Tuesday, September 19, 2006

(Help! I'm Being Held Hostage by the Story!)

Sorry for the delay, folks. Am back in the saddle again.

After e-mailing my story for dean's collection last Friday, I immediately escaped hot and humid Metro Manila to hie off for the cooler climes of Baguio City with [identity-protected] and two other friends for a much-needed break.

Ironically, though I was enjoying the rest, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I should have been writing. Of course it didn't help that I was reading a short story collection by the late great fantasist Avram Davidson. Something about reading good short stories makes me want to go pound the keyboards 'til my fingers bleed.

Sunday night, we headed back down to Manila and unfortunately, back to the real world. As one friend said, "All the stress of the past six months gone in two days-- and all of it back on Monday."

So true.

Some good news at least: I managed to procure what seems to be the last copy of Theodora Goss' collection at Powerbooks. Whew. (Heh. I managed to convince my mum to buy some books for my nephew and surreptiously inserted Goss' book in the pile.) Given that Prime Books has gone into second printing of Goss' book in the U.S., I figure I was just in time.

Likewise, I received welcome news from Booktopia that my copy of Jeffrey Ford's second short-story collection The Empire of Ice Cream had finally arrived. (I was expecting them to come in by October.) Imagine my surprise to find my other orders had also come in: Nick Mamatas' Move Underground and the lit-fabulist story collection Paraspheres. Now I'm just wondering where my order of the slipstream story collection Feeling Very Strange is...

Unfortunately, I only had money to pick up my copy of Graham Joyce's Requiem so the three books must wait a while before I can get my greedy paws on them. Ah well.

So how's everyone while I was away?

P.S. And before I forget, skinny shoots the breeze with noted fantastical author Jeff Vandermeer over here. Geez, my mind reels. How the hell does he do that?

18 comments:

skinnyblackcladdink said...

holy crap. sorry...

i just got a copy of Feeling Very Strange from Booktopia. could it be they accidentally put your copy out on the shelves?

Andrew said...

BC, I saw a pile with several of the books you mentioned here (and even touched your copy of the Mamatas--don't worry, it was a gentle touch that left no blemishes or marks.) I couldn't remember if it had Feeling Very Strange with the other titles though, but I only took a look at one.

I saw some titles that somewhat interested me, mostly BC-books, but I didn't get anything and instead just asked them to demonstrate how to use a Brodart dust jacket cover. I then went home with ten cut sheets of those.

banzai cat said...

skinny: Hehe looks like. I talked to Robert and it looks like he missed that one. It's alright though since I have three other books to buy. Will get the next one.

(Now to wait in a darkened alley for a certain skinny black clad dink...) ;-)

eldritch: That explains the glowing fingerprints on the books. :-D

Which BC-books were that anyway?

(And sorry about the dust jacket covers. Hell, the only time I pass by the shop and I forget about asking. Sheesh.)

skinnyblackcladdink said...

bc: well, i'm kinda pissed that i had to pay full price for it when i assume you must've already payed a downpayment on it...hehe

banzai cat said...

Hah! I don't pay downpayment for my Booktopia. Why, do you?

So how's the book?

Andrew said...

No worries about the dust jacket covers! I emailed them to ask--which is what I should have done anyway--and just asked Robert to cut me up some to bring home.

The BC-books I saw were Forrest Aguirre (ed.)'s Leviathan 4: Cities and Jeffrey Ford's The Empire of Ice Cream.

skinnyblackcladdink said...

bc: ha, you seem to be turning into my biggest advertiser. thanks.

haven't started on the book...in fact, haven't been reading much lately (i have, however, been writing, which is a good thing...but no good for the blogs, or work, for that matter. heh)

banzai cat said...

eldritch: Yeah the Ford's mine though am still thinking if I should get the hardbound Leviathan 4. Alas, my funds are stretched as it is already.

skinny: You mean I'm not getting paid for this? ;-)

skinnyblackcladdink said...

geez, if i had the cash, i would have gotten Empire of Ice Cream as well (it was on the "new" shelves and not the "reserved" stacks when i was there) so it's i good thing i didn't...

you are being paid in gratitude, and rather generously, i might add LOL

Andrew said...

BC: I saw the Ford in your pile (that, the Mamatas, and Paraspheres were the titles that registered in my head as your orders, and the other books beside it may or may not be yours, too).

They did have an extra copy of the Ford on the shelves though, along with the annotated Hippocampus Press edition of Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature.

The latter caught my eye but was ultimatedly judged as too costly for me, considering that I'd just be paying for S.T. Joshi's notes and annotations. *sighs*

I must confess I was grinning like a nut, seeing titles from Hippocampus, Golden Gryphon, and Night Shade Books right next to each other.

The same grin was on my face when Robert was taking a look at my Conrad Williams, which was the hardcover I brought so he could demonstrate how to use the book cover!

Don said...

welcome back dude!

although my nights of slugging over my eventually unfinished and unsent story, I also got to hie off to an escapist plan of my own. heheh.

so right now, I'm seriously decongesting my reading list.

an oh, I maybe able to go to Manila again this sem break. Hehe.

skinnyblackcladdink said...

eld: whoa. which Williams would that be and where did you get it?

Andrew said...

Skinny,

It's my only Williams volume: Use Once, Then Destroy, the short fiction collection from Night Shade.

(BC says he once saw a copy of that here--as well as London Revenant, which I would love a copy of--in one of the A Different Bookstore branches some time ago.)

Anyway, I got my copy as part of what I call my annual book splurge (which isn't really all that accurate a label sometimes):

Halfway through the year, my Mum allows my siblings and I to pick out stuff from Amazon.Com (sadly, it's pretty much just that site that my Mum trusts).

So we pick out the stuff we want, my Mum uses her card, the products ship to my Aunt in Glendale, until enough has been gathered to fit a balikbayan box.

The only "limitation" is that it's gotta be stuff we're ready to pay for when it arrives, usually around October. Since it came early this year, we have a grace period coming up soon, so thank God for payday.

Every time this takes place, I get giddy as Hell, because I usually order small-press titles that get the Amazon.Com discount, and that total of those "price per unit" costs is what we pay our Mum.

banzai cat said...

skinny: Hehe if I had the cash, I would have picked their shelves clean already. But alas, wish in one hand ...

Btw, you didn't catch the Williams before in A Different Bookstore? It was a while before someone picked it up.

eldritch: Hah! You lucky bastard! That's a really good way to buy small press stuff alright, as well as get your regular winnings. Though Booktopia gets the small press stuff well enough. Am still hoping I can score a copy of Joe Hill's collection meself.

And stay away from expensive copies, man. It's bad for your health (well, you do have to eat, ya know).

fuhrer: Hah! Great you'd be able to hit the bookshelves in Manila again. If you're looking for stuff, just give me a comment.

Oh for the days when our lives were ruled by vacations after school days...

Andrew said...

if I had the cash, I would have picked their shelves clean already.

There are titles in Booktopia (and other bookstores) that I'm curious about. I even have the money to pick them up sometimes, but one way in which I'm trying to control my spending is to stop and ask myself whether I have an idea--even a vague one--as to when I will be reading a particular book that I'll have to pay full-price for. It doesn't always work, of course.

And while you were talking to Skinny, I certainly wish I saw and picked up that London Revenant that A Different Bookstore had. Whoever bought it better be loving it.

And yes, the Annual Book Splurge is certainly a good way to catch up on small-press titles, but I keep running out of limiteds, unless I grab a credit card. Who cares about eating? (Okay, I do.)

Oh for the days when our lives were ruled by vacations after school days...

Ooh, this applies to me!

banzai cat said...

Hah! Lucky you!

Seriously, I pick my books on what appeals to me and this is where the book classification comes in. Which is funny because Robert of Booktopia used to try to peg what books I'd like. I swear, I think I turned down half of his recommendations. Thank goodness he and I just just agreed that I'd order my stuff instead. (Of course now it's my wallet that's affect.) ;-)

Andrew said...

Whether or not I end up, like you, rejecting half the recommendations, I hope to have a close enough relationship with Booktopia to enable them to be comfortable enough to try to guess what I would be into.

I'm currently awaiting word from them about a limited edition that's out of print in the publisher but is still available at an online seller (sorry if I'm being vague, but I'm paranoid about people reading this, picking up the last copies, and leaving me in the dust). I truly hope they can get it for me. That would take a sizable financial chunk out of me though.

banzai cat said...

Don't worry about being paranoid. Heck, even the people I enjoy talking to here make ME paranoid! ;-)

(Okay, maybe not you since your specialty is horror. Good luck on procuring the book!)