Hi all,
I'm feeling pretty cheery today . How are you ?
Last time I wrote a blog entry I was about to go on a blind date . The date was good. I'm probably not going to see my datee again ( no spark) and usually I'd been sort of blue about it but I've decided to look on the rosy side of life from now on. And I got through the date without gibbering too much and I actually had a good time. So it could have been a lot worse.
Helping my cheery mood along tremendously was a surprise bunch of flowers from Sam who picked them up because he knows I like tulips and good thing number two, was the exceedingly honest customer at our Amazon book shop, who wrote very nice things about us.
Anyway a catch up on the shop ,low is still away, Malcolm is looking a little moth eaten and even greyer than normal. Two is reading the Richard Dawkins' book The Greatest Show on Earth and explaining bits to me. Mainly bits he knows I'll enjoy, about marsupials and the lack of native mammals in New Zealand. Sam is learning sleight of hand tricks and keeps pulling feather flowers out of people's ears . He isn't very good but is endearingly focused on following the instructions in his book to the letter and learning the unconvincing patter.
I am reading What I loved by Siri Hustvedt for book group.This is not the Sam Haines book group -that was disbanded following the Life of Pi riot.No this is a library based group where most of us are surprisingly mature when we disagree with each other. Hustvedt's novel is a curiously complex book. It has that hyper detailed but ultimately plotlessness of a dream remembered next morning. Still that's the point of a reading group, to make you aware of other authors and other types of writing that those you would normal encounter.
Monday 8 February 2010
Friday 22 January 2010
Soulless and dating
I’ve just finished reading Soulless by Gail Carriger which I bought new on the face of a review which called it Jane Austen written by Douglas Adams. Clearly I could not resist.
Soulless concerns the adventures of Alexia Tarabotti a Victorian spinster will the interesting problem of being soulless. I’ve not encounter this particular gimmick before if it is an invention of Miss Carriger’s she should be congratulated. Being soulless means that Alexia has the ability to nullify supernatural entities when she touches them, therefore when attacked by werewolf she is able to make him revert to a human form and vampires are defanged in her presence. This along with the background of Victorian Britain as a superpower supported by its openly vampiric or lupine allies is really interesting. (See the excellent Anno Dracula by Kim Newman for similar but less human –friendly political set up.) I also enjoyed the cameo by Queen Victoria sweeping in like benevolent Lady Catherine de Burgh to ensure that all ended in a suitable romantically fashion.
But ah me! Reviewers lie or clearly haven’t read enough Austen or Adams. This seems to be the author’s first novel and it suffers from a writer who lacks confidence in her own abilities to carry a narrative and maintain a convincing character. Alexia slips into cliché mid plot but thankful is redeemed somewhat before the end of the novel.
There is enough here to make me want to pick up the sequel should I come across it, although perhaps not enough to pre order it. What do you think? A nice new copy (not mine) is on sale at the e-shop so why not order it and let me know?
I’m off on a blind date tonight with a friend of a friend -wish me luck!
Soulless concerns the adventures of Alexia Tarabotti a Victorian spinster will the interesting problem of being soulless. I’ve not encounter this particular gimmick before if it is an invention of Miss Carriger’s she should be congratulated. Being soulless means that Alexia has the ability to nullify supernatural entities when she touches them, therefore when attacked by werewolf she is able to make him revert to a human form and vampires are defanged in her presence. This along with the background of Victorian Britain as a superpower supported by its openly vampiric or lupine allies is really interesting. (See the excellent Anno Dracula by Kim Newman for similar but less human –friendly political set up.) I also enjoyed the cameo by Queen Victoria sweeping in like benevolent Lady Catherine de Burgh to ensure that all ended in a suitable romantically fashion.
But ah me! Reviewers lie or clearly haven’t read enough Austen or Adams. This seems to be the author’s first novel and it suffers from a writer who lacks confidence in her own abilities to carry a narrative and maintain a convincing character. Alexia slips into cliché mid plot but thankful is redeemed somewhat before the end of the novel.
There is enough here to make me want to pick up the sequel should I come across it, although perhaps not enough to pre order it. What do you think? A nice new copy (not mine) is on sale at the e-shop so why not order it and let me know?
I’m off on a blind date tonight with a friend of a friend -wish me luck!
Saturday 16 January 2010
And Another Thing
I've just finished reading And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer which is the sixth of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. Like most people of my age I read the Hitch-hiker's series when I was a teenager and like a lot of people I loved the anarchy, humour and brains with which Douglas Adams wrote. I actually always preferred the Dirk Gently series. If only because of the eponymous hero -if you meet Arthur at a party you'd go off with an alien too but I reckon I'd be strangely drawn to Dirk.
So is Eoin Colfer's sequel a worthy part of the series ? Well I find myself in the peculiar position, I liked so much of this novel, it is a great idea , I'm glad to be reunited with the characters although why no Fenchurch, and there was plenty of humour. And yet the plot happens and we find ourselves back at almost the same place as we started and frankly Eoin Colfer's interpretation of the characters isn't mine.
But it's that previous relationship I miss, the one between a teenage me and Douglas Adams. Reading Adams is like being greeted by a very large but friendly dog ,it's exciting, it makes you feel all loved up but you got to keep your wits about you or you'll end up on the floor covered in mud ,it's that element of challenge that I don't find in this book. Douglas Adams assured me that the universe was a awesome and sometime awful place but should always be approached with wonder, Colfer's universe is altogether too contained, too domesticated for my liking.
As always let me know what you think. Or better still buy the copy of And Another Thing we are selling, read it and let me know what you think.
So is Eoin Colfer's sequel a worthy part of the series ? Well I find myself in the peculiar position, I liked so much of this novel, it is a great idea , I'm glad to be reunited with the characters although why no Fenchurch, and there was plenty of humour. And yet the plot happens and we find ourselves back at almost the same place as we started and frankly Eoin Colfer's interpretation of the characters isn't mine.
But it's that previous relationship I miss, the one between a teenage me and Douglas Adams. Reading Adams is like being greeted by a very large but friendly dog ,it's exciting, it makes you feel all loved up but you got to keep your wits about you or you'll end up on the floor covered in mud ,it's that element of challenge that I don't find in this book. Douglas Adams assured me that the universe was a awesome and sometime awful place but should always be approached with wonder, Colfer's universe is altogether too contained, too domesticated for my liking.
As always let me know what you think. Or better still buy the copy of And Another Thing we are selling, read it and let me know what you think.
Wednesday 13 January 2010
Fun with Fangs
Trade is slow today because of the snow. Low to the surprise of everyone, except Sam, has announced that he isn't coming in because he's going to spend a few months in his villa in Spain . This is akin to discovering that the nice old man you stopped to chat to about the weather as he bought the old Hayes manuals every Saturday was once a lead scientist in Nazi Germany's Rocket programme. I mean it doesn't change the fact that he seems like a nice bloke but you are left wondering what else is going on that you don't know about. (True story- ask Two, it happened him )
Anyway back to Low, apparent not only does he have a villa in Spain but a couple of vineyards, a small village or two, rather a lot of land and a hereditary title. It turns out that Low is actually a person of great importance slumming it here for a change of pace . When/if he comes back he has promised to bring me a few bottles of the rather nice red wine that his favourite vineyard produced a few years ago. See I said ages ago that Low was a dark horse.
Some new stock is going on the on-line shop tonight including an Anne Rice book called Master of the Bones. I guess Anne Rice is mother of the modern chick-bit-lit genre although to follow the metaphor Emily Bronte is a cousin at remove and Mary Shelley a grandmother from the Gothic novel side of the family. I read a lot from this genre and I must admit some of them are pretty dire. Anne Rice herself gets a little over-wrought and I believe I've had a mini rant about Laurell K Hamilton before. But occasionally you come across a little gem like Carrie Vaughn , writer of the Kitty Norville Series or the rather wonderful C. E. Murphy , The Walker Papers. The latter I particularly recommend and not just because the author was gracious enough to reply to a fan email I sent her.
So why are these kind of books so popular? I've always been a fan of the horror novel and I think in some ways this is just a feminization of that genre. This is not to say, Stephen King for example has not written some good female characters , I enjoyed the novel The Girl who loved Tom Jordan immensely. But this genre offers us something more, is it the romance elements , they are certainly enjoyable; or is it the episodic nature of many of the books which encourage a soap opera like addiction at worse and a real engagement with the characters at best? Well maybe. I know that I love the escapism of the what if .. elements in these books, what if the supernatural , the eerie, was real? What if werewolves really existed , how would they escape detection in our CCTV age ? If magic was real what jobs would witches and wizards do ? If vampires lived up the road from you what changes would society have to make ? And you know if you absolute had to kiss one, how the hell would you go about it ?
See we talked about books finally. Any comments you'd like to share, please do drop us a line. It would be great to hear from you.
Sunday 10 January 2010
A Violent Outbreak of Poetry and Kissing.
We’ve had the usual stuff going on. Including Christmas – very busy in the run up to the day and then the day itself, I worked, 2 didn’t. Malcolm ate Sam’s turkey sandwiches and thrown them up again in the Movies section.
Sam's been doing a far bit of shouting at book sellers and very occasionally customers, usual when asked about Dan Brown. (No we do not have the new book; and no we are not getting it in. Sam is making a stand.)
We’ve had a reading. Local poets, thin dark boy, friend of low’s very immense stuff, jovial lady poet (very Seamus Heaney her words – in that she mentions animals a bit, Sam’s words), handsome but going to seed, regional accented, sexually explicit poet, gazed very intensely at Spider in the dress who went red during his reading. Last act and emergency stand-in was me –doing some favourite poems and, gulp one original piece of work. It was a weirdly popular event to be repeated in February and called Sam’s Scans, even though some of them didn't.
Special events have included Jane’s(S&M Sisters) wedding which involved, the Bride’s sister Emily catching the flowers and giving the vicar an entirely inappropriate kiss; Two having to check the best man Ray, 74 was still alive, yes he was just very, very drunk and the Bride and Groom having written their own vows, which proved educational.
I had a lovely day and the evening was going very well until the bride’s older brother announced that I was a corker and that we should waltz for the rest of the evening. I’m not a great dancer but even so I defy anyone to waltz to Agadoo. Terrence, my ardent elderly paramour was about 4 ft 8 so spend most of the dance buried in my cleavage. Every time we spun round I caught sight of Two laughing at me, however he did eventually rescue me and I was so glad I may have l given him an entirely inappropriate smacker of a kiss. Which proves that one, I really do need to give up champagne and two, its time to start dating again. (I meant other people not Two clearly. He’s my friend and we don’t consider each other that way)
And now here we are 2010 we have new stock in the shop and I promise to blog more regularly.
Thursday 1 October 2009
FantasyCon 09
Minion One does most of the work around here, at least as far as the blog and the online shop is concerned. I've been lax, to say the least in doing my share of updating the blog for which I can only apologise.
As One mentioned, we all went off to Nottingham the other weekend for the annual British Fantasy Society convention called FantasyCon. Due to late registration, we didn't actually get round to having a dealer's table so spent the weekend milling about and trying to meet some writers in the hope of scrounging up some signed first editions we could surreptitiously sell! (Only joking - we don't do anything surreptitiously!)
I didn't see Sam for most of the weekend, though I did catch a glimpse of him one evening in a corner of the hotel bar chatting with Ramsay Campbell and a man who had obviously come dressed as HP Lovecraft and who had done a really good job: the likeness was remarkable.
One spent most of the weekend scouring the dealer's room for books, mostly to read, partly to sell, and came away with a huge hoard, most of which she's read already. I picked up a few books from the independent presses - we should all support our new writers and publishers, I think - and have been working through them.
The Catacombs of Fear by John Llewellyn Probert - a cracking collection of five stories linked by a framing sequence, written by one of the few remaining British eccentrics! These stories are great: good, solid horror stories, and John Probert - whom I met for five minutes - is an absolute diamond of a guy!
Conjure by Mark West - I didn't get to meet Mark unfortunately as he was only at the Con for one day but everyone who mentioned him said he was a good bloke. His book, too, is a good, fast read - it could actually have done with being a bit longer in my opinion, but it's another good 'un.
Bar None by Tim Lebbon - Lebbon's not really small press from what I understand as he's writing full time and has a large back catalgoue. This one's a good post-apocalyptic tale featuring a selection of fine ales as well; I may well pick up some of his earlier books on the strength of this. Oh, and he's a nice bloke as well who cheerfully signed my copy for me.
That seems to be the theme for my experiences of FantasyCon - it's just full of nice people despite the predominance of horror writers and I look forward to going next year.
As One mentioned, we all went off to Nottingham the other weekend for the annual British Fantasy Society convention called FantasyCon. Due to late registration, we didn't actually get round to having a dealer's table so spent the weekend milling about and trying to meet some writers in the hope of scrounging up some signed first editions we could surreptitiously sell! (Only joking - we don't do anything surreptitiously!)
I didn't see Sam for most of the weekend, though I did catch a glimpse of him one evening in a corner of the hotel bar chatting with Ramsay Campbell and a man who had obviously come dressed as HP Lovecraft and who had done a really good job: the likeness was remarkable.
One spent most of the weekend scouring the dealer's room for books, mostly to read, partly to sell, and came away with a huge hoard, most of which she's read already. I picked up a few books from the independent presses - we should all support our new writers and publishers, I think - and have been working through them.
The Catacombs of Fear by John Llewellyn Probert - a cracking collection of five stories linked by a framing sequence, written by one of the few remaining British eccentrics! These stories are great: good, solid horror stories, and John Probert - whom I met for five minutes - is an absolute diamond of a guy!
Conjure by Mark West - I didn't get to meet Mark unfortunately as he was only at the Con for one day but everyone who mentioned him said he was a good bloke. His book, too, is a good, fast read - it could actually have done with being a bit longer in my opinion, but it's another good 'un.
Bar None by Tim Lebbon - Lebbon's not really small press from what I understand as he's writing full time and has a large back catalgoue. This one's a good post-apocalyptic tale featuring a selection of fine ales as well; I may well pick up some of his earlier books on the strength of this. Oh, and he's a nice bloke as well who cheerfully signed my copy for me.
That seems to be the theme for my experiences of FantasyCon - it's just full of nice people despite the predominance of horror writers and I look forward to going next year.
Wednesday 16 September 2009
British Fantasy Con 09 - Prelude
Works outing this weekend as Sam, two and I go off the Nottingham for the British Fantasy Convention. Sam will not actually be attending any events but will be sort of lurking, his only stated aims is that he wants to buy William Heaney a pint and win something in the bloody raffle.
We all feel the same about the raffle. It is so immensely long that everyone should win something just for sitting through it.
I will be enjoying Nottingham and meeting up with some familiar faces and Two will probably be reverting to some insane proto-two that lives only on cigarette smoke, beer and cheerfully drunken carousing.
So this weekend the shop is shut. Malcolm will be left to fend for him self on the cold hard streets and low will be doing whatever things low does to pass his time. Some of our customers have reacted badly. Passionate Spinster said that we were throwing her weekend plans quite awry and Not So Strange Brian had a momentary release into his Strange Brian state until he remembered that he didn’t spend his entire weekends with us any more.
To book matters I’m currently reading ‘The Collector of Worlds’ by Iliya Troyanov a novel based on the life of Sir Richard Burton- the subject is fascinating but the novel less so. These half-breed books, of fact and fiction (Faction?) when the author tries to embrace both historical scholarship and the immediacy of fiction, don’t really work for me. I’m with Tim O’Brien on this (writer of the excellent novel ‘The things they carried’ based on experiences of the Viet Nam war) a writer does not have to rely on the facts to create a truthful novel.
Or is this just because I have problems with the concept of honesty as an ultimate virtue it is so often presented as? Honesty too often says something unkind and excuses itself with a whiny “ .. but I’m only being honest!”
Bah moved on from books again with surprising speed didn’t I! I love books. I live books but I seem to have developed a phobia about talking about them. So does anyone out there wants to tell me about a book? I welcome all comments and will even give a prize of Learn French with Edgar Allen Poe for the most interesting/funny /prize worthy. Just add a comment to the blog and you have entered.
In the meantime have a fab weekend and I’ll let you know how Fantasy Con went when I’m back.
We all feel the same about the raffle. It is so immensely long that everyone should win something just for sitting through it.
I will be enjoying Nottingham and meeting up with some familiar faces and Two will probably be reverting to some insane proto-two that lives only on cigarette smoke, beer and cheerfully drunken carousing.
So this weekend the shop is shut. Malcolm will be left to fend for him self on the cold hard streets and low will be doing whatever things low does to pass his time. Some of our customers have reacted badly. Passionate Spinster said that we were throwing her weekend plans quite awry and Not So Strange Brian had a momentary release into his Strange Brian state until he remembered that he didn’t spend his entire weekends with us any more.
To book matters I’m currently reading ‘The Collector of Worlds’ by Iliya Troyanov a novel based on the life of Sir Richard Burton- the subject is fascinating but the novel less so. These half-breed books, of fact and fiction (Faction?) when the author tries to embrace both historical scholarship and the immediacy of fiction, don’t really work for me. I’m with Tim O’Brien on this (writer of the excellent novel ‘The things they carried’ based on experiences of the Viet Nam war) a writer does not have to rely on the facts to create a truthful novel.
Or is this just because I have problems with the concept of honesty as an ultimate virtue it is so often presented as? Honesty too often says something unkind and excuses itself with a whiny “ .. but I’m only being honest!”
Bah moved on from books again with surprising speed didn’t I! I love books. I live books but I seem to have developed a phobia about talking about them. So does anyone out there wants to tell me about a book? I welcome all comments and will even give a prize of Learn French with Edgar Allen Poe for the most interesting/funny /prize worthy. Just add a comment to the blog and you have entered.
In the meantime have a fab weekend and I’ll let you know how Fantasy Con went when I’m back.
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Two is off again today. He is entirely recovered from his birthday and has finally stopped celebrating. As a birthday present I took him to the London Aquarium and forcibly stopped him from trying to steal a Sting Ray –little tyke! He sure does like him some flat fish.
Sam and I have had a jolly day in his absence.This morning We broke Sam’s usual silence in the shop rule to play some CD of the radio show I’m Sorry I haven’t a Clue which reduced both of us to giggling hysterics and left low cold.
Later on the post man dropped off a parcel for me which piqued Sam’s curiosity to such an extent that he ‘ forgot’ it was addressed to me and open it. It is a start to play the Ukulele set, with a rather beautiful wooden blue ukulele on which even as we speak Sam with his hugely irritating talent for musical instruments is picking out Hey Jude. When /if I get it back it will take me months to get to that level.
But to bookish business, low is reading a T S Eliot collection but not the bits about cats. That terrible smell is now in the romance section and working its way through Barbara Cartland . Two is lost in the world of DC comics and I am reading The Postman Always Rings Twice and a Dylan Thomas collection- interesting to compare and contrast . Malcolm is not reading but does seem to be trying to eat the local paper.
Sam and I have had a jolly day in his absence.This morning We broke Sam’s usual silence in the shop rule to play some CD of the radio show I’m Sorry I haven’t a Clue which reduced both of us to giggling hysterics and left low cold.
Later on the post man dropped off a parcel for me which piqued Sam’s curiosity to such an extent that he ‘ forgot’ it was addressed to me and open it. It is a start to play the Ukulele set, with a rather beautiful wooden blue ukulele on which even as we speak Sam with his hugely irritating talent for musical instruments is picking out Hey Jude. When /if I get it back it will take me months to get to that level.
But to bookish business, low is reading a T S Eliot collection but not the bits about cats. That terrible smell is now in the romance section and working its way through Barbara Cartland . Two is lost in the world of DC comics and I am reading The Postman Always Rings Twice and a Dylan Thomas collection- interesting to compare and contrast . Malcolm is not reading but does seem to be trying to eat the local paper.
Wednesday 26 August 2009
Happy Birthday
It is Minion Two’s birthday today. Happy Birthday Two! We have been celebrating already. Last weekend two kindly invited me out with a group of his friends for curry and beer. I had a lovely time and meet a really nice bunch of people and ate the nicest spinach and chicken curry I’ve had in ages.
This morning we had birthday cake with candles with morning tea. I cooked the cake but it was damned edible for all that. We shared it with the customers that were in at the time which included Strange Brian and JR Hartley. Low popped in on his day off to join us and Malcolm refused to come downstairs to join us. (He is getting more and more antisocial the older he gets.) Sam made a speech and then gave two the rest of the day off.
I won’t reveal how old two actually is today, but just say you’d never guess it to look at him and remind him that he is older than me
This morning we had birthday cake with candles with morning tea. I cooked the cake but it was damned edible for all that. We shared it with the customers that were in at the time which included Strange Brian and JR Hartley. Low popped in on his day off to join us and Malcolm refused to come downstairs to join us. (He is getting more and more antisocial the older he gets.) Sam made a speech and then gave two the rest of the day off.
I won’t reveal how old two actually is today, but just say you’d never guess it to look at him and remind him that he is older than me
Sunday 16 August 2009
Things in the Shop Part One
Online (at Amazon) we sell quite a few CD and DVD this is because Sam is pretty happy not to infer with my running it and has even allowed me to pick the stock and control a very small stock-buying budget . I thought DVDs and CDs would sell so I occasionally pick a few up. Such lassitude is not allowed in the shop where energetically enforced rules insure only printed matter is on sale .But you will find a fair number of rogue objects on our shelves . So keeping with the unofficial and until it was pointed out to me unconscious theme of hardly ever talking about books on this blog supposed to be about our book shop and its stock, I thought I would discuss things in the shop which are not even the slightest bit booky.
I mentioned the stuffed sheep some blogs ago in connection with the strange disappearance of the craft section. The sheep is not for sale but we do get asked to sell it quite a lot. Usually by students looking to spent their loans and grants in September. Occasionally it gets stolen. I’m not sure how, we have a camera and the thing is quite large but every now and then, it is just not there.
When I was newly employed , many moon ago, I discovered one such theft and was really worried about how Sam would react. Sam just grinned and told me not to worry it would be back. He was proved right at the time and has been ever since. When it disappears it is always back, waiting at the front door within the week. I’ve not idea why someone would steal it just to return it so quickly. But then I’ve no idea why Sam insists we keep it. Once a month, two or I have the task of talcing it i.e. covering it in talcum powder to keep the smell down. It has as previously mentioned alarmingly beady little eyes.
Other objects of interest on our tour today include;
A broken fiddle by the till. One of Sam’s many. I’m not sure what he does to them but he sure gets through them
Various scented geranium in pots – mine I’m afraid. I like them and everywhere needs living greenery.
Small collection of screwed up bits of paper, a ping pong ball and a damp child’s mitten belonging to Malcolm. We have no idea why he keeps them but he gets really offended if you try to move them.
A fish tank with no fish and no water. Used as the repository of lost and found things including the interest things we find used as book marks.
A pair of massive curved horns. Not sure from what but it must have been huge.
A pallid bust of Pallas as previously mentioned on this blog
A yoyo , packet of cards , and three juggling balls property of two
A huge collection of lighters. These belong to Sam, he collects them. Some of them come from pretty famous people according to Sam but he just keeps them all jumbled up in huge spice chest which takes up one of the walls of his office.
A photo of a smug looking ginger cat pinned prominently on the staff notice board.
The skull of a Giant Auk cast in bronze.
An long museum case with a snake skin in it . Really long and some sort of python . It is predictably referred to Monty and has on occasioned unnerved the unwary visitor to the Natural History section where he lives.
I mentioned the stuffed sheep some blogs ago in connection with the strange disappearance of the craft section. The sheep is not for sale but we do get asked to sell it quite a lot. Usually by students looking to spent their loans and grants in September. Occasionally it gets stolen. I’m not sure how, we have a camera and the thing is quite large but every now and then, it is just not there.
When I was newly employed , many moon ago, I discovered one such theft and was really worried about how Sam would react. Sam just grinned and told me not to worry it would be back. He was proved right at the time and has been ever since. When it disappears it is always back, waiting at the front door within the week. I’ve not idea why someone would steal it just to return it so quickly. But then I’ve no idea why Sam insists we keep it. Once a month, two or I have the task of talcing it i.e. covering it in talcum powder to keep the smell down. It has as previously mentioned alarmingly beady little eyes.
Other objects of interest on our tour today include;
A broken fiddle by the till. One of Sam’s many. I’m not sure what he does to them but he sure gets through them
Various scented geranium in pots – mine I’m afraid. I like them and everywhere needs living greenery.
Small collection of screwed up bits of paper, a ping pong ball and a damp child’s mitten belonging to Malcolm. We have no idea why he keeps them but he gets really offended if you try to move them.
A fish tank with no fish and no water. Used as the repository of lost and found things including the interest things we find used as book marks.
A pair of massive curved horns. Not sure from what but it must have been huge.
A pallid bust of Pallas as previously mentioned on this blog
A yoyo , packet of cards , and three juggling balls property of two
A huge collection of lighters. These belong to Sam, he collects them. Some of them come from pretty famous people according to Sam but he just keeps them all jumbled up in huge spice chest which takes up one of the walls of his office.
A photo of a smug looking ginger cat pinned prominently on the staff notice board.
The skull of a Giant Auk cast in bronze.
An long museum case with a snake skin in it . Really long and some sort of python . It is predictably referred to Monty and has on occasioned unnerved the unwary visitor to the Natural History section where he lives.
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