Another volume in the Charnel House signed, limited edition reprint line of all Powers’ novels.
Powers, Tim. An Epitaph in Rust. Charnel House 2023. First edition hardback, #54 of 200 numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount.
I will have one copy available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Aquilone, James, editor. Shakespeare Unleashed. Monstrous Books, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, with Monstrous Books card laid in. Original anthology of Shakespeare-related horror stories, featuring stories from Joe and Kasey Lansdale, Steve Rasnick Tem, etc. Adding up the various hardware bundles, it looks like there were just over 500 copies of this done. My name can be found on page 356. You can buy the book through Amazon, though no guarantee that you’ll get a first printing, or received it unbumped.
With:
Aquilone, James, editor. Shakespeare Unleashed One Shot. Monstrous Books, 2023. First edition graphic novel chapbook containing additional work.
Here’s a Kickstarter project that was a long time in coming that finally shipped earlier this year.
Lovecraft, H. P. Miskatonic Missives. Helios House, 2022 (actually 2023). First edition hardback, one of 521 Limited Collector’s Edition sets (given the number of kickstarter backers), containing three volumes, plus a fake box that’s actually a traycase to contain the ephemera extras, all Fine copies, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine slipcase.
Each volume contains a reprint of one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most interesting letters, presented alongside related archival material such as contemporary short stories, art, maps, etc., as well as original art and new scholarship.
Each volume is also packaged with a set of exclusive extras—replicas of related contemporary materials such as photos, maps, ticket stubs, postcards, news clippings, and diary pages. The Collector’s set packages all of these extras in a custom box which nests in the slipcase alongside the three books. Each Limited Edition Collector’s set is supplied with a Certificate of Ownership signed by editors Andrew Leman and Sean Branney of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and a collectible enamel pin.
This is just the loose extras; there are additional extras for each volume, in their individual envelopes in the Ephemera traycase.
with
Lovecraft, H. P. (Sean Branney and Andrew Lman, editors and annotators). The Spirit of Revision: Lovecraft’s Letters to Zeila Brown Reed Bishop. Helios House, 2022. Second Edition hardback (I believe the first edition was trade paperback only), a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought with the above as an add-in.
It’s an impressive assemblage, and one legions of Lovecraft fans will be kicking themselves over not picking up in years to come.
Baxter, Stephen. Xeelee: Endurance. PS Publishing, 2017. First edition hardback, letter D of 26 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a decorated boards and a Fine dust jacket and a Fine decorated slipcase. I collected Baxter for a while until he become too prolific for me to keep up with, but I did like the Xeelee books. Bought from Camelot Books for $50.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Joshi, S. T. Black Wings VII: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. PS Publishing, 2023. First edition hardback, one of 200 copies signed by all the contributors, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Original anthology, including stories from John Shirley, Ramsey Campbell and Steve Rasnick Tem. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount. I will have a small number of these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Silverberg, Robert. Monsters and Things. PS Publishing, 2023. First edition hardback, #100 of 100 signed, numbered copies in decorated boards signed by Silverberg, editor Stephen Jones, and illustrator Randy Brocker, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase, with erratum sheet laid in noting that one of these stories (many of them written under pseudonyms) actually was from Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark. Oops! Already sold out from the publisher. I will have a small number of these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
I have finally tracked down the last Vance Integral Edition volume I didn’t already own. This is the “Science Fiction Volume” produced as a preview test-of-concept.
Vance, Jack. The Languages of Pao and The Dragon Masters. The Vance Integral Edition, 2002. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. The first edition restoring Vance’s original texts. This was bought from a collector as part of a small Jack Vance lot. I think I could have bought this for $32 at the time, but having paid for the VIE itself (a considerable chunk of change), I didn’t want to spend more for work that would later be included in the complete VIE anyway. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 946, which states there were 500 copies of this volume produced, but it seems a bit rarer than that.
So I now have all three of the extra volumes, plus one of the 200 signed, numbered VIE sets, plus the proof dust jacket for this volume. I believe that makes my set about as complete as you can possibly make it. (I suppose you could have a 47 volume deluxe set, one of the reportedly 26 signed sets bound in full leather, plus the extra volumes, but assembling all three of the extra volumes in that state would probably be very challenging indeed…)
Forty years ago today, August 19, 1983, Genesis released their self-titled album (their twelfth), and “Mama” was the first single released off that.
As a fairly new convert to classic Prog Rock Genesis at the time, I wasn’t a fan of Genesis’ move toward more mainstream pop, but “Mama” caught my attention, as it’s a pretty interesting song. And far from being an average pop song, it was weird and sinister.
And it has perhaps the most memorable laugh in any song, ever.
Peter Gabriel-era Genesis had a lot more overtly sinister songs (“The Waiting Room” comes to mind), but “Mama” was distinctly different from Genesis’ 1980s output, or indeed, just about anything else on mainstream radio in 1983. Between the sparse drum loop, the eerie high synthesizer wash, and Collins’ urgent, hungry vocals about a young man’s unrequited love for a prostitute, it still has power four decades on.
Connell, Richard (Ted Connair, editor). A Little Gray Book of Grisly Tales. Borderlands Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #462 of 500 copies signed by Connair, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Connell is most famous for having penned “The Most Dangerous Game” (one of the stories here), which has been adapted so many times it has a Wikipedia entry just for the adaptations. Contains eight stories total. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount. Now out of print from the publisher.
These two books were received as gifts from friends:
Hample, Stuart. Non-Being and Something-ness: Selections from the Comic Strip Inside Woody Allen. Random House, 1974. First edition trade paperback original (numberline beginning with “2”, Random House’s deeply irritating method of identifying a first edition), a Near Fine copy with chip to top rear corner, crease to bottom front corner, nick to middle front edge, and a bit of wear. Dwight bought this for me based on my stumbling across this comic in a newspaper archive looking for something else and expressing surprise that it ever existed at all. It’s very hard to imagine today’s newspapers (the ones still managing to stay in business) publishing a comic about a celebrity based on their public persona and outlook on life, and harder still to imagine one that wouldn’t be horrifying.
Jordan, Will. Dark Harvest. Blackstone Publishing, 2022. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Science fiction novel/technothriller Mike bought for me. Jordan is generally better known as YouTube movie reviewer The Critical Drinker.
(Vance, Jack) George L. Mina, editor. Cosmopolis: a nexus for the admirers of of the works of Jack Vance. George L. Mina, 1988. First edition comb-bound with clear plastic covers fanzine original, a Fine copy, with letters from Mina and L.W. Currey laid in. Fanzine miscellanea related to Vance, including Vance’s essay “The Symbol,” which according to Hewett (D20) is its only appearance. Hewett, M140 (which notes a total of 75 copies: 12 copies with hand-colored illustrations for contributors and 63 copies with uncolored illustrations (this edition) for subscribers). Not to be confused with the later newsletter of the same name published by the Vance Integral Edition project.
(Vance, Jack) Offut, Robert Jr. The Many World of Jack Vance Vol. 1 No. 1 Spring 1977. First edition fanzine original, #185 of 300 numbered copies, a Near Fine+ copy with a touch of staining along staple fold edge, signed by Vance. Includes an appreciation by Poul Anderson, a lengthy interview by Tim Underwood, and some bibliographic material. Hewett, M31a.
(Vance, Jack) Robert Offutt Jr., editor. The Many Worlds of Jack Vance & The Horns of Elfland. Robert Offutt Jr., 1978. First edition illustrated fanzine, a Fine- copy with a couple of small spots of dust staining to rear, signed by Vance. Features Vance’s “The Secret,” the first chapter of an illustrated adaptation of The Eyes of the Overworld, etc. Second (and last) volume of an illustrated, semiprozine quality publication dedicated to Vance’s work (though the cover illustration, “Boromir’s Fall,” is obviously from The Lord of the Rings). Chock-full of illustrations from Rod Whigham, who later did a great deal of comic book work. Hewett, M31b, who notes there were 1,000 copies of this printed. Replaces an unsigned and less attractive copy.
Plus an old issue of Locus with an interview with Vance I’ll shove in the closet with the rest of the issues from back when I subscribed.
I hadn’t really been planning to track down Jack Vance fanzines, but now that I have these, I should probably look for issues of Honor to Finuka…
