May's Strangest Special Order

Giant shark books.

"[T]he male shark's vulnerable state prompts an even larger female megalodon to emerge and attack it, and as the female rips it apart, it is bathed in the shark's warm blood as it follows the entangled male upwards, the warm flood of liquid keeping the female protected from the cold water long enough for it to reach the warmer surface waters of the ocean, hence unleashing the megalodon anew on the ocean's ecosystem. It doesn't take long for the shark to pick up where it left off after it reaches the surface, as it starts killing and eating whales, and sometimes people. . . ."

(Soon to be a major motion picture!)

"Do You Sell New or Used Books?"

Both now, side by side. We can obtain any title currently in print in North America within two weeks or less, typically at 20% off its Canadian list price. This month, we helped our customers find everything from James Patterson's latest high-seas-and-murder adventure, to Guy Debord's Society of The Spectacle, to "that kids' book from the 70s with the little worm." (Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, starring Lowly Worm).

Richard Stark: Back in Print at Last

New series of trade paperback reprints of Donald E. Westlake's hardest-boiled pseudonym. Master thief Parker (no last name) sets up clever score after score, only to be hamstrung by crooked partners, the cops, the mob, bad timing, weird coincidences, & etc. Parker keeps ticking along like a little clockwork toy, trying to adjust to circumstances, to fix things. But every one of his clever solutions invariably makes things worse.

Some of the finest noir novels ever written. Highly recommended.

George R.R. Martin's A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. Coming Soon! (Maybe)

Cover art from the eagerly-awaited next volume in Mr. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire sequence. Random House now claims the book will be published on September 29th. We have our doubts, having heard this story a few times since 2006, the year the manuscript was supposed to have been completed, but have gone ahead and ordered copies anyway. If you'd like one held for you when -- if -- it arrives in the fall, please call or email.

Major Renovations @ PFB

No posts for a week or two now, because we've been busy upgrading Main Street's front room to cope with an influx of new books and recent arrivals. Lots of new display space for our ever-expanding selection of new books, and a few smaller A-frame units to hold some of the more interesting new arrivals, including Joseph O'Neill's terrific short novel Netherland (Dutch investment analyst lives in post-911 NYC, plays cricket, and registers the city around him in succinct, lucid sentences equally reminiscent of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Richard Ford); Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife (First Lady to fictitious unpopular president reviews her life); John Huddy's Storming Las Vegas (Soviet-trained Cuban ex-commando and associates knock over five Las Vegas Strip casinos, three armored cars, & etc.), and lots more.

New stereo speakers in the back of the store, too; no more bass blaring at the desk!

Free Comic Book Day 2009

[posted by J. Nadiger]

Every year, the first Saturday of May is Free Comic Book Day. It's usually timed with the release of a comic book movie, this year being X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

For Free Comic Book Day, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE to anyone who comes into their stores.

IMPORTANT: It does NOT mean that all comics found in the store are free!

Rather, each publishing company creates a comic intended as a free sample for a potential new reader. Some are reprints of popular titles, but most are original stories done by talented creators, designed to woo you into the comic shop on a more regular basis.

Every store does Free Comic Book Day a little differently, but I think that my comic shop, Elfsar Comics, puts on the best FCBD in town.

For the past several years, we've combined Free Comic Book Day with a food drive for the Vancouver food bank. If you walk into the store, you automatically get to choose 5 out of the 25 different Free Comics, no questions asked.

BUT! If you bring in a non-perishable food item, or cash donation, you get 5 more comics, an entry into one of the raffles, and a photo taken with one of the costumed heroes that will be on site.

If that wasn't enough, we'll have some spectacular local artists there promoting their work and doing sketches:

• Comic creator/filmmaker KAARE ANDREWS
• Cartoonist CAMILLA D'ERRICO
• Arcana Comics publisher & EiC SEAN O'REILLY
• Digital artist DERYK MANDRYK

There will also be a massive sale on almost every item in the store: Buy 2 get 1 free on all reading material, and 20% off all non-reading material.

At the very least, it's a chance to find some cool new works of art and donate to a very worthy cause.

Free Comic Book Day happens this Saturday, May 2. We open at 11am and close at 7pm. Supplies of free comics are limited (first come, first served!), and it's always crowded, so please come early, but it's always a good time.

I hope to see you all there!

For more information, please visit Elfsar's Free Comic Book Day page.

GG Winner Jacob Scheier and Sonnet L'Abbe Read Tonight @ Main Street!

Jacob Scheier and Sonnet L'Abbe read tonight in Main Street's redesigned front room, courtesy of our friends at PRISM International magazine and the UBC Creative Writing Department. This reading is likely going to be really crowded; if you want a guaranteed seat, you might consider arriving around 6:45pm.