September 17th, 2025
It’s been two years since the last volume, but the latest Centipede Press Lafferty volume finally showed up.
Lafferty, R.A. The Man Who Lost His Magic: The Collected Short Fiction Volume 8. First edition hardback, #40 of 300 numbered copies signed by introduction author Gary K. Wolfe.
Unlike previous volumes, this one came shipped in a plastic bag much larger than the book rather than being shrinkwrapped. It means that I need to carefully tape everything up before I can even get it on my shelf next to the other volumes.
Tags: Books, Centipede Press, Fantasy, R. A. Lafferty, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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September 9th, 2025
Six Joe R. Lansdale-related items bought from three different sources.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice and Joe R. Lansdale. Tarzan: The Lost Adventure: Book One. Dark Horse, 1995. First edition trade paperback graphic novel (I assume it’s a first edition, as I see no additional printing listed), a Fine copy. First of four issues of a Tarzan novel started by Burroughs and completed by Lansdale. These are more illustrated chapters rather than an actual graphic novel. Isajanko, A016.a. Supplements the later hardback first edition.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice and Joe R. Lansdale. Tarzan: The Lost Adventure: Book Two. Dark Horse, 1995. First edition trade paperback graphic novel (no additional printing listed), a Fine- copy with slight edgewear. Second of four issues of a Tarzan novel started by Burroughs and completed by Lansdale. Isajanko, A016.a.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice and Joe R. Lansdale. Tarzan: The Lost Adventure: Book three. Dark Horse, 1995. First edition trade paperback graphic novel (no additional printing listed), a Fine copy. Third of four issues of a Tarzan novel started by Burroughs and completed by Lansdale. Isajanko, A016.a.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice and Joe R. Lansdale. Tarzan: The Lost Adventure: Book Four. Dark Horse, 1995. First edition trade paperback graphic novel (no additional printing listed), a Near Fine- copy with slight edgewear, thin crease to front middle near spine, and thin crease running down front cover near spine. Fourth of four issues of a Tarzan novel started by Burroughs and completed by Lansdale. Isajanko, A016.a. All four of these bought from that Facebook seller for $15.
Ferris, John, Stephen Gallagher and Joe R. Lansdale. Night Visions 8. Dark Harvest, 1990. First edition hardback, #491 of 600 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine-, Mylar-protected dust jacket with a trace of edgewear at bottom rear, in a Fine slipcase. The second to last Dark Harvest volume of the original Night Visions anthology series, each volume of which includes original stories from three writers. Supplements a trade edition signed by Lansdale (I have all 12 volumes, including the three done by Subterranean). Bought for $30, a substantial discount off the original $55 price.
Note: The white streak at upper right is dust jacket glare.
Tags: Books, Dark Harvest, Dark Horse, graphic novel, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Pandi Press, small press publishers, Tarzan
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September 4th, 2025
Another purchase from that Facebook seller.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) S. T. Joshi, editor. Primal Sources: Essays on Lovecraft. Hippocampus Press, 2003. First edition trade paperback original (stated, though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Fine- copy with first page slightly dog-eared at bottom. Joshi essays on various Lovecraftian topics. Joshi, H.P. Lovecraft: A Comprehensive Bibliography III-C-65. Joshi, 200 Books by S. T. Joshi, I.23. Bought for $10.
Tags: Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, Hippocampus Press, Horror, S. T. Joshi, small press publishers
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September 1st, 2025
Not a title I was seeking to add to my library, but it included a couple of good signatures at a bargain price.
Asimov, Isaac, Martin S. Greenberg and Charles G. White, editors (Jack Vance, Larry Niven, etc.). Isaac Asimov’s Magical Worlds of Fantasy 1: Wizards. New American Library, 1983. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight wrinkle at spine head and trace of wear at points, signed by contributors Jack Vance and Larry Niven. Bought off eBay for $13.01.
Tags: anthology, Books, Fantasy, Isaac Asimov, Jack Vance, Larry Niven, signatures
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August 27th, 2025
Another purchase from that Facebook seller:
Shirley, John. Lovecraft Alive!. Hippocampus Press, 2016. First edition trade paperback original (stated, though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Fine copy. Collection of Shirley’s Lovecraftian stories. Bought for $10.
Tags: Books, Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, Hippocampus Press, Horror, John Shirley, small press publishers
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August 25th, 2025
I have all the rest in this series, mostly bought from the publisher when they were first published, but for some reason I missed these two:
Joshi, S. T., editor. Black Wings II: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. PS Publishing, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket with UPC sticker to rear cover (presumably as issued). Original Lovecraftian horror anthology featuring work from John Shirley, Don Webb, Steve Rasnic Tem, etc. This is the trade edition (there was also a signed, limited edition). Long out of print in hardback, but bought for $30 (pretty close to the original price of £25).
Joshi, S. T., editor. Black Wings IIi: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. PS Publishing, 2014. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. original Lovecraftian horror anthology featuring work from Brian Stableford, Don Webb, Peter Cannon, etc. This is the trade edition (there was also a signed, limited edition). Long out of print in hardback, but bought for $30 (pretty close to the original price of £25).
Tags: anthology, Books, Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, John Shirley, PS Publishing, S. T. Joshi, Steve Rasnic Tem
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August 22nd, 2025
Another purchase from that Facebook seller.
Haydock, Ron. Deerstalker! Holmes and Watson on Screen. Scarecrow Press, 1978. First edition hardback (no additional printings listed), a Fine- copy with wear at points, sans dust jacket, presumably as listed. Filmography of Sherlock Holmes films and TV shows. Bought for $10.
Tags: Books, Filmography, Movies, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes
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August 21st, 2025
Three more books from that Facebook seller:
(Howard, Robert E.) Derie, Bobby. Weird Talers: Essays on Robert E. Howard and Other. Hippocampus Press, 2019. First edition trade paperback original (though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Fine copy. Bought for $5.
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Mariconda, Steven J. H. P. Lovecraft: Art, Artifact, and Reality. Hippocampus Press, 2013. First edition trade paperback original (though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Near Fine+ copy with a trace of light staining to page block edges and few light spots of staining to first few pages, and a trace of wear at points. Bought for $10.
Smith, Clark Ashton, and George Sterling (David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi, editors). The Shadow of the Unattained: The Letters of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith. Hippocampus Press, 2019. First edition trade paperback original (though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Fine copy. Sterling was the California poet who mentored and championed the work of the young Clark Ashton Smith. Bought for $10.
I’m pretty good at picking up the Hippocampus Press hardbacks before the sell out, but I don’t pick up every trade paperback on publication (and when I do pick them up, they tend to hang around in Lame Excuse Books stock). These were all at good prices.
Tags: Books, Clark Ashton Smith, David E. Schultz, Fantasy, George Sterling, H. P. Lovecraft, Hippocampus Press, Horror, Print-on-Demand, Robert E. Howard, S. T. Joshi, small press publishers, Weird Tales
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August 19th, 2025
Another Borderlands Little Book:
Nesbit, Edith. A Little Fuchsia Book of Fantasy. Borderlands Press, 2025. First edition hardback, #463 of 350 numbered copies (Borderlands: “we only print 350 copies but if anyone has matching numbers above 350, we make sure they continue to get it”) signed by editor Hal Bodner, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Ten stories (including retellings of Hamlet and Macbeth) from an English author better known for children’s books.
I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog (probably November December).
Tags: Books, Borderlands Press, Fantasy, small press publishers
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August 18th, 2025
Here’s a rare case of my buying a book from Amazon:
(Howard, Robert E.) Willard M. Oliver. Robert E. Howard: The Life and Times of a Texas Author. University of North Texas Press, 2025. First edition hardback (“10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1” numberline), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Hefty 580 page biography of Howard that’s gotten lots of praise in the various REH-adjacent bibliographic groups I visit on Facebook. Bought for $20.80, a hefty discount off the $40 list price.
This is the fourth full-length biography of Howard I own, including the Mark Finn, Novalyne Price and de Camp et. al. biographies (plus two shorter ones), none of which I’ve read yet. I’ll probably read the considerably shorter Finn biographer before this one.
Tags: Amazon, biography, Books, Fantasy, reference works, Robert E. Howard
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