Shoegazer Sunday: Hollie Blue Covers “Fade Into You”

March 17th, 2024

Here’s UK performer Hollie Blue covering Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You.”

Not bad, and she’s easy on the eyes…

Library Addition: The Dagon Collection

March 15th, 2024

Here’s another Lovecraft-themed anthology from PS in the mold of Pedersen’s earlier The Starry Wisdom Library.

Pedersen, Nate, editor. The Dagon Collection: An Auction Catalogue of Items Recovered in the Federal Raid on Innsmouth, Mass. PS Publishing, 2024. First edition hardback in decorated boards, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Anthology in the form of a mock auction catalog of Cthulhu Mythos related items from the Esoteric Order of Dagon, with contributions from F. Paul Wilson, Ramsey Campbell, etc.

I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

Library Addition: Robert E. Howard’s A Little Bronze Book of Weird Tales

March 12th, 2024

Another in Borderland Press’ series of classic writer volumes.

Howard, Robert E. (Edited by P. Gardner Goldsmith) A Little Bronze Book of Weird Tales. Borderlands Press, 2024. First edition hardback, #463 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued.

I will have a small number of these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

Library Addition: Michael Swanwick’s Phases Of The Sun/Phases of the Moon

March 6th, 2024

Another short-run Dragonstairs chapbook I managed to grab:

Swanwick, Michael. Phases of the Sun/Phases of the Moon. Dragonstairs Press, 2020 (not offered for sale until 2024). First edition accordion-fold chapbook original (Phases of the Sun goes one way, and then you flip it over and Phases of the Moon goes the other), a Fine copy. Bought for $60 from Dragonstairs and sold out within two minutes.

Library Additions: Two Thomas Disch Firsts

March 4th, 2024

These were part of an auction lot:

  • Disch, Thomas M. The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars. Doubleday, 1988. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with previous owner’s name on front free endpaper, in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket. Sequel to The Brave Little Toaster (which I have an inscribed copy of).

  • Disch, Thomas M. The Silver Pillow: A Tale of Witchcraft. Mark V. Ziesing, 1987. First edition hardback, #37 of 250 numbered copies signed by Disch and artist Harry O. Morris, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Chalker/Owings, page 490. Replaces a slightly less attractive copy.

  • Shoegazer Sunday: School of Seven Bells’ “Ablaze”

    March 3rd, 2024

    SVIIB is School of Seven Bells’ last album, compiled from the tracks laid down by Benjamin Curtis before he died and completed by vocalist Alejandra Deheza. Here’s opening track “Ablaze,” which is pretty groovetastic.

    Library Addition: First of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book

    February 28th, 2024

    This is a case of replacing a just slightly less attractive first with a pristine copy.

    Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. HarperCollins, 2008. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Newbery and Carnegie Medal winner. Replaces a Fine/Fine- copy. Bought for $8.09 from Half Price Books.

    Library Additions: Four John Crowley Firsts

    February 26th, 2024

    These four books were offered as The John Crowley Conway Miscellany set on Kickstarter. Each has a different trim size.

  • Crowley, John. Seventy-Nine Dreams. Ninpin Press, 2024. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. A dream journal. 5″ tall by 5″ wide
  • Crowley, John. The Sixties: A Forged Diary. Ninpin Press, 2024. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. A reconstruction of Crowley’s life in New York City in the 60s. “After taking a job with a photography studio, he soon crosses paths with the likes of Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon, Claudia Cardinale and Raquel Welch.” 8″ tall by 6″ wide.
  • Crowley, John. Two Chapters in a Family Chronicle. Ninpin Press, 2024. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Two stories, “Percy and Lulu Go to Vermont” and “Poker Night at the Elks Club 1938” that “link three generations of John Crowley’s family.” 7″ tall by 5″ wide.
  • Crowley, John. Two Chapters in a Family Chronicle. Ninpin Press, 2024. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, with signature plate by Crowley laid in (only one per set). Two speeches, “Practicing the Arts of Peace and “The Uses of Allegory.” 6″ tall by 4″ wide.

  • The four books together can be laid out to form a single image. Because the books are too large to fit on my scanner, I have copied the image from the Kickstarter page.

    I will have a small number of sets of these (with the signature plate) in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    Library Addition: Joe R. Lansdale’s The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team

    February 19th, 2024

    Another signed Subterranean Lansdale first.

    Lansdale, Joe R. The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team. Subterranean, 2023 (stated; received early 2024). First edition hardback, #371 of 1250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. The latest Lansdale short story collection. I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    Library Additions: Two Gnome Press Firsts

    February 14th, 2024

    Here’s another Heritage Auctions lot I placed lowball bid on and won. There were three books, one of which will be in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog. Both of these were on my Books Wanted List.

  • Kuttner, Henry, with C. L. Moore (as Lewis Padgett). Gnome Press, 1951. First edition hardback, a near Fine copy with previous owner’s name on FFE and slight bend at head, in a Near Fine-, price-clipped dust jacket with slight wear and shallow loss at heel, slight wear at head, and slight rubbing along folds. Currey, page 293. Chalker/Owings, page 198 (“One of the scarcest Gnomes”). Kemp, The Anthem Series, pages 200-201 (though he calls for gray boards lettered in “dark blue,” and the lettering here is clearly black; this calls for dark gray lettered in black, but honestly it looks more like a dark beige to me, so I’ve added a scan below). Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy page 171 (under Padgett).

    This scans lighter than it actually is, so I’ve adjusted the brightness down a smidge to closely match the color I’m seeing with my eye.

  • Leiber, Fritz. Two Sought Adventure. Gnome Press, 1957. First edition, first state binding (black boards, labeled in red, as per Currey A), a Fine copy (albeit with the age-darkening of the pages characteristic of Gnome Press books of this era) in a Fine dust jacket. The first Fafhrd and Gray Mouser book, and one that completes my hardback first Fafhrd and Gray Mouser collection (along with the six volume Gregg Press set and the Rupert Hart-Davis The Swords of Lankhmar). Currey, page 309. Chalker/Owings, 203. Kemp, The Anthem Series, pages 256-258 (“highly recommended”). Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy page 238.

  • I paid less than $50 each for these with buyer’s premium.