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Category: Literature

Outlook for Pencil Sharpeners

This book by Philip Parker seems like a bargain for only $795, but since it doesn't discuss letter handling machines, I'm going to have to pass:

The 2007-2012 World Outlook for Electric Pencil Sharpeners, Staplers, and Other Electric Office Machines Excluding Mailing, Letter Handling, and Addressing Machines
Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Jan 05, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (13)
Category: Literature

Dominic:  Lords of Satyr

I can't wait to rush out and purchase this scintillating tome.

Here's the publisher's description of book and author:

Synopsis

They are Satyrs, men endowed with legendary carnal knowledge who demand total and complete control with their sexual prowess.

A Night Of Bliss

Emma anxiously awaits her husband's return home to Tuscany on Calling night. She hopes that the night-long copulation will draw them closer together for she questions whether they truly love one another. But when Carlo arrives, injured in battle and unable to perform, she learns she must mate instead with Dominic, a lusty, royal Satyr. It is a night of hedonistic passion that leaves her wanting much, much more.

A Moment Of Rapture

Like other Satyr lords, Vincent is driven to mate from dusk to dawn every Calling night. But as a bachelor, Vincent must conjure a female from the mist who will satisfy his sexual needs. While his brothers summon a different partner with each full moon, Vincent calls upon the same one time after time. He wants her to experience the same erotic pleasure he feels and one night she does-the magic is real.

Biography

A museum junkie with a fascination for Greco-Roman artifacts, art historian Elizabeth Amber was inspired to write the Lords of Satyr series by her studies in ancient urns, frescoes, and amphorae decorated with lusting satyrs, maenads, and Bacchus (or Dionysus) celebrating the annual grape harvest. Elizabeth lives in North Carolina with two cats and a husband.




Posted By: Paul | Date: Tue Dec 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (24)
Category: Literature, Fantasy, Myths and Fairytales, Writers, Sexuality

Teen Devotionals

Some examples of the curious genre of the Teen Devotional:

Can I Be a Christian Without Being Weird?
I'm not sure, but what I want to know is, can I believe in giant space lizards without being weird?

Fifty-six Days Ablaze
Fifty-six days burning in the fiery pits of Hell!

Anybody Can Be Cool-- But Awesome Takes Practice
These guys are still practicing.

If God Loves Me, Why Can't I Get My Locker Open?
First your locker won't open, then you get left behind during the Rapture. Sucks to be a Christian.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Wed Nov 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (44)
Category: Literature, Religion

Di Filippo & Woodring Book Signing

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I'll be away in Seattle from Friday October 10 through Monday October 13, attending the launch party of my new novel, Cosmocopia. But I've stacked up four posts in the queue, all new FOLLIES OF THE MAD MEN. Enjoy!
Posted By: Paul | Date: Thu Oct 09, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (8)
Category: Literature, Books, Science Fiction, Travel, Weird Universe, Paul

Smoki Bacon

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And yet more bacon!

Smoki Bacon, that is, glamorous NYC and Boston socialite and literary bon vivant.

How could Smoki's Zelig-like presence at all the great intersections of literary history have escaped me till this very moment?

Sample the tasty Bacon yourself in this highlights reel from her cable-TV show with Dick Concannon.





Posted By: Paul | Date: Sun Sep 28, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Category: Celebrities, Literature, Writers, Odd Names, Television

The 10th Victim

This article in today's NEW YORK TIMES tells us about "Street Wars," a game played in urban environments by players determined to "kill" each other. Several precedents for this game are cited in the article, but the writer misses the most important and primal one: A 1953 story by famed and beloved SF writer Robert Sheckley, titled "The Seventh Victim."

The story was later filmed as THE 10TH VICTIM. Its most famous scene: Ursula Andress using guns concealed in her bra, as seen in the second clip below.



Contortionists

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I started thinking about contortionists again when I happened upon a feature on them in an old issue of Life. In my novel Spondulix I had a character who was an "enter-ologist," a great term I found in Ricky Jay's wonderful history of sideshows and freaks, Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women. Enter-ologists get into impossible places, rather than escape from impossible places.

In any case, a short search of the web turned up lots of online contortionist info, including the Contortion Home Page, which is where I found this pic of April Tatro. That's her in the video below as well.



Posted By: Paul | Date: Fri Sep 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (11)
Category: Body Modifications, Entertainment, Human Marvels, Literature, Books, Science Fiction, Performance Art

World D

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Here's another strange book I purchased but have not yet read. The real author is Joseph K. Heydon, using the pen-name of Hal Trevarthen. Time has swallowed up all details related to Heydon and his book, leaving us only with the text itself.


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Here's the description from the amazingly ugly dustjacket.


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Here's the title page, followed by a sample of the actual bafflegab inside.


image Posted By: Paul | Date: Thu Sep 11, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (17)
Category: Aliens, Eccentrics, Government, Inventions, Literature, Books, Science Fiction, Writers, Nature, New Age, Paranormal, Pop Culture, Yesterday's Tomorrows, Self-help Schemes, Science, Psychology, Foreign Customs, 1930's

Nancy Luce, Chicken Lady of Martha’s Vineyard

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A few years ago, visiting the island of Martha's Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast, I learned of Nancy Luce (1814-1890). An eccentric loner artist who self-published her own poetry--mainly devoted to her beloved pet chickens--and buried the birds with fully engraved headstones, she is the subject of a biography still available on the island at various gift shops: Consider Poor I by Walter Magnes Teller. You can read what The New York Times had to say about the book here. You might even be so moved as to purchase a lovely woodcut print of Luce here.


Perhaps we should commemorate Luce with a sample of her poetry:

POOR LITTLE HEARTS
Poor little Ada Queetie has departed this life,
Never to be here no more,
No more to love, no more to speak,
No more to be my friend.
O how I long to see her with me alive and well,
Her heart and mine was united,
Love and feelings deeply rooted for each other,
She and I could never part,
I am left broken hearted....




Posted By: Paul | Date: Wed Sep 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (20)
Category: Animals, Domestic, Eccentrics, Literature, Books, Writers, Regionalism, Nineteenth Century

Misspellings

Researchers at Collins Dictionaries have identified some of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language. At the top of the list is supercede, closely followed by liquify. The correct spellings are supersede and liquefy. I confess I've been misspelling those two words my entire life.

In other misspelling news, Loren Coleman suggests that an early clue the Georgia Bigfoot body was a hoax was that the hoaxers consistently misspelled Bigfoot, spelling it "Big Foot." One of them had a towing company called "Big Foot Towing." Loren writes:

When someone is alluding to “Sasquatch,” but then spells it using two words that tells you something about that person. Perhaps they don’t really know too much about Bigfoot, or they only are trying to capture the power of the legendary stories but are not familiar with the history and research of the creatures.

Unfortunately for Loren, he himself didn't notice this clue early enough. (Thanks to Sandy!)
Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Aug 25, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (15)
Category: Literature
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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.