Whoops, that should be Ray Gun Revival.  Every Day Publishing, the crew behind the Every Day Fiction e-zine, have just announced the resurrection of the zap-tastic Ray Gun Revival.  Here’s the skinny:

“Ray Gun Revival (RGR) is an online magazine dedicated to fun stories, grand escapism, and good old sensawunda. RGRl provides just that, a throwback publication that revisits space opera and golden age sci-fi. Their stories focus more on character development than hard science and sail all the wide-open waters between science fantasy and harder SF. Think of the original Star Wars stories, Doc Smith’s Lensman series, the Warlord of Mars tales from Edgar Rice Burroughs. Think of everything from John Carter and Gully Foyle to Kimball Kinnison and Han Solo. They are bringing out the deepest elements of what has traditionally been rather superficial fiction and updating them for a new generation of fiction enthusiasts.”

More info here, get onto it: http://www.raygunrevival.com/nov2010/index.html#submit

Partially motivated by Toddler Fisch’s habit of destroying books that he can reach, I’ve undergone my second big book cull, hoping to move everything onto the one bookcase that he can’t get to.  Now, I will admit to being a shocking book hoarder.  At one stage, I hadn’t thrown out a single book in about 10 years, and I’d been heavily reviewing novels and magazines for all and sundry, as well as buying books quicker than I could read them.  It’s not quite so respectable as the book hoardings of others, but with no special effort I filled up two tall bookcases, with plenty of overflow, and boxes full of books in the shed.

Someone whose name escapes me once mentioned the desire to completely declutter, and get their book collection below 300.  In total.  Including their own publications, and books published by friends, non-fiction books etc.  At one stage this figure filled me with dread – how could I bear to part with everything I’d collected?  Whole series of stuff, gifts from writer friends, collections that You Just Gotta Read, and a growing list of Aussie short SF.  I’ve got every issue of Andromeda Spaceways, most of the Aurealis magazines (from their 20 year history), and all sorts of miscelleanous goodies I’ve picked up during my interest in genre fiction. 

And now I’m writing fiction myself, and one little cube of our Ikea shelf thing is completely filled with anthologies, magazines, comics and other writings that I’ve put into print.  Another section is filled with local anthologies, books written by friends, various how-to guides, and all of the writing ephemera that most folks seem to gather.

But I’ve nearly done it.  At a quick guess, I’d now be around the 300 mark, in toto.  I did cull my collection once (about a year ago) but I was brutally ruthless this time, hauling stuff out like I was in Fahrenheit 451 (a book I am keeping, BTW).  “Am I EVER going to read this again?” I asked myself.  “Is there ANY value to keeping this book, or am I just collecting these, Pokemon style?”

So now, I’m down to some classics, some stuff that was really hard to get hold of, a few authors who I’ve collected diligently, signed copies of stuff, my own books, the local gear that I think is worth keeping for reference, books written by friends, and a few other bits and pieces I couldn’t make a decision on.  There’s a small pile of stuff I’m going to re-read once, and then dispose of.

The one point I’ve been wavering on is my Dennis Wheatley collection.  It’s…truly awful stuff.  He would never get published now, and the writing is definitely dated.  It’s a bit like McDonalds for the mind, and I have collected just about everything he ever did.  Some 1st editions, some with the original lurid dust-jackets.  And he wrote 3-4 books a year, and lived to be 90 or whatever.  That’s a lot of dead tree.  But I have made up my mind…tonight, the Wheatley stuff is GONE.  I’m not likely to read it again.  I will keep the Roger Brooke series, because it’s full of Napoleonic goodness, but that is my sole concession to the jettison of junk.

Gotta get me an e-reader 🙂

EDIT: Holy smokes.  Apparently some of these first edition Dennis Wheatley books are worth quite a lot of moolah!  Must investigate.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Dennis+Wheatley&bi=0&bx=on&ds=50&kn=Devil+NOT+Magic&recentlyadded=all&sortby=1&tn=To+the+Devil+a+Daughter&x=53&y=17&yrh=1960

The top result is in perfect condition, with a signed letter from the author – asking price about $400.  Mine isn’t in perfect nick but it’s still got the dust-jacket and everything.  Hmm.

STEAMPUNK LAPTOP!

Which is started by a chunky old key.  I would be all over this like a cheap suit.