War and Regular People
Subscribing in Foreign Currencies
Charles Bukowski

To: carlosamantea@yahoo.com

RE: To subscribe or unsubscribe, that...

No, the question is: What, no credit cards? I live in West Africa, and credit cards are not unknown here, of all places. I hesitate to mail the local currency...

--- David Levine
toubabdoc@gmail.com

Hi, David...

And thanks for your note.

We had a meeting of the board over this onerous question and came up with a possible solution.

We voted to accept subscriptions to our magazine in any currency associated with some place in the world that we've never heard of ... much less imagined. We also decided that we could accept currencies that carried names so strange that we couldn't pronounce them. Finally, we'll accept payments in monies that sounded demented, if not slightly debased.

Thus we will accept all payments that come in from Kiribati, Mayotte, Dronning Maud Land, Futuna, and the Endenbury Islands.

You can also pay for your subscription with ngultrums, kroons, rufiyaas, and ouguiyas.

We will also accept any and all dongs, pulas, birrs, leks and levs.

We must warn you however of certain exceptions to our generous rules. In its list of national currencies, the University of British Columbia shows a nation known as the "International Monetary Fund." Its currency is called "Special Drawing Rights."

This sounds altogether too flaky for us; so, regretfully, we must refuse any payments in that specie.

--- Ed

---

TO: poo@cts.com

Subject: people affected by the war

Dear Friend,

I thought that what the editor wrote [about the effects of war] didn't really answer your question.

There is a series of novels by Charles Todd set in England in the 1920's that addresses exactly the issues you raise. The aftereffects of World War I are essential to the mood, characters, relationships, social environment and plot.

The Chicago Tribune review said, "No mystery series I can think of captures the sadness and loss that swept England after World War I with the heart-breaking force of Charles Todd's books about Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge."

Another reviewer said, "In a novel full of complex and believable characters, perhaps the most complex of all is the Great War itself, which backlights this mystery with its monumental horrors."

Some of the titles are Search the Dark, Legacy of the Dead, A Cold Treachery.

I found them at my local library.

Good reading! Best wishes,

--- M. Butler

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To: lolitalark@yahoo.com

Hello:

This is Abel Debritto, a scholar from Spain working on a couple of Bukowski projects.

I see in RALPH's history page that you reviewed Bukowski's work in the past. Is that so?

If you did, would it be possible to buy that issue? If it's unavailable, it would be great if you could send the me the bibliographical data: title of the essay, author, issue, and date.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

--- abel cirereta
cirereta@telefonica.net

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Hi, Abel Cirereta:

We have reviewed several of Charles Bukowski's writings, most notably, "The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken over the Ship" at

www.ralphmag.org/indexM.html

and Ham on Rye at

www.ralphmag.org/AA/briefs.html

There is one, on his poetry, "The Night Torn Mad with Footsteps," at

www.ralphmag.org/CE/indexCE.html

and, at

www.ralphmag.org/AA/herbert-hoover.html

you'll find a patriotic reminiscence of the appearance of President Herbert Hoover in Los Angeles.

Finally you can find a disquisition on boils (boils!) at

www.ralphmag.org/AA/boils.html

--- Ed