Alright, I don't known any of those first nine authors either but I do know Whitley Strieber. His best-seller, "Communion," was released in the time I worked at a bookstore and people were talking about it. Somewhere, I still have a pin that was given out to promote it (or was it the movie?).

Getting back to some cards...here's #414, Eric Bogosian.

Card 748. Phil Lesh.

Phil Lesh played bass for the Grateful Dead. This card promotes his 2005 memoir, "Searching for the Sound: My Life with The Grateful Dead." Unlike most of the cards, this one is dated on the back.

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Card 515. Xaviera Hollander.

In his thread "A far from Complete History of Booksmith Author Cards," Thomas referred to Hollander as a "porn star" but she is actually more accomplished than that. She was a call girl in the late 60's and then managed her own bordello by the early 70's. She wrote about her experiences in explicit detail in a few books back then and they inspired three mainstream movies across the 70's. She became famous enough that Johnny Carson joked about her at least a couple of times in his monologues (though he called her "Xavier" instead of "Xaviera" - pronounced zah-vee-air-uh). She has since written several more nonfiction and fiction books.

The card promotes her 2002 autobiography, "Child No More," and she signed this particular one.

Card 519. James Ellroy.

This card promotes his 2001 novel, "The Cold Six Thousand." The same photo is on card #872 with a photo of Bruce Wagner, one of a small group of cards from the series that show two authors.

John,

I've read everything I could find about these cards including the backs of the ones I have and one thing I noticed is that some of the authors are said to be from (or have lived in) the San Francisco Bay Area. One of the authors even lived close to the bookstore. We'd have to assume a lot more cards from the series also promote local people (e.g. mystery writer, Susan Dunlap), and even though I've always lived within about 60 miles south of SF and have attended signing events, I don't recognize a lot of the names either. However, I'm also sure there are well-read mystery fans elsewhere who do know of Dunlap.

Jess

From early in the series, Card #7, which promotes Susan Dunlap's 1993 mystery novel, "Time Expired."

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
Jess

Having just looked through the complete Booksmith listing I reckon there is a maximum of 25 names I am familiar with as some are musicians and from the acting world. Of their books it might be possible that I have read less than five especially if they were of the coffee table type.

John

Jess

Many thanks for the info. I have looked on my county library website and to my surprise they list two of her books with both being available only in 'large print' and in library branches that are not local to me so it may take a while to find a suitable copy.

regards

John

Card 751, Camille Paglia.

It promotes her 2005 literary analysis, "Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-Three of the World's Best Poems." Like the Phil Lesh card and unlike most cards in the series, this one is dated on the back.

Card 833. Gary Hart.

It promotes his 2005 publication, "God and Caesar in America: An Essay on Religion and Politics."

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
unlike most cards in the series, this one is dated on the back.

Is this what you meant to say? Cause pretty much every card pictured in this thread has a date on the back.

I meant the year which is printed in tiny type in the lower right margin on the back. On most cards I've seen, the year isn't printed.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
unlike most cards in the series, this one is dated on the back.

Is this what you meant to say? Cause pretty much every card pictured in this thread has a date on the back.

Card 858. John Dean.

Somewhere between #751 (Camille Paglia) and 833 (Gary Hart) the cards reached the end of 2005 and started 2006. The Hart card is dated 2006 and so is this Dean card.

When most people sign their cards, they sign the front but Dean signed this one on the back.

Dean was White House Counsel during Nixon's second term and the Watergate scandal and then I saw him on a political talk show last year commenting on current events. I figured he had to be well into his 90's but he's 84 so he was in his 30's in the early 70's. Is he the youngest White House Counsel in history?

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I meant the year which is printed in tiny type in the lower right margin on the back. On most cards I've seen, the year isn't printed.

Ah, thanks. Now I understand.

I think I have enough cards now to give a bare-bones review of how they changed across the series. I probably should've done it this way earlier in the thread to keep it chronologic but I didn't have as many cards then. Anyway, the changes were nothing major. A logo added then later changed then removed is the short version. I've shown card #1 and 7 earlier in this thread. Here's card #6. Linda Grant. It promotes the 1992 paperback release of Linda Grant's 1991 mystery novel, "Love nor Money," but the signing event took place in May 1993.

Fantastic stuff, Jess. Thank you!

Hi Todd,

No problem, Todd. I still have more to show including a couple from near the end of the run.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by pcetodd:
Fantastic stuff, Jess. Thank you!

Card 14. Cecile Pineda.

Like the #6 card the name on the front is printed in bold type.

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Card 21. Susan Gordon Lydon.

Card 23. Roger Kahn.

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Unnumbered card. Paul Krassner.

Here's one of the unnumbered cards from the series. I don't know if it was made before the store thought to number them or if it was a printing error. Thomas recently assigned it to #25 which actually fits the timeline and no #25 was ever printed.

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