After quite a while resting on my more or less laurels (past listings) it's time to get a move on and put up some more listings. My goal is five books every day from now on. This should be achievable, but not according to my past performance.

These books get listed in three places: on Amazon, Biblio, and Half. Books without ISBNs (older books) generally will not be listed on half. My prices might vary between these three places. Amazon and Half tell me competing prices, so I peg mine on them. Thus, if the lowest price for Deadly Percheron is $98 on Amazon, I might peg mine at $95. If it weren't my only copy maybe I'd be more reasonable. In fact, I think my Biblio listing is more reasonable.

Going forward (and possibly backward), links to titles of books will send you to the main Amazon listing. My listing will be somewhere amidst the other maybe 237 listings. This is where my photo of the book can be seen, which will probably be a better one than the one Amazon features. Half doesn't let me attach my own photo—at least I don't think it does. Photos are also at biblio. Lots of older listings still don't have photos. Nor updated prices.

I've been lousy at selling direct via email. Sorry about that, if you've tried me. Listing through the major portals keeps me honest—also prompt and reliable.

Monday, January 24, 2005

01/24/05 MON:
---Email rec’d that bears on a few things I might be able to lend further confusion to (with my reply that follows):
Hi, Chris!

Good news! The package with the books has arrived.

Thanks!

Also included were a CD-ROM of your catalog, and 5 of your CD
Compilations; thanks a lot! However, since there were no 'playlists'
included, can you send me ones for comps 61-101? (and, are the numbers
like SW versions, ie, the first 'release' is, say, 6.1, but you may add
something later, making it 6.2?)

The catalog CD is somewhat mysterious: Besides the PDF files, there are
several others, and something called "Filemaker 4.1 data", but no
explanations; what should I do with all of these? Does this listing
supersede and/or incorporate all of your previous Catalogs, up to #144
(ie, can I jettison those files, since they're now obsolete, or not)?

A comment/suggestion: I can understand that having separate lists for
HCs, pbs, 'new arrivals', etc., may be convenient for you; but, for the
'browser' (eg, me), it's very complicated: If I want to look up any
author/title, I'd have to look in 4-5 separate lists (assuming I'm not
looking for a particular edition).

At the end of the SF HCs list is a mysterious note: "SENT UPSTAIRS:
Michael to Russell"; should I just ignore it?

I'm still not sure about your preference for future payments:

Also, in a recent e-mail, I asked you if you have any of the F&SF
October (or Oct/Nov) issues for 1999 (50th An.), 2000, 2001(#600?),
2002, 2003, or 2004, or Amazing Stories #600 (Vol.71#5), or the Jan.2000
Analog.

My reply:
You can’t tell what kind of files (i.e. text, PDF, mac)? Maybe PCs are different from macs (just maybe). The file types are listed right on the line with the files in my finder. I should think you would be able to open the text files in any WP. And the PDFs should open with your Acrobat reader. I think yours was actually the first time I put my catalog inventory on disc for dissemination, so it might have things a little garbled. Before, I always had my data on a computer without burning capability. I would think you could at least determine what file types they are without difficulty. Maybe in your WP program you could see what files can open if any are not greyed out. At least that’s how it works on my Mac. Anyay, not all the files I send will be needed to see the data. They are the same data in different formats. The catalog-data CDRs I send now I don’t include the FileMaker files that I use for paperbacks. I just sort the data by author and by publisher and burn PDF and text versions (plus the Mac Appleworks). I hope that at least can serve as a substitute for some people to my sending catalogs out--although I do hope to be doing so again sometime before the end of forever.
Before I started burning data onto CDs I did burn plenty of music compilations, like the ones I sent you. Latest one now is 117! I did not write down which ones I sent you. Let me know the numbers and I will email you the playlists. Number 61 is 61.0 with no 61.1 in the offing--not 6.1. Too many, I know, but it is mighty easy to do the things The track info even gets inputted automatically off the Internet (with built-in Gracenote CDDB access). I make a few extra CDs to send out free to people who express interest. I like to listen to music that way sometimes--sort of like the way it must be for the iPod people. I use iTunes but I don’t buy or download music off the Internet for my compilations. They are just taken from the CDs I own without compressing the songs, thus losing quality. If I ever traveled around much, I might want an iPod, but I am always tethered to my home base, so I listen through a somewhat higher-end system than one that might have an iPod attached. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the compilations. (And I hope I haven’t just added to your confusion.)
Yes, you can safely ignore the “Sent Upstairs” note in my HC list. That is a relic from when I was using email to transfer catalog data from my downstairs to the upstairs (Internet) computer to add listings to my biblio.com entries. (I’m working on the ones that will bring listings through -Sheffield now. But I did list all the Tor mmpbs already--that was quite a job.)
Maybe when I get all my catalog info on biblio.com my biblio.com file will compile all the data from the various places. I can have my bibliolistings file on the CDR too. As it is now, all my catalog data fills up a small fraction of what is available on a disc.
I have no preference regarding whether you send email to me at aol or gmail or both. Also, no preference regarding paypal or credit card. It is totally up to you. If you want me to lose less of a cut to the service, Paypal takes a nominally larger percentage. Also, I don’t check my gmail as often as my aol, but it might be a suitable back-up. I need to activate the .mac membertship I bought with my new iBook G4. When I do that, I hope to have some place to post my files for public scrutiny besides sending them on CDRs. And then I might have still another email address you could send to--maybe one I will actually start going to with regularity and get rid of my aol. I never use any AOL content or services beyond email and internet access, so it might be better to get a new IP without all the unnecessary content--and with the sometimes prolematic performance. But who knows if I will ever do anything like that. I am pretty good at just riding the status quo into the ground.
Sorry I forgot to reply to your query about magazines. It would be easiest for me to just send you my listings for the magazines I do have (although the CDR should do that too). Here is what I list now:
FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, THE MAGAZINE OF…, 10/56, g 4.00
---8/66, 1/68, 4/68, 2/77, 3/77, 8/77, 11/77, 1/78, 8/78, 12/78, 1/82, 5/82, 5/85, 11/85, 12/85, 3/86, 8/86, 12/86, 2/87, 5/87, 7/87, 8/87, 9/87, 11/87, 12/87, 2/88, 3/88, 4/88, 9/88, 12/88, 5/89, 6/89, 7/89, 9/89, 12/89, 2/90, 4/90, 6/90, 7/90, 8/90, 4/91, 3/00, 7/02, 8/02, 9/02, g or better (mostly better, much better) each, 1.50
---10/89, (224-page 40th Anniversary Issue) • ---10-11/91, (42nd Anniv. Issue; 240 pp), vg or better each, 3.00
---1/85 to 8/85, eight straight issues, vg-f to f the set, 15.00
ANALOG magazine, 3/63, 2/64, 4/64, 6/63, (bedsheet size), vg+ each, 7.50
--- 11/61 ($2), 2/70, 7/72, 8/72, 9/72, 12/72, 2/73, 3/73, 4/73, 5/73, 6/73, 7/73, 8/73, 9/73, 10/73, 2/74, 3/74, 7/73, 8/73, 4/74, 5/74, 10/74, 11/75, 7/76, 8/76, 2/77, 3/77, 9/77, 10/77, 2/78, 3/78, 4/78, 5/78, 8/78, 9/78, 10/78, 11/78, 1/79, 2/79, 3/79, 4/79, 5/79, 6/79, 8/79, 9/79, 12/79, 3/80, 5/80, 7/80, 8/80, 9/80, 10/80, 11/80, 9/14/81, 12/7/81, 9/82, 10/82, 12/82, 2/83, 4/83, 5/83, 10/83, mid-9/83, 7/84, 11/88, 10/95, g or (mostly) better each, 1.00 (or 6/$5)
---1974-1978, 60 issues, (five complete years), mostly vg or better as a set, $65
AMAZING STORIES, 5/86, 9/88, mostly vg or better each, 2.00
---11/82 to 1/87, 21 of 28 in run, (Scithers-edited issues), vg-f to f the set, 49.00

Yours,
Chris

---A bit later I wrote:
Now it dawns on me (as it should have before) that I sent you comps 61, 71, 81, 91 & 101. Here is what they contain:
CD COMP 61 (9/7/04):
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo 6:00 Greg Osby St. Louis Shoes Jazz 2003
If It Be Your Will 3:42 Leonard Cohen The Essential Leonard Cohen (Disc 1) Rock 2002
Track 08 5:48 Rahim Alhaj Iraqi Music in a Time of War World
Dirty Denim 3:25 The Donnas Spend The Night Alternative & Punk 2002
This Boy Is Exhausted 4:17 The Wrens The Meadowlands Alternative & Punk 2003
Rio / Only A Dream 4:32 Cassandra Wilson Belly Of The Sun Jazz 2002
Willow Weep For Me 5:31 Ella Fitzgerald The Best Of Concert Years Jazz 2003
Don't Let Me Lose This Dream 2:23 Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You R&B 1967
I'm A Stranger Here Myself 5:50 Dee Dee Bridgewater This Is New Jazz 2002
Watch Wath Happens 3:29 Shirley Horn May The Music Never End Jazz 2003
Everywhere You Turn 4:56 The Bad Plus These Are The Vistas Jazz 2003
amor ti vieta (Fedora) - Giordano 1:58 Jussi Björling Jussi Bjorling reDiscovered Classical 2003
Boom Intro/Pass That Dutch 3:37 Missy Elliott This Is Not A Test Hip Hop/Rap 2003
Risky Business (ft. Shock G. +Humpty Hump) 4:52 Murs The End of the Beginning Hip Hop/Rap 2003
Brand New Whiskey 2:26 Gary Stewart Best Of The High Tone Years Country 2002
Let's Not Shit Outselves 10:07 Bright Eyes Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground Alternative & Punk 2002

CD COMP 71 (9/17/04):
The One Who Really Loves You 2:31 Mary Wells The Best Of Mary Wells Master Blues
What's Going On 3:52 Marvin Gaye The Very Best (Disc 2) R&B 2001
Konda 16:31 Miles Davis The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions (Disc 4) Jazz 2003
I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline) 8:25 James Blood Ulmer Memphis Blood - The Sun Sessions Blues 2001
The Land Of Plenty 4:35 Leonard Cohen Ten New Songs Rock 2001
The House That Dripped Blood 2:53 The Mountain Goats Tallahassee Folk 2002
Chorus: From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony 3:46 G.F. Handel Ode for St. Cecilia's Day Classical
Likambo Ya Ngana 5:21 Franco The Rough Guide to Franco World 2001
BlaCk BaStaRds 4:00 KMD Black Bastards Hip Hop/Rap 2001
Hotel Yorba 2:10 The White Stripes White Blood Cells Alternative & Punk 2001
Joan Jett Of Arc 3:54 Clem Snide The Ghost Of Fashion Country 2001
Tell Him 2:36 The Exciters Girl Group Greats Pop 1963
Po' Boy 3:05 Bob Dylan Love & Theft Rock 2001
Coffee Blues 2:44 Lightnin' Hopkins Blues Masters Blues
Ulahi Sings While Scaping Sago Pith 4:38 Various Artists Bosavi, Rainforest Music From Papua New Guinea (Disc 2) - Sounds And Songs Of Everyday Life World 2001
Vietnam 4:07 Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards Alternative & Punk 2001

CD COMP 81 (9/25/04):
Slow West Vultures 2:42 The Mountain Goats We Shall All Be Healed Alternative & Punk 2004
On The Way Home (Alternate Mix) 2:30 Buffalo Springfield Box Set (Disc 3) Rock 1968
Sweet Potato Pie with James Taylor 3:47 Ray Charles Genius Loves Company Blues 2004
Djorolen (rmx) 4:21 Oumou Sangare Oumou World 2003
Talking Time Travel 4:27 MC Paul Barman Paullelujah Hip Hop/Rap 2002
John Walker's Blues 3:41 Steve Earle Jerusalem Blues 2002
The Arkham Quartet 1:35 Allegretto col legno - Jan Liljekvist Eight times falling Classical
Thulandiville 2:36 Elite Swingsters The History of Township Music World 1994
32 Weeks 2:18 Mekons Punk Rock Alternative & Punk 2004
Serves Me Right To Suffer 3:59 Jimmy Johnson Blues Band Living Chicago Blues Vol. 1 Blues 1978
Variation 18 (Larghetto) 0:59 Salieri Salieri: Piano Concertos - Spada-Philharmonia Classical
Win Some Lose Some 3:24 Brother Ali Shadows On The Sun Hip Hop/Rap
Gardessi 6:33 Super Mama Djombo Super Mama Djombo World 2003
Love Letters 7:42 Roy Haynes Love Letters Jazz 2002
Serenade Concertante 10:30 Berger, Arthur The Complete Orchestral Music Classical
Carnabailito 5:25 Gaby Kerpel Carnabailito Latin 2001

CD COMP 91 (10/13/04):
Allah 6:12 Youssou N'Dour Egypt World 2004
C'est ça la vie, c'est ça l'amour 2:38 Susan Graham Susan Graham At Carnegie Hall Classical 2003
Pookey Blow 6:14 Various Artists The Third Unheard: Connecticut Hip Hop 1979-1983 Hip Hop/Rap 2004
Nearing 2:14 DNA DNA On DNA Alternative & Punk 2004
The O'Hara Songs (1) 3:08 Morton Feldman Voices & Instruments Classical 2002
Electric Demons In Love 3:06 Electric Six Fire Rock 2003
Time 4:00 Akrobatik Balance Hip Hop/Rap 2003
Bought For A Song 4:01 Fountains Of Wayne Welcome Interstate Managers Alternative & Punk 2003
One Last Breath 3:57 Creed Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 11 Pop 2002
Am Abend aber kam ein reicher Mann 0:36 Johann Sebastian Bach Matthäus-Passion (Arrangement 1841 von Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy für die St. Thomas-Kirche in Leipzig) Classical
You Don't Miss Your Water ('Til The Well Runs Dry) 5:20 Craig David Slicker Than Your Average R&B 2002
Motion Picture Soundtrack 4:48 Christopher O'Riley True Love Waits: O'Riley Plays Radiohead Classical 2003
Ambassel 7:51 Mahmoud Ahmed Ethiopiques 6 World 1999
Baby Doll 3:43 N*E*R*D In Search Of... Hip Hop/Rap 2002
Three Parts upon a Ground In D Major (Z 731) 4:36 The Purcell Quartet Sonnatas (Disc 2) Classical
Cabin Essence 3:29 Brian Wilson Smile Pop 2004
Rub Me Raw 5:44 Warren Zevon The Wind Rock 2003
4th Movement 4:59 Duke Ellington And Ray Brown This One's for Blanton Jazz 1972

CD COMP 101 (11/17/04):
The Doldrums (Overture) 3:08 Steven Mackey Ravenshead Classical 1999
What a Little Moonlight Can Do 2:58 Billie Holiday Lady Day (Disc 1) Jazz 2001
Dreaming's Killing Me 3:11 Amy Allison No Frills Friend Country 2003
Concerto No 5 In D Maj BWV 1050 5:54 II Affettuoso Brandenburg Concertos Classical 2003
I'm A Gambling Man 6:46 Taraf de Haïdouks Band Of Gypsies World 2001
Sidewalk Story 3:51 Uri Caine, Various Tin Pan Alley: The Sidewalks Of New York Jazz 1999
Working Man's Ph.D. 3:31 Aaron Tippin Ultimate Aaron Tippin Country 2004
Sonata No.3 In C Major 3:49 III Largo J. S. Bach - Sonatas And Partitas For Solo Violin (Disc 1) Classical 2000
Te Dejo Madrid 3:07 Shakira Laundry Service Latin 2001
The Last Cowboy 5:22 Tin Hat Trio The Rodeo Eroded Jazz 2002
Tirol Concerto 16:30 Movement II Dennis Russell Davies Performs Philip Glass Classical 2004
Bamako 5:46 Roswell Rudd & Archie Shepp Live In New York - Soundscape Series Jazz 2001
Psycopathia Mojosexualis 2:57 Yohimbe Brothers Front End Lifter Electronica/Dance 2002
Epilogue 1:34 Steven Mackey Ravenshead Classical 1999

---Nice to get this email from out of the blue:
Chris,

Just thought I'd write a quick "hello." My name is Mark Lambert -- I'm the guy with the beard who chatted with you briefly at the Post Office this morning! I glanced at the address label on the package you were sending, so that's how I know who you are.

I own a small publishing business (definitely a side gig -- I'm a state government official by day). I've published two books so far: 1) Lester Dent: The Man, His Craft and His Market by Maggie Martin McCarey-Laird (a biography of the author of the Doc Savage pulp novels) and 2) Adventure Mystery Tales, Volume #1 (collection of modern pulp-style stories, with me as the editor). Both are on Amazon.com if you want to take a peek. Hopefully will publishing another book or two later this year.

Anyway, it was fun discovering that someone else in Polk City is into books. I have quite an eclectic collection -- lots of old pulp magazines, paperback reprints of pulps, and other assorted goodies. I'd love to get together and chat about books one of these days. I'm incredibly busy between now and mid-February (travelling for work, and trying to put finishing touches on a dulplex my wife and I own-but-are-selling in Des Moines before we close in mid-Feb.). Maybe sometime late Feb. or early March.

Anyway, just wanted to make contact. If you still publish a catalog, please drop one in the mail to me. Thanks!
---My reply:
I’m glad you tracked me down. I was thinking when I left the post office on my bicycle, blocking the parking space, that I wished I had gotten at least your email address. I never expect to find any kindred spirits in Polk City. People who inquire about my business usually are not the kind of people who would actually buy books from me or are interested in my inventory--to say the least. Obviously I’m a big fan of pulp magazine material too. I don’t have too many of the actual thirties and forties pulps in my catalog inventory, but I know I have a lot of books with pulp reprint material. So I’m sure I would be interested in seeing and probably carrying your publications.
I look forward to our having a chance to hang out together. Even though it was brief, to have a face attached to an email is a welcome novelty. It would be great if you get a chance to come around some time. I am home just about all the time--I don’t even have a car to go run errands during the week. My bookshelves are in typical disarray, which would be discouraging to the stop-in customer; but I do look forward to our having a chance to sit around and talk some time.
I will send you a CDR with my catalog inventory on it. My print catalogs have become a bit dated now. I hope I can put them out again, but I still have some catching up to do on other fronts first--as always seems to be the case.


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