#rare bookseller 90s

[oliversrarebooks]

The Rare Bookseller 90s AU: Lily's Rental

This came to me in a dream. I don't know how much of it I'm going to write, but I love the late 90s as a setting and couldn't resist.

Masterlist

tw: hypnosis, kidnapping

September 12, 1998

Lisa shook her can of Mountain Dew, dismayed that there didn't seem to be any more in it. She'd had three sodas tonight and was still struggling to stay awake.

She was working the late shift at the video store again, and she was really more bored than she was tired, the endless preview reel playing on the TV above her head doing little to hold her attention. She'd grown tired of the book she brought with her, she'd already restocked the candy and cleaned out the returns, and as she lived in a city that very much slept, there weren't a lot of customers so late on a weeknight.

Maybe no one would notice if she rested her head on the counter for just a few minutes and…

The sound of the door sliding open had her jerking back awake. "Welcome to Blockbuster, can I help you find anything?" she said on instinct.

"Well, you're a helpful one!" said the customer in an annoyingly cloying voice. "But we're just looking to browse the movies. Don't mind us."

She was wearing a floral sundress and tights, and looked a little too put-together for someone looking to rent a video at 11:40pm on a Tuesday. Trailing behind her was a man with a purple flannel shirt, a long blonde ponytail, and sunglasses perched on his head for some reason.

Far from the strangest people she saw in this job, of course.

"I'm feeling something with a lot of action," said the man as he walked deeper into the store. "What are you thinking?"

"I was thinking of -- ooh, no one told me Titanic was out on video!" The woman had stopped in front of the cardboard Titanic standee, apparently having lived under a rock until today.

"Did you somehow miss the nonstop ads on TV?" said the man, echoing Lisa's thoughts.

"I don't have time to watch that much TV. Some of us work for a living, you know," she said. "We have to rent this."

"Isn't it supposed to be four hours long? You know my attention span sucks."

"It'll be fine. I'll let you know when the interesting parts are happening."

Normally Lisa would mind her own business and not be especially interested in the usual chitchat of customers picking out movies, but right now it was the only thing keeping her alert. She idly flipped through a catalog as they talked.

The man picked up one of the many rental copies of Titanic and flipped it in his hands, a dubious look on his face. "I guess. And Lex might like it, he loves tragedy. It's cute when he's trying not to cry."

"I don't know, does Lex watch movies with color? You might blow his mind."

"I'm pretty sure he's still getting used to talkies."

"Anyway, I'm definitely getting this," said the woman. "And I think there's something else I'd like to take with me…"

Her tone of voice was a little strange. Lisa's brows furrowed in confusion as she pretended to be interested in winter fashion.

"Oh, right," the man said. "Brian wanted some video game. Ah, shit, what was it? I should've written it down. Final something."

"That's not what I'm talking about. Come on, Fitz, I want to show you something."

The two disappeared behind the rack of horror movies, their voices too low for Lisa to hear what they were saying. She was starting to get uneasy now. They were probably planning to shoplift, which was not at all the kind of excitement she was hoping for. Lisa ran her hand over the panic button on the underside of the counter, just in case.

The two split up and seemed to be browsing the movies. Lisa was keeping her eye on the man -- Fitz, what a goofy name -- who was over by the video game rentals, watching if he tried to slip one under his shirt. At the moment, he was staring at the video games as though they were some puzzle he needed to solve. This guy really didn't seem clever enough to get past our security, so maybe he was a distraction while --

"Hello, I had a question!" said the woman cheerfully. She had walked up to the front desk without Lisa even noticing, because she was too focused on the other customer.

It was probably part of their scheme -- the woman would distract the clerk, while the man stole video games. Lisa made a point of keeping her eye on Fitz while talking to her. "Sure, what do you need?"

"I was wondering if you have any good movies to help me sleep at night. Something calm… relaxing…" She yawned, and Lisa had to fight not to yawn along with her. "I have a hard time sleeping, and I take medicine that makes me so drowsy, so I could really use videos that will help me sleep."

"Um…" Lisa blinked slowly, feeling like her head was stuffed full of cotton. "We have some, um… some nature videos. Over there in the nature video section. Those are relaxing." God, she was way too fucking tired for this. She couldn't even think straight.

"Nature videos do sound relaxing. So, so relaxing." The woman's voice was very soothing, and her eyes were soothing too. "I think I might be able to fall asleep to a video of rain or waterfalls. Do you have anything else that would help me sleep? I get so tired this late at night."

Lisa yawned wide, and as oxygen hit her brain, she realized that she was being super unprofessional (not that she would get in trouble or anything) and that she had completely lost track of Fitz. Instead, she was gazing into this stranger's eyes, like that was a normal thing to do. "Well… uh…" she said, trying to tear herself away. "I think we probably have… like, lullaby videos for babies? In the kid videos. And we probably have some meditation videos over in the self-help section."

"Lullabies sound perfect," said the woman, a comforting smile on her face that made Lisa feel warm inside. "Lullabies are perfect when it's time for you to go to sleep. Don't you think so, Fitz?"

"I think you're right, Lily."

Lisa's hand was grasped by hands that were cold but incredibly soft. She realized that Fitz had also come up to the front desk, and was holding her hand for some bizarre reason. Before her sluggish thoughts could catch up to her and she could try to pull away, he began to rub a slow circle into her palm, and Lisa…

…just couldn't…

"There we go, sweet girl. You're so tired, aren't you? Tired and sleepy," said the woman. Lily.

"Mmm, she looks so drowsy. Like she could nod off at any second," Fitz agreed, as he stroked the palm of her hand so gently, a motion that seemed to steal away her focus and muddle her thoughts.

"Drowsy and docile. You'll be drowsy and docile for me, won't you?"

Fitz used his other hand to run his fingers down her jaw and tip her chin into his gaze. "You heard her. Drowsy and docile. Isn't that right?"

Lisa felt herself nod slowly. "Drowsy… and docile…" she said, her voice sounding like it was coming from a million miles away.

This wasn't right. There were alarms going off in the back of her mind, warning her of the danger. They were going to rob her. She was going to be in so much trouble. Why was she acting like this? Why couldn't she wake herself up?

"Shhh, shhh, just relax, dear," said Lily. "Everything's just fine. You're tired, aren't you? You just want to sleep."

"Go to sleep." Fitz's fingers traced down her neck. "Just go to sleep."

"I… I don't…" Lisa's vision was blurring, the buzzing fluorescent lights slipping in and out of her mind as her eyes began to close.

"It's okay, dear. Just have a little nap. You're safe with us. You can sleep."

"You look so, so tired. You want to shut those eyelids, don't you?"

"You do. You want to shut those heavy eyelids and go to sleep. It's time to sleep, dear. Sleep…"

Lisa, making a last ditch effort to resist whatever was happening here, pulled open her leaden eyelids. The new releases shelf was at an angle -- no, her head was tipped over, almost sinking onto the counter. Why couldn't she snap out of it, stay awake? It all felt like a dream -- not even the strangest dream she'd had about the shop.

"Poor sleepy girl," Lily whispered in her ear. "You're going to fall asleep now, all right? No more resisting, no more fighting, just a comfortable deep sleep."

The drowsiness was pouring into her from her hand and face where Fitz was touching her, like she was being drugged. Her thoughts strayed briefly to the panic button under the counter before her eyes shut and she slumped over completely. She just couldn't seem to stop herself from falling asleep…

"I've got her." Hands wrapped around Lisa's waist, and Fitz's voice was much closer now. "I can see why you wanted to take her. She smells delicious."

"I know good merchandise when I see it," said Lily.

Delicious? Merchandise? Lisa tried to stir.

"Shh, don't worry about it," said Lily, brushing hair out of Lisa's face. "Sleep tight. Pleasant dreams."

Lisa could feel herself being lifted in the air and carried, but she was too much asleep to protest or do anything about it.

"So I'm guessing we're taking her to the auction house, then?" said Fitz. "D'you think the Blockbuster's going to charge us a late fee if we don't return her?"

"Very funny, and yes, let's take her to the auction house. We can run a background check to make sure we haven't picked up anything too dangerous. I'm thinking she's going to fetch a nice payday," said Lily. "Oh, is this the video game your thrall wanted?"

"Hell if I know, but it's probably close enough. Could you grab that for me? Thanks."

Cool night air hit Lisa's face, waking her up just slightly as she realized she must be outside. Someone needs to close up the shop, she thought in a bleary daze. She heard a car door open.

"Stay with her in the back and keep her asleep, okay?"

"You're better at keeping thralls asleep. Are you sure you don't want to do it?"

"No, because I'm also better at driving. It'll be easier to keep her calm if we don't have you slamming the brakes and pounding the horn --"

"Oh c'mon, I only do that to people who deserve it."

The next thing Lisa knew, she was laying down. Her legs were only halfway on the seat and her head was in someone's lap. A chilled hand stroked her forehead and combed through her hair, and Lisa couldn't help but sink into it, losing herself.

"…could just take her home, you know."

"…don't think she's…"

"…don't you think she'd be a good match for…"

"…but she'd be worth…"

The voices slowly faded away as Lisa slipped deeper into slumber.

Masterlist

Stay tuned tonight for your regularly scheduled Bookseller update.

@d-cs @latenightcupsofcoffee @thecyrulik @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @wanderinggoblin

@whumpyourdamnpears @only-shadows-dwell-where-we-are @pressedpenn @pigeonwhumps @amusedmuralist

@xx-adam-xx @vampiresprite @irregular-book @whumpsoda @mj-or-say10 @pokemaniacgemini

@sowhumpshaped @whumpsday @morning-star-whump @silly-scroimblo-skrunkl

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@typewrittenfangs @tessellated-sunl1ght @cleverinsidejoke @abirbable @ichorousambrosia

@a-formless-entity @gobbo-king @writinggremlin @the-agency-archives @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi

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@cinnamoncandycanes @avvail-whumps @tauntedoctopuses @secret-vampkissers-soiree @whatamidoingherehelpme

@strawbearydreams @ghost-whump @tippytappytyping @natthebatt @fire-bugg14

@fuckcapitalismasshole @slightlydisturbedbeans @paperprinxe @demetercabingreen-thumb

[twinnedpeaks]

i’ve read almost 270 books this year, so i wanted to share my favourites! here are the absolute best books i read in 2022.

animal by lisa taddeo: fun, real, and overall a wild ride. lisa taddeo knows how to describe things we all think, and manages to show us our worst thoughts in beautiful ways.

detransition baby by torrey peters: LOVED this little family. amazing gender politics and explorations. thrilling, sad, funny, all of it.

yolk by mary h. k. choi: a must read for those familiar with sibling rivalries. relatable and heartwrenching.

woman eating by claire kohda: a fresh and smart take on vampirism. it’s rare to find such a cleverly crafted rewrite of creatures that have already been featured for centuries.

beartown series by fredrik backman: not a new author for me but a hard hitting gutpunch either way. so intricate and subtle, so beautiful and real. also the only time i will ever care about hockey.

a certain hunger by chelsea g summers: from the description alone i knew i was gonna love it, so i looked for it for a year, then devoured it in a day. a food critic who eats men in the fanciest ways like a bon appetit hannibal lecter? i have only good things to say.

out by natsuo kirino: the graphic imagery and unsettling atmosphere in this book is INSANE!! it was such an intense read that i could almost feel it in my bones. gorey and violent, yet tender and real.

paul takes the form of a mortal girl by andrea lawlor: i’ve literally been raving about this book since i read it. it touched me very deeply and might be my favourite book of the year. an incredibly funny look at gender expression and sexuality, set in the 90’s club scene. worth a read for every lgbt person who likes fun.

her majesty’s royal coven by juno dawson: wild and thrilling and cozy and heartbreaking, this is a story featuring witches, imperialism, royal fanaticism, gender, grief, and friendship. i want more.

exquisite corpse by poppy z brite: i hadn’t been able to find this book anywhere until my london trip in september and i’m so happy that i did. the inspiration behind this book is obvious and adds several layers to this grotesquely gorgeous novel.

the book eaters by sunyi dean: i’m very picky with my fantasy reads but im so glad i gave this a chance. incredible world building and relationships. plus the overall concept of book eating is genius.

the left handed booksellers of london by garth nix: i can’t even explain what it was about this book i loved so much but GOD did i like it !!!! terry pratchett-esque, yet unique and beautiful. i loved every character and wanted more.

thistlefoot by gennarose nethercott: this beautiful and creative baba yaga retelling kept me company during a long train ride and stuck with me. such vivid imagery and an overall great book.

hell followed with us by andrew joseph white: i wanted to scream during this entire book, honestly. this biblical horror feels like the worlds best fever dream and i loved it SO MUCH!!!! gender and prejudice is explored in a new and beautiful way, while spotted with gore. on a personal note, this book featured one of the only autistic characters i’ve encountered in literature that i, as an autistic person, related to and found compelling.

horrorstor by grady hendrix: y’all know i’ll read anything by this author but this was just so fucking fun. i read it in one night and really felt as though i myself was trapped in a haunted knockoff ikea.

boy parts by eliza clark: very much up my alley in terms of genre. amazing writing and such a good story.

almond by sohn won-pyung: this was surprisingly relatable and ironically emotional. simply stunning. must read.

the seep by chana porter: i went into this blind and i’m so glad i did, because trying to explain why you should read this book is pointless. it’s simply, indescribably great.

[deadbilly]

I’ve sold mostly books on Amazon for about 12 years, excellent customer service and compliance to the extent a person can remain compliant with the constantly moving targets. You don’t keep bucking the AZ bronco for 12 years without being thrown minus doing things right. In total I’ve carried about 15,000 titles, currently over 5,000 in inventory. Lots of interesting and often rare stuff, all genres, many academic titles.

The account despite excellent metrics is now showing as At Risk with 3 Restricted Policy Violations because Amazon has without warning banned 3 titles for content. The first was a college classroom-intended paperback Mein Kampf with a foreword by a history professor about the content. This was not a leather bound coffee table Baby’s First Mein Kampf with a gilded swastika for the deranged parent. I posted about this banning on my social media and one of my friends who happens to be Jewish noted that he was assigned passages of Mein Kampf in Hebrew school, which makes perfect sense to me.

Just now I’ve received an email that two books were banned the same day, two more strikes on my account. For over a year I’ve had a rarish early printing of The Turner Diaries for sale, a work of fiction (!) about a right wing militia insurgency in the US. I haven’t read it - believe it or not I don’t read every book I sell, impossible on top of undesirable - but I’ve known about it since the 90s, & the content seems similar to Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang (not yet banned, give it time) with adjustments for philosophy and targets. Banned at the same time was For My Legionnaires, the 1936 “Romanian Mein Kampf” which spurred on the Iron Guard in that country and is an important historical text for anyone studying Romanian history. Ironically the book was initially banned in Romania when first published, seeing as the government had a censorship board.

It’s not that I specialize in rightist texts - far from it, I’m an old school liberal which to me means no censorship - I just happen to have 5,000+ titles for sale and we’re opening things up to the public to ban titles now, so that’s going to affect every bookseller with an awful chilling effect. As far as Amazon is concerned now however I’m a fascist crank and a danger to the community.

Right now would be a good time to start amassing a collection of “forbidden” books and you can easily do it for free. How? Digital copies are fine, so as long as you have local backup copies. Don’t trust the cloud. And if you can, have an external hard drive, since your computer’s drive could go at any minute.

The Internet Archive, The Eye EU and LG are all great places to find free ebooks, including books mentioned above and many others. It doesn’t matter if you find the content in question repulsive, it’s important that historic books are preserved for future generations. Download and learn to use wget for The Eye.

[albreehyde]

You know what the coronavirus pandemic hasn't stopped? The Hong Kong protests.

In fact, the protests have ramped up bc the CCP has passed on today, May 28th 2020 (HKT), the death sentence for Hong Kong, i.e. the most sinister plan to take away Hongkongers’ freedoms while we're all busy dealing with the coronavirus. Remember the now-withdrawn extradition law amendment bill (ELAB) that sparked the anti-ELAB protests last year? This new plan not only does that, but it even unleashes a whole new range of assault power.

No, the CCP isn't gonna crack down on Hongkongers with visible violence. They've learnt from the disastrous PR management of the June 4th / Tiananmen Massacre. Also, they need a better excuse for interfering in Hong Kong, 1 of the largest international financial centres and the gateway for the CCP to gain foreign currency and break into global financial markets.

Instead, the CCP’s plan is to force a "national security law" in Hong Kong like what they've been using in mainland China, bypassing Hong Kong’s legislature. The CCP leadership has already passed this law today, May 28th (HKT) and can sign it into effect as soon as early June.

We don’t know how much longer we can continue accessing international communication sites, which are banned in mainland China but freely accessible in Hong Kong, especially Google, WhatsApp, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. If we suddenly go silent about our fight for democracy, you can assume the censorship resulting from the "national security law" has taken effect.

Who’s gonna define that "national security law"? Most likely the CCP. They have their own legal system, instead of the common law system that HK uses based on the UK system. The CCP has an abominable track record of arbitrarily defining the law to persecute dissidents, violating human rights in the process. They have various means of silencing dissidents even if they manage to escape China. Well known dissidents include:

LIU Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

HUANG Qi and TAN Zuoren, who advocated for an investigation into corruption in school construction following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

LI Wangyang, who took part in Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, tortured while in jail for 22 years and even still kept under surveillance after being released from prison.

WANG Quanzhang, a human rights lawyer who defends political activists and victims of police torture.

LEE Ming-che, a Taiwanese rights activist who promotes human rights and democracy online.

HU Jia, who posted articles on social issues which criticises the CCP.

WANG Yi (pen name: WANG Shuya), a Christian pastor who founded and led one of the well known underground churches in mainland China.

Tashi WANGCHUK, a Tibetan language education activist.

Currently, Hong Kong is the only city among all technically CCP-ruled regions where your freedoms and human rights are protected in practice (though fast eroding) with judicial independence (also starting to skew) following international law. 

After the "national security law" passes, Hongkongers will lose all our fundamental freedoms and rights, including but not limited to:

Freedom of expression.

The right to peaceful assembly.

Freedom of the press.

Freedom of thought.

Rights against arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

The right against torture; and even,

The right to life, liberty and security of person.

Our fight against the CCP will become illegal, since we'll no longer be able to monitor and speak out against the CCP and CCP-backed HK government. Our very existence as Hongkongers could be seen as a rebellion. Hong Kong today, the world tomorrow.

Everyone, no matter your nationality, will no longer be safe from the CCP. The CCP threatens international law. The proposed law plans to allow CCP agents to work in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is one of the largest international travel hubs. Whoever lives in, or simply passing through Hong Kong, could be kidnapped and transported to mainland China if the CCP thinks you’re a threat. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, bc that’s the exact potential loophole we criticised during the anti-ELAB protests. In fact, this kind of abduction already happened in 2015, in the Causeway Bay Books disappearances which include LAM Wing-kee and GUI Minhai. The booksellers were persecuted for selling books on politics, human rights, criticism of the CCP leadership, and any subject that the CCP leadership didn’t like.

After the "national security law" passes, we'll no longer have the freedom to raise the alarm to the world about new epidemics first popping up in mainland China, like the coronavirus now and SARS in 2003 (more from the WHO archive). Fun fact: Hongkongers have been managing the coronavirus relatively well precisely bc we don't trust the CCP-backed HK gov and we’ve been taking preventive measures way before it advises us to, based on previous experience with SARS.

We’ll no longer have the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty in the court, not even the right to fair trial and equality under the law, since HK will no longer have an independent judicial system under the separation of powers. Hong Kong is run on the rule of law but the CCP runs on the rule by law, and the CCP has increasingly pressured HK’s judges. Foreign judges will be banned from national security cases, likely bc they are more likely to uphold the rule of law and independent judiciary.

We'll no longer have the freedom to talk about the truth. Instead, we’ll be forced to censor ourselves and substitute the truth with CCP approved propaganda. The CCP knows who controls the truth controls society. The coronavirus? “No, it's spread to China by the US armed forces. It's a part of their plan to frame the CCP.” Banning TikTok and Huawei? “They don't cause security or privacy issues. There's no censorship on the platforms provided through these technologies. The ‘accusations’ are a part of an international plan to frame the CCP.” (Notice a pattern here?) Just 3 days ago (May 25, 2020), the Hong Kong exam board, which is independent from the Education Bureau, was forced to cancel a public exam question about Japan’s roles in the development of China from 1900 up to WWII bc it “hurts Chinese people’s” (aka CCP’s) “esteem and feelings”.

We'll no longer have the freedom to connect with the international community (Joshua WONG, Hong Kong activist) and different cultures with open minds, as the CCP looks down on the values and impacts of non-CCP-approved-Chinese cultures. It has an insatiable need to dominate the world through homogeneity, seizing natural resources, and economic expansion. Just look at how the CCP treats Uyghurs and Tibetans. Read about the Belt and Road Initiative especially in Africa - it's practically CCP colonialism. Then look at how the CCP, by building dams in upstream Mekong River, has caused a drought in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The CCP keeps claiming without proof that Hongkongers who want democracy are a minority (Spoiler: We aren't. At least 2 million residents out of 7.5 million, i.e. over 1 in 4 residents, marched for democracy on June 16, 2019. Remember?) are influenced by Western chaos agents, bc the CCP can't afford citizens thinking critically, criticizing and holding them accountable for their actions. Case in point: the June 4th / Tiananmen Massacre. The CCP-backed HK gov has extended the ban on social gatherings until (you guessed it) June 4th, which is rumoured to stop people from holding vigils, even though daily new coronavirus cases are in single digits and schools are reopening a week before.

We'll no longer have the freedom to maintain our identity of being Hongkongers, since according to CCP logic, being local / Hongkongers means identifying against CCP-controlled China → challenging and rebelling against the CCP → directly threatening CCP’s authority → enemy of CCP. The most conspicuous symbols? The Hong Kong anthem, Glory to Hong Kong. And Cantonese, the native language of over 90% of Hongkongers. A similar case has already happened with Tibetan culture and language: Tashi WANGCHUK, a Tibetan language education activist, was persecuted in 2018 simply for advocating to preserve his own heritage.

(Side note: If you ask if somebody speaks Chinese, it's like asking if they speak Asian or European. “Chinese” encompasses a group of languages which include Cantonese, Taiwanese and Mandarin, which currently many people refer to as “Chinese”. If you start talking in mainland-Chinese accented Mandarin to Hongkongers without asking, you'll get responses ranging from confused / pained replies in most likely English, often Cantonese, or rarely, Mandarin; the side eye; the silent treatment; or even a glare. We’re far more welcoming if you speak Taiwanese-accented Mandarin though.)

Hongkongers will keep fighting for our rights, and we need reinforced international support in our most urgent battle. So what can you do to stand with us?

1. Chris PATTEN, the last governor of Hong Kong under British rule, has led a joint statement to protest against the CCP’s move to force the "national security law" in Hong Kong. As of writing on May 28th, the day of passing the law, the joint statement's been co-signed by over 618 political representatives and academics from 33 countries, including the UK, the US, the EU, Canada, Australia, Russia and the rest of Asia. Please write to encourage your local policymaker to cosign the letter (template linked in-text).

2. Sign petitions that support our fight for freedom, e.g. international sanctions against the CCP, the CCP-backed Hong Kong government, and the Hong Kong Police Force.

3. Continue making posts in support of Hongkongers on your regular social media sites, esp Twitter, where there's a higher chance of politicians seeing your posts.

Yeah, like Matan EVENOFF, who tricked the NBA dance cam into streaming support for Hong Kong.

4. Report content spreading pro-CCP propaganda about the Hong Kong democracy movement; report both the comment / post and the account. Some common insults pro-CCP trolls use: “cockr**ch” (dehumanizing Hong Kong protestors); “sb” (initials of “d**chebag” in Mandarin); “nmsl” (initials of “Your mum is dead” in Mandarin); “biss” (a contraction of “must d*e” in Mandarin); and insinuating in any way that anyone in support of the protests is a “servant” or a “pet” of foreign politicians. People have mentioned that on Twitter, reports on pro-CCP troll content are more thoroughly followed up on and the content more likely to be removed. I've found that on Instagram, reporting as spam has a higher removal rate than reporting to other relevant categories.

5. Stay updated with the situation on HK by following independent and/or pro-democracy journalists in HK:

Hong Kong Free Press (In English. Official website / Twitter @hongkongfp / Instagram @hongkongfp / Youtube @hongkongfp / Facebook @hongkongfp)

The Stand News (Mostly in Chinese, but you don’t need to know Chinese to understand their infographics. Official website / Twitter @standnewshk / Instagram @thestandnews / Youtube @standnewshk / Facebook @standnewshk)

RTHK News (In both English and Chinese news; publicly funded. As of May 28th 2020, it has still maintained objective reporting, but this could change for the worse quickly bc the CCP-backed HK government has plans to interfere in its editorial independence. Official website / Twitter @rthk_enews / Facebook @RTHKEnglishNews)

Guardians of Hong Kong / Be Water Hong Kong (a volunteer page that translates news from Chinese to English; it updates quickly. Official website / Twitter @BeWaterHKG / Instagram @guardiansofhk / Facebook @BeWaterHongKong)

No matter what ultimately happens to Hongkongers, you're helping us make history. And even if Hongkongers still lose in the end, promise us that you'll continue fighting for us.

Remember us for centuries.

[fearsmagazine]

Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition  now available from IDW.

Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition Meticulously Reproduces the Original Artwork that Defined an Era of Marvel’s Mutant Super Heroes. The Centerpiece of this Highly-Anticipated Artist’s Edition is X-Men #1, the Best-Selling Comic Book of All Time, Presented in Its Entirety!

IDW’s multiple Eisner Award-winning Artist’s Edition line expands with perhaps its most eagerly awaited new volume: Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition, now available in stores.

Nearly 30 years ago, Jim Lee joined writer Chris Claremont and inker Scott Williams to launch an all-new, all-different X-Men – the classic 1990s “Blue Team” that defined the look and attitude of the X-Men brand for a generation. The impact his dynamic artwork has had on the comics industry – to his legions of fans and the artists who have been inspired by and emulated him – is truly immeasurable. In a career filled with highlights, his work on X-Men is arguably his most popular and enduring.

The Artist’s Edition format reproduces Jim Lee’s original artwork at original size, meticulously scanned to preserve every minute detail and subtle nuance of the superstar illustrator’s skill. Readers are afforded an insight into his creative process that has never before been available outside of original art collectors.

“This artwork represents a very distinct and hyper-exciting period of my career, when everything was evolving and growing really rapidly,” says Lee. “The collected art looks just like the originals, and it’s great to experience it in a handy oversized book. It brings back incredibly fond memories of creating this work, and my love for the characters. I’m happy that the fans love it so much!”

“Jim Lee’s X-Men comics defined an era,” says Williams. “I got a front row view of the perfect pairing of artist and character that exploded off the pages, becoming an iconic template for a generation of comic fans. Beautifully reproduced and presented, Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition is a nostalgic look back at the fun of what ‘90s comics could be. So grateful to have been a part of it all!”   Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition includes all 37 pages -- the complete story -- from the bestselling comic book of all time, October 1991’s X-Men #1. The book also includes over 100 additional examples of Lee’s gorgeous original artwork from iconic issues, including covers, splashes, pin-ups, interior pages, and trading cards, as well as a double foldout of all four X-Men #1 connecting covers!.   Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition by Jim Lee, Chris Claremont, and Scott Williams ISBN 978-1-68405-809-9 $150.00 US / $195.00 CAN 160-page, black-and-white hardcover, 12” x 17"

In addition to the spectacular regular edition offered through comic shops and booksellers, IDW is proud to offer a rare Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition - Signed & Numbered Variant, exclusively available at the IDW web store while supplies last. Featuring an alternate cover (the original artwork to X-Men #5 from February 1992), this edition comes with a bound-in signature plate limited to 175 units, autographed by Jim Lee and Scott Williams.   Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition - Signed & Numbered Variant by Jim Lee, Chris Claremont, and Scott Williams ISBN 978-1-68405-810-5 $300.00 US 160-page, black-and-white hardcover, 12” x 17" Limited to 175, Signed by Jim Lee & Scott Williams   For information on how to acquire copies of IDW’s Artist’s Editions, please contact your local comic shop.

[thebestify]

'Nosferatu,' La Doña turns 1, CBD sampling: 45 free things to do this weekend - City Pages

"Volta Photo" at the Weinstein Hammons Gallery Sanle Sory FRIDAY: Volta Photo In 1960, Sanlé Sory opened a photography studio in Bobo-Dioulasso, the trendy/artistic city in Burkina Faso. That same year, the nation had received full independence from France. As the country entered a new post-colonial era, Sory photographed the vibrant youth culture that emerged. Spanning 20-some years, his collection of portraits features lovers kissing, smiling friends with a boombox, and style so fly it could belong in a high-fashion magazine from any era. The artist, who still lives and works in the area, began touring exhibitions of his work in the late ’90s. This show at the Weinstein Hammons Gallery is a rare chance to see these still-youthful images in person. There will be an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, October 18. Free. Weinstein Hammons Gallery, 908 W. 46th St., Minneapolis; 612-822-1722. –Jessica ArmbrusterAndy Ulseth With Brian Just Band and Picked to Click seventh place winner Prim Woes. 10 p.m. Oct. 18. Free. 331 Club, 331 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis; 612-331-1746.Lungs (Album Release Show) With Hive, Witchden, and Nothingness. 9 p.m. Oct. 18. Free. Hexagon Bar, 2600 27th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-722-3454.The Jason Dixon Line 8:30 p.m. Oct. 18. Free. Schooner Tavern, 2901 27th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-729-4365.Versions With happy hour during musical performances. 9-11 p.m. Oct. 18. Free. Apoy, 4301 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis; 612-824-4719.

"Creativity in Everyday Life" at Goldstein Museum of Design Creativity in Everyday Life Design is everywhere in our daily lives, including the cars we drive, the homes we live in, the utensils we use, and the clothes we wear. In this show, the Goldstein moves from big-picture design (design thinking as a mode of problem solving) to the granular (i.e. specific everyday objects). The exhibition is also participatory, with visitors invited to weigh in with their opinions the most innovation and creative aspects of the show. Opening reception 5:30-7:30 p.m. Fri., Oct. 18, featuring a silent auction to benefit GMD. Daily from Oct. 18-Jan. 5. Free. Goldstein Museum of Design, 1985 Buford Ave., 346 McNeal Hall, St. Paul; 612-624-7801. --Camille LeFevreWildflyer Coffee Launch Party Fundraiser for a new coffee shop, featuring live music from the Immaculate Beings, Lavender Daughter, Mpls Drew, and Audiyo Element. 6 p.m. Oct. 18. Free. 56 Brewing, 3055 NE Columbia Ave., Minneapolis; 612-404-0056.#MeToo in Minnesota History Exhibitions examining issues of sexual assault and violence through the stories of several Minnesota women, past and present. Oct. 15-April 5. Free. Minnesota History Center, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; 651-259-3000.As, Not For: Dethroning Our Absolutes Group show curated by Jerome Harris. Oct. 18-Nov. 10. Free. MCAD Gallery, 2501 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis; 612-874-3700.

'Nosferatu' Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror Released in 1922, Nosferatu is just a few years shy of its 100th anniversary, and somehow still manages to be creepy. Part of that effect may come from its on-location sets and beautifully framed shots, and Max Schreck’s performance as the titular monster certainly factors into its legacy. Yet another spooky aspect is the film’s soundtrack, which has been adapted and reimagined over the years. This Halloween, guests can head to the Music Box Theatre for a screening set to a live soundtrack from the Curse of the Vampire Orchestra, by Minneapolis composer Philip Shorey. The score features a local symphony and choral musicians mixed with modern electronica and industrial percussion. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18-19; 3:30 p.m. Oct. 19. Free; RSVP required. Music Box Theatre, 1407 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-871-1414. --Jessica ArmbrusterLeslie Jamison Author presents her new book, 'Make It Scream, Make it Burn: Essays.' 7 p.m. Oct. 18. Free. Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul; 651-225-8989.R. Zamora Linmark Author presents his new book, 'The Importance of Being Wilde At Heart.' At the Asian Pacific Resource Center in Room 311. 12-1:30 p.m. Oct. 18. Free. Appleby Hall - University of Minnesota, 128 Pleasant St. SE, Minneapolis; 612-625-5000.Fall Flower Show Sunken garden in full bloom with hundreds of chrysanthemums of many different cultivars. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily from Oct. 5-Dec. 1. Free. Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Park, 1225 Estabrook  Drive, St. Paul; 651-487-8200.

Jimmy Reagan Jimmy Reagan Exhibit Expressionist paintings. Opening reception 7-10 p.m. Fri., Oct. 18, with a meet and greet with the artist, music, and drinks. Free; RSVP required for opening reception. Le Meridien Chambers Minneapolis, 901 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-767-6900.Tappy Hour Group tap dance lessons. 4-6 p.m. every Fri. Free. Can Can Wonderland, 755 Prior Ave. N., Ste. 4, St. Paul; 651-925-2261.Can Can Wonderland Karaoke Hosted by Silly Miss Tilly. All ages. 5:30-8:30 p.m. every Fri. Free. Can Can Wonderland, 755 Prior Ave. N., Ste. 4, St. Paul; 651-925-2261.Erin Schwab and Jay Fuchs 8:30-11:30 p.m. every Fri. Free. Birch's Lowertown, 289 Fifth St. E., St. Paul; 651-432-4677.

La Dona Cerveceria Image courtesy event organizers SATURDAY: First Anniversary Party La Doña Cervecería is turning one this weekend. To celebrate, they’re busting out Ocelotl, a Mezcal barley wine that has been aging in barrels since January (and offers a whopping 10% ABV). Order it on tap and, if you like, take it home in bottle form. The party starts at noon, with the Indigo DJ Crew spinning tunes at 4 p.m., followed by salsa band K-Libre24 from 9 p.m. till close. Festivities will also include games, special merchandise, and food trucks Flagsmash and Que Tal. 12 p.m.-2 a.m. Oct. 19. Free. La Doña Cervecería, 241 Fremont Ave N, Minneapolis. –Loren GreenPiss On Your Dad With Sam Hell, Huff, and Psychic DNA. 9 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Hexagon Bar, 2600 27th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-722-3454.First Annual Legacy CBD Cup Competition for the state's best hemp and cannabidiol products, with presentations, samples, and products for sale. 5-10 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Warehouse Winery, 6415 Cambridge St., St. Louis Park; 763-232-3707.Ian Valor & The Vendettas (Album Release Show) With Little Man and Elour. 10 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. 331 Club, 331 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis; 612-331-1746.MPLS LTD XX Afternoon at Eclipse Celebrating 20 years of the local record label, with performances by Birds of Virginia (reunion show), Pussytoes, the Starfolk, and John Roeser Avenue. All ages. 12-4 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Eclipse Records, 381 Wabasha Street N., Saint Paul; 651-224-2500.Biggest in the World Party Celebration of Brit's being the pub selling the most Olde Speckled Hen in the world. Festivities include $4 Olde Speckled Hen 20 oz pints, the Beatles’ Abbey Road album performed in its entirety by the Summerbabies at 8 p.m., and glassware and other giveaways. Saturday, 6-11 p.m. Brit's Pub, 1110 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612-332-3908.

The Twisted Pumpkin and Valhalla Skulls October Gallery Night: The Twisted Pumpkin and Valhalla Skulls An evening celebrating the work of artists Mandy Koepp and Joelle Skjei, with treats by Atuvava and tarot readings by Sage Tarot. 5-8 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Darling Amalgamated Retail Emporium, 4549 Bloomington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-454-5456.Tangletown Gardens Annual Pumpkin Fest Featuring a wide selection of pumpkins, with a photo booth, pumpkin painting, farmers market, and family activities. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Tangletown Gardens, 5353 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-822-4769.Powderhorn Culinary Arts Show Juried outdoor food and beverage competition for professional and junior culinary artists from across the country, with a beer garden, pumpkin patch pop-up, garden shop, and kitchen gadget pop-up. 12-5 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Powderhorn Park, 3400 15th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-823-1141.

"Randomland" Vance Diamond, 'Tidal Wave,' 2019 Randomland Group show collaboratively curated by artists with disabilities and without, presented by Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts. Public reception 3-6 p.m. Sat., Oct. 19, featuring artist remarks and a Q&A. Free. The White Page, 3400 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis; 413-478-0455.Kater's 4th Annual Katerween Pop-up gallery show featuring new work for sale from the graffiti artist. 5-9 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Maharaja's, 205 W. 7th St., St. Paul; 651-292-1623.Leaf Fest Featuring a giant leaf pile, fall treats, pumpkin hunt, art workshop, scavenger hunt, and a community art project. 12-4 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Caponi Art Park, 1220 Diffley Road, Eagan; 651-454-9412. 'McDuff Moves In' Story Time with Gryphon Press and Underdog Rescue Family story time, with adoptable dogs from Underdog Rescue on hand. 3 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-822-4611.Brunch Show at Mortimer's Featuring Trash Catties, Ringout, and Leslie. All ages. 12-3 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Mortimer's, 2001 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-871-5591.Halloween Viewing Party for 'The Loud House' Featuring screenings of Halloween-themed episodes of 'The Loud House,' hosted by the voices of Lucy and Rita Loud, hosted by Jessica DiCicco and Jill Talley, with character meet and greets, and storyboard animator appearances. 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Mall of America Best Buy Rotunda, 365 N. Garden, Bloomington; 952-883-8800.

"And When the Sun Rises" And When the Sun Rises: Mara Duvra / Today, we become: Prerna 6-9 p.m. Saturday. Soo Visual Arts Center, 2909 Bryant Ave. S., Minneapolis. New Editions 2019 A pop-up shop of chapbooks, zines, broadsides, artist books, and more. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis. Have You Seen This Man?: The Castro Poems of Karl Tierney Celebration of the release of posthumously published selection of poems by Karl Tierney, edited by Jim Cory. 7 p.m. Oct. 19. Free. Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul; 651-225-8989.Midtown Farmers Market Featuring farm products, prepared and cottage foods, and ready-to-eat local cuisine, local artwork, and live entertainment. More info at midtownfarmersmarket.org. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. every Sat. from May 18-Oct. 26; 3-7 p.m. every Tue. from May 18-Oct. 29. Free. Midtown Farmers Market, 3032 Minnehaha Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-724-7457.Mill City Farmers Market Long running market in the shadow of Mill Ruins Park, featuring local, sustainable, and organic groceries and produce, with weekly cooking clinics and live entertainment. More info at www.millcityfarmersmarket.org. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. every Sat. from May 4-Oct. 26. Free. Mill City Museum, 704 S. 2nd St., Minneapolis; 612-341-7555.

Howl-O-Ween at Bent Brewstillery Getty Images SUNDAY: Howl-O-Ween Cap off your weekend by hanging out with dogs in costumes. This Sunday, Bent Brewstillery will be getting into the holiday spirit with a daylong Halloween party open to humans and pups. People are welcome to dress in costume, and doggos are especially encouraged to. Locally made pet items from crafters and artisans will be for sale, and games and prizes will be hosted by Sidewalk Dog. Have a glamour shot taken with your four-legged buddy, bob for treats, and carve a pumpkin. Be sure to wash it all down with a pint. All ages. 12-6 p.m. Oct. 20. Free. Bent Brewstillery, 1744 Terrace Drive, Roseville; 844-879-2368. –Jessica Armbruster Fall Makers Market Featuring over 20 local makers and curators both inside and out of the building. Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 3147 NE California St., Minneapolis.  Atlas Obscura Trivia with Dylan Thuras and Magers & Quinn Featuring questions about travel and places all over the world, with prizes and copies of 'Atlas Obscura: 2nd Edition' available for purchase. 6 p.m. Oct. 20. Free. LynLake Brewery, 2934 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-224-9682.Panel Discussion: Is Local News Dying? Featuring Jamie Stockwell, Richard Fausset, Rebecca Colden, and Suki Dardarian. 1 p.m. Oct. 20. Free. Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis; 612-375-7600.

MN Toy Posse Image courtesy event organizers MN Toy Posse Halloween Bash 3 What happens when you combine 70 toy sellers from all over the Midwest, hundreds of toy fans of all ages, and thousands of rare and unique toys and collectables? You get one giant posse. This weekend, the Minnesota Toy Posse will host its third-annual Halloween Bash toy swap. Posse founder Mark Seekamp started the group a little over three years ago on Facebook as a way to help connect people looking to buy, sell, or trade their favorite toys. He hadn’t planned on just how many people would want to join his gang. “We have more than 2,200 members, and it’s a really active group,” he says. And it’s not just about toys, either. “We’ve become friends and talk about our lives. People will post pictures when they have a baby, or we’ll just use it to meet up and go see a movie. It’s about creating relationships beyond just looking for toys.” For Seekamp, the best part of the day is how toys can bring people together. “The coolest part is being able to see someone who is going to be really excited about a toy that you have that you’re ready to part with.” 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 20. Free. Knights Of Columbus Bloomington, 1114 W. 79th St., Bloomington; 952-888-1492. –Patrick StraitOpen Jam 8 p.m. every Sun. Free. Schooner Tavern, 2901 27th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-729-4365.Saint Paul Civic Symphony: Night and Day 1 p.m. Oct. 20. Free. Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th St., St. Paul; 651-292-3293. Read the full article

[allofthefeelings]

I’ve gotten a few messages from people who wanted to stay anonymous, about some of the kidlit posts I’ve been making of late, and I wanted to clarify something.

Queer representation in children’s lit has not been omnipresent. As recently as the 1990s, especially, it was difficult to find, and a lot of the books that did have queer representation were sidelined as Gay Books. We didn’t have Amazon; your best bet for books were what your local bookstore or library carried, and even when queer-friendly books for kids were published, they weren’t always carried, especially in more conservative areas.

I don’t want to give the impression that it was easy to find books with characters who weren’t straight.

What my posts were trying to say, and what I will continue to harp on, is that even in the 90s, while the presence of queer characters was rare, it was not impossible. In addition to books that were seen as specifically for gay audiences, like I’ll Get There It Better Be Worth the Trip and Annie on My Mind, there were books like Weetzie Bat, which had a much broader audience.

The late 90s-early 2000s had a cultural shift. On TV, Jack came out as gay on Dawson’s Creek in 1999 and Willow came out on Buffy in 2000. In young adult lit, an anthology, Am I Blue?, came out in 1999, featuring gay stories from a variety of authors. (I didn’t know at that time when I first read it how many of  the authors featured were gay themselves, but looking back it’s certainly worth noting.) Rainbow Boys, Boy Meets Boy, and Geography Club were all YA novels with gay and questioning protagonists that did well both critically and commercially between 2001 and 2003. Jacqueline Woodson’s novels existed. Gregory Maguire wrote stories. In many places it was hard to find books with representation, but if you knew where to look, it was present. It was there.

The reason I keep harping on the fact that these books exist is that so many of the comments defending JKR’s decision to not have Dumbledore be gay is that, in that publishing climate, it wasn’t possible. And that is an excuse. It’s a historically inaccurate and intellectually dishonest excuse. That queer characters weren’t everywhere doesn’t mean they weren’t anywhere, and the time between the publication of Philosopher’s Stone and Deathly Hallows was a sea change in what was out there.

For the record, I absolutely agree that Philosopher’s Stone did not need to mention Harry’s teacher’s sexuality. Harry wasn’t observant enough, for one thing; it was a middle grade novel very focused on Harry’s inner world rather than the world around him, for another; JKR was a debut author with a lot to lose, for a third. By Deathly Hallows, none of that is true. Harry Potter had grown into a massive young adult series, largely known for how giant and detailed the magical world was. Every book in the Harry Potter series was outselling expectations, and the movies were blockbusters. JKR was a millionaire. She had more power, and less to lose, than basically any other author. Even if places had tried to keep the seventh book of the Harry Potter series away from readers because of a single sentence mentioning that Dumbledore’s relationship with Grindelwald- a major plot point of the story!- was not platonic, they wouldn’t have been able to.

Maybe that could have opened the door for even more readers to check out all the books that had been published about gay characters, but hadn’t crossed their radars. Maybe that would have had enough impact that in 2018, people wouldn’t be insisting that in 2007 queer representation wasn’t something that happened, even though plenty of evidence exists that it did happen, whether or not they read it at the time.

And the thing is, it’s 2018. Queer children’s and young adult lit is doing amazing right now. There is absolutely a need for more- there will always be a need for more- but thanks to incredibly hard work at basically every part of the publishing chain, from writers and artists to agents and editors and marketing to librarians and teachers and booksellers, it has exploded. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I can’t even begin to read all the queer kidlit out there, because there is so much.

But imagine, for a second, if it had been in Harry Potter. Imagine if the biggest children’s literature series in a century had featured a gay character. Imagine if, instead of having a few instances of queer coding and then mentioning one character’s sexuality in an interview, JKR had included a single sentence unequivocally telling the reader gay people were part of her world. That would have not just shown gay kids that they were indisputably part of Hogwarts, which would be enough in and of itself! It also would have shown publishers queerness won’t stop readers from devouring the text. And it would have shown a whole generation of writers who maybe didn’t have access to the books someone with privilege (like me, or like JKR) could read, that they could include queer characters in their work and still be published.

If that had happened in 2007, imagine where we’d be in 2018.

[oliversrarebooks]

The Rare Bookseller and the Vampire Auction: Masterlist

The story of Oliver, a seller of rare books who is kidnapped and sold at a high-end auction for vampires to purchase thralls.

18+. Contains vampires, mind control, hypnotic inductions, captivity / gilded cage, blood drinking, abuse, violence, torture, Stockholm syndrome, slavery / human auction, psychological whump.

1. Alexander's Warning

2. Oliver's Kidnapping

3. Oliver's Car Ride

4. Oliver's Exam

5. Oliver's Shower

6. Oliver's Cell

7. Oliver's Neighbors

8. Joe's Story

9. Oliver's Anticipation

10. Oliver's Conditioning

11. Emily's Despair

12. Oliver's Grade

13. Oliver's Fears

14. Lily's Hard Work

15. Emily's Last Meal

16. Emily's Defiance

17. Oliver's Long Shot

18. Oliver's Fancy Dress

19. Oliver's Price Tag

20. Alexander's Temptation

21. Jameson's Threat

22. Oliver's Auction

23. Alexander's Purchase

24. Alexander's Troubles

25. Fitz's Magic Show

26. Lily's Favorite Thrall

27. Oliver's Delivery

28. Fitz's Capture

29. Oliver's Welcome

30. Alexander's Rules

31. Fitz's Showtime

32. Oliver's New Life

33. Alexander's Feeding

34. Fitz's Curtain Call

35. Oliver's Walk

36. Alexander's Desire

37. Alexander's Housekeeper

38. Alexander's Sire

39. Fitz's Rose

40. The Maestro's Mark

41. Alexander's Mark

42. Fitz's Cold Comfort

43. Katherine's Advice

44. Alexander's Vain Hope

45. Fitz's Reflection

46. Oliver's Ballet

47. The Maestro's Diversion

48. Fitz's Charms

49. Alexander's Task

50. Frank's Mistake

51. Oliver's Anticipation

52. The Maestro's Correction

53. Fitz's Terrible Idea

54. Alexander's Tutor

55. Lily's Illusion

56. Jessica's Soiree

57. Fitz's Dance

58. Edgar's Pocket Watch

59. Jenny's Rescue

60. Fitz's Arrival

61. Fitz's Insecurity

62. Vivian's Blood

63. Alexander's Contentment

64. Alexander's Plan

65. Alexander's Lesson

66. Fitz's Fire

67. Fitz's Last Show

AUs and Extra Material

Fitz's Volunteer Part One Part Two

Oliver's Songbird AU Part One Part Two

Alexander's Sweet Dream AU Part One Part Two Part Three

90s AU Part One

Alexander: Starvation

Fitz: Sleepy Fitz || Fitz in the Snow || Fitz's Waking Nightmare || Singing

Lily: Erasure || Hypothermia

Roger: Fitz's Alarm Clock || Thunderstorm

Emily: Emily's Crayons

Jameson: Jameson's Insult

Riana (Fanfiction): Riana's Determination

Auction House Worldbuilding

Picrews: Oliver || Alexander & Lily || Fitz || Emily

Hunting Dog

A side story about a vampire hunter captured and turned into an obedient hunting dog.

Lowell's Mistake

Please ask if you'd like to be added to the tag list!

[norafinds]

Around the World with Vintage - Tanaka Kiyomi (Akanesasantique)

The best thing about being a vintage girl in the modern world is having the internet and finding other kindred souls from other parts of the world. This month on the Around the World with Vintage series we visit the coastal Yokohama in the beautiful Japan.When I came across Kiyomi whose wardrobe constantly turns me green with envy I just had to learn more about her. The way she puts together her outfits is artistic and detailed and now that I know what she does for living it totally makes sense. She graces my Instagram feed regularly with her posts at Akanesasantique and we chatted about the vintage trends in Japan and how the World War II affected the fashion movement there.

Tell us about yourself 

I’m a 38 year old vintage enthusiast, pianist, lover of art. I was born in Tokyo and spent my childhood, in the late 80s, in Los Angeles. I studied classical piano at a collage in Tokyo, and a conservatoire in France. I lived near Versailles for 5 years. During that period, I encountered early 1960s fashion that inspired me to start wearing vintage clothing. I used to frequent booksellers along the Seine river, and bought a lot of old magazines such as ELLE and Modes et Travaux.

Do you live in Yokohama? As a seaport town people are probably dressed more casually do you think there’s a big different between Yokohama fashion to Tokyo or Osaka/Kyoto?

No. I don’t think that people in Yokohama dress more casually than people in other towns. Yokohama has always been an elegant town rather than casual. There was a fashion movement called HAMA TORA(=YokoHAMA TRADditional style) which encouraged classic and elegant dressing.  It originated in a university in Yokohama in the late 1970s but this specific style lost popularity in the 90s when the university moved location. In addition, as fast fashion become popular, Yokohama loses is individuality like other cities. Unfortunately, I’m not very familiar with Osaka/Kyoto fashion though I have heard that Osaka fashion is bolder than Tokyo.

Japan is a very fashionable country and vintage has gained popularity but mostly people combine vintage with modern pieces or go for a specific style like rockabilly rather than wearing vintage authentically. You have however chosen to stick to a more authentic style. Why have you chosen to do so and how do people react to your looks?

My closet mainly consists of clothing between 1930s and 1940s.The 1930s is important era in cultural history of 20th century. Replacing culture of 19th which had been ruled by aristocrats and landlords, new cultural trend had arrived. Through this era, the base of contemporary fashion style and dress code had been matured. I really did not want to be a COSTUME player who turns away from the modernity of after WW1. At the same time, recklessness of today’s fashion, which is not constrained by any dress code, brings discomfort to me. Meanwhile, there are many kinds of clothing in my closet. The dress used to be owned by a duchess, casual homemade dresses in war time era, and an old stock dress of mail order catalog company, .etc. I love everything of these dresses, the fabric, the sense of colors and the delicate sewing details are amazing. I enjoy mixing and matching them but I’m not concerned with those original value. So, my way of wearing vintage is absolutely free and based on modern spirits not obeying customs in past. I feel like that is a real pleasure of dressing vintage in our modern time.

My vintage looks often attract attention of others, especially on historical tourist spot like a classic hotel. Sometimes I get compliments from fashionable elderly persons and kids.

What do you think about vintage shopping in Japan? I mostly see 1960s and 1970s Japanese vintage clothing but never found any older pieces. Why are they so rare?

There are many vintage shops in Japan. However, I don’t often go to local vintage shop in recent years so I don’t know a lot of them. All I can say for sure, most of vintage items in those shops are clean, easy to wear for vintage beginners. Though they seem more pricey than other countries.

It’s actually impossible to come across the true Japanese vintage as most was destroyed in the WW2. The life of Japanese people was hard for several years after war. For these reasons Japanese vintage before ready-made clothes became popular (before 1960s) very rarely exist in fact.

Are vintage clothes are popular in Japan? Is there any particular style that is more popular than others? I often see rockabilly vintage girls but not as many from earlier decades like you?

No. not really popular. Certainly we see many second-hand clothing stores for re-use, but they are not so fashionable. There are also no one specific popular styles among vintage lovers in Japan. Why not earlier decades? In my personal opinion, modern people tend to prefer loosely clothes with stretch material rather than tightly fit. The vintage clothing before 1950s is cut closer to body. I guess it would be hard to accept its characteristic silhouette.

How do you feel about mixing vintage with modern clothes? I have seen numerous times Japanese women wearing vintage bed jackets as summer cardigans with jeans but rarely see head-to-toe vintage pieces.

That actually seems difficult for me. I feel that mixing vintage and contemporary clothes is more difficult than mixing different eras of vintage together. Modern mass-produced clothing doesn’t easily match with vintage. There is a great difference in fabric, pattern and sewing method between them. In contrast, I wear sometimes tailor-made clothes, they are also modern clothes and not are vintage reproductions, though they go well with vintage.

What do you think are the most sought after vintage pieces in Japan? 

That’s hard to say. Because vintage lovers in Japan have respective originalities and strong tastes. Some like rockabilly vintage, some wear American or European vintage with antique kimono, and others mix 1970s vintage and modern jeans, etc. The list is endless. Their needs are too various, more complex than general people. So, I can’t think of any right answer.

Is there a lot of WWII memorabilia still around in Japan? What about WWII-related clothing such as uniform? What is the general sentiment regarding these pieces?

Nowaday we can’t really see WW2 memorabilia. Japan is a defeated country. Most of　Japanese are conscious of a feeling of negative heritage about WW2. However, the prewar memorabilia remain even now. For example “Sailor fuku” (=sailor style uniform) for high school girl and  graduation gown for female university student, consisting kimono and overskirt called  “Hakama” were born in this era, they are still generally worn today . The pre-war Japan was very rich in culture.

We don’t see a lot of Asian vintage girls around, why do you think that is and do you have any advice for any other Asian girls who want to start wearing vintage?

In Asia, there used to be no role models of western fashion because of the undeveloped mass consumer culture. As an exceptional case, in Japan, western fashion lifestyle has become accepted ever since the prewar era . Nonetheless, for many Asian people, vintage clothing is still new culture.

If I was to give some advices for Asian girls who want to start wearing vintage: find a good quality shop and with knowledgeable owner. For beginners, it is not easy to buy vintage online, better to getting advice from experts . I myself havelearned many things from them.

If there is one thing that you want people to know about you, what will that be?

Since I started Instagram and etsy shop in 2016, I’ve met many vintage lovers all over the world. I’ m very content with my vintage fashion life. Furthermore, I’m thinking that I would like to embody the composite art that combines the fashion and music of olden times. Because the base of my aesthetic always presents in the music, though I am attracted to a lot of fields.

[hadarlaskey]

The Booksellers

In my student days, I worked for a year at a used bookstore on a small street in Madrid where all the shops, bar a design agency and a café, were rare booksellers. All the booksellers were friendly with one another, and would come in often into the shop trying to sniff out some interesting rarity who’s value we might not have been able to spot.

So you can imagine my excitement when DW Young’s documentary about this rare, fascinating breed of treasure hunter landed in my inbox. The Booksellers doesn’t focus so much on the different personalities and quirks of the collectors as it does on trying to find what makes rare booksellers tick, and unearthing the politics that make up the very particular New York book scene.

The film is narrated and executive produced by Parker Posey (the star of iconic librarian movie Party Girl), who became involved with the project as she was a regular at one of the bookstores.

We meet Dave Bergman, who can barely move in his apartment, crammed as it is with antique books from floor to ceiling; then there’s sisters Adina Cohen, Naomi Hample and Judith Lowry, who took over the family business of Argosy Book Store (and who totally demand a bookshop-set TV series to be based on them); and Rebecca Romney, who habitually nerds out about books on Pawn Stars and runs her own rare books firm.

While it paints a picture of the book scene in New York (including witty contributions by legendary commentators like Fran Lebowitz and Gay Talese), the most intriguing thing about the film is how it centres what makes a collector. With the hunt for a rare edition is transforming because of the online market and new voices coming onto the scene, with some people losing interest as the internet takes away the romantic, scavenger-like aspects of it.

The film does a lot to underline the ingrained sexism in this specialist world of rarities, first editions and specialist knowledge. Female and Black booksellers talk about the lack not of representation in the profession, but of the importance of their work as a form of conservation.

The inherent biases that exist with that space are brought to the forefront, with stories of women book dealers not being taken seriously, or not being credited for their work. The biases can manifest itself mostly in the content that’s being collected, because the act of collecting something is giving those items and those perspectives value. As Young puts it, “Rare book dealers and collectors play a fundamental role in preserving history.”

Like Syreeta Gates, who began collecting ’90s hip hop magazines while trying to find an article that hadn’t been digitised anywhere. That magazine became a collection, and she in turn became an archivist of hip hop culture. Or Heather O’Donell, owner of Honey & Wax Booksellers and founder of the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize, which encourages young women to “pay attention to the books that fascinate them, even if they’re not yet sure why.”

“The hunt” may be the driving force of the booksellers, but the film shows rare bookselling evolving into a form of curatorship – and that being the key of its evolution, survival and accessibility. Anyone who is interested in a particular subject area can become a collector. The most interesting collectors, the film posits, are people who see something others don’t.

The post The Booksellers appeared first on Little White Lies.

source https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-booksellers/

[goldeagleprice]

Q. David Bowers on Bill Bierly’s In God We Trust

(Pelham, Alabama) — In November 2019 Whitman Publishing will release William Bierly’s In God We Trust: The American Civil War, Money, Banking, and Religion. The 352-page hardcover volume will be available from booksellers and hobby shops nationwide, and online. Here, numismatic historian Q. David Bowers shares his thoughts on the book.

Bill Bierly’s In God We Trust is one of the most detailed, intricate, and fascinating books in the field of American numismatics—and in American history in general.

The national motto “In God We Trust” is familiar to all of us. Look in your pocket change or wallet and you will find it on every United States coin and paper bill. Before reading the manuscript to Bierly’s book I thought I knew all about the subject.

1864 two-cent piece, PF-65. Hover to zoom.

Some years ago I wrote an article, “God in Your Pocket,” for my local Presbyterian Church, telling of the motto’s use on coins. I knew it appeared on pattern coins in 1863 and in 1864 made its first appearance on a circulating coin, the bronze two-cent piece, a new denomination introduced that year. I had the obscure knowledge that “In God We Trust” is the motto of the State of Florida and was used on certain National Bank notes issued in that state in the second half of the 19th century.

I also knew that the $5 Silver Certificates of the Series of 1886 illustrate the reverse of a Morgan silver dollar of that year, with the motto as part of the design.

But what I didn’t know were 101 other details—make that many more than 101 different details—as to how the motto came to be, how it was used over the years, and the wide cast of characters in the Treasury Department and elsewhere who participated in its use on money.

All too often, books, newspaper columns, and magazine articles about popular subjects lack many details. For Whitman Publishing I wrote a volume on President Ronald Reagan, and I read every book and important study I could find. There were very few details about his personal day-to-day life. Not to worry about the historical personalities involved with “In God We Trust.” While you might not learn the names of the protagonists’ pet cats or their favorite dime novels, there is not much else missing in Bierly’s excellent narrative. Dozens of cast members play cameo roles and small walk-on parts.

It is probably correct to say that no other researcher could add to Bill Bierly’s efforts! He collaborated with professional numismatists, leaving no stone (or coin) unturned in the creation of this book. Commonly believed myths and misunderstandings he examined, debunked, and corrected. Hundreds of historical images were collected, many of which have never been published in a numismatic reference, to which have been added beautiful photographs of rare coins, patterns, tokens, medals, and paper currency, including close-ups of important characteristics. All of this required a lot of work, creativity, and careful attention to detail.

Further on the subject of detail: I enjoy learning about and digging deeply into previously unexplored subjects. I have written books on the Waterford Water Cure (a health spa in Waterford, Maine, that counterstamped coins as advertisements), The Strange Career of Dr. G.G. Wilkins (about a countertstamper who was a dentist, also operated a restaurant with a caged bear in front, and was suspected of passing counterfeit money and also burning down a neighbor’s barn), and, for good measure, books about Alexandre Vattemare (a French numismatist who visited America and became important to the development of libraries here), and Augustus G. Heaton (the teenaged coin dealer who founded the American Numismatic Society in 1858).

Each of these books was popular in its time, despite their obviously obscure subjects. Readers find satisfaction in a well-told story that brings new depth and insight.

That is precisely what we get with In God We Trust, debuting this holiday season. Anyone with a combined interest in American history and numismatics will find a new world of important information, fascinating details, and previously unconnected relationships.

2009 Abraham Lincoln commemorative silver dollar Uncirculated obverse.

The motto “In God We Trust” is hardly history alone. It is so much more, and it means different things to different people. Today there are vocal critics who feel that it has no place on coins or paper currency. For that matter, some believe that God has no place in public (and in some cases, private) life. On the other hand, many more people do indeed believe in the Supreme Being. Sometimes it just seems the naysayers get all of the publicity.

“In God We Trust” has appeared on American money since the Civil War. William Bierly tells how the national motto came to be. (Photographs courtesy of Stack’s Bowers Galleries and the United States Mint.)

Bill Bierly’s In God We Trust approaches the subject respectfully on all sides, with color, personality, dashes of humor, and dogged pursuit of the truth. He has given us a smorgasbord: There is a lot to choose from. If you are a collector and strictly so, with no interest in the million points where numismatics touches American history, you can simply immerse yourself in the coins, paper money, tokens, and medals. If you are like me, however, and enjoy every historical highway and byway connected to American money, you will read and find pleasure in the entire book from start to finish.

David Bowers is the award-winning author of more than 60 numismatic books ranging from 90-page monographs to 900-page encyclopedias, hundreds of auction and other catalogs, and several thousand articles including columns in Coin World, Paper Money, and The Numismatist. He is a past president of both the American Numismatic Association (1983–1985) and the Professional Numismatists Guild (1977–1979). In his 60-plus-year career in numismatics, he has earned most of the highest honors bestowed by the hobby community, including the ANA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and induction in the ANA Numismatic Hall of Fame.

In God We Trust: The American Civil War, Money, Banking, and Religion

By William Bierly; foreword by Q. David Bowers

ISBN 0794845282

Hardcover, 6 x 9 inches, 352 pages, full color

Retail $29.95 U.S.

About the Author

William (Bill) Bierly was raised on a farm near Walkerton, Indiana. As a child, he heard stories from his grandparents about two of his great-grandfathers who had served in the Civil War. This led to a lifelong interest in that war and that period of history. At about age eight, he began collecting coins from circulating change. Following high school Bierly attended Northwestern University for two years and then completed a degree in sociology and economic development with a minor in Chinese studies at Indiana University. He then worked in India for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in a dairy development project. Back in the United States, his interest in coins was rekindled. He soon went abroad again, working for three years in Osaka, Japan. Then in the United States, he operated a small business for five years, sold it, and entered graduate school, earning an MBA in finance from Indiana University and embarking on a 25-year career in commercial banking. With his overseas experience, Bierly focused on international banking, particularly Japanese corporate business and Asian correspondent banking. He began his career at the National Bank of Detroit, and he worked with J.P. Morgan Chase for much of his career; at various times at the bank’s Detroit, Chicago, and Columbus, Ohio, offices, as well as often traveling to Asia.

While thus engaged, Bierly continued to pursue his coin hobby, eventually specializing in Civil War–era coinage, in particular, pattern coins. Today he is active in several coin groups and clubs, most notably the Central States Numismatic Society, the American Numismatic Association, the American Numismatic Society, the Chicago Coin Club, the Michigan State Numismatic Society, and the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists, as well as the Civil War Token Society and the Liberty Seated Collectors Club. He sometimes exhibits his collection at major coin shows and frequently volunteers as an exhibit judge.

Bierly resides in LaPorte, Indiana. He has two children, Emma and Ken, as well as a granddaughter, Kiki.

About Whitman Publishing

Whitman Publishing is the world’s leading producer of numismatic reference books, supplies, and products to display and store coins and paper money. The company’s high-quality books educate readers in the rich, colorful history of American and world coinage and currency, and teach how to build great collections. Archival-quality Whitman folders, albums, cases, and other holders keep collectibles safe and allow them to be shown off to friends and family.

Whitman Publishing is the Official Supplier of the American Numismatic Association. As a benefit of membership in the ANA, members can borrow In God We Trust (and other Whitman books) for free from the Association’s Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library, and also receive 10% off all Whitman purchases. Details are at the website of the ANA.

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[agilenano]

Agilenano - News: #weeknightbakingbook’s birthday month

Announcing Weeknight Baking’s Birthday MonthMy first cookbook, Weeknight Baking, comes out exactly one month from now. There are 80+ recipes, 90% of which are brand-new (with the remaining 5% updates of beloved recipes from this space), with each recipe getting its own full-color image (shot by yours truly, to boot). It would mean the world to me if you pre-ordered a copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, or the indie bookseller of your choice (may I show my Portland pride by suggesting Powell’s?). If you do so, keep your receipts! Because to gear up for my book’s birthday, I’m going to be spending the month celebrating with a bunch of behind-the-scenes posts, recipe sneak peeks, and giveaways on Instagram, with exclusive ones for everybody who was wonderful enough to pre-order. And I know I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the making of the book, but hardly any time at all (save for an announcement post from several years ago) about what the book is actually about. Oops. So let’s go back to the beginning. What is Weeknight Baking?Throughout the years, many of you have asked me if there was a Hummingbird High cookbook in the works. I most likely smiled placidly (or impatiently, depending on my mood) and said something like, “I wish, but I really don’t have the time for that!” Because unlike most of my peers, I had a secret—I wasn’t actually a full-time baker and blogger. In fact, for many years, I ran Hummingbird High while maintaining a very traditional nine-to-five, 40-hours-a-week desk job: first in finance, as an analyst, and then in tech as a systems engineer. During that time, I was lucky and fortunate to achieve many successes that many folks dream of: I received two Saveur Magazine nominations that named Hummingbird High as one of the best baking and desserts blogs on the internet, I was invited to many trips across the country (and even across the world!) to attend food festivals and learn about brands and farms, I started earning enough income for the blog to qualify as a legitimate “side-hustle”, and so on. But working a traditional, full-time job in addition to blogging about baking at professional level meant that I didn’t actually have a whole lot of time to bake. Sure, I could bake on the weekends, but I liked to save that precious (and already very limited!) time for my friends and family. So that left me with weeknights. You know that weird and awkward amount of downtime you have, after you get home from work, you’ve made dinner, cleaned up, and completed all your chores? Most people spend that time vegging out in front of Netflix with a glass of wine, curling up with a good book or a host of Internet articles, or, hey, even sensibly going to bed early to get a good night’s sleep. But not me—there I was, still in the kitchen, trying to figure out how to bake layer cakes and pies and cinnamon buns in that short amount of time. Why I wrote Weeknight Baking The funny thing is, on Hummingbird High, with the exception of a cheery baker’s note now and again, I never candidly talked about what it was like to bake while balancing my job. As you guys know, my recipes were presented with beautiful pictures and meaningless chatter about my current mood or weekend plans. I rarely mentioned my struggles and time constraints; iIn fact, my previous blog agent of mine even encouraged me to hide those stories! Ridiculous, I know, but she was just encouraging me to present only the best parts of myself, especially since blogs are where everything is perfect and has all the time in the world to spend as they wish. But I know that’s not true—and that’s why I wrote Weeknight Baking. We’re all doing the best we can with what we have. So, what does that mean? It means that the recipes in the book are written in a way to fit everybody’s time-strapped schedules. Most recipes use ingredients that are already in your pantry and will have active times—that is, the time it takes to prep ingredients and actively go through the recipe steps themselves—of 30 minutes or less! For more time-consuming recipes like layer cakes and pies, recipes instruct you to make them over the course of a few nights so that you won’t be stuck in the kitchen for hours at a time (all without compromising flavor or quality, of course). Because that’s the secret behind Hummingbird High, and how I was able to make this cake and this pie and this tart all while balancing everything. And you can too. Get excited! Pre-order Weeknight Baking Pre-order Weeknight Baking here: Amazon Barnes & Noble Indiebound Powell’s Target #WeeknightBakingBook

Agilenano - News from Agilenano from shopsnetwork (4 sites) https://agilenano.com/blogs/news/weeknightbakingbook-s-birthday-month

[stringnarratives]

An Act of Shelf Discovery

[This post brought to you spoiler free and full of the blogger’s personal experience!]

In my third-ever post on this blog on March 23, 2017, I wrote about making the switch from physical books to e-books. For someone who loved (and still loves) the sensory aspect of physical books, it was a daunting challenge, but a necessary one: At the time, I would go on average 6 months between moves, had three shelves at my consistent disposal, and more books than I could count. Books lived in piles next to my bed, were stored in boxes in the closet, were forced upon my brother (who is also an avid supporter of this blog and probably reading this post: In which case, hi!) under the guise of “recommendations” so they could live in his space instead of mine. 

Fast forward two years and that habit has set in hard - I purchase between 85 and 90 percent of my books digitally now, even though some of the circumstances that made it necessary have thankfully expired (For the record, infrequent moving is an absolute joy!). In addition to a more compact, generally cheaper library that I abuse less and finish more, e-books have also contributed strongly to another new book-buying habit I’ve developed: Preordering.

In 2019, I made it a goal to learn more about my own literary consumption by forgoing the majority of traditional book shopping and preordering any new release that piqued my interest. Tracking each of my pre-purchases via color-coded spreadsheet (as one does, and indeed, must), I’ve thrown myself full-force into the new, and learned a lot in the process, both about the function of preorders in the publishing industry and about my own taste in literature.

The Purpose of Preorders

Before this experiment, my main experience with pre-orders had been primarily in relation to video games (I’m a sucker for midnight release downloads directly to my console) or limited edition media that I’m unlikely to procure without being proactive. I didn’t really know much about them beyond the consumer perspective, but being the chronic researcher I (clearly) am, I wanted to know what my new purchasing habit meant in greater context. 

To break it down, preorders serve two main purposes in the publishing industry. They are A) a promotional tool for authors and publishers to build hype for a book before it’s released and B) an indicator for stores to properly respond to a book’s demand.

A preorder’s promotional value could come from a few different avenues. As pre-order sales contribute to the release week sales total for a book (as mentioned in this Parnassus Musings post), they can be valuable fuel for books that rocket to the top of bestseller lists. For first time or less well-known authors, having a preorder page automatically create an additional searchable content and feeling of legitimacy for books in the promotional phase. The more people who pre-order the book are also potentially more people who would share about their pre-order with their friends.

For established authors, preorders often come from existing fans of a series or the author themselves, and serve as an indicator as to the activity of the existing fanbase, efficiency of an author’s platform for communicating with fans, as well as their interest in new work.

In 2016, the written script of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” became Amazon’s No. 1 preorder for the year, according to CNET, and topped Barnes & Noble’s chart as well, according to Rolling Stone. While the exact number of preorders was apparently not released, it makes complete sense that the number would be a big one. Pottermore (which Wikipedia describes as a “digital publishing, e-commerce, entertainment, and news company from J. K. Rowling” not limited to the popular virtual Hogwarts experience) released a bulletin early last year that over 500 million Harry Potter books had been sold in the 20 years since the first book’s release. 

In addition to their promotional function, preorders also serve as an indicator for a book’s popularity upon release. In a 2017 blog post to authors about the importance of pre-orders, Penguin Random House stresses that a high enough preorder number could “lead to retailers increasing their initial orders.” Last November, Barnes & Noble reported former first lady Michelle Obama’s memoir “Becoming” to be the most preordered book of 2018, according to The Washington Post.  This article in particular points out how booksellers prepare for a book’s popularity based on a preorder buzz, “bracing” for enormous numbers of books to fly off the shelves by bulking up their orders ahead of time.

Preorders are a function of marketing in the publishing industry - an opportunity to get readers in the door early, and get them to talk about a book before its release. In return, readers get discounts, bonuses, the satisfaction of knowing they’ll be one of the first members of the public to receive the work, and, very occasionally, some insight into who they are as readers.

Getting Shelf-ish

In the four-ish months (at time of writing), around 22 books have come to me through the preorder method. With 13 books total read so far this year, about 7 of them were preorders, both they and the books between them have plenty to tell about how I read.

My taste is more consistent in concept than it is in practice.

Anyone who’s stuck around String Narratives long enough will know that, across mediums, I’m big on a few genres: Science fiction, horror and satire, primarily. When I started preordering books as a part of this experiment, I thought it pretty safe to assume that if a book fell into one of those categories, there was a good chance I’d enjoy it. Which, for the record, probably still holds true. 

But one thing that I did notice early on in this experiment and didn’t expect at all was that I very, very quickly get bored with my own taste. I can get ahold of too much science fiction at once, too much horror. Both genres can get absolutely exhausting without a break between them - breaks I took naturally when purchasing books in a more traditional fashion without realizing. So, for all of those winter sci-fi reads I was so excited about started losing their appeal, I found myself turning to much different fare as a palate cleanser: YA fiction, books about food, and biography - three genres much lower on my radar which I ended up enjoying just as much.

Access to books is rarely the thing that keeps me from reading.

It is what it says on the tin. Where I’d previously easily blamed “not having anything to read” (a concept laughable to anyone who knows me, much less has lived with me and my books) for a lack of desire to consume printed work, I have to now own up to my truth. As books are on a similar mid-week release schedule as most other popular media, I get at least one book delivered to my e-reader most Tuesdays, which means there is always something to read. If I don’t want to read, it’s simply because I don’t feel like it. (Which is totally okay! Life happens and we roll with it.)

My library is built from recommendations.

Recommendations and reviews are my bread and butter when it comes to choosing what kind of media I want to ingest, and not always in the way you think. I typically rely on others to help discern the true atmosphere of a work when I’m easily caught up in cover art and promotional images. While books in the promotional stage are less likely to have a significant number of reviews, I still rely fairly heavily on Advance Reader Copy (ARC) reviews to estimate how much I’ll enjoy a book before preordering. Adding onto that, I get a lot of my book news from online outlets specifically dedicated to new book releases, including Verge’s monthly round-up of science fiction books and Book Riot’s whole entire site. 

My new release discovery time is anywhere between 1 month and 10 months.

Was I absolutely stoked to find out that my book of the year 2018 - Semiosis by Sue Burke - was getting a sequel? I absolutely was. Did I preorder that sequel nine months and 11 days before it’s projected to come out? I absolutely did. For authors I already know, love and follow, I’m happy to be that fan that lets everyone know I’ve already made the preorder. For authors I’m less familiar with, or who are debuting their first book, that ten month window might actually shrink to something more like ten days. It isn’t a hard and fast rule, but there certainly is something to being in the know when it comes to favorite authors’ upcoming releases - a result of great communication and even better marketing.

The narratives we consume say a lot about us. They speak to our loves, our fears, the places we want to go between the hours of our waking lives. We pass them along to those around us, intentionally or not. 

But as we become consistently more aware of how the stories around us shape our lives and mature in our understanding of how they fit into the world, we must also, I believe, recognize something else: The way we acquire narratives says just as much about us as the stories we choose to slip into. 

[skepticaloccultist]

The Devil’s Book Dealer

The Devil's Book Dealer, an interview with Richard Bishop

Richard Bishop may be better known as a guitar slinger in his superhero life, but to those with a book habit he happens to be one of the best antiquarian and obscure occult/esoterica book dealers in America. With an ever revolving catalogue of rare and incredibly beautiful occult volumes Bishop's stock is like a day dream for any book obsessed occultist.

I decided it was high time the esteemed dealer was put to a few questions about the nature of that devilish practice known as book dealing. He was kind enough to reply with only a slight hesitation in revealing his secrets.

  +++

  SO: What bet with the devil did you lose that made you end up becoming a seller of books?

RB: Old Scratch and I have been good friends since childhood. Back in our gambling days I won every time. Now I collect the souls. They've all turned out to be utterly useless. I became a used and rare bookseller by necessity after creating and managing a specialty bookstore that dealt only with in-print books on the subject of mountaineering. At some point customers began inquiring about material that was long out of print which forced me to start researching rare and antiquarian books through dealer catalogs and by visiting the used and rare shops in Seattle (there were a lot back then). In 1998 I attended the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar which is a week long crash course on the rare book trade, taught by some of the best antiquarian booksellers in the business. After that, I started locating harder to find mountaineering and Himalayan books and started my own business called Karakoram Mountaineering and Exploration Literature - sounds fancy doesn't it? During all this time I had a really nice personal collection of magic books including many rare titles. Since I was much more interested in esoteric subjects than I was about mountaineering, I eventually sold all the climbing books to other dealers, changed my business name (getting rid of 10 syllables in the process) and began specializing in occult books. It was a natural transition for me and I had an impressive starting inventory.

  Your stock, while generally under a couple of hundred books, seems especially curated (if you'll pardon the term). Are you particular about the titles you carry?

Yes, I have to be. In the past it was alright to have a large inventory - you had to in order to be taken seriously as a bookseller. That's not the case anymore. Besides, I can't have thousands of easily obtainable books laying around anymore. They take up valuable space and nobody buys them. If somebody contacts me about a book that I don't have and its easy to get at a decent price elsewhere, I'll encourage them to purchase it from another seller. l don't mind doing that with common books or books that are still in print. I try to offer books that are rare, or unusual in some way, and they don't always have to be occult books either. And while I still stock a few newer occult titles, I'm really interested in antiquarian material. I'll be the first to admit that I still buy the wrong books more often than I would like to admit. Old habits, you know. Here in Portland we have Powell's bookstore which at one time was an excellent source of inventory for booksellers. You could buy boxes of really uncommon and desirable books on a regular basis, at great prices. Now when I go there I'll grab a basket and start filling it up but after about an hour I'll look at what's in there, and say to myself: “what, are you crazy?” And nine times out of ten I'll put every one of those books back on the shelf because I realize I'll never be able to sell them. I should know better by now but it seems that I perform this dark ritual on a regular basis. I buy a lot of books online and for the most part I do pretty well but I do have to send books back every now and then because some sellers are not very forthcoming about a book's actual faults. I have to approach every purchase I make from a collector's viewpoint and unless a book is extremely rare, it has to be in nice condition. One thing I've learned over time, especially in the antiquarian realm, is that the best books usually come from the best booksellers.

  I know you pick up books in your travels as well. Any good stories of book hunting out in the world?

I probably have more bad stories than good ones. I used to have great adventures searching for books in India. Back in the 90s, when I was still dealing in the Himalayan books it was easy to find 19th century volumes that were originally published in England. Even the tiniest of book stalls could yield a treasure or two, often hiding behind a row of outdated Lonely Planet guides. Occasionally I would get wind of a store that dealt only in antiquarian books and I would have to search and search for their actual location because they always seemed to be in an inconvenient place and addresses in India sometimes don't make any sense. I found one shop on the outskirts of New Delhi after a half day looking for it and when I got there it was closed. It looked good from the outside so I tried again the next two days and the same thing happened. Business as usual. I kept trying and eventually there was someone there. The walls were lined with glass cases filled with books but the man wouldn't let me open any cases. Instead he had all the titles written in ledger books (there's no shortage of ledger books in India), in no particular order, just a number and a title, not even prices. I could hardly read the writing. He told me to go through the list and pick what books I wanted to buy. This didn't work for me so I told him I would come back another time. I returned a few days later and the owner was there and he was very kind. He said I could look at anything I wanted to. Once I opened the first glass case, I knew there was a problem. It turned out that about ninety percent of the books in the entire shop were covered in mold. On more recent India trips I've managed to do pretty well. There's certainly not a lot of western occult books over there but there is a tremendous amount of Tantric material and odd Hindu and Tibetan books that you just don't see over here - at ridiculously low prices. There were two shops in Varanasi that I frequented often. I made arrangements to have each of them ship multiple stacks of books. There was that slight feeling of dread thinking that I would pay for them and they would never arrive. It took over two months but they all showed up - several bundles of books - each bundle wrapped in corrugated cardboard, covered in plastic, inside a cloth sack which was sewn shut, tied with ribbon, with dozens of stamps affixed to the outside of the cloth, and all topped off with a wax seal. Not one bumped corner. No matter where I go I'll visit as many bookstores as I can. Sometimes I find books - sometimes I don't. London remains one of the best book cities in the world because of the number of antiquarian sellers who still have open shops there. Paris has been surprisingly good in the past but its been several years since I've been there. The last time I was in Italy I came across a number of booksellers that had great offerings - some very old books - but I was warned that I could get in trouble if I tried to take any out of the country. I'm not sure if that is still true but there was some weird law in place a few years ago.

  Your clientele seems pretty specific, and this crowd tends toward the obscure to start out with. Do you get requests for impossible things? Any amazing collectors or private library experiences that have blown your mind over the years?

Most of the want lists I have from clients contain books that usually can be found, but not always in the condition they're looking for. I've gotten requests for Athanasius Kircher first editions and some old alchemical titles, but the costs are usually higher than my customers want to pay. As for collectors, I've seen a couple of decent sized occult collections throughout the years. Not necessarily mind blowing but still impressive. I have one particular friend who has a very large occult collection but he won't let me anywhere near it. I think most collectors are very protective of their books. I can't blame them. I'm fascinated by different approaches to collecting - not just what people collect but why they may collect one thing over another. There are plenty who collect anything and everything while others have collections that are very narrowly focussed. Its good to know who has what. Its better to know which books people don't have.

    What is your personal library like? With dealers its generally all or nothing. Tell me about some of your own personal favorite titles and rare gems. Do you collect anything in particular bookwise?

Whenever I get asked about my collection, I refer to a quote from another bookseller (Mark Hime of Biblioctopus): "Book collecting was the maiden I loved. Book selling was the whore I married". I no longer collect and with the exception of a few battered reading copies I may have on hand at any given time, I have no personal library. It was just one of those decisions I had to make at some point. I may hold on to books for a short while to learn a little about them but every book that passes my desk is for sale. There's a fine line between being a collector and a bookseller at the same time. For me its a losing battle because I would want to keep the best books and then sell, or try to sell, the average (or easily replaceable) ones. If I have nothing good to offer I'm out of business. I mentioned the collection I had before I started selling occult books. I had a nice selection of Crowley first editions in great condition, Levi's books in French and English, most of Waite's works, a lot of 19th and early 20th century volumes on Ancient Egypt, Demonology, Freemasonry, and a fair amount of modern material. Its all long gone.

  Do you have any obscure authors who you are mad about that hardly anyone knows? I am myself fascinated by late 19th century author William Sharp, who created a fictional persona Fiona MacLeod and was a Golden Dawn member and Yeats contemporary. Totally forgotten now but a bestseller as MacLeod in his day.

I'm not familiar with William Sharp (or Fiona MacLeod) at all. I'll have to look into that. I've had some favorites over time but some aren't as obscure as they used to be. Gerald Massey would be the best example. I read his main works many years ago after seeing him cited by Kenneth Grant so often. Massey's word-play was just as crazy as that of Grant's (I mean that in the best way). The amount of research and the lengths he would go to in order to get his points across, whether they made sense or not, was impressive. James Forlong is another one. He wrote The Rivers of Life (1883), a massive two volume work (issued with a 7-foot long colored chart) in which he pretty much interprets all ancient symbolism and ritual in sexual terms. There's also Thomas Inman. He's worth looking into. I guess I like those who are able to compile and assemble fragmented bits of curious lore and turn it into something that may or may not be fully coherent. Is that wrong?

  The world of selling books has changed remarkably since the advent of the internet. From isolated booksellers to the mass market online sites like Abebooks. How has that affected you as a seller? Does it make finding obscure books for clients easier? Are the days of secret book lists gone or do you still find collectors and sellers who aren't on the internet?

There are still booksellers who aren't on the internet. They're just harder to find. Maybe they don't want to be found, or they've been at it so long they don't need to be. I receive catalogs and lists in the mail from several dealers, a few of which don't sell online, and others that may sell online but will put new acquisitions in a catalog first. They don't specialize in occult books but it isn't unusual for some to be listed every now and then. I've found a few good titles this way. I've also missed some. You have to act quick. A similar thing can happen at book fairs where many dealers will present new material for the first time. I think the internet has worked out best for the buyers. Lets face it, most people know how to use a search engine and any serious book person will know about the book listing services, regardless of how cluttered with crap most of them are. With a little time and effort they can get nearly any book they want without additional help from me or any other bookseller. They see a book listed, they buy it. That's just how it is, even with obscure titles. Maybe they'lI find a title I have listed but I only list my books on Biblio.com because that's the only service I like. But most people look elsewhere. I will no longer list books on Abebooks and will never sell on Amazon or any of the others. If buyers can't find what they're looking for because there are no copies available anywhere online - then offline options have to come into play and that's when booksellers can be of great assistance. They can utilize a lot of resources and often figure out where certain books are hiding. As a bookseller I've done okay with the internet. I still do the majority of my business online so I don't complain. Its just different than it used to be. In the late 1990s when I started listing books, I went from having a small mailing list of potential buyers to a worldwide customer base almost overnight - and everybody was buying. That was great while it lasted. Over time more and more books began appearing online and many that were once considered rare, or at least hard to locate, were showing up everywhere so prices began to drop. That's been the situation for years. I've just had to Adapt and change my approach.

    One of the focuses I have seen over the past few years in terms of material coming through your shop are titles that fall into the realm of "Talismanic" publishing. Kind of taking the deluxe book to the next level and making it into a magical object, a concept I believe contemporarily originates with Fulgur publishing and Robert Ansell. You must have some inside source for all of the incredibly rare books in that field that you seem to get your hands on.

I've had people offer me these special books every now and then and I have purchased quite a few from colleagues. The best inside source is from the publishers themselves. I don't actively pursue them as much as I used to but occasionally they'll show up. There are other established booksellers who can provide them much easier than I can, at prices that I think are pretty fair. Certain books will find me if they are supposed to. And I like the idea of a talismanic book, even though the term is an easy one to throw around and to question, and there may be some people who use the term rather loosely. They've become such a large part of the occult publishing world, and they're not going away. That being said, I think there may be some confusion as to what a talismanic book really is. The reason I bring this up is because I once displayed a particular title at a book fair and I provided a description card which stated, among other things, that it was a talismanic book. Bad idea. Somebody asked me how it was talismanic - what made it so? And I didn't know. Lesson learned. Maybe its a great secret and nobody is supposed to know. Some publishers have been willing to share ideas concerning their particular way of doing things, others have gone into great detail, and some have been more secretive - but you know they're good for it. I don't think its necessary to divulge any ritual trade secrets but the more information potential buyers have, the less they may want to brush it all off as a marketing scam. I'm also unclear if it is the author of a work that determines the nature of any ritual processes concerning the book, or if it is the publisher, or both. Are standard or trade editions treated differently from the deluxe editions? Are they all talismanic but some are more talismanic than others? Again, it may not matter to most people. It's just curiosity on my part - and yes, I've heard about the dead cat!

  That term "rare" gets thrown around a lot in occult book circles. There has been a surge over the past decade of so called "deluxe editions" being issued of contemporary occult work that ends up trading for eye watering amounts. Do you think there is an "investment bubble" with these titles that are only a few years old, yet trading for higher prices than actual 17th century editions?

I've watched this phenomenon very closely the last couple of years and it is surprising what some of these books have sold for. It's hard to say how it will all play out but I've noticed that prices have already started to come down on certain titles so I think the market may be in the process of correcting itself. It may still take a while but the wheels are in motion. I think most people who buy deluxe editions actually keep them. If people buy them as an investment in order to sell down the road and think they are going to get three or four times the original price, they may end up being disappointed. I think works by certain authors will still double in price easily and may go higher but for others its a crapshoot. Once its out of the publisher's hands, whoever sells the book first usually makes the most profit. If nobody buys it, it's priced too high. Everyone has seen the books on ebay being offered for outrageous prices. Occasionally somebody will buy one but most remain unsold. That being said, if someone is willing to pay a ridiculously high price for an item, its not the fault of the seller. It means that somebody really wanted that book. Everybody should be okay with that. Even with lower prices people may still complain (its a good thing they don't collect Modern First Editions), but it all starts with a level playing field. Anyone that is paying attention has a chance of securing any deluxe edition if they act quick enough. Publishers are good about announcing in advance when pre-orders will be accepted. Buyers need to make sure they're on all the mailing lists but even then some still miss out. Publishers could increase the limitation number or take pre-orders until people stop buying them but that sort of defeats the purpose of a special or deluxe edition. Another thing I've noticed is that some of the original pre-order prices seem to be increasing now as well. The cost of quality materials has probably gone up. How much does it cost to get python skins these days? Or stingray skins or wombat hides (I know a guy), or whatever else? Regardless, these editions are beautiful works of art and a lot of time and energy go into creating them, and it costs a lot of money to produce them. And even though it may take several months before the books are finished, more often than not, they're worth the price, and the wait. In regards to rarity you only have to look at the numbers. If there are only 81 or 66 or 27 or 11 copies (whatever the magic number is) of a specific edition, then yes, they're rare - even before they exist. I'm interested to see what happens with the prices over the next couple of years. In the meantime I might start buying those 17th century books.

  We are living through a renaissance in terms of occult publishing at the moment. When you look at the quality of material, both in terms of content and a book's design and binding, from the last 50 or so years of the 20th century its mostly trade paperbacks and watered down material. Now we are seeing a wave of great books bound in high quality and from a wide range of sources and traditions. With the grimoire republishing and translation of manuscripts starting to really come to the front as well, where do you see the future of occult publishing over the next decade or so?

Without a doubt, there are some truly venerable occult publishers who have shown themselves to be extremely knowledgeable about their craft, and have indeed produced some of the finest works to be seen in a long time. As to the quality of the items produced, and the subject matter presented, the standards have been very high. We've seen impressive scholarship and there's been a lot of newer (and younger) authors who are presenting unique original material. The smart publishers will continue in this direction and I'm sure they'll find new levels to take things to. They will thrive. I imagine there will be some pleasant surprises ahead. New publishers will enter the field as well - hopefully they've been taking notes. On the flip side, with all of the great material that has come out in the last twenty years or so, there has also been a lot of, lets just say, lesser material. That's not a new phenomenon at all but I think its possible that some publishers and/or authors may fall by the wayside if they don't step up their game a little. That would probably be a good thing but that's just my personal opinion. Regardless of the high quality or lack of quality that's out there - one of the best results to come out of all of this, is that more and more people are becoming interested and immersed in occult studies. It couldn't have come at a better time and I think that the numbers will continue to increase. As long as the books and the information they contain remain desirable, challenging, easy to acquire, and affordable, things will continue to change for the better. I'm hoping that the number of serious book collectors will increase as well. That would bode well for me, and it would be great for the book trade as a whole.

  You were working on a book at some point, ever manage to finish?

I'm not sure what you've heard. The short answer would be no. Even if it was finished, no publisher in their right mind would want to have anything to do with it. I have to go now. I need to see if I can get one of these talismanic books to clean my house.

  +++

Find Richard's freshly released catalogue of the incredible and obscure here:

Richard Bishop Bookseller - richardbishopbookseller.com

[startegypt49-blog]

Half Acre’s Far and Away Invitational is the City’s New Top Tier Beer Event

Half Acre’s Far and Away Invitational breathed a bit of life back into Chicago’s otherwise stale beer festival calendar this weekend.

Chicago can claim more than a few fun annual events and one world class barrel-aged beer festival, but for the most part, the tentpole gatherings have a heritage that stretches back a decade or more. So when Half Acre announced plans to host an invitational festival with a drop-the-mic lineup of brewers, I had a hunch we were looking at something really special.

The Half Acre team confirmed my beliefs this Saturday afternoon and evening with a lights-out array of some of the best breweries in the nation, pouring nothing but their finest beers for a crowd of very appreciative beer fans. At a couple points during the afternoon I was asked “what has your favorite beer been so far” and rather than recount basically everything I’d sampled up until that point, I remarked that it’d be easier to list the beers I hadn’t liked — because there were none.

Starting with an easily-accessible downtown location, Far and Away gave beer fans a wonderful place to indulge. The weather cooperated as well as you could ask for in mid-October in Chicago and while the layout favored the breweries on the outer ring (I was a half-hour into the fest when I realized there were breweries pouring at the center as well; that’s what I get for not bothering to look at the map) everyone kept moving and very few lines lasted more than a few minutes.

I dug that every brewery got a cool carved wooden sign from the Half Acre Build Co. which helped tie together the feel of everyone being here for a reason — that reason being that Half Acre wanted them there. Bringing in brewers from out of town that never distribute here is a legit pain in the ass — a fact we learned during the years we held our South of 80 event — so the array of beers from both coasts and all points between is an indulgence that isn’t lost on me.

No doubt, nearly $90 for a ticket is a steep price — Far and Away’s first outing was more expensive than a FoBAB pass or a GABF session ticket, for example — but nothing’s worth more to beer fans than being able to get something that they couldn’t have otherwise. A few of these brewers are regularly available in Chicago — this may have been the first fest I’ve been to where Three Floyds was almost an afterthought — but most were in town just for the weekend, and having them pouring in Chicago’s Front Yard is a rare privilege. That’s definitely a value that you don’t get at things like FoBAB or Beer Under Glass.

It was also wonderful to be at a festival where the quality:dollar ratio was skewed to the “ridiculously favorable” side. At the festivals I just mentioned you’re probably going to taste a lot of average beer. The brewers at F&A, clearly out to impress, all brought out some heavy hitters and I didn’t find a dud in the bunch. The list skewed heavy on strong stouts and big sours, hefty hazy IPAs and non-hazy IPAs (and a smattering of pilsners just for variety). The relatively limited number of breweries meant that you had a chance at trying something from nearly everyone, as opposed to the fests where you’re only going to get to try a slice of the pie.

Far and Away wasn’t trying to be the biggest festival. It wasn’t trying to be the craziest, most extreme festival. It was meant to be a nice day in downtown Chicago having beers with friends. It just so happens that many of those friends make some of the most sought-after beers in the nation.

Also: I’m so glad to take home a glass that isn’t a tiny little 2oz. taster pour. Thanks for the rad highball glass, Half Acre. This one’s going to get regular usage at home.

Far and Away Highlights:

Other than pretty much everything, you mean? Here’s some of the beers that I really loved and was glad to have available:

Green Cheek‘s West Coast IPA is Dead was one of the first beers I tried and the aroma was just massive — a wonderful beer that took Bronze in the IPA category at this year’s GABF.

Just steps from Green Cheek was Alvarado Street who came heavy with some 2018 GABF medals of their own — the Mai Tai IPA was fun but their Contains No Juice hazy DIPA was the business.

Do you think an imperial stout collaboration between Colorado darling WeldWerks and Chicago darling Mikerphone was probably pretty good? Yeah, that Sweet Disposition was pretty damn good. Silky smooth, super rich and sweet.

Though lines for Monkish and Side Project dominated much of the festival, if you checked out some of the more “sleeper” selections you weren’t going to be disappointed either. Columbus Brewing has been making great beer for years (we loved their flagship IPA enough to mention it on our first trip to Cleveland) and their Bodhi DIPA was no exception. Bright, fairly lightbodied for easy drinking and refreshing for a hefty beer.

A collaboration between Jester King + Scratch Brewing is almost guaranteed to top my must-have list and their spontaneously-fermented Abscission was as wonderfully fun and complex as I wanted it to be. I made a point to try the 100% spontaneously fermented Tender Buttons from New Jersey’s The Referend Bier Blendery which was also rich, fruity, tart and funky. I’m pretty sure I really liked Fonta Flora‘s Scuppadine wild ale too. That was a late pour for me and my palate was a bit … spent, shall we say, so here’s a pretty picture of their pour setup:

I always make it a point to track down the real outliers at a fest and Superstition Meadery sure counts as a weirdo at a beer fest. That said, both of the options I tried were choice; the bourbon-barrel aged Amante with coffee, cinnamon, hatch chiles and cacao was like no other mead I’ve ever tried (and the all-berries Cherion was delightful as well).

Were there pastry stouts there? Oh, yes, there were — and I can appreciate a well-crafted one. The Rice Proxi Treats, a collab between Other Half and Angry Chair with toasted rice, marshmallow and cacao lived up to the rice krispie promise. Cinnamon was a big flavor on Saturday — the Vanilla Sunday Brunch from Kane Brewing (whose beers I discovered at this year’s GABF just weeks prior) was very lightbodied for an imperial porter with vanilla, coffee cinnamon, maple syrup. Very well balanced, very tasty.

Wiseacre‘s Astronaut Status was also delicious, barrel-aged in Woodford Reserve oak with cinnamon and vanilla. Fremont Brewing’s Rusty Nail promised cinnamon and licorice and followed through on the cinnamon part mostly, which is good for them because I don’t love licorice in my beers. (Their fresh-hopped offering was also pretty delicious.) Finally, Jackie O’s Oil of Aphrodite felt old-school for just being aged in apple brandy barrels and brewed with walnuts. No cake! Shocking.

Even the stuff that could be considered more mainstream was great — TRVE’s mixed culture pale ale took a style that is usually pretty middle of the road and added layers of depth and complexity that was noticeable even after a couple hours of sampling. Similarly, Burial‘s fresh-hop pilsner allowed a ribbon of bright dank hop flavor to really sing through in a way that I didn’t get from basically anything else on hand all day.

So, yeah, Far and Away was fun. More than just being fun, though, it felt important. I felt like I walked away having learned something new about beers from around the nation and lucky to have done so. That’s a thing that you can rarely say for a beer festival these days.

Thanks for bringing us out, Half Acre. See you next year for sure. We hope.

More From Guys Drinking Beer

About the Author

Karl

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Karl has written about food, travel and beer for Chicago Magazine, Draft Magazine, Thrillist, Time Out Chicago and more. His book, Beer Lovers Chicago, is now available via Amazon and other booksellers. If you're buying, he's likely having a porter or a pale ale.

Source: https://www.guysdrinkingbeer.com/half-acres-far-and-away-invitational-is-the-citys-new-top-tier-beer-event/

[glenngaylord]

MAY THE FORGERY BE WITH YOU - My Review of CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (4 Stars)

Writer/Director Marielle Heller follows up her wonderful, visually daring DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL with the scabrous but less fanciful CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE?,  a terrific film notable less for its imagery and more for its writing and Oscar caliber acting.  Based on the true story of Lee Israel, an author hitting a career slump in the early 1990s and resorting to forging and selling letters from famous dead writers like Dorothy Parker and Noel Coward, the film stars Melissa McCarthy in a career-best performance and a rare dramatic, albeit still caustic and acerbic, turn.  

A heavy drinker, we first meet Lee displaying a bit of alcohol-induced profanity as she’s fired from her dead-end job.  Three months late on her rent and living with her cat in a feces-infested mess of a Manhattan apartment, Lee wears her anger and bulldozer personality as a badge of honor. Facing off against her neglectful, exasperated agent (a deft performance by Jane Curtin), Lee sees the writing on the wall, that she may be out of touch with what the public wants to read and needs to find another way to make money.  A chance occurrence when she stumbles upon a letter from Fanny Brice while researching a novel nobody cares about, Lee starts forging letters, embodying the character of legends, and sells them on the web-like market amongst book sellers and collectors.  Thus, begins the story of a woman who refuses to ignore her talent as a writer and get another soul-killing day job.  Typically, I would care very little for such entitlement, but McCarthy blazes through this film with such assurance and damage, you can’t help but root for her as she sustains this ruse.

Joining her in this con is Richard E. Grant as Jack Hock, a potentially homeless, hard drinking gay Fagan-esque creature who elevates Lee’s scam to a level of fantastical adventure. When we eventually discover Lee’s lesbianism, this pairing soars with their unique chemistry.  I was reminded of Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway in the underrated BARFLY, a tale of two down on their luck vagabonds who don’t quite recognize the unholy mess their lives have become.  Grasping at straws and on the verge of falling apart at any moment, Lee and Jack lift each other up with their hilariously nihilistic view of the world.

Obviously no good can come from the crimes the two commit, but I won’t spoil exactly what occurs. Along the way, they interact with a stellar cast.  Dolly Wells, so great on the short-lived HBO series, DOLL AND EM, brings immense empathy as a bookseller with perhaps more than a passing interest in Lee.  Their flirtations had a similar sexual frisson Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara brought to CAROL.  McCarthy’s real-life husband, Ben Falcone, almost unrecognizable here, oozes nefariousness and sleaze as a morally compromised book dealer, and Stephen Spinella squares off so well with our leads as a librarian with more smarts than initially presented.  

As I said earlier, the film doesn’t present itself as anything but appropriately drab, with Brandon Trost’s cinematography perfectly enhancing our main character’s inner life. There’s nothing showy about it, in fact, it’s fairly old school in style.  Same goes for the music, a Woody Allen-esque, old fashioned score by Nate Heller, which feels more like a missed opportunity than anything else.  I would have preferred something more somber, to reflect Lee’s mindset, but Heller goes for a jazzy, old Hollywood sound.  It’s intrusive, incongruent and feels like he’s trying to embody the music from early 90s films rather than serve his characters.  This talented composer, who did such a great job with DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL, may have overthought things here.  

It’s a minor quibble, however, when you have such a fun script by Jeff Whitty (AVENUE Q) and Nicole Holofcener (FRIENDS WITH MONEY), with equal amounts of heart and humor and thankfully a lack of sentimentality.  Add to that McCarthy and Grant firing on all cylinders, leading to a heartbreaking final act.  McCarthy has never exposed herself so fully as she does here.  Her Lee is fearless in her confidence but deeply afraid of starving on the streets.  When she looks back at this chapter in her life, she does so with such unflinching honesty, it took my breath away.  The final exchange of dialogue in this film, between her and Grant, is a master class in acting.  Laughter, tears, and awe.  That pretty much sums up this film too.