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Topic: Clean Up An Entry & Spotlight A Book Thread

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cosmichomicide avatar
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Subject: Clean Up An Entry & Spotlight A Book Thread
Date Posted: 7/1/2007 1:27 PM ET
Member Since: 1/11/2006
Posts: 399
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There has been a lot of discussion on Clubmember's Thoughts about the new editing team, old reviews, missing pictures, book condition reviews, etc.  In going through and cleaning up some of my reviews, I realized just how many of the books I have posted are missing pictures and descriptions.  I figured it might make a fun (and useful) Book Bazaar thread "game".  So, here's my idea:

  1. Pick a book on your shelf that is missing either a description or a picture and add one or both, using the "Edit Book Data" link at the bottom of the page.  Alternatively (or also) if there are reviews that need "voting down" because they are book conditions ("dog ears, yellowing, book in good shape"), vote "Unhelpful" on the review.
  2. Post the link to the book along with the description (this is the reward part when people see how great it is and order it).
  3. When (see, positive thinking) the book is ordered from you, clear your post.

The database gets cleaned up and filled in, we find a bunch of books that we previously wouldn't have considered, maybe get some helpful reviews and cover scans.  =)

I'll post my first as a reply. :)

cosmichomicide avatar
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Date Posted: 7/1/2007 1:30 PM ET
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I just submitted the following description for HEAT :: Ed Mcbain

From the Publisher

A dead man lay reeking of alcohol--no forced entry, no visible wounds, and an empty bottle of seconal. It all added up to a simple suicide. Or did it? Why would an alcoholic artist, who was terrified of drugs, have ended his life with sleeping pills? It's all up to Detective Steve Carella of the 87th Precinct to uncover the real story.


Last Edited on: 7/1/07 2:44 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
royaltech avatar
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Date Posted: 7/1/2007 4:14 PM ET
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Ok, this is right up my alley! Been working on my shelf for several days. Today I did my Heartsong Presents books.

In particular, I updated the information for

Grace (Heartsong Presents) 

Author: Linda Ford

  • ISBN-13: 9781593100612
  • ISBN-10: 1593100612
  • Publisher: Heartstong Presents
  • Publication Date: 2004-07-01
  • Pages: 176
  • Book Type: Paperback

Married only a year, Grace worries about her marriage. She loves Billy passionately but doesn't feel worthy of him. When Billy decides to use his experience as a Great War flying ace to start an air-taxi business, Grace fears any additional success of his will only highlight her own perceived incompetence. 

Why should a war hero love a woman who can't cook? She's terrified of mice - to say nothing of flying in an airplane. When tragedy strikes Billy and Grace, she reveals a childhood secret that she believes proves how unworthy and unlovable she is. Will Grace learn to accept her husband's love and belief in her? Or will her inability to accept God's grace forever shadow their relationship?



Last Edited on: 7/1/07 4:15 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
Terabithia avatar
Date Posted: 7/2/2007 6:16 AM ET
Member Since: 8/6/2005
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Edward Windsor: Royal Enigma : The True Story of the 7th In Line to the British Throne
Author:
Wendy Leigh




Subjects:

ISBN-13: 9780671028251
ISBN-10: 0671028251


Book Description:

A source of endless public fascination, the British royal family garners headlines on an almost daily basis. Only one member has eluded intense scrutiny -- until now. When the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II of England, Prince Edward, announced on January 6 of this year that he would wed his longtime girlfriend, Sophie Rhys-Jones, the world took notice. The last of the Queen's children to marry, Edward has "delighted" his parents with the news. But Buckingham Palace has seen the other royal children's marriages end in divorce...will Edward's be the one that lasts?

His business card reads simply "Edward Windsor, Television Producer." (He heads his own production company.) This surprisingly low-profile thirty-five-year-old royal has never been the focus of the scandals that keep his family in the news. However, many questions remain unanswered. Now, in this explosive and comprehensive new unauthorized biography, British-born biographer Wendy Leigh explores the questions that have swirled around Prince Edward since his birth, including:

 

  • What was the true nature of the relationship between Edward and his sister-in-law, Princess Diana?
  • How did Diana really feel about Sophie Rhys-Jones -- and how does Sophie feel about Diana?
  • What is Sophie really like, and why did it take five years for Edward and her to become engaged?
  • What really made Edward give up the Royal Marines for a life in the theater?
  • Is there any truth to the rumors about Edward's sexual orientation?
  • What is the unsavory trait that Edward shares with an illustrious royal relative?

    No matter how he chooses to live his life, neither he nor the world can escape the fact that Edward is simply not an ordinary person. His mother is one of the wealthiest women in the world. His oldest brother, Prince Charles, is heir to the throne. And his sister-in-law was Princess Diana, whose premature death sent the world into mourning. Edward Windsor, the working prince, is determined to be judged on his own merits. As his betrothed says, it will be "business as usual" after she becomes the wife of a prince. The world will be watching.



  • Last Edited on: 7/2/07 6:16 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
    thk avatar
    Linda S. (thk) - ,
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    Date Posted: 7/2/2007 12:38 PM ET
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    Lydia Adamson, Beware the Laughing Gull      http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780451195982-Beware+the+Laughing+Gull+A+Lucy+Wayles+Mystery+Lucy+Wayles+Mysteries

    New York's birdwatching sleuth becomes a sitting duck for a ruthless killer...

    Lucy Wales, retired librarian and hawk-eyed leader of the Olmstead Irregulars, New York City's oddest birdwatchers, admires our fine feathered friends and sharply observes that humans often love unwisely, act unjustly, and end up murdered.  Now a nasty homicide really has her feathers ruffled...

    When a longtime Irregular decides to get married in Central Park, Lucy raises an eyebrow: she didn't even know the gentleman was considering nesting. Winging a wedding might seem foolhardy, but Lucy never expects the ceremony to end in foul play...until a rollerblading gunman swoops down and shoots the beautiful, blushing bride. With the groom in a daze, the cops in a tizzy, and a killer in flight, Lucy wastes no time in gathering her flock of intrepid birders to solve the case.  But an investigation into the bride's hot past...and a secret lover's cold, cold heart, could target Lucy as the next dead duck....



    Last Edited on: 7/2/07 12:57 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
    bridget avatar
    Date Posted: 7/2/2007 4:34 PM ET
    Member Since: 5/31/2006
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    Great idea! This inspired me to scan about 8 covers, too.  We'll be keeping the poor editing team busy.

    Actual Adventures Of Michael Missing, The: Stories
    Author:
    Michael Hickens

    Michael Hickins lives in Paris now. But he was born in a particularly unlovely precinct of Queens, one of the five boroughs constituting the City of New York-and it was there in the hardpan of Queens that Hickins went to school in the lessons of the street and in the higher learning of the back room. A scholarship sent him to Columbia, where he acquired an interest in making a record of what he knew. The result is this book. But do not look in it for the kind of report on has come to expect from the formerly angry, the hirthero deprived. Becuase to see it the way Michael Missing sees it--Michael Missing being Michael Hickins favorite stand-in--what's to be angry about, who was deprived? On the contrary, the dirty-mouthed, dirty mided hotshot hero of these lovable, affilitiated fictions is definitely the kid-in-charge. Talk about your wisenheimers, young Michael Missing is banking on making it all the way to the White House. Okay, so what if he's aced a few civilians, perpetrated every stinking, lousy, rotten, crummy, nasty deed in sight and even tried to nail his own sister? We ask you what's so awful? Besides, isn't this child just doing his best to have himself a really cool time? Better get out your laughing towel. Plus you shockproof boots. Because here comes a very bad boy.
    And a criminally funny literary debut.


    Last Edited on: 7/2/07 4:35 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
    cosmichomicide avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/2/2007 9:27 PM ET
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     I've decided that I'm going to try to do a couple per week (note that I said try).  Today's book description submitted is for This Blessed Plot  Author: M. R. D. Meek

    From Publishers Weekly

    Once private investigator, now solicitor for a British law firm, Lennox Kemp juggles clients at two extremes of the social scale when he is given the problems of a welfare recipient and those of aristocratic twin heirs in this diverting seventh installment ( A Loose Connection ). Disheveled mother Julie Sorrento announces that her Sicilian husband, Luciano, hasn't come home, so the Department for Social Security sends her to Kemp to see if he can locate her missing mate. Later, Kemp attends a swank cocktail party where he meets twins Vivian and Venetia Courtenay, who elicit his help in converting their newly acquired ancestral home into a site for big-money rock music festivals. Kemp passes the missing man case to his clerk and consults the firm's founder, aging Archie Gillorn, about the provisions of the Courtenay Trust. Putting together clues from both cases, Kemp ("I'm insatiably curious") realizes a connection and finds himself in physical danger. Meek again demonstrates her deft wit and her keen talent for ironic situations in this enticing, low-key mystery.



    Last Edited on: 7/2/07 9:29 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
    cosmichomicide avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/11/2007 7:07 PM ET
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    Just submitted the following description for Genealogy Of Murder (Worldwide Library Mysteries) Author: Lee Martin

    From Publishers Weekly

    Family trees are gnarled and twisted, and many of the roots are hidden in the 12th outing (after Bird in a Cage) for Deb Ralston, a middle-aged Mormon police investigator in Fort Worth, Tex. Deb's son- in-law, a medical intern studying how human corpses decompose, finds he has an extra, unaccounted-for cadaver on his hands. Although the cause of death is determined to be a heart attack, there are still the questions of who the portly older man was and why someone has hidden his body. Nicknaming the corpse Uncle George, Deb quickly makes a connection between George and a missing genealogist. When their fingerprints don't match, she's perplexed. Then she learns that a San Francisco mortuary is missing a corpse that was shipped to Texas. What does any of this have to do with the Daughters of the American Flag, a genealogy-obsessed DAR-like group to which two of Deb's aunts belong? The question becomes more urgent when a friend of hers is kidnapped. Personable Deb uses her wits, and the help (sometimes grudgingly given) of her far-flung family to catch a truly scary villain in a clever, intricately wrought puzzle.



    Last Edited on: 7/11/07 9:53 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
    dappledart avatar
    Date Posted: 7/11/2007 9:43 PM ET
    Member Since: 6/30/2006
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    Exactly the thread I was thinking we could use! I actually submitted the last 5 on my shelf, including 3 pictures. Here is 1 of them:

    A World of Things to Do (Books for World Explorers)

    9780870446108

    From School Library Journal

    Grade 3-8 The varied activities and games in this selection should provide imaginative stimulation for many occasions. ... Enough new, or newly synthesized, material is included to make this eclectic mix inviting and satisfying to young readers. Activities and games are ordered around special days, cooking challenges, brain teasers and puzzles, indoor and outdoor fun, traveling time, and such esoterica as ``presents for pets.'' ... All directions are clearly expressed in the second person. Highly illustrative and fully captioned photographs (identifying young subjects by name and place) and colorful drawings facilitate independent understanding, although parents will need to help with occasional supplies and supervision. ... A World of Things To Do is appealing in design and broad enough in ideas to make it one of the better game/amusement/activity books currently available. Public libraries will find it meets a need, and school librarians will want to tell their teachers about it. Katharine Bruner, Brown Middle School, Harrison, Tenn.

    Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

    Card catalog description

    Crafts, activities, games, puzzles, and recipes to suit many occasions, to be done alone or with others.

     

    Twill avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/11/2007 10:19 PM ET
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    Love this idea!

    A First Class Murder (An Eleanor Roosevelt Mystery)   Link  By Elliott Roosevelt

    Now, in her ninth investigative outing, Mrs. Roosevelt takes on her toughest, most intriguing case yet. After a brief visit to France in September 1938, Eleanor is en route to the United States aboard the great liner Normandie, pride of the French Line. With a passenger list that includes Charles Lindbergh, Jack Benny, Henry Luce, Josephine Baker, and a young John F. Kennedy, the voyage promises to be interesting, and the very real threat of war makes for heated and lively conversation at the captian's table. But the trip takes a deadly turn when another distinguished passenger suddenly dies, the victim of strychnine poisoning. And when a beautiful young Russian ballerina is accused of the murder, Mrs. Roosevelt once again dons her cap as amateur sleuth to lend her help to the shipboard investigation.
    This is a fun book.  Made me want to go back and read the rest of the series.
    lilynlilac avatar
    Date Posted: 7/11/2007 10:59 PM ET
    Member Since: 3/6/2006
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    I have done a bunch recently, too.  Here's one of them...

    A Likeness---Sonia Overall

     

    Norfolk, the 22nd year of Elizabeth I's reign. An ambitious young painter strikes out from his humble beginnings for the teeming City of London. Haunted by the image of his bride's gruesome death, and fueled by his desire to portray the splendour of life, he sets his sights on a place at the Queen's glittering court.
    Yet talent alone does not open the doors to royal favour, and the artist is thrown into the petty intrigues and rivalries of the English portrait schools. Here he meets Kat, a legendary courtesan with an unusual proclivity for paint. Their complex alliance leads them into a world of bribery, politics and power, and a court peopled by the celebrated figures of the age.
    This book was printed in Britain and has an ibsn number this system does not recognize: 000719451x.

    Silvercat avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/11/2007 11:13 PM ET
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    I cleaned mine up this week and filled in  the missing reviews...and got a request shortly afterwards...good feeling.   I even "reviewed" the dictionary, because I'm a goof sometimes.... :)

    Ciao! Linda



    Last Edited on: 7/11/07 11:14 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
    dappledart avatar
    Date Posted: 7/12/2007 10:37 AM ET
    Member Since: 6/30/2006
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    Doing my edits/reviews today I ended up deciding to keep one of the books and removed it from my shelf!

    One of today's edits:

    Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too

    ISBN-10: 0394925696

    (I forgot to copy the new description I found at amazon to paste here... I guess you'll just have to wait until it is approved!)



    Last Edited on: 7/12/07 11:17 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
    Generic Profile avatar
    Date Posted: 7/12/2007 1:17 PM ET
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    I did this for

    The Mascot Mess (2 of a Kind)
    Molly Albright - ISBN-10: 0816714851 - ISBN-13: 9780816714858

    It's listed as a book for ages 9-12.  Reminds me of a Judy Blume type book.  The description is short and sweet:

    Missy and her classmates scramble to turn their pets into the best candidate for the soccer team mascot.

    Hopefully my changes will go into effect.  I tried yesterday for 4 different books, but I'm thinking my images were too big (the dialog box says 45k or less, though I read on another thread that restriction was lifted).  It was a big disappointment not to see any images on my list this morning.  I cropped the image this time.



    Last Edited on: 7/12/07 1:18 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
    royaltech avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/12/2007 2:59 PM ET
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    Jennifer, do not upload your images on the same page as the book data edits. They usually get lost. Use the link for covers and load them separately. Images can now be up to 5MB HUGE. Go back and get your originals and upload them the large size, we are caught up, so they should go up in a day or two, but you need to use the cover link :)

    ladycari avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/12/2007 3:04 PM ET
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    Mystic Medusa's Astro Guide

    ISBN-13: 9781740452557
    ISBN-10: 1740452550
    Publisher: Murdoch Books
    Pages: 450
    Book Type: Paperback

    Book Description:

    This book is a postmodern astrology guide for readers who don't normally buy books on astrology. The chapters are arranged by zodiac signs and tell you everything you ever wanted to know about your star sign. Mystic Medusa's daily column in The Australian and her website are hugely popular (over 1 million hits per week), and appeal to a wide audience both in Australia and the US. While Mystic writes with humour, irony and wit, her advice is founded on a depth of astrological knowledge and a belief that astrology is as relevant and useful today as in the past.

    thezookeeper avatar
    Date Posted: 7/12/2007 6:05 PM ET
    Member Since: 2/2/2007
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    Hey Karen, (or anyone else who knows) Is there any way to "vote down" a review if you don't have that particular book on your shelf? I was browsing and found a book I was interested in but the entire description is comments on the condidtion of a particular copy.

     

    I don't see any place to change it though. Any thoughts?

     

    Thanks!

    cosmichomicide avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/12/2007 6:18 PM ET
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    Edit - maybe do an Edit Book Data with a description?



    Last Edited on: 7/12/07 6:19 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
    royaltech avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/12/2007 7:31 PM ET
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    You can post the ISBN here so a whole bunch of us can go rate it thumbs down. I think once a review gets a certain number of bad ratings, it throws a flag up,and it gets reviewed and if it is something like conditions of the book, then it gets pulled. I know we had one just after they instilled the ratings that got pulled since it wasn't a review, I think it said something about the location maybe? Don't remember, but post the ISBN here, I'l go rate it for sure :)



    Last Edited on: 7/12/07 7:31 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
    dappledart avatar
    Date Posted: 7/13/2007 6:46 PM ET
    Member Since: 6/30/2006
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    One of today's edits: (for all you romance fans)

    WILD IN THE NIGHT (Loveswept)
    0553444980

    He'd recognize her scent in a roomful of women...

    She expected he'd be grateful that his office was no longer an impossible mess, but instead Paul Forge told efficiency expert Coral Bentley that he wanted all his junk back exactly where he'd left it! When she refused, little did she realize she was tangling with a renegade who never took no for an answer, a man of mystery who would issue a challenge that would draw her into the seductive unknown.

    With humor and emotion, Patt Bucheister crafts a story of mismatched dreamers transformed by unexpected love. Coral believed in the tried and true, but could a risk-loving Romeo tempt her to ride the unpredictable rapids of romance?

    dappledart avatar
    Date Posted: 7/16/2007 10:52 AM ET
    Member Since: 6/30/2006
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    One of today's edits:

    We the Vcitors  (ISBN-13: 9780451134080)

    They had cancer...and they survived.

    Three million Americans are living proof that cancer can be cured. Nearly half of all cancer victims beat the disease -- and beat it for good. But why are these people saved, and not the others? Eminent journalist Curtis Bill Pepper interviewed one hundred former cancer patients at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and their doctors and nurses, to find out.

    Here are the critical factors -- in addition to early detection and proper treatment -- that Pepper found made the life and death difference for each cancer patient. And here are the candid, intimate, unforgettable stories of the people who defeated the formidable cancer dragons: how they did it, how it changed their lives..and how their triumphs made them heroes -- to their families, the themsleves, and to every one of us who reads of their courageous, inspiring fight.

    Circe avatar
    Date Posted: 7/16/2007 4:15 PM ET
    Member Since: 11/3/2006
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    I recently updated the info for this book on my shelf (I also submitted cover art but that has not been added yet):

    The First Daughter
    Author:
    Whitney Stine

    ISBN-13: 9780441239252
    ISBN-10: 0441239250
    Publisher: Charter Books (NY)
    Pages: 486
    Book Type: Paperback

    Book Description:

    The eldest daughter of a proud and noble house, Chinee was the fragile flower of her family's heritage, locked safely behind the elegantly carved garden walls of tradition.

    But her world was changing. Winds of change were sweeping across a great and ancient land.

    And the beautiful daughter of Little Pearl, born to the quiet enjoyment of beauty found herself feeling the passions of a woman, rocked by the storms of love and war, experiencing the vast upheavals that were shaping China...torn between the dream of freedom and the flame of desire, until she is able to reach out and claim her destiny for her own!

    Generic Profile avatar
    Date Posted: 7/16/2007 7:09 PM ET
    Member Since: 6/22/2006
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    Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I seem to be having difficulty editing a book I posted that didn't have an ISBN.  I clicked on Upload Book Covers, entered the ISBN assigned by the system, attached the image, and the book cover did not appear. Is there a lag time between the submission and the update?

    Also, when I tried to Edit Book Data using the ISBN assigned, I could not advance the page beyond the "Next" button.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Here is the book I'm working on: The Sun Also Rises

    http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/75876-The+Sun+Also+Rises

    Thanks!

    royaltech avatar
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    Date Posted: 7/16/2007 8:57 PM ET
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    Hi, Colleen, You cannot edit a book that has been submitted without an ISBN, you need to remove it from your shelf and re-enter it to add info. Since it isn't affected by the FIFO system, it doesn't hurt your standing. So, go ahead and do that.

    As for the image, that can be added to a non-ISBN book. But, it does take a while, sometimes even up to a week, if we get a lot of attention on covers. But, usually within 3-5 days. Try uploading the cover again, and if you get a "pending" message, the it is still in the queue waiting to be approved. If it does not give you the pending msg, and it is not showing on the book, then try uploading it again. If it does not take within a week of the 2nd time, you may have something wrong with the image.

    Perhaps it needs straightened? Maybe it is not cropped and has excess around the edges? Or maybe there is an emblem or marking from another site, such as Amazon or eBay? Hopefully this helps you.

    dappledart avatar
    Date Posted: 7/17/2007 10:35 AM ET
    Member Since: 6/30/2006
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    today's edits: War Games (ISBN-13: 9780425116470)

    The police action in Vietnam is drawing more heavily on the pool of manpower State-side, pulling in kids fresh from the military's crash course on how to win a war: kill or be killed. Dreams of glory held by these idealistic young warriors are quickly shattered as they witness the reality of war: misery and death.

    With an instinct born of years of combat experience, U.S. Army Special Forces Captain Mack Gerber organizes a recon mission into the jungles of Bang Ron. Though enemy activity is way down, Gerber suspects a ruse: Charlie is sending carefully orchestrated signs that he is short on manpower. But Gerber is certain that the VC is planning a full assault in the valley.

    With help from air artillery, the steaming jungle camouflage is cleared, and Gerber goes in on foot to smoke out the enemy...while fighting a double battle with a new recruit whose blood lust could prove fatal to everyone...not just the enemy.

    (Eric Helm is the pen name of two Vietnam veterens, men who saw it all, did it all and lived to tell it all.)

    Page: