Avalon.ph Blog

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
The Solitudes (The Aegypt Cycle) by John Crowley
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A Calculated Risk by Katherine Neville (Hardbound)
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (RARE Advance Reading Copy)
Hers 3: Brilliant New Fiction by Lesbian Writers
Herotica 5: A New Collection of Women’s Erotic Fiction
Adrienne Rich: Poems – Selected and New, 1950-1974
Pablo Neruda: Antologia esencial (All Spanish)
The Paris Review: Fortieth Anniversary Issue
I Want Candy by Kim Wong Keltner
Second Chance by Jane Green
She Went All The Way by Meg Cabot
Big Boned by Meg Cabot

The 10 Best of Everything: An Ultimate Guide for Travelers
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (Hardbound)
Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book
International Dictionary of Gastronomy by Guido Gomez de Silva
The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm
The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms
The Top 100 Immunity Boosters by Charlotte Haigh
Che Guevara: Revolutionary & Icon by Trisha Ziff
Mental Floss: What’s the Difference?
Pornology by Ayn Carrillo-Gailey (Relationships)
Useless Sexual Trivia by Shane Mooney
Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering by Henry Petroski
Perplexing Puzzles and Tantalizing Teasers by Martin Gardner
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Weddings
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Work
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: College
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature by Brian Stableford (HB Rare)

Back in Stock:

Shaking A Leg: Collected Writings by Angela Carter
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
Written On The Body by Jeanette Winterson
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Anything Considered by Peter Mayle
A Good Year by Peter Mayle
Ulysses by James Joyce (Leatherbound, Facsimile of 1922 ed.)
The Best American Erotica 2005 (Edited by Susie Bright)
The New Kings of Nonfiction (Gladwell, Orlean & more)
Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Play Cover)
Playback: From Victrola to MP3… by Mark Coleman (HB)
Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction by Dan Simmons
More Wandering Stars: Anthology of Jewish Fantasy & SF
The Mammoth Book of New Historical Whodunits
The Ultimate Alien (Clarke, Silverberg, McCaffrey..)
The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories
McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (Edited by Michael Chabon)
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft
No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Story-Teller: Thirteen Tales by Saki
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith (Rackham)
Stories From A Ming Collection: The Art of the Chinese Story-Teller
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (Hardbound)
Reflections on The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (HB)
Buddha Baby by Kim Wong Keltner
The Big U by Neal Stephenson
Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction
Yellow Silk: Erotic Arts and Letters
Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry (Billy Collins)
180 more: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day (Billy Collins)

How to Eat: The Pleasure and Principles of Good Food by Nigella Lawson (Hardcover)
Unexplained Phenomena: A Rough Guide Special
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (Hardbound)
The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (3rd Edition)
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose (Hardbound)
The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson
Mental Floss: Genius Instruction Manual
What’s Science Ever Done For Us? (The Simpsons) by Paul Halpern
Eat This! 1,001 Things to Eat Before You Diet by Ian Jackman
Secret Weapons of World War II by William B. Breuer
Was Napoleon Poisoned: and Other Unsolved Mysteries of Royal History
Queer 13: Lesbian and Gay Writers Recall Seventh Grade
The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality
Human Monsters : An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World’s Most Vicious Murderers
The Portable Obituary: How the Famous, Rich, and Powerful Really Died by Michael Largo
The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism by Karen Armstrong
The Riddles of the Sphinx.. and the Puzzles… by David J. Bodycombe
The James Beard Cookbook (3rd Revised Edition)

Back in Stock:

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist (HB)
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003 (Dave Eggers)
The Music of the Primes: Mathematics Mystery
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Hardbound)
Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Girl Anatomy by Rebecca Bloom (Hardbound)
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
The Holy Grail: Its Origins, Secrets & Meaning Revealed
The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest… by A.J. Jacobs
Anime Poster Art: Japan’s Movie House Masterpieces
Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart (Daily Show)
The Short Story: 50 Masterpieces (Edited by Ellen C. Wynn)

Happy shopping!

www.avalon.ph

Fiction:

The Dream Stealer by Gregory Maguire (Hardbound)
The Gryphon by Nick Bantock (Hardbound)
The Golden Mean by Nick Bantock (Hardbound)
Alexandria by Nick Bantock (Hardbound)
The Best American Erotica 2005 (Edited by Susie Bright)
Red Bird: Poems by Mary Oliver (Hardbound)
For One More Day by Mitch Albom (Hardbound)
The Best Horror from Fantasy Tales
New Worlds: An Anthology (Edited by Michael Moorcock)
The Call of the Toad by Gunter Grass
Little Birds: Erotica by Anais Nin
The Mammoth Book of Women’s Erotic Fantasies
The Sleeping Beauty Erotic Trilogy by Anne Rice
Primavera by Francesca Lia Block
Beautiful Boys by Francesca Lia Block
Fluke: Or, I Know Why … by Christopher Moore (Hardbound)
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore

Non-Fiction:

The High Times Reader (Warhol, Burroughs, Zappa, etc)
The Mammoth Book of Dirty, Sick, X-Rated & Politically Incorrect Jokes
The Dark Side of the Moon: The Making of the Pink Floyd Masterpiece (HB)
The New Kings of Nonfiction (Gladwell, Orlean & more)
Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Death by PowerPoint: A Modern Office Survival Guide
Bad vs Worse: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lose-Lose Decisions
Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation
Dictionary of Subjects & Symbols in Art by James Hall
Horror: 100 Best Books (Edited by Stephen Jones & Kim Newman)
Horror: Another 100 Best Books (Edited by Stephen Jones & Kim Newman)
Writing: The Story of Alphabets and Scripts
The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2006
Are You Crazy?: 18 Scientific Quizzes to Test Yourself
The Whole Truth: A Compendium of Myths, Mistakes & Misconceptions
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman

Back in Stock:

Clever Maids: The Secret History of The Grimm Fairy Tales by Valerie Paradiz
Darwin: The Indelible Stamp (HB 4-in-1, Best of Darwin)
The BEST-Case Scenario Handbook: A Parody
Generation X by Douglas Coupland
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Can a Guy Get Pregnant? Scientific Answers to Everyday Questions (HB)
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
1,000 Places To See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List
The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
Delta of Venus: Erotica by Anais Nin

Happy Shopping!

www.avalon.ph

Unsorted:

The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri (1972)
Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman
Tatterhood and Other Tales
The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera
Exterminator! by William S. Burroughs
The Government Manual for New Wizards
Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage by Kurt Vonnegut
Angels & Insects: Two Novellas by A.S. Byatt
How Rich Countries Got Rich… and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor by Erik S. Reinert (HB)
100 selected poems by e.e. cummings
Food: True Stories of Life on the Road (Travelers’ Tales)
Slam by Nick Hornby (Hardbound)
Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman
The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories (Bradbury, Matheson)
A Song for Lya by George R.R. Martin
Richard Matheson: Collected Stories Vol. 1
Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto
Just Curious, Jeeves : What Are The 1001 Most Intriguing Questions..
Surely, You’re Joking.. + What Do You Care… Richard P. Feynman 2-in-1
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (HB)
The Works of H.G. Wells (Leatherbound Collection)
The Awful Truths: Famous Myths, Hilariously Debunked
The Best American Poetry 1991 (Mark Strand)

Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Introducing Postmodernism (Comic Book Form)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
The Vintage Bradbury by Ray Bradbury
Good Benito by Alan Lightman (Einstein’s Dreams)
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie
Identity by Milan Kundera
Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Directory of Possibilities by Colin Wilson & John Grant
Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles by David Thomson
Cosmic Critiques: How & Why Ten Science Fiction Stories Work
The Lost Wine: Seven Centuries of French into English Lyrical Poetry by John Theobald
The Best American Poetry 2000 (Rita Dove, Guest Editor)
Numbers in the Dark and Other Stories by Italo Calvino
Origami Sourcebook: Beautiful Projects & Mythical Characters by Jay Ansill
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman
Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan
The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Atonement by Ian McEwan (Movie Cover)

Happy shopping!

www.avalon.ph

Anvil Publishing launched “Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories” by Yvette Tan yesterday August 15 at Powerbooks, SM Megamall.

Yvette Tan is an Avalon.ph client of more than 8 years patronizing books and Moleskine notebooks. Through the years she’s not just a regular customer but someone whom I considered a friend.

Ms. Yvette Tan took some time to answer three questions we submitted.

Avalon.ph: What kind of experience awaits those who will read “Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories”?

Yvette: I think they’re in for a lot of weirdness. The weirdest thing being that the stories in the book aren’t strictly horror. I’d like to think that they’re more stories about when reality goes a bit awry. I guess it;s because I never really set out to write what people call ‘horror.’ I got stuck with the label when people started coming up and saying my stories kept me up at night (my mom was not so lucky. She got people coming up to her asking why her weird daughter wrote such nasty stories). So what to expect from Waking the Dead? Expect a Philippines that is familiar yet totally different from the one we live in.

Avalon.ph: Which story in “Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories” had the  most changes from idea to draft to final print and why?

Yvette: You should have seen the last draft I submitted to the publishers! Half of it was marked in red. I took out a lot of stuff, tightened the stories, so that what you have now is a faster, better read. I like the idea of my stories being easy to read. I mean, I like books that are easy to read, so why should the things I write be any different? I think the tight edit has worked – people have told me (or each other, mostly on Twitter) that the stories they’ve read so far have bothered them, kept them up at night, and made them google certain bridges. One is a TV executive, one is a musician and one works in a men’s magazine. So it’s really a book for everyone.

Avalon.ph: Let’s face it, a lot of readers were introduced to reading books or fiction through Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code or the Twilight series. Why do you think they should pick up “Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories” as their next read?

Yvette: Because Waking the Dead is not like the Da Vinci Code or Twilight or Harry Potter. There can only be one Dan Brown, one Stephanie Meyer, one JK Rowling. Also, because after reading such long books, I’m sure readers would want to rest with a bunch of shorter stuff. Like the stuff in Waking the Dead, for example. Also, the book contains a lot of familiar characters in unfamiliar settings. I’d like to think that it’s very Filipino, but unfamiliarly so. You know, you read a story that has a kapre in it and you say ‘That’s just fiction. That couldn’t happen to me.’ But since you’re Filipino, that thought is immediately followed by ‘… Or could it?’

Yvette Tan’s comments about Avalon.ph: “I have been an Avalon.ph book buyer for almost a decade now. No better place to get hard-to-find, quality literature. I have also Avalon.ph to blame for my addiction to Moleskines. Once you go black, you can never go back.”

Thank you Yvette!

For a review of Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories check out the Inquirer.net link.

You can also check out Yvette Tan’s blog on Adventures in TV Land: the misadventures of a media mercenary. You can follow her Twitter account: glossmania.

Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories by Yvette Tan, signed by the author, is also available on Avalon.ph for Php285.00.

Fiction:

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (HB, 50th Anniversary Ed.)
All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland (HB)
Science Fiction of the 30‘s (Edited by Damon Knight)
Einstein’s Dreams (RARE Hardbound Slip-Case edition, SIGNED)

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (SIGNED HB, Remastered Full-Color Edition)
Starlight 3 (Ted Chiang, Susanna Clarke, Jane Yolen, etc)
One Man’s Bible by Gao Xingjian
Belinda by Anne Rice
The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende
The Works of Jules Verne (Leatherbound Edition)
The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel (with Audio CD)
Peter Beagle’s The Immortal Unicorn (Hardbound)
Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams by Sylvia Plath
The Chronicles of Narnia (Complete, Movie Cover)
Adverbs by Daniel Handler
Watch Your Mouth by Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket)
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (Legendary SF Classic)
A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories by Ray Bradbury
The Cat’s Pajamas Stories by Ray Bradbury
The Color of Love: An Artist’s Book of Poetry & Passion
Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke
The Collected Poems: Sylvia Plath

Non-Fiction:

A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future by Charles Van Doren
Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast by Nigella Lawson (Hardcover)
Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson (Hardcover)
Feast: Food to Celebrate Life by Nigella Lawson (Hardbound)
How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson (Hardbound)
The Cannabis Companion: The Ultimate Guide to Connoisseurship by Steven Wishnia
Marijuana Grower’s Insider Guide by Mel Frank
Sadomasochism by Hans-Jurgen Dopp (Hardbound)
The Kiss by Hans-Jurgen Dopp (Hardbound)
New Ideas From Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought
The Little Book of Forensics by David Owen
Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution
Mathematical Brain Benders by Stephen Barr
The Eureka Effect: The Art and Logic of Breakthrough Thinking by David Perkins
Letters of E.B. White (Revised Edition)
Everything I Know About Business I Learned From Monopoly
Monopoly: The World’s Most Famous Game & How It Got That Way
Publicity Stunt! Great Staged Events That Made The News
My Invented Country by Isabel Allende
The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard (Hardbound)
Dream Makers, Vol. 2: The Uncommon Men & Women Who Write Science Fiction
The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski
Field Guide to Tools by John Kelsey
The Encyclopedia of Kidnappings (374pp, 2002 edition)
Encyclopedia of The FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List: 1950-Present
Quirky QWERTY: A Biography of the Typewriter and its Many Characters
Simple & Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers by Jacques Barzun
Scatterbrained: Connecting the World in 486 Mind-blowing Facts
What Are You Optimistic About? Today’s Leading Thinkers on Why Things are Good and Getting Better
The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (Hardbound, Ralph Steadman)
Bradbury Speaks: Essays on the Past, Future, Everything
Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater by Alan Richman
Where Do Nudists Keep Their Hankies? by Mitchell Symons
Why Girls Can’t Throw.. and other questions you always wanted answered
Mental Floss Presents: In the Beginning…
The Professor & the Madman (Dictionary Origin)

Happy Shopping! Check them out at www.avalon.ph.