Archive for the ‘Science Fiction’ Category
Monday, April 28th, 2025
I came across this in a Half Price Books store, and was either unaware it existed or had forgotten about it.
Crowley, John. Great Work of Time. Bantam, 1991. First edition paperback original thus and first separate edition, originally published as one of four novellas in Novelty two years before, a Fine- copy with edgewear. His World Fantasy Award-winning time travel novel, it which an initial time travel effort to keep the British Empire intact eventually results in radical changes up the line. Bought from Half Price Books for $1.79.
I think Bantam may have been the only mainstream SF publisher of the late 1980s and early 1990s who would put out novellas in paperback form, as I know they did a few others.
Note that I still have copies of the signed, limited hardback edition available through Lame Excuse Books.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, John Crowley, Science Fiction, Time Travel, World Fantasy Award
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Thursday, April 17th, 2025
That same eBay seller keeps having some interesting signed PBOs going cheap, including this one:
Tenn, William. The Square Root of Man. Ballantine Books, 1968. First edition paperback original (“First Printing: June, 1968”), a Very Good copy with spine creasing and lean, crease along front spine join, edgewear, and a bookstore stamp to teaser page, signed by Tenn. Currey, page 278. Bought for the opening bid of $10.
Tags:Books, eBay, PBO, Science Fiction, William Tenn
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Wednesday, April 9th, 2025
Another Half Price Books find:
McDonald, Ian. Hopeland. Tor, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine-/Fine- copy with slight bumping to top points. Looks a bit New Weird-ish. ISDFB says the Tor edition precedes by a couple of days. Bought from Half Price Books for $13.49.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, New Weird, Science Fiction
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Friday, March 21st, 2025
Quite a bit different than a lot of the items I catalog here:
Harvia, Teddy (David Thayer). WingNuts in Time and Space. Self-published, 2025. First edition comic book fanzine original, #90 of 200 copies, a Fine copy, with letter from the author/illustrator laid in. An eight page comic from the award-winning fan artist featuring his WingNut characters talking about the Big Bang. Given to me free after he asked me if I wanted a copy. Sure!
Tags:art, Books, comic books, fanzine, Science Fiction, Teddy Harvia AKA David Thayer
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Wednesday, March 19th, 2025
Though I have several H. G. Wells first editions, I have comparatively little by Verne. Not only do first English language editions of Verne not pop up at used bookstores in central Texas, I haven’t even chanced across any firsts of the Naval Institute Press translations (which evidently include material omitted from all previous translations). Prior to this volume, the only Verne first I had was the Chambers edition of Backwards to Britain, which I think I bought for something like $7.99. The is the latest in Borderlands “Past Masters of Horror & Fantasy” series.
Verne, Jules (Tim Connair, editor). A Little Blue Book of Icy Peril. Borderlands Press, 2024. First edition hardback, #463 of 500 copies signed by the editor, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issue. Three novelette/novella length stories (“A Drama in the Air,” “Winter amidst the Ice,” and “Ascent of Mount Blanc”) plus notes.
I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, Borderlands Press, Jules Verne, Little Books, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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Friday, February 21st, 2025
Two more paperbacks bought at the local Half Price Books.
Brackett, Leigh. The Reavers of Skaith. Ballantine Books, 1976. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with a trace of edgewear. I now have all three Skaith books, thanks to a previous Half Price Books purchase. Currey, page 53. Bought for $1.34.
Brackett, Leigh. The Starman of Llyrdis. Ballantine Books, 1976. First edition paperback original thus under this title, (a reprint of the 1952 Gnome Press hardback The Starman), a Near Fine copy with edgewear and a large bookstore stamp inside the front cover, otherwise nice and square. Currey, page 53. Bought for 67ยข.
Tags:Books, Half Price Books, Leigh Brackett, PBO, Science Fiction
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Thursday, February 20th, 2025
L.W. Currey had a sale, and I found three desirable items at prices I could afford at 50% off.
Cabell, James Branch. Something About Eve. Robert McBride & Company, 1927. First edition hardback, limited “Large Paper” edition #655 of 850 signed, numbered copies, a Near Fine copy with bumping at heel, with frontispiece tissue guard intact and attached, sans dust jacket, I think as issued. Jones & Newman, Horror: The 100 Best Books 35, where it’s praised by no less than Robert E. Howard (“Cabell writes with a diamond pen.”) Barron, Fantasy Literature *3-70. Tymn Zahorsk Boyer, Fantasy Literature: A Core Collections and Reference Guide page 59. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 45 (“The British issue of a book printed in America.”). Bleiler, The Checklist of Science Fiction and Fantasy (1978) page 37. Bleiler, Supernatural Fiction 327. Supplements a copy of the unsigned edition. Bought for $37.50, marked down from $75.
Kuttner, Henry. Ahead of Time. Ballantine Books, 1954. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with slight wear at head, heel and points, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with two closed 2″ tears to front cover, wear at points, and slight soiling to lighter portions of jacket. Short story collection. Currey, page 291. Bought for $37.50, marked down from $75.
Locke, George. Ferret Fantasy’s Christmas Annual For 1972. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy save for penciled inventory number on front cover. Full of obscure bibliographic entries and reprints of period literature. I would like to pick up all of Locke’s reference works. Tymn Schlobin Currey, A Research Guide to Science Fiction Studies 31. Burgess, Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror 180. Bought for $12.50, marked down from $25.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, George Locke, Henry Kuttner, Horror, James Branch Cabell, reference works, Science Fiction
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Monday, February 17th, 2025
More signed PBOs from that same eBay seller.
Vance, Jack. The Best of Jack Vance. Pocket Books, 1976. First edition paperback original, a Fine copy, signed by Vance. Hewett, A51. Cunningham, B.7.a. Currey, page 497. Supplements a copy of the Taplinger hardback. Bought for $35.
Vance, Jack. Marune: Alastor 933. Ballantine Books, 1975. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with just a tiny trace of wear to front tips, signed by Vance. Hewett, A48. Cunningham, B.56.a, Currey, page 499. Supplements another signed PBO copy (I should probably work a trade for a signed Vance PBO I don’t have) and an unsigned Underwood-Miller hardback. Bought for $10.50.
Vance, Jack. Showboat World. Pyramid, 1975. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with one very faint spine crease, otherwise nicely tight and square, signed by Vance. Supplements two Underwood-Miller hardbacks (both 1/200 signed, numbered copies, one a PC copy) and replaces an unsigned PBO. Hewett, A47. Cunningham, B.71.a. Currey, page 500. Bought for $10.50.
Vance, Jack. Slaves of the Klau b/w Big Planet. Ace, 1958. First edition paperback original (for Slaves of the Klau and this Ace Double, though Big Planet was previously published as an Avalon hardback), a Very Good copy with stamps at head, heel and blurb page for Slaves of the Klau, with a dime-sized stain and a small, fine-line ballpoint division equation to inside from cover, spine creasing and wear, and wear at points, signed by Vance. First copy I have of Slaves of the Klau under that title, though it supplements two copies of the Underwood-Miller Gold and Iron (one a trade edition, the other one of 200 signed copies), the Avalon Big Planet, and the Underwood-Miller Big Planet. Hewett, A9. Cunningham, B.72.a. Currey, page 500. With Slaves of the Klau, I believe the only English-language titles I lack for Vance are two early 1980s DAW paperbacks, Nopalgarth and The Narrow Land (though I’m still looking for a few various states of Vance books). Bought for $16.50.
Tags:Books, Jack Vance, PBO, Science Fiction
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Wednesday, February 5th, 2025
Two more signed PBOs from that same eBay seller:
Moorcock, Michael. The Fireclown. Compact SF/Roberts & Vintner, 1965. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine- copy with slight spine creasing and wear at points, otherwise nice and square, signed by Moorcock, with a folded flyer for Modern Family Planning laid in (no idea if that was as issued or not). Bilyeu, Tanalorn Archive page 19. Currey, page 370. Bought for $20.51.
Moorcock, Michael. The Twilight Man. Compact SF/Roberts & Vintner, 1966. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with former owner’s name on blurb page and a few nicks of wear, otherwise tight and square, signed by Moorcock. Bilyeu, Tanalorn Archive page 35. Currey, page 373. Bought for $20.59.
Two very early Moorcock PBOs rarely offered for sale over here at all, much less signed.
Also looks like I need to clean the scanner glass again, as those smudges aren’t on the books…
Tags:Books, eBay, Michael Moorcock, PBO, Science Fiction, signatures
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Thursday, January 30th, 2025
Three more purchases from that eBay dealer selling off signed PBOs:
Ellison, Harlan. The Man With Nine Lives b/w A Touch of Infinity. Ace Doubles, 1960. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine- copy with spine crease and faint crease along each cover’s spine join (exaggerated here), both sides identically inscribed by Ellison: “For Carter/Harlan Ellison.” Richmond, Fingerprints on the Sky page 107. Currey, page 178. Supplements a slightly less attractive signed copy. Bought for $26.55.
Ellison, Harlan. No Doors, No Windows. Pyramid, 1975. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with slight spine fading, hairline creasing on front and rear join, and slight edgewear, signed by Ellison. Richmond, Fingerprints on the Sky page 54. Currey, page 178. Supplements a better but unsigned PBO and the signed, limited Borderlands Press hardback. Bought for $26.
Farmer, Philip Farmer. Strange Relations. Ballantine Books, 1960. First edition paperback original, (and, unlike many Ballantine SF of the era, there was no simultaneous hardback edition, a Near Fine copy with one wrinkle across middle of spine and a small stray ink mark at head, signed by Farmer. Short story collection, the alien sex anthology before Alien Sex. Currey, page 178. Bought for $10 (the opening bid).
Tags:Books, eBay, Harlan Ellison, PBO, Philip Jose Farmer, Science Fiction, signatures
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