Archive for the ‘Basketball’ Category

Library Addition: The Dagon Collection

Friday, 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: First of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book

Wednesday, 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

Monday, 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

    Monday, 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.

    MST3K’s 14th Season Fundraiser Going Slow

    Monday, November 20th, 2023

    You may have noticed that Joel Hodgson and MST3K gang are having a new kickstarter for the next season (for values of “kickstarter” that include “not on the Kickstarter platform”). There are five days left and they are only 38% of the way to the first goal of $4.8 million, which will be six features and six shorts.

    The last two Kickstarters they had blew past their goals.

    This one? Not so much. Despite announcing that Plan 9 from Outer Space will be among the riffed films.

    Donor fatigue? The Biden Recession? Not doing enough promotion? Not enough boost from a non-Kickstarter platform? Disgruntlement over how long it took people to get their promised rewards from the last campaign?

    I think it may be some combination of all the above.

    Maybe the usual Turkey Day festivities will kick it into higher gear. But if they don’t, this may be the first MST3K fundraising effort to fail.

    Library Additions: Two PBOs

    Monday, October 9th, 2023

    I guess that technically one of these is a magazine, but it looks and feel just like a paperback.

  • Brunner, John. The Traveler in Black. Ace, 1971. First edition paperback original (no statement of printing and 75¢ as per Currey), a Fine- copy with slight wear at points and a drop of discoloration to bottom page block at heel, otherwise a very nice copy. Celebrated fix-up of linked stories. Currey, page 74. De Bolt, The Happening Worlds of John Brunner, page 57.

  • Moorcock, Michael, editor (John Brunner, Roger Zelazny, J. G. Ballard, etc.). New Worlds March 1966, Vol. 49, No. 160. Compact SF, 1966. First edition magazine in the form of a paperback original, a Near Fine copy with slight glue ridging to spine, slight wear at points, a faint, thin line of abrasion down rear cover near outer edge, and a few touches of general wear. Right in the middle of Moorcock’s acclaimed run as editor of New Worlds when it became the epicenter of the New Wave, with a murder’s row of writers in this issue. The Zelazny is the first appearance of the classic “For a Breath I Tarry” (Levack, Stories 69a), and both this and the above came from the last purchase of books from Bob Pylant’s Zelazny collection.
  • I have cover scans, but for some reason BlueHost isn’t letting me upload pics right now, so you’ll have to wait to see them…

    Library Additions: H. P. Lovecraft’s Miskatonic Missives

    Monday, August 28th, 2023

    Here’s a Kickstarter project that was a long time in coming that finally shipped earlier this year.

  • Lovecraft, H. P. Miskatonic Missives. Helios House, 2022 (actually 2023). First edition hardback, one of 521 Limited Collector’s Edition sets (given the number of kickstarter backers), containing three volumes, plus a fake box that’s actually a traycase to contain the ephemera extras, all Fine copies, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine slipcase.

    Each volume contains a reprint of one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most interesting letters, presented alongside related archival material such as contemporary short stories, art, maps, etc., as well as original art and new scholarship.

    Each volume is also packaged with a set of exclusive extras—replicas of related contemporary materials such as photos, maps, ticket stubs, postcards, news clippings, and diary pages. The Collector’s set packages all of these extras in a custom box which nests in the slipcase alongside the three books. Each Limited Edition Collector’s set is supplied with a Certificate of Ownership signed by editors Andrew Leman and Sean Branney of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and a collectible enamel pin.

    This is just the loose extras; there are additional extras for each volume, in their individual envelopes in the Ephemera traycase.

    with

  • Lovecraft, H. P. (Sean Branney and Andrew Lman, editors and annotators). The Spirit of Revision: Lovecraft’s Letters to Zeila Brown Reed Bishop. Helios House, 2022. Second Edition hardback (I believe the first edition was trade paperback only), a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought with the above as an add-in.

  • It’s an impressive assemblage, and one legions of Lovecraft fans will be kicking themselves over not picking up in years to come.

    Total price for both with shipping was $203.50.

    Library Addition: Richard Connell’s A Little Gray Book of Grisly Tales

    Friday, August 18th, 2023

    Another Borderlands Little Book.

    Connell, Richard (Ted Connair, editor). A Little Gray Book of Grisly Tales. Borderlands Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #462 of 500 copies signed by Connair, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Connell is most famous for having penned “The Most Dangerous Game” (one of the stories here), which has been adapted so many times it has a Wikipedia entry just for the adaptations. Contains eight stories total. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount. Now out of print from the publisher.

    Copies will be available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    Library Addition: Fiona MacLeod’s The Hills of Ruel

    Tuesday, July 18th, 2023

    Another book from that Heritage lot. Random short story collections of Celtic fantasy are not exactly my usual line, but I’m keeping this one to solve the mystery of why it was published.

    MacLeod, Fiona (pseudonym for William Sharp). The Hills of Ruel and Other Stories. Heinemann, 1921. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy in decorated boards (the design matching the dust jacket) with sight bumping at head, heel and points and slight foxing to inside covers and endpapers in a Very Good- dust jacket with a 7/8″ chip at head, 1/2″ chip at heel, smaller losses at top and bottom edges and wear along outer edges. Beliler Checklist (1978) page 131.

    The mystery is why Heinemann decided to do such an elaborate book for an author that is fairly obscure today. It’s oversized (10 1/4″ high, the extact same height as the Dark Harvest first edition of Dan Simmons’ Carrion Comfort) with multiple inserted plates (most in color) and decorated endpapers.

    The art, by M. H. Lawrence, in a sort of arts-and-crafts-meets-Art-Deco tops out at “sort of OK.” M. H. Lawrence turns out to be Margery Lawrence, more famous as a writer, including the psychic detective stories collected in Number Seven Queer Street publish by Arkham House sister imprint Mycroft & Moran. Judging from the art here, concentrating on writing was probably the right choice.

    Still, fiction works with multiple inserted plates are fairly rare, and today limited to pricey small press editions by the likes of Stephen King and George R. R. Martin. Why did Heinemann go to that extent for MacLeod/Sharp? (This was published 15 years after his death, and he’s clearly listed as being MacLeod on a page advertising MacLeod and Sharp books right before the first plate page.) Presumably Heinemann did well with him, as there are nine books by him and one about him (by his wife) listed there. Also, this ISFDB page says that this was done as a Christmas gift book, which explains the elaborate production.

    As I’ve stated before, “you’ve already paid for it” is a pretty compelling argument for adding anything interesting to your library…

    Library Addition: Signed, Limited Edition of The Essential Peter S. Beagle

    Monday, July 10th, 2023

    Another limited edition:

    Beagle, Peter S. The Essential Peter S. Beagle. Tachyon, 2023. First edition hardback, #95 of 474 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in silver decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, with Tachyon sticker and business card laid in. Just what it says, a best of collection of stories for this beloved fantasy writer. This combines what are two volumes for the trade edition (which I have on order but haven’t seen yet). I have a small number of these available through Lame Excuse Books.