Just found a small cache of Vintage Science Fiction, some H Beam Piper titles; I think these are from the 80's reprints, not the originals. Ace bought the copyrights from his estate, and reprints were supposedly an important part of their revenue stream for many years.
From his "Federation" Future history Series:
Four Day Planet and Lone Star Planet (340 pages) (Copyright 1961, 1st Ace Printing 1979) ($2.25)
Space Viking (243 pages) (1963 Ace Copyright) ($1.50)
There are at least two other titles in the series, plus the Little Fuzzy books. What is most interesting is how short these classic Space Opera's are. Space Viking could be stretched to at least a trilogy with six times the page count, but manages to tell a satisfactory story in a very efficient manner.
The "Paratime" Alternate Earth series:
Paratime (1981) ($2.25)
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (249 pages) (1965 Copyright) ($1.50)
Great Kings War by Roland Green and John F. Carr (357 pages) (March 1985) ($2.95)
Paratime and Lord Kalvan are some of the ur-series of Alternate Earths; Again, very compact and efficient story telling, even then the pressure to expand a successful series is present with Great Kings War, I believe 1985 is the original publication date.
And of course the rising prices, remember this is during the Reagan Administration, when the Minimum Wage was stuck at $3.25 and hour.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Christian Prepper Porn
I really don't know what else to call it. Regularly dealing as a volunteer librarian qith older women who only read Inspirational (Christian) Romance and books with related themes, well, I guess every literary taste has it's market niche.
But I saw this one at Barnes & Noble in Hardback last year, a large display (a full shelf in "Featured New Books"), and now it is available in Trade Paper, before the transition to mass market.
That's a decent amount of Author Kibble as Charles W. Stross would say.
It was just so shockingly BAD, both as to themes and background. First step Hyperinflation destroys the Federal Government and it disappears (I mean, like TOTALLY, no remnant presence at all) while 200 million or so die off in the resulting "unrest" and disease. Conveniently sparing our protagonist's most of whom have really lovingly described tricked out high end assault weapons of the AR15 sort.
What happened to all the Government Drones in Washington? Every Member of the Presidential Line of Succession Dead (well, disappeared in embarrassment at least), not a single State Constitutional Officer or Senator or Congressman survives?
Maybe the Military dealt with them summarily before deserting en masse? (the Author's "Explanation" for the absence of the American Military is mass desertion). Self Demobilization, and there is an ancillary volume describing one individuals adventures retuning from EUCOM. Based on reading the cover teasers, enough is enough.
I understood the US military stocked enough combat rations (MREs, or whatever the new model is called) to support operations for six months. Certainly no reason to desert en masse within days.
Various adventures ensue, a couple of easy triumphs over really bad people Tattoo's, Motorcycles, poor hygiene and poor tactics usually feature for the bad people, superior marksmanship will always triumph, it will (literally) be just like potting deer from a tree stand Mandatory brief prayer over the bodies, next adventure.
Then they restore the (a) Federal government, disposing of the Gun Grabbing UN Puppets, etc.
With some really weird constitutional amendments, morality (of course), and writing a balanced budget and hard money fantasies into the new & improved document.
OK, the setup does not even survive taking a quarter step backwards; And the resolution is equally bad. But someone must be gobbling this stuff up, I found it difficult to read more that ten or fifteen pages at a time, and probably skipped 20-30% of the text.
Hyperinflation, Really. (In weeks). And general civil breakdown. Well, possibly if "Heck of a Job" Brownie was in charge of FEMA.
It's the people who "believe" this is an accurate forecast of our potential future that scare me.
I could deal with William W, Johnstone's USA vs Militia Fantasies and his snide remarks about the bumbling ineffective philanderer and his Unelected Czarina Wife and her insidious health care plan.. In the 1990's those were (and probably still are) confined to the Men's Adventure Trash Paperbacks section. I tried to read one of the "Left Behind" novels (Once), so poor an understanding of how military systems operate, I could not pursue it. Example, Attack Helicopters are NOT fueled by Gasoline, and do not Explode Hollywood Style.
This stuff is presented as sort of mainstream "Literature".
Update: Another release in the "Series" seen today (10/5/2013) on the New Releases Counter.
But I saw this one at Barnes & Noble in Hardback last year, a large display (a full shelf in "Featured New Books"), and now it is available in Trade Paper, before the transition to mass market.
That's a decent amount of Author Kibble as Charles W. Stross would say.
It was just so shockingly BAD, both as to themes and background. First step Hyperinflation destroys the Federal Government and it disappears (I mean, like TOTALLY, no remnant presence at all) while 200 million or so die off in the resulting "unrest" and disease. Conveniently sparing our protagonist's most of whom have really lovingly described tricked out high end assault weapons of the AR15 sort.
What happened to all the Government Drones in Washington? Every Member of the Presidential Line of Succession Dead (well, disappeared in embarrassment at least), not a single State Constitutional Officer or Senator or Congressman survives?
Maybe the Military dealt with them summarily before deserting en masse? (the Author's "Explanation" for the absence of the American Military is mass desertion). Self Demobilization, and there is an ancillary volume describing one individuals adventures retuning from EUCOM. Based on reading the cover teasers, enough is enough.
I understood the US military stocked enough combat rations (MREs, or whatever the new model is called) to support operations for six months. Certainly no reason to desert en masse within days.
Various adventures ensue, a couple of easy triumphs over really bad people Tattoo's, Motorcycles, poor hygiene and poor tactics usually feature for the bad people, superior marksmanship will always triumph, it will (literally) be just like potting deer from a tree stand Mandatory brief prayer over the bodies, next adventure.
Then they restore the (a) Federal government, disposing of the Gun Grabbing UN Puppets, etc.
With some really weird constitutional amendments, morality (of course), and writing a balanced budget and hard money fantasies into the new & improved document.
OK, the setup does not even survive taking a quarter step backwards; And the resolution is equally bad. But someone must be gobbling this stuff up, I found it difficult to read more that ten or fifteen pages at a time, and probably skipped 20-30% of the text.
Hyperinflation, Really. (In weeks). And general civil breakdown. Well, possibly if "Heck of a Job" Brownie was in charge of FEMA.
It's the people who "believe" this is an accurate forecast of our potential future that scare me.
I could deal with William W, Johnstone's USA vs Militia Fantasies and his snide remarks about the bumbling ineffective philanderer and his Unelected Czarina Wife and her insidious health care plan.. In the 1990's those were (and probably still are) confined to the Men's Adventure Trash Paperbacks section. I tried to read one of the "Left Behind" novels (Once), so poor an understanding of how military systems operate, I could not pursue it. Example, Attack Helicopters are NOT fueled by Gasoline, and do not Explode Hollywood Style.
This stuff is presented as sort of mainstream "Literature".
Update: Another release in the "Series" seen today (10/5/2013) on the New Releases Counter.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Commenting on Krugman "The Wonk Gap"
Today's New York Times column from Paul Krugman is about "The Wonk Gap"
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/opinion/krugman-the-wonk-gap.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
Nothing new here really, just more about the reality gap affecting the Republican Party.
My comment was submitted about 10:15 (2315 Eastern, Sunday, 9/8/13), plenty of time to be posted and maybe get a decent number of approvals. No, mine was finally released into the wild at 9:30AM Monday Morning, presumably along with all the others emphasizing that what the Republicans have is a problem with the facts. Because not one of those made it into the top twenty or so of Reader Recommends.
The Gray Lady seems to be going a bit far in emphasizing balance, only one of the "NYT Recommends" made it into the top ten (And it's sinking, as relevant a personal anecdote as it may be).
Even readers and commentators are not allowed to call the Republican Lies what they are.
Plenty of mentions of George Orwell down in the weeds too, my Dad would have loved it.
And if you go down in the weeds and start reading the "all" comments, a scary number of people who still take their facts only from Fox news.
Oh, and the odd clueless one about how maybe it is appropriate to be conflicted about Syria.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/opinion/krugman-the-wonk-gap.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
Nothing new here really, just more about the reality gap affecting the Republican Party.
My comment was submitted about 10:15 (2315 Eastern, Sunday, 9/8/13), plenty of time to be posted and maybe get a decent number of approvals. No, mine was finally released into the wild at 9:30AM Monday Morning, presumably along with all the others emphasizing that what the Republicans have is a problem with the facts. Because not one of those made it into the top twenty or so of Reader Recommends.
The Gray Lady seems to be going a bit far in emphasizing balance, only one of the "NYT Recommends" made it into the top ten (And it's sinking, as relevant a personal anecdote as it may be).
Even readers and commentators are not allowed to call the Republican Lies what they are.
Plenty of mentions of George Orwell down in the weeds too, my Dad would have loved it.
And if you go down in the weeds and start reading the "all" comments, a scary number of people who still take their facts only from Fox news.
Oh, and the odd clueless one about how maybe it is appropriate to be conflicted about Syria.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Insulted at the Library
Again.
I was seeking help downloading (their) ebooks to my new Nook at the reference desk. Not much help there, a nice printed guide, but it turns out you need to first download to a (Desktop?) computer and then load them in the device. One of my comments about the (lack) of electronic interconnection, I have a Digital New York Times (NYT) Subscription (So I can sit at home and read it....), but this is separate(?) from the Nook, i.e., I would need a second (digital) subscription to read it on the Nook.
Then the Reference Librarian said something negative about the contents to be found in the NYT. OK, she is probably not a "real" reference librarian (no MLS), but still. And then this patron (I am familiar with from another context) standing behind her chimed in and seconded her negative comment. I am familiar with the Patron from his tendency to set the "homepage" of other public access computers to the Drudge Report.
I was seeking help downloading (their) ebooks to my new Nook at the reference desk. Not much help there, a nice printed guide, but it turns out you need to first download to a (Desktop?) computer and then load them in the device. One of my comments about the (lack) of electronic interconnection, I have a Digital New York Times (NYT) Subscription (So I can sit at home and read it....), but this is separate(?) from the Nook, i.e., I would need a second (digital) subscription to read it on the Nook.
Then the Reference Librarian said something negative about the contents to be found in the NYT. OK, she is probably not a "real" reference librarian (no MLS), but still. And then this patron (I am familiar with from another context) standing behind her chimed in and seconded her negative comment. I am familiar with the Patron from his tendency to set the "homepage" of other public access computers to the Drudge Report.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Letter Carrier Food Drive
Why?
Last weekend was the Annual Letter Carrier Food Drive, and every Walmart has a donation box permanently installed for food donations. If our economy is so wonderful, why do we have ANY problem with hunger in this country?
Just saying.
Last weekend was the Annual Letter Carrier Food Drive, and every Walmart has a donation box permanently installed for food donations. If our economy is so wonderful, why do we have ANY problem with hunger in this country?
Just saying.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Barefoot and Pregnant
Seen in Walmart #1 Saturday Evening (4/6/2013).
Honest.
Complete with Tattooed ("Normal," not prison ink) partner in a wife beater.
Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up.
Honest.
Complete with Tattooed ("Normal," not prison ink) partner in a wife beater.
Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Matchbox Die Cast Toys
Another great global brand trashed by the clueless corporate drones.
Had occasion to read some blogs on the subject recently (Matchbox Cars), could not find any with regular posters from the US, mostly Europeans and Australians. Which of course is part of the problem at Mattel, they see it (Matchbox) as a competitor/cannibal on their Hot Wheels (HW) product, rather than as a complementary brand that has ALWAYS outsold Hot Wheels in the Rest of the World (RoW); So Domestic (US) Hot Wheels gets the investment, and the RoW is supposed to be converted to HW; Minimal support or development of the Matchbox product.
Well, it does leave a market niche for Maisto, Siku and others.
Mattel doesn't care (about Matchbox), as several posters remarked. Yes, it is a "Different" world; Part of it is how you present the issue, corporate interests want a license fee for any vehicle. What about the free advertising benefit of having Corvettes and Mercedes Benz in the three year old hands? Sure it is a deep, long range investment. So? Not everything produces a profit in the next quarter.
Why is this relevant? I was in Walmart #1 idly checking out the toys, specifically the Matchox. Very disappointing, nothing but "Non-Prototype" product on the hooks, with about ten times (or more) space devoted to Hot Wheels. Then another adult came in obviously searching for collectibles. He spent about ten minutes browsing the Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning, then briefly glanced at the Matchbox, then went back to searching the (overfull) Hot Wheels Pegs. As far as I could tell, he didn't buy anything either. Now, if EITHER range had contained something appealing, we both would probably have spent a couple of bucks.
Prototypes (Licence) Product folks. Persuade the auto firms to licence for a token payment, it is FREE ADVERTISING for their brands.
Had occasion to read some blogs on the subject recently (Matchbox Cars), could not find any with regular posters from the US, mostly Europeans and Australians. Which of course is part of the problem at Mattel, they see it (Matchbox) as a competitor/cannibal on their Hot Wheels (HW) product, rather than as a complementary brand that has ALWAYS outsold Hot Wheels in the Rest of the World (RoW); So Domestic (US) Hot Wheels gets the investment, and the RoW is supposed to be converted to HW; Minimal support or development of the Matchbox product.
Well, it does leave a market niche for Maisto, Siku and others.
Mattel doesn't care (about Matchbox), as several posters remarked. Yes, it is a "Different" world; Part of it is how you present the issue, corporate interests want a license fee for any vehicle. What about the free advertising benefit of having Corvettes and Mercedes Benz in the three year old hands? Sure it is a deep, long range investment. So? Not everything produces a profit in the next quarter.
Why is this relevant? I was in Walmart #1 idly checking out the toys, specifically the Matchox. Very disappointing, nothing but "Non-Prototype" product on the hooks, with about ten times (or more) space devoted to Hot Wheels. Then another adult came in obviously searching for collectibles. He spent about ten minutes browsing the Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning, then briefly glanced at the Matchbox, then went back to searching the (overfull) Hot Wheels Pegs. As far as I could tell, he didn't buy anything either. Now, if EITHER range had contained something appealing, we both would probably have spent a couple of bucks.
Prototypes (Licence) Product folks. Persuade the auto firms to licence for a token payment, it is FREE ADVERTISING for their brands.
Monday, February 11, 2013
KUAF NPR Self Censorship
OK, just cruising along this afternoon listening to All Things Considered, an interesting piece about sustainable fisheries, etc. (Old news- I've read the literature).
Wham, they mention Walmart (Someday I will write about their green washing campaign), promptly at 3:45 they insert a tape (?) of all their forthcoming features and lame public service announcements. Preempting the Walmart portion of the story. I have already heard their PSA tape multiple times. Five Minutes worth, so it is pretty obvious what they have done when they returned (without explanation) to the ongoing story.
Pathetic.
It will be a long time before I pledge any support for them.
Recommended Starting Point, Cod by Kurlansky. Wonderful little book, also the recent Five Fish.
Wham, they mention Walmart (Someday I will write about their green washing campaign), promptly at 3:45 they insert a tape (?) of all their forthcoming features and lame public service announcements. Preempting the Walmart portion of the story. I have already heard their PSA tape multiple times. Five Minutes worth, so it is pretty obvious what they have done when they returned (without explanation) to the ongoing story.
Pathetic.
It will be a long time before I pledge any support for them.
Recommended Starting Point, Cod by Kurlansky. Wonderful little book, also the recent Five Fish.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Ebay shipping Rant
For those that didn't notice (Like me), sometime last spring ebay started charging an 11% Final Value Fee (FVF) on the Shipping Invoice.
If they sent me a message about this important change, I sure missed it.
Then, again this morning, I had a Foreign Order where the shipping was discounted at the DOMESTIC rate. Big difference between $2-3 and $.75, my domestic multi piece shipping add on.
I don't mind eating a dollar or so out of my margin on multi piece orders, but between the 11% and the ever rising cost of foreign shipping, this guarantees I LOST money on several otherwise nice recent foreign orders.
Oh, and all the Cheap Charlies out there that want to pay the "Actual Cost" of shipping, how about the BOX and TAPE and $.15 to print out the mailing label?
Update (March 22, 2013); Well, as expected, foreign sales, other than a few to Canada, have almost entirely ended, now that I have realistic foreign postage costs posted.
Update (September 2013), shipping FVF is now the "Standard" 10%, with foreign orders being invoiced to the seller at their posted domestic rate. But I am still getting resistance from customers at my realistic shipping charges. I will write further about this above.
If they sent me a message about this important change, I sure missed it.
Then, again this morning, I had a Foreign Order where the shipping was discounted at the DOMESTIC rate. Big difference between $2-3 and $.75, my domestic multi piece shipping add on.
I don't mind eating a dollar or so out of my margin on multi piece orders, but between the 11% and the ever rising cost of foreign shipping, this guarantees I LOST money on several otherwise nice recent foreign orders.
Oh, and all the Cheap Charlies out there that want to pay the "Actual Cost" of shipping, how about the BOX and TAPE and $.15 to print out the mailing label?
Update (March 22, 2013); Well, as expected, foreign sales, other than a few to Canada, have almost entirely ended, now that I have realistic foreign postage costs posted.
Update (September 2013), shipping FVF is now the "Standard" 10%, with foreign orders being invoiced to the seller at their posted domestic rate. But I am still getting resistance from customers at my realistic shipping charges. I will write further about this above.
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