Just a quick note to let Australian purchasers know that Helene Bartleson’s book ‘Golden Leaves’ is available to order from JimmyD’s Bookshop. Just send us an email to enquire about postage to your destination, or you can call us on 02 4751 8010.

Earlier this year on January 26 American SF author Philip Jose farmer died.
Like many others I started reading his books while at school and
enjoyed the mix of fiction and humour with historical fact and
literature. He was a prolific authour with well over 50 novells and
far more short stories to his credit and winning numerous awards in
recognition of his talent. Farmer often drew upon real characters and
never more so than in his Riverworld series where he uses figures such
as Richard Burton (the explorer not the actor), Alice Hagreaves (of
Alice in Wonderland), Cyrano De Bergerac and Samuel Clemens among
numerous others and places them in a “what would they do” situation
based upon their known characters.
In his 6 book “World of Tiers” series (seven if Red Orc’s Rage is
included) he indulges in what appears to be a love of pulp fiction
characters. The heros invariably are introduced as pretty much average individuals that go on, with mainly courage, to have extraordinary
adventures fuelled by an incredible amount of luck. In the series
Farmer created entire Universes with different natural laws to those
we are used to with creatures often based upon myths and legends. I
was dissappointed in the final book in the series “More than Fire”
published in 1993 which seemed to be a hurried attempt to tie up ends
and complete the series. The odd book “Red Orc’s Rage” on the other
hand was an original work using the idea that real people may be able
in psychiatric therapy to “become” characters from the World of Tiers
books as a form of emotional and mental healing.
I never had the facination Farmer did for Tarzan or nordic legends and
could not really get into many of his books but appreciated the
variety of his works. “Venus on the half shell” remains a favourite as
much for the idea of its coception as for its actual content. Farmer
wrote the book using the psuedonym of Kilgour Trout. Kilgoure Trout is
in fact a fictional author who is a character in many novels by Kurt
Vonnegut and when Farmer had the book published the photo on the back
even has Farmer dressed to look like how Trout may have looked,
complete with fake beard and sun glasses.
For those who enjoy a bit of simple SF escapism I recommend trying a
few of his books, or even a bit of a laugh reading some of the titles
of his writings such as “Bradley Brave Sees New York With Observing
Injun Eyes—And with Knocking Knees” or “The Face that Launched a
Thousand Eggs” and “St. Francis Kisses His Ass Goodbye”.
Much more information can be gained from websites such as Wikipedia or
the official website www.pjfarmer.com

David

I’m just putting some new age books onto our system, and I came across this book:

The author’s name is so… intriguing. Sort of like a portmanteau of “good” and “savage”, and somehow just right for the author of a slim little Astrology volume from the mid-60s. I also feel compelled to share the author’s bio with you, since it’s almost as charming as his name.

“The author has worked as a reporter and tramp printer for at least half of the major dailies in the U.S. and has written hundreds of articles for the national magazines TRUE and FACT.”

TRUE and FACT indeed. You can pick up this charming little book in our New Age section, for $11.

-Agnes.

The back of this book proclaims that “Kazuo Ishiguro has been acclaimed in the Sunday Times for ‘extending the possibilities of fiction.’ In Never Let Me Go he has fashioned another remarkable story – a story of love, loss and hidden truths – that takes its place among his finest work.”

Usually I’d consider ‘extending the possibilities of fiction’ to be a nugget of boring PR-speak, the sort of thing you see on the back of dreary novels about broken families who eat their way around the globe while translating David Bowie into Cornish: the sort of books that should, by all accounts, be interesting, but instead spend so much time trying to be quirky that they fall as flat as a gluten-free pancake.

Kazuo Ishiguro really does stretch the boundaries of fiction. His work is sometimes surreal and it often features a somewhat bleak, science-fiction type future, but I wouldn’t call him a science fiction author (his science is integrated wonderfully into the narrative, by the way: he doesn’t fall prey to the “info-dump” type storytelling that even some very good science fiction authors love [I wrote a post on the info dump here]).

I won’t tell you enough of the plot of this one to spoil you, but it’s set in a slightly dystopic version of our own times, much like Ishiguro’s other work. It’s almost as if he’s a depressed, less flippant Nick Horby, and all I mean by that is that there’s a sort of inherent Englishness to his work, not quite stiff-upper-lip but almost there. Kathy, the narrator, reminisces about her childhood at a strange, idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. Who is Kathy? Who are her friends?

The lack of info-dumping becomes important here: the book has a soylent greenish subtlety to horror that brings you slowly to an uncomfortable realisation about just how skewed this version of modern Britain is.

I’m glad Ishiguro hasn’t been pigeon-holed as a “genre” author. I recommend this book even if you don’t enjoy science fiction. It’s a very sad book, with very real insights and beautiful, elegiac storytelling.

- Agnes.

The info-dump is one form of exposition, in which authors inform their readers of the important background to the action and plots of their books. An author loads a large amount of information (usually to describe something that sets their world apart from the real one) in a way that is counter to usual conversation or narration. This is a way of quickly and completely filling in background information, usually to furnish an elaborate plot. It’s easy to recognise — you might get the feeling that for a couple of pages the narrator of your book or your character’s voice has been replaced by a dreary university lecturer or an overenthusiastic infomercial spruiker.

A lot of science-fiction authors do this, and writers of television medical dramas are prone to it, too. Basically, instead of saying something like “I’m about to walk through the HoloPort Door,” and letting the audience work out  themselves through context and later information what this means, one character will go on a monologue, in speech or in thought, explaining something that in the world of the book or  movie they both know fairly well.

“I’m about to walk through the HoloDoor, T’akus, and as you well know this special hydraulic seal is made of the rare intergalactic element Siliconza-a, which is only found on one of the planet B52’s twelve moons. God knows what would happen if the hydraulic seal failed!  I guess we’d be sucked out into space, which is filled with intergalactic dust from the Decade Spaceship War, since that war was fought with spaceships powered by lint from the bellybutton of the Planet Zorg’s space-worm crop.”

Cue a shuddering halt and a dramatic hydraulic door failure.

If you’re unlucky enough to have read The Da Vinci Code then you’ll probably know exactly what I mean. Of course, not all information dumps are as heavy-handed as this example and Brown’s handiwork. There are a lot of great novels that contain a large amount of background and history. The trick is seamlessly integrating the things your audience needs to know into the fabric of the story. When that isn’t done correctly, it’s very obvious.

I think Patrick O’Brian supplies his audience with background information particularly well. His books, set on Nelson’s fleet during the Napoleonic wars, are loaded with interesting nuggets of information, and you can jump right into the history. The historical realities are also cemented, I think, by O’Brian’s strong characters: times change, but people don’t, and reading about Aubrey and Maturin’s adventures is a delight, mired as they are in a rich world of historical fact.

We have HMS Surprise in the shop at the moment.

- Agnes.

I think I knew that I would be a novelist almost as soon as I was able to read, but for a variety of reasons – including the war, my husband’s illness, the need to find and persevere in a safe career which would provide the necessary weekly cheque – I was a late starter. When I did begin my first novel in my mid thirties, classical detective fiction was the natural choice, partly because it was my foremost recreational reading in adolescence and partly because it suited my sceptical and perhaps slightly morbid imagination.

This is from a very interesting interview with P. D. James that you can read here.

P. D. James is the grandmother of English crime fiction. Her stories are slightly old fashioned, often set in isolated communities and relying on none of the scientific geegaws that some more procedurally-focussed writers use. It’s plain old crime fiction, character-driven and clearly-written.

I didn’t enjoy P. D. James’ previous book as much as I did this one. In this one she is as cynical as ever, and the mystery is engaging and vividly depicted. She carefully weaves emotional intruigue through the strata of British society and the unique politics of Scotland Yard in a way that is very distinctive of her “sceptical imagination”.

This one is great for P. D. James fans and new readers. New readers will enjoy the introduction to her particular style of storytelling and the classic cosyish crime fiction aspects, and old readers will enjoy the way James finally seems to be tidying up the life of her detective, Adam Dalgleish. I was reminded of the way the story of another famous fictional detective, Inspector Morse, started to end, although James seems to have another couple of books in her yet (I hope), and this is far less tragic than the way Colin Dexter chose to send his character off.

A famous journalist is murdered while she receives plastic surgery at a private clinic set in a country house. Interesting, entertaining, and classic P. D. James.

-Agnes.

Neil Owen is seeking a copy of this book: Who Wants to Be A Billionaire – The James Packer Story. If you have a copy you are willing to part with, please drop into the shop any time Mon-Fri between 9:30 and 5:30!

School is almost over, the nights are getting longer, and Christmas is approaching. If you’re a little bit older, maybe your exams are over and you’ve got spare time. Everybody’s ready for a holiday.

I’m sort of a young adult myself, and I thought I’d compile this (by no means comprehensive) list of good summer holiday reading for kids. You can comment and add to it if you like.

Sherlock Holmes; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I started reading Sherlock Holmes when I was about eleven or twelve. They’re classics: absorbing mysteries with suspense. I think Sherlock Holmes would be great for long summer nights or summer camping, a nice book to read in the shade, and not too hard to leave and come back to. Or buy The Complete Sherlock Holmes in one volume and you’re set!

The Chronicles of Narnia; C. S. Lewis

Summer is a perfect time to escape into another world. Can’t wait for school to end? Dive into this series. It’s never too late to read it, either! A true classic of the fantasy genre.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is my favourite Narnia book.

Unbearable!; Paul Jennings

Bite-sized stories that will keep you interested! Tales of mystery and adventure. My favourite short story in Unreal is the one about the spaghetti-eating competition.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants; Dav Pilkey

Underpants are just the right superhero costume for summer! Two schoolkids create a superhero, a superhero whose identity is so secret even he doesn’t know who he is! Funny, interesting and easy to read.  This book even has DIY flip-o-rama action!

Summer is a good time to get interested in a new hobby. We have lots of DIY books in the shop, and some of them are written specially for kids.

Of course there are lots more “summery” books for kids. Artemis Fowl is long and packed with adventure and the series is long so you can take all summer reading. Lockie Leonard is a summer surfing story and the Famous Five stories are usually set on a summer holiday, too.

Summer is a good time to learn about something new, too, even if you’re not at school. We have lots of non-fiction books on topics like animals, transport, people in history, arts and craft and mysteries. Here is a book on some of Australia’s most dangerous reptiles.

Summer is a great time to get into reading. The staff at JimmyD’s are happy to recommend a book to you. And if you have any suggestions, feel free to comment and add them below.

-Agnes.

…So bad. Such incongruity. So many questions.

Why is the skull old but the brains fresh? What does a skull that looks like a particularly tasteless garden ornament piled with offal have to do with a plague that “…brings the world to an end in an insane frenze [sic] of lust and violence…” Was the word “frenze” intentional?

The back cover and blurb don’t tell me much more. “Jelly fish, stewed in the boiling sea, flopped around his head. The sand was red and sizzled, the pebbles burned and a prune walked across his stomach…”

This is quite entertaining, although reading the book for anything other than laughs would surely make your head explode. A nice coffee table book for when the in-laws visit, perhaps?

-Agnes.

Someone used to give my dad  a Far Side calendar for  Christmas every year, one of those desk calendars you flip over every day. I loved reading that calendar all at once. There was something about Gary Larson that was too cool to save for a calendar.

Gary Larson, if you didn’t know, does one-panel cartoons that are often dark, surreal and wildly funny. They’re a great gift for someone with a sense of humour, I think, but they’re also addictive (hence the way I spurned the one-cartoon-a-day calendar format).

Here’s something you might not know (that I discovered on Wikipedia). One of Larson’s cartoons features two chimpanzees groooming each other. One finds a blonde hair on the other and says “ Conducting a little more ‘research’ with that Jane Goodal tramp?” This is typical of Larson’s humour, which often features anthropomorthised animals. The Jane Goodal Institute wanted to sue Larson for this cartoon, but Goodal refused since she found the cartoon funny. She has since praised Larson’s ideas for the way they contrast the way that animals and humans live.

Jane Goodall isn’t the only friend Gary Larson has in the world of zoology, either. He has had a species of butterfly and a species of louse named after him. 

You’ll love Gary Larson if you like smart, surreal, weird and “quirky” humour, if you love animals or pop culture. I think this book would be a great gift for the scientist, office worker or comedy buff in your life. Maybe I’ll give it to my dad as a replacement for the calendar, this year.

Agnes.