Undulating Ungulate

 

Attention book people! I’m selling off some (many) books again. Mostly fiction this time. Generally SF/Fantasy/Literary. Non fiction listed at the bottom.

 

If you want something and are in Wellington, let me know either via PM or in comments. Make an offer better than a second hand dealer will give me, which is not hard. Will let it run a week or so. Whoever makes the best offer gets the book.

Key: Author, Title, Type, Condition, (special comments)

Type: H = Hardback, P = paperback, TP = trade (large) paperback, X = ex-library

Condition: A+ = as new/very good, A = average, A- = below average (will note any noteworthy damage)

Fantasy/SF

Ian R Macleod – The house of storms HX, A,

Ian R Macleod – The Light Ages PX, A

Ellen Datlow (ed) – Supernatural Noir PX, A (short story anthology)

Charles de Lint – Muse and Reverie HX, A (short stories)

Steve Rasnic Tem – The man on the ceiling PX, A

M John Harrison – In Viroconium P, A

Jonathan Lethem – Motherless Brooklyn P, A

Richard Arthur – I of the sun PX, A+ (looks real weird)

Ryu Mitsuse – 10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights TP, A+ (billed as the greatest Japanese SF novel ever; it isn’t remotely like anything else)

Richard Kadrey – Dead Set HX, A+

Catherynne Valyente – Six Gun Snow White HX, A+

Joe R Lansdale – Dead Aim HX, A+

Christopher Priest – The Separation HX, A (won BSFA and Arthur C Clarke awards)

Christopher Priest – Fugue for a darkening island P, A-

Christopher Priest – The Islanders P, A (won BSFA)

Vernor Vinge – Marooned in real time P, A

Stanislaw Lem – The invincible P, A-

Stanislaw Lem – His master’s voice P, A-

Steve Aylett – The crime studio PX, A-

Michael Marshall Smith – What you make it P, A- (short stories, back cover munched)

Adam Roberts – Polystom TP, X, A

Adam Roberts – Gradisil HX, A

Theodore Sturgeon – E Pluribus Unicorn P, A- (short stories, probably rare now)

Storm Constantine – Wraethu (omnibus containing enchantments of flesh and spirit, bewitchments of love and hate, fulfilments of fate and desire) P, A

Rudy Rucker – Hylozoic HX, A+

Charlaine Harris – Dead until dark HX, A (first of the books True Blood was based on)

Pohl & Kornbluth – Wolfsbane P, A- (prob rare)

Christoper Moore – Bloodsucking freaks P, A

Daryl Gregory – Harrison Squared HX, A+

Carolyn Ives Gilman – Dark Orbit HX, A+

Steve Aylett – Only an alligator

Steve Aylett – The velocity gospel

Steve Aylett – Dummyland

Steve Aylett – Karloff’s circus (these are a set of four, all PX, A)

Roberty Shea and Robert Anton Wilson – The Illuminatus Trilogy PX, A- (legendary, every home should have one, fnord.)

Liz Williams – Snake Agent PX, A

Liz Williams – Precious Dragon HX, A

Paul di Fillipo – Ribofunk HX, A-

Greg Egan – Incandescence TP, A

Keith Roberts – Pavane P, A- (fairly sure this won the world fantasy award?)

Charlie Stross – Singularity Sky HX, A

James Blish – Doctor Mirabilis P, A- (well foxed, vivid on cover, book looks super odd)

Clive Barker – The hellbound heart P, A (hellraiser movie based on this)

Clive Barker – Chiliad: A Meditation HX, A+

Iain M Banks – Surface Detail HX, A

Ian Esslemont – Night of Knives TP, A (part of Erikson’s Malazan books world)

Ian Esslemont – Return of the Crimson Guard HX, A+

Michael Moorcock – Count Brass: the tale of the eternal champion vol 14 (omnibus containing Count Brass, The Champion of Garathorn, The Quest for Tanelorn) TP, A

Patrick Rothfuss – The Wise Man’s Fear TP, A

China Meiville – The Scar HX, A- (sequel to Perdido St Station)

Stephen Donaldson – The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (omnibus containing The Wounded Land, The One Tree, White Gold Wielder) TP, A

Legends (stories by Martin, Feist, Jordan, Le Guin, Pratchett, King, Goodkind, etc, set in their most famous worlds) TP, A

Tim Powers – Hide Me Among the Graves HX, A

L Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt – The Compleat Enchanter (omnibus) P, A

Jack Williamson – Darker Than You Think P, A+

A. A Attanasio – Killing with the edge of the moon HX, A

Jo Walton – The King’s Name HX, A

Daniel Fox – Hidden Cities PX, A

Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman – Fall of the Kings PX, A

JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

Lavie Tidhar – The Bookman PX, A

Michael Moorcock – The Eternal Champion – the tale of the eternal champion vol 1 (omnibus containing The Eternal Champion, Phoenix in Obsidian, The Dragon in the Sword) P, A

Glen Cook – Water Sleeps (vol 9 of the black company) P, A-

Shaun Hick – The Army of Five Men P, A

Charlie Huston – My dead body

Charlie Huston – every last drop

Charlie Huston – half the blood of brooklyn (these 3 all PX, A)

Literary fiction/other

Alice Munro – The Beggar Maid P, A-

Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake P, A

Dambudzo Marechara – The house of hunger P, A+

Yann Martel – The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios HX, A

Robert Rosenberg – This is not civilisation HX, A

John Steinbeck – The moon is down P, A-

Darragh Mckeon – All that is solid melts into air HX, A

Allen Wheeler – The illusionless man P, A- (looks real weird)

Sir Thomas Mallory – Le Morte d’Arthur P, A (medieval epic poem version of Arthurian cycle)

Zadie Smith – White Teeth P, A

Denis Johnson – Tree of Smoke TP, A+ (National Book Award winner)

Denis Johnson – Fiskadoro P, A

Thomas Hardy – Tess of the D’ubervilles P, A-

Bruce Dickinson – The adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace TP, A

Bruce Dickinson – The Missionary Position TP, A (these two are toilet humour penned by Iron Maiden’s vocalist.)

William Burroughs jr – Speed H, A (no dust jacket. Not that this is NOT William S Burroughs but his son. Probably quite rare?)

Geoff Ryman – 253 P, A

Goethe – Faust part one P, A-

Andre Gide – The Immoralist P, A-

John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath P, A-

Zhang Jie – Leaden Wings P, A

Michael Ondaatje – The English Patient P, A (Booker prize winner)

Elliot Perlman – Seven types of ambiguity

David Baldacci – The Winner

Russell Hoban – My Tango with barbara Strozzi PX, A

Russell Hoban – Amarylis Night and Day P, A

Tibor Fischer – The Thought Gang P, A

Amos Oz – Scenes from village life P, A

Thomas Pynchon – Against the Day HX, A

Thomas Pynchon – Vineland HX, A

Thomas Pynchon – Mason and Dixon PX, A

Jose Saramago – All the names H, A+ (nobel prize winner)

Elfriede Jelinek – Women as lovers P, A (nobel prize winner)

Luisa Valenzuala – The Lizard’s Tale

Paul Ableman – I hear voices P, A

Jean Cocteau – Les Enfants Terribles P, A-

Gregory David Roberts – The Mountain Shadow HX, A+ (sequel to Shantaram)

Laurence Sterne – Tristram Shandy P, A

Alice Munro – Lives of girls and women P, A

Fritz Zorn – Mars P, A

John Fowles – Daniel Martin PX, A

Yiyun Li – Kinder than solitude HX, A+

Jorge Luis Borges – Collected Fictions TP, A (incredible, only selling as I have two copies)

Jack Kerouac – Visions of Cody P, A-

William Faulkner – Mosquitoes P, A- (actually falling apart)

William Faulkner – The Mansion X, A

Michel Houllebecq – The map and the territory HX, A

VS Naipaul – A bend in the river (booker winner)

Anna Kavan – Asylum piece

Milorad Pavic – The dictionary of the Khazars P, A (female edition)

Victor Pelevin – Omon Ra P, a

Julian Barnes – The sense of an ending P, A (booker prize winner)

Atiq Rahimi – The Patience Stone HX, A

Doris Lessing – Briefing on a descent into hell P, A- (did she win the nobel in the end?)

Yukio Mishima – Spring Snow P, A-

Alberto Moravia – The woman of Rome P, A-

Richard Ford – The Sportswriter P, A

Michael Cunningham – Specimen Days HX, A

GK Chesterton – The Father Brown Stories (ombnibus collecting all of them) H, A (no dust jacket)

Colm Toibin – The Blackwater Lightship P, A

Charlie Huston – Caught Stealing HX, A

Dylan Thomas – Collected Poems 1934-1952 P, A-

George Macdonald – What’s Mines Mine TP, A

Henning Mankell – Chronicler of the Wind HX, A

Magnus Mills – Explorere of the new century HX, A

Victor Hugo – The Laughing Man H, A- (no dust jacket)

NZ fiction

Charlotte Grimshaw – The night book TP, X, A

Nestor Notabilis – I know someone who knows someone who knows Kevin Roberts quite well P, A

Laura Solomon – Black Light P, A

Lloyd Jones – Mister Pip P, A-

Maurice Shadbolt – The New Zealanders P, A

Elizabeth Knox – Black Oxen TP, A+

Non fiction

Glyn Daniels – The megalith builders of western Europe P, X, A-

Peter Tompkins – The secret life of plans P, A-

Timothy Garton Ash – Facts are subversive P, A

Regis Debray – Revolution in the Revolution? P, A-

Ravlich – Freedom from our social prisons HX, A

Chalmers Johnson – The Sorrows of Empire H, A+

Immanuel Wallerstein – The political economy of contemporary africa HX, A- (no dust jacket)

Bill Schul – the psychic powers of animals P, A-

Judy Mcgregor (ed) – Dangerous democracy: news media politics in NZ. P, A

Ducley Baker – GK Chesterton HX, A

Adrian Berry – Harrap’s Book of Scientific Anecdotes HX, A

Carl Sagan – The Dragons of Eden P, A-

James Belich – Making Peoples H, A (no dust jacket)

Lawrence Krauss – A Universe From Nothing P, A

Daniel Pinchbeck – Breaking open the head TP, A

Hofmekler- Macimum Muscle, Minimum Fat TP, A

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh – The Secret of Secrets vol 1 TP, A-

Sogyal Rinpoche – Glimpse after Glimpse: daily reflections on living and dying P, A

Ranginui Walker – Struggle Without End P, A

Carlos Castenada – The teachings of Don Juan A Yaqui way of knowledge P, A-

Caitlin and John Matthews – The Western Way: a practical guide to the western mystery tradition P, A

Susan Blackmore – The Meme Machine P, A

John Randall – Parapyschology and the nature of life P, A-

P.R Reid – The Colditz Story P, A-

Ricardo Semler – Maverick! P, A

Hans Eyseneck – Astrology: Science or Superstition? P, A

John Dower – Embracing Defeat: Japan in the aftermath of WW2 P, A+

Arnd Schneider and Oscar Zarate – Mafia for beginners P, A

Filed by billy at 1:57 pm under new zealand,reading,the moose  Tagged books for sale
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The other night I participated in the 14 Hours Homeless challenge, aimed at raising awareness about homelessness and money for the agencies who work directly with the homeless who pull together to make the event happen. We got to visit a couple of them and see what they do, and hear stories of the difference they make. (Strongest one: the dental work DCM do, sometimes relieving pain that has been ongoing for years. Yikes.)

Then we spent the night outside on cardboard trying to get some sleep.

Big takeaways:

• homelessness can be ended. Solutions exist. The vision from the agencies at the coalface is of ending homelessness. This is an awesome vision but it will require the government to step in.
• the strategy is simple and three pronged: stop people becoming homeless in the first place; respond quickly with supports when they do; prevent them from falling back.
• being homeless can feel like being invisible. The simple act of acknowledging homeless people, and talking to them, makes a huge difference. If you are left wondering what to do when you walk by, be human first.

Personal reflections: man, you don’t get a good night’s sleep sleeping rough. I found the noise more disruptive than the physical discomfort. I was pretty much a zombie after. Doing this for any length of time would be hella rough going. And even though it was a mild night with little wind, when the wind got up around 2am, I sure noticed.

I also figure the circumstances that got you to being on the street – having nowhere to go, no one who would put you up, and no money – would do me in more than the physical side of things. Most of the stories we heard were from people who never expected to end up homeless.

Today saw the release of the results of the Cross Party Homelessness Inquiry, set up when the government refused requests for a select committee into homelessness. Their recommendations are simple and stark: adopt international best practices the government is so far refusing to, namely put homeless people into housing first, then add in the supports. Build more affordable housing. Intervene in the housing speculation market. Create a nationwide strategy on homelessness.

The word from the agencies I encountered at 14HH was that this is doable. Ending homelessness in Wellington by 2020 is their goal. They can’t do it alone, however. We need the government to step up, or elect one that will. Hearteningly the Maori Party have announced they would split with National over this issue.

This is a live ball, but political pressure from the population is now what is required to get movement from the government. Let them know this issue matters. That it is not okay for Kiwis to be living on the streets and the government to do nothing. That’s not how we roll or who we are. We’re a damn lucky country, and we don’t want to become like some other countries where poverty and homelessness are endemic and entrenched.

Oh, and you can still donate to my homelessness fundraising page, which goes to support DCM. As of right now I’m third on the DCM leaderboard, a buck ahead of our departing mayor Celia Wade Brown 😉

 

Filed by billy at 6:30 pm under culture,new zealand,the moose  Tagged homelessness
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I think it is important, in a social media cycle completely dominated by Trump hysteria, to remember to vote in our local elections, which, admittedly, cannot possibly be as entertaining or alarming as this year’s US election, yet have more impact on our day to day lives (to the extent that our lives are not solely consisted of posting and reading things on social media).

To that end, I offer this wondrous piece of advertising:

In this campaign there are many different ads following this format. I only saw this one once, and am glad I got the photo.

In a world where our defacto world leader America is contemplating electing either a deranged incompetent laughingstock or an efficient woman that will faithfully serve the existing heinous and dysfunctional order, it is nice to realise we live in a capital city within a country that openly acknowledges “Hey, at one end of one of our primary tourist attractions we have this cool tree with a great view that you can climb up in and get high on top of” in the advertising it uses to reach out to local voters.

So vote, yeah?

 

 

Filed by billy at 3:46 pm under consciousness,new zealand,politics
Comments Off on elections 2016

The TPPA is a “trade deal” negotiated in secret that the leaked chapters reveal goes far beyond trade. Once signed, the TPPA will be extremely difficult to exit.

The key issue is sovereignty. Leaks reveal the TPPA will override the ability of nations who sign to determine their own laws, and open them up to massive lawsuits from foreign corporations if they do.

New Zealand has a very particular history with sovereignty, which allows a simple one sentence objection to the TPPA to be phrased:

The TPPA does for New Zealand sovereignty what the Treaty of Waitangi did for Maori sovereignty.

ie it cheats us out of it by stealth without our intending to give it away.

This I think communicates the situation in a way that all New Zealanders should grasp somewhat viscerally.

“Free trade” at the cost of sovereignty – our right to make decisions for ourselves – is far too expensive.

NZ should refuse to sign the TPPA.

At the least the government should make the TPPA’s text available to citizens so they can decide for themselves. (Appropriate, as it may be the last chance we get to decide something for ourselves.)

Since our leaders will not do that, New Zealanders should, frankly, actively engage their right to civil disobedience to communicate with our leaders that we do not want a deal on these terms. Because sovereignty and freedom are too important to give up without a fight.

 

Filed by billy at 3:00 pm under new zealand,no mercy for john key  Tagged new zealand, sovereignty, TPPA
Comments Off on The TPPA, New Zealand, and Sovereignty

 

So far I have avoided comment on this because I think it is a giant waste of time. But now I think I can express why in a single sentence.

The only good time, and the only good reason, for New Zealand to change our flag is when we become a republic.

It is that simple.

Presently there is no good reason, no compelling reason, no necessity to change our flag.

The consultation process has been a bad joke, and the four “options” are uninspiring to say the least. It is not worth changing the flag to one of those designs for no particular reason, or “branding”. The resurgent Red Peak design at least looks like a flag, but why bother changing to that, even if we were allowed to?

However, when we someday become a republic, it will be entirely appropriate to select a new flag as befits a mature country celebrating its identity and independence. That flag will have meaning.

Filed by billy at 6:31 pm under new zealand,no mercy for john key
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“With no colourful plumage or a beautiful song to attract his mate, the male kiwi has developed the strategy of persistence. He follows her about, grunting. If uninterested, she may run away, or use her greater weight and size to see him off. However, if she is interested, mating takes place, three or more times a night during the peak of activity.”

[…]

“The kiwi female calls the shots during mating. If she loses interest she may wander away, leaving the male in an undignified heap on the ground.”

source

Filed by billy at 7:41 pm under new zealand
2 Comments

The first essential New Zealand documentary of the decade.

The Ground We Won is a gorgeous black and white cinema verite film which follows a rural rugby club, Reporoa, over the course of a year. The focus is purely on the men, their culture and relationships. It is an intimate window into the nation of a sort which has been lacking and needed for a long time.

The short version is you need to see this. It will spur many and complex responses.

(I am actually going to assume you will see this when it goes on general release in a week or so, so I’m not going to give much in the way of plot or narrative description, more comment on a cultural level.)

I grew up with rugby. I played for 12 seasons starting as a kid. My father coached club rugby, so I spent a bit of time around clubrooms and changing sheds as a kid, too. Though I drifted away from rugby and its culture as an adult, so much of the world of this film is deeply familiar.

Here’s the thing. Masculine camaraderie, working in a team, being part of a pack, is kind of awesome. (It is the reason the army appeals and would be great if it wasn’t about dehumanising and breaking you down so that you will follow orders without question and kill.) And watching this, I realise I miss it. There is something raw and honest about the physicality and putting your body on the line, and I haven’t encountered that in any other sport or physical endeavour in quite the same way.

What I don’t miss is the retarded drunken in your face side of things. (One in a while, maybe 😉 ). And the film goes there, stark, uncomfortable and without judgement. Part of its magic is the access, warts and all, as the team goes on the road and gets hammered. They seem totally unabashed and unashamed of their behaviour. There is something beautiful in seeing our culture so clearly. And done right, it is all good fun. But there is a slippery slope with drinking. I guess it comes down to the culture of the specific group – the quality of the “elders” and those who dominate the group.

One thing the film highlights is the difference between grassroots rugby and mainstream (townie) rugby culture. At grassroots level it brings the community together, and links rural communities. The aftermatch clubrooms culture is classic NZ. The haka never made more sense than as the guys from over the hill coming to play you at rugby and doing their haka in the clubroom afterwards.

For those unfamiliar with this sort of culture, it will be a shock and a revelation. The beauty of the film is in presenting something so familiar artistically, thereby rendering it through new eyes. Seeing NZ in a timeless black and white, grounding the men in their work as farmers, the mists in the valley… it brings home the extent to which this has been the backbone of our culture for most of our existence as a rural agricultural nation, and captures it as it may be fading out. (A club like Reporoa previously would have fielded maybe six rugby teams; now it has one.)

One conclusion is we are probably better off with rugby than without it – perhaps a surprise to the liberal minded folks who disdain the game. But without rugby as a focus at the grassroots level, with its culture of play hard but fair, where would all that energy otherwise end up being channelled?

I think I will have more to add at some point. Meanwhile, here is the trailer.

 

Filed by billy at 1:00 pm under new zealand
2 Comments

That was legitimately one of the most intense and amazing games of cricket I have ever seen. Truly epic.

(Unrelated rambling: I have watched quite a bit of the CWC so far, after discovering it streaming online. The weirdest part is getting British ads, the overwhelming majority of which are for online gambling. Like, seriously.)

 

 

Filed by billy at 3:34 pm under culture,new zealand
Comments Off on CWC 2015, NZ v SA semi final

 

Is there anything to say you can’t turn up to vote drunk and stoned, and dressed like a clown, or a superhero, or a zombie, or whatever? Not so far as I know. As long as you have ID and can tick a box, who cares?

Maybe to engage youth voters (and the non-voting near majority) we need to go to where they are. Endorse a culture in which voting is a fun way to spend an afternoon. #votedrunk

I guess the challenge is your mates may live in a different electorate. So how about an election pub crawl through various electorates? Make a day of it.

The costume angle appeals. Imagine election weekend sort of like the Sevens but in a good way. Sort of “dress in a way that captures how you feel about the system” as a theme? Everyone dressed up and running around drunk. Or whatever. I mean, hell, how much of an excuse do we need? It’s only once every three years.

Not something I have thought through… but I do like the idea of turning up intoxicated in a clown suit to vote. It captures something.

 

 

Filed by billy at 12:46 pm under new zealand,politics
3 Comments

 

This article from Forbes is pretty interesting reading, essentially arguing that our economy is due to pop at some point due to our overinflated housing prices, the resulting exposure and risk our banks have, and the large borrowing National has been doing. Well worth familiarising yourself with.

Filed by billy at 12:32 pm under new zealand,politics
1 Comment