Spine and Crown, round two

Wow. A week's not very long.

I can't believe I've got to write another one of these things already. Maybe I should go all Beckett minimal on this thing.

I can't write another.

I can't write another.

I'll write another.

... Or not. How about a little bit from the opening of Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins, instead?

"Now in these dread latter days of the old violent beloved U.S.A. and of the Christ-forgetting Christ-haunted death-dealing Western world I came to myself in a grove of young pines and the question came to me: has it happened at last?

Two more hours should tell the story. One way or the other. I sit against a young pine, broken out in hives and wait for the end of the world. The carbine lies across my lap.

Undoubtedly something is about to happen.

Or is it that something has stopped happening?

Is it that God has at last removed his blessing from the U.S.A. and what we feel now is just the clank of the old historical machinery, the sudden jerking ahead of the roller-coaster cars as the chain catches hold and carries us back into history with its ordinary catastrophes, carries us out and up toward the brink from that felicitous and privileged siding where even unbelievers admitted that if it was not God who blessed the U.S.A., then at least some great good luck had befallen us, and that now the blessing or the luck is over, the machinery clanks, the chain catches hold, and the cars jerk forward?"

That was written almost 40 years ago. People have been dreading this carnival ride for that long. Or maybe it's just that, if you predict doom often enough for long enough, you'll eventually be right.

The check is in the mail. The check is always in the mail.

And how are you feeling today?

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New this week:

All items mentioned below are first come, first serve. If you want something, let me know post-haste! All new items sell for cover price, used items as marked. Sadly, trade credit cannot be used for new items.

Our books are always searchable via ABEbooks.

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They will sell five minutes after I type this, but we have both Blood Meridian [Sold] and The Road by Cormac McCarthy just right now at this second.

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America, Jean Baudrillard ($12) [Sold]

The Ecstacy of Communication, Jean Baudrillard ($6) [Sold]

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The World Doesn't End, Charles Simic ($6.50)

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Collected Poems, Czeslaw Milosz (HC, First Edition - $15) [Sold]

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Semmelweis, Louis-Ferdinand Celine (New) - The only edition in print in English of Celine's first work; a beautiful object brought to you by London boutique publisher Atlas Press. ($20) [Sold]

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The Unknown Lorca, Federico Garcia Lorca - Also from Atlas Press. Part of their limited edition Printed Head series. A series of little-known short dramatic works from the celebrated poet. ($50)

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Annie Sprinkle's Post-Porn Modernist ($50) [Sold] - Out of print; a saucy book about a saucy lady.

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A big stack of Charles Bukowski, including:

Tales of Ordinary Madness ($7.50) [Sold]
Women ($10) [Sold]
War All the Time ($10) [Sold]
Burning in Water Drowning in Flame ($10) [Sold]
Mockingbird Wish Me Luck ($9) [Sold]
Love is a Dog from Hell ($10) [Sold]
and Post Office ($10) [Sold]

All except Tales are original Black Sparrow editions, not the crappy Ecco editions currently in print.

Also of interest is a hardcover first edition of Pulp ($175) - It's crisp and pretty, but lacks the original transparent acetate jacket.

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Pablo Neruda:

Residence on Earth ($8.50) [Sold]
Fully Empowered ($7) [Sold]
The Captain's Verses ($6.50) [Sold]
100 Love Sonnets ($7.50) [Sold]
Canto General ($10) [Sold]
Splendor and Death of Joaquin Murieta (a play - $15) [Sold]

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And of course we have copies of To Die No More (New - $30). "Violent", "beloved", "Christ-haunted", and "death-dealing" might also apply to this tome. Also, quiet, sober, and thoroughly beautiful. Three years in the making; Only 1000 were produced - and it's no exaggeration to say that unknown people in Hong Kong had their feelings hurt because of this book.

Keep up with the progress of Blind Pony Books.

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You have two options: revolt or sabotage.
Please note the date on this article.

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Everything's turning into a pile of shit. Except this.

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# of weeks since Spine and Crown inception: 177

# of weeks since inception that no mention of Spine and Crown has appeared in the print edition of The Stranger: 177