The Stacks
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Is Big Brother watching?
Content Warning: The following post describes and shows a book being physically altered.
In one of my earlier contributions to the Butterflies & Aliens Library, I shared the process of creating my first altered book project, Spark Unnecessary, using Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 as the source work. Since completing that project back in 2017, I’d been pondering other altered books projects based around themes of dystopia and censorship, slowly gathering up materials and ideas.
On hand rails and old books…
You can’t really tell from looking at this photo, but years of people sliding their hands along this wood railing have polished the outside edge so smooth that it feels like polished marble. Everything else around me was rough and “natural,” even the exposed grain and scratchy texture of the rest of the railing. Then out of the blue, this uncanny unexpected smooth…
Small Press Saturday: Dottir Press
We are wrapping up Women’s History Month and heading south of the Canadian border again this week so I can introduce you to Dottir Press! Dottir Press was founded in 2017 by Jennifer Baumgardner, who is no stranger to feminism or publishing.
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.
Shop Local
While we here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library are always happy when people get books into their hands, we’re especially delighted if it happens by way of an independent bookseller. As part of supporting such efforts, we have begun adding connections to the Shop Local initiative of Bookmanager, a Canadian company that provides bookstore management software to many independent booksellers in Canada and the US.
Bibliotherapy: The Power of Story
The past couple of weeks have been challenging. Not because work has been particularly hard or because anything bad has happened. Just because I sank into a bit of depression…
So, what helped me recently was completely escaping reality with a book series…
Small Press Saturday: Rocky Mountain Books
Spring is in the air, so it makes sense to introduce you to Alberta’s own Rocky Mountain Books for Small Press Saturday!
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.
Pi Day 2021!
As the official unofficial family holiday of our Chief Alien… and because PIE… we here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library of Literary Eccentricities & Rarities want to celebrate by sharing a selection of cookbooks and food-related books from our collection, plus a vintage geometry book from 1951.
And, of course, PIE.
Small Press Saturday: Cormorant Books
It’s Saturday again!! And it’s time to meet another small press. Cormorant Books is a small press with a small staff and they do big, amazing things! Established in 1986, this press has had challenges and major successes.
The Invisible Library
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman.
