These guys just dropped in to sign stock, so now I have limited signed stock of UK editions of books by:
Alan Campbell - Iron Angel (his new hardback) the sequel to Scar Night (available in ‘B’ format) - both titles available with plain signature
Hal Duncan - Ink (hardback) the sequel to Vellum (available in ‘B’ format) - both titles available with plain signature
3 - 4 weeks on, and I’m now told that the work directly outside the shop should be completed in a couple of weeks… They didn’t, however, guarantee Mr.Wood’s Fossils next door that it would definitely be all clear for one of their major deliveries (basically a pretty large crate full of rock) at the end of March…
As part of the Science Festival this year - programmes available in the shop soon - Transreal Fiction is sponsoring the UK Premiere of a new animated feature length film of Flatland!
It’s part of a ‘Maths at the Movies’ mini-season at Filmhouse, which will also include Pi and Cube. More details available from Filmhouse or from the organisers, ICMS.
Films will start at 17.45 and will have film and maths experts leading discussions after each film for those who wish to stay on for a little. And there’s a chance the shop will have to shut a little early so I can catch Flatland, at least!
Flatland is, of course, the famous novel by Edwin A. Abbott set in two dimensions…
The Grassmarket Improvement Project reaches me on Tuesday 12th February.
The pavement will be dug up, various other work done, and then replacement paving will be laid again. This all starts with almost immediate effect. (I found out 10 minutes ago!)
There will be, apparently, guaranteed shop access at all times, although pedestrians will have to walk along a coned off strip of the road when they walk along Cowgatehead and I assume it will be noisy and/or dusty at least some of the time here.
It may take 3 - 4 weeks before everything is finished.
New titles, etc. should arrive as usual and business, in theory, shouldn’t be disrupted.
My phone line is acting up and affecting my internet conectivity, so updates may be a little slow until it’s fixed…
Sorry, despite ordering in what I thought was adequate time to receive books this week, I won’t be getting most of my expected deliveries until Monday.
Blame longer delays than in previous years both by the supplier shipping it and in the extended New Year seize-up in the UK freight industry… But I did get:
in hardback:
Matthew Reilly - The Six Sacred Stones a high-speed sequel to Seven Ancient Wonders
William Ashbless - Pilot Light very small hardback by Tim Powers & James P. Blaylock. Unsigned.
in large format:
Brian Stableford - The Tree of Life a collection of 8 stories about how biotech might affect the future…
in ‘B’ format:
Sweeney Todd; the Demon Barber of Fleet Street the novel the new Johnny Depp film is based on. Apparently when it was first published as a serial in 1846, it was known as The String of Pearls: A Romance. Doesn’t give quite the same tone to the story! It’s authorship still remains in doubt…
in paperback:
David Zindell - The Diamond Warriors the 4th and final volume of the Ea Cycle
And I’m still in the shop!
Not for long, though - soon I’ll disappear until Thursday morning, when I might get more new titles, or, more likely they’ll arrive on Friday 4th January. Also, probably 1/2 price calendars when I re-open!
Happy New Year to anyone reading…
It’s gone 4 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve and once the existing customers filter away, I’ll be gone, too! Unless other people come in, of course!
I hoped I’d get a delivery today, but no luck, so I expect I’ll get books in on Thursday when I re-open…
Enjoy the holiday,
Mike
I wouldn’t count on the shop being open after about 16.00 on Monday, Christmas Eve, although if there are still customers about, I will stay open… It’s usually a busy day up until late afternoon then trade slackens off considerably…
The shop will be shut for 2 days and re-open at 11.00 on Thursday the 27th.
I’ll be shut on Sunday the 30th, close early (as for Christmas) on the 31st and re-open at 11.00 on Thursday 3rd January 2008…
Terry’s just announced that he’s been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s http://www.paulkidby.com/news/index.html
That’s bad news.
Here’s hoping he was diagnosed early enough that the drugs stave it off for a good long while…
Transreal Fiction is a shop dedicated to selling science fiction, fantasy & related books, together with a limited selection of other merchandise.But really, it’s about books. Transreal Fiction opened in April 1997. The owner, Mike Calder, first sold sf & f books many years ago and has worked in the business either part- or full-time since. For years he also had a respectable job as well, but that’s another story…
The shop is named after the term coined by Rudy Rucker to describe his fiction and I thought it an apt name for a shop specialising in speculative fiction. And, in case you’re wondering, yes, Rudy Rucker was happy to allow me to use of the term as a name for my shop.
