman eventually turns Roach off, but not in a way that makes her leave things alone. Instead Roach becomes obsessed with showing Laura that they aren’t that different, and that if given the chance the two women would be friends. As the novel goes on her actions become more stalker than awkward attempts at friendship. If Laura knew half of the things Roach does, legal action would’ve been taken. As it stands Laura just thinks Roach is an annoying nuisance that she just has to avoid.

While reading this book, it made me think about what True Crime as a genre has become in the 21st century. It made me think of how some have moved on from studying serial killers to straight up idolizing them. Podcasts and vlogs have come up with cute nicknames for murderers and their actions while monetizing off of telling the victims stories, sometimes while cracking jokes in-between sentences. 

It made me wonder, ‘Is there an ethical way to consume true crime media?’ And right now my answer is, I don’t know. Humanity has always been drawn to the macabre and dark stories, true crime is not the first of this phenomenon. Though maybe it’s one we’ve started to take too lightly. Maybe it’s time to take a step back and look at how we as a culture consume this type of media. 

Alice Slater does a good job of showing off two different extreme approaches to true crime. Between Roach’s ‘gun-ho-writes-to-the-killer-fantasizes-about-crime-scenes’ approach and Laura’s ‘this-media-shouldn’t-exist-at-the-expense-of-the-victims’, can there be such a middle ground? Or are we doomed to be at crossroads the entire way?

[tinkerty-tonk-i-said]

Want to read a bitchy review of a book I mostly enjoyed reading but have huge issues with? Of course you do. Enjoy my thoughts on Death of a Bookseller...

[beckysbook5]

Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater - Book Review!

Today on my blog I have a review for 'Death of a Bookseller' by Alice Slater. I buddy read this with @LiteracyBatman & we were both disappointed by the execution! #BookReview

Roach – bookseller, loner and true crime obsessive – is not interested in making friends. She has all the company she needs in her serial killer books, murder podcasts and her pet snail, Bleep. That is, until Laura joins the bookshop. Smelling of roses, with her cute literary tote bags and beautiful poetry, she’s everyone’s new favourite bookseller. But beneath the shiny veneer, Roach senses a…

[fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic]

Good Omens Fic Rec: A Little Life

When Professor of Botany Anthony Crowley met bookshop owner Ezra Fell one November afternoon both knew their lives had irrevocably changed. From that moment forward, Anthony and Ezra’s existence was intertwined. Their story was written in the moments and memories they created as they moved through life’s chapters of coming together, building a family and facing the challenges of being human. This is a story of unconditional love and the joy and humour, obstacles and grief that inevitably come with choosing the same person, day after day, over and over and over again.

Length: 71,624 words

AO3 Rating: Explicit/ Spice Level 🔥

Best for: Safe in Public, At Home, Romance, Angst

Triggers: Main Character Deaths, Memory Loss, Grief

Read it here, fic by GaiasEyes

*Minor Spoilers* There are so many fics that I have loved throughout my time in fan spaces, but there's a select few that have stayed with me for years. I expect this one to be added to that selection. I will always remember what this fic helped me process and feel about my own bottled up grief, and I will always remember how," grief is just the other side of love."

We start with Ezra and Anthony's first date, they have such a charm and charisma in this story. Their chemistry is electric, as it always is, but in a quiet real life way. We grow with them as they build their home and family together. Tracy and Anathema becoming the mother and sister they never had, and their little bundle of joy Adam. Moments and vignettes of their life rush past, slipping through our fingers, each with a longing to stay in that moment. But the clock is ticking down. We are also introduced to one of my favorite characters in this story, Evelyn. She will become Adam's wife, and she was such a beautiful and strong addition to this story. It can be tricky with OC's but consistently her interactions with Anthony and the family were my favorite moments. Then finally, we will bear witness as Anthony's memory and life start to fade. It's the unbearable inevitability of death that we march towards. I wanted to plead with the story to give them more time, it's not fair, don't you see how much they love each other and their family? But life is not fair, and we only have so much time here. It's horrible, it's beautiful.

This story won't be for everyone, please read the tags on it, this is an emotionally charged work. But the one thing I want to make absolutely clear is: this is not angst for angst sake. This is not trying to hurt you, and it's not trying to make you cry. This is above all a human story, and we will all experience grief and loss in our lives. So if you can manage it, even if it might be difficult for you, I really would love you to try this story. If you don't read because you're scared of the grief, you will miss out on the most wonderful romance! The fullest and happiest life. A story of devotion and care, how love is choosing to be there day after day, through the good and hard times. There are so many moments of joy and passion that I want to bottle up and live inside. I will never tire of their love story. While I would classify this as "safe in public" this really should be a distraction free read for you. Somewhere safe and quiet so that you can process this wonderful story.

Read it here, fic by GaiasEyes

A couple more thoughts/spoilers, and personal musings on grief below

So personal note, I was with my grandpa, my Pa, on his final day of life. This fic really healed something in me, it saw me, and knew how I felt as my Pa's breaths slowed, how he was no longer in his body. He was similar in age to Anthony. We should have had more time with him, he hadn't made it to his 70's. Grief is awful, wretched, and unbearable. But it's also love, and the memories of our loved ones don't leave us.

There's just so much I loved about this story, and I'm so grateful to have been able to experience it. I really especially have to commend it for how it shows us multiple angles and experiences of grief. How each of them handle it in their own ways. The support groups were some of the most affecting chapters for me. It was often when I would start crying. Because it was giving the characters and us the space to feel our grief and ask for help dealing with it. I didn't want to spoil in the main post, but losing Ezra as well was an absolute gut punch and I did need a second to process that one. I feel like I should have seen that coming, and part of me would have liked a version where we did get to see him heal and find new purpose in life, but he was so tired. He deserves to rest. I think it will be awhile before I can reread this story, but again, I'm so grateful for the experience.

[ultimate-anime-tournament]

Ultimate Anime Tournament: Round 2, Matchup 34

[koifishanonymous]

ok but what if after aziraphale gets to heaven, the metatron can't manage to get him to do what he wants so he literally shoves him out of heaven and aziraphale becomes temporarily Fallen and has no access to jesus to stop the 2nd coming and THAT'S what season 2 is about

[book--brackets]

Ohhh me too me too me too

I love you, op.

That being said, could you add the works below to the list, please ? :

The Supernaturalist (Eoin Colfer)

Skylark (Meagan Spooner)

The Once and Future King (T.H. White)

Once & Future (Kieron Gillen)

The Checquy Files (Daniel O'Malley)

Circe (Madeline Miller)

Monk & Robot (Becky Chambers)

Legacy of Orisha (Tomi Adeyemi)

Villains (V.E. Schwab)

Falling Kingdoms (Morgan Rhodes)

Chivalry (Neil Gaiman)

The Sleeper and the Spindle (Neil Gaiman)

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr (Ram V)

The Unwritten (Mike Carey)

The Left-Handed Book Sellers of London (Garth Nyx)

Die (Kieron Gillen)

The Wicked + the Divine (Kieron Gillen)

I added most of these, but like some other Neil Gaiman titles, Chivalry and The Sleeper and the Spindle are short stories, not technically novels (even in graphic format)

[ded-and-gonne]

Courtesy Rob’s IG

[aquitainequeen]

Sent this to a friend who used to be a bookseller. She was most amused.

[trashland-llamas]

July Wrap Up

The Science of Fashion [2.0 stars]

Why are there qr codes in a book? Either write out the information or cut it from the book. If you need to include a website, you can just put ‘can find out more at [insert link]’ Otherwise book was fine.

Asgardians; Odin [2.25 stars] Olympians; Zeus [2.5 stars] Death Note Vol 7 [2.5 stars]

After chapter 58, I found it to be a slog. Just cause they're suddenly introducing new characters that are dubbed to be L's proteges and nothing else. Except that they're tasked with solving the Kira case as they're characters Light wouldn't have known about. Plus one of them is very much a copy and paste version of L while the other has mafia ties. I will wait till the next volume to cement this judgement as neither have had much screen time. Feel it'd be too soon.

Edit; Nvm, I saw a tiktok where someone had the same thoughts & a bunch of the folks in the comments agreed w/ the sentiment. Ik the actual ending is probably more satisfying seeing as it’s quite literally Light’s downfall. But I genuinely don’t care about who wins. It’s was more the tit for tat that L & Light had going on. Right now, it feels as if they’re about to unnecessarily drag it out. So yea, to me, the series ends w/ chpt. 58 or episode 25.

Soichi - Junji Ito [3.0 stars] Skull-faced Bookseller Honda-San Vol 4 [3.25 stars]

Author wasn’t kidding when they said this was promotional material for volume 3 + the anime. That said, was still enjoyable to read as I had extremely low expectations for this vol, having heard someone say it was akin to a fanfic. Not that fan fiction is overall bad, it’s not, but that’s not what I wanted as the end to this series.

Queen's Quality Vol 1 [3.5 stars] These Are The Words - Nikita Gill [3.75 stars]

There’s actually a structure to it which is a rarity I’ve found, at least from the poetry books I’ve read so far; its structured into 4 segments after the seasons & then each chapter is about a specific topic (womanhood, love, family)

Each section starts with a horoscope which I definitely looked forward to. Cause they make mini stories of themselves.

It uses simple language but I think it’s really impactful & makes the poems more generalizable. Which works for this collection as the goal was ‘hey, hopefully this has something you’ve been needing to hear.’

There is an overuse of nods to the moon in terms of metaphors and similes imo

Would recommend if you’re just entering adulthood or are in a transition period in life. That or if you’re wanting to read something hopeful

Demon Slayer Vol 19 [3.75 stars] Like a Butterfly Vol 2 [4.0 stars] Devil's Candy Vol 1 [4.0 stars] Demon Slayer Vol 18 [5.0 stars]

Fav moment would be Kanao stitching up Inosuke and him pinky promising not to take out the stitches himself + the anger she feels at her sisters’ deaths + Giyuu protecting Tanjiro when he faints during the fight w/ Akaza. (Keep confusing Akaza & Douma for each other, name wise. Cause they do have distinct enough looks)

That and all the backstories shown for the upper 12 are very heartfelt in that they add humanity to characters that don't really have that much screen time outside of these final fights. Like we get glimpses of them sprinkled earlier in the series. If anything, it emphasizes how Muzan prayed on all of them during an extreme low point and does make me feel sympathy for them. Which is especially poigant as the series is coming to a close. Like it makes me hate Muzan a lot more than I originally did.

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich [5.0 stars]

[sadnessiscoldtea]

Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater

Synopsise Roach would rather be listening to the latest episode of her favorite true crime podcast than assisting the boring and predictable customers at her local branch of the bookstore Spines, where she’s worked her entire adult life. A serious true crime junkie, Roach looks down her nose at the pumpkin-spice-latte-drinking casual fans who only became interested in the genre once it got…

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater

Author: Alice SlaterPublisher: ScarletReleased: April 25, 2023Received: Own (Aardvark) Sign up for Aardvark | More Aardvark Reviews Book Summary: Roach loves nothing more than listening to her favorite true crime podcasts. Well, that’s not quite true. She loves to dive into true crime novels, too – especially those revolving around serial killers. She’s fascinated. Luckily, her job at Spines…

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Oooh! A great Gavin Finney (Good Omens Director of Photography) interview with Helen Parkinson for the British Cinematographer! :)

HEAVEN SENT

Gifted a vast creative landscape from two of fantasy’s foremost authors to play with, Gavin Finney BSC reveals how he crafted the otherworldly visuals for Good Omens 2.  

It started with a letter from beyond the grave. Following fantasy maestro Sir Terry Pratchett’s untimely death in 2015, Neil Gaiman decided he wouldn’t adapt their co-authored 1990 novel, Good Omens, without his collaborator. That was, until he was presented with a posthumous missive from Pratchett asking him to do just that.  

For Gaiman, it was a request that proved impossible to decline: he brought Good Omens season one to the screen in 2019, a careful homage to its source material. His writing, complemented by some inspired casting – David Tennant plays the irrepressible demon Crowley, alongside Michael Sheen as angel-slash-bookseller Aziraphale – and award-nominated visuals from Gavin Finney BSC, proved a potent combination for Prime Video viewers.  

Aziraphale’s bookshop was a set design triumph.

Season two departs from the faithful literary adaptation of its predecessor, instead imagining what comes next for Crowley and Aziraphale. Its storyline is built off a conversation that Pratchett and Gaiman shared during a jetlagged stay in Seattle for the 1989 World Fantasy Convention. Gaiman remembers: “The idea was always that we would tell the story that Terry and I came up with in 1989 in Seattle, but that we would do that in our own time and in our own way. So, once Good Omens (S1) was done, all I knew was that I really, really wanted to tell the rest of the story.” 

Telling that story visually may sound daunting, but cinematographer Finney is no stranger to the wonderfully idiosyncratic world of Pratchett and co. As well as lensing Good Omens’ first outing, he’s also shot three other Pratchett stories – TV mini series  Hogfather  (2006), and TV mini-series The Colour of Magic (2008) and Going Postal (2010). 

He relishes how the authors provide a vast creative landscape for him to riff off. “The great thing about Pratchett and Gaiman is that there’s no limit to what you can do creatively – everything is up for grabs,” he muses. “When we did the first Pratchett films and the first Good Omens, you couldn’t start by saying, ‘Okay, what should this look like?’, because nothing looks like Pratchett’s world. So, you’re starting from scratch, with no references, and that starting point can be anything you want it to be.”  

Season two saw the introduction of inside-outside sets for key locations including Aziraphale’s bookshop. 

From start to finish 

The sole DP on the six-episode season, Finney was pleased to team up again with returning director Douglas Mackinnon for the “immensely complicated” shoot, and the pair began eight weeks of prep in summer 2021. A big change was the production shifting the main soho set from Bovington airfield, near London, up to Edinburgh’s Pyramids Studio. Much of the action in Good Omens takes place on the Soho street that’s home to Aziraphale’s bookshop, which was built as an exterior set on the former airfield for season one. Season two, however, saw the introduction of inside-outside sets for key locations including the bookshop, record store and pub, to minimise reliance on green screen.  

Finney brought over many elements of his season one lensing, especially Mackinnon’s emphasis on keeping the camera moving, which involved lots of prep and testing. “We had a full-time Scorpio 45’ for the whole shoot (run by key grip Tim Critchell and his team), two Steadicam operators (A camera – Ed Clark and B camera Martin Newstead) all the way through, and in any one day we’d often go from Steadicam, to crane, to dolly and back again,” he says. “The camera is moving all the time, but it’s always driven by the story.” 

One key difference for season two, however, was the move to large-format visuals. Finney tested three large-format cameras and the winner was the Alexa LF (assisted by the Mini LF where conditions required), thanks to its look and flexibility.  

The minisodes were shot on Cooke anamorphics, giving Finney the ideal balance of anamorphic-style glares and characteristics without too much veiling flare.

A more complex decision was finding the right lenses for the job. “You hear about all these whizzy new lenses that are re-barrelled ancient Russian glass, but I needed at least two full sets for the main unit, then another set for the second unit, then maybe another set again for the VFX unit,” Finney explains. “If you only have one set of this exotic glass, it’s no good for the show.” 

He tested a vast array of lenses before settling on Zeiss Supremes, supplied by rental house Media Dog. These ticked all the boxes for the project: “They had a really nice look – they’re a modern design but not over sharp, which can look a bit electronic and a bit much, especially with faces. When you’re dealing with a lot of wigs and prosthetics, we didn’t want to go that sharp. The Supremes had a very nice colour palette and nice roll-off. They’re also much smaller than a lot of large-format glass, so that made it easy for Steadicam and remote cranes. They also provided additional metadata, which was very useful for the VFX department (VFX services were provided by Milk VFX).” 

The Supremes were paired with a selection of filters to characterise the show’s varied locations and characters. For example, Tiffen Bronze Glimmerglass were paired with bookshop scenes; Black Pro-Mist was used for Hell; and Black Diffusion FX for Crowley’s present-day storyline.  

Finney worked closely with the show’s DIT, Donald MacSween, and colourist, Gareth Spensley, to develop the look for the minisode.

Maximising minisodes 

Episodes two, three and four of season two each contain a ‘minisode’ – an extended flashback set in Biblical times, 1820s Edinburgh and wartime London respectively. “Douglas wanted the minisodes to have very strong identities and look as different from the present day as possible, so we’d instantly know we were in a minisode and not the present day,” Finney explains.  

One way to shape their distinctive look was through using Cooke anamorphic lenses. As Finney notes: “The Cookes had the right balance of controllable, anamorphic-style flares and characteristics without having so much veiling flare that they would be hard to use on green screens. They just struck the right balance of aesthetics, VFX requirements and availability.” The show adopted the anamorphic aspect ratio (2:39.1), an unusual move for a comedy, but one which offered them more interesting framing opportunities. 

Good Omens 2 was shot on the Alexa LF, paired with Zeiss Supremes for the present-day scenes.

The minisodes were also given various levels of film grain to set them apart from the present-day scenes. Finney first experimented with this with the show’s DIT Donald MacSween using the DaVinci Resolve plugin FilmConvert. Taking that as a starting point, the show’s colourist, Company 3’s Gareth Spensley, then crafted his own film emulation inspired by two-strip Technicolor. “There was a lot of testing in the grade to find the look for these minisodes, with different amounts of grain and different types of either Technicolor three-strip or two-strip,” Finney recalls. “Then we’d add grain and film weave on that, then on top we added film flares. In the Biblical scenes we added more dust and motes in the air.”  

Establishing the show’s lighting was a key part of Finney’s testing process, working closely with gaffer Scott Napier and drawing upon PKE Lighting’s inventory. Good Omens’ new Scottish location posed an initial challenge: as the studio was in an old warehouse rather than being purpose-built for filming, its ceilings weren’t as high as one would normally expect. This meant Finney and Napier had to work out a low-profile way of putting in a lot of fixtures. 

Inside Crowley’s treasured Bentley.

Their first task was to test various textiles, LED wash lights and different weight loadings, to establish what they were working with for the street exteriors. “We worked out that what was needed were 12 SkyPanels per 20’x20’ silk, so each one was a block of 20’x20’, then we scaled that up,” Finney recalls. “I wanted a very seamless sky, so I used full grid cloth which made it very, very smooth. That was important because we’ve got lots of cars constantly driving around the set and the sloped windscreens reflect the ceiling. So we had to have seamless textiles – PKE had to source around 12,000 feet of textiles so that we could put them together, so the reflections in the windscreens of the cars just showed white gridcloth rather than lots of stage lights. We then drove the car around the set to test it from different angles.”  

On the floor, they mostly worked with LEDs, providing huge energy and cost savings for the production. Astera’s Titan Tubes came in handy for a fun flashback scene with John Hamm’s character Gabriel. The DP remembers: “[Gabriel] was travelling down a 30-foot feather tunnel. We built a feather tunnel on the stage and wrapped it in a ring of Astera tubes, which were then programmed by dimmer op Jon Towler to animate, pulse and change different colours. Each part of Gabriel’s journey through his consciousness has a different colour to it.” 

Among the rigs built was a 20-strong Creamsource Vortex setup for the graveyard scene in the “Body Snatchers” minisode, shot in Stirling. “We took all the yokes off each light then put them on a custom-made aluminium rig so we could have them very close. We put them up on a big telehandler on a hill that gave me a soft mood light, which was very adjustable, windproof and rainproof.” 

Shooting on the VP stage for the birth of the universe scenes in episode one.

Sky’s the limit 

A lot of weather effects were done in camera – including lightning effects pulsed in that allowed both direct fork lightning and sheet lightning to spread down the streets. In the grade, colourist Spensley was also able to work his creative magic on the show’s skies. “Gareth is a very artistic colourist – he’s a genius at changing skies,” Finney says. “Often in the UK you get these very boring, flat skies, but he’s got a library of dramatic skies that you can drop in. That would usually be done by VFX, but he’s got the ability to do it in Baselight, so a flat sky suddenly becomes a glorious sunset.” 

Finney emphasises that the grade is a very involved process for a series like Good Omens, especially with its VFX-heavy nature. “This means VFX sequences often need extra work when it comes back into the timeline,” says the DP. “So, we often add camera movement or camera shake to crank the image up a bit. Having a colourist like Gareth is central to a big show like Good Omens, to bring all the different visual elements together and to make it seamless. It’s quite a long grade process but it’s worth its weight in gold.” 

Shooting in the VR cube for the blitz scenes .

Finney took advantage of virtual production (VP) technology for the driving scenes in Crowley’s classic Bentley. The volume was built on their Scottish set: a 4x7m cube with a roof that could go up and down on motorised winches as needed. “We pulled the cars in and out on skates – they went up on little jacks, which you could then rotate and move the car around within the volume,” he explains. “We had two floating screens that we could move around to fill in and use as additional source lighting. Then we had generated plates – either CGI or real location plates –projected 360º around the car. Sometimes we used the volume in-camera but if we needed to do more work downstream; we’d use a green screen frustum.” Universal Pixels collaborated with Finney to supply in-camera VFX expertise, crew and technical equipment for the in-vehicle driving sequences and rear projection for the crucial car shots. 

John Hamm was suspended in the middle of this lighting rig and superimposed into the feather tunnel.

Interestingly, while shooting at a VP stage in Leith, the team also used the volume as a huge, animated light source in its own right – a new technique for Finney. “We had the camera pointing away from [the volume] so the screen provided this massive, IMAX-sized light effect for the actors. We had a simple animation of the expanding universe projected onto the screen so the actors could actually see it, and it gave me the animated light back on the actors.”  

Bringing such esteemed authors’ imaginations to the screen is no small task, but Finney was proud to helped bring Crowley and Aziraphale’s adventures to life once again. He adds: “What’s nice about Good Omens, especially when there’s so much bad news in the world, is that it’s a good news show. It’s a very funny show. It’s also about good and evil, love and doing the right thing, people getting together irrespective of backgrounds. It’s a hopeful message, and I think that that’s what we all need.” 

Finney is no stranger to the idiosyncratic world of Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.