Enjoy a ditty by the Squirrel Nut Zippers accompanied by some fine animation aping the “rubber hose” style of classic Betty Boop.
Halloween Horrors: The Ghost of Stephen Foster
October 14th, 2019Ten Years of Blogging
October 13th, 2019Evidently I’ve been posting here for ten years, since my first post is dated October 12, 2009. Going back over those early posts, I’m struck by just how many of the links are dead. Also, I used to blog more about sports, which I largely stopped doing because there are a ton of other places that cover it, and I seldom have time to watch sports anymore.
My very first “library addition” post doesn’t show up until November 15 of the same year…
Halloween Horrors: Tarantula Stampede
October 12th, 2019Have a fear of spiders? Maybe you don’t want to hear that it’s tarantula mating season, with thousands of the eight legged creatures on the move in search of a mate:
But don’t worry, this amorous arachnid stampede is only happening in the far-flung locale of [checks notes] the San Francisco Bay area…
(Hat tip: Derek Johnson)
Library Addition: Two Joe R. Lansdale Firsts
October 11th, 2019Two books, one a small press signed/limited edition that I’ll have in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, the other anthology I just missed picking up when it came out:
Halloween Horrors: (More) Scary Nurse Stories
October 10th, 2019Remember those scary nurse stories I mentioned a few years ago?
Well, here’s thirteen more.
A sample:
I was working in an icu. had a patient who would only repeat what was said to her and was with her all night. One time I went in the room and she started telling me all the ways she died. “I died because of a narcotic overdose, I died because I took too much insulin, I died on a sunny Sunday afternoon,” etc. Then later she looked up at the ceiling and said “they’re all still there.” I ran out of that room as fast as I could.
Library Addition: Signed/Limited Edition of Michael Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue
October 8th, 2019Another Chabon I was missing:
Chabon, Michael. Telegraph Avenue. Harper, 2012. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with a bump at head and a pinhead red remainder mark at heel, in a Fine- dust jacket with wrinkling along that bump, with Chabon’s signature sheet bound in. ISBN is the same as the trade edition. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a presigned edition remaindered by a major publisher before. Maybe it got mixed in with the regular titles, or maybe it was due to the bump. Bought from Half Price Books for $12 (marked down from $15).
Halloween Horrors: Japanese Hell Temple
October 2nd, 2019If you find yourself in east Osaka, Japan, you can visit Senkoji Temple, a shrine dedicated to giving you a glimpse of Hell, including hearing the voices of the damned:
Halloween Horrors: Watch Nightmare Bob Ross Unpaint the Centipede Tree
October 1st, 2019Welcome to the Halloween Season!
Someone unleashed Deep Dream on reversed Bob Ross and the result is Grade A Nightmare Fuel:
Library Addition: Charnel House Edition of Dean R. Koontz’s Beastchild
September 24th, 2019Picked up another Charnel House cheap:
Koontz, Dean R. Beastchild. Charnel House, 1992. First hardback edition, #612 of 750 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Very Good only slipcase with a couple of quarter-sized dampstains to back. Reprint of a 1970 PBO, dedicated to Lisa Tuttle (among three others). Bought off eBay for $65.00.
Library Addition: Gahan Wilson’s A Little Purple Book of Phantasies
September 21st, 2019Picked up another in the Little Library series:
Wilson, Gahan. A Little Purple Book of Phantasies. Borderlands Press, 2019. First edition hardback, #88 of 500 numbered copies signed by editor Stuart David Schiff, a Fine copy in decorated boards (a Wilson illustration, natch), sans dust jacket, as issued. Short story collection, something of a best of collection, with a smattering of cartoons. Out of print before publication. I’ll have copies for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, due out in November.
Looks like it’s past time to pick up another cheap scanner at Sam’s…