Ya know, I thought being a Faction Paradox fan meant it could be hard to find books.
But the things I'm finding while looking up Arsène Lupin books? Which are public domain, with some very rare, very expensive first editions from 1908-onward still floating around?
hoooooooo boy, some of the literal scams I've come across...
... First, there's this monstrosity.
first, you know something is up already when you see the cover:
(functional ID: ) The book itself is yellow, and the entire "cover" is just a medium-sized, plain white rectangle with plain text that reads "Arsene Lupin Versus Herlock Sholmes (1910)". The only bit of color outside the yellow background is a tiny rectangle at the bottom of the white section, that has a simple red rose in it, and at the bottom on the yellow portion, it says Maurice Leblanc and Georgie Morehead; they are the author and english translators respectively.
Not only is this cover incredibly ugly and boring....
They didn't even put the accent on the è in Arsène !
Now, granted, I still don't know the key-combination needed to type out the è (on a regular keyboard, that is; mobile is much easier), but I also literally have a pinned tab leading to the Arsène Lupin wiki so I can literally just copy and paste his name whenever I need to, lol. I'm also not a supposedly wide-spread, professionnel publisher who specializes in reprinting rare books....
speaking of reprints!
This is their reprinting statement in the book.
[ID: plain text on a white background that reads:
"Printing Statement:
Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text, possible missing pages, missing text, dark backgrounds and other issues beyond our control.
Because this is such an important and rare work, we believe it is best to reproduce this book regardless of its original condition.
Thank you for your understanding.
end ID]
Now, all this wouldn't be so monstrous.......
Except this is what it looks like, reading the book.
[ID: A photo of the inside of the book, showing an unnumbered page which is mostly blank, with extremely large margins around the top, bottom, and sides of the relatively tiny "inner page" of text, which is originally labeled as page 171.
So, on top of admitting they have having zero quality control for their reprints, they're also not even selecting the correct page or printer size for their "rare reprints!" Literally so much paper is being wasted here.
"Arsène Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes" is 350 pages long in its original 1910 First Edition. That's with text that actually filled up the original page. If they'd at least chosen a smaller page size to fit their clear PDF-print, it would have been fine....ish.
But they didn't, so now this book is 350 pages long, and probably wasting half of those pages on pure blank paper.
Also, they're charging $30-$40 for these, "brand-new" on Amazon; going to their publishing website just leads any search to a generic Amazon page, full of the same extremely blatant ripoffs, including "leather hardcovers" from a print of demand location they can't even be bothered to not use a stock photo that requires them to blur out three different titles on the spine for each different angle.
Oh, and the real kicker?
Here's the exact Archive.org listing they're scraping to reprint for exorbitant amounts of money:
Literally down to the exact title, without an accent.
And this isn't the worst one I've found, either; another "public domain scraper" as I've taken to calling them, has taken this book:
and downloaded the ancient, autogenerated Epub from the Internet Archive, and without any human being looking at that Epub, converted it into a PDF and sent it off to a Print-On-Demand company to make those same generic, leather-bound hardcovers for $30+.
Would you like to know what the ancient, auto-generated epub looks like for this very old, very old scan of a book looks like? The one these scammers are reprinting and selling for an arm and a leg without anyone actually looking at the contents of what they're selling?
As a reference, this is what the original, old scan looks like:
[ID: a black and white image of two pages of text from an old book, the text is cramped, slightly blurry and tilted, and is difficult to read; the scan is from an old enough time that, from the shape of the pages not being physically joined together, that the book had to be manually cut page by page to be scanned. There are artifacts, dots and smudges throughout. end ID]
So, you ready to see what these scammers are selling to paying customers with no warning?
[ID: A screenshot of the Calibre ereader app, showing a page from the auto-generated epub from the old scan described above, showing a message in bold across that top that reads "The text on this page is estimated to be only 39.04% accurate." followed by a paragraph of complete gibberish; numbers, symbols, sanskrit letters, various special characters, etc, with no rhyme or reason. End ID.]
I don't know if this scam listing is still out there, I reported the one I found on Abe books, but they're also probably out there with a million duplicate listings on various websites.
So, yeah. Please,
If you are looking for physical copies of the Public Domain Arsène Lupin books, please make sure you carefully check what you are buying before ordering, especially online.
Make sure the 'è' in Arsène has the accent; make sure there's actual quality control, and for Arsène's sake, make sure what you're buying isn't slapdash gibberish.
If you don't know already, most of the Public Domain books that are in English and are PD in the USA can be found on Project Gutenberg (18-19 are PD in the USA this year if you include the play and its subsequent novelization; Gutenberg has 16 of these (including the play) , and you can read them completely for free, 100% legally:
I highly reccomend having the wiki page for Arsène Lupin opened up as you're reading through the books for the first time, because many of the books released at various times (and in various languages) with multiple different titles, so no two reading guides use the same title and leads to sheer confusion.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1358
if you speak French, you can also read all of Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin books, barring 1 that wasn't published until 2012, 75 years after his death, which you can read in french on:
Since USA and French Copyright law are different, if you are in the USA you cannot use any books published after 1928 (except post-humous) for derivative works, as France has a shorter copyright term of 75 years after death (except post-humous), while the USA is based on 95 years after publication, so us poor Lupin fans in the USA have to wait until 2037 before they all are Public Domain :'(
TL;DR: If you're a fan of a series which is Public Domain, you can read them online for free 100% legally; if you're looking to buy phyiscal books and you're shopping online, please take care to check for quality to make sure you're not getting scammed with an extremely poor quality ""book"" which could be complete gibberish, and/or a huge waste of money and paper.
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❁ ( towards any of your zelda muses − hylia and the three godesses, mainly, but also botw & totk link / zelda / ganondorf if you feel compelled...!! )
Send me a ❁ for the type of flower my muse would give to yours // Accepting!
Hylia's answer comes, sharp and slow like a blade pulled uncutting against thought, a cool not-metal against the inner heat of mind. ━ the same as sky, not in the way of wind but in the way of open space, of nothing at all, of atmosphere pressing in from out against your throat. Almost frozen, almost frigid, but without the effort in coldness, in willful ignoring, of brushing one off : cold as in cold is the absence of heat. No, Iroha receives an answer. Stale pollen and bright, blinding knowledge. ━━━ she was not made to create the way the Goddesses were, and yet, the flowers bloom at their feet regardless : perhaps they should consider themselves special.
━ bachelor button, hydrangea, bittersweet, lavender heather, white poppy, blue violet, mixed yellow & red zinnia, white hyacinth, rose leaf, & buried beneath the rest; spider flower.
( 'You are not of my domain, I am indifferent to you. However, I respect your devotion. I sympathize, perhaps, with your situation. One day, perhaps, there will something other for you. One day, perhaps, you will make one.' )
the Goddesses' response is a ancient one. months hung above the stratosphere, dangling, dangling, waiting to be lowered. Months upon months upon months, the flower of the seasons dripping into the horizon in a haze of days and nights and days again: They were intricate, and slow, and often unknowable at all. how patient, you are, for Them. How kind, to wait, for Them. They reward Iroha with answer in time, in the humid shivering haze of early morning, a wave of such love of all Iroha does, of the endless sorrow They beheld upon their duty, arriving like quartz lining their throat ━ blooms growing from 'pon their fingertips, 'cross their knuckles. a gift, a gift, how merry to be known & seen, how terrifying by They to listen & answer in turn ━ how horrible, horrible to think you had been forgotten...
━ bachelor button, maidenhair fern, red carnation, dead leaf, purple hyacinth, dark crimson rose, pine, acorn, fern, fir, white heather, iris, lily of the valley, tea rose, palm leaf.
( 'We love you, We are sorry, your faith is not unseen by Us, for This to be your undertaking, borne as chains & key. Such is Our terrible, terrible doing. Such is Our apology. We hope, perhaps, one day the selves can exist without the other or in one without smothering, smothering light. We hope, perhaps, one day you are allowed to live; a role unshackled, unlocking Thy own binds. Chains & key. Chains & key. Freedom unmade for you, and yet, still hoping to grasp it.' )
Link & Zelda come as though offering memorial, bundles of blooms and sprigs tucked in their arms as they hurry past stream and grove ( "watch your feet, 'stream made the ground soft" "ah, thank you, I believe I'll be alright-!" ) to find the place where the Blupees haunched on hind legs and watched them with startling, ruby eyes. The one Link had gone before, a familiar forest in the heavy overhang of branches & leaves. a bowl is filled with fruit steadily throughout the day beneath a great cherry tree, pink petals like silk beneath the sun.
a final act of care comes as sunset threatens to burn the sky alive when, on a brief journey back to a stable for a briefer meal, they're caught in a fleeting conversation of flora & the hearts beneath their stalks ( "Oh, you're going all the way up to Satori mountain? Hey, if you're going through all the effort, I've heard people bring flowers up there sometimes, you know, offerings and the like. Some people bring flowers, symbolizing what the 'Lord of the Mountain' protector means to them. Maybe it'd be worth your time?" )
( "That sound's like a nice idea, I think!" "I think so, yes, but what would I even bring...?" ) ━━━ they in bundles, at last, arrive. Hurried up, past the stream, to find the tree again. Zelda hesitates, an offering of silent princess clasped between delicate fingers ━ "Would it be considered disrespectful to place it at the dish...? Maybe I shouldn't..." ━ before Link, calloused hands delicate, maneuver their hands to set it down along the rest, petals bright; bright in the clear sky.
━ bittersweet, bluebell, pink camellia, iris, cattleya orchid, magnolia, evening primrose, flax, rose leaf, forsythia, fern, lavender rose, bells of ireland, azalea, sweet pea, mixed zinnea.
( 'I think you're kind, and charming, and though I rarely see you, I hope you are well. I hope to change that fleetingness, if you'll let me? I think you might like Zelda, you might have more in common than you think.' / 'I've heard of you, but never seen you, all good things. I hope one day to meet, you seem good. Perhaps lonely. I might like you, if you gave me the chance, but I'd understand if you don't like me. I hope your future is a kind one, whatever kind of future it is. I don't know you well enough, even in stories, to tell.' )
Somewhere, there is a valley tucked neatly behind the ridges of hills, in the lowered groove 'twixt them where the land sinks ginger under the long grass and the wild flower of the knolls; as though gently swept down, as though the soft lowering of a stomach, ribs high against the soft tension of smooth skin in earth, as though the rounded edges of hands where the knuckles stood war-like as the gentle palm sinks; ball of the hand softer than the upper of the palm, the upper of the palm softer than the fingers, the fingers softer than the nails, the nails softer than the bones inside them all.
Somewhere, there is a valley of tender, shivering silver. plush moss lining the ground like bolster turned cloudy like rain, muted but beautiful in variation, white paint blending with greys in the fiber that wasn't fiber, the tissue that was. A place no one knew. a place one did. flowers split, forbearing as though shifting only between the folds, and reeds rose in the bed. A place that never died, flowers like chanting; the same message, 'hundred times over, 'thousand more. ━ Somewhere, you know this place. Somewhere, no one else knows at all. Somewhere, it tells you something. Somewhere, somewhere, somewhere...
━ lotus, cherry blossom, chrysanthemum.
( 'how much would it take to stop grieving yourself, and choose to live? how long?' )
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