Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Library Addition: Signed/Limited Edition of Joe R. Lansdale’s Moon Lake

Monday, August 29th, 2022

Another signed/limited Lansdale edition from SST.

Lansdale, Joe R. Moon Lake. Short Scary Tales Publications (SST), 2022. First limited edition hardback, #101 of 500 signed, numbered copies (matching my other SST Lansdale limiteds), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket with business card, shipping card and tissue paper seal laid in.

I’ll have copies of this for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

Library Addition: Joe R. Lansdale’s Tight Little Stitches In A Dead Man’s Back

Wednesday, October 13th, 2021

Another book for my complete Lansdale collection from that same private collector:

Lansdale, Joe. R. Tight Little Stitches In A Dead Man’s Back. Pulphouse, 1992. First edition hardback chapbook, #70 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Short story hardback issue #28. Story originally appeared in John Maclay’s Nukes anthology in 1986. This is the first separate edition. Bought from a private collector for $75 (which is considerably more than I paid for The Steel Valentine).

I may have mentioned that I avoided the Pulphouse short story hardback line when it first came out, as I had a hard time thinking of them as real books rather than gimmicks, and didn’t expect them to hold their value. Now, after I’ve collected everything else by the author, I’ve been picking them up. Most can still be had cheap, but not this one.

Library Additions: Two Signed Harlan Ellison Firsts

Tuesday, September 7th, 2021

Both of these were bought from a customer who wanted to sell off his collection. Some of that was listed in the Lame Excuse Books catalog, and I’ll be listing the books I bought for my own collection here.

  • Ellison, Harlan. The Deadly Streets with Gentlemen Junkie. Edgeworks Abbey/Subterranean Press, 2013. First hardback editions of each, #216 of 250 signed, numbered sets, Fine copies in Fine dust jackets and a Fine slipcase. Two early Ellison collections, originally PBOs, appearing here for the first time in hardback. Richmond, Fingerprints in the Sky, pages 46 and 51. Supplements trade copies of each.

  • Ellison, Harlan. Li’l Harlan and his sidekick Carl the Comet in Danger Land. Edgeworks Abbey/Subterranean Press, 2013. First edition hardback chapbook, #WW of 52 signed, lettered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Stories of Harlan paling around with Carl Sagan. I avoided buying this when it came out because it sorta looked super-cringy, but since I’m collecting everything else, and the hardback is rare, I added it to the stack. Richmond, Fingerprints in the Sky, page 121.

  • Other Ellison firsts I’m still looking for can be found here.

    Library Additions: Three NewCon Press Firsts

    Friday, September 3rd, 2021

    These three came in just before I sent out the book catalog.

  • Di Filippo, Paul. Worldshifter. NewCon Press, 2021. First edition hardback, #50 of just 60 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. “A high-octane tale of sweeping scope and and [sic] imagination packed into a breathless novella.”
  • Williams, Liz. Comet Weather. NewCon, 2020. First edition hardback, #69 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. “Practical Magic meets The Witches of Eastwick.” By the author of the Detective Inspector Chan novels, which I rather like.
  • Williams, Liz. A Glass of Shadow. NewCon Press, 2011. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Short story collection.
  • All three of these are still available through Lame Excuse Books.

    Library Addition: Fritz Leiber’s Demons Of The Upper Air

    Tuesday, August 24th, 2021

    Another day, another chapbook:

    Leiber, Fritz. The Demons of the Upper Air. Roy A. Squires, 1969. First edition chapbook original, 143 of 275 copies number in Arabic numerals, a Fine copy in Fine wrappers, additional inscribed “To/Chris/from/Fritz,” in a Fine original printed envelope, and even the original stiff cardboard mailer from Squires! Poetry. Squires always did beautiful work. Chalker/Owings, page 588. Bought off eBay for $50.

    Shoegazer Sunday: Hundredth’s “Down”

    Sunday, April 11th, 2021

    Hundredth was a hardcore band that turned to shoegaze with their album Rare. Here’s a track off it:

    Library Addition: Lettered Edition of Harlan Ellison’s Blood’s A Rover

    Tuesday, March 9th, 2021

    Another purchase from the Subterranean Press PC sale:

    Ellison, Harlan (edited by Jason Davis). Blood’s A Rover. Subterranean Press/Edgeworks Abbey, 2015. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 26 signed, numbered copies (the only signed edition), a Fine copy in patterned boards and a Fine traycase, sans dust jacket (though the art used for the trade edition dust jacket forms the fold-out frontispiece) as issued. (Most Subterranean books ship with a plastic bag around the book, while lettered editions have the bag around the traycase; this is the first case I’ve seen where they did both.) Collects all Ellison’s Vic and Blood stories. Dedicated to Michael Moorcock and A Boy and His Dog director L. Q. Jones. Long out of print. Bought for $500 (the original offering price).

    Library Addition: First Edition of Kuttner and Moore’s The Day He Died

    Monday, December 7th, 2020

    Another addition to my Kuttner/Moore collection:

    Kuttner, Henry and C.L. Moore (as Lewis Padgett). The Day He Died. Duell, Sloan and Pierce, 1947. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a little bit of bend at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with small chip at heel and associated 1/2″ closed tear, plus a trace of wear at points. Mystery. I saw a less attractive copy in an online auction go for considerably more than I was willing to spend, so I bought this (the nicest copy online) from a notable SF dealer for $220.

    See also: The Brass Ring.

    Library Additions: Zelazny Trade Paperbacks

    Tuesday, September 29th, 2020

    Part 2 of my third purchase of Zelazny books from Bob Pylant:

  • Saberhagen, Fred. Berserker Base. Tor, 1985. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with a touch of edgewear and slight age-darkening to pages. Theoretically a fix-up novel set in Saberhagen’s Beserker universe, but really more of a Beserker anthology with some filler material by Saberhagen. Includes the Zelazny story “Itself Surprised,” which originally appeared in Omni the year before.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Changeling. Ace, 1980. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Kvocs, I5v.
  • Zelazny, Roger and Neil Randall. Roger Zelazny’s Visual Guide to Castle Amber. Avon, 1988. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight edgewear. Kovacs, X14a. Supplements a signed copy of the SFBC (only hardback) edition.
  • Zelazny, Roger and Fred Saberhagen. Coils. Wallaby Books/Simon & Schuster, 1982. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine copy with one faint top front corner crease and slight age darkening to pages. Signed by Zelazny. Kovacs, I7a. Supplements a copy of the SFBC (and only hardback) edition inscribed to me. Kovacs, XIB1a.
  • Zelazny, Roger and Robert Sheckley. A Farce to be Reckoned With. Trade paperback, presumably a POD reprint, as it lacks the numberline of the first edition, and includes the usual POD barcode on the last page, a Fine- copy with slight edgewear and wear at points. Interestingly, despite having the same ISBN, this is a larger trim size (9″ x 6″) than the first edition (8 1/4″ x 5 1/2″), and could pass as a large print edition, except it is not so marked. This edition not in Kovacs.

    First edition on left, this copy on right.

  • (Zelazny, Roger) Greenberg, Martin H., editor. Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny. Avon Eos, 1998. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine copy with a previous ownership plate inside front cover and a few touches of wear. Zelazny tribute anthology.
  • (Zelazny, Roger) Yoke, Karl. Roger Zelazny. Stamont House, 1979. First edition trade paperback original, a Very Good+ copy with bumping at heel and head, abrasion at front right bottom point, touches of wear along spine and elsewhere, and a touch of staining to inside front cover and blurb page. Starmont Reader’s Guide 2. Levack, “Works About Roger Zelazny” 15, page 140. Kovacs, XXIII11a. There is a Borgo Press hardback binding done three years later I still need to track down.

  • Shoegazer Sunday: The Telewire’s “Slower”

    Sunday, September 6th, 2020

    Here’s another dose of The Telewire, with “Slower” off their Airport EP.