originally posted by Jay_Jay
I was waiting to get my hair cut the other day, and noticed a used bookstore next to the beauty salon.
As my late husband learned very quickly, I am drawn to bookstores like iron filings to a magnent!
The store was small and cramped, and didn't have much to offer in the way of SF and Fantasy. Just as I was about to give up, I happened to spot a familar cover on one of the upper shelves. I had to remove 4 or 5 other books in order to pry it out of the shelf, but when I did, I found I was holding in my hands a hardcover copy of "That Way Lies Camelot". It was in absolutely pristine condition, and looked like no one had ever even cracked the cover.
Well, yes, I already have the paperback edition…
But the artwork on the cover (Wizard of Owls) is SO magnificent that I just HAD to buy the book for the cover. And to give me something decent to read while waiting for my appointment.
The stories are as fresh as ever, and it was well worth the $10 it cost me! 
The Wizard of Owls is a sentimental favourite of mine. I love horses, and it is probably the best horse cover of any fantasty fiction book I have ever seen. Marion Zimmer Bradley sent me a bookmark featuring that painting when I ordered some back issues of her fantasty magazine. It was my first introduction to Janny's artwork. At the time, I'd never heard of her, and had no idea she was also a writer, but I really liked the bookmark, and still have it tucked away somewhere.
Which reminds me…I need another coffee mug like I need a hole in the head, but…aw, heck…they don't take up much room in the cupboard!
originally posted by Jay_Jay
Oh, in case you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the link for the coffee mugs!
(link removed)
Um, maybe our friendly moderator can make that a bit more concise??
(Message edited by admin on November 12, 2008)
originally posted by Trys
There you go Jay-Jay.
originally posted by Clansman
A hardcover? And in pristine shape? Rare as hens' teeth, I'd say, and an excellent find. That's the sort of thing that makes the second hand shops fun, finding the rare and out-of-print books and first editions of stuff.
Unwin & Allen, Tolkien's publisher, must have printed about 10 million copies of The Silmarillion in its first printing, because I always run across two or three of those.
I recently found a copy of Mistress of the Empire in hardcover, for $8.95, in pretty good shape too, and I snapped it up and looked around to make sure no one would grab it from me (kind of like the starving runaway who comes across a cache of food, stuffing it in as fast as possible while looking around and over their shoulders furtively…). Now I just need to find the first two.
originally posted by Jay_Jay
Thanks, Trys!
Clansman, I, too, have a first edition of the Sil, but it's never known any other owner but myself. Yes, it came out just as the popularity of The Lord of the Rings trilogy was peaking in North America, in the early 1970's I got it as a Christmas gift from my parents.
Recently I picked up a cheap paperback of the Sil, as a reading copy, so I could keep my aging first edition looking fairly pristine.
What's that? How many boxes of books did I have to pack when I moved six weeks ago? Um…well, I DID give at least 4 boxes away to charity… [embarrassed grin…]
originally posted by Mark Stephen Kominski
Have one of the other 10 million myself, Jay-Jay, and also keep a reading copy handy for other purposes, of which Clanny's familiar. Finally got around to converting our extra room into a library, and it's magnificent to see all Janny's stuff together on one shelf. Will also make cross-referencing searches much quicker (you want to talk about 'embarrassed grins', one look at me searching thru boxes to find my copy of Ships of Merior would have been well worth a chuckle!)
- Jay Jay, long time no see! Welcome back.
Mark Stephen K - WAS this frantic search for Ships of Merior pressed by unearthing a certain chapter about Althain's Guardian? Tweak. Though (if so) the not humancentric exactingness of the matter was presented, in depth, in another clip from Peril's Gate.
originally posted by Mark Stephen Kominski
Twas, oh mighty Talespinner. Thankfully, the search wasn't frantic, or someone would have heard the noise and taken a picture (prior to finally getting the library underway, the missus had noted on several occasions that I'd be needing something from one of boxes on the bottom of the pile, and damned if she wasn't right), just to say "I told you so!"
I think I found the Peril's Gate notation after the fact. The other site that Clanny, Greebo and I frequent had a rather bad server crash, and they lost every post from roughly October 11th back to August 2nd. At this point on that site, we were only just getting into it, so Clanny in his infinite wisdom felt obligated to repost your clarification in its entirety WITHOUT my comments…OK, so most can do without my comments anyway *grins* but there's no need to make it obvious… *sulks, waiting for the world's smallest violin to deliver a solo*
We are currently speculating about the possible growth of underground opposition (Note: Not necessarily friendly to Arithon/Clans) to Lysaer's religion in Initiate's Trial; care to drop any tidbits along those lines? *grin widens*
originally posted by Jay_Jay
Hi, Janny, I have moved, and then had internet connection problems for over a month [spits in general direction of Bell Canada…] They had to wipe my hard drive to get rid of a virus that gained access through BitTorrent. I've used BitTorrent ONCE, to download the first episode of Blood Ties, which I missed due to a class I was taking that night. That was over a year ago, and I have not used it since then, and believe me, will never use it again! It is now gone from my computer, forever.
Anyway, greetings from the wilds of Northern Ontario! I am now in Sundridge, Ontario, which is on the shores of beautiful Lake Bernard:
(link removed) (Scroll to bottom of page to see gorgeous sunset photos of the lake.)
originally posted by Mark Stephen Kominski
'Tis a sad thing that no one's visited this topic in 6+ years, so I'll remedy that straightaway.
I just finished "That Way Lies Camelot", and loved it. Have to confess, though, that I kind of wanted to see how the Mac James/Jensen conflict finally played out; does that continue somewhere else that I haven't found?
Wizard of Owls was great, as were the Elfquest writings, the latter of which were a revelation to me. I'd picked up the Pini's original graphic novel/comic a couple years after its release, but had only read parts of The Blood of Ten Chiefs (and didn't actually own it), not realizing that it was your stuff, Janny. Means that I actually discovered your writing about 5 years earlier than I'd originally thought. Also helps explain why Elfquest stuck with me, even though I didn't read it any further after Ten Chiefs.
Hah, wow - didn't expect this post, Mark Stephen Kominski!!
Yes, there was MEANT to be a final episode to the Mac James/Jensen stories. I expected to finish it out - the anthology (The Fleet) that the stories were written for did go to another volume; unfortunately I was not informed/not invited to participate - whether by accident or design, I have no idea. Because it was a 'shared universe' - I'd probably have to get permission to finish out the string…and truthfully - this is the ONLY time I've ever seen a whisper of a mention that anybody noticed those stories at all.
Don't usually hear back about the Elfquest ones, either - only time a reader mentioned them that I saw was a 'bitter complaint' that I'd 'ripped off' the Elfquest universe - they'd seen the stories in That Way Lies Camelot, did their rant in a review, and - quite failed to look at the copyright page, which showed right upfront that the sequence of stories were done in that universe BY SANCTION (and in fact by invitation) of Wendy and Richard Pini…they were reprints from the Ten Chiefs anthologies.
Ah - the craziness of the writer's life - looking back - while into the climax of the latest volume, very VERY nearing end point, finally.
Janny,
The Mac/Jensen stories were actually my favourite part of this anthology. Would love to read a conclusion someday in the future!
originally posted by Mark Stephen Kominski
Re the conclusion, me too Brian. Don't mean to distract you from the task at hand Janny, of course, but I hope you do get permission (if so inclined at some point) so that Brian, myself, and others can get *grins* "closure". And regarding the Ten Chiefs stuff, just goes to show that good writing is good writing, regardless of the skin it wears or the venue it uses. More power to you, and looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with Arithon and crew elsewhere.