A Few Short News Items...

BfC Auction

I think everyone whose been involved with the admin of BfC has, at best, found it a draining experience.  Well, I think it's been worthwhile.  You will remember that the auction of figures was originally to be held in June, but had to be re-booted after only one bid was made.  There was much more support for the re-boot, and I'm am pleased to say that when the book was closed last night the successful bids totaled £530.00.  This is in addition to the other monies raised during the year.  A very pleasing result, and a tribute to the generosity of the wargaming community.

Now to collect the money and deliver the figures...

Disaster at the Great Hall

Solidarity is being expressed over the blogosphere to Andrew 'Loki' Saunders, who has had a workshop disaster (though fortunately not one which involved harm to anyone).

Readers of his blog will know that he recently refitted his man cave (in the process doing a great service to the hobby by sharing his paint charts and drawing up Vallejo triad charts).  It seems the new storage system wasn't up to the task of holding a lifetime's work and collapsed.  It remains to be seen how much damage has been done, but those who know the level of Loki's work will appreciate how heart-breaking it must be to lose it.

Hopefully, once the dust has settled, it will turn out that more can be salvage than the initial assessment suggests.

Loki is one of the Good Guys.

A Small Plug

As some of you know I try to supplement my pittance by selling second-hand and remaindered books (it's one of those cases of trying to make money out of one's hobby - in my case buying interesting books).  I don't normally plug Diplomatist Books here, but Facebook seems to be doing its usual algorithm thing and not sharing updates I post to our FB page.

The latest is the announcement that from today to 4 August, all WWI titles will be 30% off the marked price.

This is my own little contribution to the commemoration of the start of the war.  I'm strongly of the opinion that to commemorate this war we need to know the facts about it (and that people should read more books!)

Book Sale and Gift Promo

As some of you know, one of my side-lines is selling second-hand books.  I'm pleased to announce this year's December sale - there will be 10% off on all orders received during December (excluding postage).

So go across to my list of books for sale.  Currently you'll find a 19-page pdf of military and naval books.  All things being equal, I'll be adding the long-promised list of books on Exploration and Archaeology & History to 1000 AD later this week.  These will also be included in the December sale.

The image above is the logo of the Give Books Campaign, which aims to share the love of reading, support local booksellers and promote literacy.  For every #GiveBooks tweet, pin and online pledge to give someone a book 'for the holidays' they will donate a book to a child in need.  This seems a good thing to me.

Books and Stuff

A weekly update of my book news.

What I've been reading...

Iain McCalman, Darwin's Armada.  The Beagle voyage is very familiar of course, but the book is very well-written, and I'm looking forward to Hooker, Huxley and Wallace.

I also turned to a couple of recent purchases.

First, John Scalzi, Old Man's War - not as profound as some on-line reviews might suggest, but still an enjoyable read.  He wears his debt to Robert Heinlein on his sleeve.  I'll look out for him in the future.

Second, A.E. van Vogt, The Voyage of the Space Beagle, which is turning out to be quite good, if of it's time.  I can't understand why I'd never read any of his books when I was going through my major sci-fi phase.

 

 What I've bought...

Jim Butcher, Grave Peril: (The Dresden Files Book Three) - £4.24.

 And I do get rid of books sometimes....

I'm not like someone I know, who seems to be trying to teach his children 'One In, One Out', but I do occasionally have a clear-out.

You never get any money from second-hand dealers, and the local charity shops only end up selling decent books for pennies, so we've had to find somewhere else.  This afternoon we sent four boxes of books to anybook.biz, who sell second-hand books on-line and send the proceeds to support the public library of your choice.  They're very easy to deal with and arrange all the pick-ups, etc.  Check them out.