The Bell Tolls For No One - New Buk Story Collection From City Lights

C

conl

Am I really the first person to post anything about this?

"The Bell Tolls for No One is a book of previously uncollected short fiction by everyone's favorite dirty old man, Charles Bukowski. Beginning with the illustrated, unpublished 1947 story, 'A Kind, Understanding Face,' continuing through his famous underground newspaper column, 'Notes of a Dirty Old Man,' and concluding with his hardboiled contributions to 1980s glossy adult magazines, The Bells Tolls for No One encompasses the entire range of Bukowski's talent as a short story writer, from straight-up genre stories to postmodern blurring of the line between fact and fiction. Designed not only for Bukowski fans, but also for readers new to his work, the book contains an informative introduction by editor David Stephen Calonne that provides historical context for these seemingly scandalous and chaotic tales, revealing the hidden hand of the master at the top of his form. Also included are several of Bukwoski's own illustrations."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/08...&tag=charlebukowsa-20&linkId=CJLQ55NFCWG2R455
 
zobraks

zobraks

Moderator
Am I the first person to notice (& care about) this (?):
Bukwoski's
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I reckon you'd like to correct that (here and at Amazon).

Thanks for the info.
 
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roni

roni

conl said:
Am I really the first person to post anything about this?
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hasn't David already said something about it somewhere and even linked to the amazon? I'm pretty sure.
But it's nice to have a seperate thread for it now.
 
C

conl

Stumbled on it last night.
Didn't want to start a separate thread if there was already one going, but couldn't find anything when I searched the site for the title.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
I'm not sure it's been publicly mentioned here before. But with this and Abel's poetry collection, there's going to be a lot of activity next summer.
 
David

David

Yes, I haven't mentioned it since it's not due out until next summer, but here is the cover--took a while to get permission from Robert Crumb....

51uwWe9+UwL.jpg
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
I´m looking forward to both books. 2015 is going to be a good year for us Buk nuts. :)
Yes, I haven't mentioned it since it's not due out until next summer, but here is the cover--took a while to get permission from Robert Crumb....
Click to expand...
I love that Buk drawing by Crumb and the layout of the book cover. Great colors too.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
That sounds like a good move. At least it would provide a break in a thematic collection.

I know it's already a done deal, but to me, the whole thematic thing...I don't know. What it says to me is that Ecco doesn't have any faith in a regular collection, or doesn't know how to market another regular collection. It's certainly easier from a marketing perspective to have a "hook" like a theme to exploit promote. But does it make for a better book?

Raise your hand if you are eagerly awaiting 250 pages of horse racing poems.

Not that there is actually going to be a collection of horse racing poems (please god), just pointing out where going thematic with Bukowski could go horribly off the rails.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Well, there's one vote.

What's the difference between a Sweathog and a Scientologist?

There is one thing a book on horse racing would do though...make a book on cats seem interesting.

;)

Not to harp on the thematic thing again (I'm pretty sure I said I wouldn't), but if you had to boil Bukowski's work down to four themes, you could make an argument that horse racing could be one of them (I'd say it ranks closer to 8th or 9th in a list of common themes, but what do I know). But I don't think such an argument could be made for cats.

It would be interesting to come up with a list of 10 or 12 themes and tag the poems in the database. But it would also be a very long project and a lot of work for little reason.

Which, you know, has never stopped us before.
 
David

David

David said:
Yes, I haven't mentioned it since it's not due out until next summer, but here is the cover--took a while to get permission from Robert Crumb....
Click to expand...
Am in Germany now and just checked Amazon and it appears this baby is now up and running...
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
It showed up in the mail today, imagine that. City Lights always comes through.

It's a small format: 4.25 x 7 inches, which makes it smaller than More Notes of a Dirty Old Man (which was smaller than Absence of the Hero and Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook, both of which were the old standard size of 6 x 9 inches). But as long as the books are good - and the City Lights books are always good - they can keep hitting them with the shrink ray. Though I think we're about as small as you can go with this one.

More on contents later, no time to read right now.

Here are the press sheets that came with it.

citylights1.jpg citylights2.jpg citylights3.jpg
 
zobraks

zobraks

Moderator
I ordered TBTfNO from The Book Depository yesterday:

TBTfNO (TBD).jpg


Didn't plan to buy it so soon, but the hype was unbearable.
 
Purple Stickpin

Purple Stickpin

It arrived today. The small size is a bit disappointing. I was hoping for something sized more like Notes or More Notes, but it is the content that matters (if I can still read the small typeface). At a beefy 300 pages, there's no shortage on content.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Yeah, it's right on the verge of requiring reading glasses, isn't it. ;)

Still, an embarrassment of riches with this and Abel's first collection tomorrow, then another in December. The last time three major Bukowski books full of new stuff were published in a four month span was...never.
 
skiroomalum

skiroomalum

Small, but I think still bigger than City Lights Pocket Poet series. I have a couple of those, and they're really well, pocket sized.
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
I ordered The Bells... and On Writing yesterday from amazon and noticed that after the one On Cats coming out indecember there´ll be one On Love coming out on February 2 next year. That's 4 Buk books within 6 months! Not bad at all for a dead writer. :D
 
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