Collector's Edition

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I take the entire month of October to celebrate it with as many of my favorite scary films and books as possible.  But the real treat is discovering new favorites to add to this annually-expanding list.  Stephen King is an October staple, as his work appears in both mediums--and he’s no stranger to comics, either.  After all, he and director George Romero teamed up to deliver Creepshow, a film that paid loving tribute to the horror comics that inspired both of them as young readers.

This month, the King family makes two very dark journeys into the graphic novel genre, beginning with Stephen’s continuation of his epic, career-spanning series in The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home.  What originally began as a series of novels that tapped into many of his works has now branched further into comics.  When The Dark Tower series seemingly ended with Book VII, there remained plenty left unsaid about protagonist Roland’s early life.  Thankfully, fans were not left wanting for long.

The Dark Tower is a hefty series, and in order to ease new fans into its strangely familiar world, the first graphic novel, The Gunslinger Born, retold events from Book IV: The Wizard and Glass, while fleshing out a few details for longtime fans.  King’s reach is a long one, but he wisely left the actual comic scripting to a well-respected and seasoned veteran of the craft, Peter David (X-Factor, She-Hulk).  King served as director on the graphic novelization, and all scripts had to be vetted through him before being handed off to illustrator Jae Lee. Paired with autumnal colors by Richard Isanove (1602), Lee’s heavily shadowed and sharp artwork could very well stand on its own in terms of storytelling.

After finishing the bestselling first collection, King, David, Lee, and Robin Furth (a historian of the Dark Tower mythology) began working on The Long Road Home, which marks the first departure from previously written material .  It picks up exactly where Gunslinger Born left off and bridges together bits of history only hinted at in the novels.  In symmetry with the season, the story features a pack of villains know as The Big Coffin Hunters and King’s very own Frankenstein Monster. Happy Halloween, indeed!  Marvel Comics has a treat for Amazon customers: a limited edition, variant cover exclusive to Amazon.com (pictured above), and it is in gorgeous black and white by artist Lee Bermejo. 

By now, it’s old hat to mention that Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son, but I hope he’ll forgive the segue.  Hill has proven himself under tough scrutiny and a long shadow with the novel Heart-Shaped Box and the short story collection 20th Century Ghosts.  Like Dad, Hill has begun a graphic novel horror series, and his latest also published this October.  Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft comes in a very handsome hardcover from publisher IDW, complete with sewn-in bookmark and eye-catching front and back graphics.  While the artwork from Gabriel Rodriguez is more comic book-y than Jae Lee’s, it very much fits Hill’s active storytelling and wastes no time in getting to the bloody ghosts that haunt a troubled family on the run.  It makes for perfect Halloween reading and is in a voice all Joe Hill.

Of course, both graphic novels are best read by the light and grin of a jack o’ lantern.

P.S. Stephen King fans can extend their sleepness nights into November with his latest short story collection, Just After Sunset. 

Want to talk pressure?  Try blogging about a world-renown composition guide cherished by millions.  There's absolutely no margin for error, as the thin area between my palms and keyboard is sure to become humid while I second-guess the grammar and punctuation in this post.

(Aggh!  Should there have been a comma after "humid?")

OK...maybe this was a bad idea.

Nerves may prevent me from providing an adequate review of the October 25 release of The Elements of Style: 50th Anniversary Edition, but I thankfully have a Plan B.  Read what far braver souls have to say about Strunk and White's invaluable gift to writing.  --Dave

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”
—Dorothy Parker

“For writers of all kinds and sizes the world begins and ends with Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Only something to actually write about trumps the list of what is required to put words together in some kind of coherent way. I treasure its presence in my life and salute its fifty years of glory and accomplishment.”
—Jim Lehrer

“The Elements of Style remains an unwavering beacon of light in these grammatically troubled times. I would be lost without it.”
—Ann Patchett

“It’s the toughness—the irreverence and implicit laughter—that attracted me to the little book when I was seventeen. I fell in love with Strunk & White’s loathing for cant and bloviation, the ruthless cutting of crap, jargon, and extra words. For me, that skeptical directness included a tacit permission by The Elements of Style to break its rules on occasion: an alloy of generosity in the blade, a grace I still admire and still learn from.”
—Robert Pinsky

“In the quest for clarity, one can have no better guides than Strunk and White. For me, their book has been invaluable and remains essential.”
—Dan Rather

“Strunk and White seared their way into my brain long ago, and I benefit from them daily.”
—Steven J. Dubner, coauthor of Freakonomics

“Since high school, I have kept a copy of this book handy. That should be unnecessary. I should, by now, have fully internalized The Elements of Style. But sometimes I get entangled in a paragraph that refuses to be ‘clear, brief, bold.’ I dip back into The Elements of Style and am refreshed. After Scott Simon interviewed me on NPR about whether the word ‘e-mail’ needs a hyphen (yes, it does), some listeners, including friends of mine, wondered why I had answered in the affirmative when asked, in passing, ‘Are you a drunken white man?’ Those listeners misheard. ‘Strunk and White man’ was what Scott said.”
—Roy Blount Jr.

“I used Strunk—that’s what we called it, Strunk—as a student at Berkeley fifty years ago. I didn’t know that it was new, and that we were the first generation to be educated in The Elements of Style. I got a firm foundation in the English language, learned to write basically, and could depict the realistic world. Then I was able to become an impressionist and expressionist.”
—Maxine Hong Kingston

“Strunk and White’s gigantic little book must be the most readable advice on writing ever written. Side by side with Roget, Shakespeare, the Bible, and a dictionary, it’s an essential for every writer’s shelf.”
—X. J. Kennedy

“Almost every writer has a Strunk and White story. One journalism professor spends the first two weeks of school forcing his students to memorize the book. A top editor at a major paper buys copies at yard sales to distribute to her writers and interns. It has even caused love affairs. . . . Could its greatness be any more clear?”
—Jesse Sheidlower, American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, on NPR

The Amazon editors and writers you read on Omni every day aren't the only ones reading hungrily around here. One of our book buyers, Alex Carr, is back to provide a rundown of the recently released comic, Ghost World: Special Edition.

On Friday, August 29, Fantagraphics Books in Seattle celebrated the 10th anniversary publication of Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World by holding an exhibition of the artist’s work.  Clowes was on hand to talk to fans, sign miscellany, and usher in the release of Fantatgraphics’ Ghost World: Special Edition.

The original, 80-page graphic novel is pure Clowes, and in an age of revisiting best-left-preserved stories and turning them into “special editions,” it’s hard not to feel squeamish lifting a juiced-up 230+-page hardcover.  Would Enid and Rebecca, the oft-imitated (see also: Juno) and cynical-to-a-fault main characters accept such a retread?  Clowes and Fantagraphics wisely dispel any fears with a cover graphic of  Enid exclaiming “Look at us—we’re totally special!”

The main theme of two best friends  growing up and apart as adulthood looms is left untouched, while the surrounding details bloom.  Fantagraphics and Clowes have assembled seemingly every fringe supplemental involving the graphic novel ‘s journey from pencils to feature film, beginning with a new introduction by Clowes and a two-page Where Are They Now? piece that dishes up ambiguity on the ultimate fate of Enid and Rebecca.  Original sketches, photo references, gags, throwaways, rarely-seen strips, jackets, rejected cover designs, original art with overlays, and more follow the story’s end.

What follows next is the 100+ page, Oscar-nominated screenplay by Clowes and Terry Zwigoff, complete with its own introduction, strip, annotations, and further esoterica.  Watch for Clowes’ pen-and-ink rendition of Christina Ricci in the role of Enid before Thora Birch made it her own in the 2001 film (which also featured an early Scarlett Johansson as Rebecca).

Also on hand at the exhibition were a limited number of signed prints from page 79 of Ghost World, available for purchase.  The exhibition runs through Oct. 7, 2008, but if you miss it, the special print can be viewed here.  Taken out of context and enlarged, it reminds readers why the everyday glimpse into the lives of two coming-of-age characters has resonated for ten years, and why it will continue to haunt thanks to the very fine film and newly-released, special edition graphic novel.

- Alex Carr 

In celebration of Harry Potter's birthday (who happens to share a birthday with his creator, J.K. Rowling), this morning, millions of Harry Potter fans around the world woke up (or will soon wake up) to some very exciting news: the announcement of the worldwide release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a very special book of five fairy tales written to supplement the Harry Potter series. In December 2007, Amazon was fortunate to come into possession of one of the original copies and it was our privilege to share images and reviews of this incredible artifact. Available in a standard edition and a collector's edition, which is exclusive to Amazon.com, these new editions of The Tales of Beedle the Bard will be available on December 4, 2008.

The Standard Edition features all five fairy tales from the original The Tales of Beedle the Bard, an introduction and illustrations by J.K. Rowling, and commentary on each of the tales by Professor Albus Dumbledore.

Housed in its own slipcase--made to resemble a wizarding textbook found in the Hogwarts library--the luxuriously packaged Collector's Edition includes metal corners, clasp, and skull; a reproduction of J.K. Rowling's handwritten introduction; commentary on each of the tales by Professor Albus Dumbledore; and 10 additional illustrations not found in the Standard Edition (or the original).

In a press release Rowling said: "There was understandable disappointment among Harry Potter fans when only one copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was offered to the public last December.  I am therefore delighted to announce that, thanks to the generous support of Bloomsbury, Scholastic, and Amazon (who bought the handwritten copy at auction)--and with the blessing of the wonderful people who own the other six original books--The Tales of Beedle the Bard will now be widely available to all Harry Potter fans."

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is published by The Children's High Level Group (CHLG), registered charity number 1112575, a charity co-founded in 2005 by J.K. Rowling and Emma Nicholson MEP to make life better for vulnerable children. All net proceeds from the sale will be donated to The Children's Voice campaign.

 

--BTP

Calling all Harry Potter fans!
Want to get your (gloved) hands on J.K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard? Amazon.com wants to send you and a friend to London, England to spend a weekend with the rare and delightful book of fairy tales (security guards included, of course), handwritten and illustrated by J.K. Rowling herself. Open to muggles ages 13 and older in 24 countries, the Beedle the Bard Ballad Writing Contest challenges you to creatively answer one of the following three questions in 100 words or less:

• What songs do wizards use to celebrate birthdays?
• What sports do wizards play besides Quidditch?
• What have you learned from the Harry Potter series that you use in everyday life?

An Amazon.com committee will select 10 semi-finalist submissions (based on creativity and writing style) from each of two age categories: 13-17 and 18-and-over. Amazon.com customers will determine the two finalists and Grand Prize winner by voting for their favorites. But hurry--submissions will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. PDT April 22, 2008. 

If you haven’t already, take a look at The Tales of Beedle the Bard:

As you may have heard, J.K. Rowling has created a new book of fairy tales, but unlike her last book, which has reached print runs in the tens of millions, this one has a very limited edition: seven. Handwritten and illustrated by Rowling herself and bound in morocco leather, silver ornaments, and semi-precious stones, The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of five wizarding fairy tales. (The tales played a crucial role in the plot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows after Dumbledore left them to Hermione Granger, but only one of them, "The Tale of the Three Brothers," was included in the story.) Of the seven copies, Rowling gave six to "those most intimately involved" with the Potter books (names as yet unknown), and the last was auctioned off this morning at Sotheby's in London, with proceeds going to The Children's Voice, an organization cofounded by Rowling that campaigns for children's rights.

The book, which according to the AP was expected to sell for around $100,000, ended up selling for 1.95 million pounds (or, given the state of the U.S. dollar these days, $3.98 million). The buyer was unknown at the time of purchase, but later today was revealed to be ... Amazon.com. So needless to say, you can now read more about the book on our site, including some lovely photographs, a few of which I've added below. And there's an already-busy discussion board, where we (and our customers) are answering as many questions as we can about the book. --Tom

As you might have heard, this is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac's Beat bible, On the Road. Kerouac, who spent the rest of his short career trying to live up to, or live down, his blockbuster book, might be glad he doesn't have to witness the festivities, but his readers should be happy to be here. As anyone who's turned one of those big round numbers knows, birthdays can feel arbitrary and absurd, but they often bring good things, in this case new editions and new looks at a book that has turned out to live far beyond its fleeting moment. The Library of America has welcomed Kerouac as the first Beat writer in its red-white-and-blue ranks (unless you want to count Paul Bowles) with Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960, and Viking, the original publisher of On the Road, is publishing three books: a 50th anniversary edition of On the Road, On the Road: The Original Scroll (the full text of Kerouac's famous 120-foot scroll that he typed a draft of the book on in one three-week sprint six years before it was published), and Why Kerouac Matters, a short new tribute from John Leland, author of Hip: The History, that argues that On the Road is not the book we've thought it was these 50 years. On our pages for the anniversary and scroll editions, we have some nice extras, including Kerouac's hand-drawn map of the cross-country travels that were the basis for the book and Gilbert Millstein's prescient original New York Times review, which is reprinted in the anniversary edition.