The once and future Internet: Here you'll see the Internet the way it was and should be: useful information for free, with no annoying graphics or glitz. This site is designed to provide maximum content for minimum clicks. For more information about our site, see the bottom of this page. Enjoy, and please spread the word.

The Barb Blogs -- in Memory of My Wife, Who Died December 4, 2012

Downloadable ebooks - Quench Editions
Ebook Collections on CD and DVD
Free Ebook of the Week and Kid's Book of the Week
Blogging About Books
Business on the Internet (old books, articles and speeches that might still be of interest)
Fuzzy Thinking About Big Questions
Fiction, Plays, and Poetry by Richard Seltzer and Related Matters
Genealogy of Richard Seltzer
Education
About Books and Movies
Other Interests
Family and Friends
More About this Web Site
Internet Business Showcase

Sitemap of this site

DOWNLOADABLE EBOOKS:

Quench Editions from B&R Samizdat Express

 Helping you find the books you'll love. The ebook editions of classic works. Quench your thirst for books.
Handpicked classics organized like a personal library, for your browsing pleasure.

http://www.samizdat.com/quencheditions

We add new books frequently.  Please check often. 

Watch our blog http://www.samizdat.com/blog/ for news about what we are doing. Suggestions welcome seltzer@samizdat.com 

Rave review of Quench Editions from Orson Scott Card (author "Ender's Game" and dozens of other great novels.)

"A Library for the Price of a Book", article in the Braille Monitor, November 2012

Article about B&R Samizdat Express in Wikipedia

EBOOK COLLECTIONS ON CD AND DVD

Our Yahoo Store, with over 200 book-collection CDs and DVDs
 Our most complete offering and the best bargain is:  The Complete Book DVD -- 23,416 books on 4 DVDs for just $149. This 4-DVD set includes all the plain-text books from our Classic Collection CDs, plus more.

New customer orientation (a summary of everything we do related to books)

We are making books available on CD and DVD, at very low cost, selected and organized in an easy-to-use, well-indexed format. These CDs and DVDs contain text, not audio or video; they are designed for PCs and recent Macs (OS X), that have CD and/or DVD drives. Our mission is to use technology to make books extremely inexpensive and easy to use.

Our CDs and DVDs are hand-crafted. The selection and organization are based on our judgment, not automated programs. These are the complete, unabridged books, in plain text format, with no compression and no encryption, to make them easy for anyone without computer skills to read, using Word, a Web browser or any other application that takes plain ASCII texts. You can move a copy of a book from the CD to your hard drive to edit and add notes. You can use the capabilities of Word or whatever other application you use to increase the type size, to copy-and-paste, to print. And the blind can use these books with their screen readers (which convert text to voice).

Anyone can put hundreds of books on a single CD, and thousands on a DVD. (Isn't technology wonderful?) But we're interested in providing not just large quantities of books at ridiculously low prices, but also providing a "context". The selection matters. Putting the right books together in ways that make them easily accessible can create a unique context that makes it possible to better understand a region of the world, an historical period, or an author. That's our goal. That's why each of our CDs and DVDs is "hand-crafted" -- selected and arranged by human judgement, not by an automated computer process, with file names that are the same as the book names, arranged first by the major categories used on our CDs, and then in logical folders,by author or topic, and with html indices that make it easy to find the book you want and then simply click to open it in Word or in your Web browser. Related article: www.samizdat.com/dvd.html

Reviews of our CDs

Teachers' and Students' Guide: Suggestions on how to get the most out of your books on CD

Free Ebook of the Week and Kid's Book of the Week

About once a week, I send out selected ebooks, for free, as a email attachments.  To sign up, for our Ebook of the Week and/or Kids' Book of the Week, just email me at  seltzer@samizdat.com and let me know which you want in what format (plain text [txt], epub, pdf, or prf [for Kindle]).

You can see lists of the previous offerings at: http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat/freeb.html and http://samizdat.stores.yahoo.net/kid.html


Blogging about Books - The Implications of Ebook Publishing and Other Related Matters of Interest to Richard Seltzer

Blogging about Books

Individual Articles:

Business on the Internet (old books, articles and speeches that might still be of interest)

"My Internet: a personal view of Internet business opportunities," (2002) an etext CD ROM with the full text of four books (Take Charge of Your Web Site, Shop Online the Lazy Way, The Social Web, and The Way of the Web), plus articles, and all issues of the newsletter Internet-on-a-Disk. Buy it at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat

The following books are now available online for free:

Web Business Boot Camp: Hands-on Internet lessons for manager, entrepreneurs, and professionals by Richard Seltzer (Wiley, 2002). No-nonsense guide targets activities that anyone can perform to achieve online business success. Free online version of the book.

Take Charge of Your Web Site: three simple lessons for business people by Richard Seltzer (MightyWords, 2001)

Shop Online the Lazy Way, written by Richard Seltzer (Macmillan, 1999).

The Social Web: a book about how to build successful personal or business Web sites, 1998.

The Way of the Web lessons from the Internet -- how to adapt to the new business environment, 1995.

Internet Business Insights: audio and text of three speeches by Richard Seltzer -- The Future of Business on the Internet, The Power of Words: Content-Based Internet Marketing, and Why Didn't the Walls Come Tumbling Down? An Outsider's View of Distance Education", (requires RealPlayer)

Business on the Web Chat Sessions
These sessions have been discontinued. See our chat farewell message atwww.samizdat.com/chatfarewell.html
Transcripts of past chat sessions www.samizdat.com/chat.html
Internet nostalgia (remember the days when the Web was new and very few companies used it for business?)

Glimpse of the Future Video. Now available at YouTube.  Three minutes. This video was created by Richard Seltzer and Berthold Langer in February 1994, when they worked at DEC, before the launch of Netscape and half a year before formation of DEC's Internet Business Group. NCSA (creators of Mosaic, the first Web browsers) and dozens of other organizations, including Digital's competitors. distributed thousands of copies of this video, using it to help spread the word about the business potential of the Web, which, at that time, many business people found difficult to imagine. Thanks to David Wecker and Gene Kusekoski for converting this video to a variety of formats.

The Internet -- a New Dimension (remarks when accepting the first ever Internet Marketing Award at Internet World, June 1994, plus script of the award-winning video "A Glimpse of the Future").

A Brief History of DEC's Internet Business Group

The DEC case study -- Digital Equipment Corporation: The Internet Company by Sirkka Jarvenpaa, and Blake Ives

"My Internet: a personal view of Internet business opportunities," (2002): an etext CD ROM, includes the Glimpse video, plus the full text of four books by Richard Seltzer (Take Charge of Your Web Site, Shop Online the Lazy Way, The Social Web, and The Way of the Web), related articles, speeches (with audio narration) and all issues of the newsletter Internet-on-a-Disk. Buy it at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat

 Articles about Business on the Internet Internet-on-a-Disk: I started publishing this online newsletter since Feb. 1994, frequently posting my insights and opinions to share for free with all, rather like a blog, only as plain and simple Web pages. For all back issues, go to http://www.samizdat.com/ioad.html I now send out new issues very infrequently.  You can sign up to receive them by email, by signing up at Yahoo Groups subscribe-ioad@yahoogroups.com  The latest issue: Internet-on-a-Disk #72

Who we are
Kudos
Articles on:
Internet speeches (slides and scripts of speeches delivered by Richard Seltzer)

DEC/Digital
DEC, not Digital -- introduction to a proposed book, with responses from dozens of ex-DECies
Where the people are -- now it's Boston/New Hampshire
Internet Business Group Alumni Page -- history and alumni directory
Digital Equipment Corporation: The Internet Company -- case study

FUZZY THINKING ABOUT BIG QUESTIONS BY RICHARD SELTZER

Fuzzy Thinking About Big Questions by Richard Seltzer

FICTION, PLAYS AND POETRY BY RICHARD SELTZER AND RELATED MATTERS

My latest book -- "Saint Smith and Other Stories"

Saint Smith and Other Stories consists of two novellas and five short stories. "Saint Smith" focuses on Charlie, a would-be experimental film maker, Sarah his traditional Bible-believing mother, and Irene the clever ironic uninhibited German woman he marries. "The Barracks" takes place in basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, at the time of the Viet Nam War. The five stories deal with puzzles of human nature and the meaning of life. http://samizdat.stores.yahoo.net/sasmandotstb.html  or  http://www.amazon.com/dp/1455400866   or    http://www.createspace.com/3507928 "[Saint Smith is] rich in thought and peopled with intriguing characters (each soul exotic in its own peculiar mix of angels and demons, reality and fantasy, order and anarchy). The selected episodes of their lives are like pieces in an interlocking jigsaw puzzle which, when assembled, present another puzzle – the “What’s wrong with this picture?” kind. Everyone and everything is in its appropriate place, all is proper. Yet something is missing. Something isn’t right. Somehow it all has the quality of a dream. And yet it isn’t a dream – it’s life. The theme of sandcastles, the building of houses, the mansions in houses, the building of lives, the dream of living, Charlie with his camera like waves sweeping over fragile constructions at once real and make believe is all brilliant, and challenging. It has a Barth, Vonnegut, even Borges aspect to it, as do the rest of the pieces in the collection, only without the surrealism, which may make it even more effective as the impact settles in."
-- Rex Sexton, author of "Desert Flower", "The Time Hotel", Night Without Stars", and "X Ray Eyes"

BULATOVICH

Religious Beliefs of Alexander (Father Anthony) Bulatovich

"Apologiya Very vo Imya Bozhiye i vo Imya Isus" by Alexander (Father Anthony) Bulatovich, first published in 1913 by "Religious Philosophical Library".  In the original Russian.  I photocopied this book at the National Library of Greece in Athens in 1972.  Now, forty years later, I scanned those photocopies to make the book available on the Web in the form of pdf's.  I have other related books of his as well.  Please let me know if you would like me to handle those in the same way. seltzer@samizdat.com

Ethiopia through Russian Eyes

Ethiopia through Russian Eyes consists of two books: From Entotto to the River Baro and With the Armies of Menelik II, both written by Alexander Bulatovich and translated by Richard Seltzer. This is a unique and detailed first-hand account of Ethiopia in 1896-98 -- at the change of an era -- by a Russian officer with remarkable understanding for the many varied people who lived there and keen insight into their destiny.

Africa World Press/Red Sea Press published a print edition of this book which you can buy from Amazon.com

The full text is also available here on the Web:

"Despite its bland title, this is the most important book on the history of eastern Africa to have been published for a century."  That's the beginning of a review of my book Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes (my translation from the Russian of From Entotto to the River Baro and With the Armies of Menelik II by Alexander Bulatovich) that just appeared in the August/Septemter 2008 issue of Old Africa (published in Kenya). http://www.oldafricamagazine.com/blog/russian-officer-king-meneliks-army 

Articles, excerpts and links related to Bulatovich and Ethiopia

Ethiopia

The Name of Hero by Richard Seltzer

The Name of Hero is an historical novel based on the life of Alexander Bulatovich, a Russian who was an explorer in Ethiopia, a cavalry officer during Russia's conquest of Manchuria in 1900, and later, as a monk at Mount Athos, led a group of "heretics" who challenged the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, asserting the divinity of the Name of God. (Originally published by Tarcher/Houghton Mifflin). You can buy the hard cover edition of this book here.  A translation of this book in Russian is available at http://www.pravoslav.de/imiaslavie/vita_antonii/Name_of_hero/NH_Content.htm  The translator is Nataliya Nemzer.

Or you can read the text (in full)  on the Web: Related documents:

Heresy on Mount Athos: Conflict over the Name of God among Russian Monks and Hierarchs, 1912-14 by Tom Dykstra, same as above, as an Acrobat (.pdf) file. You can contact the author at dykstra@u.washington.edu, His Web site is http://students.washington.edu/dykstra

Letters from Princess Mary Orbeliani (sister of Alexander Bulatovich) to Richard Seltzer (author of The Name of Hero)
Transcripts of tape-recorded conversations with Princess Mary Orbeliani, sister of Alexander Bulatovich, June 3- 4, 1973

Timeline for Alexander Bulatovich from 1870 until he became a monk in 1907, with excerpts from his military record

The Name of Man

Sample chapters from an unpublished novel (a sequel to The Name of Hero): Related documents: Email from the great-great grandson of Emperor Menelik II, and news of the fate of Vaska

Works of Andre Orbeliani, nephew of Alexander Bulatovich (the "hero" of The Name of Hero)

Andre Orbeliani was the only child of Princess Mary Orbeliani and Prince Alexei Orbeliani (of Georgia).  He was the nephew of Alexander Bulatovich, about whom I wrote the novel The Name of Hero.  After having met his mother in Penticton, British Columbia, in 1972, I corresponded with Andre, trying to get more details about the life of his uncle.  He and I never met face-to-face.

In the course of our correspondence he sent me copies of his self-published fiction and poetry, which he intended for me to post on the Web to reach a larger audience.  I procrastinated, then he died (in 2001), then I misplaced the box in which I had stored them and his letters to me.  I found the missing box last week (in November 2011).  I will post here his fiction and poetry as .pdf images and his letters (some in English and some in French) which I will typed in.

Go to http://www.samizdat.com/orbeliani/ for links to
Twenty Eight Gramms of Poetry (1982)
Herr Luftinspektor, a Poem (in English, no date)
Lunaya Sonata (a poem in Russian, 1967)
The Scarlet Lady (a novella, 1973)
Jeff Smeerkaas, a play in five acts (no date)

The Lizard of Oz by Richard Seltzer

When an elementary class sets out on a quest to save the world from disenchantment, their adventures reveal paradoxes of the human mind and ways of awakening the magic within us.

Library Journal -- "An intriguing and very entertaining little novel"

Aspect -- "Carroll and Tolkien have a new companion"

Lancaster (PA) Independent Press -- "a work so saturated that the mind is both stoned with pleasure and alive with wonder"

Philadelphia Bulletin -- "A commentary on our times done delightfully"

You can both read and listen to this story here on the Web:
Audio-book version of The Lizard of Oz (complete text, plus illustrations by Christin Couture and audio narration by the author). To hear the audio, you must have the RealPlayer. This is a new, expanded version of the underground classic, originally published in 1974. This edition (which includes new episodes and changes throughout) is not available in print.

If you would rather read The Lizard on your palm device, for $5 you can buy an 84K zip file with the full text at www.palmgear.com  To read that file you need iSilo (software available for from www.isilo.com). (Thanks very much to David Gilford for doing this.) 

Or you can read the text-only version of of the second (expanded) edition of The Lizard of Oz online:

The children's play version of THE LIZARD OF OZ

Review from Plays for Children and Young Adults, an Evaluative Index and Guide, Supplement 1, 1989-1994 by Raschelle S. Karp, June H. Schlessinger, and Bernard S. Schlessinger, Garland Publishing, New York, 1996.

"1101. K-12 (+) Seltzer, Richard, The Lizard of Oz. CAST: 6f, 14m, u. ACTS: 1. SETTINGS: Bare stage. PLAYING TIME: 50 min. PLOT: Two fish, in a fishbowl in a basement classroom, remark on the boredom of the students. One of the fish, Mr. Shermin, explains to the other, Mrs. O'Rourke, that the boredom is caused by the Humbug's tune, which can only be changed by the Lizard of Oz. One of the children Eugene, overhears the conversation and conspires with the fish to travel to Oz in a little green VW with several classmates. On the way, the car falls into a pothole, and encounters a witch who gives them directions. They meet the potheads, people with pots for heads, who help them with more water for the fishbowl. The witch reappears at various times, and the group meets Sir Real, who has a cereal bowl for a head; eggheads, including Humpty Dumpty; a wallflower; an empty-headed pothead with blue eyes (Mr New Man); Mr. Francis Bacon, the librarian; Mr. Charon, the ferryboatman/undertaker; Lewis Carroll; William Shakespeare; Mark Twain; and Plato and the Muses. Mrs. O'Rourke swims off and Mr. Shermin becomes a human teacher. The gang reaches Oz and a bevy of further odd characters and returns to the classroom, refreshed, and with a new teacher, Mr. Shermin. RECOMMENDATION: The adventures and the characters are out of Alice in Wonderland, but the overall effect is comic and interesting."

The full text of the play, as an HTML file is available here. You can also get it as a pdf file (with all the illustrations embedded). You can buy this playscript at our online store http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat

Children's Stories

Now and Then and Other Tales from Ome

Boston Globe -- "A highly original collection of short stories -- sometimes humorous, sometimes profound."

Philadelphia Daily News -- "Seltzer has produced four charming stories for, he suggests, children around the age of nine. Adults will find the book has its appeal too: My favoite story is the one about the little princess who had a nice mother and was very happy and therefore very unhappy because how could Prince Charming come and rescue her if there was nothing to rescue her from?"

Audio-book version of Now and Then and Other Tales from Ome (complete text, plus illustrations and audio narration by the author). To hear the audio, you must have the RealPlayer. You can buy the audio-book version of this book plus The Lizard of Oz, See You Later Elevator, Hundreds and Hundreds of Gerbils, and Tiger in the Intercom on CD from our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat You can also buy Now and Then in paperback or hardcover there.

The complete book, including all illustrations

Separate files for each story, no illustrations (fast-loading):

Other children's stories You can buy the audio-book version of The Lizard of Oz, Now and Then and Other Tales from Ome, See You Later Elevator, Hundreds and Hundreds of Gerbils, and Tiger in the Intercom on CD  at our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat

Other Stories by Richard Seltzer

Without a Myth (or Amythos) -- a stage play by Richard Seltzer

Without a Myth (three-act stage play) -- The characters are assigned roles in a fantastic myth. They can either go ahead and act out their lives in accord wth their given script or drop out and never have any role in life. They have 24 hours in which to decide. A flaw in the rules of this absurd, cosmic games makes the choices and actions of the two main characters a matter of life and death.

This play has not yet been been published in paper form. It will be produced for the first time by High Impact Theater at the Met Performing Arts Center in Spokane, Washington, in the spring of 2000. They first found the play at this site. If you have any suggestions on how we could get this produced elsewhere, please let us know.

This play, together with other plays by Richard Seltzer, is available on a single diskette, which you can buy from Amazon.com

Making sense of the myths behind Greek tragedy, in particular the mythos of Pelops/Atreus/Agamemnon, article by Richard Seltzer

Mercy (a stage play) by Richard Seltzer

Mercy (a two-act historical comedy) is based on the lives of Mercy Otis Warren and General Johnny Burgoyne. A recent biography of Burgoyne, entitled The Man Who Lost America, focuses on his defeat and surrender at Saratoga in 1777. A recent biography of Mercy Warren, entitled First Lady of the Revolution, indicates that she was intimately connected with principal actors and actions of the Revolution.

Both Burgoyne and Mercy Warren were playwrights. After the Revolution, Burgoyne wrote several "hit" plays for the London stage. In 1775, during the British occupation of Boston, he wrote The Blockade of Boston. Mercy replied with a play entitled The Blockheads.

These two historical figures are natural antagonists who should be made to meet on the stage.

(If you have any suggestions on how we could get this produced, please let us know.)

This play, together with other plays by Richard Seltzer, is available on a single diskette, which you can buy from Amazon.com

Mercy Warren home page, where we are posting her history of the American Revolution and her plays

Mercy Warren's long-neglected history of the American Revolution. The complete text of "History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, Interspersed with biographical, political and moral observations, in three volumes"(free online)

Rights Crossing (a stage play) by Richard Seltzer

Rights Crossing (a two-act historical play) was written for Columbia, Pennsylvania, where it was performed December 1-4, 1976, as part of that town's bicentennial celebration. The events of the play take place in December 1777 and center around the Conway conspiracy.

The action focuses on the strategic importance of the ferry crossing that would one day become Columbia; situated between Congress in York and the army in Valley Forge. The fates of the town-to-be and the nation-to-be are interwoven, with local historical figures playing significant roles in a plausible confrontation with Conway and Mifflin.

Conway, plotting to overthrow Washington, tries to seize the ferry. But he underestimates the determination and resourcefulness of old Susannah Wright, the owner of the ferry, and her nephew Sam, the future founder of the town of Columbia.

(If you have any suggestions on how we could get this produced, please let us know.)

Spit and Polish (a full-length screen play) by Richard Seltzer

HTML version of Spit and Polish

Acrobat (.pdf) version of Spit an Polish, in standard movie-script format

Spit and Polish (AKA "The Barracks", AKA "The Summer of Our Discontent") has never been produced nor published. The setting is basictraining at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in the summer of 1970 ( just after the invasion of Cambodia and the Kent State shootings). The trainees are reservists, national guardsmen, and four black draftees who have been "recycled." The draftees want nothing to do with the war. They have been through basic before and deliberately failed in order to postpone being shipped to Viet Nam. For the others, basic is a brief, but painful interruption in their normal lives. So long as there is no major foul-up, they'll return to their school or job in a few weeks. But the disappearance of one of the blacks threatens them all.

(If you have any suggestions on how we could get this produced, please let us know.)

This play, together with other plays by Richard Seltzer, is available on a single diskette, which you can buy from Amazon.com

Traffic Jam (a short screen play) by Richard Seltzer

HTML version.
Word document in standard script format

An ordinary ride down a crowded superhighway becomes surreal when the drivers realize that htey have no control over their vehicles. (10 pp.)

Poems by Richard Seltzer

Miscellaneous poems which have been collecting dust for 30 years.

Articles by Richard Seltzer

Book Reviews by Richard Seltzer

Rome Travelogue from November 2009

Simple but Special Do-It-Yourself Gift for a Two-Year-Old

How to make a personalized photo book for a toddler -- http://www.samizdat.com/blog/?p=490
Example ("Lila's Book. Christmas 2011). http://www.samizdat.com/lilabook.html

GENEALOGY OF RICHARD SELTZER

Ancestor surfing-- using Wikipedia to trace ancestry back 50+ generations

Four Queens -- Nancy Goldstone's book "Four Queens" gives a panoramic view of 13th century Europe, from the perspectives of four sisters whose marriages made them queens of France, England, Germany, and Sicily. Two of those queens, Eleanor, wife of King Henry III of England, and Marguerite, wife of King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis), were ancestors of mine. Details at http://www.samizdat.com/fourqueens.html

Helen Seltzer's Extraordinary Women  My mother, Helen Isabella Estes Seltzer, died Dec. 28, 2010, at the age of 90.  Because of her life-long interest in family history, in her memory I compiled these profiles of powerful and strong-willed women among her ancestors, who might inspire her descendants.

Education

Keep It Simple Use Low-tech Methods for Better Results at Low Cost by Richard Seltzer, column written for eLearn Magazine
Learn from online universities -- join them, don't fight them, and help transform education, column written for eLearn Magazine
Lessons for Would-Be Principals -- Case Studies from High School Administration (The doctoral dissertation "Human Relations in Secondary School Administration: Case Episodes")  by Richard Warren Seltzer, Sr.

About Books and Movies

Complete list of books read by Richard Seltzer over the last 50 years (over 3000 of them)

Book Reviews and Other Writings by Deane Rink:

Readers' room and writers' showcase
This area has several related purposes: to share book recommendations and reviews with avid readers, to serve as a showcase for writers who are looking for readers, and to point people to Web sites devoted to writers and electronic books authors.
All about movies
This area is intended for sharing opinions about movies, as well as content and links useful to screen writers and movie fans. Please send your suggestions and contributions to Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com

Other Interests

Family and Friends



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Many of the documents here ask for your reactions, and, with your permission, we are happy to add relevant, well-written comments -- regardless of your opinion -- as letters to the editor. Send your comments to Richard Seltzer at seltzer@samizdat.com.

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