Posts Tagged ‘Thriller’

Library Additions: Six Signed Books

Tuesday, January 30th, 2024

All these came from an online bookseller I don’t usually deal with. And I did get rooked a bit for shipping. But these were all 75% off signed firsts.

  • Bacigalupi, Paolo. The Water Knife. Knopf, 2015. First edition hardback, a Fine copy with a bound-in signature page, with a Fine dust jacket with a “SIGNED FIRST EDITION” sticker. Bought for $8. (Note: The Scanner does not like the “poly-chromatic on black” effect so I had to adjust it some to make it legible.)

  • Barry, Dave. Best. State. Ever. A Florida Man Defends His Homeland. Putnam, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Barry. Non-fiction humor book. Bought for $8.

  • Barry, Dave, and Alan Zweibel. Lunatics. Putnum, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Barry. This and the above are my second and third signed Barry firsts. I already had a book signed by Zweibel. Bought for $8.
  • Brin, David and Stephen W. Potts. Chasing Shadows: Visions of Our Coming Transparent World. Tor, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Brin on a signature page. Collection of essays by science fiction writers like Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Robert Silverberg, Vernor Vinge, etc. It says “Brin Presents” but Potts appears to be the actual editor. This and Lunatics are signed on this gray box in what assume is a tipped-in page, presumably something this particular bookseller does. It’s a bit odd. Bought for $8.

  • Hand, Elizabeth. Hard Light. Minotaur Books, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bend at heel, signed by Hand. “A Cass Neary Crime Novel.” Bought for $8.

  • Morrell, David. Creepers. CDS Books, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by Morrell. Bought for $8.
  • I also bought seven signed bookplates by Morrell at $4 a pop that I’m going to lay into my unsigned Morrell firsts.

    This is the last of my 2023 book purchases.

    Library Additions: Four Random Books

    Friday, August 31st, 2018

    No theme, just four random, interesting books that came in.

  • De Camp, L. Sprague and Catherine Crook. Spirits Stars And Spells: The Perils and Profits of Magic. Canaveral Press, 1966. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine, price-clipped (but otherwise mint) dust jacket; Chalker/Owings says Owlswick obtained extra stock and printed a dust jacket “overprinted in red,” which matches this one. Signed by both authors. Non-fiction. Laughlin/Levack, de Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography, 82a. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 84. Bought for £12 plus shipping.

  • Hunter, Stephen. I, Sniper. Simon & Schuster, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket, with bookstore event slip laid in. Signed and dated (“Jan 17, 2010”) by Hunter. Bought at auction for $6.15 plus shipping.

  • McDevitt, Jack. A Voice in the Night. Subterranean, 2018. First edition hardback, one of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Purchased at the usual dealer discount from the publisher. Copies will be available through Lame Excuse Books.
  • Smith, Clark Ashton (David E. Schultz and Scott Conners, editors). Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith. Arkham House, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Conners. Bought for $30 off eBay.
  • Library Additions: Four Signed First Editions

    Monday, July 16th, 2018

    More of the Fred Duarte/Karen Meschke book collection showed up at the Austin Public Library’s Recycled Reads Bookstore. Two of the books here were 50% off their marked price, and the other two were pretty cheap. All these are in dust jacket protectors.

  • Godwin, Parke, and Marvin Kaye. The Masters of Solitude. Doubleday, 1978. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with purple remainder speckling at heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with moderate soiling to white back cover. Inscribed by both authors: “[In Kaye’s hand]Worldcon 1986″/[In Godwin’s hand] For Fred/Parke Godwin/[In Kaye’s hand] For Fred/with best wishes/Marvin/Kaye.” I did not previously have examples of either author’s signatiure. Bought for $12. (Note: Kaye’s name comes first on the cover, but I have more of Godwin’s books so I’ll be filing it there.)

  • Hunter, Stephen. Pale Horse Coming. Simon & Schuster, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Hunter. Bought for $5. Dwight tells me that this is one of his best.

  • Jeter, K.W. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Warped. Pocket Books, 1995. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Jeter: “For Karen + Fred—/See you in/San Antonio!/Best,/K. W. Jeter.” Meschke was con chair for the 1997 San Antonio Worldcon. Bought for $5 after discount.

  • Kay, Guy Gavriel. Tigana. Roc, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Kay: “For Fred,/All best,/Guy Kay.” Bought for $15 after discount.

  • Other books I found there will show up in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    For more on Fred Duarte, see here, or click the Fred Duarte tag to see other books I acquired from his estate. (For more items from Meschke’s collection, watch this space…)

    Trailer for Cold in July

    Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

    Here’s the official trailer for Cold in July, the film based on the Joe R. Lansdale novel starring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Don Johnston.

    I hear Joe himself is pleased with it, and his daughter Kasey has a song on the soundtrack.

    Pretty promising.

    Library Addition: Harlan Ellison’s Flintlock

    Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

    It’s not so much that I’ve been on a crazy buying spree of these last few books as that: A.) I bought a few things between January and now I hadn’t had time to catalog yet, B.) I paid for pre-publication books a while back that just now showed up (as with this book), or C.) Actually, I did go on a crazy buying spree last week, and I have to catalog stuff before those books show up.

    So…

    Ellison, Harlan. Flintlock. Charnel House, 2013 (actually 2014). First edition hardback, #55 of 274 signed and numbered copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Unproduced screenplay for James Cobrun’s Derek Flint character.

    Flintlock

    I have one additional copy for sale at $145 ($5 off cover price).

    Sad News: Joe Domenici, RIP

    Friday, September 3rd, 2010

    A poster on one of my Armadillocon photo threads said that Joe Domenici, former co-owner of Houston specialty SF bookstore Future Visions, and more recently a thriller writer living here in Austin (his first novel, Bringing Back the Dead, came out in 2008) died on Tuesday. Sadly, the news has been confirmed in the Statesman obituaries. I had known he was hospitalized with pneumonia during Armadillocon (Mike had gotten a call full of hacking coughs apologizing for not being at the con), and I knew he smoked, but I hadn’t heard he had died until just now.

    This is sad news, as Joe was a swell guy, always ready to talk about authors and books, and I bought my share of books from him back in the Future Visions days. I had seen him just a couple of weeks ago at the Recycled Reads book sale, and had bought more books off him when he had a book sale in his own apartment (just across Lamar from the main Half Price Books) a few months ago.

    According to the Statesman he was only 49.

    RIP, Joe.