One: A flickr set of vintage Edward Gorey book covers, including a bunch of great old John Bellairs mysteries. Turns out one of the set compilers is Deth P. Sun, an artist whose work I have hanging in my house. Good stuff. (via Reading Copy.)

Two: The Gutenberg Variations, a series of book paintings by artist Stanford Kay done over the past eight years. They’re warm, vaguely impressionistic, a bit as if Matisse had spent time gazing lovingly over his library. For anyone who’s done just that—most of us here, I bet—they feel familiar, and Kay’s website would make for a nice oasis of calm in a potentially hectic weekend. (via The Casual Optimist.)

Three: “Lastward, Deputy James,” a previously unpublished short story by Barry Hannah, in progress over at Five Chapters. The beauty of the Five Chapters setup, especially for an author like Hannah, is that you’re forced to take it a day at a time, watching the little pieces of the story’s armature poke through bit by bit.

He carried a nickel-plated hammerless .38 but the weapon had acquired the status of a mere hammer about the cabin, a wide enough rectangle with a small electric heater so that he slept comfortably in innocence, doom, and fatalism all three.

Anton Chekhov must be holding his breath. Fortunately it’s already Wednesday, so you can gulp down the first three installments at once.

(Artwork is Blues Section, 2008, 40″ x 36″ acrylic on canvas by Stanford Kay.)