The bookcation hath succeeded!
Kind of!
In past years, we’d often explore many multiple bookshops and come home with boxes upon boxes of books. We decided to do something different this time around: One shop, load up, but then spend the bulk of the remaining time simply reading.
That said, I found some stuff I thought I’d share. We got 34 books total; I ain’t gonna share them all here. What I will do is share some of the highlights I thought y’all might find interesting!
I picked up this book on the title alone. I mean, how could I not? That’s fantastic! I’m told Mike Resnick is also a fantastic author (and he was a swell guy, to boot), though I don’t think I’ve read anything by him before. It’s book 4 in a series, but I’m hoping I can get by with just this one. I would have picked up more in the series had the store had any!
So, Andrew Peterson is one of my favorite musical artists. This book comes from his press, Rabbit Room Press, and it’s written by his brother. It was $2. I didn’t even care I didn’t know what it was about; I snapped it up. I figure, worse comes to worse, I wasted $2. I suspect it’s worth at least that much, though, and probably a whole lot more!
If you know Gravity Falls, well, you’re awesome. If not, check it out. It’s streaming on Disney+ right now. Anyway, my wife found this hardcover, and it shows you everything awesome about the show. I mean, “The Curse of the Time Pirate’s Treasure”? How could you not love that. And it’s a “Select Your Own Choose-Venture”? Heck yeah! This is just going to be a delight.
So, there are lots of barbarian riffs. Conan is obviously the most famous, but there are plenty of others. So why did I bother picking up this one? Look at that author: Gardner F. Fox. I don’t know if it’s the same Gardner Fox, but a person with that name is one of the editors responsible for modern DC comics. For instance, he was the editor for the first Justice League stories ever. A lot of comics people back then did plenty of other writing. I need to investigate to find out if it’s the same guy, but I’m hoping it is!
So, I like nautical fiction. C. S. Forester wrote the Horatio Hornblower series I adore. But what’s all this? Well, it’s the journals of a man who really sailed the seas. I thought it might be fun. And then I read the end of the introduction by Forester:
I love that.
Finally, I was able to wrap up several series. This one, which started with Epic, has been startlingly good. I also got the final book of Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe series, as well as the final Holly Vesper book.
So, overall, a productive bookcation, even if we only made one stop to purchase books!
I hope y’all are having a great summer — enjoy the day, and see you next week!
Jonathon Mast: Author 