Scarecrow the Fourth

Eagerly awaiting the launch of Matthew Reilly's fourth Scarecrow novel "Scarecrow and the army of thieves".
Marine Captain Shane 'Scarecrow' Schofield battles a large and secretive terrorist group of evil villains - the Army of Thieves who have seized control of an island in the Arctic (sorry it's not the Antarctic) and apparently are about to destroy the planet, the US government are unable to prevent them, so the President has no alternative but to call in Scarecrow and his team.
Apparently it is typical Matthew Reilly - white-knuckle suspense and page-turning adventure and non-stop action!

So roll on October .

Bunkers new & old

Still dealing with serendipity, what are the chances of us discussing bunkers (the local one from World War Two) and the same day WebUrbanist having Bunkers Ours: the safe house is an open & shut case?


The Safe House located just outside Warsaw in Poland, is a shape-shifting, monolithic, urban bunker which adjusts its exterior to meet all your security needs from pesky tool-borrowing neighbours to a full-on zombie apocalypse. It's practically a fortress with an open, spacious interior with a huge living space spread over 2 floors with an adjoining swimming pool annex that's accessed via a neo-medieval retracting drawbridge. Huge, 2.8 metre flush-fitting shutters open up to 180 degrees or lie flat against the walls letting in light and relieving any sense of claustrophobia.
And our local bunker? The concrete bombing observation posts of the Air Navigation & Training School below.

Unshelved serendipity

I've posted before about the people at 'Unshelved' having a hot-line into our organisation, now someone from outside has recognised it too and emailled me the following - "You know when the car went through the wall. Maybe some talked...They are so close to truth its hard to believe. They have good sources for things that happen in libraries."

Under the Underground

Peter Ackroyd's London Under is a study of underground London, its original springs & streams, Roman amphitheatres, Victorian sewers, gang hideouts and modern tube stations.
In extending the Underground Rail system, engineers have found a 12th century quay, an Iron Age settlement, a 13th century gatehouse, a 900-year-old Cistercian monastery, sites which have been hidden for thousands of years.
As a long established city, there's heaps of history piled layer upon layer beneath London - the bodies, the buried rivers, the sewers all preserved in mud and clay.



While the book is a history, Peter also tells the stories that parallel this history - there are 44 'dead stations' abandoned by the Tube ; 'Toshers' the scavengers who prowled the sewers looking for item to sell ; the folly of the Thames Tunnel.
The book is only a slim 182 pages, and could have benefited from some colour photographs, but it is already popular with local borrowers already placing Holds on our copy.

Alone too

A bit excited that the new James Phelan book "Survivor" arrived today, especially as I finally finished the 660th page of Jean M. Auel's "Land of the painted caves" last night.
This is the second book of the "Alone" trilogy - 12 Days Later, chaos reigns in New York, pursued by the predatory Chasers Jesse finds unexpected friendship in three other survivors, but it comes at a price in a world where nothing can be relied upon...
If it is anything like "Chasers" will be a good read!

Lets light a candle

After almost 122 years the light at Eddystone Point in Northeast Tasmania was switched off in February, replaced by a balcony mounted plastic beacon.

Eddystone was the last 1st-order working light in Tasmania and was a key part of Tasmania’s maritime heritage.

Two main issues were used to justify the downgrading - custodians of the site, the Aboriginal Lands Council were concerned that short-tailed shearwaters (mutton-birds) were striking the light, and if opened for guided tours. The lense which sits on a bed of mercury presents a health issue. (though other lights with mercury troughs have operated tours for many years).

Eddystone was one of six remaining lighthouses in Australia still operating on mercury troughs - Cape Byron, Cape Leeuwin, Cape Naturaliste, Rottnest Island, & Cape Schanck.

The role of the lights as main navigational aids is diminishing and in some cases gone, but just wait till we have an electro-magnetic pulse which wipes out all navigation aids, or Patrick Tilley’s Fadeout scenario comes true, then we’ll wish for a candle!

Lilliputian libraries

Miniature books first came into fashion back in 1475, when the tiny tomes were produced as novelties, then printers began producing the small volumes to show off their skills.

It took a great deal of technical knowledge and talent to produce these perfectly printed books in such a minuscule size. Books are generally considered “miniature” if they do not exceed 100 mm in height, width or thickness, they all contain perfectly legible print just like their full-size counterparts and some even contain surprisingly detailed pictures.

Miniature books can come in all types of subjects from art to politics, to cookery and everything in between. Some also come with unusual covers made of china, carved wood or tooled leather.

More information and photos @ Weburbanist

Ararat in Lake Mungo

The DVD Lake Mungo (http://www.lakemungo.com/) is an enigmatic ghost story, a family drama, and a teenage girl with secrets.The story is a mocumentary with sequences of interviews and real time footage, it attempts to explore the unexplained paranormal activity (strange noises and apparitions).

Made in 2008 on a small budget, the mocumentary style looks authentic, with ordinary people recalling their experience to a documentary filmmaker.They even allowed the WinTV news crew to film the search newsreel (with real SES & police divers) as if it were a real normal segment.

The film-makers searched Victoria for the most appropriate locations and chose Ararat for the “beautiful and haunted-looking landscapes in the Grampians region…Lake Mungo couldn’t have been made anywhere else both aesthetically and practically”.

Mount Langi Ghiran is a star of the film, you see its brooding shape in many scenes. Was waiting to see when and how Lake Mungo would be introduced into the storyline. (oohh Y-Gen and their mobile phone cameras – a good reason to ban them).

People mention a resemblance to Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks (‘Palmer’ not withstanding) yes, there are similarities, only it doesn’t descend to the same level of weirdness. The story has an original slant and builds an eerie atmospheric sensation,

The neighbour bit came as a bit of a surprise, and it might be fiction, but still wouldn’t want to purchase those houses in Ararat. And glad I’ve already been to and enjoyed Lake Mungo with an open mind, going there with this particular baggage would spoil the experience.

The Sister Rocks also get a mention.

The plotline has Alice drowning in a local dam. With a verdict of accidental death, her grieving family bury her and try to return to a normal life, but a series of strange and inexplicable events lead the Palmers seek the help of a psychic who reveals that Alice led a secret life.

Lost America

"Route 66 lost and found : ruins and relics revisited" by Russell A. Olsen I had this book recommended to me (in fact the note came to me with a very librarian-ish list of its bibliographic details, and the "heaps of abandoned and derelict buildings" comment). Naturally I placed a Hold on it & waited patiently for the borrower to return it. America's Route 66 boasted bustling commercial hubs, some remain, but many have crumbled or vanished. The book is a series of 'then and now' photographs of streets, petrol stations, motels and cafes. For such an iconic road the decline of some of these stopping places in 50-70 years is incredible.

The front cover features the Painted Desert Trading Post in Navajo, Arizona. It opened in the early 1940s selling Indian curios, but in the late 50s the highway was relocated and the building has sat empty and abandoned in the desert ever since. The Gascozark Cafe in Missouri was established in 1931 with the stone facade added in 1939. It operated as a popular tourist fishing resort for the Gasconade River. It is now vacant and abandoned.

Two Guns, between Flagstaff and Winslow Arizona (off topic -"standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona" is from Jackson Browne's 'Take it easy' sung by the Eagles). Apparently Two Guns was the site of a massacre of Apaches by the Navajo in 1881. The store, service station & motel are now a crumbling ghost town carrying the curse of bad luck for people entering or disturbing the Indian site.