Archive for the ‘Science Fiction’ Category

Library Addition: Dozois Year’s Best SF 28th

Tuesday, May 19th, 2026

The final library addition from that Dozois auction buy.

Dozois, Gardner, editor. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Collection. St. Martin’s Press, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket, new and unread. One of the years St. Martin’s printed this on thin paper, so the volume is slimmer than usual even though it has the same number of pages as other Dozois volumes.

(Note: What look like whitish smudges near the top are scanner reflections from the Mylar dust jacket protector.)

Now the only Dozois Year’s Best volume I lack from my want list is Fifteenth.

If you’re looking for individual Dozois Year’s Best hardback first volumes, I’m going to have a whole bunch of pristine copies of carious years in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.

Highlights from the David Aronovitz Auction

Monday, May 18th, 2026

That Heritage auction of the David Aronovitz collection happened last week, and there were some truly breathtaking prices achieved. Here’s a look at some of them.

  • An unsigned, first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit went for a jaw-dropping $450,000. Pretty sure that smashes the record for that title.
  • Speaking of Tolkien, an unsigned but exceptionally nice first edition, first state set of The Lord of the Rings went for a similarly astounding $325,000.
  • An inscribed, first edition of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot in a first state dust jacket (Father Cody and unclipped, original $8.95 price on the dust jacket), pretty much a holy grail for King collectors, went for a breathtaking $68,750.
  • Speaking of King, an asbestos-bound Firestarter went for $75,000.
  • Somehow Aronovitz had gathered all three dedicate copies of Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (to Robert Cornog, Frederic Brown, and Philip Jose Farmer), and the lot went for a whopping $118,750. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.
  • An associational copy of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot inscribed to John W. Campbell (which is a great associational copy) went for an eye-popping $87,500.00.
  • A first English-language edition in dust jacket of Eugene Zamiatin/Yevgeny Zamyatin classic dystopia We went for $52,500. I’m not sure I’ve seen a copy offered in the dust jacket. I have a reprint of a later translation Bruce Sterling gave me. (I should probably read it some time…)
  • A green-jacketed first of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four went for $32,500. Interestingly, a copy of the more desirable red-jacked version, with the paper Evening Standard recommendation band, went in a Freeman’s auction for $48,000. I have a less attractive copy in a green jacket.
  • A nice but unsigned first of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? went for $37,500.00. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.
  • In a really inexplicable result, a signed Currey D binding (pretty much the ordinary hardback state) of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 went for $42,500, which is much more than the much rarer “asbestos-bound” copy went for in the same auction ($25,000), and than an association copy of the presentation state B inscribed to longtime friend and fan Forrest J. Ackerman went for $23,750.00. Similar signed Currey D copies can be had for much less online. My own, less desirable D-state copy is covered here.
  • A very nice inscribed first of Frank Herbert’s Dune went for $75,000. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.
  • A copy of the Gollancz hardback first of Larry Niven’s Ringworld in the very rare proof state dust jacket (I know of only one other copy) went for $8,125.
  • A very nice (but unsigned) trade first of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World in dust jacket went for $32,500, which is more than the one of 324 signed, limited copies went for ($8,125). I have an unsigned, jacketless copy of the trade first.
  • A nice, but not pristine, first of H. G. Wells First Men in the Moon signed by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went for $10,625. I have a less-attractive first of First Men in the Moon. I also have a first of another book signed by Buzz Aldrin.
  • A partial manuscript first draft of Gene Wolfe’s The Shadow of the Torturer went for $16,875.
  • Not everything went for crazy money. An E. E. “Doc” Smith History of Civilization set with box and lid went for $7,500, less than $2,000 more than a similar set with lid sold for all the way back in 2008. A copy of Stanley G. Weinbaum’s Dawn of Flame went for $1,250, or all of $50 more than I paid for my copy back in 2008. A nice copy of H. P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others went for $5,625, which seems around market to me. A signed Gollancz Neuromancer went for $6,875, down considerably off recent over $10,000 highs (though $3,500 for a signed first of the PBO is probably a new record).

    But generally, the very highest highpoint firsts of SF/F/H seem to be appreciating in value more rapidly than similar literary highpoints,

    Library Addition: Dozois Year’s Best SF 27th

    Thursday, May 14th, 2026

    Another addition from those Dozois auction lots.

    Dozois, Gardner, editor. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Collection. St. Martin’s Press, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket, new and unread.

    Library Addition: Dozois Year’s Best SF 24th

    Wednesday, May 13th, 2026

    Another book from that Dozois auction purchase.

    Dozois, Gardner, editor. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection. St. Martin’s, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket. Bought for slightly under $10.

    Library Addition: Dozois Year’s Best SF 23rd

    Tuesday, May 12th, 2026

    While I’ve cut way back on auction bidding, every now and then something catches my eye. One of the Invaluable auction houses had an auction that featured a good bit of science fiction, and I won two lowball bids for two lots featuring multiple Dozois Year’s Best Science Fiction hardback firsts. So I ended up picking up 17 volumes, including four I didn’t already have, for about $160 including shipping. So less than $10 each. The ones not going into my library will be in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, already in progress. Here’s the first of the four:

    Dozois, Gardner, editor. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Collection. St. Martin’s Press, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket, new and unread.

    I used to buy these volumes from Willie Siros every year at Armadillocon, back when he was still alive and I was still invited. But over the years I missed a few, either because he didn’t get in copies or because the copies he got in were flawed in some way. But with the latest acquisitions, I think the only one I’ll be missing is #15.

    I should be blogging the other three this week…

    Library Addition: David Aronovitz Book Catalog for Heritage Auctions

    Monday, May 4th, 2026

    There’s a big Heritage SF/F/H book auction coming up, this one for book dealer David Aronovitz’s collection, and Heritage sent me a big fat catalog for it. I’ve been receiving catalogs from Heritage since 2007, but haven’t recorded them previously.

    (Aronovitz, David) The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction & Fantasy Part I. Heritage Auctions, 2026. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Aronovitz is an SF bookseller who got started a lot earlier than me, all this is expensive stuff I wouldn’t have been able to bid on even if I weren’t between jobs. While I have copies of a lot of the first editions being auctioned (I have firsts of six of the ten books shown on the cover), Aronovitz generally had much nicer copies and/or more desirable states, along with manuscripts and associational copies (like I, Robot inscribed to John W. Campbell).

    Previous notable Heritage SF/F/H auctions include:

  • The Jerry Weist Collection
  • The Robert and Diane Yaspan Collection
  • The Ventura Collection
  • Congratulations to Pat Cadigan for Beating Cancer

    Friday, April 10th, 2026

    She just posted the good news.

    Yesterday, my oncologist called to give me the results of my latest CT scan and it seems the thing that I didn’t think could happen, happened: there is no more cancer.

    My mind is blown.

    My original oncologist told me I might have two years or less. If you look up the prognosis for recurrent endometrial cancer, median survival is still given as 12 to 15 months. The five-year survival rate is 20% to 55% depending on how it recurs. I managed to hang in for eleven years, and now it’s gone.

    That’s the limit of my coherence right now. There’s a wild party going on in my head.

    Congratulations!

    Dan Simmons, RIP

    Friday, February 27th, 2026

    From David Morrell comes the sad news that Dan Simmons has died:

    Of all the modern writers I read and collect, Simmons had, next to Gene Wolfe, the most complete writer’s toolkit of any of them. Characterization, plotting, pace, point of view, voice, he was a master of them all. He could write science fiction, horror, hard-boiled mysteries and thrillers, mainstream, you name it.

    After his World Fantasy Award-winning Song of Kali in 1985, Simmons would burst on the field like a supernova in 1989 with the publication of the Hugo-winning Hyperion, the Stoker-winning Carrion Comfort and the under-appreciated Phases of Gravity, and then it was off to the races. Simmons would be one of many writers tagged “The next Stephen King!”, and Summer of Night would make it onto the bestseller lists. But Simmons wouldn’t stick to horror for long, going on to publish more science fiction and a series of acclaimed historical novels that usually contained fantastic elements.

    I met Simmons a few times, and even did an interview with him for Nova Express that, alas, had tape recorder problems, so it never appeared. He was one of the best writers of his era, in any genre, and will be missed.

    Mads Join Rifftrax MST3K Kickstarter

    Wednesday, February 11th, 2026

    More good news on the Rifftrax MST3K Kickstarter, where I said “I think many have preferred Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank” to be involved.

    Well shiver me timbers! I spake thus, and lo, it has come to pass!

    Yes, those Mads. Mike, Kevin and Bill are incredibly happy to announce that MST3K legends Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff will be the guest bad guys on the fourth and final show of this run.

    Trace and Frank will return to their iconic roles of Dr. Clayton Forrester & TV’s Frank, taking the reins for one cheesy movie experiment (title TBD) – tormenting Mike and the bots just like in the good ol’ days.

    In addition to that, Trace and Frank will be cowriting this episode along with the RiffTrax gang. We’re over the moon to work with our old friends again!

    Given that Joel Hodgson is still a consultant to the whole shebang, I think this indeed counts as “Getting the band back together.”

    Library Addition: Centipede Press Signed Limited Edition Set of Philip K. Dick’s Eye in the Sky/The Man Who Japed/The World Jones Made/Solar Lottery

    Monday, February 9th, 2026

    This set is the second set in this Centipede Press signed/limited prestige hardback reprint series of Dick’s books, following The Cosmic Puppets, Dr. Futurity, and Vulcan’s Hammer.

    Dick, Philip K. Eye in the Sky with The Man Who Japed with The World Jones Made with Solar Lottery. Centipede Press, 2025 (stated; actually not released until 2026 due to a signature sheet problem). First editions thus for Eye in the Sky, The World Jones Made and Solar Lottery, and the first U.S. hardback edition for The Man Who Japed, each #92 of 300 signed, numbered copies, each signed by Michael Swanwick, and the respective artists, each Fine copies in Fine dust jackets (with Mylar dust jacket protectors!) and a Fine slipcase, still in shrinkwrap (though it has been opened to the front to correct the signature sheet problem), with #92 sticker affixed to shrinkwrap. All four of these supplement first hardback editions of each (Gregg Press for Eye in the Sky and Solar Lottery (plus the Rich & Cowan true hardback first until the title World of Chance), Eyre Metheuen for The Man Who Japed (plus the Ace Double PBO)), and Sidgwick & Jackson for The World Jones Made). Not seeing this on the Centipede Press website, so it may have been sold out upon publication.