Reviewing the Mail: Week of 3/27/21

One book this week: I bought it online used, specifically choosing a copy that did not say "ex-library" from the seller, and picking one that was more expensive than many to try to assure that.

No guesses what arrived in the mail: of course it was covered in stamps and cellophane and stickers. When I am proclaimed Lord of the World, booksellers who neglect to correctly mark a copy as ex-lib will be swiftly executed, possibly after being drawn and quartered. I will be a stern but fair despot.

The book itself might be great - I certainly hope so! - but it looks like I'll have to buy another copy eventually, since ex-lib is fine for things to read and pass on but (for me) not good enough for anything you want to actually keep.

The book is Alternate Routes, Tim Powers's novel from 2018. I missed it at the time, and missed the sequel Forced Perspectives, and am just now coming to terms with the fact that Powers seems to be writing a contemporary supernatural detective series (?!) for Baen (?!). As happens so often, the world is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine.