$5 Fine Coupon for JCLC Libraries

Here is a coupon for a $5 credit to be applied to your library fines at Jefferson County libraries. You must print the coupon out and take it to a JCLC branch next week April 10th – 16th.

jclc_nlwcoupon

The $5 coupon is part of the JCLC library system’s celebration of National Libra$5 ry Week which is next week. According to the full press release there are a few other new things of note:

  • they are going to start allowing folks to renew library cards via the phone as well as online (though I can’t find where)
  • there is an instance when the $3 cost is waived for replacing a library card
  • expiration dates for library cards has been extended from one year to two years

So, if you use the Jefferson County Library system, grab the coupon and knock out some fines!

Free Science Fiction Magazines

Sometimes the internet shows up to the party dressed to impress. This past week was one of those times as the Internet Archive made the entire original 175-issue run of the science fiction magazine IF available for free download.

If vintage pulp or vintage magazines are you thing, then is is something you definitely want to check out. The magazine ran from the early 1950’s to the early 1970’s. Each cover is like a time travel capsule to a different age. I think many are worth framing.

Science Fiction Magazine

There even seems to be a “bonus issue”? The very last issue posted at the Internet Archive is listed as Fall 1986 and declares a relaunch of sorts for the magazine, which closed in 1974. Not sure what happened to the rest of the run.

IF magazine published  serialized versions of many well-known science fiction authors like Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven and Harlan Ellison.

According to the Internet Archive, IF magazine won three Hugo Awards for “best professional magazine” in the late 60’s. At the end of its run IF magazine was folded into the Galaxy Science Fiction magazine.

Science Fiction Magazine Science Fiction Magazine

So check them out, if science fiction is your thing. I’m also anxious to take a look and see who designed these covers. Too many great representations of vintage science fiction artwork here not to dig in deeper.

Birmingham Book Events: February 28, 2016 – March 6, 2016

The sun is trying to come out and keep things warm. No complaints this weekend – unless you were one of the ones trying to find parking at the Hoover Library yesterday. WOW! Southern Voices 2016 was packed. So many people around the library this weekend. It’s a lot of fun. Here are three other events happening around Birmingham that might interest bookish folks:

Thursday, March 3rd at 6:30p – 7:30p – authors Martha Wurtele and Jake Collins will be in the auditorium speaking and signing copies of their book Homewood. It’s a book in the popular Images of America local history series.

Thursday, March 3rd at 5p – 9p – now that the weather is calming down a bit, it may be time to get out for a Birmingham Art Crawl. The chance of stumbling upon print artists, paper artists and book arts folks make it a fun event.

Friday, March 4th at 6:30p – 8:30p – the Birmingham Library is hosting its popular Bards & Brews event this week. It kicks off with music and then the mic is handed over to spoken word artists and local authors.

New John Grisham Book is FREE

John Grisham has a new book out. It’s short and it’s totally free. You can download the kindle verison straight from Amazon or you can click over to this page and download any file format you want. You can even order a free hard cover copy!

John Grisham download FREEThe book is called “The Tumor” and it has nothing to do with the legal system and probably doesn’t even qualify as a “thriller”. This one is all about cancer and new technology. It’s something that seems near and dear to Grisham’s heart. So he decided to write this 49-page book, partner with the Focused Ultrasound Foundation and give it away. All just to help raise awareness about new technology available to fight cancer.

The story follows a 35-year old father of three as he goes through the prognosis and treatment of a brain tumor. Pretty heavy stuff from Grisham.

I haven’t read it yet. Let me know if you have and how the story stacks up.

Books, Publishing and Birmingham