Another purchase from that same private collector as the two previous Lansdale lettered editions:
Lansdale, Joe R. Blood Dance. Subterranean Press, 2000. First edition hardback, letter R of 18 signed, lettered copies, a Fine copy in a beautiful full-cloth binding and a Fine traycase with an additional Mark A. Nelson illustration mounted on the inside front cover, sans dust jacket, as issued. The Lost Lansdale Volume Three. Bought for $250 off a private collector.
Note: The bottom right of the illustration looks strange due to reflections off the protective plastic covering over the illustration.
Lansdale, Joe R. (originally writing as Ray Slater). Texas Night Riders. Subterranean Press, 1997. First edition hardback thus and first U.S. hardback edition (preceded by the PBO and the Chivers large print hardback), copy P of 26 signed and lettered copies, a Fine copy bound in quarter-leather, in a Fine- patterned slipcase with slight rubbing to corners, sans dust jacket, as issued. This was early in Subterranean’s history, and they were still using the 4 x 3 acrostic spine logo. Bought for $220.
Wednesday was the Autumn Equinox, and I was surprised by a crisp, clear morning here in Austin that was actually cool, meaning we were getting Fall on the first day of Fall, and that’s something that never happens.
Given the cloudless sky, I thought this was appropriate:
Pygmalion is probably my least favorite Slowdive album, with it’s sparse, minimalist, almost ambient feel, but “Blue Skied An’ Clear” is one of the standouts.
Here’s the first of several Lansdale items I obtained from a fellow collector who was selling off his collection:
Lansdale, Joe R. Waltz of Shadows. Subterranean Press, 1999. First edition hardback, letter R of 52 signed, lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine- traycase with a few small, shallow, random indentations. The Lost Lansdale Volume One. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 855. Unnoted by Chalker/Owings (or my proof copy of The World Lansdalian), this edition is bound in a very attractive, deep purple cloth rather than the light blue of the trade edition. Bought for $190 ($5 less than cover).
Here’s a book I’ve wanted for quite a while, and finally pulled the trigger on:
Lansdale, Joe R. The Nightrunners. Dark Harvest, 1987. First edition hardback, letter X of 26 signed, lettered copies, a Fine copy in white leather and a wooden slipcase (AKA “slipcrate”), sans dust jacket, as issued. (Note: The wooden slipcase has three small notches at the back, but given the uniform staining, they were there when the book left the publisher.) Lansdale’s landmark splatterpunk novel, featuring two very bad boys and The God of the Razor. Chalker/Owings, page 120 (Jack was not a fan of the novel). Bought off a fellow Biblio dealer for $315.
The scan doesn’t do justice to the silver highlighting on the lettering. It’s a very attractive book.
Outside of eBay, I rarely win things at auction these days, as almost everything seems to go for more than I’m willing to bid. But here’s an exception on: Three items from the same Asimov-heavy auction that I picked up at bargain prices.
Asimov, Isaac. The Best of Isaac Asimov. Doubleday, 1974. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel and a slight bit of lean, in a Very Good, price-clipped dust jacket with a 1/4″ closed chip at head, shallow edgewear at head, and slight dust staining to white rear cover. Just what the title says, and it includes “Nightfall” and “The Last Question.” Bought in an online auction for $4.88 plus shipping.
(Asimov, Isaac) Carl Freedman. Conversations With Isaac Asimov. University Press of Mississippi, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy with with ISBN sticker to rear cover, sans dust jacket, presumably as issued. (The Google Books image also lacks a dust jacket.) Collection of interviews with Asimov. There was a simultaneous trade paperback edition, and the hardback state seems uncommon. Bought at auction for $1.22 and shipping.
(Asimov, Isaac) James Gunn. Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. Oxford University Press, 1982. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Probably the main critical study of Asimov’s work. Bought at auction for $1.22 and shipping.
Two David Wong firsts from that bulk book purchase:
Wong, David (pseudonym of Jason Pargin). This Book Is Full of Spiders. St. Martin’s Press, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel and a Fine- dust jacket with slight wrinkling at heel, touches of edgewear and a couple of small stray abrasions. Sequel to John Dies At The End.
Added the back cover scan just because there doesn’t seem to be one on the Internet.
Wong, David (pseudonym of Jason Pargin). What The Hell Did I Just Read. St. Martin’s Press, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Another book in the series.
Another book from that bulk purchase I’m cataloging:
Greenberg, Martin. The Robot and the Man. Gnome Press, 1953. First edition hardback, a Very Good+ copy with top of spine very slight concave, edges of head and heel slightly soft, and a 2″ crack starting to bottom front inner hinge, in a Very Good dust jacket with shallow chipping at head and heel, some edgewear along front bottom and at top near fold, slight, faint spotting along rear fold edge, and a crease running down the entire front cover right next to the flap fold, as though the book were folded not quite on center and corrected much later, plus a few other touches of wear. Still, the white portions of the jacket are reasonably bright and the pages lack the horrific browning that plagues later Gnome titles. Reprint anthology of robot stories, including some from Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (not a Gallagher story), Lester del Rey (two stories), A. E. van Vogt, John D. MacDonald, and Bernard Wolfe. Chalker/Owings, page 200. Kemp, The Anthem Series, 225-26.
Fowler, Karen Joy. What I Didn’t See and Other Stories. Small Beer Press, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of wrinkling at top rear, signed by by Fowler. Short story collection.
Gaiman, Neil. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. William Morrow, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Gaiman.
Silverberg, Robert. The Secret Sharer. Underwood Miller, 1988. First edition hardback, #230 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Near Fine slipcase with some red spotting to rear.
Norm Macdonald, who has died at 61, was a comedic genius whose irreverence and inimitable delivery made millions of people laugh harder than almost anyone else could make them do—whether he was taking shots at mainstream figures (O. J. Simpson, the Clintons), constructing elaborate setups for impossibly simple punchlines (depressed moths, massacres in Vietnam), or saving dull affairs by subverting expectations (celebrity roasts and awards events, big and small). A private man who kept his nine-year battle with cancer out of the public eye, Macdonald occasionally showed flashes of a deep seriousness, expressing frustration with an increasingly intolerant popular culture and offering genuine insights in interviews and in an uproarious pseudo-memoir. But in the final analysis, he was a pure aesthete of jokes and one of the funniest people around.
Born and raised in Canada, Macdonald began his comedy career in the late 1980s. He was a frequent guest of late-night shows throughout the 1990s, with his appearances on Conan O’Brien in particular being the stuff of legend. His apogee of fame probably came between 1994 and 1998, when he hosted Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” segment—typically a stepping stone to a late-night show of one’s own—only to be fired by NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer for joking too much about O. J. Simpson, Ohlmeyer’s personal friend. Immediately afterward, Macdonald went on David Letterman, who asked how he had reacted to getting canned. “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not good,’” said Macdonald. “And I said, ‘Why is that, now? And [Ohlmeyer] goes, ‘Well, you’re not funny.’ And I said, ‘Holy Lord, that’s even worse news!’”
When I go looking for random YouTube comedy videos, Macdonald and Bill Burr are the two comedians watch most often.
There’s no shortage of great Macdonald clips out there:
Here's another clip of how great Norm Macdonald was at taking the most awkward comedy and making it so funny you couldn't help but laugh.
Norm is doing a bit about Steve Irwin (Crocodile Hunter) dying… 10 days after it happened. pic.twitter.com/bSP83bqQrg
