M.J. Rose

The highly strange book we are all probably aware of is the Voynich Manuscript. Mysterious in so many ways because we have no idea who wrote it and no clue what it’s about. The Codex Seraphinianus is arguably just as mysteries, despite the fact that we know who wrote it and he is still alive today!

Codex Seraphinianus: A new edition of the strangest book in the world

(Dangerous Minds)

skeletons-in-waiting

“In October Rizzoli will be republishing what is regarded by many to be the strangest book in the world, the Codex Seraphinianus. The Codex is unlike other historically well-known strange books (such as the Voynich Manuscript), in that the author of the book is not only known (Luigi Serafini is his name), he’s still alive. But the book is just so damned strange that it has accumulated a veritable industry of speculation about its meaning, deeper origins, and whether the language in which it is written actually has any syntax or not. Serafini has said relatively little about it himself over the years, and denies that the script has any meaning, but no one really believes that, including me.

My fascination with the Codex Seraphinianus dates back to the early 1980s when it was published and when I was working in a Waldenbooks store on Montague Street in Brooklyn, known to other stores as “The Zoo” because of the cast of characters who worked there. Some of the customers recognized me as a kindred spirit so they’d come in, shoot the shit, and we’d discuss weird books and other stuff until Bob, my manager, gave me a “look” or told me to work the register. Bob was cool actually, and didn’t mind at all that I’d come in to work totally baked because I not only had tunnel vision at the register and was super-accurate, I’d get bored and order up books for the Sci-Fi, Philosophy and Religion sections and my books would sell pretty quickly. Phillip K Dick? Stanislaw Lem? Lama Anagarika Govinda? Kierkegaard? You bet I stocked ‘em. I kept all their books on the shelves….”

For the complete article and some amazing photographs, go to DANGEROUS MINDS.

A bundle of books that illuminate the dark, dangerous choices people make when everything that matters is on the line…a whole thrilling bundle of FULL-LENGTH NOVELS all for just $.99.

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CJ Lyons, Melissa Foster, Russell Blake, Kathleen Shoop, Jenna Bennett, Katia Lief and me –  give you thrilling tales, erotic confessions, spine-tingling twists, smothering fog, family secrets, and unexpected loss all lead to DESPERATE ACTS.

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Rejoice! A long lost stash of very old fairytales has been found. 500 of them!

Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany

by Victoria Sussens-Messerer (The Guardian)

Collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years

Spinning a yarn … King Golden Hair, one of the newly-discovered fairytales. Illustration: Barbara Stefan

“A whole new world of magic animals, brave young princes and evil witches has come to light with the discovery of 500 new fairytales, which were locked away in an archive in Regensburg, Germany for over 150 years. The tales are part of a collection of myths, legends and fairytales, gathered by the local historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (1810–1886) in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz at about the same time as the Grimm brothers were collecting the fairytales that have since charmed adults and children around the world…”

Read one of the fairytales: The Turnip Princess

For the complete story click here. For more fairytale interest, click here for Shockheaded Peter (Der Struwwelpeter).