This year my birthday came twenty-eight days earlier than expected, thanks to the generosity of my brother and an unexpected Humble Book Bundle. As I mentioned in the past, the Humble Bundle is a great way to keep reading quality books while being broke – usually with as little as 80 eurocents you can get a handful of books in a variety of subjects (both a blessing and a curse if you are an omnivorous reader or just plain curious about a lot of different things), and at the same time help a charity.

And today I was notified the start of the bright new Pulp Fiction Humble Bundle, in collaboration with Titan Books and Hard Case Crime, and even before I checked the contents I knew I was in for a purchase.

The bundle includes 31 titles from Hard Case Crime – a specialist press in hard-boiled and noir thrillers that publishes both old classics and brand new titles. And interestingly enough, the bundle includes both novels and graphic novels – because Hard Case had been publishing comic books too.

I did a quick count: of the 31 books included in the complete, top tier bundle, I only have 4 in my collection, and the bundle includes no less than nine titles I’ve on my Amazon wish-list – among them Brainquake by Samuel Fuller and two graphic novels written by Walter Hill, Triggerman and The Assignment. And then stories by Lester Dent, Erle Stanley Gardner, Bob Silverberg, Max Allan Collins & Mickey Spillane, and Christa Faust.

Also included in the bundle is a portfolio of 100 Hard Case Crime covers – and admittedly the HCC covers are works of art on their own right.
So I cursed and started checking my finances, and said to myself that the basic tier (80 cents, 10 titles) was good enough. And at that point my brother took pity of me and wished me happy birthday, getting me the whole package.

Now I will have a lot to read for the coming months – more books than time, actually. But I don’t care – it’s been a good day, and my birthday is still 28 days away.
(Now I have to remove a few items from my Amazon Wishlist)