Hi:

Elapsed time since production of the last catalog is reduced this time around. Traditionally, January and February aren’t terrific months for book publishing, but arrivals here from big and small publishers alike have been frequent and substantial the last few weeks. As usual, you’ll see the results of those arrivals in the front part of the catalog and our continuing parade of secondary market (used and rare) books in the back of the catalog – what Cindy and I have come to call the “line list.”

We’ve got this scanner from the turn of the century (literally) and a dedicated computer (also quite ancient) to run it. These old warhorses are how we produce images for both the catalog and our site. I’ve come to believe computers and electronics age at about the same rate as dogs: one year equals about seven dog-years or electronic-years. We hope to upgrade later this year. For now though, we’re working these guys hard. After several gentle complaints from good friends and customers about the lack of images at our site that correspond to vintage paperbacks and the like, we’ve taken to scanning every book that crosses our desk. This includes five hundred dollar vintage firsts and two dollar paperback reprints. What a pain! But, the people, our people, seem to appreciate it. And so, we comply. So please, go check out the site, we think it’s more beautiful and more interesting and entertaining with all these crazy scans.

Obviously, we haven’t given up on the paper catalog. You hold in your hands the fruits of that labor; but our perceptions and distribution of the paper catalog is evolving as well. First, a mini version of what all you good folks are sick and tired of hearing: The damn paper catalog is incredibly labor-intensive and outrageously expensive to print and mail. Please check your label on the catalog. If you’ve got a red “X” by your name our records indicate that we haven’t heard from you in a while and that means we’re giving you the boot from the mailing list. All it takes is regular orders to keep the catalogs coming your way. If you don’t have the time to get an order together but still want the catalog, a Jackson ($20 ) will keep the catalogs flowing for a year – unless you live overseas. I doubt this will surprise many people, but we do a significant amount of business with customers and friends that live overseas. We always have. Even thirty or thirty-five years ago we were supplying reading material to people from all over the world. We’ve got some tremendous friends and supporters in Japan, England, France, Austria, Italy, Greece and Singapore. We believe this to be partly a function of what we sell and partly a function of how we sell it and how we pack it. Regardless, we value these overseas accounts. Hey, you guys, we’re saving our nickels and plan on making a trip to Europe in a couple years to avail ourselves of all your spare rooms, beer, wine, vodka, food and tour guide services. Don’t say we didn’t warn ya. Anyhow, we appreciate our regular overseas patrons but we don’t appreciate the fact that printing and mailing a catalog overseas now sets us back more than a Lincoln ($5). So, with a couple exceptions, overseas book buyers will normally receive a catalog with their orders rather than under seperate cover. If your reading these words on foreign shores, please send us an order to insure an uninterrupted flow of catalogs. And, if you can’t do that but still want our paper catalogs, please send us $30 to keep them coming for the next year.

We’re looking out the office window at about three feet of snow. yes, we live in sunny California, but we live in the North State and we live in the mountains. Our elevation here is a bit more than 4000 feet. Wood stove is blasting, pellet stove too. Coffee and herb tea flow all day. We like it, for the most part. However, I’ll wager we’ve burned at least one full work day over the course of the last week blowing, shoveling and otherwise dealing with relatively massive quantities of snow – blocking our driveway, drifting across our deck, making walking and driving nearly impossible. My back hurts (Cindy’s too) my arms and legs hurt and, as much as we like to fool around in the stuff (cross-country skiing mostly), it’s been too deep and too powdery and sticky for much winter fun. Our worthless dogs have a hard time getting anywhere and an even harder time conducting their business comfortably. We like the changing seasons, mittens and stocking hats are okay with us. Reading by the fire is very pleasant indeed. Ah, but I think we’re ready to turn the corner.

What else can I tell you? Your friends and book-pushers Mark and Cindy Ziesing are doing okay. Sore back and muscles aside, we’re hale and hearty. Our motors are still running. We’re still selling books! Amazing! Mega bookstore Borders folds, indi bookshops across the country (and the world) disappear, enrollment in the American Booksellers Association plummets, the economy stumbles, world-shaking news abounds. And yet, some things, some people, some cottage industries remain. Okay, so we’re not exactly thriving. We can kiss off that new truck (actually, we were thinking about a used, late model truck) that was part of our pipe dream a few years ago. early retirement ain’t in the cards. Hell, retirement at any age is only a very remote possibility. Our modest stash of wine will remain modest and mostly it comes from the bottom or middle shelves. But, we’re paying the mortgage, there’s stuff to eat in the fridge (organic even) and there’s enough funds to keep our suppliers happy, the lights on and the wolves at bay. It’s a damn miracle and a testament to the loyalty and devotion of our customer base and the health and tenacity of the true book lover. We’re amazed. We’re thrilled. We’re giddy with glee and we’re just as grateful as can be.

Thanks for buying books from Mrs. Ziesing and her faithful companion.

Affectionately,

Mark & Cindy Ziesing

Finally received the latest batch of titles from Ex Occidente. This most recent shipment was held up due to bad weather in Europe and increased security measures. A rather large shipment from the Uk should be arriving soon as well. New catalog #229 mails 1/16.

Hello, and welcome to catalog #228.

We’re back in your mail box! This catalog will mail about the third week of November. It seems to us that the catalog is making its way to catalog-getters a bit faster than in years past. We’re not sure if the post office is being more efficient or if the abundance of alternate carriers has enabled the USPS to process mail more rapidly. Regardless, this catalog should be in your hands in time for us to get books to you for gift-giving purposes. If you’ve got a family member or friend that appreciates ah. . . alternative literature, maybe we can help. I’d like to remind you good folks that we are more than happy to drop-ship a book order to any destination in the world, that we gift wrap for free and that we issue gift certificates in any denomination. Books, the gift you can open more than once. Most everyone likes to read, don’t they? Okay, maybe not, but for those that do, a gift certificate or box-o-books from us has the potential to spread some holiday cheer. If we don’t have the kind of books that your mom, or your boss, or the neighbor that helped you out likes to read – please remember we’re happy to order any book in print. Thus ends our awesome Christmas promotional push.

May I switch to the first person and relate a story from my childhood? Please? Thank you. Mark here. My father was a career military man. He was a mustang colonel. Came up through the ranks. He did most everything in the military fashion. I was born in Texarkana, Arkansas. My dad was stationed there for a while. Shortly after I was born he was transferred to The Presidio in San Francisco. We spent a number of years there and, ultimately, when my dad retired, we stayed in Northern California. My dad was an absolute, die-hard, San Francisco Giants fan. (Okay, now you know where this is going, but please read on). I was too young to remember the games he took me to in Seal Stadium, but I certainly remember all the games we saw at Candlestick Park. Sadly, we didn’t attend but just two or three games a year. My dad, and anyone within earshot (my dad was quite deaf), would listen to the Giants on the radio. He drug a transistor radio around with him everywhere. The yard, the house – everywhere. Back in those days we had a beat-up TV (there was no color TV at this time) and a set of rabbit ears. The Giants games weren’t broadcast on television – just the radio. If they were playing, we were tuned-in. Even non-baseball people know the names from this era: Mays McCovey, Davenport, Cepeda, Alou, Perry. Usually we’d listen on the porch, reception was good there and my dad could smoke his Terrytons and drink his Hamms beer. It was great fun. My mother would have run off with Willie McCovey. She loved him with a flaming passion that bothered my dad. Invariably, they wouldn’t go anywhere. “Damn Giants,” my dad would say, “Sons of bitches,” my mom would echo. Years passed. I met Cindy in high school. Guess what, her dad was a Giants fan too. Cindy herself was a big Giants fan. When Cindy and I moved back east for a while, the only TV station we could get was the Boston affiliate. We became interested in both the Red Sox and the Mets. Of course, we were still Giants fans but had to satisfy our baseball urge with the Sox and the Mets. One of the benefits to moving back home some twenty years ago was that we could see our parents regularly, help them out and once again tune-in our beloved Giants. During the course of this season we watched them progress – a real Cinderella story. During the post-season we were riveted – Cindy being every bit as enthusiastic as her husband – maybe even more enthusiastic. She’s quite the baseball gal – one of her many attractions for this aging utility infielder. Anyhow, now that the season is over and our team has won their first world championship in San Francisco, we’re a bit deflated. Sure, we watch movies, tune-in to some basketball and football, but I think it will be quite some time before we experience this same brand of sporting thrill. Besides, it feels so weird to pull for a winner. Forgive me, but I just had to share our emotional experiences with other baseball fans out there. We’re looking forward to Spring already.
Last week we had six inches of rain in one 24-hour period. The lake is full and the temperatures are dropping. The many different maple trees Cindy’s planted have turned and we feel as though we’ve got a bit of New England right here in our back yard. The wood stove is cranking in the stock room and the pellet stove is hopped-up in the living room. Fall is one of our favorite times of year and we’re trying to enjoy it before the snow flies.

Lots of cool stuff in the back of the catalog this time. More and more swappers arrive almost daily. Some of the books we’re offering in the list in the back of the catalog are offered at a fraction of their original price. Please have a look and please remember we’re always interested in acquiring quality books of any kind and that a good many of our friends and patrons have arranged to trade their cast-offs for books of interest to them and that this swapping process works for both you and us. And, as long as I’m on the subject of cheap books, please check our “SALE” books at the web site. Yes, there’s a few bombs there that we had a hard time selling, but there’s also a number of spectacular books that we simply over-ordered on and have to move to make room for new books. These sale books might be listed in this catalog (if there’s room), but they’re always viewable at our site.

Thank you Allen Koszowski for providing another great cover!

Finally, Cindy and I would like to offer our heartfelt gratitude to all our friends and patrons for providing us with the means to buy food, shoes, medical supplies and even some beer and wine and Jack Daniels. We never forget where our income originates and we continue to value that most precious commodity: friends and customers.

Thanks a million. May the Great Spirit shower blessings on each and every one of you.

Mark & Cindy Ziesing

After a lengthy silence, Sarob Press has resurfaced with a new title: SEVEN GHOSTS AND ONE OTHER by C.E. Ward. It’s just arrived and is limited to 200 numbered copies. It sold out on publication and I doubt it will be in our inventory for long. It’s $38.50 and we suggest an early order to insure availability.

We’ve landed a couple pretty significant collections over the course of the last few months. We’re still processing these books and adding them to our inventory. It might be a good idea to look for that missing volume once again at our site since a great many books have been passing by the desk recently. Try our want list or “Search” function. We’re quite proud of the user-friendly and effective functions at our site.

Three new Ex Occidente books just landed along with a pile of new titles from PS. If you should have any interest in these presses (especially the Ex Occidente titles) please have a look at our site. The Ex Ox titles are VERY limited and I doubt they’ll last long.

Picked up the new catalog today and expect to have it in the mail by Thursday 5/18.

We’ve just recently acquired a relatively complete Tanith Lee collection. If you have any interest in this author and have been searching for some of her more obscure material – this would be a good time to contact us or send us your want list.

My best guess is that a new paper catalog, and thus a new “Featured Books” section at our site, will happen around May 14th or so. I promised I’d keep folks up to date on hot tickets here at Ziesing HQ via this blog. The hot ticket around here these days is the very nice and very affordable like of Wordsworth classics – supernatural classics that is. If you have the chance please use the search function at our site to poke around for Wordsworth titles. It’s great stuff at a very affordable price. Back to processing more new books so that I can meet the aforementioned deadline.

Cindy and I are going back to Maryland for a week to see our oldest son, Abe. We’ll be out of the office from April 3rd through April 10th.