Busy... Busy... Busy!

Just wanted to take a quick moment and let everyone know I am alive and well. Been very busy with working two jobs and the Master's class. I'm working this weekend at my second job,,, Hope to be able to get some postings in the next few days, including a look at some upcoming new additions to my Bonanzle booth.

Rick Brant Guide by James Ogden

For anyone interested in collecting the Rick Brant series, let me recommend you pick up a copy of James Ogden's Rick Brant Guide. It can be purchased from Spindrift Books ( www.spindriftbooks.com/guide.html) and is available as a CD-Rom. The book is in it's second edition, and is very helpful in identifying the various printings of each of the Rick Brant titles.

I took the time to copy mine onto paper, and had it bound at a local Staples. It is a nice copy that I refer to when I am looking at a book trying to determine if I want to buy it. I have had the good fortune of finding a few first printings, and use the book to guide me finding more first printings.

Spindrift Books also sells some reprints of later titles in the Rick Brant series that are hard to find in their original formats. They feature as well copies of the Hal Goodwin penned The Feathered Cape, a book I have never read, but many consider a wonderful book from the Rick Brant creator.

If you are a Rick Brant collector, and don't have Mr. Ogden's excellent guide, I encourage you to pick one up!

The Secret of the Lost Tunnel

Among my earliest series book reading picks were The Hardy Boys. Adventures with Frank and Joe led me on many thrilling journeys that included haunted houses, hidden treasure, and sneaky spies. I had several of the blue PC editions from the sixties, and many were probably original text PC's that I am sorry have disappeared over the years.

I am especially fond of the original text version of The Secret of the Lost Tunnel. The boys travel south in an effort to vindicate the good name of a Confederate Civil War general. He was accused of stealing gold from a bank, and the boys work hard to help clear up the mystery. I have only read the original text version, but upon searching the title on Google, the revised text appears to be a condensed version of the same story.

I love Civil War stories, and anything set in the South. Ghostwriter Andrew Svensen did a great job, in my opinion, fleshing out the characters and creating an interesting read. As a child, I enjoyed books that had boys investigating abandoned mines and tunnels. We had large drainage pipes in our community, and my friends and I would light candles and explore the underground maze of pipes. It was real life Tom Sawyer type adventure! We never ran across Injun Joe, thank goodness!

The Hardy Boys series continues to delight children, and the books continue to sell on Ebay and Bonanzle. I have several nice copies in my Bonanzle Booth, and of course the revised text books are available in the cheap Flashlight editions. If you don't remember this one, pick up a copy and read it! You'll enjoy the mystery.