Once again, The Simpsons “Steamed Hams” segment has inspired the Internet to produce an alternate version, this one in terrifying Soviet-style animation.
The juggling Crusty is pure nightmare fuel.
(Previously.)
Halloween Horrors: Steamed Hams as Terrifying Soviet Animation
October 12th, 2023Halloween Horrors: Mel’s Hole
October 10th, 2023Here’s a nicely creepy borderlands of science/urban legend/conspiracy theory video about a hole that has no bottom.
80,000 feet worth of fishing line found no bottom. Plus animals avoided it, and radios went crazy, when they weren’t picking up signals from 30 years before.
Then the government took it over.
Much more paranormal weirdness ensues
Was it real? Well, as real as anything else with a Wikipedia entry featured on Art Bell.
Good luck finding it on map…
Library Additions: Two PBOs
October 9th, 2023I guess that technically one of these is a magazine, but it looks and feel just like a paperback.
I have cover scans, but for some reason BlueHost isn’t letting me upload pics right now, so you’ll have to wait to see them…
Shoegazer Sunday: S.C.U.M.’s “Whitechapel”
October 8th, 2023I found this S.C.U.M. video in a list of Shoegaze videos, and I see them described as “Post-punk,” but what they sound like to me is 1980s-era Simple Minds. Here’s “Whitechapel.”
By the way, Simple Minds are still around and have a tour coming next year, but S.C.U.M. broke up in 2013.
Library Addition: Signed First of Phyllis Eisenstein’s The Crystal Palace
October 5th, 2023I have a signed first of Sorceror’s Son, so it made sense to add this.
Eisenstein, Phyllis. The Crystal Palace. Grafton Books, 1991. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Eisenstein. Sequel to Sorceror’s Son. The U.S. paperback precedes, but this was the first hardback. This was part of the last big Zelazny purchase in 2020 and I’ve just now gotten around to cataloging it. As I’ve said before, there are few price points more attractive than “you’ve already paid for it.”
Library Addition: Saki’s A Little Red Book of Wit & Shudders
October 2nd, 2023Another Borderlands Little Book:
Saki (H.H. Munro) (edited by Stuart David Schiff). A Little Red Book of Wit & Shudders. Bands Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #462 of 500 copies signed by Schiff, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued.
I will have a small number of copies available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Halloween Horrors: Play-through of Cosmic Horror Game Isle of Eras
October 1st, 2023The Halloween season is upon us again!
This video features a complete play-through of Isle of Eras, which starts out as a search for a missing brother and quickly morphs into a weird cosmic horror/time travel game with giant monsters and nods to everything from Donnie Darko to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s amazingly elaborate for an indie game put together by a tiny team. The monster design is particularly impressive.
Available for PS4/5 and PC (but not, alas, Mac).
Library Addition: First of 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams
September 28th, 2023This was another Kickstarter purchase.
Adams, Douglas (edited by Kevin Jon Davies). 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams. Unbound, 2023. First edition hardback (number line ending with 1), a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. A compendium of scripts, drafts, notes, sketches etc. from the archives of this Dr. Who and Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy writer. I backed this on Kickstarter, and my name can be found on page 315. This book was actually a #1 Sunday Times bestseller. I’m not sure if this Kickstarter edition differs from the trade edition, though I count 320 pages, while Amazon UK says 336 pages, so, maybe?
I will have exactly one copy of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Library Addition: First Edition of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
September 26th, 2023At some point I decided that I wasn’t just going to collect every Ray Bradbury first edition ever published, but I was going to obtain every Ray Bradbury first edition signed. When I started on this goal, a lot of signed Fine/Fine Bradbury firsts could be found on eBay for less than cover price. Those days are pretty much over.
But this was a hard and key title to find, so I made the sort of compromises on quality I usually avoid.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Ballantine Books, 1953. First edition hardback (Currey (1978) D state/Currey (2002) C state, red boards lettered in yellow, no precedence among hardback states), a Near Fine copy with a few small indentations, very slight glue wrinkling (binding flaw) to bottom of rear cover, slight wear to bottom boards, slight wear at head, heel and points, in a Fine facsimile dust jacket, with a Bradbury signature plate laid in. Currey (1978), page 55, Currey (2002) page 44. Pringle, Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels 8. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4 3-31. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 39. Magill, Survey of Science Fiction Literature, pages 749-755. Heritage Rare Books and manuscripts Auction #675, page 87 (“one of the most influential and widely read science fiction tales ever published”). Heritage Americana Auction #658 & 65801, page 32. Heritage The Frank Collection Auctions #7001 and #684, page 58. A key 20th century science fiction novel, and the most difficult of Bradbury’s mainstream publisher hardback firsts by a good measure. Bought for $750 plus tax and shipping from an offer on eBay.
Library Additions: Three Subterranean Press First Editions
September 21st, 2023Three Subterranean Press books that came in recently:
I will have copies of all of these in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.