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For reasons explained here, the Help Vera appeal has reopened its doors for one final mighty bound towards getting Vera Nazarian's massively compounded problems sorted out; in brief, the plumbing bill to fix the damaged sewer for her house has proven to be twice the original estimate.

So, hurry, hurry, hurry to the main appeal site to browse through pages of excellent goodies that are still on sale -- many unique and wonderful items are here, some of them ideal for those last-minute Holiday gifts and stocking stuffers, others treats and treasures you can furtively buy for yourself.

A couple of days ago

guppiecat heroically did a tally of the auctions that were still open. Obviously this posting of his is a tad out-of-date by now, but it's a good place to start since it turns the spotlight on items that otherwise you'd not find until you'd scrolled through pages of more recent offers. These include a few in which (modest cough) I have some personal interest:

Digital Art in the 21st Century: Renderosity by John Grant & Audre Vysniauskas (signed) - opening bid $29.95

The Chesley Awards: A Retrospective by John Grant, Elizabeth Humphrey and Pamela D. Scoville (signed) - opening bid $45 (although the bidding's now up to $50 on this)

Take No Prisoners by John Grant (signed), four left - $10 each, post free

All of these will, of course, be signed, inscribed, kissed or whatever else (within reason) the lucky purchaser desires.

So: You know it's a good cause. Why are you still here? Hurry along to the

helpvera site pronto! Please.

Current Music: Melanie - Paled by Dimmer Light

Although the Help Vera appeal has achieved its primary objective -- raising enough for Vera Nazarian to be out of immediate risk of being thrown out of her house -- there's still plenty left to do.

And there's still plenty of fine stuff -- plus some books of mine -- on offer in the associated auctions! For an update on auctions that are currently bidless and items that are still unsold, go here.

Current Music: Anjani live with Leonard Cohen

Here's the offer I posted last night at the

helpvera site.

==========

On offer are five signed and inscribed (or unsigned should you prefer; please state) copies of my story collection Take No Prisoners, published in 2004 as a trade paperback by Willowgate Press and with a spiffy cover by Audre Vysniauskas:

Of this collection, John Clute wrote:

Do not open this book until you are prepared to dive in and forget the day. The worlds of John Grant are harsh, interconnected, florid, fluent, fun; and, more than all of that, they are generous. His tales are long and full. And his characters [. . .] they live at full stretch, because John Grant gives each of them his own contentious, passionate, loving heart. Read and weep; read and laugh; but don't begin to read until you are ready for a long joy.

In The Third Alternative Peter Tennant commented at the end of a long and exceptionally glowing review:

John Grant does indeed take no prisoners with this collection of ﬁne stories, but readers could do far worse than to allow themselves to be captivated by his vivid imagination and dazzling prose.

And in SF Revu Edward Carmien concluded:

These stories of literary fantasy all share the power to draw you along, watching their detail emerge and wondering what lies around the next corner, the next page.

There was also a jolly nice (and long) review of the book in Locus by Rich Horton, but I can't now find my copy of it.

For a final plaudit, just look at that strapline on the front cover pictured above . . .

Whatever, I'm offering five signed copies of the book for $10.00 apiece -- that's the Buy It Now price. I'll ship for free within the continental US and at cost abroad.

==========

If interested, here's the page to start at. If interested in better stuff than any humble offering of mine (or if you just want to make a donation to help Vera Nazarian out of the ghastly hole she's in), go to the main

helpvera page and start there.

Current Music: Trees: radio broadcasts 1970-71

The by now incontrovertibly indefatigable Charles Tan (

charlesatan) has just posted a glowing review of my nonfiction book Discarded Science on his Bibliophile Stalker blog. Here are some juicy extracts:

It was author Jeffrey Ford if I'm not mistaken who said that he mines pseudosciences for story ideas and if you're that type of person (I was certainly itching to turn on my computer and start writing), this book is certainly a treasure trove. John Grant gives us a history of everything, from creation to physiognomy, and narrates it in an informal style that gets to the point and doesn't require a bachelor's degree in whatever science to understand. [. . .]

What I particularly enjoy about Grant is that his writing is balanced. While the religious are typically the target of his criticisms in the book, the scientific community isn't exempted either and a good chunk of the book is devoted to their inaccuracies. Those looking to use the book for research purposes will find this to be a holy grail as far as referencing goes. [. . .]

Discarded Science was certainly an enjoyable read and one of the more densely packed but accessible texts. Critical analysis combined with restrained humor and compelling writing make me look forward to the sequel.

Y'know, I should definitely go put a copy of this book up in the

helpvera auction.

Current Music: Erja Lyytinen - Grip Of The Blues

Here's the relevant entry on the HelpVera auction page:

===============

Shortly to be published by PS Publishing, the novella The City in These Pages is my homage to the late, great Ed McBain, taking the form of a police procedural that's also a piece of cosmological fantasy. (Yeah, and people pay me to do this stuff?)

PS Publishing's page for the book is here and the book's cover blurb reads like this:

City Hall is on Lewis-and-Clark Street, so it was the 14th Precinct that got the call, and very soon the 14th Precinct, in the persons of Detective Sergeants Moto and Pincus, was on the spot, bending down and looking into the car at the condom-shrouded figure of Ratty Scarlatti but not touching anything because the m.o. and the scene-of-crime crew hadn't gotten here yet, being stuck in the traffic jam on Eighth thanks to the burst sewer there...

It might seem like just another case for the gallant boys of the 14th but, as the days progress and Moto (look, just don't make any jokes about his name, okay?) and Pincus delve deeper, the body count rises inexorably, with each murder reaching a new height of ludicrous surrealism – if not downright impossibility. It seems there's an avenger on the loose in the enigmatic city.

Yet is the unknown perpetrator truly seeking vengeance? Is the motive instead to patch up this version of reality in the least implausible fashion possible before its inhabitants begin to suspect there's something fundamentally awry? Or are there operators moving at an even deeper level than reality?

John Grant has commented: "I've been a devotee of the works of Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) for decades – since puberty, perhaps longer – so that when the great man died in July 2005 it was almost like losing a family member. I wanted to write my own, very humble tribute to him by way of thanks for all the pleasure he'd given me, but it was some while before the right combination of ideas came along."

The result, The City in These Pages, is a McBain-style police procedural, full of crackling wit and sharp one-liners, that's also a multi-layered cosmological fantasy in whose shifting perspectives nothing is ever quite as it appears. You've never read anything like it.

The book's being published in two editions: an unjacketed hardcover (500 numbered copies signed by just me at £10.00 [$15.00] apiece) and a jacketed hardcover (200 numbered copies signed by both me and Foreword writer Dave Langford at £25.00 [$37.50] apiece). (There was in addition to be a lettered, slipcased edition signed also by cover artist Vincent Chong, but that seems to have been delayed.)

What I'm offering is a rare unnumbered copy of the more expensive, jacketed version from my extremely limited personal stash of just three author copies of this edition. It's signed by both Dave and myself, and I will additionally personalize it to you (or to whomever you buy it as a gift for).

It will definitely remain one of a kind, because I'm damned if I'm giving away any more copies of the jacketed edition: the rest of them are mine to cuddle and adore, okay?

Minimum bid: $25.00
Shipping: on me

===============

If you want to bid on this (or on any of the many other fine items being auctioned for the fund), don't do so here but follow this link.

I'm planning/hoping to put up further items in due course. Would anyone be interested, for example, in a copy of my 1992 novel The World . . . ?

Current Music: Dido: Safe Trip Home

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Entries tagged with helpvera

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