Been a while since I did a Sunday Shoegazer. I’ve been busy.
Operating out of Guadalajara, Mexico, Lorelle Meets the Obsolete hits a sweetspot between shoegaze, slowcore and psychadelic, sounding a little bit like a heavier Mazzy Star. “Waves Over Shadows” is off Balance.
Three signed first edition hardbacks picked up from two different sources. The Effinger and the Lovegrove were picked up from a Lame Excuse Books customer for trade credit, and the Zelazny was from eBay.
I doubt there’s anyone alive who’s read everything Isaac Asimov wrote (there’sw simply too much of it), but a goodly number SF fans probably think they read all of Asimov’s science fiction, or at least up through about Foundation’s Edge and Robots of Dawn, at which point it became obvious that the good doctor’s novel-writing career was running on fumes. But I suspect that many are unaware of this YA science fiction novel (really more like an illustrated novelette) that came out in 1975.
Asimov, Isaac. The Heavenly Host. Walker, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a trace of wear to boards, in a Near Fine dust jacket with a couple of 1/4″ closed tears at top edge, a few traces of dust soiling, and slight sun-yellowing around the perimeter (greatly exaggerated in the scan). Young adult novel set on another planet. Currey (1979), page 17. Bought from an online dealer for $20 plus shipping.
I had already purchased this and was about to cue it up here when news of Ellison’s death reached me. This is the most I’ve ever paid for a mass-market paperback, but signed copies usually go for about thrice what I paid for this.
Ellison, Harlan. Rumble. Pyramid Books, 1958. First edition paperback original (“Pyramid Books edition 1958” on copyright page and 35¢ price, as per Currey), a Near Fine copy with slight wear along spine, faint crease on top front corner, slight characteristic age-darkening of pages, and a few other touches of wear, otherwise a bright, tight, square copy of a book usually found in much worse shape. Inscribed by Ellison: “Best of/luck to Perry/and to Sue, undisguised/lust and an all-expense paid/trip to anywhere with me/Harlan Ellison/22 JAN 73”. Mainstream novel of juvenile delinquency. Currey (1979), page 179. Slusser, Harlan Ellison: Unrepentant Harlequin, page 62, 1. Segaloff, A Lit Fuse, page 75. Bought for $66 off eBay.
The man many thought was too stubborn and angry to die has passed away in his sleep: Harlan Ellison, dead at 84.
Ellison was a tremendously important science fiction writer in his heyday in the 1960s, the infant terrible of the American New Wave. His prose was both razor sharp and packed an emotional urgency pretty much unseen in the field heretofore, the SF counterpart to the “angry young man” briefly fashionable in the literary world. Among his prodigious short fiction output was “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” a story most would place among the genre’s very best, if not the best, and he won Hugos and Nebulas left and right back when they actually meant something.
He had a singular gift for memorable titles, superb taste in enemies, and a penchant for suing people at the drop of a hat (sometimes deserved, sometimes not). He wrote several memorable screenplays, including “Demon With a Glass Hand” for The Outer Limits and “City on the Edge of Forever” for Star Trek, as well as a large number of comic book issues. He was exceptionally smart, extremely charismatic, unusually hotheaded, irascible, opinionated and irreplaceable, and the source of hundreds of stories of his outrageous antics.
The field shall not see his like again.
Below: A few Ellison-related titles from my library. And I’ll actually be listing another recent purchase tomorrow…
John Brunner is something of an odd author for me. I have nice firsts of Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up, and pick up his signed first editions when I see them cheap, but I’m not actively trying collect everything he wrote.
But I saw this on sale on eBay from a major UK dealer who has tons of nice stuff that’s usually at prices in excess of what I want to spend, and thought it was worth picking up.
Brunner, John. The Crutch of Memory. Barrie and Rockcliff, 1964. First edition hardback (“First published 1964,” as per Currey), a Near Fine- copy with dust soiling to page block edges, slight bumping at head and heel and extremely slight blunting of points, in a Very Good dust jacket with shallow chipping at head and heel, some dust soiling around the edge of the white rear cover, foxing to blind side of dj spine and edges, and general wear. With Brunner’s own ownership bookplate affixed to front flap. Brunner’s first mainstream novel. Currey, 1979, page 70. de Bolt, The Happening World of John Brunner, page 205. Bought £9.50 plus shipping.
Saw this mentioned on Penny Arcade and immediately decided to order a copy. Good thing, since it was sold out by the next time they posted…
Holkins, Jerry and Mike Krahulik. Lexcalibur: Useful Poetry for Adventurers Above And Below The World. Penny Arcade, 2017 (actually 2018). First edition hardback (“First Printing. November 2017. Printed in China.”), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread, with additional “Table of Malcontents” poem on bookmark laid in. Fantasy-gaming themed humorous poetry. Not actually offered for sale until May 2018.
Here’s a book I picked up less for the contents than as an affordable way to obtain Fletcher Pratt’s signature:
Pratt, Fletcher, editor. Civil War in Pictures. Civil War in Pictures, 1955. First edition (thus? no statement of printing, and there was a Garden City Books edition in 1955 as well, but what online references I’ve found (such as this from Henry Wessells) mention this Holt edition), a Near Fine copy with slight bumping at tips, a non-authorial bookplate on inside front cover (mostly obscured by the dj flap), and very faint yellowing to pages, in a Very Good dust jacket, with very shallow loss and head and heel, a 1″ semi-closed tear at bottom rear cover, same bumping at tips, and slight foxing to blind side spine. Signed by Pratt for members of the Civil War Book Club. $10 would have been very pricey indeed for 1955 (though it’s possible that was just for show and the club members received it for a substantial discount). Pratt died in 1956. Bought for $37.50 on eBay.
Two more signed Ray Bradbury Christmas broadsheets, both bought off eBay:
I won a three-book lot of signed Philip K. Dick firsts from Swann Auctions in May, and after a small shipping delay, they finally arrived.
When the Dick “cancelled check limiteds” started appearing, there was widespread belief among collectors that they were extremely tacky, but damned if the things didn’t sell out almost instantly. Nowadays these typically retail in the $750-$1,250 range each. All three books bought for $880 at auction, including buyer’s fee and shipping.