Shut up and take my money!

 art, awesomeness, blather, books, Crazy, Hmm..., news, science fiction  No Responses »
Nov 102019
 

The Color Out Of Space producers want to make a Lovecraft cinematic universe

Giggity!

First up, obviously, is “Color out of Space.” The next movie, production of which has apparently not begun, is “The Dunwich Horror.”

“Cinematic universes” are all the rage these days, thanks to the billions of dollars in profit that the Marvel movies have raked in. But as the “Dark universe” and “DC Universe” have shown, intentionally setting out to make a cinematic universe is tricky at best. The MCU worked in part because the first movie, “Iron Man,” was *not* really made to be part of a cinematic universe, while “The Mummy” and the Justice League” movies were. Thus they, unlike “Iron Man,” set out not to make a good movie, but to make a good *introduction,* and they pretty much failed at that. So on the surface it would seem that setting out to make a Lovecraftian cinematic universe might be a disaster.

But the thing is… many of Lovecrafts stories *were*  set in the same literary universe. “Dunwich Horror” existed alongside “Color out of Space” and “Shadow Over Innsmouth” and “At the Mountains of Madness” and, of course, “The Call of Cthulhu.” Hell, they even exist in the same universe as the “Conan the Barbarian” tales by Robert Howard. So, *IF* this is done properly, a Lovecraft cinematic universe *could* be a perfectly workable concept.

*IF.*

 Posted by at 6:49 pm

Huzzah

 blather, books, cats, news  No Responses »
Oct 252019
 

After twenty hours of driving, spread over little more than thirty, I have arrived. My cats are upset but otherwise seem ok. My stuff sent ahead seems to be ok, but 250+ boxes of books and files will take just a little bit of a while to unravel, especially in a new and smaller space. I don’t have internet access, so this post is via my five year old phone.

So, at least so far things are about as good as could be hoped under the circumstances.

 Posted by at 3:23 pm

A Book (and other stuff) Update

 AARRRGH, blather, books, dumbassery, Gah., Hmm..., news, religion, science fiction, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 232019
 

The post from yesterday bemoaning the dire fate of a big pile of books? The post actually bore fruit. Someone posted a comment linking to the post over at http://accordingtohoyt.com/, someone else reasonably local saw it and decided that those books deserve a better fate. My house is now *far* less loaded with books; a small minivan left here a few hours ago loaded to the gills with books. So, huzzah! On rare occasions, something akin to social media actually results in good things.

This was all the more gratifying after watching the new homeowners this morning, who didn’t know I had just walked in the room, talking smack about sci-fi and dumping several shelves of my childhood collection of Star Trek paperbacks directly into the trash. They would not even entertain the notion of trying to sell them (one I talked to seemed baffled by the concept of doing anything with the books *other* than trashing them). They have their one book, it seems, and anything beyond that is intended to lead them from the True Path. Grrrr.

In other news: in a few hours, I’m out. I will likely be out of meaningful communications for a couple days as I cross the land in a car loaded with cats and stuff, and then out of regular communications for some time after that as I try to stabilize and find regular internet access.

 Posted by at 9:45 pm

Money on the table

 AARRRGH, blather, books, Gah., history, photography, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 222019
 

The phrase “leaving money on the table” has, for reasons I can’t articulate, always set my teeth on edge. But it seems an apt comparison for this:

Here we see about *half* of the books that I couldn’t, for cost and space reasons, ship onwards… and that I proved unable to sell. Quite a number of used book stores and dealers were contacted, with shockingly (to me) little interest in them. So they are being left behind for the new homeowners to deal with. Which process will, I suspect, involve that giant dumpster in the driveway. Better them than me… the idea of tossing a 30-volume set from 1897 of “The World’s Great Literature” into a landfill fills me with a sense of ick. I suppose that it is truly no *real* loss; I got that set more than a quarter century ago when the library of the  community college I was attending was themselves desperately trying to give it away. It’s virtually pristine, having spent more than a century going unread. And I imagine everything it it is available online; the set itself has quite possibly been scanned by some library or other and posted online in its entirety. Still… ick.

 

 

 Posted by at 9:48 pm

48-Hour Auction: Aerospace Books And Misc.

 awesomeness, books, history, models, nukes, projects, rockets, sales & specials, science, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons  No Responses »
Oct 172019
 

 

UPDATE: AUCTION HAS ENDED.

Here are some things that I think *should* be of considerable interest. If you are indeed interested in making a bid, send it via email to: Buyer is responsible for postage, which for most of these can be Media Mail for low cost. Auction will end 48 hours after I put this post online. Items and photos after the break…

Continue reading »

 Posted by at 10:31 pm

National Geographic

 blather, books, history, photography, sales & specials  No Responses »
Oct 112019
 

As previously mentioned, I have a *lot* of National Geographics. I’d once hoped to have a complete collection, but now it is time for them to go. My collection is pretty complete back into the 1960’s, with scattered issues back to the 40’s. Since 2010 or so the collection is pretty scattered.

Rather than trying to sell the issues individually, I’m boxing them into lots by year. On ebay, issues from the seventies seem to be priced anywhere from a buck each to five or even more bucks each… so… call it a$12 for a years worth of Nat Geos, plus postage. A years worth of these magazines weighs about 10.5 pounds. Media mail would run $8, so $20 for a single year. Four years would fit in a larger box for $24 postage… call it $70 total for four years.

If interested in a year or more’s National Geographics, send me an email letting me know which. 

 

 Posted by at 11:20 am

Self-publish on Amazon, they said…

 AARRRGH, art, books, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., Meh., My Fiction, politics, science fiction, THIS is why Trump won, War With The Deep Ones, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 092019
 

A number of people have told me to try self-publishing my books on Amazon. Stories like this one just add to the pile of “why bother” reasons:

Amazon Bans ‘A Shifting Alliance’ Ad for Featuring “Inappropriate Display of a Weapon”

According to section 7.13 of Amazon’s Creative Acceptance Policies, which was updated in the wake of the Dayton and El Paso terror attacks, ads featuring weapons are prohibited in order “to protect our customers from uncomfortable or shocking experiences.”

Curiously, while Amazon explicitly prohibits “images of firearms demonstrated as firing or having been recently used (for example, bullets visibly exiting the weapon, smoke or other residue shown around the barrel),” it allows for “non-violent depictions of non-realistic firearms that are fantasy weapons, including fantasy/sci-fi firearms such as ray-guns and phasers.”

Of course, a more immediate road block for me self publishing is that I have absolutely zero talent or skill in the areas of graphic design or painting or anything relevant to the task of creating a good book cover. Shootin’ irons going kerblam wouldn’t really fit on a “Zaneverse” cover, but they’d be all kinds of appropriate for “War With The Deep Ones,” what with it being a war and all…

But then some power mad SJW scoldmonster would find – or invent – some rule that takes a giant ump on my work. Feh.

 

 

 Posted by at 11:56 pm

For Sale: Paperbacks

 books, sales & specials, science fiction  No Responses »
Oct 062019
 

OK, here we go on getting rid of books. A *lot* of books. Starting off with paperbacks, the great majority of which are sci-fi novels. Rather than trying to sell them individually, I’ve packed them into boxes, roughly 12 to 14 per. Eight bucks per box plus postage, which seems to work out to about six bucks media mail… so, $14 per box. If you want four boxes of books, postage drops to$15, so call it $45 for four boxes of books. As always first come, first served, but going after four boxes will put you at the top of the line. Any left by mid week will be disposed of. Each box is carefully  and artistically numbered with the very finest calligraphy (off to the left). If interested, send me an email:

Sold: 5,9, 14,16, 17,18,19,21

Spoken for:

Available: 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,10,11,12,13,15,20

 

Added a few more:

 

 Posted by at 12:04 pm

SOLD: Military Manuals

 books, history, Hmm..., rockets, weapons  No Responses »
Sep 302019
 

Have I got a deal for you. Shown here is a rather eclectic collection of 36 military manuals. Some are big, some are small. Some might interest you; some might be incredibly dullsville for you. I’ve no idea what each one is worth, but I’d guesstimate that the average would go for something like five bucks each, or $180 for all of them. But if anyone would like the whole pile all at once… $125 plus shipping and they’re yours. Send me an email, first come, first served.

SOLD.

 

 

 

 Posted by at 3:44 pm
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