His Nibs.com Update --
Hero, Ginkoshen & fountain pen fiction
July 12th, 2006
This week sees the return of a favorite Hero pen in
slightly modified form. For years I carried the '237'
series of pens as great knock-around writers that
could go anywhere and at a very inexpensive price
(great for first-time fountain pen users as well).
My source for them dried up a couple of years ago,
but I've recently come across an Accountant
version of this terrific hooded-nib pen -- and in
multiple colors. What's an Accountant pen? It's a pen
that has an XXF, or even an extra, extra, extra-fine
nib!
Speaking of hooded nibs, the Ginkoshen Jungle
Stripes -- that became such a hit in the past month
that it sold out in near record time -- is once again
in stock.
Those of you who regularly read the pen discussion
websites such as Pentrace (http://www.pentrace.net/mboard.htm [1])
or Fountain Pen Network (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/ [2]), may
have noticed that about a month ago a fiction writer
by the name of Patricia Frankel began
posting research questions for an upcoming mystery novel
she was planning, which would center on the
disappearance/reappearance of a famous fountain
pen make by Parker almost 100 years ago (I won't
give away more of the plot).
Anyway, Patti and I have subsequently become email
friends and I asked her to contribute to my Writers
page on the website -- where authors comment on
the importance of using/collecting fountain pens in
their work. Not only did she contribute the story of
her recent exposure to fountain pens, she's included
the prologue to her novel -- as yet untitled --
featuring her heroine Aurora Parker!
While Patti Frankel is a new author, I'm pleased to
finally have up on the same Writers page a
photograph of one of the more prolific -- and terrific -
- science fiction novelists in the past five years,
Karen Traviss. Karen is based in England
(although she's on her way to the U.S. later this
month to attend the big Comic Con, where she's
being made an honorary member of the 501st Legion
(http://www.501st.com/honorary/honorary.htm [3])
-- the society of Star Wars
costumers and a charity organization). I've been
after Karen for some time to update her entry, but she's
too busy writing books!
On the blog...Tycoon to test space station
technology.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
* Hero 237-1 Accountant Pen
* Ginkoshen Jungle Stripes
* Patricia Frankel
* Karen Traviss
* On the blog....Tycoon to test space station technology
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hero 237-1 Accountant Pen
The 237-1 Accountant pen has the same overall
design of the 237 Cerulean that many of you will
remember we carried for many years. The main
difference here is that four colors are now
available...the barrel end is black...the Chinese
characters for 'accountant pen' are imprinted on the
barrel....and most important, this pen has an XXF,
perhaps even an XXXF nib! I seriously doubt you'll be
able to find a finer line than that produced by this
pen.
The pens measure 5-1/2" capped and 5-3/4" posted.
It borrows its outer design elements from the
Rotring 'Rivette'. However -- unlike the Rotring --
when you remove the cap you'll see that the pen
sports a hooded steel nib like a Parker 51, and has
the added feature of an "Ink-Vue" window
incorporated within the aerometric converter --
visible with the slip cap off.
So, even if you're not an accountant, this makes for
a terrific, inexpensive knock-around pen that lets you
write where other fountain pens can't -- and you
won't have to worry about running out of ink for a
long, long time!
See more photos here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/'237-1'.htm [4]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ginkoshen Jungle Stripes
The Jungle Stripes is clearly an homage to both great
Parker pens -- the 51 and the Sonnet -- combining
design elements from both, but copying neither
directly. It's capband is about half-way in width
between the very thin one of the early Sonnet, and
the broad on of the later version. The pen measures
5-3/8" capped (about 1/4" longer than my Sonnets)
and 5-5/8" with the cap posted (5-1/2" for the
Sonnet).
More here... - http://www.hisnibs.com/ginkoshen.htm [5]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Patricia Frankel
"My interest in fountain pens began about three
months ago, when I acquired someone's fairly small,
and fairly odd collection. At that time the only
fountain pen I owned was a pretty blue Cross which,
amusingly, I had purchased a couple of months
earlier because I was tired of writing all my notes and
ideas and journal bits with crummy ballpoints that
made troughs on the paper and bled greasy ink blobs
onto the page. I had no idea what they were really
about. When I purchased my Cross, my rationale for
impulsively spending $70 on a pen went something
like this:
"Ooooh. This is pretty!"
As I have since learned, in pendom, this is a
perfectly acceptable rationale, for spending $70, or
$700 And why not? As the British designer, poet and
craftsman William Morris said, "Have nothing in your
house that you do not know to be useful, or believe
to be beautiful." Fountain pens, it seems to me, are
both, and that makes them unique, particularly in
these post-post-modern-new-millennial times when
instruments and conveyances are so often weighted
toward the former at the complete expense of the
latter."
Read more here, along with the prologue... -
http://www.hisnibs.com/writers.htm [6]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karen Traviss
"Pens - real pens, that is, with proper nibs and
honest, messy ink - are the antidote to a high-tech
writers' life. I'll be the first to admit that the PC and
word processing software make life much easier for
writers: whoever developed the cut-and-paste
function deserves a Nobel prize for their contribution
to writers' sanity. And have you ever had to check
through 600 pages of typed copy to find and replace
every use of a certain word? When you're knocking
out 150,000 words, electronics wins every time.
I have writer friends who swear by doing drafts in
longhand because it stops them hammering out a
stream of consciousness. They feel the keyboard is
just to fast to allow the self-editing process that's
inherent in manual writing to take place. I'm not sure
I could work that way: I'd never keep up with my
schedule, for a start, and I need to see words on a
screen in an impersonal typeface. That helps me
dissociate from the intensely personal act of writing
and see the work as a book, as the reader will see it.
But the more I use computers, the more comfort (in
every sense of the word) I find in pens, especially
vintage ones.
I do all my outlining, planning and revision on paper.
After a brief flirtation with three-by-five cards,
fiction planning software and scraping pointed sticks
in the dirt, I now use Clairefontaine plain A5
notebooks and a real pen. Now, that might sound as
if I have just the one instrument. I lied. I'm too
embarrassed to reveal just how many fountain pens I
have, but I can honestly say the collection hasn't
topped three figures - yet. Right now, I'm using a 90
year old Waterman eyedropper, a Doric with an
adjustable nib, a tiny 1920s gold-filled Eversharp
ladies' pen, a Mottishawed Namiki VP, and one of His
Nibs' extra-fine nibbed Hero pens for line-editing and
marking proofs. No, you're right - nobody needs to
carry five fountain pens around with them, but this
isn't about need. It's about ritual."
Read more... - http://www.hisnibs.com/writers.htm [7]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the blog....Tycoon to test space station technology
I first read about Robert Bigelow's plans a year or
two ago in Discover magazine. It looks like he was
serious!
"A hotel tycoon's dream of building an inflatable
commercial space station is taking a step toward
reality - or a reality check - with the launch of a
satellite that will test the technology behind the
orbital outpost."
Read more here.... - http://hisnibs.blogspot.com [8]
Regards,
Norman Haase
His Nibs.com
www.hisnibs.com [9]
Blog: http://hisnibs.blogspot.com [10]