The Gently Mad Blog is Moving

I have moved all my posts and extraneous items on this blog to my own server. The new address: A Gently Mad Blog

I will still be blogging about books, collecting, and everything that is intertwined with being a crazy book person.

So please change your bookmarks (yeah like MY blog is bookmarkable) and the RSS feed address will remain the same if you have subscribed through Feedburner.

Rhymes of a Red Cross Man- Featured Book

There are many stories out in the book collecting world that tell of a collector going into a used book store and coming out with a very rare very valuable book for only a few dollars.

It happens. More infrequently now, but it does happen.

A Gently Mad Blog New Feature

I will be adding a new little feature here.

I will take specific books from my collection, photograph them, and write up an entry on them.

The entry may be about how I came about the selected work, or why the work is important to me, my collection, or the overall bibliophile world. Probably all three for a few of my books in my collection (if I am lucky to have at least one of those books).

Collecting isn’t just about the book and filing it away. There are stories to the book you purchase or find. I hope I can shed a little light on my personal collection as well as show off some great books.

A Gently Mad Blog Recommendations

I finished Blindsight by PETER WATTS the other night and I was blown away. This guy can write.

I have picked through Parasite Rex : Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous Creatures at the bookstore and I finally purchased a copy. This book was referenced by SCOTT WESTERFELD as a inspiration for his great novel Peeps. Carl Zimmer does a great job at writing about science in clear and easy to read prose.

I have never read a CHINA MIEVILLE book, ever. I picked up King Rat from Earthling Publications. I have made it through 32 pages last night and I can tell you that I think I am going to like this book. Mieville’s prose is dense but easy to read. That may sound like a contradiction in terms but it fits.

A Treatise on Editions, Printings, States, And Variants

A recent announcement from a small press in the horror genre has brought upon a great debate about how publishers should handle their business with regard to limited editions. I will discuss the idea of limited editions and small presses in a later entry and I will not editorialize about this publisher and his decision.This is not the blog for that.

However it has brought about a great opportunity to discuss Editions. Little thought is put towards editions by the average reader or book buyer. Collectors, as in many other instances, are a different breed. They thrive on what edition a book is. Along with condition, where it came from, and who owned it prior to the purchase, the edition and printing are very important.