X-mas Haul 2014 part 02

BOOKS

I love to read. Learned how to read when I was 4. So coming up pretty soon on 4 decades of reading. And one great thing about books is if you don't mind used copies they are cheap. I had added a crappile of cheap books to my Amazon wishlist.

 Wild Cards Book #20 Suicide Kings edited by George R.R. Martin

I have loved the Wild Cards novels since I read the first one sometime in the late 80s. A few years back the series was restarted. And for the first time since the original novel they were getting published in hardback. I saw this volume,which I have never read, really cheap on Amazon. So my Aunt Midget got it for me.When I opened it up X-mas day she started to apologize for it being an ex-library book. But that doesn't bother me. It might be a long time before I get to this book. I am slowly collecting all the books in the series. And I got a few right now that happen before this one but I haven't read yet.While Mr Martin gets huge amounts of praise for his Song of Fire and Ice series,well honestly I tried to read the first book in that series and it never got my attention. I tried watching Game of Thrones and it didn't get my attention. I see fans all the time begging Mr Martin to hurry up and finish the Song of Fire and Ice series,but I would much rather him edit more volumes of the Wild Cards series.

As I mentioned in part 1,I am known in my family as the comic guy. In 1982 for either my birthday or X-mas my now deceased Aunt Dot got me the book pictured above. Now that copy was a hardcover and the dust jacket didn't have the same cover art as the above pictured paperback. This novel is a series of letters a young child in the 50s is writing to Superman. Jerry,the titular Kryptonite Kid,has an abusive father,a barely there mother. Plus is always picked on since he is the shortest kid in his grade. The letters to Superman,who Jerry believes is real,start off as nice fan letters. Then Jerry starts talking more and more about how bad his life is. I was about 8 when I got my first copy of this book. I was expecting a story of a kid that helps Superman,but instead got a novel that shows the slow slide into depression suffered by a young child. So this copy was gotten for me by my Aunt Midget. I am currently about 3/4th of the way through it and it is just as good as I remembered it being. A cute aside about the first copy I owned. I had had it for at least a year when for some reason I slipped the dust jacket off and found a folded up letter. The letter was from some teenage boy. Written to who I must assume was his girlfriend or some girl he at least had  a crush on.

Out of all the gifts I got this year off my Amazon wishlist this was the most expensive. It is volume 11 of the Wild Card series. And the middle books in the series are the most expensive. I am assuming this is because they had smaller print runs. This was the last gift from my Aunt Midget. Hopefully I will get a chance to read it fairly soon.

As I mentioned in part 1 I got three envelopes with a store name written on the front and money inside them.The three stores were Dollar General,Dirt Cheap and Vendor's Emporium. I love all three stores. But anytime I go into them I end up spending money,usually more than I should. Since none of the three do gift cards I was given money to spend at those stores. Well I have been to 2 of the three stores. Since we have 5 Dollar Generals in my town I went to them first. Normally at DG all I do is grab a cheap drink,then dig through the DVD and Book racks.I don't see hardcover novels in DG that often. I had stopped at the store out by my home,wanting to grab a cheap drink then head to town. And saw a end cap that had boxes of hardcovers. Horns by Joe Hill was the only book in the box that got my attention. The rest of them were biographies about people I either don't know or don't care about. I have read a handful of Joe Hill short stories and his first full length novel Heart Shaped box. And really enjoyed his fiction. This was only 3 bucks,which is a bargain for a hardcover novel. I do wish stores would start using price stickers that are easier to remove. So after grabbing the book,a small bag of Cracker Jacks and a Arizona Green Tea I still had 15 bucks of my 20 dollar DG money left.

Steel and other stories by Richard Matheson. Matheson is a name I have heard for years. And I have seen movies and tv shows based on his fiction. But so far have never read any of his stuff. Containing 15 stories,with one of them being the basis for the film Real Steel,I figured this would be a good starter book for Mr Matheson. I have just flipped through it and there is another story in here that was turned into a episode of Family Guy. Normally paperback books at DG ar 1 or 2 bucks,with sometimes during a sale books are 50 to 75 cents. Now it might just be the location I stopped in,but this book along with most of the other paperbacks was $3.I ended up getting this,another book for me,and a book for a friend. Each novel had a cover price of $7.99. And I got all 3 for a total of $9. Quick rant,why are most paperbacks now about an inch taller than what has been the standard size for at least 4 decades.And with print media supposedly dying why is the cost for an average size paperback book now $7.99. The books being an inch taller is a pain in the ass. My bookshelves are custom made for the old paperback size. Hell the used bookstore in town hates the new size. The owner has told me unless it is a book from an author she knows sells well she has started refusing to take in the newer sized paperbacks,

The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J Anderson. I have read some of Anderson's Star Wars stuff. And I have always been interested in what Krypton was like before it exploded.You can't tell from the picture but the cover is an linticular animated cover. By shifting the cover to the left and right the green Superman shield flys towards the cover. Like the Matheson novel this was $3. I now got $6 in DG money left. Maybe tomorrow I will got the "dirty,stinky DG" downtown. They always got great DVDs and books. I think it is because it isn't in the best location.

I was hanging out with some friends when their Mother came home and was showing us a bunch of stuff she got from Dirt Cheap. Since Dirt Cheap is a regional chain let me explain it. You know how Biglots buys overstock and close out stuff from stores. Well Dirt Cheap is the same. But unlike Biglots they are not organized and usually smell a bit funny and are a bit dirty.But their prices are great. I have gotten many pairs of jeans from them for $3 or less a pair. One thing I really love about Dirt Cheap is they always have at least one bin slammed full of ex-rental DVDs from Blockbuster. I just wish they would keep the prices the same. Sometimes it is $1 a dvd. Sometimes it is $3. Now all you get is the disk in a cardboard sleeve. But for that cheap a price it is worth it.  Most of the time I goto Dirt Cheap I spend at least 1 hour digging through the DVDs.

Dirt Cheap always has lots of books. One drawback to the store is different items are discounted different amounts. Like how last time I was there all Halloween stuff was 90% the price on the sticker.Normally books are 75% cover price. I love movie reference books or movie lists books. Comedy is my second favorite genre and a list of the 50 funniest movies sounded like a fun read. I was curious about the price. There was two sections of books. One of them was 80% cover price. And mostly coffee table books about subjects I have no interest in.The other section was 60% off cover. And was mostly romance novels and whatever shlock the James Patterson fiction factory is pumping out. The above pictured book was in the 60% section. And had a cover price of 17 bucks. I was tempted by it,then found a nice hardcover book that covered all three of the Sam Rami Spiderman movies Filled with lots of pictures and lots of writing,I really wanted this. But the cover price was $50. So with the discount,whichever it turned out to be,it was still more than I wanted to pay. When I finally made it up to the register,the 50 funniest movies book was 90% off.  I have flipped through it and it looks to be a good read.

Yeah I know this isn't a book. I forgot to put it with the DVDs in part 1.I have enjoyed all the American Pie films. Even the DTV ones like Naked Mile,Band Camp and Beta House. American Reunion is the so far final film in the series.This is the unrated cut. And was $1.50. They also had a bunch of tv show season sets. But you had to buy them one disc at a time. IE if say Entourage season 1 was 4 dvds. You had to buy 4 dvds at 2 bucks each. Now these,unlike normally at Dirt Cheap,came in normal Amray cases. The cases were of course locked shut to prevent theft. So I couldn't open one up and see if they are ex-rentals. But I bet they were. The only one I found that I almost got was Jericho Season 1 disc 1.

Transformers Construct Bots Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Predaking toy
I have always enjoyed Legos or lego like toys. Now normally I won't buy any toys at Dirt Cheap that come with lots of parts. It never fails that someone has already opened the box and pieces will be missing. I checked this set and it was still sealed. After getting the book cheap and the DVD cheap I was gonna splurge. It is rare that I buy myself a toy anymore. The high cost of modern toys and my running out of room to display stuff are major factors. But with this being 80% off $24 I couldn't pass it up. And after opening it up and putting it together I was not disappointed. It has two forms. First is the normal robot form.

I got my younger cousin the K-reo Optimus Prime toy 2 years ago. K-reo is a knockoff brand of Legos. And while once it was put together it looked great. The articulation of the toy was kind of crap. You barely moved anything and pieces fell off. Where as this Construct Bot has great articulation. Hell it has better articulation that the over praise G1 Transformers of my childhood.

And here is Predaking in his dragon form.The kit was super easy to put together. And I like how the plastic case it came in is resealable so you can store all the parts in it.

Well that is all my X-mas Haul. I got one last giftcard coming in soon. But looks like I am gonna use it to buy a new mic and headphones for my laptop. Well I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a good New Years Eve.