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*News From the Glamorous World of Bookselling*

"Once confined to fantasy and science fiction,
time travel is now simply an engineering problem . . ."
--Michio Kaku, Wired Magazine

1) MASTODONIA (1978) . . . "It must be some kind of Hot Tub Time Machine." Starting with George Pal's The Time Machine, I've always been fascinated by time travel and its implications. Dewey, a manager at Schuler's Books likes to present hypothetical questions to the staff, for example: Who is your favourite Beatle? For me it was Paul when I was young, John Lennon in my teen years, and finally it would be George Harrison at this moment in time. George helped a lot of people out over the years. My Deweyesque question is this: If you had a time machine would you go into the future or the past? For me it would be the past. I would love to see Constantinople circa 600 A.D. In Clifford D. Simak's Mastodonia people do go back in time to start their own country in the Pleistocene era, which leads me to Michael Savage and his new title Trickle Up Poverty (9780062010971) 26.99. Believe it or not, this is probably our bestselling title right now. I would give a time machine to Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, and their ilk and they could make their own perfect country in the Pleistocene. It would be a win - win for everyone . . .

2) WHERE THE EVIL DWELLS (1982) . . . I have seen the face of evil and it is Justin Bieber. The already legendary pop star has a new autobiography entitled Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever (9780062039743) 21.99 and it sure to be a bestseller for the pre-teen crowd. Myself, I would take my time machine and find the young Bieber's grandfather. I would then offer him an unconditional one way ticket to our prehistoric past. Viola! Problem solved . . . What the face of evil might look like...

3) OUT OF THEIR MINDS (1970) . . . Becky, our children's book buyer pointed out a great parody of The Giving Tree (9780060256654) 16.99. The Taking Tree (9781442407633) 16.99 is the first children's book that has made me laugh out loud (LOL) in a long time. If Ayn Rand of Atlas Shrugged (9780451191144) 9.99 fame had written a kid's book, this would have been it. In fact, we could take our time machine, swing by 1930 or so, and whisk Ayn off to our Pleistocene colony before she could write any of her books . . .


4) SPECIAL DELIVERANCE (1982) . . . Also, if I could go back in time, I would love to see Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawk enforcer Bobby Probert beat the crap out of opposing hockey players. Alas, Mr. Probert passed away this past summer, but not before he finished his autobiography Tough Guy (9781600785627) 24.95. Bobby, you will be missed . . .

Odds & Sods

GLiBA was this weekend and it was great to see all my old friends. Blue Balliet, author of The Danger Box (9780439852098) 16.99 was one of the featured luncheon authors. I hadn't realized that her book dealt with Charles Darwin's missing notebooks. We also have signed copies of her book available . . .

My favourite was author Paul Clemens, who sat next to me at the luncheon and wrote Made in Detroit (9781400075966) 13.95. It was a Great Lakes Book Award winner in 2005. His new book, Punching Out (9780385521154) 24.95 isn't due out until January, but I do have a limited amount of ARCs if anyone is interested . . .