Posts Tagged ‘Horror’

Halloween Horrors: Creepy Spider Light

Sunday, October 29th, 2023

Who wouldn’t like a lamp in the shape of a spider wandering around your house at night?

Library Addition: Slipcased Edition of Dan Simmons’ Entropy’s Bed At Midnight

Friday, October 27th, 2023

Another purchase from that same private collector, and another case of “I already have this book, but not in this state.”

Simmons, Dan. Entropy’s Bed at Midnight. Lord John Press, 1990. First edition hardback, #93 of 100 signed, limited copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine slipcase. Reginald, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, 1975-1991 33966 (but not this state). Supplements a signed, non-slipcased 1/300 edition.

Lord John Press is an interesting press. They started out as primarily a literary small press (John Updike was a particular favorite), but did several science fiction, horror and mystery firsts along the way, including Stephen King’s Dolan’s Cadillac, which (of course) sold out almost instantly.

About the time Carrion Comfort and Hyperion came out so close together, Simmons (like Clive Barker before him) got tagged as “The Next Stephen King,” and there was briefly a small press frenzy for publishing his work. I think Lord John did fine on this one, but some of the other Simmons titles they did (Children of the Night and The Hollow Man in particular) helped burst the small press bubble in the early 90s. They did too many copies in too many different states at too high price points, with the result that they sat on dealer’s shelves for decades. That, the wild overproduction of Pulphouse, and the unwise shift of Dark Harvest to mysteries, along with the founders of Phantasia Press and Underwood-Miller stepping away, helped dampen the small press boom in the early 1990s.

I will have one copy of the 1/300 signed limited edition of Entropy’s Bed at Midnight in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.

Halloween Horrors: Transworld 2023 Show

Friday, October 20th, 2023

Once again, here’s footage from a Transworld Halloween trade show, filled with animatronics, masks, props, etc.

Halloween Horror: Kaiju No. 8 Trailer

Friday, October 13th, 2023

Not sure if this quite qualifies as a Halloween Horror, but it includes monsters, and it struck my fancy.

Basically, it’s an anime series focused on a guy who’s crappy job is to clean up after kaiju attacks.

It’s basically Damage Inc. meets Godzilla. Plus the teaser trailer is giving off a tiny bit of a FLCL vibe.

I don’t subscribe to Crunchy Roll (or any streaming service), but I’d seriously consider buying the DVD set when it eventually comes out.

Halloween Horrors: Mel’s Hole

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

Here’s a nicely creepy borderlands of science/urban legend/conspiracy theory video about a hole that has no bottom.

80,000 feet worth of fishing line found no bottom. Plus animals avoided it, and radios went crazy, when they weren’t picking up signals from 30 years before.

Then the government took it over.

Much more paranormal weirdness ensues

Was it real? Well, as real as anything else with a Wikipedia entry featured on Art Bell.

Good luck finding it on map…

Library Addition: Saki’s A Little Red Book of Wit & Shudders

Monday, October 2nd, 2023

Another Borderlands Little Book:

Saki (H.H. Munro) (edited by Stuart David Schiff). A Little Red Book of Wit & Shudders. Bands Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #462 of 500 copies signed by Schiff, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued.

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

Halloween Horrors: Play-through of Cosmic Horror Game Isle of Eras

Sunday, October 1st, 2023

The Halloween season is upon us again!

This video features a complete play-through of Isle of Eras, which starts out as a search for a missing brother and quickly morphs into a weird cosmic horror/time travel game with giant monsters and nods to everything from Donnie Darko to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s amazingly elaborate for an indie game put together by a tiny team. The monster design is particularly impressive.

Available for PS4/5 and PC (but not, alas, Mac).

Library Additions: Three Subterranean Press First Editions

Thursday, September 21st, 2023

Three Subterranean Press books that came in recently:

  • MacLeod, Ian R. Ragged Maps. Subterranean Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #171 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and publisher’s plastic bag. Short story collection.

  • Swanwick, Michael. The Best of Michael Swanwick Volume Two. Subterranean Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #204 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and publisher’s plastic bag, with a Subterranean bookmark laid in. Supplements the first volume Subterranean did back in 2008.

  • Wolfe, Gene. The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories. Subterranean Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #870 of 1,000 numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and publisher’s plastic bag. Now out of print from the publisher.

  • I will have copies of all of these in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    Library Additions: Three Joe R. Lansdale Trade Paperback Firsts

    Thursday, September 14th, 2023

    Three more Lansdale firsts, two signed.

  • Lansdale, Joe R. Shooting Star. Pandi Press, 2023. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy with signed plate (and two bookmarks) laid in. At 43 pages long, it’s somewhere in the novelette/novella range.

  • Lansdale, Joe R. (edited by Christopher Golden and Brain Keene). The Drive-In: Multiplex. Pandi Press, 2023. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy.

  • Lansdale, Joe R. (and Andreas Guinaldo). Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive-In. Avatar, 2005. First edition graphic novel original thus (no additional printings listed, preceded by four individual comic book issues), a Fine copy, signed by Lansdale. Graphic novel adaptation of the novel.

  • Note: Both the Pandi Press books say “First paperback edition,” but each is actually a true first (current ETA for the Thunderstorm Books signed/limited hardback of The Drive-In: Multiplex is December).

    Library Addition: Limited Edition of Avram Davidson’s Naples

    Monday, September 4th, 2023

    Another Avram Davidson chapbook from Temporary Culture.

    Davidson, Avram. Naples. The Nutmeg Point District Mail/Temporary Culture, 2022. First edition self-wrappers chapbook original, one of 160 copies, a Fine copy, inside a black envelope with Mylar protective wrappers and with a mounted black and white photograph laid in. Bought for $150 (the subscriber price). Story reprinted from Charles L. Grant’s Shadows anthology.

    I’m sort of a Davidson completists, but these chapbooks are starting to get a bit pricey for my budget…