Bookhaul – Peter M. Ball

Journal

Walking and Book Buying and Peanut Butter & Sweet Potato Soup

Yesterday I caught a train out to West End, walked to my friendly local independent bookstore, unexpected caught up with Trent Jamieson while he was working there, bought a copy of the new Michael Cunningham novel alongside a few other books (Hell’s Angels, A Fairwell to Arms), walked from West End to Anzac Square Arcade in Brisbane city, bought more books from Pulp Fiction – my favourite bookstore in the world, bar none – and then caught a train home whereupon I collapsed on the couch and watched old episodes of NCIS until I fell asleep. And really, that was yesterday, and we call it a win. Exercise and books are an unbeatable combination. ‘Course today I’ll be dead on my feet at the dayjobs, forcing myself to stay awake, but these are small problems and entirely worth it. # My friend Laura Goodin is an American ex-pat living out in the Australian wilderness (well, Woolongong), writing stories and plays and, if I

PeterMBall 26/05/2011

Conspicuous Acts of Cultural Consumption

6 Days ’til Worldcon

So this morning started with a trip out to my not-so-local post office to check my mailbox, largely on the assumption that a terribly efficient postal system stood a very small chance of delivering a hardcover book from England to Brisbane in the space of a week. Admittedly I figured it was a long shot, but if I didn’t check today I wouldn’t get a chance until after Worldcon, and at the back of my mind was this constant what-if-what-if-what-if… And lo, when I opened my PO Box, my faith in the postal system was rewarded with this: Angela Slatter’s Sourdough and Other Stories in all its fabulous, hard-covery glory. And it is freakin’ glorious – a hardcover and with a placeholder ribbon that’s packed to the gills with stories that rock the freakin’ casbah. Plus it’s one of those books that looks just as good without the dust-jacket: And, as with all good books that enter the house, it

PeterMBall 27/08/2010

Journal

Mmm, new book smell

I don’t normally buy remaindered books, what with the fact that they’re financially dead for the authors who wrote them and I’m in favour of authors getting paid, but today I made an exception based on the grounds of being very broke and finding a trio of Hard Case Crime books at a very low price while shopping for groceries. The part of me that feels bad about buying remaindered books wages a quiet war with the part of me that thinks picking up pulpy, hard-boiled paperbacks in a supermarket is one of those experiences I thought lost forever. It confused the hell out of the woman on check-outs too; she had to be convinced they were store product, rather than library books I was carrying around while picking up bread and milk.

PeterMBall 29/04/2010

News & Upcoming Events

Today’s Post Courtesy of…

Data-Point the First: The latest issue of Apex Magazine is out, which includes my story Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens. Go forth, read, and while you’re there consider picking up some of the fine works of fiction Apex Publishing has out (I’m currently stroking the cover of Open Your Eyes, which showed up in yesterday’s post and gets coveted like a covety thing because I haven’t yet had time to read it). Data-Point the Second: Edits for Horn rolled in last night, which means I’m going to be AWOL for a few days longer (baring posts where I show up and pimp stuff, like this one, but I figure you’ll forgive me my exhibitionist tendencies by now). Data-Point the Third: The blog silence up to this point has been generously provided by a head cold and a mild fever that kept me awake. Avoided the blog because I figured endless posts of I’m sick weren’t that interesting (and I sufficiently grumpy

PeterMBall 06/05/2009

Tag: Bookhaul

Walking and Book Buying and Peanut Butter & Sweet Potato Soup

6 Days ’til Worldcon

Mmm, new book smell

Today’s Post Courtesy of…

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