New Arrivals: July 2012

More goodies we acquired this month include:

• Steven Paul Martini  The Simeon Chamber. A Near Fine First Edition Book in a Near Fine Jacket. Steve Martini's extremely scarce first book.
• John Camp  Fool's Run. A Very Good minus First Edition Book in a Good plus Jacket. John Sanford's quite scarce first fiction book.
• Robin McKinley The Blue Sword.  A Very Good First Edition Book in a Very Good minus Jacket. Ms McKinley's Newbery Honor book, and first in the Damar series.
• Richard Castle Heat Wave. A Fine First Edition in a Fine Dustjacket. Castle lives on ABC, and plays poker with James Patterson, the late Stephen Cannell, and Michael Connelly

July Acquisitions

It's already been an excellent month for finding books that are worthy of being in our store, and more importantly, worthy of our customers.  Here's a sample:

Our Friend Vin Would be Proud !

Doing some research this morning on a book that we bought, I came across this description from an on-line seller. See, they aren't all morons, and some do have standards: 

One of The Reasons Borders Failed

Again from Publishers Weekly,  an interesting article:  More Wonderful Employees

We Speak Standard English Here.

For many years notable, and some not-so-notable, authors wrote historical novels. In general, the historical facts portrayed in these books was very accurate, so the general reader got some knowledge along with the enjoyment of reading a good yarn. My previous post inspired me to look at the other side of the coin, again from Wikipedia:
Nonfiction novel: a story of actual people and actual events told with the dramatic techniques of a novel. The American writer Truman Capote claimed to have invented this genre with his book In Cold Blood (1965). A true story of the brutal murder of a Kansas farm family, the book was based on six years of exacting research and interviews with neighbors and friends of the victims and the two captured murderers. The story is told from the points of view of different “characters,” and the author attempts not to intrude his own comments or distort fact. Critics pointed out earlier precedents for this type of journalistic novel, such as John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946), an account of the World War II atomic bombing of the Japanese city told through the histories of six survivors. Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song (1979) is another notable example of the genre.

PW Strikes Again !

Every bookstore in the world is personality driven, including Borders and Narns & Baubles. Think about it. PW has 10 stores that are quite interesting:
10 of a Kind
You might want to subscribe to PW Daily so you can see what I don't think is worthwhile. Or not.

Michael Jackson is Dead, but the Thriller is Still Alive !

We clump mystery, suspense, capers, and thrillers together on our mystery shelves. Others in the Valley segregate them. PW Daily has an interesting article on how the folks behind the words live: Thrillers

Abbie Hoffman says: "Steal This Book"

Theft is quite common in new bookstores, but not anywhere near as bad in our world. Publishers Weekly had an interesting Blog post  you might enjoy: Five Most Stolen Books
By the way, current values for STB are: $ 100 - $ 500 for the hardbound first edition, $ 20 and up for the paperback.

Modern Library Books

Our friend, Maryann, a local Las Vegas author, has developed a fascination for Modern Library Books. Our friends, Michael and Andy deserted us to open a fine bookstore in Horse Cave, Kentucky. We all still talk and interact, and Michael sent us an interesting piece on Modern Library books. You might also want to check our previous post on Modern Librarys after you look at this:

One Writer's Experience - Time for a Cigarette !

Those of us who grew up in the book trade many years ago scorned "Vanity Press" books, and other self-published books. The digital age gives us all - including your not-so-humble servant -  the opportunity to appear in print, or electrons. As I have mentioned in the past, our friend Maryann Guberman writes a LOT ! Her book gestation and birthing process is just about complete now, and if you want the rest of the delivery-room info, visit her at
Maryann's Blog, or if you want to download her book, $2.99, click below
The Mine
Or, maybe even both ! Enjoy

One Writers Experience

Our friend and colleague Maryann writes a LOT !  She has been published in many venues over the years, but she has recently started a blog about her writing, past and present. She's just detailed her efforts in creating an e-book. The six part series is below, and quite interesting for both the fledgling and the experienced author. Take a look: Writer Blog

A Bookmobile from Fine Books & Collections

I always wanted a bookmobile, and still do.
This one is really cool !  CoolMobile

An Interesting Retrospective

Joyce Godsey writes interesting articles, some of which have appeared here. In the current AE Monthly, she has
yet another real gem on the book business:  AE Monthly

Customer or Professor ?

As I mention in all of my Bookstore series of courses at UNLV, the best part of having a bricks-and-mortar bookstore is the education provided by customers. Every customer is a Professor in his own field of interest. One of our out-of-state regulars was in last week. His passion is the Ace Double science fiction paperbacks.