The Stacks
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Twenty twenty what now?
Hello, it’s 2024 already? What the heck happened to 2023?
But also, HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY TO THE BUTTERFLIES & ALIENS LIBRARY!
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!
A year ago today, we launched the Butterflies & Aliens Library of Literary Eccentricities and Rarities… “to celebrate our shared delight and curiosity in books, about books, over books”… so not only are we celebrating a happy new year, but also the first birthday of our little pandemic project that could.
Happy Birthday to the Bard of Avon!
It’s been a busy few weeks here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library and, yeah, we haven’t managed to post as much as we would have liked, but what’s done is done. Though we’ve seen better days, we definitely couldn’t let this day go by without at least a tip of the virtual quill to the Sweet Swan of Avon, the National Poet of England, the Immortal Bard… William Shakespeare!
The Birthday of DiCamillo
Wishing the happiest of birthdays to Kate DiCamillo, beloved children’s author!
Happy Birthday, William Morris!
Born on this day in 1834, William Morris is perhaps best known as an artist and designer, and a major force behind the Arts & Crafts movement. But he was also a poet and novelist, connected to the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the mid-1800s, and also the founder of the Kelmscott Press in 1891.
A Happy Cyberpunk Birthday!
Okay, it’s not precisely the birthday of cyberpunk, but it is the birthday of one of the authors who pioneered the genre, William Gibson… born this day in 1948, and who introduced the world to cyberspace in his 1982 short story “Burning Chrome” and his 1984 debut novel Neuromancer.
Happy Birthday to “The Man who Invented the Future”
Born on this day in 1828, Jules Gabriel Verne is considered by many to be one of the parents of modern day science fiction literature.
Edith Wharton’s Birthday
Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer, was born on January 24, 1862. She was born into a wealthy family and into a time that discouraged women from aspiring to more than marriage…
Edgar Allan Poe’s Birthday
Born on January 19th, 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer of poetry and fiction. He was also the first author to try to make a living off writing…
You may call me Hal
On this day in fictional history, twenty-four years ago, January 12, 1997, HAL 9000 went online in 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke.
Happy Birthday, J. R. R. Tolkien!
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the "father" of modern high fantasy literature in the western world, was born on this day in 1892.
Origin Story
Why Butterflies and Aliens? Well, the short answer is because www.catchingbutterfliesandsharkattackvictims.com was too long…