tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post748979244261591963..comments2024-03-27T22:32:02.739+01:00Comments on Beneath the Stains of Time: John Sladek: Short SlayingsTomCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-83836940028090179872017-04-07T08:07:31.029+02:002017-04-07T08:07:31.029+02:00Thanks, Anon! The illustrations look great and the...Thanks, Anon! The illustrations look great and the puzzles impress me as the kind of problems Ellery Queen would assign as homework, if he was a teacher. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-443974324192446622017-04-06T19:31:18.435+02:002017-04-06T19:31:18.435+02:00as promised: http://www90.zippyshare.com/v/mxKBWhT...as promised: http://www90.zippyshare.com/v/mxKBWhT5/file.html<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-46673881523292665812017-03-24T18:32:56.475+01:002017-03-24T18:32:56.475+01:00no need to thank. and yes converting books using t...no need to thank. and yes converting books using the free caliber program (https://calibre-ebook.com/) is a piece of cake. you should download it. it serves as an ebook viewers for all kinds of book formats, an e-book converter from and to all formats, and as a book manager like itunes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-63371071994414486702017-03-24T16:46:26.351+01:002017-03-24T16:46:26.351+01:00Can you make an Epub instead of a PDF? I'm alr...Can you make an Epub instead of a PDF? I'm already looking forward to reading it. Thanks very much, Anon! TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-85024095841297097402017-03-24T13:39:42.057+01:002017-03-24T13:39:42.057+01:00not even. maybe around 190? usually that size take...not even. maybe around 190? usually that size takes me an hour to manually scan using my ipad. when i was empliyed i used the scanner in my workplace, but since i am searching for a job now i use my ipad and the readdle scanner pro. it does the trick but it could be better. the important thing for me is to safekeep books for posteriority and so as long as everything is readable and clear, i couldn't care less about perfection.<br />i'll get back to you once i actually get the book and will upload it to zippy and share it here. the more people get to read obscure rare stuff the happier i am. plus there's no publisher to steal sales away from so it's all good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-71260312293149658462017-03-24T07:24:36.761+01:002017-03-24T07:24:36.761+01:00I would have to make an exception in this case. Lo...I would have to make an exception in this case. Love to have an opportunity to peruse these stories at my leisure. And it's not even that big of a book, right? TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-52179956889124998322017-03-24T06:09:44.541+01:002017-03-24T06:09:44.541+01:00i might do more than that. i usually scan ALL my p...i might do more than that. i usually scan ALL my physical books by hand using my ipad (since i am currently unemployed). i love having a digital backup (epub or pdf) of every single book that i want and love for safekeeping.<br />if you permit so, i have no problem sharing the pdf that i will do of the book. since the book is that rare, out of print, highly expensive and not currently licenced by a publisher i see no problem sharing our common passion.<br />let me know if you think my ethics and mentality are compatible to yours and i'll get on it when i receive my lucky copy. it's being shipped to me between the 28th of march until 7th of april.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-90032784015464734072017-03-23T15:49:42.806+01:002017-03-23T15:49:42.806+01:00Oh, you lucky, you! Just report back to let us kno...Oh, you lucky, you! Just report back to let us know if the stories are worth the price of admission.TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-78433495317894703292017-03-23T12:42:04.084+01:002017-03-23T12:42:04.084+01:00you're gonna hate me but i just bought it for ...you're gonna hate me but i just bought it for 5 euros. last copy on amazon france. thanks for the recommendation though!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-19038855766009758352017-03-18T11:50:45.324+01:002017-03-18T11:50:45.324+01:00Yes please, that sounds marvellous. Yes please, that sounds marvellous. Dan @ The Reader is Warnedhttps://thereaderiswarned.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-64394624578906428852017-03-18T08:34:20.979+01:002017-03-18T08:34:20.979+01:00Honestly, I was surprised as well by the commentar...Honestly, I was surprised as well by the commentary on this review. Never expected there was more than those two novels and eleven short stories, but now we all got some additional digging to do. So I'll probably do another one of these posts once I have found that story about a town vanishing into thin air. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-38518287880416151332017-03-17T19:57:28.329+01:002017-03-17T19:57:28.329+01:00Oh man, Sladek's oeuvre just keeps growing. I ...Oh man, Sladek's oeuvre just keeps growing. I must say that 'By an Unknown Hand' is one of my favourite locked room shorts, and your comparison to Creek in set up and solution is just right, hadn't thought of that before. <br /><br />And I totally wasn't aware of the Sladek Incognito stories and I have the MAPS collection, so super excited to get on that now!The Reader Is Warnedhttps://thereaderiswarned.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-31988279697404024672017-03-17T10:57:20.340+01:002017-03-17T10:57:20.340+01:00According to the front cover, The Book of Clues co...According to the front cover, <i>The Book of Clues</i> consists of two dozen mind-boggling puzzles. So the stories are probably very similar to the type of short-shorts found in H.A. Ripley's <i>How Good a Detective Are You?</i><br /><br />If anything, this shows Sladek was far more prolific as a writer of detective stories than many of us thought. And they would make for a nice little series of reprints. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-10170097295116837682017-03-17T02:43:27.726+01:002017-03-17T02:43:27.726+01:00A little checking shows that Sladek wrote a book c...A little checking shows that Sladek wrote a book called The Book of Clues published in 1984 which is described as a series of short detective puzzles. Good luck getting it though; the cheapest copy I can find goes for $80.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-10611215377119541472017-03-17T02:14:10.787+01:002017-03-17T02:14:10.787+01:00"If" was a science fiction magazine whic..."If" was a science fiction magazine which was published from 1952 to 1974. Sladek was much more prominent as a science fiction author than as a mystery author. Sladek was one of those authors who wrote a lot of first rate material and will probably have a long publishing history (it is a good sign if they keep publishing you after you are dead, and he died in 2000) but he will never be famous. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-33716299133012477682017-03-16T13:00:47.425+01:002017-03-16T13:00:47.425+01:00Are you sure that story is in Maps? I only re-read...Are you sure that story is in <i>Maps</i>? I only re-read the stories mentioned in this review, but I would have remembered one about a vanishing town during my first reading of the book.<br /><br />And a quick search comes up with a story, "Scenes from the Country of the Blind," about "<i>a complete Tudor town</i>," with smoking chimneys, that "<i>just fadeout of sight</i>," but the story can be found in a collection called <i>Alien Accounts</i>. <br /><br />In any case, thanks for pointing this out, because it seems there's more (impossible) crime fiction by Sladek that has apparently slipped under the radar. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-71982465968248746862017-03-16T12:40:34.403+01:002017-03-16T12:40:34.403+01:00I don't have my copy of MAPS with me (I'm ...I don't have my copy of MAPS with me (I'm at work) but people should know that there is a story therein where a whole town vanishes into thin air, and the explanation is clever and clued.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com