Alice, Beatrix and Harry: Valuable children's literature collection up for auction

A valuable collection of children's literature, including Alice's own copy of "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There," a first edition of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and Beatrix Potter's personal copy of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" will be presented for auction Dec. 16.

It is the collection of NFL player Pat McInally, a Harvard grad who was a punter and receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1976 to 1985. After completing his turn as a professional football player, he started a successful line of football action figures.

The auction, held by Southern California auctioneer Profiles in History, includes an original drawing by John Tenniel of the Gryphon from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (pictured). Two copies of "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There," the Alice sequel, are for sale: One has a pair of original pencil drawings by Tenniel and is estimated to sell for $40,000 to $60,000; the other, expected to sell for at least twice as much, is signed by Alice Liddell, who as a young girl inspired Lewis Carroll to write "Alice."

Other first-edition children's books for auction include "Stuart Little" signed by E.B. White; "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien; "Watership Down" by Richard Adams; and "Mother Goose in Prose," L. Frank Baum's first book, in which Dorothy makes her debut. A copy of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is accompanied by a letter about Narnia written and signed by C.S. Lewis. There are also limited editions of "Winnie the Pooh," "The House at Pooh Corner" and "Now We Are Six," all inscribed by author A.A. Milne and illustrator Ernest H. Shepard, as well as a limited edition of the first four Harry Potter books inscribed by J.K. Rowling.

There are a few bookish collectibles for adults too, including a first edition of "The Time Machine" signed by H.G. Wells. James Bond fans should be happy: In addition to a first edition of "Goldfinger" signed by Ian Fleming to William Plomer, to whom the book is dedicated, there are first editions of "Thunderball," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "For Your Eyes Only."

Although bids will be accepted by the old-school methods of mail, fax and in person, online auctioneers icollector and LiveAuctioneers also will be taking bids. 

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Original John Tenniel drawing of the Gryphon from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Credit: Profiles in History

Zombies, classics and you

Even if it makes Jane Austen roll over in her grave, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" -- a mash-up version of her classic written by Seth Grahame-Smith -- has been taking a bite out of bestseller lists since its release. 

"Subconsciously, Austen was writing a horror novel and didn't know it," Grahame-Smith told the LA Times in April. "People taking these strolls, riding their carriages to and fro. . . . There are so many opportunities there -- for zombie attacks."

Publisher Quirk Books noticed an opportunity too: It's at liberty to mash up Austen's regency dramas because her works, published between 1811 and 1818, are in the public domain. So are lots of other books too, but few have the sustained popularity of Austen's or mesh so oddly with zombies and ninjas. And, most recently, octopuses and giant lobsters -- in September, Quirk issued its first follow-up, "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters."

Last week, Quirk announced the next project, a prequel, "Dawn of the Dreadfuls," which promises to explain how 18th century England became infested with the lurching undead. Simultaneously, it launched a website dedicated to its classic-literature mash-ups.

But is the publisher too late to capitalize on the buzz that first book created? You'd think that with the ongoing popularity of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," people might have something to say. But so far, its message boards have been quiet, save for a couple of questions about how Jane Austen can share co-author credit for a prequel she never wrote. The new book has a new co-author, Steve Hockensmith. Will it be more zombie-ninja-Austen fun? Or has the shtick run its course?

As for Grahame-Smith, he's departed from the land of Austen and zombies; he recently turned in a draft of his latest novel, "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter." 

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Image: Quirk Books

Have towel, will write: Eion Colfer on his new 'Hitchhiker's Guide'

Eion Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, has taken on a challenging task: picking up where Douglas Adams left off in the "Hitchhiker's Guide" series. "... And Another Thing," the first Hitchhiker's book penned by Colfer and the sixth in the series, hit bookstores earlier this month. The Irish writer spoke to the Chicago Tribune's book editor Elizabeth Taylor about the daunting project. She writes:

... from his home in Ireland, where he lives with his wife and two sons, he persisted through the panic and chest pains. "Everything was going so well. Why challenge myself in this professionally dangerous way?" He settled down to work at about 10:30 a.m., had lunch with his wife, and returned to his office behind the house, until one of the children fetched him at about 7 p.m. Eventually, Colfer made his way, inhabiting Adams' universe rather than mimicking him.

Is there a hint of what transpires in the new book in their conversation with him? "In the end, Colfer credits his wife's no-nonsense sensibility for his triumph over worry. Her attitude: 'There are a lot of more important to be done than worry about removing a fictitious character's head.' Sounds like someone is in danger: could it be Martin? Zaphod Beeblebrox? Ford Prefect? Our hero Arthur Dent?

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: From the 2005 film "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Credit: Laurie Sparham / Touchstone Pictures

Happy birthday, Ursula K. Leguin

Today is Ursula K. Le Guin's 80th birthday. The multiple-award-winning writer is best known for "The Wizard of Earthsea" and is thought of for her science fiction, although she has crossed many boundaries.

Earlier this year, she talked to Scott Timberg for the L.A. Times about writing and its possibilities:

"I agree with Tolstoy that the best way to tell a story is invisibly. But I also hear what I write, and I think if you can't read it out loud, there's something wrong with it.

"[2008's 'Lavinia'] isn't like anything else I've done. But the dignified style is the way I used to write, in the first Earthsea books. Some of the cadences are storytelling rather than story writing.

"I'm following Tolkien's prescription for fantasy creation. You are making a world out of words, and the only thing that's going to hold it together is its inner consistency.

"Writing science fiction and fantasy allow you to back off a little bit, to try to find the problems that always come back, that we never solve. Like gender relations, war -- once there's more than 50 of us living in one place we seem to have war.

"How do we and why do we enslave one another? Slavery is maybe another way of saying class. And of course race, which is involved in the others. I'm just circling around these subjects, which have become somewhat clearer to me as I've gotten older, as being the big problems."

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Ursula K. Le Guin in 2008. Credit: Benjamin Reed

RELATED: Another Oct. 21 birthday girl, Carrie Fisher, on her memoir "Wishful Drinking"

John Scalzi's call for matching funds proves a bounty for Strange Horizons

  John Scalzi, Hugo Award-winning author of "Old Man's War," has maintained his blog Whatever for more than a decade. And with that consistency comes a faithful following that's willing to put its money where its reading habits lie.

On Friday, Scalzi posted that he'd match up to $500 in donations to the speculative fiction online magazine Strange Horizons, a nonprofit, which was in the midst of a monthlong fund drive to raise $7,000.

From the time that Scalzi's call went out until the editors tallied the take 27 hours later, his readers  donated a whopping $9,590. With the donation from Scalzi and his wife, the Scalzi-drive totaled more than $10,000, exceeding the fund-raising goal by more than $3,000. Scalzi blogs:

I am thrilled and overwhelmed by your generosity, -- but I’m not surprised. Not surprised for two reasons: Because I know that so many of you know a good deal and a good cause when you see it, and because Strange Horizons does what it does well and thereby legitimately deserves the support you’ve given it....all together and there’s the inescapable conclusion that each and every one of you rock.

The fund drive will remain open until the end of the month -- there are prizes involved, and T-shirts and mugs and things -- but editor Susan Marie Groppi is extremely pleased to have met the fund-raising goal. "I’m totally overwhelmed by the generosity all of you have shown," she wrote, "and totally scared for what might happen if Scalzi ever decides to use his powers for evil."

But Scalzi would never turn to the dark side and become a super-villain -- would he?

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: imaging of Saturn's rings from Cassini spacecraft radio data. Credit: NASA/JPL

What is Ray Bradbury?

Author and screenwriter Steven Paul Leiva has been hanging with Ray Bradbury -- even made a video for the Buffalo Film Festival -- and in an essay for our brother blog, Hero Complex, he tries to get at the essence of exactly what the octogenarian author is.

If you are of a certain age and read the works of Ray Bradbury in your youth, you probably read paperbacks emblazoned with the words: “The world’s greatest living science fiction writer.”... In almost everything you read about Bradbury his name was either preceded or followed by the words "science fiction writer," despite the fact that other things you read stated quite emphatically that Bradbury was either "not that" or "much more than just that."

The problem seems to be that we are all trying to label the wrong thing. If trying to label what Bradbury does is frustrating, maybe we ought to widen our vision and try to label him simply by whom Bradbury is. ...

Bradbury is a fan − of science fiction because it taught him to see the wonder in life, of life because to feel it intensely is a kick, of humanity because that is his tribe and he has found humanity’s striving to reach the stars a noble bid for immortality that is the action of doers and not dreamers. And what is “fan” but a nickname for “lover?”

Bradbury is a lover. It informs everything he does, especially his speeches where he informs the pubic to be lovers too. “Love what you do, and do what you love,” he often says. And it certainly informs his writing, which he does in an improvisational manner, like a jazz musician, or, more to the point, like a young lover.

Bradbury is also a gatherer of interesting honors. He's been awarded a National Medal of Arts; given a star on the Hollywood walk of Fame; received the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters; had an asteroid named for him; been given multiple Stoker Awards, including one for lifetime achievement; won an Emmy and a Saturn Award for television writing; and received the French Commandeur Order des Artes and Lettres medal in 2007.

With his 89th birthday coming up on Aug. 22, Angelenos' favorite science fiction writer -- or, if you prefer, lover -- is likely to land on Jacket Copy again.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

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Photo: Ray Bradbury in 2003 with a birthday cake in the foreground. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times.

Chris Anderson's almost-'Free,' Kindle price drop and more book news

The entirety of Chris Anderson's book "Free" is currently available free on the online service Scribd and at GoogleBooks. The not-quite-practicing-what-it-preaches rub: it's free to read online, but not to print or to download. What you can get for free: a downloadable 9-page excerpt at Scribd and the complete audiobook (links here). The abridged audiobook is on sale for $7.49, and no, I don't get the logic of that, either.

In other news, yesterday Amazon dropped the price of its Kindle 2 from $359 to $299. The company has not released sales figures for the device, which has perhaps been overshadowed by its newer, larger brother, the Kindle DX, whose price hasn't budged from the original $489. The lower price for the Kindle 2 makes it more competitive with the basic Sony eReader, which sells for $279 in navy and silver -- not just beige -- and includes special Michael Connolly and Danielle Steele editions.

And I knew it was coming: Octogenarian Ray Bradbury has more on his summer agenda than the two previously noted benefits. As they've done in years past, the Mystery and Imagination Bookshop in Glendale will throw the science fiction icon a party on Aug. 22, his actual birthday. Bradbury, who is turning 89, will be in attendance, and I believe there will be cake. Events get underway at 1 p.m.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: At the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture in Seoul, South Korea. Credit: Doo-ho Kim via Flickr

Ray Bradbury is everywhere

What do you plan to do for your 89th birthday? Ray Bradbury, who will leave 88 behind later this summer, plans to head to the library.

He's having a birthday celebration at the Memorial Branch Library on West Olympic in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 31 at 6:30 pm. The event is free, but to support the library, Bradbury's books will be for sale. He'll be happy to sign those that are purchased at the event.

And he's also pitching in to help the Venice Historical Society restore the columns along Windward Avenue. The Ray Bradbury Adopt-a-Colonnade project kicks off July 31 with desserts, Champagne and an appearance by the author himself. Tickets are $55 and $45, and the organization is hoping to raise some serious cash: a $2,500 Martian Chronicle sponsor gets a name on a plaque on a restored column; a $250 Farenheight 451 sponsor will see their name on a rock wall; and for less, you can become a Graveyard of Lunatics sponsor (naming convention still to be determined).

What with these events and his recent conversations with the Ventura County Reporter and the New York Times, you might think he'd be tired out. But since his actual birthday is on August 22, I'm convinced another birthday-slash-fun-slash-fundraising event invitation will be arriving any day now.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Ray Bradbury, right, with Veronique and Gregory Peck in 1997 at a reception celebrating the 125th anniversary of the LA Public Library. Credit: Alex Berliner/Berliner Studio.

Remixed notes on 'A Monster's Notes'

Last week, columnist Ed Park reviewed "A Monster's Notes" by Laurie Sheck. This is his remixed, expanded, deconstructed/reconstructed remake of that review.

I.
“Good idea the repetition. Same thing with ads.” -- Joyce, "Ulysses"

Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died 10 days after giving birth to her.

“This is ordinary. I was a body coming out of another body that died. That died because of my body.” -- Laurie Sheck, "A Monster’s Notes"

“This was scant said but all cried with one acclaim, nay, by our Virgin Mother, the wife should live and the babe to die.” -- "Ulysses"

I don’t know which file contains my review in the form of notes and which contains my notes for the review in the form of notes.

Bloomsday now. Still writing this.

In the midst of putting together this monster I get an e-mail from R., who writes that our friend J. has to take high-blood pressure medication because she drinks too much coffee, which makes me laugh. But also that J. “had this horrifying story about recently running into a crime scene near her house where a man had been cut into little pieces in a box.”

Authors pick this world's most sci-fi cities

How is it possible that when Ursula K. LeGuin, China Miéville, Michael Moorcock and other writers were asked what real-life city -- on this world -- would be their choice for top science fiction or fantasy city, nobody said Los Angeles? Shouldn't our hodgepodge of cultures and languages, our massive size, funneling freeways, desert/mountain/seascape, sprawling ports and battle for clean air count for something? Did "Blade Runner" not make an impression?

Ah, not enough of one. Maybe they just haven't had time to visit.

Novelist Elizabeth Hand has a marvelous answer: She picks Reykjavík, Iceland.

It's more like an off-world colony than any place on Earth. Architecture that consists largely of corrugated metal and concrete (think Quonset huts), a dauntingly inhospitable landscape -- lava flows, cliffs, glaciers, hot springs, immense waterfalls. Very few trees -- the vegetation in places consists largely of lichen or moss, with grass in the central areas and some stunted birch or conifers. Only one indigenous mammal, the arctic fox, though a handful of others have been introduced; overall, quite a small biomass though tons of birds. Fewer insects than anywhere else, excepting maybe the Antarctic. Combine that with a vibrant (well, maybe not so vibrant since the country went bankrupt), highly educated populace (highest literacy rates on the planet) and a huge proportion of cutting edge artists/musicians/writers, and you have a place that resembles Samuel R. Delany's Triton (Trouble on Triton) in real life.

The question was asked by the folks behind Shared Worlds, a two-week summer program in science fiction and fantasy for teens held at Wofford College in South Carolina.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Reykjavík from the air. Credit: will_hybrid via Flickr