Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020
Three Half Price Books purchases:
Finn, Mark. Gods New and Used. Clockwork Storybook, 2001. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, signed by Finn, with a “Signed by Author at Book People” sticker on it. Collection of linked stories. Bought at Half Price Books for $10.
(Heinlein, Robert A.) Patterson, William H., Jr. Robert A. Heinlein In Dialogue With His Century — Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better | 1948—1988. The second half of Patterson’s mammoth biography. Bought at Half Price Books for $17.49.
Moorcock, Michael. The White Wolf’s Son. Warner Aspect, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Elric/von Beck novel. Bought at Half Price Books for $7.98.
Tags:biography, Books, Clockwork Storybook, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Mark Finn, Michael Moorcock, reference works, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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Wednesday, December 16th, 2020
Another signed first from a giant of the Golden Age:
Sturgeon, Theodore. Sturgeon Is Alive And Well…. Putnam, 1971. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of bend at head and heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with slight edgewear at head and heel, a bit of dust soiling to white rear panel, and slight age darkening to top of white rear panel and edges of white flaps. Signed by Sturgeon. Short story collection, one I greatly enjoyed reading in my youth. I particularly remember “It Was Nothing—Really!,” about man who figures out that perforations make things stronger, and eventually invents invisible wall of impenetrable nothingness, and “Suicide,” about a man who jumps off a cliff to kill himself, and awakens still alive, hurt, down the cliff, and struggles to climb back up. Bought off eBay for $39.99. Currey, page 472.
Tags:Books, Science Fiction, signatures, Theodore Sturgeon
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Monday, December 14th, 2020
The main reason I picked this up is that I already own Fantasy Collector’s Annual – 1974 and I wanted to complete the set:
de la Ree, Gerry. Fantasy Collector’s Annual – 1975. Gerry de la Ree, 1974. First edition hardback, #50 of 80 bound hardback copies a Fine- copy with top rear spine hinge gutter paste-down starting to tear, otherwise a nice, square copy. Miscellany of fantasy-related items, including Virgal Finley art, facsimiles of letters from Seabury Quinn to Finley, J.J. Weguelin’s art of H. Rider Haggard’s Montezuma’s Daughter, a note on the secret reprint edition of August Derleth’s Someone in the Dark, facsimile examples of inscriptions by several fantasy notables including, Ray Cummuings, A. A. Merrit, and Wernher von Braun, and a reprint of a The Mars Gazette, a chemical company advertising pamphlet in science fictional form extolling the virtues of “liquid peptonoids.” Chalker/Owings, page 128. Bought from an online dealer for $60.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Gerry de la Ree, small press publishers
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Wednesday, December 9th, 2020
In which I pick up a signed, limited edition of a book for less than I paid for the trade eition.
Shepard, Lucius. The Golden. Mark V. Ziesing, 1993. First edition hardback, #243 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with one 1/16″ closed tear at heel in a Fine- slipcase with a tiny rub at top. Supplements a trade edition signed by Shepard. I saw this on eBay for $24, and the book pricing part of my brain went “That’s a good price…but I bet I can do a little better.” Bought off eBay for a $20 buy it now offer. List publication price was $65. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 1003. Part of my plan to pick up every Ziesing book in every state, since I already had most of the trade editions anyway…
Tags:Books, Horror, Lucius Shepard, Mark V. Ziesing, small press publishers, vampires
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Friday, December 4th, 2020
A few more Zelazny books I set aside for myself from the Bob Pylant purchase:
Zelazny, Roger. The Changing Land. Underwood Miller, 1981. First hardback edition, #128 of 200 numbered copies signed by Zelazny and artist Thomas Canty, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Levack, 4b.
Zelazny, Roger. Damnation Alley. Faber & Faber, 1971. First UK edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of edgewear, with slip of paper signed by Zelazny laid in. Levack, 9c.
Zelazny, Roger. The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth. Pulphouse. 1991. First edition paperback original, Fine- copy with trace of rubbing along front spine join and pinpricks of soiling to front cover, signed by Zelazny. Short story paperback #13. I still need the Short Story Hardback of this…
Tags:Bob Pylant, Books, Fantasy, Pulphouse, Roger Zelazny, Science Fiction, Underwood/Miller
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Friday, November 20th, 2020
A combination of new books that came in and filling in some collection gaps.
Lansdale, Joe R. Deadman’s Road. Subterranean Press, 2010. First edition hardback, #18 of 200 copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine slipcase. Supplements a signed trade copy. Bought off an Internet book dealer for $50.40.
Lansdale, Joe R. For A Few Stories More. Subterranean Press, 2002. First edition hardback, #550 of 1,000 copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Supplements the Lettered edition, but weirdly I never picked up this trade edition until now. Bought from Kasey Lansdale.
Lansdale, Joe R. The Magic Wagon. BookVoice Publishing, 2018. First edition thus, #408 of 500 signed, numbered hardback copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. This edition includes a rare western story by Joe, “Man With two Lives,” not in any other edition, a new introduction by Joe, and a new afterword by Keith Lansdale. Supplements a signed copy of the Doubleday first edition. Bought from Kasey Lansdale. Now I need to pick up that Crossroad Press limited edition.
Lansdale, Joe R. Waltz of Shadows. Subterranean Press, 1999. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Although the limitation calls for a 1/1000 signature page, it’s not in this copy, though it still has the FIRST EDITION/SEPTEMBER 1999 statement, making this a previously unrecorded variant (not in the 2002 Chalker/Owings CD). Bought from Kasey Lansdale.
Lansdale, Joe R. and Keith Lansdale. Big Lizard. Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, 2020. First edition hardback, #101 of 1,500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. A botched supernatural ceremony gives the protagonist ” the power to transform into a big lizard who can run fast, has incredible strength, and a large tail.” Looks like fun. Full color illustrated endpapers and signature page.
Lansdale, Joe R. Joe R. Lansdale’s Christmas With The Dead. Write-On Movies, 2012. Presumed first edition (?) DVD, a new copy, inscribed to me by Joe R. Lansdale and signed by Kasey Lansdale. I don’t usually record DVDs I buy here, but they’re not usually signed. Bought from Kasey Lansdale.
I will have copies of Big Lizard, The Magic Wagon and Waltz of Shadows in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress. Drop me a line if you want to receive a copy in email.
Tags:Books, Christmas, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Kasey Lansdale, Keith Lansdale, Movies, Science Fiction, Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, Subterranean Press
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Monday, November 16th, 2020
Three books bought from Subterranean Press at the usual discount:
Bennett, Robert Jackson. In the Shadows of Men. Subterranean, 2020. First edition hardback, #134 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Novella by the author of Mr. Shivers and Company Man.
Egan, Greg. Dispersion. Subterranean Press, 2020. First edition hardback, #173 of 1000 numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. “In a world not quite our own, every living thing is born into one of six discrete “fractions” that are incompatible with—and often invisible to—each other. These fractions have coexisted peacefully for centuries, but now a disease has appeared that seems to drag the infected parts of the body into a different fraction. The effects are devastating. Individual victims suffer painful, protracted deaths. Entire communities turn against one another, and a state approaching perpetual war takes hold.”
Powers, Tim. The Properties of Rooftop Air. Subterranean Press, 2020. First edition hardback, #277 of 474 numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. An Anubis Gates story.
I will have copies of all three of these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Greg Egan, Robert Jackson Bennett, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Subterranean Press, Tim Powers
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Tuesday, October 27th, 2020
Still more from the Bob Pylant purchase, including two more Zelaznys that I thought I didn’t need, but it turns out I did.
Bass, T. J. The Godwhale. Eyre Methuen, 1974. First hardback edition (the Ballantine PBO precedes) and first UK edition, a Fine copy save some very sight age darkening to pages, in a Fine dust jacket. Sequel to Half Past Human and a Nebula Award finalist. Currey, page 25.
Moorcock, Michael. The Hollow Lands. Harper & Row, 1974. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine, price-clipped dust jacket. Signed twice by Moorcock, on the half title and title pages. Second volume of the Dancers at the End of Time trilogy. Tanelorn Archives, page 21. Currey, page 370.
Pohl, Frederick, Martin Harry Greenberg and Joseph Olander, editors. Worlds of if: A Retrospective Anthology. Bluejay Books, 1986. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Reprint collection of stories that originally appeared in If magazine. Includes Zelazny’s “This Mortal Mountain.” A couple of points of interest: First, all the stories whose authors were still alive provided short, original “Memoirs” to their stories, including ones from Zelazny, Lafferty, Ellison, etc., and I believe the vast majority of these have never been reprinted anywhere else. Second, this book came out from Bluejay Books in September of 1986, which means it was among the very last block of books published before their implosion, along with Rob Swigart’s Vector and Vernor Vinge’s Marooned in Realtime.
Zelazny, Roger. Eye of Cat. Timescape, 1982. First edition proof, a Fine copy. Thought I had bought another Eye of Cat proof from Bob in an earlier purchase, but no. Timescape was another imprint that ceased business in the 1980s.
Zelazny, Roger. Unicorn Variations. Timescape, 1983. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with the Simon & Schuster “walking man” remainder mark at heel in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of soiling to the white jacket. I thought I had a signed first, but not, I have a signed book club, and a Fine unsigned first, but not a signed first.
Tags:Bob Pylant, Books, Fantasy, Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny, Science Fiction
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Monday, October 12th, 2020
Non-Zelazny (mostly) hardbacks from my most recent Bob Pylant purchase.
de Camp, L. Sprague. Warlocks and Warriors. Putnam, 1970. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with five tiny ink “x”s next to stories on the copyright page and a trace of bend at head and heel, in a Fine- dust jacket with traces of edgewear along flap folds. Signed by de Camp. Includes Zelazny’s “The Bells of Shoredan.” The Zelazny and others include maps for their stories that I’m not sure I’ve seen anywhere else.
Greenberg, Martin H. Dragons: The Greatest Stories. MJF Books, 1997. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Anthology. A few mysteries about this copy: Has a numberline ending in one (which would typically indicate a first edition rather than a book club edition), but no price on the dust jacket (which would typically indicate the opposite), and has a red binding along the spine. The ISFDB lists two editions, one at a price of $19.95, and the other at a price of $7.98, the latter of which it indicates is taken from the Locus database, which also lists only one edition of the book and that as an instant remainder (which would explain the lack of a price). The Don Maitz cover appears to be a cropped example of the fuller dust jacket illustration that originally appeared on Kathleen Sky’s Witchdame in 1985; copies of this anthology with green spine and the fuller illustration (still with no price on the dust jacket) appear to be second printings. Still another mystery is the not-quite-right Zelazny signatures on the title page and at his story “The George Business,” which would be a neat trick since Zelazny died in 1995. No idea if Bob or someone else created the spurious signatures. It would seem that this instant remainder edition was done first and the pricier retail edition (if it even exists) may have been done later.
Ipcar, Dahlov. A Dark Horn Blowing. Viking Press, 1978. First edition hardback, a near Fine copy with slight bend at head and heel, a short, thin line of rust-colored staining at very bottom of front free endpaper, and a trace of age-darkening to pages, in a Near Fine dust jacket with a vertical crease running along the edge of the rear flap. Fantasy novel of a woman kidnapped to elfland to nurse a newborn elf prince. Never heard of it, but Bob said it was a good novel. In the Encyclopedia of fantasy, John Clute calls her work “atmospheric and densely conceived.”
Lee, Tanith. Sometimes, After Sunset. Nelson Doubleday/SFBC, 1980. First edition hardback, an omnibus edition of Sabella, or The Blood Stone and Kill the Dead (neither of which had any other hardback editions), a Fine copy in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight wear at points, a thin 1/2″ scratch at top front spine join, a trace of rubbing along front flap join bend edge, and slight age darkening to white flaps. Nice early Maitz cover.
Le Guin, Ursula K., editor. Nebula Award Stories 11. Gollancz, 1976. First edition hardback (precedes the U.S. edition by a year), a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel, traces of foxing to front free endpaper, and slight dust soiling at head, in a Near Fine copy with spine fading and a trace of edgewear at points. Includes the Nebula-winning Zelazny novella “Home is the Hangman.”
Meacham, Beth. Terry’s Universe. Tor, 1988. Uncorrected bound proof (trade paperback format) of the hardback first edition, a Fine copy. Tribute anthology to the late Terry Carr. Includes Zelazny’s “Deadstone Donner and the Flintstone Cup.”
Schiff, Stuart David, editor. The Best of Whispers. Borderlands Press, 1994. First edition hardback, #375 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Signed by all the then-living contributors (Fritz Leiber died in 1992), including Zelazny, Ray Bradbury, Karl Edward Wagner, Russell Kirk, Hugh B. Cave, Lucius Shepard, Jerry Sohl and Alan Ryan. Includes Zelazny’s “The Horses of Lir.”
Tags:Bob Pylant, dragons, Fantasy, Horror, L. Sprague de Camp, Roger Zelazny, Science Fiction, SFBC, Tanith Lee, Ursula K. Le Guin
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Wednesday, October 7th, 2020
Part 6 of my third purchase of Zelazny books from Bob Pylant. I previously listed signed Amber book club editions, today is signed (all but one) non-Amber book club editions.
Zelazny, Roger. The Changing Land. Del Rey/SFBC, 1981. Book club hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to white flaps, signed by Zelazny. Supplements signed copies of the PBO and the Underwood-Miller signed/limited hardback. Kovacs, I.6.d. Levack, 4c.
Zelazny, Roger. Dilvish, The Damned. Del Rey/SFBC, 1981. Book club hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to white flaps, with signed letter from Zelazny laid in. Supplements signed copies of the PBO and the Underwood-Miller signed/limited hardback. Kovacs, I.15.d.
Zelazny, Roger. The Dream Master. SFBC, 2004. Book club hardback, a Fine- copy with uniformly age-darkened pages in a Fine dust jacket. SFBC 50th Anniversary edition book. Kovacs, I.18.n.
Zelazny, Roger. The Last Defender of Camelot. Pocket Books/SFBC, 1980. Book club and first hardback edition (gutter code L10 on page 278, as per Kovacs), a Fine- copy with slight age darkening to pages in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Zelazny: “To Liz,/All sorts of good wishes -/ — Roger Zelazny.” Supplements the Underwood-Miller limited edition, and another copy of this edition inscribed to me in a more worn dust jacket. Kovacs, V.15.c. Levack, 24b.
Zelazny, Roger. Madwand. Ace/SFBC, 1981. Book club edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust dust jacket with slight age darkening to the white jacket. Kovacs, I.30.d. Levack, 26c.
This ends the Zelazny hardback portion of the purchase, which I needed to finish so I could move the Zelazny section down as part of putting in a new bookcase. I will get to the non-Zelazny hardbacks (including some anthologies with Zelazny stories), signed Zelazny paperbacks, and magazines featuring the first appearances of Zelazny stories, in due course.
Tags:Bob Pylant, Books, Fantasy, Roger Zelazny, Science Fiction, SFBC
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