Brian C. Veteran Bookseller

@chainborne.bsky.social

191 Followers 513 Following

Bookseller (British, bearded, bespectacled, bald). Fantasy-fan. Sci-Fi guy. Word-nerd. He/Him. On a mission to read all the middle-grade science fiction books.

A square image containing text which reads "Describe your favourite movie as boring as possible" (terrible grammar, but that's how it's written). The background is formed out of a montage of dozens of movie posters.
A panel from the DC comics graphic novel "Kingdom Come" written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Alex Ross. It shows Selina Kyle and Edward Nygma in their letter years, at a meeting of villains hosted by Lex Luthor (off panel). Luthor is introducing them, while Nygma interjects "Jeopardy" style questions about their identities. The text reads: Luthor: "...Selina Kyle..." Nygma: "Who is Catwoman?" Luthor: "...and her companion- -Edward Nygma..." Nygma: "Who is The Riddler?" Luthor: "... Who would be reminded that he is here solely as a grace to Ms. Kyle." Kyle: "Simmer down, Eddie..."
A photo of my hand holding up my UK blu-ray copy of "Night of the Comet" from 88Films. In the background is a blurry snapshot of part of my blu-ray collection, mounted on wall shelves.
A photograph of a hardback copy of artist Patrick Woodroffe's book "The Second Earth: The Pentateuch Retold".
A photo of actor James Hazeldine as the character Mike "Bayleaf" Wilson from the UK TV series "London's Burning".
A screen cap showing the X-Bomber, the hero spaceship from the animated-puppet series "Star Fleet".
A still from the 1985 film Enemy Mine, showing Jeriba Shigan ("Jerry"), a lizardlike alien from a species called Drak. Hermaphrodite and self-reproducing in nature, the Drak place great stock in reciting the direct lineage of their ancestors and their mighty deeds, and in one scene Jerry encourages his human companion Willis E. Davidge to recount the tales of his own parentage.
A screenshot of a spreadsheet listing all the composers with more than one entry in the Classical Music poll of 62 film composers' five greatest scores. Unfortunately Google Lens cannot separate the columns, so the ranking is messed up in this alt text, but the names and their numbers are as follows: (Williams) 36 (Silvestri) 4 (Herrmann) 26 (Carlos) 3 (Morricone) 25 (Glass) 3 (Goldsmith) 15 (Karas) 3 (T Newman) 12 (L Bernstein) 3 (Zimmer) 12 (Mancini) 3 (Rota) 11 (Sakamoto) 3 (Powell) 8 (Copeland) 2 (Steiner) (Vangelis) 7 8 (Delerue) 2 (Barry) 6 (Goblin) 2 (Horner) 5 (Hisaishi) 2 (North) 5 (Marianelli) 2 (Goldenthal) 4 (Nyman) 2 (Greenwood) 4 (Reznor/Ross) 2 (Preisner) 2 (Jóhannsson) 4 (Rosenman) 2 (Jarre) 4 (Rozsa) 2 (Korngold) 4 (Takemitsu) 2 (Levi) 4 (Yared) 2
A still from the movie Unbreakable in which Elijah Price, the owner of a gallery of comic-book art, is extolling the qualities of an original pencil sketch by artist "Fritz Campion" to an unworthy customer.
A photo of my hand holding up two paperback children's books against a plain white wall. The books are "The Reluctant Vampire" and "The Vampire's Revenge" by comedy legend Eric Morecambe.
A replica of the classic "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" cartoon logo, but the text reads "Herman and the Munsters of 1313 Mockingbird Lane".
Abeyance. What else do we learn from these three sentences? Doro didn't intend to meet the woman. His purpose at the time was to see what was left of - what? A "seed village." What in the world is a seed village? We don't know what a seed village is. And Butler doesn't tell us - because Doro, who knows perfectly well what a seed village is, wouldn't stop and think about that information right now. But in due time we will find out what a seed village is. So we hold that question in abeyance. We have a hook with the label "seed village" over it; we trust that the author will let us know in due course what information should be hung on that hook. This principle of abeyance is one of the protocols of reading speculative fiction that makes it difficult for some people who aren't familiar with the genre to grasp what's going on. Experienced SF readers recognize that they don't know what a seed village is, and that the author doesn't expect them to know. Instead, this is one of the differences, one of the things that is strange in this created world, and the author will in due course explain what the term means. But the reader who is inexperienced in SF thinks that the author expects him to already know what a seed village is. He stops cold, trying to guess what the term means from its context. But he can't guess, because there isn't enough context yet. Instead of holding the information in abeyance like a small mystery, he is just as likely to think that either the writer is so clumsy that she doesn't know how to communicate well, or that this novel is so esoteric that its readers are expected to know uncommon terms that aren't even in the dictionary. This is one of the real boundaries between SF and non-SF writing. Science fiction and fantasy writers handle exposition this way, by dropping in occasional terms as the viewpoint character thinks of them, and explaining them only later. The SF reader doesn't expect to receive a complete picture of the world all at once.
A crop of a Google News headline from "France 24" which rather ambiguously reads "French researcher cracks 4,000-year-old Elamite script from Iran", underneath a photo of a small rectangular clay tablet held in a pair of white-gloved hands.
A clip of Tim Curry as the toadlike Farley Claymore in 1994's The Shadow, speaking the line "What a fascinating woman".
A clip from the opening scene of The Shadow, starring Alec Baldwin. A snap zoom to a closeup of the face of a man wearing a black fedora, with a red scarf conferring his face below the eyes. The image fades into a stylised sketch of the man's face, which further fades until only a pair of green eyes remain.
My hand, holding up two very heavy children's fantasy tetralogies in hardback. Underneath is Tamora Pierce's The Song of the Lioness Quartet, in a gorgeous slipcased set from Aetheneum Press, comprising Alanna: The First Adventure, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and Lioness Rampant. Standing upright on top are the four Sir Callie books by Esme Symes-Smith in hardback from Labyrinth Road, comprising Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston, Sir Callie and the Dragon's Roost, Sir Callie and the Witch's War, and Sir Callie and the Final Stand.
A double-pile of classic children's fantasy novels and series from the 20th Century, mostly in slipcase or hardback. In no particular order the series are: Ursula K. Le Guin's The Books of Earthsea Frank L. Baum's The Wizard of Oz Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence Tamora Pierce's The Song of the Lioness Quartet Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy Terry Pratchetts "Bromeliad" trilogy Brian Jacques' Redwall, Mattimeo, and The Pearls of Ultra Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain John Christopher's The Tripods collection John Masefield's The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen Madeleine L'Engle's The Kairos Novels
Some lines of scripture carried in the pocket and the heart of Doctor Zaius, written long ago and set down by the greatest ape of all; the Lawgiver. The text reads: 1 Beware the beast Man, for he is the devil's pawn. 2 Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. 3 Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. 4 Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. 5 Shun him. Drive him back into his jungle lair. For he is the harbinger of Death.
A crop of a two-page spread from Roald Dahl's The BFG, the chapter titled "Dreams" in which Sophie is reading the labels on the BFG's captured dream jars. The text reads: "Just this last one," Sophie said. "This one here." She started reading: I HAS RITTEN A BOOK AND IT IS SO EXCITING NOBODY CAN PUT IT DOWN. AS SOON AS YOU HAS RED THE FIRST LINE YOU IS SO HOOKED ON IT YOU CANNOT STOP UNTIL THE LAST PAGE. IN ALL THE CITIES PEEPLE IS WALKING IN THE STREETS BUMPING INTO EACH OTHER BECAUSE THEIR FACES IS BURIED IN MY BOOK AND DENTISTS IS READING IT AND TRYING TO FILL TEETHS AT THE SAME TIME BUT NOBODY MINDS BECAUSE THEY IS ALL READING IT TOO IN THE DENTIST'S CHAIR. DRIVERS IS READING IT WHILE DRIVING AND CARS IS CRASHING ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. BRAIN SURGEONS IS READING IT WHILE THEY IS OPERATING ON BRAINS AND AIRLINE PILOTS IS READING IT AND GOING TO TIMBUCTOO INSTEAD OF LONDON. FOOTBALL PLAYERS IS READ-ING IT ON THE FIELD BECAUSE THEY CAN'T PUT IT DOWN AND SO IS OLIMPICK RUNNERS WHILE THEY IS RUNNING. EVERYBODY HAS TO SEE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT IN MY BOOK AND WHEN I WAKE UP I IS STILL TINGLING WITH EXCITEMENT AT BEING THE GREATEST RITER THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN UNTIL MY MUMMY COMES IN AND SAYS I WAS LOOKING AT YOUR ENGLISH EXERCISE BOOK LAST NITE AND REALLY YOUR SPELLING IS ATROSHUS SO IS YOUR PUNTULASHON. "That's enough for now," the BFG said. "There is dillions more but my arm is getting tired holding you up."
A photo of the 2026 star Wars Lego gift with purchase, a free Lego set given when you spend a set amount on Star Wars Lego at an official Lego store during the "May the fourth" promo. It is a model of the Darksaber hilt on a display stand, the image is of the boxed item, set number 40917, with 278 pieces.
A two-page spread illustration from Usborne's "Stories for Young Children", introducing the section on Witches, showing a village at night illuminated by a full moon, and filled with witches going about their various eldritch business.
A short clip of a close up of a man's hand writing the letters "Ere I am J.H." with one finger in talcum powder spilled across a washroom countertop.
A screenshot from the sci-fi TV series Babylon 5, season 5 episode 16, "Eyes". The B-plot involves assistant ambassador Lennier "helping" the station Head of Security Mr. Garibaldi rebuild a vintage late 20th century motorcycle, and actually completing the entire project in his absence, to Mr. Garibaldi's chagrin. The screenshot is of the moment when Mr. Garibaldi returns to his quarters to find Lennier getting with two hands to the completed motorcycle, a black Kawasaki, with a pleased expression on his face.
A screenshot of text from the "About Me" page of a very prolific SFF author's website. They apparently write a lot of Alt History. Hmmm. Text reads: <RANT> You want the kids to start learning about history, right? Well, start with areas of history that are actually interesting! Forget the Lancashire cotton history, the Norwegian leather industry and PC histories. Start with World War Two. And while you're at it, stop apologising for everything. Kids don't want to feel that heroes like Francis Drake or Cortes were brutal imperialists intent on evil. </RANT>
The problem which arose was, of all things, on the title. I had always had problems titling books, and this one had been no exception. What I had finally come up with was The Demon And I. Doesn't make it, Kelly said. I promised to try to think of an alternative. Three weeks later, press time for the catalog was upon us, and I was still trying to think of a better title. On the day of the noon deadline, I was sitting on the phone with Kelly at 11:45, still trying to come up with a title. Demon on Square One? How about Demon at Large? Better, but not funny. Funny... funny... My mind started darting over lines and movie titles from classic comedy.
A partial screenshot of the Kobo store checkout page which reads "Cannot continue. Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later."
A short clip from Jason and the Argonauts (1963) showing the enormous bronze statue of Talos on the Isle of Bronze coming to life and climbing down from his pedestal, as animated by the legendary Ray Harryhausen.
A 4-frame collage illustrating a scene from the animated series "Rick & Morty". Rick's latest newly-sentient robotic creation asks him "What is my purpose?", to which Rick replies "You pass butter." in a disinterested tone. The tiny robot responds despairingly "Oh my god.", which prompts Rick to say "Yeah, welcome to the party pal."
A photo of my hand, holding up four photo-postcards from the UK Limited Edition 4K UHD release of Wes Craven's Swamp Thing (1982). The postcards all prominently feature actress Adrienne Barbeau as Alice Cable. In three out of the four she is wearing the low-cut silk negligee which the villainous Anton Arcane forces her to wear for the movie's third act.
The kind of "eureka" moment we had was when Andrew Harrison, the original designer, made the suggestion we take off specular highlights, which are the way the light reflects of surfaces in 3-D. [That way we] keep the integrity of the paint, and the characters would marry better with the painted background.
The most interesting finding was that having a cat at age 4-5 was associated with more mental health problems. Having other -animals – such as hamsters, rabbits, turtles or fish - consistently throughout early childhood seemed to have a protective effect on boys and girls alike.
A photo of a pint of Guinness I got served once at a small pub in Coulsdon, Surrey. It is about ⅓ head.
A photo-collage formed of two frames. The top frame is a Google News headline credited to Vogue. It reads "5 Reasons We Should All Be Drinking Hot Water", and includes a stock image of coloured water-glasses on a white surface, photographed from above. The bottom image is a frame from Asterix in Britain by Goscinny & Uderzo, and shows Chief Mykindomforanos, along with villagers Anticlimax, Mcanix and Overoptimistix raising a toast of hot water to Anticlimax's imminent departure on a secret mission across the channel to a small village of indomitable Gauls...
A photo of my TV displaying my progress in the XBox game "Monster Train 2". The highlight being a Gamer Score of 1000 out of a possible 1000 and 50 out of 50 achievements.
Some of Goodkind's political views have provoked controversy, notably the dedication to his novel The Pillars of Creation (2001): "To the people in the United States Intelligence Community, who, for decades, have valiantly fought to preserve life and liberty, while being ridiculed, condemned, demonized, and shackled by the jackals of evil."
A collage of two photos, stacked vertically. The top photo is of my hand, holding two green hardback gardening books; one titled "How to design a garden" by John Brookes MBE, and the other also titled "How to design a garden" but by Pollyanna Wilkinson. The bottom frame is a screenshot of Harry Hill on the set of TV Burp, leaning forward with both hands on his desk, about to yell "FIIIIGHT!"
A photo of my hand holding up a box of Kellogg's Crunchy Nut "Hot Honey flavour Crunchies" (Limited Edition). A new sweet chilli breakfast cereal which recently appeared on UK supermarket shelves. The flakes are a crispy puffed blend of corn, oats and wheat, rather than being traditional cornflakes. One bowl apparently contains 8% of your RDA of sugar, according to the nutritional information.
A photo taken in a bookshop stockroom which has a concrete floor and rows of commercial metal racking with (theoretically) adjustable shelves. The shelves are filled with rows of books which supplement the shop-floor stock. In the foreground can be seen the photographer's hand, holding a short-handled lump hammer with a rusty head and wooden handle, and in the same hand a rubber mallet with also a wooden handle.
A photo of my hand, holding a copy of The Space Cat, a graphic novel for middle-grade readers written by Nnedi Okorafor, and illustrated by Tana Ford. The cover features a blue star field on which the title is emblazoned in tall orange capitals. A skinny bengal-type cat with brown striped fur and an angular face is lounging across the word "SPACE", and has knocked the letter C askew.
A frame from a classic Calvin & Hobbes cartoon in which Calvin is presenting his hastily written and under-researched presentation on bats to the class. In the image we see Calvin from behind, standing in front of the class who are seated at their desks. The class are correcting him in one voice and at some volume on a point of chiropteran biology. In the original they shout "BATS AREN'T BUGS!!". In this image, those words have been replaced with the admonition "DON'T BREASTFEED BATS!!".
A screenshot from Google Photos personalised round-up of 2025, inviting me to "Tap on your face to personalised your experience" with further text which reads "Not seeing you? [Show More]" Underneath are three roundels with cropped headshots from my gallery of the two men mentioned in the post, and a black & white headshot of an attractive brunette lady, possibly another author from a book jacket.
A photo of my hand holding up a stack of Warner Bros. 4K UHD discs, which are from top to bottom: • The Steelbook cased Lord of The Rings trilogy • The Matrix • John Wick • Batman Returns • Batman (1989) • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm • • The Steelbook 4-film Christopher Reeve Superman case.
A cropped image from Albrecht Dürer's "Four Horsemen" woodcut, focusing on Famine; here depicted as a well-dressed human man with medium length curly hair riding a horse at full tilt. One arm is outflung behind him, holding a balance scale, its cups swinging wildly.
A four-panel comic strip by CooperLit comics, featuring Quasimodo caught in a double-standard. In the first panel, Quasimodo the hunchback is observing Esmerelda from a distance. The stitch bubble reads "Fair Esmerelda, she'll never love one such as me." In the second panel he continues his theme, seemingly alone, saying "Curse this world that sees beauty only in what it sees! My body is bent but my mind upright. My voice is obscene but my words are pure." In the third panel he is interrupted mid-soliloquy by a woman of similarly unconventional appearance. She is broad and squat, with a bent nose, mismatched eyes and an overbite. The speech bubbles read: Quasimodo: "My form is wretched but - " Woman: "... It's but a casing for a must worthy soul. Bravo, sir!" The fourth panel simply shows Quasimodo recoiling from the woman, with a silent thought-bubble that just reads "Ew!".
Text reads: "Genuan cooking, like the best cooking everywhere in the multiverse, has been evolved by people who had to make desperate use of ingredients their masters didn't want. No-one would even try a bird's nest unless they had to. Only hunger would make a man taste his first alligator. No-one would eat a shark's fin if they were allowed to eat the rest of the shark."
A screenshot of text announcing the acquisition of "Fairylore" a book by Doctors Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman. The humour comes from a run-on sentence which in part reads "...from the shoe-mending fairies of Germany and the seductive Nikusui of Japan to the vampiric Bruxa of Portugal, to Kate Zimmermann at Sterling Ethos..." which would seem to list "Kate Zimmerman" as a type of fairy. The full text reads: FAIRYLORE by Sara Cleto, Brittany Warman sells to Sterling Ethos Doctors of folklore and founders of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman's FAIRYLORE, a guide to fae folk that captures the glamor of fairies from around the world through an in-depth exploration of their histories, traits, and tales--from the shoe-mending fairies of Germany and the seductive Nikusui of Japan to the vampiric Bruxa of Portugal, to Kate Zimmermann at Sterling Ethos, in an exclusive submission, for publication in fall 2025, by Adriana Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio (NA).
A collage of 6 recent 2025 Star Wars Funko Pop! Vinyl figurines: Asajj Ventress, Young(ish) Count Dooku from Tales of the Jedi, Hondo Ohnaka, Arc Trooper Jesse and his Chase Variant, and Kanan Jarrus wearing his eye-covering half-mask after being blinded by Maul.
A close-up photo of 3 newly-released Star Wars Funko Pop! Vinyl figurines, unboxed and posed on a wooden surface against a plain white wall. In the middle and foregrounded is an Asajj Ventress figurine, in her season 1 & 2 outfit from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, with dual red lightsabers lowered and crossed at the blades. To our left is Arc Trooper Jesse, helmetless displaying his bold facial tattoo of the Republic symbol. To our right is TCW-era Hondo Ohnaka, wearing his flight goggles and accompanied by a Kowakian Monkey-Lizard, it's colouration mimicking that of a Blue-and-yellow Macaw.
A photo of a postal flyer for Vodafone UK's mobile data service "Voxi", promising "Endless Social Media".
A collage of two images, one above the other. The top image is a screenshot of a Google News headline from The Guardian, showing a picture of UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. The headline reads "Shabana Mahmood warns Labour MPs 'dark forces are stirring up anger' over migration". The bottom image is the "We're all trying to find the guy who did this" man-in-hotdog-suit meme from the TV show "I think you should leave".
Promotional image of the 2025 Asajj Ventress Funko Pop Vinyl figurine, which shows the character facing forwards in her early-season TCW outfit, with downward pointing lightsabers crossed at the blades.
A still of Lumiere, the human-turned-candelabra from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
A collage of two movie screenshots, one above the other. The top frame is from The Rock (1996) , and shows the bedraggled prisoner John Mason, played by Sean Connery, signing a criminal pardon. The caption reads "Timeo Danaos et Dona ferentes". The bottom frame is from Once upon a time in Hollywood (2019) featuring the well-known shot of Leonardo diCaprio pointing at the screenv in recognition, holding a beer & a cigarette in his other hand.
A cropped screenshot from a YouTube video showing a ginger-haired man in yellow short-sleeved overalls sitting on a very impractical chair, disappearing very bad posture; his back curved forward with his elbows resting on his knees.
A screenshot of an old Facebook post or something, in response to a news story about a young Muslim boy who brought a homemade clock to his school's science fair I think. The post is credited to "Andy Iles", and the text reads: "I said: it's sad they thought that kid had a bomb. She said: they didn't think he had a bomb. I said: yes, they thought he made a bomb and even called the police. She said: They just wanted to humiliate a little Muslim, African boy. They didn't think he had a bomb. I said: Don't be a conspiracist. They might be a little prejudiced, but I'm sure they thought he had a bomb. She said: Ok. But they didn't evacuate the school, like you do when there's a bomb. They didn't call a bomb squad - like you do when there's a bomb They didn't get as far away from him as possible like you do when there's a bomb. Then they put him and the clock in an office-not like you do when there's a bomb Then they waited with him for the police to arrive. Then they put the clock in the same car as the police. Then they took pictures of it. I said: Damn They never thought he had a bomb