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Used Book Store Review - Pt. 1

I make no bones about it: I am an incurable Biblioholic, and my reading of choice is science fiction, fantasy and horror. I cannot pass by a bookstore’s doors without entering and browsing their stacks. Since I am also of limited income, I make it a point to find Used Book Stores wherever I go.

This is the first entry in a, hopefully, long series of Used Book Stores reviews, focusing on the selection for SF, Fantasy and Horror fans. The opening entry in this infrequent series will concern my visits to two used bookshops in Seattle. My wife and I are in the process of relocating to the great Northwest and I have advance scout duties; find housing for our dog, Plato, and us and find a job for myself. In the course of my weeklong advance scout visit to this beautiful city, I was able to visit Lamplight Books, Balderdash Books & Art and Half Price Books.

Lamplight Books sits in a small corner of the Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market. One can browse this shop in much less time than it takes to get a coffee at the original Starbucks. Most of the shop’s books fill shelves that line the small room’s walls. They consist of contemporary literature and various general used books. On a previous visit to the Market, I found a used copy of Hellboy: Odder Jobs, the follow up to Hellboy: Odd Jobs.

During this visit, I discovered a mass-market paperback copy of James P. Blaylock’s Night Relics. That I was able to find a book I wanted on each visit belies the shop’s selection. The Horror section is very small, only about 3’ of shelf, at the top of shelves (being over six feet tall was very helpful in getting what I wanted). The SF&F pickings are just as slim. There isn’t much at Lamplight for readers of the fantastic. The best thing about Lamplight is that it won’t take you very long to determine there’s nothing here for you. It’s worth a visit, mostly because it is so small, and it’s in Pike Place Market, which everyone should see when they come to Seattle.

Balderdash Books & Art has much bigger selection than Lamplight, but their selection is limited in its own way. I found a copy of James P. Blaylock’s The Stone Giant, lurking among the over 15,000 mass-market paperbacks.

Balderdash seems to be a shop that specializes in mass-market paperback books. Well over 90% of the SF&F and Horror selection are mass-market books. If what you are looking for is trade paperback or hardcover you very likely won’t find it here. Balderdash does have a good selection, despite being limited to mass-market books. A full aisle is devoted to SF & F, one-half being Science Fiction, the other half being Fantasy. This kind of set up is an aid to those devoted to one genre or the other.

Horror has as much space as either Fantasy or Science Fiction. There is also a broad selection. While King and Koontz pack most used bookshop’s shelves, this isn’t the case at Balderdash. These two writers do take up their fair share of space, but you will also find a good selection of Charles L. Grant or Brian Lumley.

The first thing you notice, when you enter Balderdash, is that the entrance is set up like someone’s living room. There is a couch a couple of easy chairs and a coffee table. There is an unstated invitation to rest your tired feet for a few moments and read should you find a treasure. Giving readers a place to sit and enjoy their books is the mark of every smart bookstore. That the owners have set this up is even more to their credit given their relatively limited floor space, only about 1000 square feet. They are sacrificing valuable space to make a relaxing spot for readers.
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Leftist Bias is Everywhere

A morning watching sports and an afternoon at the museum gave me two examples of how pervasive the Leftist bias is in America.

Watching ESPN's 'The Sports Reporters' Sunday morning, I, once again, found sports commentary confused with political commentary. A woman (I believe her name was Leslie something - unfortunately you won't find it on ESPN's website) was talking about how professional golf has gone to a system which, in the end, the winner receives the money prize in the form of an annuity rather than as a lump sum check. Her commentary was underscored by stating, "Golfers are Republicans." They want their money so they can blow it on a weekend in Vegas. The comment got agreeing laughter from all the show's four commentators. So much for diversity of thought at ESPN.

I thought I would spend a relaxing afternoon at a Seattle museum. The one I chose was the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Once again I was assaulted by Lefist Bias in the media.

The Science Fiction Museum is a fascinating place for any fan of the genre. The museum is intended to
"... promote awareness and appreciation of science fiction literature and media while encouraging visitors to envision new futures for humanity." Within the permanent exhibit titled "Them - Alien Encounters" you learn that Christian conservatives are as dangerous as the Alien Queen from the film Aliens. Margaret Atwood's book The Handmaid's Tale is on prominent display in a cabinet on writer's distopian visions for the future. Next to Ms. Atwood's foolish little book is an issue of Time Magazine featuring the Rev. Jerry Falwell. The museum's subtle message is perfectly clear: If we let conservative Christians have their way, then women will be "stripped of their independence through the reversal of feminist accomplishments ... no longer [be] allowed to hold property, arrange their own affairs, make reproductive choices, read, wear make-up, control money, or choose their clothes."

A day innocently spent watching sports and browsing a museum and I'm assaulted by Leftist bias.
And we wonder why Democrats keep winning elections.
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American Passivity - Pt. 1

Americans, by and large, tend toward a default position of passivity. Mark Steyn wrote, back in April of 2007, a great essay about this in response to the Virginia Tech slaughter.
"We do our children a disservice to raise them to entrust all to officialdom’s security blanket. Geraldo-like “protection” is a delusion: when something goes awry — whether on a September morning flight out of Logan or on a peaceful college campus — the state won’t be there to protect you. You’ll be the fellow on the scene who has to make the decision. As my distinguished compatriot Kathy Shaidle says:


'When we say “we don’t know what we’d do under the same circumstances”, we make cowardice the default position.'


"I’d prefer to say that the default position is a terrible enervating passivity. Murderous misfit loners are mercifully rare. But this awful corrosive passivity is far more pervasive, and, unlike the psycho killer, is an existential threat to a functioning society."
Thank God that there are brave souls willing to man freedom's barricades, fight and sometimes die in the war against Islamo-fascism. God save us from the retreat and defeat passivity that permeates America today.

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On Recycling

Do I recycle? Well, yes and no.

A bag used to hang in a closet near my kitchen. It was used to collect recyclables; glass and plastic bottles, aluminum cans, that sort of thing. The bag wasn't very big. Actually it was exactly the size of those plastic bags you get at the grocery store. It was only good for a couple of six packs, maybe a bit more. After a several weeks, I would have three or four small grocery bags stuffed full to near bursting with old sticky bottles and cans, from which the sick smell of stale beer and soda emanated.

At first I would toss these bags into the back of my car and truck on down to 'Ye Olde Recycling Centre'. That's my fancy name for a hot box full of
machines and trash cans that separates and distributes glass, plastic and aluminum into a couple of dumpsters. There is usually a guy (and it is almost always a guy) who tries to keep the separating machines working and the process running smoothly. This guy is more often than not a Mexican immigrant who speaks better Mexican (it's an insult to Spain to say he speaks Spanish) than he does English. Is this one of those jobs that American's won't do? Hardly. There was one 'Centre' in Dana Point with a lily white surfer dude taking in the recyclables.

In California your typical beer can or bottle will garner you one whole nickel (that's 5 cents for the benefit of Oakland Raiders fans). I thought I was doing pretty well when I would go cash my recycle receipt and get handed a couple of dollars for my time. Then the price of gas hit 3 bucks, plus. I realized I was spending more money in gas getting to and from 'Ye Olde Recycling Centre' then I was getting back.

Now my recyclables go directly into the dumpsters that sit about 50 feet from my front door. My material, however, is still getting recycled. It's just that I'm not the one cashing in the receipt.

On an almost daily basis folks can be seen combing through the trash cans and dumpsters, pulling out all the recyclable bottles and cans. I would see these folks at the 'Ye Olde Recycling Centre'. They would have three or four grocery carts filled to overflowing with massive bags of empties. Who knows how much they're getting from all those smelly beer bottles, sticky soda cans and crumpled plastic water bottles.

So my recycling is being done by others. I wonder if Rev. Al 'The World's Coming to an End' Gore would treat this like buying a carbon offset. Does this reduce my glass and aluminum 'footprint'? Anyway. I'm letting others do my recycling. So my bottles and can are used again and I'm giving someone who can't find a real job something to do with their time. If someone's gotta comb through the dumpsters I might as well give them something to find. Right?

I'll start thinking about like dropping a nickel into a homeless person's cup, but instead the person has to go find the nickel.

Works for me.

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Gort! Klaatu barada nikto ... Iraq?

Hollywood, admitting it is completely devoid of new ideas, continues its sad practice of mining classics for new projects. This time it looks like they are going to turn a classic Cold War science fiction film, “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, in yet another "timely" story.

Variety is reporting that Keanu Reeves has signed on to play Klaatu, the alien Michael Rennie made famous. I'm not one of the Keanu bashers. I thought he did a fair job in Constantine, and I actually like that film. Scott Derrickson, know for "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", is slated to direct.

According to Variey:

 

"Reeves committed over the weekend to play Klaatu, a humanoid alien who arrives on Earth accompanied by an indestructible, heavily armed robot and a warning to world leaders that their continued aggression will lead to annihilation by species watching from afar."


There in lies my problem with even the original film. The message of the movie was, and looks to be, that violence is bad. It doesn't matter if you are fighting evil; the fact that you are fighting makes you just as wrong as the evil you're fighting. I despise this namby-pamby pseudo-moralism.

Are we in store for a new Day the Earth Stood Still in which American forces are put on the same moral plain as the Islamo-Nazis they are fighting? Time will tell.

 

BTW, does anyone see the contradiction in the paragraph above? In order to stop the world leaders from destroying each other Klaatu lands on the planet with an “indestructible, heavily armed robot” that will destroy the earth if the violent earth people don’t stop their violent ways.

 

I guess in some cases violence is a necessary and good thing.

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When did making a pass become illegal?

There is a lot of finger tapping on keyboards about the Sen. Craig affair. I had hear no one, however, raise this question until I heard it during my morning drive to work (while listening Doug McIntyre on 790 KABC): When did making a pass at someone become illegal?

Sen. Craig wasn't actually engaged in any kind of sexual activity when the cop cited him for the misdemeanor, to which Craig later pled guilty. The guy made a creepy pass at another guy in a toilet stall. I hate to burst everyone's bubble over this issue, but the same kind of thing happens between people everyday at bus stops, grocery stores, restaurants, bars, parks, job sites, Starbucks, etc., etc., etc.

But Craig did it to a cop who was sitting in a toilet stall.

So because of this his career should come to an end? Should every fool who makes a pathetic, creepy pass at some woman at grocery store vegetable aisle lose his job?
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The End of Oz

Today's Hollywood seems intent on destroying every entertainment icon they can get their hands on.

 

Case in point: Variety is reporting that Todd Mcfarlane, creator of the demonic character Spawn, is working on a “revisionist take” of the Wizard of Oz for the big screen. He and “History of Violence” writer Josh Olson are working together on this project.

 

While Olson has a dark vision ala “Harry Potter” for the Land of Oz, Todd Mcfarlane’s vision, on the other hand, seems much more inspired by the current popularity of “torture porn”.

This work is about as far from Baum's vision as one can get. From the Introduction to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900: ""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written solely to please children ... It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out."

 

Word of advice to Warner Bros.: Audiences do not want this vision of Dorothy, Toto, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. Leave these beloved characters alone. We don’t need them updated to appeal to the cretins drawn to the Saw.
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Why are most fiction authors Liberal?

When I read for pleasure, which is most often the case, I read science fiction, fantasy and horror. The more I learn about the writers whose works I read, the more I learn that these writers are Liberal; they reside on the political Left. They support socialized medicine. They support a massive welfare state. They hate the military (even while that same military keeps them safe from those that would destroy the nation that made it possible for them to live the life they have). They hate corporations (even while their income comes from large corporations that publish their work). They despise orthodox Christianity. They don't, however, hate all religion. Buddhism, Liberal Judaism (just how much Judaism exists among Liberal Jews is debatable), Hinduism, Liberal Christianity (which is not Christianity at all), Islam (though this may be out of fear more than anything else), and many New Age sects are just fine. Orthodox Christianity, compared to all these, is the faith of rubes, fascists, racists, sexists, homophobes, etc. In short they are, more often than not, Leftists.

This holds true for writers outside the genres. "Serious" literature, the kind that gets on the front of the New York Times Book Review, is also written, overwhelmingly, by Leftists. It is a rare thing to find a work of fiction written by a conservative.

Why? Could it be that Liberal/Leftists, as they often claim, are simply more creative and imaginative than Conservatives?

Neil Gaiman is one of the most creative minds working today. And he supports the work of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PeTA. Everyone knows how prolific Stephen King is. And he's a died in the wool liberal Democrat. Steven Brust, author of the genre classic 'To Reign in Hell', a novel about the war in heaven, supports government run medicine, education, etc. and wants to do away with a government run military.

Orson Scott Card sees clearly enough with regards to the war against Islamofascism and is a most reasonable fellow when it comes to political issues (every conservative should stop what they are doing and read Empire). But even he is a self-identified Democrat. Perhaps one might consider him to be along the lines of a Joe Lieberman or Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson Democrat.

The only fiction author in the SFF&H genres I can think of that is avowed conservative is dead: Russell Kirk. Even he wrote more political polemic rather than fiction. Some others are claimed by conservatives, but also are dead: J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams.

So why is it that so many working fiction writers are on the Left side of the political spectrum?

And don't tell me the publishers are keeping the conservatives out of the business. If you have a story, nothing, absolutely nothing, is stopping you from writing and self-publishing it. That, after all, is how the absurd, new age Celestine Prophecy started.
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Are we living High Noon?

I'll confess. I'm a film fan, but I only just watched High Noon. I was amazed at its relevance for law and order in America today.

In the film, the bad guys are intent on bringing death and chaos to the Hadleysville. The townspeople either hide in church or in their homes or they actually support the bad guys and want Marshall Kan dead. No one wants to stand with Marshall Kane. His deputy has quit. The church folk, after debating what to do, think they can appease the killers. The guys in the bar want to bring back the bad old days.

With no one to stand at his side, Kane seeks advice from his mentor, the ex-marshall Matt Howe (Lon Chaney, Jr.) gives his reason as to why Kane is all alone in this fight.
"It figures. It's all happened too sudden. People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don't care. They just don't care."
In Pico Rivera, a part of Los Angeles, Maria Hicks, a grandmother, was murdered by a bunch of thugs because she tried to stop a punk from 'tagging' a wall. During a morning drive talk show on KABC, 790 AM, a caller stated how naive Maria was, how she should have minded her own business, how she never should have got involved. The caller was not alone in this sentiment. Many people thought Mrs. Hicks should have avoided confrontation.

Have we reached High Noon in America? Are we giving our city's streets over the gangs because we're scared?

I live in the 'burbs and have had to face punks defacing public property. I would never equate my facing down a bunch of skate punks with what folks in South Central face-to-face with street gangs like MS-13, the Crips or the Bloods. At the same time we have to realize that the police are there to investigate and arrest people after a crime occurs. The first line of defense in a civil society are its citizens, and for citizens to be an effective line of defense they must be armed. If you take away their guns then you take away citizen's ability to defend themselves.

The only way citizens will ever get their guns back in almost all American cities is get Democrats out of power, for they have made most American cities places where thugs and gangs run free.

Unfortunately, this is not going to happen any time soon. Like ex-marshall Matt Howe said in High Noon, "People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don't care. They just don't care."
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The Legend of the Batman

In Batman #666, Legend of the Batman Damian Wayne comes face to face with the anti-Christ, and Gotham may just be better off for it.

One has to get into a very dark place to truly understand Batman. Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale went there in Batman Begins. Frank Miller went there in his Dark Knight books, and continues in this vein in All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder. And now we have Grant Morrison in Batman #666, and the one shot story "The Legend of the Batman."

Readers are taken into an extremely dark future Gotham (could there be any other kind of Gotham?). Bruce Wayne is dead; killed by Damian Wayne, the son he had after a tryst with the daughter of Ras Al Ghul, the supervillian who's name is Arabic for 'the Ghoul's Head'. The son of Bruce Wayne has taken on the mantle of the Batman and does what Batman does best; he beats the stuffing out of the bad guys. This futuristic Batman, however, is not as restrained as Bruce Wayne. At the hands of this future Batman ... well, lets just say that the bad guys aren't going to be coming back to bother Batman again.

This issue is a focuses on Batman's horrific side. It is a strong issue and one well worth reading. Its 32 pages gives readers a brief history lesson, providing just enough information to understand where they are and who they are dealing with. One need not have read any previous issue to understand what is happening. The story also gives us the typical conflict between Batman and Gotham's cops. This element of the story, however, comes with a bit of a twist. This future Batman is not working with Commissioner Gordon, but instead is being hunted by Commissioner Gordon. The future's Commissioner Gordon is the wheelchair bound Barbara Gordon, daughter of the original Commissioner Gordon, and is determined to bring Batman down. Each panel does a brilliant job leading readers to the final moments, which are not the destruction of this issue's villain. They are an explanation of what motivates Damian Wayne to fight evil as the Batman.

Batman 666 is a riveting dark fairy tale.

That being said, it is a rare comic indeed that does not inject Leftist ideology into its pages. On this score Batman #666 is not one of these rare comics. After the story's first fight Batman retires to the new Bat Cave, with his cat Alfred, to investigate the recent wave of murdered villains. In a single panel we have a close up on the bald son of the Batman absorbing the news of the day. Leading the future's news are stories commenting on global warming and the war on Islamofascism.

On global warming, we get:
"Temperatures rose to a record-breaking 123 degrees for the eighth day ... Hotter than Hell in midtown Gotham as diplomats gather for tonight's climate change summit reception..."
If only we had listened to the Enviro-Reverend Al Gore then the future wouldn't be so bloody hot.

On the war against Islamofascism:
"Clean up continues after the dirty bomb detonated by anti-Islamic Terrorists in Mecca..."
This is what comes when you listen to the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and fight a trumped up war against "terrorism".

Despite these silly little injections of Leftist ideas into this story, the book works well and is well worth reading. Check it out.

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Tolorance not a big virtue in the "Religion of Peace"

Our "friends" the Saudis show us what happens when the "Religion of Peace" meets the value of tolerance.
An official at the Saudi Consulate in New York, who declined to give her name, told the Post that anyone bringing a Bible into the country or wearing a crucifix or Star of David around their neck would run into trouble with Saudi authorities.

"You are not allowed to bring that stuff into the kingdom," the consular official said. "If you do, they will take it away," she warned, adding, "If it is really important to you, then you can try to bring it and just see what happens, but I don't recommend that you do so." [Emphasis added]

If you want an idea of what might happen to a Jew or Christian if he or she were to bring "that stuff into the kingdom" I'd suggest watching Midnight Express.
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Baby Death Penalty - You Bet!, says the Left

For the Left lethal injection is heinous and should be outlawed for a men like Frank W. Anderson. And rather than let people know what this animal did, Leftists would rather focus on his statements that he "love[s] kids and animals and being outdoor [sic]."

But show the Left a 20 week old baby, and suddenly a lethal injection is a preferrable way to go.

Despicable.
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Religion of Peace?

Once again, the  Islamic world shows why the faith it follows is anything but a religion of peace. 
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Socialist's Servants

Here is a interesting little article of a book by Alison Light titled Mrs Woolf and the Servants: the Hidden Heart of Domestic Service. The article is not so much a review as it is a brief discussion about the relationship between the well-to-do and those who cook & clean for them.

In this article we learn how the socialist writer Virginia Woolf hated dealing with her servants.  "Tired of getting into emotional arguments over pay and duties, she tried writing her orders down in a book to save having to do it in person."

So the well-to-do Virginia Woolf treated her servants with complete disdain. But is this the fault of a crude individual with no ability to put herself in another's shoes? Of course not. This explanation would bring the Liberal world view, that all relationships are driven by economic interests, down like a house of cards in a windstorm. The reviewer notes at the articles close: "[The book is] a compelling portrait of how rich and poor women of this time were locked into a strange and pernicious symbiosis, and a vital warning against social inequality."

The liberal mindset in a nutshell. Virginia Woolf's poor treatment of her slaves domestic help is due to "social inequality". It couldn't possibly be that the feminist Woolf was a selfish, elitist pig who cared not one whit for those beneath her social station. Naaahhh. It's all due to "social inequality".

Fascinating.
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Reason # 168981177659 that West has lost its mind

From Dennis Prager's latest column:

"This past week a man in New York was charged with two felonies for what is being labeled the hate crime of putting a Koran in a toilet at Pace College. Not misdemeanors, mind you, felonies. Meanwhile, the man who put a crucifix in a jar of urine continues to have his artwork -- "[P.i.s.s.*] Christ" -- displayed at galleries and museums. A Koran in a toilet is a hate crime; a crucifix in pee is a work of art. Thanks in part to that brilliant term, "Islamophobia." "

*I had to type this word in this manner because the screening software Townhall.com uses will not allow the correct spelling. Townhall.com allows Dennis Prager to use the word in his column, but it won't let me use the word in my blog. Things that make you go ... hmmmmmmm...
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