Archive for the ‘Science Fiction’ Category
Friday, July 5th, 2024
Another Dragonstairs chapbook.
Swanwick, Michael. The War with the Zylv. Dragonstairs Press, 2024. First edition chapbook original, #50 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. A story based on the piece of art used as the cover.
I will have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Dragonstairs Press, Michael Swanwick, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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Monday, July 1st, 2024
The only theme here is books received as gifts.
King, Florence (as Laura Buchanan). The Barbarian Princess. Berkley Medallion Books, 1978. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with a trace of edgewear, otherwise new and unread. Historical bodice-ripper set in Roman Britain written by Florence King, who was better known for her political non-fiction, under the transparent pseudonym of Laura Buchanan (King is credited on the copyright page). King wrote a fairly amusing essay about writing it (“When in doubt, rape”). Given to me as a birthday gift by Dwight, who knew I already had several of her non-fiction books.
Martin, George R. R., editor (Howard Waldrop, Roger Zelazny, etc.). Wild Cards I: Volume One. Tor Books, 2017. First edition thus, a small format hardback reprint of the first Wild Cards superhero anthology, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Robert Taylor bought me this to display as part of the Howard Waldrop memorial he organized, along with my other Waldrop first editions, because the cover depicted Howard’s Jetboy character from the opening story, “Thirty Minutes Over Broadway!” I was also one of the speakers at the memorial. Supplements a copy of the PBO first inscribed to me by most of the contributors as well as the SFBC first hardback edition. My tribute to Howard can be found here.
Tags:Austin, Books, Florence King, George R. R. Martin, Howard Waldrop, Science Fiction
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Friday, June 28th, 2024
Here’s a book I was tempted to pick up copies of when it was announced, but passed because I wasn’t sure how well it would sell. With The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos, Wyndham is probably considered a top 10 SF all time writer in the UK, but he’s less well known on this side of the pond.
Wyndham, John (David Dyte, editor). Logical Fantasy: The Many Worlds of John Wyndham. Subterranean Press, 2024. First edition hardback, #361 of 1,000 numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and publisher’s plastic bag, with bookmark laid in. Bought for $25 plus shipping during a Subterranean sale.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, John Wyndham, Science Fiction, small press publishers, Subterranean Press
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Tuesday, June 25th, 2024
These are the last two books from that estate auction I’m incorporating into my own library.
Dick, Philip K. Dr. Futurity with The Unteleported Man. Ace, 1972. First edition thus (each book previously published with other Ace Doubles), stating “Second Ace printing, September 1972,” a Near Fine copy with slight bumping at corners, slight wear along spine, foxing around edges of interior covers, and slight age darkening of pages. Levack, 14.c and 43.c. Wintz and Hyde, Precious Artifacts SF8.2 and SF29.2. Supplements the Ace PBO first of Dr. Futurity (back to back with John Brunner’s Slavers of Space), the Centipede Press first hardback of Dr. Futurity, the Ace PBO first of The Unteleported Man (back to back with Howard L. Cory’s The Mind Monsters), the Berkley PBO first of the expanded edition of The Unteleported Man, and the Gollancz hardback first of Lies, Inc. featuring the expanded text.
Dick, Philip K. The Golden Man. Berkley, 1980. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine copy with one spine crease and a trace of edgewear. Short story collection. Levack, 20.a. Wintz and Hyde, Precious Artifacts COL6.a. Supplements a copy of the SFBC (first hardback) edition.
I picked up a lot of Dick paperbacks (among other books) that will be available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, PBO, Philip K. Dick, Science Fiction
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Friday, June 21st, 2024
Over the years I’ve tended to pick up fewer and fewer anthologies, mainly because I haven’t been reading them as much, and they’re almost always available in nice condition on the used market for considerably less than cover price. Such as these two anthologies, which I considered picking up when they came out but ultimately didn’t. These are the last two hardback books for my own library from that estate purchase.
Kessel, John, Mark L. Van Name and Richard Butner, editors. Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology. Tor, 1996. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with faint haze rubbing. Original anthology of Sycamore Hill participants, including Bruce Sterling’s award-winning “Bicycle Repairman.”
Rucker, Rudy, Peter Lamborn Wilson and Robert Anton Wilson, editors. Semiotext(e) SF. Autonomedia, 1989. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight bump to front corner. Anthology with both a lot of recognizable SF names (William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Lewis Shiner, Philip Jose Farmer, Robert Sheckley, etc.) and a lot of counterculture figures (William S. Burroughs, Ivan Stang, Kerry Thornley, etc.) Part of that Autonomedia/RE:Search/Fringeware axis of post-punk SF that flourished in the late 80s and early 90s. If you don’t own a copy of Modern Stories #1 (I do), this is the only place to find Gibson’s “Hippie Hat Brain Parasite.”
Tags:anthology, Books, Bruce Sterling, Robert Anton Wilson, Rudy Rucker, Science Fiction, William Gibson
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Wednesday, June 19th, 2024
Four more books from that estate purchase.
Robinson, Kim Stanley Robinson. Aurora. Orbit, 2015. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of wear at points. Generation ship novel.
Straub, Peter. A Dark Matter. Doubleday, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine-/Fine copy with slight bend at head and heel. Stoker Award winner.
Walton, Jo. Or What You Will. Tor, 2020. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. A fictional character plots an escape from his writer’s mind. For some reason, there do not seem to be a lot of copies out there in the wild for so recent a book.
Watts, Peter. Echopraxia. Tor, 2014. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with a long, very thin scratch to front cover, and slight bend at head and heel. Sequel to Blindsight. Supplements both a first of Blindsight and the Centipede Press signed/limiteds of both Blindsight and Echopraxia.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Horror, Jo Walton, Kim Stanley Robinson, Peter Straub, Peter Watts, Science Fiction
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Monday, June 17th, 2024
More books from that recent estate purchase.
Haldeman, Joe. Worlds: A Novel of the Near Future. Viking, 1981. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy with two tackhead sized spots to rear boards, slight spotting to bottom page block and slightly dusty top page block, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with a faint crease at top spine. Completes my collection of the Worlds trilogy.
Liu, Cixin. The Dark Forest Tor, 2015. First edition hardback thus and first English language edition, a Fine-/Fine- copy with slight bumping at head, heel and points. Sequel to The Three-Body Problem and second in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. One of the books I noticed in the collection was a hardback copy of The Three-Body Problem, but it and Death’s End were later printings, but this was a true first. What I didn’t realize was that firsts of this seem quite pricey as well.
McDonald, Ian. Luna: New Moon. Tor, 2015. First hardback edition (the Gollancz trade paperback edition evidently precedes by five days), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. First in the Luna trilogy. I’m way behind on my McDonald, and haven’t even read the Everness trilogy (the one before this one) yet.
McDonald, Ian. Luna: Wolf Moon. Tor, 2017. First hardback edition (the Gollancz trade paperback edition of this also evidently precedes by five days), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Second in the Luna trilogy.
Tags:Books, Cixin Liu, Ian McDonald, Joe Haldeman, Science Fiction
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Wednesday, June 12th, 2024
A science fiction associate put out a call for help with the science fiction library of an Austin area friend of his who died. Despite living in the area, this friend evidently didn’t make any local friends or visit any SF events or signings. He had a few modern SF books worth buying, either for myself or to deal through Lame Excuse Books, which I picked up for a combined price. This set was the best thing from that purchase.
Dick, Philip K. The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Volumes One Through Five (Beyond Lies the Wub, Second Variety, The Father-Thing, The Days of Perky Pat, The Little Black Box). Underwood Miller, 1987. First edition hardback, #135 of 400 numbered copies, all Fine copies in a Fine slipcase, sans dust jackets, as issued, with chapbook for Brief Synopsis for an Alternate World Novel: The Acts of Paul laid in. Wintz and Hyde, Precious Artifacts COL8.3 (though they erroneously state 300 rather than 400 sets). Chalker/Ownings, page 438. Supplements an unnumbered set (the varying shades of red set) and the later Subterranean Press set.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Horror, Philip K. Dick, Science Fiction, small press publishers, Underwood/Miller
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Monday, June 10th, 2024
Two critical companions, both bought at Half Price Books.
(Heinlein, Robert A.) J. Neil Schulman. The Robert Heinlein Interview and Other Heinleiniana. Pulpless.com, 1999. First edition trade paperback edition thus (there was a previous digital edition, but this is the first hardcopy version), a Near Fine- copy with creases to both rear corners. Long interview with Heinlein conducted in 1975, along with reviews of his works, letters, etc. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a copy of this before. Bought for $8.99.
(Pratchett, Terry) Burrows, Marc. The Magic of Terry Pratchett. White Owl, 2020. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Critical companion to Pratchett’s works. Bought for $6.29.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, J. Neil Schulman, reference works, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, Terry Pratchett
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Thursday, June 6th, 2024
Here are some of the most obscure films we’ve watched at the Saturday Movie Conspiracy since we started keeping The List. These are arranged in roughly chronological order of release, with Amazon links for those who want to track them down.
- Trick Baby: Blaxplotation film starring Kiel Martin and Mel Stewart as a pair of con men in 1970s Philadelphia. Based on an Iceberg Slim novel. Really good film that’s worth tracking down. (Note: It’s a Kino Lorber Blu-Ray, and they have periodic sales.)
- Cockfighter: Solid low-budget film starring Warren Oates as the titular character. Based on the Charles Wilford novel.
- Killdozer: Mediocre science fiction TV movie about a bulldozer possessed by a malevolent alien entity based on the much-superior Theodore Sturgeon short story of the same name. Not to be confused with the documentary Tread, which we still haven’t seen yet.
- Golden Needles: A pretty decent Joe Don Baker action mystery set in the U.S. and Hong Kong about a stolen golden statue with acupuncture needles that, if used in the proper sequence, give a man tremendous sexual power. Yeah, they’d never remake that today…
- The Barbary Coast: The TV movie pilot for a William Shatner series featuring him as a master of disguise working as the governor’s agent to clean up rough, corrupt 1870s San Francisco with a casino owner partner. Both the movie and the show are a hoot, and both available in the DVD set, now sadly out of print and pricey.
- Taoism Drunkard: Absolutely insane Hong Kong action film. Come for the titular drunkard riding in a giant shoe, stay for the giant penis-eating kung fu ball.
- The Siege of Firebase Gloria: Sort of an 80s remake of the base siege segment of The Green Berets, but not as good. Interestingly, the tactics in both those films, as well as those seen at the beginning of The Lost Command (the fall of Dien Bien Phu) are all broadly similar. A Kino Lorber Blu-Ray that slipped out of print while I wasn’t looking.
- Elves: Grade-Z, thrill-free horror movie starring Dan Haggerty fighting Nazi elves. Actually, there’s only one “elf” in evidence, and it’s so pathetic it makes the Hobgoblins in that MST3K staple look good by comparison. Only available in a long out-of-print VHS, so the link goes to a YouTube rip.
- Upstream Color: Intelligent Shane Carruth science fiction film focused on two people victimized by the same scammer using an organism that has linked them and other victims into a sort of meta-organism. Well worth watching, and his some great sound design.
- Chasing the Dragon: Solid Hong Kong crime drama loosely based on the real life triad boss and drug lord Crippled Ho, and partially set in Kowloon Walled City.
- The VelociPastor: Complete schlock that knows its schlock about a priest who turns into a velociraptor to fight bad guys. And ninjas. Look for the “[Insert VFX here]” scene…
- Girls of the Sun: Interesting but not great film about a Kurdish Pershmerga unit of former female captives fighting the Islamic State done on what appears to be a European TV movie budget. About 40% of the film is about the lead character’s captivity and escape, which is probably a bit much. Also has a French photojournalist that provides a coda of commentary about The Meaning of It All. Not available from Amazon for some reason, but available through through Kino Lorber (again, worth waiting for one of their sales.)
I’m excluding anything from the Criterion Collection (Haxan, Daisies), anything with a major Hollywood star, and any MST3K/Rifftrax/etc. films.
Feel free to share obscure films down in the comments.
Tags:Bad Movies, Horror, Movies, Science Fiction, Shane Carruth, Vietnam, Vietnam War, War Movies, William Shatner
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