Archive for the ‘Clueless Dorks’ Category
Tuesday, March 26th, 2024
SST did a signed, limited edition of Lansdale’s first mystery novel.
Lansdale, Joe R. Cold In July. Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, 2023. First edition hardback thus, #101 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with tissue closure sticker and shipping card laid in. Lansdale’s first mystery novel, and basis of the 2014 film.
This is the point where I’d usually say I’ll have copies available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, but not this time. Because Ziesing had already done a limited of Cold In July (sold in a slipcased set with Savage Season), I only ordered a few copies, and all sold the week it came in…
Tags:Books, Joe R. Lansdale, Limited Editions, Mystery, Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, small press publishers
Posted in Clueless Dorks | No Comments »
Thursday, March 21st, 2024
Three more Subterranean firsts.
McDevitt, Jack. McDevitt, Jack. Doorway to the Stars. Subterranean Press, 2024. First edition hardback, #444 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Novella about a stargate set in the same universe as Thunderbird. Bought at the usual dealer discount. I will have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Powers, Tim. After Many a Summer. Subterranean Press, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Novella. Bought for $20 (half price).
Reamy, Tom. Under the Hollywood Sign. Subterranean Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #395 of 750 numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. This is billed as “The Collected Stories of Tom Reamy,” and includes three works (“Dinosaurs,” “Sting!” and “Potiphee, Petey, and Me”) not in San Diego Lightfoot Sue, but doesn’t contain “Jenny’s Friends” or “The Wondrous Adventures of Grady Goodmonster or My Vacation,” two still uncollected Reamy stories. Bought for $22.50 (half price).
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Horror, Jack McDevitt, Science Fiction, small press publishers, Subterranean Press, Tim Powers, Tom Reamy
Posted in Clueless Dorks, Fantasy, Games, Horror, Science Fiction, technology | No Comments »
Thursday, December 28th, 2023
Three more purchases from that private collector that I hadn’t cataloged and shelved yet because I had run out of bookcase space. But I recently finished staining and finishing two more book cases, so now I can finish cataloging that purchase.
Powers, Tim. The Anubis Gates. Mark V. Ziesing, 1989. First edition thus, part of the signed, limited edition of 500, but lacking a number and a slipcase, a Fine- copy in a Fine- Mylar-protected dust jacket with slight bend at head. Berlyne, A4h.2, who notes that Ziesing says many slipcases were destroyed in a flood. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 1000, who says Ziesing had an overrun of slipcases. Supplements an inscribed PBO first, an inscribed Chatto & Windus first hardback, a slightly flawed copy of the Centipede Press limited edition, and the holograph manuscript copy included in the ultralimited edition of the Berlyne bibliography.
Powers, Tim. Declare. Morrow, 2001. First trade edition hardback (preceded by the Subterranean Press limited edition), a Fine copy in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by Powers. Berlyne, A11b. Supplements a copy of the Subterranean Press limited.
Powers, Tim. Earthquake Weather. Legend, 1997. First edition hardback, a Fine copy (though with the characteristic page darkening for Legend books of this era) in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by Powers. Berlyne, A10a (who notes that reportedly only 800 copies were produced). Replaces an unsigned copy.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Mark V. Ziesing, Tim Powers
Posted in Clueless Dorks, Fantasy | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 17th, 2023
Two more books from that private collection purchase, both of which are 1-to-1 swaps of Fine/Fine signed copies for Fine/Fine unsigned copies.
Blaylock, James P. Lord Kelvin’s Machine. Arkham House, 1992. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by Blaylock. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 179. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 185. Replaces an unsigned copy.
Blaylock, James P. Winter Tides. Ace, 1997. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket, inscribed by Blaylock to the previous owner. Replaces an unsigned copy.
I was surprised that my existing Lord Kelvin’s Machine wasn’t signed, since Blaylock was a semi-regular Armadillocon attendee in the 1990s. i will have a number of Blaylock firsts (some signed) in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Arkham House, Fantasy, James P. Blaylock, Steampunk
Posted in Clueless Dorks, Fantasy | No Comments »
Friday, July 14th, 2023
More from that Heritage lot, namely two critical chapbooks on Arthur Machen, both from The Arthur Machen Society.
Machen, Arthur (attributed). From the London Evening News. The Arthur Machen Society/Four Ducks Press, 1959. First edition chapbook original, #33 of 50 copies printed, a Fine copy, with a letter enclosed presenting the work from J. H. Stewart, Jr. to Joseph Kelly Vodray (who left an archive of Machen papers to Princeton) describing how the book was designed and printed by Bill Jackson. Three stories covering purportedly supernatural events reprinted from the London Evening News tentatively identified as the work of Arthur Machen. This is a remarkably attractive chapbook, crisply designed and printed in multiple colors inside, and really looks like something printed 20 years later. No online listings, though Worldcat does locate 13 copies in various libraries (including UT’s Harry Ransom Center).
(Machen, Arthur) Wesley D. Sweeter and Adrian H. Goldstone. Arthur Machen. Arthur Machen Society, 1960. First edition hardback chapbook, one of 200 copies, a Near Fine copy with sports of rubbing to extremities and cover and the decorative bookplate of Paul Jordan Smith (Literary Editor of The Los Angeles Times for 25 years and noted Machen fan) affixed to insider front cover. Reprints two pieces on Machen from The Aylesford Review: Sweeter’s “Machen: A Biographical Study” and Goldstone’s “Men About Machen,” discussing some of the more notable members of the Society (including Vodray and Smith).
Neither of these is in Donald Hassler’s extensive secondary bibliography on Machen on page 180 of Dictionary of Literary Bibliography Volume 178: British Fantasy and Science-fiction Writers before World War I, nor Wilson’s Shadows in the Attic, nor Tymn/Schlobin/Currey, nor any other reference works at hand. The only bibliography I have of Machen is Danielson’s, which is literally 100 year old. Goldstone and Sweeter did a more recent bibliography (put out by the University of Texas Press, no less) that I should probably keep an eye out for.
Though I’m not really a Machen collector per se, there’s something deeply satisfying about unearthing rare reference chapbooks…
Tags:Arthur Machen, Books, chapbooks, Horror, science fiction criticism, small press publishers
Posted in Clueless Dorks, Horror | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 14th, 2023
Two PS Publishing titles, both bought from the publisher at the usual discount.
Hughes, Matthew. Ghost Dreams. PS Publishing, 2022. First edition hardback, #55 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Wallace, Edgar (Stephen Jones, editor). Kong: An Original Screenplay. PS Publishing/Electric Dreamhouse, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. The original screenplay for King Kong, which evidently differs considerably from the final film. Slightly oversized (10 1/2″ high) and profusely illustrated, with a good 90 pages of notes from Jones, who worked from “Wallace’s personal copy of his original draft script with his own corrections and interpolations” plus “a boys’ story-paper adaptation of the film, preliminary production stills and art-work, and a colour portfolio of King Kong posters from around the world.” A couple of production sketches are from the lost spider pit scene.
I have both of these available through Lame Excuse Books.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Horror, King Kong, Matthew Hughes, Movies
Posted in Clueless Dorks, Horror, Kickstarter, Movies | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 28th, 2022
Following on from yesterday’s Cormac McCarty acquisitions, here are two mainstream award-winners I acquired on the Metroplex trip. Such books are not a focus of my collecting, but I do spot-check the general fiction section and pick them up as targets of opportunity.
Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain. Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- Mylar-protected dust jacket with faint 1/4″ scratch with John Berendt blurb sticker on it (as issued), in a Fine- after-market slipcase with one small bump to bottom rear corner. National Book Award winning Civil War novel that was the basis of the acclaimed 2003 movie of the same name. Bought from Half-Price Books for $30. I see these particular aftermarket slipcases sold on eBay, where they list for $85.
Tartt, Donna. The Goldfinch. Little, brown and Company, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- dust jacket with a few small abrasions to front cover (unfortunately, the uncoated dust jacket seems designed to degrade) and slight bumping at heel. Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Bought for $14.99.
Tags:Books, Charles Frazier, Donna Tartt, National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize
Posted in Clueless Dorks | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 27th, 2022
Four different Cormac McCarthy books, two or three firsts and one or two first thus, bought from three different sources:
McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meridian. Folio Society, 2022. First edition thus, an illustrated prestige reprint edition, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, in Fine slipcase, with packed-by sip laid in. His celebrated ultra-violent western. While I was in the Dallas area, I saw two firsts of Blood Meridian at two different Half Price Books stores: one was $3,500, and the other was $4,000. So I may not be able to track down an affordable first of that any time soon. Bought from the Folio Society at cover price.
McCarthy, Cormac. Cities of the Plain. Knopf, 1998. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. The third book in the Border trilogy. Bought for $9.99
McCarthy, Cormac. The Passenger and Stella Maris. Knopf, 2022. Each is a stated first edition (though there was an earlier solo release of The Passenger with a different dust jacket; without a copy of that in hand I can’t tell if the two are otherwise identical, so either first edition thus or first edition in a second state dust jacket), each a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a fine decorated slipcase. Stella Maris is “a tightly controlled coda, told entirely in dialogue” to The Passenger. Bought from Amazon for $45.45 for the pair.
Tags:Books, Cormac McCarthy, Folio Society, Horror, Western
Posted in Clueless Dorks, Horror | No Comments »
Monday, December 19th, 2022
Two more deluxe slipcased editions of Robert E. Howard books, both bought from a private collector:
Howard, Robert E. The Ultimate Triumph: The Heroic Fantasy of Robert E Howard. Wandering Star, 1999. First edition hardback, #0507 of 1,500 slipcased copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase, still in shrinkwrap, with limitation bookmark. Bought for $125.
Howard, Robert E. Robert E. Howard’s Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933). Wandering Star, 2002. First edition hardback, #89 of 100A [sic] numbered slipcased copies signed by artist Mark Schultz, with eight pages of black and white sketches after page 348, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase, bought still in shrinkwrap (taken out to verify the state). Bought for $300 (which is all of $30 more than original cover price 20 years ago, and the trade edition typically lists for more).
Oddly enough, I found a trade edition of The Ultimate Triumph while book shopping in the Metroplex right before I bought these, so I guess that copy is now superfluous to my needs and will go in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which should be going out via email this Friday.
Tags:Books, Conan, Fantasy, Robert E. Howard, small press publishers, Wandering Star
Posted in Clueless Dorks, Fantasy | No Comments »
