Fiction picked up on a trip:
The Edinburgh Caper, St. Clair Kelway, Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, NY, 1962
Book City Paradise, Hawthorne Street, Portland, OR
A crazy book by a (crazy?) veteran New Yorker humorist. The
author is in Scotland for summer and suspects international intrigue.
There are beautiful women, exquisite views, fast cars, royalty.
Is it real or is it the product of all the "wee scotches" he's putting
away?
Automated Alice, Jeff Noon,
Bogey's Books, Davis, CA
More punning and wordplay than a punning convention. Interesting
"trequel" to Lewis Carroll's books that doesn't step on any toes.
Keep following this author.
Split Second, Garry Kilworth, Questar/Popular Library, NY,
1985
The Bookstore, Elko, Nevada
An exploration of the present intermingled with our prehistoric
ancestors. Some of the characters are uninvolving but the scenes
set 33,000 years ago are much stronger than in most books of this
type.
The Eustace Diamonds, Anthony Trollope, Penguin, NY, 1873/1986
The Harvard Bookstore (downstairs), Cambridge, MA
Here's Lizzie Eustace, Lizzie Greystock that was, her cousin Frank,
a corsair, a rich aunt, and various others. A great big read either
in best enjoyed next to the "dear wide ocean, with its glittering
smile," (p231).
Not This August, C.M. Kornbluth, Tor, NY 1981, Revised and
with a foreword by Frederick Pohl.
The Bookstore, Elko, Nevada
Wonderful book even with all the '50's paranoia. It's an invasion
story. Even if the politics aren't to your liking, read it. Then
try some of his short stories and see how books should be written.
A Certain Mr.Takahashi, Ann Ireland, Seal, 1986
Beatty's Books, Seattle, WA
Some nice views of Japanese culture as seen through the eyes of
two Canadian sisters who find an obsession in their new neighbor,
piano star Yoshi Takahashi. The book mixes the past with the present
when Takahashi-san once again enters their lives. ÷
Zines
**- The Urban Pantheist,
#1, 140A Harvard Ave, #308, Allston, MA 02134($3) Stands head
and shoulders above most books and mags I've read recently. Makes
you think about everything in the urban environment. Well written
and researched. Buy now.
- Soy, Not Oi!, PO Box 8722, Minneapolis, MN 55408 ($3.50)
Reprint of a punk DIY food zine. Handy source for everything you
need. Good recipes and how-to from the most basic to pretty complicated.
Am going to try the beer recipe.
- Dark Planet, www.sfsite.com/darkplanet/ Popular biannual
ezine, horror, fiction, poetry. Check out the computer art.
- Ugly Mug, #6, 104 Warren Ave, Allston, MA 02135 ($2) Strong
personal zine.
- Don't Shoot It's Only Comics, V2 #3, 140A Harvard Ave,
#308, Allston, MA 02134 ($3) Last issue. See The Urban Pantheist
above.
- Grits Gries, Fort Thunder, 75 Eagle Street, Providence,
RI 02909 ($2) Multi-colored mini zine, nice makings, no text.
- A Barrel of Monkeys, Sept 97, Roby Newton, 116 Mallette
Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 ($1.50) Good dark art.
- Diablotus, #1, Lewis Trondheim, 16 rue de la Pierre Levee,
75011 Paris, France ($5) No text, fine art. Well made.
- Weird Tales, #12, 4 Ashford Ct, #2, Allston, MA 02134
($1) Consistently good reviews and commentary on horror antics.
- Pinata Bloodbath, #2, K. Robbins, 74 Page Rd., Bow, NH
03304 ($1) Worth it for the short history of the Telharmonium. Also
music, temp terror tales & kid's stuff in the Duplex Planet tradition.
- Hexbender, An Aggressive Music Journal, #1&2, J. Bennet,
PO Box 470, Allston, MA 02134 (free) Good start for heavy music
coverage in the northeast.
- Ben Is Dead, #29, PO Box 3166, Hollywood, CA 90028 ($3.95)
Favorite of mine. Comix issue. Interviews, odd and funny comix.
- We Like Poo, V1, #3, 3128 16th St., San Francisco, CA
94103 ($1) Wait until they read "Merde" by Ralph Lewin (Aurum Press).
- Factsheet 5, #64, PO Box 170099, San Francisco, CA 94117
($3.95) is for sale. Yours for something like $50,000 and all your
freetime. Best resource around.
- Doris, #11, PO Box 1734, Asheville, NC 28802 ($1) Good
handmade zine, not about Doris. Travels a lot, reads good books.
- Dishwasher, #15, PO Box 8213, Portland, OR 97207 ($1)
Yep, all about dishwashing. Oddest thing is the letters page.
- Speakeasy, V2, #2, PO Box 440515, Somerville, MA 02144
($1.25) Fiction, poetry, music.
- Off My Jammy, #11, PO Box 440422, W. Somerville, MA 02144
($1.50) Neat production, consistently good contents. Mostly music,
Kristin Hersh, Frank Black, Sean Lennon, DJ Cam.
- Zine World, #8, 537 Jones Street #2386, San Francisco,
CA 94102 ($3) Lists them all. Get it and find all those things you
knew were actually out there.
- Rollerderby, #24, PO Box 474, Dover, NH 03821 ($3, or
$4 if you buy it at Newbury Comics in Boston!)
- Dignitaries of the Counter-Clockwise Revolution, Vol 3,
#14, AlekRyan@yahoo.com (free) Picked up at Nuggets in Kenmore Sq.,
Boston. No contact address, no cost. Someone rich or with good office
access. Prose & poetry, former stronger.
- The Violent Life of the Death Weasel, #1-3, PO Box 890,
Allston, MA 02134 ($2) Pretty funny local zine. Best part is the
"Little Weasel of Self Abuse."
- Hurt Me!, PO Box 15125, Portland, OR 97215-0125 ($2) Drawings
by Ulana.
- 23GOE, www.23goe.com New ezine with good set up, some
interesting ideas.
- Beer Frame, #8, 160 St. John's Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217
($2.50) Maybe it's that you get used to a certain style of thinking.
It's a limited field, some of it felt like retreads.
Catalogs
- Archie McPhee Catalog, #52, PO Box 30852, Seattle, WA 98103
All the toys you will ever need. Really.
- Rubber Rainbow Condom Co, Pike Place Market, 1515 1st Ave, Seattle,
WA 98101
Not as much fun as it should have been, expect it will improve.
Limited product selection; go to Grand Opening instead.
- Left Bank Book Collective, 1998 Catalog, 1414 18th Ave, Seattle,
WA 98122
Great catalog. They distribute a lot of books you don't see in the
chains. Also good t-shirts.
Books that caught our attention in publishers' catalogs but
never seemed to make it on to the shelf:
Douglas Adam's third Dirk Gently book (really). Oh well.
Tom & Naomi Wolfe, A Man Full of Beauty
Mike Davis & the Disposable Heroes of Hiphopcrisy, California,
Uber Alles: The Truth and the Song
Andrew Lloyd Weber, I, Mao!
Ronald Reagan, I Remember
More Reviews
from LCRW no.
4