Hal Johnson's Blog, page 14

A garland of quotations XCVII

(Come see me this Saturday at Concentric Brewing, Portland, CT, 12–4; flier at the bottom)

They make great gifts yo

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMenoitas of Lyktos dedicates thus his bow:O Serapis, thine are the bow of horn and the quiver.The quiver is empty. The enemy has my arrows.•Callimachus, epigram (C3 BC).Look atlove’s marvellousways: if you shoot an arrow plant it till no feather shows; if you hug ...

Truly Wordless Comic Panels

Dig my crazy books!

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Springer & Mushynsky!

A garland of quotations XCVI

Remember when, virtuously, I used to

link to BookShop.org? Those were

the days, eh?

Of all kinds of reptiles only those that are not harmful are found in Ireland.…It has no dragons.
•Giraldus Cambrensis, Topography of Ireland (1188).

We are spared the rule of unicorns, the domination of phoenixes, and the restraints of human kings. We are free to do just as we like—we are infinitely lucky.
•Wu Cheng’en, Journey to the West (1592?).

There is something more terrible and marvelous than being devoured by a...

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I write, for a living, books

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Dan DeCarlo!

A garland of quotations XCV

CW: Suicide, against which, you will recall, the everlasting has fixed his canon.

I wrote this book you may enjoy

The suicide should never return to the scene of the crime.
•Ballard, The Drowned World (1962).

Farewells and suicides lose their dignity if they are repeated.
•Borges, “The Doctrine of Cycles.” (1934).

The thought of suicide is a powerful comfort: it helps one through many a dreadful night.
•Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1886).

I have often been tempted to commit suicide; but a sort of wo...

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Look at these books I wrote!

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Byrne/Giordano!

A garland of quotations XCIV

(Come see me ramble on about impossible history at the Stratford Library this Sunday!)

Find my books in your local library!

Among the Dalay River people of Australia…there is a belief in, and great terror of mamakpik, the stealing of a living man’s kidney fat with his resultant rapid decline and death.…In rare cases an attempt has actually been made to steal kidney fat in the prescribed fashion, but has naturally failed.
•Raymond Firth, Human Types: An Introduction to Social Anthropology (1956).

Tex...

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I write, for a living, books

Thanks for reading Hal Johnson Books! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Bernie Krigstein!

A garland of quotations XCIII

Did you remember I write books

that you, yourself, may buy?

All human language, and other cultural institutions, in fact, originated in collective murder.
•René Girard, The Scapegoat (1982).

Charles Manson’s ideals will never die.
•Al Capp, The Hardhat’s Bedtime Story Book (1971).

What failure of the human condition could produce a Charlie Manson?
•Paul O’Neil, Life 12/19/69.

No sense makes sense.
•Charles Manson, repeatedly (1969).

I tried hard. I ran in all direction. I shifted. I tried every form and s...

Movie Explainer: What is Damsels in Distress about?

This book is the opposite of

a Whit Stillman movie

“No soap, radio!”
•trad.

Of all the movies I’ve ever loved, the one I’ve had the hardest time figuring out is Damsels in Distress (2011). L’Age d’Or (1930) and The American Astronaut (2001) are too oneiric to approach rationally; Lost Highway (1997) and Primer (2004) dutifully click into place after you stop and think about them; 2001 (1968) is…less obscure than people claim it is. But Damsels in Distress does not give up its secrets easily.

I starte...