Pegasus Book Exchange

Why our doors are closed

noreply@blogger.com (E. M. Epps) — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 03:25:00 +0000

We've been asked fairly often why we aren't letting anyone inside the store. Here's a letter I wrote this morning in answer one of those inquiries; it summed up my feelings well, so I'm sharing it here with the recipient's name redacted.

------------------------------

Thank you for your kind and supportive email. Yes, my staff are awesome, aren't they?

Unfortunately, we won't be letting people in soon. COVID is still regularly circulating in the population, and I'm not willing to put my staff at risk, or for that matter, any member of our community. The pandemic is not theoretical. The death toll for COVID in the US just reached 213,000 people. That includes 6 deaths yesterday in WA state alone, which could have been avoided if we, as a country, had taken this seriously from the beginning. Now, WA is seeing another uptick of cases - 727 new cases yesterday, and 806 the day before. Moreover, a lot of the survivors (some of our customers among them) have long-term damage to their health.

If our store were spacious and well-ventilated, with easy-to-clean surfaces, I'd consider letting people in (masked and distanced from my employees), one family at a time. But, our aisles are tall and narrow, and we have zero ventilation except for some air vents over the door. Masks are good, but they aren't perfect, and the CDC has shown great uncertainty about how long virus particles linger in the air.

The thing about a pandemic which we as a population are trying to get under control is that there's a point when *everything seems fine,* and everyone relaxes. And then, as we have seen happen so many times: suddenly, unpredictably - it will *not be fine any more.* I haven't seen any evidence that our country is handling this crisis appropriately, and the one thing I have control over is whether we participate or not.

I feel that as booksellers - purveyors of knowledge - we out of all people are *particularly* beholden to pay attention to science and what the numbers tell us, rather than fall prey to wishful thinking. So, too, do we, as a place of community, have a moral obligation to act in socially responsible ways. I don't think it's socially responsible to do anything that encourages people to be in close contact with each other. Lingering for long periods in a narrow, poorly-ventilated space most definitely qualifies.

It *might* be fine, sure. But it's a game of Russian Roulette. What's more, it's a game of Russian Roulette in which the lives we're endangering aren't necessarily our own. Our Rt number is again above 1, so that means the spread will go on steadily unless we all aggressively work together to distance from each other. If I were to make a list of people I care about, a lot more of them would be in the "high risk" category than not. Am I willing to involve them in this game of chance? I am not.

We *can* sell books by email, by phone, and online, so we *should*. We've done our best to keep some of the "browsing" feeling by posting photos of the shelves online at http://www.pegasusbookexchange.com/p/browse-shelves.html, and all our new arrivals get posted on Facebook and Instagram. I know it's not the same, but it's what we've got right now.

Thanks for listening. Wear a mask, keep your family safe, and please (for the love of science) stay away from other people!

Yours sincerely,

Emma Epps

Pegasus Book Flights!

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 20:35:00 +0000

That's a "book flight," like a beer flight, but better for your brain. :D Now available! Email us if you'd like one: pegasusbookexchange @ gmail.com (remove spaces in the email address).

We currently have these genres available: adult mix, adult mystery, adult fiction, and kids' picture books - all are $20 each with no use of store credit.

Coming soon. These could be in your next Pegasus Book Flight- 8-12 stupendous books outrageously underpriced at...
Posted by Pegasus Book Exchange on Friday, August 14, 2020

Due to high demand, we’ve created Pegasus Book Flights for kids under 7 and revisited our surprise book bags for kids...
Posted by Pegasus Book Exchange on Friday, August 21, 2020

Now stocking keychains, stickers, and pins by The Coy Hyena!

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:19:00 +0000

View this post on Instagram

Hotel key tags, stickers, and pins! Right before the pandemic, we started consigning these amazing book-themed items created by Kate @thecoyhyena She also sells these items and many more @thegeorgetowntrailerparkmall and @etsy We have the featured styles for: $8 key tags $4 large vinyl stickers 3” (2nd pic) $3 small vinyl stickers 2” (3rd pic) $4 pins (1.5”) Email us if you are interested, these are a great add on to any book purchase, they make wonderful gifts for any fan of books. #WeGotThisWS #WeGotThisSeattle #bibliophile #book #books #livres #livros #libros #bücher #bookish #booklove #booklover #booknerd #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookworm #instabook #reader #readinglist #igreads #seattle #westseattle #shoplocal #bookstore #indiebookstore #independentbookstore #westseattlejunction

A post shared by Pegasus Book Exchange (@pegasusbookexchange) on Sep 4, 2020 at 2:04pm PDT

Rare Book Raffle

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 19:42:00 +0000

10 pics showcasing rare raffle prizes that you can win! Tickets $5 each, email or call the shop to get in on the action,...
Posted by Pegasus Book Exchange on Sunday, August 23, 2020

Online Trivia Night!

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 19:37:00 +0000

All ages! Six or fewer people on a team. Each member of the winning team gets one of our Pegasus Book Flights (their genre choice!).

Pegasus is going on strike 6/12/20 to support Black Lives Matter

noreply@blogger.com (E. M. Epps) — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 03:08:00 +0000

We will be closed on Friday, June 12th, for the general strike called for by the Seattle-King County chapter of Black Lives Matter.

If you're at all able to strike, we hope that you'll strike with us to show your dedication to fighting systemic racism.

(If you're still thinking "but ALL lives matter," don't miss the point. Read this and this, then come back here.)

Our country is broken and our city is broken. Some have known it for a long time; some are just learning the depth of it. It's our hope here at Pegasus that the protests and marches are only the beginning of a true revolution, which will lead to a world in which Black and Brown lives really, truly do matter.

Most of us here at Pegasus either are high COVID risk or live with people who are. So we aren't marching. It's frustrating. We recognize that a lot of y'all may be in the same position. So, here are some ideas for actions you can take even if you can't leave your house. If you can't do everything, do everything you can.

If you can, please strike with us, and make sure your employers know exactly why. Encourage your bosses to strike with you. If need be, remind them they don't want to be on the wrong side of history. (Maybe it's a low blow, but sometimes you gotta.)

Write to your councilmembers in favor of defunding the police. Email is free. Don't know who your councilmembers are? You can find out here. Don't really know exactly what defunding the police means? Here's an overview.

If you possibly can, please donate to social justice organizations. Here are just a few possibilities:

Seattle/King Country Black Lives Matter (local)
Africatown Community Land Trust (local)
Northwest Community Bail Fund (local)
Campaign Zero (national)
American Civil Liberties Union WA (national & local)

If you're here, you're a reader. Here is a huge (and ever-growing) list of books on Antiracism and Black history. Be aware: basically all books on these topics are sold out, not only at Pegasus, but also in the warehouses we order from. There are literally not enough copies in print to meet the demand. And that makes us super happy, because that means that people are digging in and learning everything they can. It's also frustrating, because that means we have to say "no" a lot.

If you order backordered books from the above link, they will ship to you when available. If you can't wait, you can check out our affiliates and get audiobooks from Libro.fm and ebooks from My Must Reads. A lot of devices are supported - test yours out before purchase. (Using those links is definitely helpful to us, BTW.)

Another thing that might not be obvious, which as a bookseller I'd specifically like to point out, is that it's important to buy books by living African-American authors. Everybody reads Morrison, Baldwin, Angelou, Hurston, Ellison, Butler, and Wright. That's great. But they're all dead.

Buy books by living authors. Buy them new. Buy books by authors who aren't already famous. Authors you've never heard of. Get royalties in the author's pockets and show the publishers that there is a demand for all types of books by Black people. Not only antiracist books and literary fiction (though read those too). But the Black authors who write Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult, Kids' Books, Nonfiction, every type of book you can imagine: they also deserve to be able to support themselves as writers.

The publishing industry is systemically racist and has been fumbling around for years. The thing is, they can't just fix it without you. They need you readers to actually buy the books (yes, new) and show, by sales numbers, that books by Black authors sell. Buy, review, recommend to your friends, feature them in your book club. Tell us what your favorites are! We will help you spread the word.

Slowly, we are putting together lists of books by living African-American authors. So far we've got Mystery, Romance, SF Fantasy & Horror, Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Picture Books. Good news, bad news: we are sold out of almost all of these on our store shelves (well, we just got in some N.K. Jemisin). Please order directly from those links; we will get a commission which helps us a lot, and the authors will get royalties. Or order them from some other store if you like. Just: support the authors.

I'm not going to write any rhetoric here. If you aren't already filled with burning rage, I'm not the one to get you there. I'm a practical person. Our society is broken. It's been broken for a long time. It is just possible that we have critical mass now, and we can fix it. But you've got to help too. And not just this week, either, but next week, next month, next year, next decade. Don't get bored.

Tomorrow, Pegasus will strike. As long as we're in business, we will keep featuring books by marginalized authors. We will keep writing salty emails to our councilmembers and donating to support social justice. If you can march, please know that we are so grateful for you.

Before I sign off, you should know: if you send us "but what about" messages you will get one warning. (Please read that link.) Second offense, and you can consider yourself banned from Pegasus until you educate yourself. I might look like a Nice Girl but not very far under that is intense rage. Don't pique me and don't waste my time. As a bookseller, I recommend books as an antidote to ignorance. Here's that link again.

Emma, speaking for all of us here at Pegasus

P.S. As usual, please direct orders & inquiries to pegasusbookexchange@gmail.com.

Our Online Bookshop.Org Page is Now Live!

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Sat, 07 Mar 2020 03:21:00 +0000

This is an exciting year for indie bookstores! Bookshop.org hit the news a few weeks ago as a way for independent booksellers to sell books online without having to handle shipping or pay massive fees for someone else to do so.

(Cue shrieks of happiness!)

Next time you purchase books online, instead of getting them from That Place, please consider shopping indie with us at http://shop.pegasusbookexchange.com!

If you're curious about how it works, here's the article in Forbes, here's one in Wired, and here's Bookshop's own FAQs.

We recommend - “Titanshade” by Dan Stout

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 23:01:00 +0000

Guest Reviewer: Veronica L.

Genre: Science Fiction with a Noir Mystery flavor

It is no surprise that our protagonist (I won’t say “hero,” or Detective Carter might sneer from the pages at me), discovers he is one of the few honest cops left in an oil town that finds itself a few decades past its prime boom era.

A seemingly impossible city on the ice plains, where the ultra rich and the poverty stricken are forced into close quarters by the necessity of the thermal vents provided by the nearby volcano. The mountain lends its name and legends to Titanshade, the settlement turned oil town turned financial heart of the nation. But Titanshade’s oil fields are running dry, and everyone has plots and anxieties about the future of their city.

Corruption and casual disregard for the law have become normalized. But a high profile political murder isn’t something to be brushed under the snow drift to be forgotten.

With the rest of the civilized world far to the south where frostbite isn’t a daily concern, Titanshade has had to manage its own affairs. Like many outpost towns, Titanshade has an air of fierce independence, an attitude shared by our protagonist, Detective Carter.

Within the first pages, I didn’t expect to like Carter. But that’s ok, he’s the sort of messed up asshole cop that you love to hate, then hate to love; a character that I understand is not uncommon in cop dramas.

The voice is presented as “gritty noir,” but the background music isn’t muted trumpets and soft, jazzy, off beat syncopation, but rather Disco beats and the opposing forces of thermal drafts hitting cold air, and a susurrus of snow falling and drifting.

Noir and detective novels aren’t my usual habit, though Titanshade isn’t just a detective story. This a world that isn’t quite Earth, but might be. A world that used to have plentiful magic, but those reserves have dried up around the world, just as the oil is drying up in Titanshade. A world populated by five intelligent species. A world that either has parallel evolution of humans, pagers, and disco, or it’s proved that everything is new again and by the time the tectonic plates of the Earth come back around to form another Pangea, we will have to survive disco a second time.

I love it when a story walks that line well, not committing to either fantasy or sci-fi. It bucks all definitions and says, “HEY, stop trying to classify me while I’m telling you a story!”

But it’s not the genre that keeps me reading a story. It’s the characters. The populace is this world is drawn sharply by both the author and our protagonist, Detective Carter. Carter applies a critically analytical cop eye to everything in his world. He’s an observer, he files away facts and observations till he can use them in his work. We the reader see the world through his eyes, good thing we aren’t as jaded as he is. His critical gaze is just as harsh when he turns it inward, but everyone has their own personal demons, right? Being an observer, a fact finder, a truth seeker, means sometimes the truth has a softer side, sometimes the facts can tell more than one story, and sometimes an observer can see the ways of the world spelled out in litter in the gutter, or the view inside a hallway lit only by streetlight. Nothing can fix a murder, not even finding the murderer. But sometimes finding the shape of an everyday life can make the world make a little more sense again.

I think Carter’s story has been told, but I would happily return to this world to see what else Titanshade has to tell us about its inhabitants. (Mayhap the sorcerer-cop, the Divination Officer, will get to tell her story someday?)

I can’t recommend it as a detective story, purely because I don’t read those sorts of stories, and wouldn’t know how it stacks up. But as a character driven exploration of a city and its inhabitants, and one man’s journey to some personal solace? That I have to recommend.

Plus Carter has an adorable cat.

Disclaimer: The publisher gave us an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, but we wouldn't recommend it if we hadn't liked it!

STORE EVENT: Ben Chasny, author of "The Hexadic System"

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 01:47:00 +0000

Event: Sunday, August 23rd, 2015 at 4pm at Pegasus Book Exchange

We're very pleased to announce that Ben Chasny, renowned psychedelic folk and rock guitarist, will be speaking at Pegasus about his new book and "Hexadic" card deck.

Ben is best known for his psych folk project Six Organs Of Admittance, whose early albums were formative of the so-called New Weird America movement of the late 2000's, but his noise rock project Comets On Fire is superb in very different ways.

The Hexadic system is an imaginative compositional strategy or game based on the philosophical concepts of Gaston Bachelard, the organizational schemes of medieval logician Raymond Llul, and the occultist Cornelius Agrippa.

Ben's well-reviewed album Hexadic under the Six Organs moniker was composed using the system and is available at Easy Street, and a limited number of copies of the book and card deck will be available at Pegasus during his visit. More info about his Hexadic project can be found here:

Official Hexadic website
Wired Magazine article
Wire Magazine article

This will be a rare chance to meet and learn from one of our great modern musical thinkers, so be there or be square!

Favorite Books We Read in 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 19:46:00 +0000

It seems like a list of staff picks for the year should include a lot of books published in 2014, but what can I say, we are all slowly (hopelessly) playing catchup with the last few centuries of English Lit!

I've included in the list which sections we file them in at Pegasus; though some of these aren't terribly common, so, as always, if you can't find it on our shelves, please ask and we'll order it for you! And if you don't live locally, please remember to support your favorite independent bookstore.
--Emma

Emma's Picks

Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee. SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY
The stories in this collection are a strange and unique mélange of math, honor, magic, music, Asian mythology, war, genocide, lexicography, weaponry, time travel, and spaceships. Lee's style is poetic and almost-but-not-quite surreal and, sometimes, beyond my comprehension: in the good way, the way that promises that I will enjoy the second and tenth readings as much as the first. And yes, there will be a tenth reading, someday, because this is now one of my favorite books.

Graceling by Karen Cashore. YOUNG ADULT FANTASY
Katsa has the killing Grace, discovered when she killed a man with her bare hands at age eight. Now imagine how that would mess you up. Yeah? I love so many things about this book. I love that Katsa is not nice, I love the way she struggles to understand other people, I love the way her love interest is handled, I love the fact that she flatly refuses to get married and have kids like every other fantasy heroine ever. You can think of Graceling as Tamora Pierce upgraded.

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. LITERATURE
I'm a Steinbeck fangirl. I am however glad I waited until the mood struck me before reading The Grapes of Wrath; I don't think I could have appreciated it as a teenager. Here is my advice regarding this book. If you have not read it, read it. If you have read it, read it again. It may not be a pleasant read but it is a great one.

The Time Roads by Beth Bernobich. FANTASY
What? Steampunk that is actually well-written? Oh my. The first line of the acknowledgments immediately made me perk up—"Twelve years ago, I sat down to write a story about mathematics and murder and time"; and then I could not put the thing down until I finished at 12:45am. It delivered on its promise: with mathematics, and murder, and fractured time, and a beautifully understated bittersweet love story, and politics and spy intrigue in a fascinating alternate history.

Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life by Kate Rhéaume-Bleue. HEALTH
A fascinating book, if you're into this sort of thing. In short, it explains the newest research on why taking calcium supplements for bone health increases your risk of heart attack and stroke. The science is fairly simple, the data is well-presented in this book, and the conclusion is convincing. Eat the butter, people. Eat the butter.

The Western Lit Survival Kit: An Irreverent Guide to the Classics, from Homer to Faulkner by Sandra Newman. LITERARY CRITICISM
If you are considering getting an English Lit degree, why not just memorize this instead? You'll save time, you'll laugh more, and you'll still be able to chat knowingly about Restoration Drama when it comes up (as it does). I sometimes strongly disagree with Newman—and you probably will too—but I prefer literary criticism with personality rather than some ridiculous pretense of objectivity.

White House Interpreter: The Art of Interpretation by Harry Obst. LANGUAGES
The author is German-English interpreter who worked with seven U.S. Presidents. He does a brilliant job of mixing on-the-job anecdotes with non-technical descriptions of what an interpreter does, while throughout making the clear and illuminating point of why it is one of the most important jobs that is both desperately important and thoroughly overlooked (especially by Americans).

Wise Children by Angela Carter. LITERATURE
The sort of book which 99.9% of readers will find incomprehensible; the last .01% will adore. The "Wise Children" of the title are Nora and Dora Chance, twin sisters from a family of famous Shakespearean actors. The book is bawdy, hilarious, sad, gorgeous, crazy, nonlinear, wonderful.

Writing on the Wall: Social Media - The First 2,000 Years by Tom Standage. TECHNOLOGY
This is not, of course, really the history of what we think of when we say "social media"—MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. More accurately it's the history of all pre-centralized media. Highly recommended for anyone who wants an unputdownable book of social history.

The Zaanics Deceit by Nina Post. SUSPENSE
When asked if I'd review this, I read the blurb and first page before agreeing. Hmm, I said to myself. It takes place in Istanbul and San Francisco, concerns a manuscript in an invented language, makes direct nods to King Lear, and begins with a heroine with an anxiety disorder remotely managing a diamond heist. Did the author peek inside my head and write a book just for me? Do I want to read more? YES PLEASE. This is The Da Vinci Code for people who like books that are well-written and witty.

Longer reviews of all these books, and many others, are available on my blog, This Space Intentionally Left Blank. --Emma

Eric's Picks

All the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms by David Arora. FIELD GUIDE
Simply the best field guide for identifying mushrooms I have ever come across.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by John Krakauer. MOUNTAINEERING
I usually do not stay up past my bedtime to finish a book but this was such a powerful story that was so well told that I had to.

The Long Earth / The Long War / The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. SCIENCE FICTION
Two very different authors write one very beautiful series together.

Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska by Jim Pojar. FIELD GUIDE
Clear photos, great descriptions, info on lookalikes...some of the reasons why I have four copies of this book.

Revival by Stephen King. HORROR
True to the King philosophy of enjoying the ride of life without worrying about what happens after death.

Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore. FANTASY
The author restored my faith in his work (after "Fool") with this fantastic retelling of "Merchant of Venice" blended with "Othello".

A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Nonfiction by Terry Pratchett. FANTASY (ESSAYS)
Learning more about Alzheimer's and fedoras were just some of the benefits from reading this raw collection.

Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins. MEMOIR
We thought we knew everything about Tom Robbins from his fiction but this autobiography shed a whole new light on a very interesting life.

Tiger Shrimp Tango by Tim Dorsey. MYSTERY
The 17th Serge A. Storms book is on par with some of the best in the series. Accidental virgins and Mentos galore!

Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson. MOUNTAINEERING
The author is only alive today because of his stubbornness, skill, strength, and a huge amount of luck.

Fred's Picks

Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality by Michael Harner. SHAMANISM
This book on contemporary western neo-shamanic practices made me realize that shamanism was an open-ended system that could include Catholic saints as much as the spirit of a tree. I started shamanic journeying in earnest after reading this.

Coyote Medicine: Lessons From Native American Healing by Lewis Mehl-Madrona. SHAMANISM
A classic work on integration of modern medicine with Native American community healing. Full of beautiful and very funny stories, and very inspiring. I'm gradually getting all of his books.

Emissary Of Love: The Psychic Children Speak to the World by James F. Twyman. METAPHYSICS
Some believe that a new race of humans is developing on this planet, and this book makes a good case for it—as well as being an exciting travel story.

The Healing Light by Agnes Sanford. METAPHYSICS
Agnes stands right smack between Pentecostal Christianity and New Thought, too Christian for one and too New Age for the other. No one will own up to her, despite the fact that she was a powerful healer of bodies and souls. That's why I like her.

Intuitive Self-Healing: Achieve Balance and Wellness Through the Body's Energy Centers by Marie Manuchehri. ENERGY HEALING
One of many energy healing books written by western medical professionals, this is the best in class for this sort of book, giving practical exercises for changing your energy field. It was also a joy to read. I took two workshops with Marie as a result.

Lame Deer Seeker Of Visions by John (Fire) Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes. NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
Intense, mystical, ribald, deep, and very funny, this is no doubt the best book I've ever read written by a Native American.

The Magdalene Version: Secret Wisdom from a Gnostic Mystery School by Stuart Wilson and Joanna Prentis. METAPHYSICS
I have a strong focus on the Divine Feminine and this is the best of several books on Mary Magdalene that I read this year. It is a channeled book, but the teachings are coherent, powerful, and nicely placed half way between eastern and western traditions.

Pranic Healing by Choa Kok Sui. ENERGY HEALING
The first book that convinced me that energy healing could be learned out of a book. Detailed, but not too complex, written in a logical step by step style, this is one of my favorites on the subject.

Shamans of the World: Extraordinary First Person Accounts of Healings, Mysteries, and Miracles by Nancy Connor (ed.). SHAMANISM
A great introduction to many powerful shamans around the world, with much of the book told in their own words. I learned about many amazing teachers through this book, and proceeded to get more books on each of them.

You Are Psychic: The Art of Clairvoyant Reading and Healing by Debra Lynne Katz. METAPHYSICS
The best psychic development book I've read, giving simple exercises that when practiced do actually amp up your clairvoyance and other perceptual abilities. Full of common sense tips and interesting stories, it is a very good read even if you don't want to become a 'reader'.

Fred didn't give me a note about these since he considered his spiritual reading more important, but he also read every single one of Susan Mallery's Fool's Gold romance series. --Emma

Jimmy's Picks

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. LITERATURE
A book that blends its humor and tragedy so well you don't know which parts you should laugh or cry at, or both.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami. LITERATURE
I love Murakami. Even though this story might be less grandiose or surreal than most of his others, it packs a discrete wallop none the less.

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. SCIENCE FICTION
Timeless, classic science fiction at its very best. A futuristic cat-and-mouse chase showcasing Bester for all he's worth.

Joyland by Stephen King. HORROR
Hearkens back to vintage King of the early fifties. Oh wait... He wasn't writing then. Oh wait again... Maybe it was his doppelgänger.

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. HORROR
A tense vampire story set in Sweden. It's eerie and disturbing without verging into gratuitous territory. There will be blood.

The Necromancer's House by Christopher Buehlman. HORROR
A tale full of darkness and wonder by an emerging new voice in the horror/fantasy genre.

The People in the Trees by Yanya Hanagihara. LITERATURE
One of the only books I actually read from 2014. I'm a sucker for books with unlikeable protagonists and beautiful descriptions. Check and check.

Y: The Last Man Volumes #1-10 by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra. GRAPHIC NOVELS/SCIENCE FICTION
Multi-volume, post-apocalyptic, neo-soap opera-ish, globetrotting, medical thriller. One-sitting reading for sure.

The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2014 by Paula Guran (Ed.). HORROR
Catch up with some of the best writers in the genre working today. Standouts include: The Prayer of Ninety Cats, The Soul In The Bell Jar, The Good Husband, Phosphorous, and Termination Dust.

Honorable Mention

Magic for Beginners: Stories by Kelly Link. FANTASY
Emma read this first, then brought it in to work and foisted it on Jimmy and Eric insisting that they would also love it. We all do. Kelly Link will blow your mind over and over. If you like beautifully written, endlessly creative fantasy, check her out.

What to read after you've read George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 00:22:00 +0000

This is one of our most frequently asked questions. Usually we just wing it based on what we have on stock, but it seemed like it was time to make a list of our go-to books.

In all honestly, there really is nothing exactly like Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. (It's also called the Game of Thrones series after the first book and the HBO series, which airs under that name). He is the premier writer of dark, realistic fantasy. So don't expect any of these to be the same as his books. But they are all well-written fantasy series for adult readers

Neither I nor my coworkers have read everything on here, but I've read enough first chapters to assure myself that the writing is good, and pruned through enough reviews to have a reasonably good sense that they are all well-liked by most readers (4 to 5 stars on Amazon, and good reviews from my customers). That's why there are a couple of big-name authors whose books you will not find on this list. If there are 10+ books in a series but they start to stink after book six...who needs that? There's too much other fabulous stuff out there.

In alphabetical order by author's name.

Joe Abercrombie. First Law trilogy: The Blade Itself; Before They Are Hanged; Last Argument Of Kings

R. Scott Bakker. Prince of Nothing trilogy: The Darkness That Comes Before; The Warrior-Prophet; The Thousandfold Thought.

Anne Bishop. Black Jewels series: Daughter of the Blood; Heir to the Shadows; Queen of the Darkness; The Invisible Ring; Dreams Made Flesh; Tangled Webs; The Shadow Queen; Shalador's Lady; Twilight's Dawn.

Lois McMaster Bujold. Curse of Chalion series: The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, The Hallowed Hunt.

Lois McMaster Bujold. Sharing Knife series: Beguilement; Legacy; Passage; Horizon.

Jim Butcher. Codex Alera series: Furies of Calderon; Academ's Fury; Cursor's Fury; Captain's Fury; Princeps' Fury; First Lord's Fury.

Jacqueline Carey. Kushiel's Legacy series: Kushiel's Dart; Kushiel's Chosen; Kushiel's Avatar; Kushiel's Scion; Kushiel's Justice; Kushiel's Mercy; Naamah's Kiss; Naamah's Curse; Naamah's Blessing.

Glenn Cook. Black Company series: The Black Company; Shadows Linger; The White Rose; The Silver Spike.

Diane Duane. Tales of the Five: The Door into Fire; The Door into Shadow; The Door into Sunset.

David Anthony Durham. Acacia Trilogy: Acacia; The Other Lands; The Sacred Band.

Steven Erikson. Malazan Book of the Fallen series: Gardens of the Moon; Deadhouse Gates; Memories of Ice; House of Chains; Midnight Tides; The Bonehunters; Reaper's Gale; Toll the Hounds; Dust of Dreams; The Crippled God.

C. S. Friedman. Coldfire trilogy: Black Sun Rising; When True Night Falls; Crown of Shadows.

C. S. Friedman. Magister trilogy: Feast of Souls; The Wings of Wrath; Legacy of Kings.

Barbara Hambly. Darwath series. The Time of the Dark; The Walls of Air; The Armies of Daylight; Mother of Winter; Icefalcon's Quest

Barbara Hambly. Unschooled Wizard series. The Ladies of Mandrigyn; The Witches of Wenshar; The Dark Hand of Magic.

Robin Hobb. Farseer trilogy: Assassin's Apprentice; Royal Assassin; Assassin's Quest.

Robin Hobb. Liveship Traders trilogy: Ship of Magic; The Mad Ship; Ship of Destiny.

Robin Hobb. Tawny Man trilogy: Fool's Errand; The Golden Fool; Fool's Fate.

N. K. Jemisin. Inheritance trilogy: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms; The Broken Kingdoms; The Kingdom of Gods.

Guy Gavriel Kay. Two stand-alones: The Lions of Al-Rassan and Tigana.

Stephen King. The Dark Tower series: The Gunslinger; The Drawing of the Three; The Waste Lands; Wizard and Glass; Wolves of the Calla; Song of Susannah; The Dark Tower; The Wind Through the Keyhole.

Scott Lynch. Gentleman Bastard series. The Lies of Locke Lamora; Red Seas Under Red Skies; The Republic of Thieves.

Naomi Novik. Temeraire series: Temeraire (aka His Majesty's Dragon); The Throne of Jade; Black Powder War; Empire of Ivory; Victory of Eagles; Tongues of Serpents; Crucible of Gold; Blood of Tyrants.

Patrick Rothfuss. Kingkiller Chronicles. The Name of the Wind; The Wise Man's Fear.

Brandon Sanderson. Mistborn series: The Final Empire; The Well of Ascension; The Hero of Ages; The Alloy of Law.

Matthew Stover. Overworld series: Heroes Die; Blade of Tyshall.

Judith Tarr. Avaryan Rising series: The Hall of the Mountain King; The Lady of Han-Gilen; A Fall of Princes; Arrows of the Sun; Spear of Heaven; Tides of Darkness.

J. R. R. Tolkien. Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King.

Brent Weeks. Night Angel trilogy: The Way of Shadows; Shadow's Edge; Beyond the Shadows.

Tad Williams. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy: The Dragonbone Chair; The Stone of Farewell; To Green Angel Tower (which is published in two volumes as Part 1 and Part 2).

Gene Wolfe. Urth: Book of the New Sun series. The Shadow of the Torturer; The Claw of the Conciliator; The Sword of the Lictor; The Citadel of the Autarch; The Urth of the New Sun.

A nice reference describing some of these works is io9's article 10 Great Fantasy Series to Read While You’re Waiting for George R.R. Martin’s Next Book.

It's time for an episode of..."There's Nothing New Under the Sun"!

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:52:00 +0000

I don't know, Doctor, it just appeared there one day

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:59:00 +0000

$5 gift certificates for you and a friend!

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:10:00 +0000

Already a Pegasus aficionado? Thanks - we love you guys! We want to give you a present...and your friends, too.

It's a safe bet you probably know at least one person who has some extra books, but doesn't know that we would love to have them. All you have to do is tell them about us, and when they set up a new account, you both get a $5 gift certificate. Easy peasy!

(Tell your friend to give us the name on your account when they come in; we'll put the $5 right on your card. Or if you don't have an account because you're like "you can pry my books from my cold, dead fingers," that's okay - we'll just write your name down in the file so you can get your $5.)

While we may discontinue this promotion at some point, there are no limits to how many times you can use it while it's going on. So, refer four people, get $20 in gift certificates! Share this post - spread the word!

Our trade policies

Pegasus Book Exchange
4553 California Ave. SW,
Seattle WA, 98116
206.937.5410

I'm glad we've established that

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:55:00 +0000

The real mystery is what the publisher was thinking when they gave it this title.

Maybe not the best message

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:43:00 +0000

She should have started by saying no to that sweater. And then to those eyebrows.

And to that creepy, creepy smile.

$1 sale starting EARLY!

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 22:26:00 +0000

During the West Seattle Summerfest, we'll be putting out thousands of books for $1 each. And as if that wasn't cool enough...we've started EARLY! From 7/7 through the end of Summerfest on 7/15.

Why, do you ask?

Well, because our back room looks like THIS:

Come and get 'em! All of our $3 bargain books, plus tons of other stuff, are all $1 each (tax included, no use of trade credit).

Help! I'm being absorbed by a...ghost. I mean...a snowman. Oh, just NEVER MIND.

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:29:00 +0000

But Jimmy thinks it's a giant melted marshmallow man.

Psst! Want to know Pegasus's best-kept secret?

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:41:00 +0000

Want to lose weight? Or do you want to run a marathon, learn a martial art, or get more flexible with yoga? Want to get pregnant or figure out what the heck to do with the kid you already have? Or get inspired by a great sports bio? Or become a sex god?

A little known fact about Pegasus: We have hundreds of nutrition, health, parenting, sex and sports books in our back room. Yep, the room past the exit sign that looks suspiciously employees-only, with the sorting area on one side. But there are awesome books for sale back there as well - all nicely organized for browsing. Come check 'em out!

You can park behind the store and come in the back door, too. It's always open!

An interesting choice for an "ex libris" sticker

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:20:00 +0000

Or is this the previous owner's rating system? Not a fan of Patrick O'Brian perhaps?

I don't really need this eyepatch, but it makes me look SO studly

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:44:00 +0000

Emma's Pick "Ella Minnow Pea" by Mark Dunn

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:40:00 +0000

Emma's review:

Thumbs up for Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. Literature.

This is what I call a "bath book" - a book of 200 pages or less that I can read over the length of one (very long) bath. And a most delightful bath book it is. It is a novel in letters (I won't be poncy and call it "epistolary"), mostly sent between two teenage cousins who live on opposite sides of the hyper-literate island nation Nollop, which floats off the coast of the southern US. Most likely Nollop is a charming place to live, but the problem is, the local council of elders has gone bonkers and is outlawing the use of certain letters,one by one.... [view the rest of the review on Emma's blog]

No need to be embarrassed, from Bookshelf

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Tue, 22 May 2012 23:17:00 +0000

From Bookshelf:

Bookshelf: Fold Out-Fold up: The idea is that you fold them out to cover anything shameful you might have behind. So if you have an embarrassing book case with lots o...

Emma's Pick: "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:15:00 +0000

Both Emma and Kyrsten loved this! And the sequel, Insurgent, is equally good!

Here's Emma's review:

Thumbs up for Divergent by Veronica Roth. Young adult science fiction.

Should we encourage the authors of Hunger Games knockoffs who write stories about underestimated, scrappy heroines who overcome intense personal danger, fight against a corrupt dystopian society, and find love with a hot boy? Well...if they're Veronica Roth, we should. I couldn't put Divergent down.... [view the rest of the review on Emma's blog]

Can we give you books?

noreply@blogger.com (Pegasus Book Exchange) — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:54:00 +0000

We are looking for a charity or school who can pick up books for donation at least once a week. We generally have between 8-20 boxes of miscellaneous books, including children's books, technical books, novels of all types, nonfiction...you name it. We need someone who will take them all on a consistent schedule.

Is that you? Or if it isn't you, will you pass the message on?

If you're interested, give us a call at 206.937.5410 or drop us an email at pegasusbookexchange AT gmail.com