Archive for January, 2020

Shoegazer Sunday: The Capsules’ “Play”

Sunday, January 26th, 2020

I just picked up Static Waves 5 from Saint Marie Records, and this is one of the best songs off it:

There’s simply something very pleasing about Julie Shields harmonizing with herself…

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Library Additions: Non-Moorcock Hardback Firsts

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020

More books I bought from Michael Moorcock. These are the non-Moorcock hardbacks I bought off him (in addition to Rendezvous With Rama).

  • Brooke, Keith and Nick Gevers, editors. Infinity Plus One. PS Publishing, 2000. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 500 signed, numbered copies signed by the contributors (to which Moorcock has added “Michael Moorcock’s copy” to the limitation plate), a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of wear at top points. Supplements another copy. Anthology series (partly original, partially reprints) that only had two volumes. Gevers would later take up co-editing duties for Postscripts.
  • Burroughs, William S. The Ticket That Exploded. Grove Press, 1967. First hardback edition (preceded by an Olympia Press paperback edition), a Very Good+ copy with bumping at head and heel, slight wear to boards at heel, and a race of dust soiling, in a Very Good- dust jacket with 1″ closed tear at top front, 1/8″ semiclosed tear at bottom front near point, slight bumping at points, slight dust soiling, and general wear (it had dark staining along the spine, but a damp cloth cleaned that up nicely); I suspect that the orange text on the dust jacket was originally red, but since it applies to the inner flap as well, and almost all the copies I see online are similarly affected, I’m assuming it’s more the chemical composition of the ink than sun-fading per se. Shoaf, Collecting William S. Burroughs in Print, 6a, which states that it has textual revisions from the Olympia Press edition.
  • Di Filippo, Paul. Joe’s Liver. Cambrian Publications, 2000. First edition hardback, of presentation copy of 300 signed/numbered hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by the author to the Moorcock’s: “To Michael/&/Linda —/America — It’s one/big laff/fest!” Replaces another copy.
  • Holdstock, Robert. Celtira. Simon & Schuster UK, 1998. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with Moorcock’s ownership bookplate affixed to the inside front cover.
  • Holt, Tom. Flying Dutch. Orbit, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
  • Moore, Alan. Voice of the Fire. Top Shelf Productions, 2003. First hardback edition (preceded by a Gollancz TPO), #68 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of edgewear. It seems that the only difference between this and the trade edition (currently unrecorded in the ISFDB) is the full-color signature plate page.
  • Robinson, Kim Stanley. Remaking History. Tor, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to Moorcock: “for Michael Moorcock/with great admiration/from a raw/2μg rain trance./KS Robinson/1993.” At least I think that’s what the last line before his signature says. (At the 1992 Armadillocon, Stan told the story of driving through west Texas, dropping acid, and writing all his really deep thoughts down in a notebook, only to read it the next day and find such pearls of wisdom as “Bugs are weird.”)

  • Wilson, Colin. The Angry Years: The Rise and Fall of the Angry Young Men. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head and a nailhead-sized nick near the heel. Non-fiction biography and criticism of the “angry young men” of literature in the 1950s and 60s. Laid in is a largely negative review of the book from Roger Lewis.
  • Wilson, Colin. Dreaming to Some Purpose. Century, 2004. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy, with uneven sunning to side and bottom page blocks, in a Fine dust jacket. Autobiography.

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    Library Additions: Various Books

    Sunday, January 19th, 2020

    Most of these were Half Price Books purchases:

  • Caro, Robert. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power. Knopf, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head, heel and points. The fourth volume of Cato’s award-winning Johnson biography. Bought from Half Price Books for $9.99.
  • Haber, Karen, and Leigh Brackett. Thieves Carnival/The Jewel of Bas. Tor, 1990. First edition paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Sort of assembling a complete Leigh Brackett collection as targets of opportunity present themselves. Bought at Half Price Books for $1.99.
  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Joshi, S. T. The Madness of Cthulhu. Titan Books, 2014. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with a edgewear at head and heel. Joshi 200, IX.11.a. Bought for $3 at Half Price Books.
  • Piercy, Marge. Woman on the Edge of Time. Knopf, 1976. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight crease to top front flap. Pringle, SF 100 81. Bought from Half Price Books for $6 in a coupon sale.
  • Rusch, Kristine Kathryn. The Gallery of His Dreams. Axolotl/Pulphouse, 1991. First edition hardback, #297 of 300 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Additional inscribed by Rusch to Texas science fiction writer carrier Richerson: “For Carrie —/A very good/writer — Send me stories!/Kristine Kathryn Rusch/ 6/22/91.” In fact, Rusch did publish some of Richerson’s work in both Pulphouse and in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, making this something of an associational copy. Bought for, IIRC, $6.39 (20% off $7.99).
  • Silverberg, Robert. Moonferns & Starsongs. Ballantine Books, 1971. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with just a couple of touches of edgewear, otherwise apparently new and unread. Short story collection. Bought from a Half Price Books in Houston for $2.40.
  • Sturgeon, Theodore (with Dough Moench and Alex Nino). Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human: The Graphic Story Version. Byron Preiss Visual Publications, 1978. First edition hardback, a Near Fine- copy with bump to bottom points, slight bumping at head and heel, and one scratch and edgewear to front cover pasted-on color illustration, sans dust jacket, as issued. Signed by Sturgeon. Graphic novel adaptation of Sturgeon’s fix-up novel. I have been unable to find a limitation on the signed/limited edition of this book. Bought off eBay for $29.99.
  • VanderMeer, Jeff. Borne. MCD/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with bookmark for the Southern Reach trilogy laid in. Bought from Half Price Books for $9.99.
  • Wagner, Karl Edward. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XVI. DAW, 1988. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with sight edgewear. Includes “Neighborhood Watch,” an early, rarely reprinted Greg Egan story. Bought from Half Price Books for $1.99.

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    Library Addition: First Edition of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous With Rama

    Thursday, January 16th, 2020

    Back in November, I went out to Michael Moorcock’s house and bought five boxes of books from him. Some of those went out in December’s Lame Excuse Books catalog, and more were Moorcock first editions (naturally) that I’ll be cataloging a bit later. But here’s one of the most notable books by other authors I bought from him:

    Clarke, Arthur C. Rendezvous With Rama. Gollancz, 1973. First edition hardback (no statement of printing, as per Currey), a Near Fine copy with bumped top front corner, small inked “W” on front free endpaper, tiny doggear to top of first 12 pages, in a Near Fine dust jacket with bumped top front corner, 3/8″ closed tear to rear bottom DJ near heel, pinhead nick to bottom front fold edge with associated scratch, slight edegwear at head and heel, and a touch of rubbing. Hugo and Nebula winner for Best Novel. Currey, page 115. Anatomy of Wonder 4, *4-109. Magill, Survey of Science Fiction Literature, pages 1759-1763 (“Rendezvous With Rama is one of those novels obviously destined to become instant classics.”). Reginald, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, page 106. One of Clarke’s most important novels. Replaces an Ex-Library first.

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    Every MST3K Reference in Rush

    Wednesday, January 15th, 2020

    As a guy who only owns Moving Pictures, I’m not the right person to talk about the passing of Rush drummer Neil Peart. So instead, here’s every Rush reference in Mystery Science Theater 3000:

    (Dwight already posted all the Archer references, though I think that video is missing an incarnation or two Krieger’s van.)

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    Mike Resnick, RIP

    Thursday, January 9th, 2020

    Science fiction writer and editor Mike Resnick died this morning a little after midnight according to a post by his daughter Laura Resnick, due to an aggressive lymphoma that followed on the heels of major surgery.

    Mike was a friend from way back in the pre-WWW days of the Delphi Wednesday Night Group in the late 1980s, where a bunch of science fiction people (Resnick, Pat Cadigan, Gardner Dozois, myself, Dwight and many others) hung out on a regular basis. I sold Mike one of my earliest stories, “Huddled Masses” for his Alternate Presidents anthology, as well as “Saul’s Diary” for Galaxy’s Edge, and Mike used “Crucifixion Variations” for World’s Science Fiction Story Collection II, my only story ever published in China.

    He got involved with science fandom early in life and never left. Mike was one of the last of a dying breed of science fiction’s writing machines, someone who early-on mastered the ability to crank out a prodigious amount of wordage every day. The Kirinyaga stories in the 1980s, set an orbital African primativist tribal “utopia,” was where he really started to make his mark, and he became a regular Hugo and Nebula winner back when that meant something. He edited dozens of anthologies, frequently buying work by new writers, and eventually founding Galaxy’s Edge. He raised prize-winning collies and collected books on Africa. When the Social Justice Warrior mob came for him and Barry Malzberg for the usual stupid reasons he told them to go pound sand.

    He was a jovial presence at conventions, and he will be missed.

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