In This Issue:

• News Roundup
• Free Book Promo: Sci-Fi Blast
  
• Book Recommendation: Science Fictions by Stuart Ritchie
  
• Web Recommendation: Digital Collections at Yale's Beinecke Library
• Events Calendar
• Sales Links

Autumn is almost here! My favorite season! Pumpkins galore and more pumpkin spice than you can shake a stick at!

Convention Update

FarleyCon was a blast! This was our first time at FarleyCon, and I hope it won't be our last! We had so much fun seeing people again. We ran into some old friends and made some new ones. It was a long day, but it was a great one. We sold some books and some leather and had a grand old time. There was a good group there without being TOO crowded. We hope to be back next year!

We have a brief break this month, then we have two cons coming up in October: Next Chapter in Dalton, GA on October 2nd, and HallowCon on Halloween Weekend! If you attend either, please drop by and say hi. Remember, if you have purchased a paperback from us anywhere else and want it signed, just bring it by. We will happily sign it for you!

Next Chapter Con (NCCX) is on October 2nd from 10 AM to 6 PM in Dalton, GA. NCCX has grown since its inception and has moved over to the Dalton Convention Center!

Tickets for ages 13+ are only $7.00 in advance (online and at least 2 weeks in advance) and $10.00 at the door. Kids 12 and under are free. Two dollars of the admission fee will be donated to a local library! So while you grab something good to read, you're helping someone else read, too!

They will be following COVID protocols just like last year. Please note that the pandemic situation is fluid. Things are always changing! So please keep checking the web site in the time leading up to the con to check for any updates. So far, we're on!

HallowCon is scheduled for Halloween Weekend (October 29 - 31st) at the usual lair, the Econolodge in Dalton, GA, just off I-75. Joe has a lot of great things in store for us this year, with a great new theme: Gambler's Nightmare! They are making plans to keep everyone safe & healthy during the convention. We had a great time with the virtual convention last year, and we are ready to see each other live and in person this year! Twin Cedars Ranch will have a table there as well as our regularly scheduled shenanigans. If you're going, please keep checking the web site for updates on pandemic protocols.

When Literature and Archeology Collide: Fans of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia might find this article on ArtNet News interesting: Archeologists Find the Hidden Original Form of Arthur's Stone, an Ancient Structure That Inspired the 'Chronicles of Narnia'.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

―

Winston S. Churchill

Digital Collections at Yale's Beinecke Library

Visit Library Here

It's not as difficult to travel now as it was last year, but visiting distant museums still isn't easy. If you're hankering for a little brain stiumlation, you can still visit quite a few online museums from the comfort of home.

Libraries often act as museums, and Yale's famous Beinecke Library is no exception. Their archives conserve and display many famous manuscripts, many of which have been fully digitized. More than a million images are available online, and more are open to the public and free to view.

The collection is searchable, including by MS (manuscript) number. For example, the mysterious Voynich Manuscript (also known as the Cipher Manuscript), which requires an appointment to view in person, is MS 408. (Editor's note: I found this site whilst searching for online editions of the Voynich!) Illuminated manuscripts, Books of Hours, incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1500), various authors' papers and letters (like Rachel Carson's archives), and all sorts of other book-related goodies are available.

The site also offers digital exhibitions that simulate curated exhibitions on specific topics, such as "Publication & Prejudice", which contains the 20 versions of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice in the library's collection. These exhibits are more than just images; the history of the book and its author and many essays that swirl around the Austen phenomenon put the manuscripts in context. Another interesting one is "Medical Astrology: Science, Art, and Influence in Early-Modern Europe". A wide variety of other exhibitions are available for your viewing pleasure.

I hope we will all be able to move freely and visit these wonders in person soon. Until then, take care of yourselves, wash your paws, and invigorate your brain.

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

-Hebrews 13:5