more books

I went by the used bookstore today. I found these three:

1. The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad. I heard that this book was banned in Germany because it was written from the point of view of Adolph Hitler, if Hitler had been a sci-fi writer instead of a dictator.
2. As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem. I liked Gun, With Occasional Music, but not quite as much as The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye. I like his stuff better than Michael Chabon's. I don't know why I compare the two. Perhaps because I've read 2 by each author and I've got another left to read by each.
3. Born to Rock by Gordon Korman. Another by my favorite YA writer. I couldn't resist the description on the back cover. A young republican falls from grace, finds out his dad is a punk rocker and becomes a roadie for his dad's band. On the front cover is a baby with a mohawk.

Vast Active Living Intelligence System

VALIS by Philip K. Dick

20 Minutes into the Future.

From Max Headroom

gun, with occasional music

gun, with occasional music

by Jonathan Lethem

books for beginners

Thanks for this pic, boing boing!

adult books

mein kampf

Strange Attractors

Strange Attractors by William Sleator

aspiring author

I started a new blog this week. It's called "scenes from nowhere", and it's all short stories, written by me. I have another writing blog that I've been working on for a while, called "Green Twilight". That one is a science fiction novel that I originally started for NaNoWriMo, but failed to complete it before the one month deadline. However, I continued to write on it, off and on, ever since. I realize that I am not the greatest writer in the world. I'm certainly good at procrastination, otherwise I'd have finished Green Twilight long ago and started on another novel. Also it's difficult to continue writing on the same work, constantly for weeks or months at a time. I started the new blog, specifically as a place to put the best little short stories I could muster in one place. Instead of having them lying around in old notebooks all over my house. I publish them now in the hopes that they will be read and enjoyed and perhaps, one day be published in true book form.

Bad Monkeys

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
This is not the same cover as the one I have.
I did a google image search for this book and liked this one better.
I have the yellow cover with what looks like 4 Darth Vader helmets,
from a distance.

at the library 7

currently reading

A Model World

and other stories

by Michael Chabon

chicks dig sci-fi

Ray Bradbury

10 future reads

I went shopping for used books today at my favorite bookstore. Seems like it's been months since the last time I went out there. I only bought nine books, but I was tempted to buy a lot more. Here's what I ended up with:

1. Victim Prime by Robert Sheckley. This has been up there for a while, but I didn't buy it because I wasn't sure it wasn't the same book as Hunter/Victim by the same author. Apparently this one is the sequel to the 10th Victim, which I've read and enjoyed.
2. Choose Your Own Adventure #21 Hyperspace by Edward Packard. I used to love these things when I was a kid. I don't remember this one, so I bought it. I was tempted to buy another one called You Are a Monster, but I resisted the urge.
3. Strange Attractors by William Sleator. I've got a lot of new ones by this author, stacking up for me to read. The description from the back cover sounds like an episode of Doctor Who. Speaking of the Doctor...
4. Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks. The number of Doctor Who books has suddenly exploded at Gardner's. Last time I was up there, there were only a couple. Now there's a couple dozen. This one's one of my favorite episodes, so it's the only one I bought.
5. Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad. Having finally finished Little Heroes after so many years, I decided to look into this author and found a surprising number on the shelf. I selected this one, having heard that it's his most famous novel.
6. A Model World and Other Stories by Michael Chabon. I really like short stories. I could have had the one he won the Pulitzer for, but they had 3 copies of that one and only one of this, so I grabbed it. The best book of the year that I've read so far was the collection of short stories by Jonathan Lethem.
7. Go Jump in the Pool! by Gordon Korman. Another Bruno and Boots book by one of my favorite young adult writers. I'm trying to re-assemble my collection of these books that I used to have when I was a kid.
8. The Shamutanti Hills by Steve Jackson.
9. Khare' - Cityport of Traps by Steve Jackson. This one and the one above are game books, similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. These actually require dice, pad of paper and a pencil. I know I used to have one of these in high school. I had forgotten all about it until I saw these on the shelf today.

Also I visited B&N acouple of days ago and I found a copy of Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. I might read that one next, but if I don't I might read that collection of short stories by Chabon next...

Cassie Wright