"A reader is not merely a customer, he or she is a human being like yourself, looking for reassurance and connection." --Rudolf Flesch



My copy of Asimov's Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy sold in three minutes.

I'm getting messages from on High.

The Future is almost now: the digital delivery of comics is a thriving ninety million dollar industry in Japan alone last year. Cell phones and manga... Whodda thunk it?

It's true. Because I'm that much of a freak I saw the Star Wars animated movie last weekend at the theater. Here's ten things to look for while watching the film. And though the movie leaves much to be desired, it was still fun to have some bonding time with Jake. For a seven year old, the movie was a masterpiece. :)



Watched Star Trek: Nemesis again this weekend. If I'd produced this film I'd of re-cut it and re-written much of it before release (I'm a picky S.O.B. aren't I?) but I enjoy a number of the story elements especially the concept of Shinzon and the Remans. The story is a fascinating tale of duality much like the better parts of the Star Wars saga yet very original for Hollywood.

What a shame I saw a book at the library and it appears that Data was brought back to life shortly after the film. Can't a franchise character ever stay dead? The only character than should never die is Stefano DiMera. But I'd never watch a show like that.

Well almost never. :)

"Each man kills the thing he loves." --John McGahern

"I really wanna be over-rated." --Quiet Riot



Things to say. Head tripping. Emotion low. Tonight, another piece to match my mood.

"...it is not a metaphor when researchers refer to an elegant theorem as beautiful." --Alice W. Flaherty

"I just needed to re-align." --Godsmack

Grant Morrison, author of The Filth discusses Magic, Life, and Death.

Sci-Fi Wire reports on some on the inspirations for the current Batman film: The Dark Knight. I enjoyed the movie but need to see it again before I can really formulate an opinion. It's hard to watch that type of movie when I know I have the potential to create something so much better.

Also, the history of Vertigo Comics lands on a coffee table near you.

I'm reading, The Midnight Disease:



A book about the drive to write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain by neurologist and author Alice W. Flaherty.

When I was a salesman I developed a thing for business cards. I still collect them--cards from people I've both met and haven't. Some cards are like an autobiography (another love of mine). Others are just fascinating.

I recently enjoyed Calliope Nerve's own Christine Stoddard's card where she describes herself as a Freelance Writer & Interdisciplinary Artist.

I picked up one recently left on a Circle K counter from a local butcher/meat cutter. Some of the details include: Custom Processing, Deer Processing, Home Smoked Meats, Freezer Meats, BBQ Pigs, Steaks. Not sure what all of that is and I'm not a big meat eater but having been an assistant meat cutter (another one of my illustrious career choices) I can respect anyone who butchers especially for a living.

My next martial arts related card will be more like this fine card:



Think it will be a double sided card advertising Calliope Nerve and my media businesses.

Just got word that a complimentary copy of J.D. Nelson's newest chap is winging it's way to me. It's good to be an editor.

If I can get a moment of silence around here, I have a small edition of APA Centauri to get out, my updated resume, and the latest issue of Calliope.

The online business is doing well. Expansion plans are underway to get myself out of this jam I'm in. (A used refrigerator is about the only problem I have solved since moving in.)



I'm finding my nitch. Like the book above, many of these comic shop exclusives have sold well and at high margins. It only recently dawned on me, that a lot of people don't live near a comic shop. And yes, Playboys still sell well. They are my fastest turning/highest profit item. Fits a man's insatiable need for porn and collecting. Can't beat that. Ha! If only I had figured that out ten years ago.

Right now I'm just re-aligning, drinking a Coors Light, and deep breathing. Things are looking up, I just don't know it yet.

"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." --William Gibson

Need to just go back to bed, put the covers over my head, and stay in hiding for a month or a year. Anymore, it's all the same.

Where do I start? The list goes on and on.

We still have no natural gas in here in the house. I think I have the leaks fixed but can't afford a certified inspector to come out and look at it.

The car I use for my work commute just started leaking gasoline.

I'm a month behind on the new car insurance policy because they mailed it to my old address and I forgot about it. (Yet they also have the insurance policy to our new house and I put down several hundred dollars for the escrow.)

Yesterday, my three year old refrigerator quit working. So now we have no fridge or freezer to keep food in.

School starts in less than two weeks, I don't have to tell you parents out there what that entails financially.

No luck finding a second job so far. Akron, Cleveland, Toledo, Youngstown, and Columbus all fall in the top twenty worse places to be looking for work in a recent article I read. What a shock...

And there's more but enough whining. Where did the care free days go?

I'd say it couldn't get any worse but...

"YOU ARE TRAPPED IN THAT BRIGHT MOMENT WHERE YOU LEARNED YOUR DOOM." --Samuel R. Delaney

"The rain, it only pours around here." --Warren Ellis



Finally got a copy of Rebel Bookseller. Thanks Mom! (Despite my manly image, I'm a bit of a Mamma's boy.) Knocked off the first eighty pages before bed last night. Good stuff.

Though we still have no gas, all else is well. Did yard work, hung out with family, watched Stop Loss and an episode of Burn Notice, read, and drank beer yesterday. The mail also brought be a nice flyer package from Calliope Nerve contributor Christine Stoddard.

Today's plans include church, teaching martial arts class, more reading, yard work, and beer. All in all a good weekend.

This week I plan to finish up the next issue of Calliope Nerve so I can begin work on the blog and website. And I'm going to see if any local bookstores are hiring part time.

Found this on-line:

"I love the friends I have gathered together here on this thin raft." -- Jim Morrison which I think I'll use as the opening to my next per-zine.

And my daughter Marinda believes I know the words to every song ever, even the sucky ones. :) Another one of my useless talents. But I have to admit, I love Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy! because sometimes, damn it, I need to feel like a Mental Giant.

Giving others brain envy raises self esteem. It's true. It's in the Bible and Weekly World News: all the news that's fit to print.

From the Green Apple Books Newsletter:

Anti-Oedipus Book Group

Join us for a discussion of the first title of Green Apple's reading group: Anti-Oedipus by philosopher Gilles Deleuze and psychoanalyst Felix Guattari.

Published in 1972, Anti-Oedipus offers a reconceptualization of both the approaches to as well as the vocabulary of contemporary psychoanalytic and philosophic thought.

Predicated upon the rejection of the Freudian Oedipal triangle ("mommy-daddy-me"), Deleuze and Guattari introduce schizoanalysis, their new conceptual apparatus that attempts to account for affective forces beyond the psychoanalytic familial bond: the deterritorialization and reterritorialization of flows, analysis of the social production of desire beyond psychic fantasy, and the structure of capitalism itself.

The group will meet on a bi-weekly basis at the Bitter End on Clement Street between 5th and 6th Avenues at 7pm, beginning in August. To participate or learn more, contact Stephen Sparks (sparks@greenapplebooks.com) or call him at the store for more information. (415-387-2272).

The first meeting is scheduled for August 13 at 7:00 p.m.

"Things used to be pretty simple. A hundred years, just hanging out, feeling guilty. Really honed my brooding skills." -- Angel (Josh Whedon)

Tonight I'm putting a Snowball Bookshop bookmark in the book I'm reading to remind me of my mission and aim. My job is no longer my career. Better things lie ahead and Snowball is a great model for my own endeavors and it's the largest independent bookstore in this area.

The bookmark reads something like this...

..."A Place for Book Lovers"

Out-Of-Print * Used * New * Buy * Sell * Trade

Over 80,000 volumes.
Gently read out-of-print, hardcover and paperback books.
New books ordered.
Great gift items.
Unique greeting cards.

Once things are a little more back to normal, I think I'm going to have bookmarks printed up to advertise my online store, etc. I've got a web designer on board now too but first I have to earn the money to get the gas fixed. It's now approaching a month since I've had a warm shower. :(

I sold an Indian Head penny online today that I bought for a dollar for fourteen bucks. Not bad, need to learn more about coins. It's the second coin I've moved this week.

From the Green Apple Books newsletter comes an interesting PDF on the benefits of buying from a local business.

Pete also mentions in the same newsletter that the credit card fees associated with the business add up to the margins most independent sellers make so pay cash whenever you can!

On my to do list before I die, is visit Green Apple Books. In fact, I'd love a road trip to see all kinds of independent book, music, zine, and comic stores.

In my pursuit of finding unique publishers I ran across this one: ECW Press.

Joey Comeau sums it up:

"ECW is a neat publisher. They put out books on wrestlers and episode guides to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which are the sort of books that pay the bills, I imagine, but which they also seem to genuinely love. I respect that. And then they publish books of poetry devoted to the work of Werner Herzog! And Novels about the Carter family fighting vampire perfumers for the soul of Jimmy Rogers. So, I think they are good people."