Captain's Log: Mystical Book Magic
by Jeffrey A. Rothermel
December 6, 2024
The Captain's Log
MYSTICAL BOOK MAGIC
(Part Five of the Dungeon Cooking Chronicles)
It is difficult to predict what books will walk through the Captain's Book Shoppe doorway. Once they enter, I attempt to read the book's possible future with Captain's Book Shoppe. Will someone be interested in this item? If yes, how much would they pay? How likely is it that I can connect a buyer with this book? How long will it take before the book-buy magic occurs?
Having an open bookshop has advantages. One advantage is that the books find me. They truly, walk through the doorway - unannounced. This feat is arguably, a physical impossibility. Can a book actually walk into a bookshop? The magic of a bookstore is yes, of course books can walk into the shoppe. (Similar to Gandolf arriving at Bilbo Baggins home, unannounced.) Those are great moments. Every book goes through the same process. It gets an initial examination.
The anatomy of a book has humanistic qualities. There is the head, spine and foot of a book. (What I call the foot of the book, book expert John Carter called the tail.) You rarely hear a bookseller talk about a book's hand. The hand contains the palm. The essence of bookselling is like reading a book's palm.
Before we examine the secrets of palm reading
Let us quickly summarize previous
Dungeon Cooking Chronicles.[1]
Previously in The Dungeon Cooking Chronicles: I discussed the mishap of my broken finger which occurred this past Spring. It took a considerable amount of time for the missing fingernail to grow back. We resume the Dungeon Cooking Chronicles with me holding a book published in 1900 by Rand McNally (Fourteenth Edition). It is 162 pages of prose about palm reading with 54 plates of palm prints. The below picture is my healed hand holding what is claimed to be Mark Twain's handprint.
Believe it, or not.
CHEIRO's Language of the Hand, A Complete Practical Work on the Sciences of Cheirognomy and Cheiromancy, Containing the System, Rules, and Experience of CHEIRO.
The book even disclosed what can be determined by looking at fingernails. What did the author way back in the year 1900 write about broken fingers?
I could disclose the answer, but I am in the bookselling business. It is probably best that you examine the book and find out for yourself to confirm that it says nothing about broken fingers and the wonders of modern medicine.
The life of a bookseller is filled with investigating leads about interesting books to determine what people considered reality, science, truth or _________?
Reality can sometimes be unbelievable.
Believe it, or Not
One recent Thursday evening I was getting ready to close the bookshop. A customer came in and did some extensive browsing. He bought a variety of books to include a cookbook. It reminded me of a 1970's pamphlet called "How to Make Money Selling Books. A fool-proof formula for turning a spare time hobby into cash."
Chapter Eight stated: “The inherent affection a woman experiences for cookbooks is as permanent as womanhood. Therefore a dealer’s well-dressed book shelf should carry a wide variety of items pertaining to the culinary art.” (Marjorie M. and Donald L. Hinds, HOW TO MAKE MONEY BUYING AND SELLING OLD BOOKS. 1970, p 26).
Not everything one reads on the internet is factually true. [Reminds me of the internet meme: "Don't believe everything you read on the internet." Abraham Lincoln.]
Additionally, just because it was printed in a book does not make it a historical fact of the time period. Deciphering if the authors were using dry wit and sarcasm is often difficult to determine. Maybe one day I will research the male and female sales numbers for cookbooks in the late 1960s. There are so many other things to do in a bookstore, that I doubt I will track down the data. Many things have changed since Marjorie and Donald Hinds wrote about buying and selling books. One thing is very certain today, men buy cookbooks. So too, do women. I have no idea who was buying cookbooks in the late 1960s. Were the Hinds using dry humor?
Bookstores deal in obvious secrets.
Cookbooks [food & drink] along with science-fiction/fantasy
are some of the books that people hunt and trade.
That night, a full week prior to the new Fine Books Magazine arriving at the store via the U.S. Postal Service, I was struck with the renewed realization that cookbooks still remain a foundational "dry-good" to my business model: a used bookstore. Everyone has to eat. What we eat will vary, but almost everyone has the skillsets to evaluate what is written in a cookbook.
The story goes that in 1944, restauranter Victor Jules Bergeron invented the Mai Tai rum drink in Oakland, California. Today there are 25 restaurants in 11 countries called "Trader Vic's."[2] I didn't know any of those tidbits of information before I opened up an 8.5 inch tall, hardbound book. It was a cookbook with recipes from 1973 published by Doubleday. It was a BOOK CLUB EDITION. I became curious to know what type of cookbook would have a First Edition print run, and also a book club run with a dust jacket. A little digging revealed America apparently bought the food recipes made by the inventor [marketer] of rum drinks. Who knew?
The question is, are people still interested in Trader Vic's recipes? I decided to find out and invest some more time in determining the relevance and demand for a 1970 book club cookbook that has seen better days. Trader Vic's Book of Mexican Cooking actually has three recipes for chili. His other books include:
Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink
Trader Vic's Pacific Island Cookbook
Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide
Frankly Speaking (Autobiography)
The previous owner noted in January of 1979 that the chili recipe on page 186 was "vg" [very good].
There are multiple steps to making great chili. There is, of course, the ingredients. Some items are prepared, cooked and then mixed into the pot. Then, prior to serving there is the dairy products such as cheese and sour cream. Some put fresh, cut, green onions on the final serving. Regardless of whichever cookbook that you choose to acquire from Captain's Book Shoppe, there is a tip that the Captain (me) - might disclose concerning chili- should we talk cookbooks. There is, indeed, a secret process to the Captain's Dungeons and Dragons chili. Stop by the store, buy a cookbook- and perhaps I will tell you how the secret was discovered.
Thirty-six hours prior to the Bookshop Gang meeting on November 23, 2024 for an evening of Dungeons and Dragons gaming, Mrs. Rothermel was brewing the chili. The Captain's SECRET to fantastic chili is that it was cooked twice, prior to the third cooking and final serving. Recipes are repeatedly tested by the Bookshop Gang. It was a batch, that everyone dished up seconds.
Where can you find great recipes [books of magic]?
Captain's Book Shoppe LLC
1570 S. 1st Ave, Suite H
Iowa City, Iowa 52240 USA
Store Phone: (319) 351-3155
Used bookstores have a few things in common with a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. A dwarven fighter typically does not covet or look through a spell book when hunting for treasure in the lair of a dragon. Many a book browser will glance over the cookbooks, until that one cook, chef, or baker comes into the store. They will stop and spend a vast amount of time in the cookbook section, just as a wizard will stop to examine the spell books. Each book normally has a target audience.
Books find and speak to people. Believe it or not.
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't yet played Dragon of Icespire Peak (ISBN 978-0-7869-6683-7), and more specifically been to the Circle of Thunder in Neverwinter Wood, please do not continue reading- if you desire the thrill of a surprise in that game. The Captain is about to disclose what was discovered at the Circle of Thunder in the Neverwinter Wood. It left our dwarf, Bill Red Beard without a beard.
Read No Further
You Have Been Warned
Secret Spoiler about to be Revealed
The bookshop gang met on July 6, then on August 31, and finally on November 23, 2024. We had awesome food and adventures. Our party of eight was being guided through the Neverwinter Wood Forest. Our guide was taking us to evil, because we had promised to expunge the lands of the evil that was reportedly growing in the forest. Our guide was a centaur (half human and horse) by the name of Xanth. He'd been guiding us to the evil areas. Once engaged in a battle with evil, he would vanish until we had cast the evil out of this material plane (long winded sentence for killing orcs). Finally, one dark evening he led us to a hilltop that had a ring of stones similar to Stonehenge. He believed it was possibly the source of the evil that was growing in the forest.
Two religious recluses (anchorites) were dancing and doing rituals in the moonlight as a storm over Stonehenge was intensifying. The flashes of lighting illuminated the religious humanoid shamen. They appeared to be the spawn of evil orcs and possibly enslaved human women. Were they orc or were they human? The two anchorites appeared to be summoning something.
There was a small deliberation by the adventuring party if the anchorites were evil. Back in the 1980s, gaming was a bit simpler. Someone back then always seemed to have the ability to detect evil. Oddly, no one in our current group of eight seemed to have the ability to detect evil. But we were on the mission to eradicate it.
Stranger yet... Little thorny stick figures were alive. They were about two foot tall. They chanted and made music inside the circular Stonehenge.
The party huddled in the tree line surveying the situation and quickly formulated a plan. An opening in the base of the hill could be seen. The brave scout and guide, Xanth the Centaur, spoke of a secret trap door at the top of the hill. He suspected it could be located by going inside the hill. He then- once again disappeared into the darkness.
The plan called for a synchronized, three-pronged attack, which for an odd change- actually worked.
Broc Samsonite the gnome used his cloak of invisibility and snuck along the wood line to assume an overwatch position with his bow and arrow. (Overwatch normally means securing the high ground. The opponents had the high ground. Therefore Broc secured himself a nice underwatch position on the other side of the hill.)
Our sorcerer made himself invisible. Lark Abora the wood elf druid transformed into vapor and moved with the invisible Eye - the Sorcerer. The two moved up the hill. The initial objective was to position themselves for a surprise attack and wait for Rolan's signal.
Rolan the high elf fighter took the rest of the party and snuck into the side of the hill. There was not much to be found in the subterranean area of the hill. They eventually found the trap door. Rolan used a magical sending stone to transmit that they were in position.
The sorcerer initiated the attack, followed by Broc the Gnome Rogue (assassin) sending a deadly arrow. Rolan the elf, Arvid the Barbarian, and Bill Red Beard sprung out of the trap door and secured the objective. All the opponents on the objective were slain. The plan worked, but there is always a but...
It seems the anchorites had also been successful in summoning their god, Gorthok the Thunder Boar. A hideous wild boar the size of an elephant materialized on top of the hill inside of the Stonehenge. It had massive, coiled, and wickedly dangerous tusks. Gorthok the Thunder Boar gored Rolan the High elf with first one tusk and then the other. Gorthok the Thunder Boar's attack was savage and nearly fatal.
Everyone in the party began their attack on this massive beast of an evil god. Technically, Gorthok the Thunder Boar was simply an evil spirit that served Talos the god of storms. We, new to fighting summoned monsters, had no idea what this deadly beast was or wasn't. Rolan the High Elf jumped for the trap door and back into safety. Instead of a grenade, he had a magical fireball that he tossed.
Gorthok the Thunder Boar had weathered damage from the sorcerer, druid, rogue and the two dwarves. Arvid and Bill Red Beard were up close- fighting with weapons. They could smell the god's foul garbage breath. Rolan's fireball finished Gorthok the Thunder Boar like napalm on an elephant. The friendly fire upon the dwarves was not so friendly. Red Beard's beard was gone. Xanth the Centaur had galloped up and had been attacking Gorthok the Thunder Boar when the napalm hit him and the two dwarves. (Close to death the dwarves were, but they laughed death in the eye!) Thankfully, the healers went into quick action.
As Rolan the High Elf stood on the objective, he reportedly stated as he lit a cigar: "Once in a while you gotta smoke a few dwarves to kill a god."
Somebody said, "I love the smell of burnt dwarf and pig in the morning."
Oddly, the Gnome and Dwarves were opposed to eating the charred Gorthok the Thunder Boar. Rolan the High Elf ate what was left of his opponent's heart.
Rumors have it that recipes for a splendid BBQ sauce that would go well with a slain primal spirit can be found at Captain's Book Shoppe. Some have reportedly found mystical documents that others call fortune telling (palm reading). Mixed with those items are antiquarian Bibles. One never knows what you will find in the lair of a bookseller. The Captain buys, trades and sells stories, histories and maps.
Conclusion
It is difficult to predict what books you will find on any given day at Captain's Book Shoppe. One thing is certain, the Captain has stories to tell and even more to sell. Stop by the store and judge for yourself.
The Captain trades in the mystical.
Cookbooks [food & drink] along with science-fiction/fantasy
are common items
at
Captain's Book Shoppe.
Specializing in recycled thought.
Occasionally, dealing in the rare original thought.
The Captain’s Log
The Book Adventure Stories
= = = = =
END
of
The Captain’s Log
(Part Five of the Dungeon Cooking Chronicles)
Jeffrey A. Rothermel
Captain's Book Shoppe LLC
1570 S. 1st Ave, Suite H
Iowa City, IA 52240
USA
Store Phone: (319) 351-3166
= = = = =
Links to previous DUNGEON COOKING CHRONICLES:
1.) The Search for Spock
2.) The Mystery of the Loaded Dice
3.) The Medical Facts of Time
4.) The Book Dragon Adventures
= = = =
NOTES.
[1.] Background. The Dungeon Cooking Chronicles highlights the Captain's bookstore adventures. The client that bought Chris-Rachael Oseland's book AN UNEXPECTED COOKBOOK, The Unofficial Cookbook of Hobbit Cookery at the Captain's Book Shoppe presented me with a challenge. If I would gather a party of worthy role-playing adventurers, he would "dungeon master" a campaign.
Author's note: This is a somewhat fictionalized account of a real Dungeons and Dragons Campaign. The campaign events are basically real, but aspects have been fictionalized to protect client privacy. The campaign started with a visit to Captain's Book Shoppe. Multiple customers from all walks of life were recruited by Centuri-the-bookseller in January 2024. Eight players along with a Dungeon Master remain in the campaign as of December 2024.
[2] Source information about Trader Vic's Trader Vic’s Hospitality Group | Fusion Flavors, Tropical Vibes, and Mai Tai (Accessed November 22, 2024)
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