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March 2024
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Misc

Rainy September

So it looks like the summer is gone and autumn comes crashing in with cold weather and rain. The skies have been dull for the past few days. Lots of high winds recently also; I was half expecting snow or hail to make an appearance.

The Robert E Howard book buying didn’t go as planned. One of them was out of print so I got a refund on that and the other made it’s merry way over to Scotland stopping at as many points as possible to prolong the trip. It was also a second edition, and a different number to my previous books – which shouldn’t be a surprise as I haven’t purchased any for years – which sort of spoils the collection. Still, I am looking forward to dipping in and out of it. I’m pretty sure I have a lot of the stories in paperback but it will be nice to get back into reading some Howard again.

Books Books Books

My book collection rises and falls. At present I am waiting on lock down easing so libraries open up again and I can donate about fifty or so books I haven’t read –  and which there’s zero chance of me ever reading. There was a little rise with the purchase of a couple of cheap Bob Shaw completion items; different editions of books I already own, bought off ebay for pennies plus postage.

I’ve also ordered a couple of expensive Robert E Howard books from the Robert E Howard Foundation. I was browsing their site and noticed that a few of their books were now out of print. I, ahem, paused purchasing the books when they first came out due to costs. Not the costs of the books themselves – which are reasonable for the good quality limited editions they produce – but the postage to Europe which doubled the price. Back in 2015 was the last purchase.

Looking at the books available there are a couple that I would like to have but are gone now, so I took the chance to some ensure that others I would like to have are bought before they too are gone. I note that The Early Adventures of El Borak isn’t even listed on their site any more. Another one I would have liked to own. Online searches show that copies go – if they are available as it’s pretty rare they pop up for sale – for up to £400. I’m just going to have to hope and keep fingers crossed that those I didn’t purchase but still want remain available.

Book wise Robert E Howard is still way ahead but Bob Shaw is catching up on him. Philip K Dick is pretty far behind in third place.

Theme Switch

I was just deleting some old themes that said they needed updating and this led me to look at the themes I have.

I got Artisteer for creating themes but before I had that I downloaded and looked at some free themes for WordPress.

I sort of customised an old theme, X-Mark, and looking at it again I realised how cool a theme it is. Much kudos to Lisa Sabin-Wilson for the theme, it stands the test of time. I think I may have come across this particular theme after buying and reading her book, WordPress For Dummies, which was also a great resource.