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.
A private collector downsizing his library sold me some of his books, most of which was for Lame Excuse Books stock (hopefully that catalog will be out near the end of November), but there were a few things I found to add to my own collection.
Vance, Jack. Night Lamp. Tor, 1996. First edition hardback (precedes the Underwood Books edition), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Vance. This is one of the rare cases where adding a new book will actually free up some space in my library, as this volume will replace both a Fine unsigned copy I’ve already read, and a signed copy with a remainder mark, both of which should show up in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog. Cunningham, 61a. Supplements the Underwood Books limited edition. [Edited to add: I misremembered: It’s Lurulu I have the signed, remainder-marked copy of. But I’ll still have two firsts of Night Lamp, one signed, in the next catalog.]
(Vance, Jack) Laws, Robin D. The Kaain Player’s Guide: A Supplement for the Dying Earth RPG. Pelgrane Press, 2002. First edition (“First printing June 2002”) trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Supplement for the Dying Earth RPG. My role-playing game days are long behind me, and I haven’t really made a point of picking up RPG stuff for authors I collect, but this was cheap, and I have some books from the Amber Diceless RPG I haven’t cataloged yet from the last Bob Pylant purchase. Now I just need to find a place to put them…
(Vance, Jack) Parmentier, Gregg. The Vance Phile issues 1 through 6. First edition center-stapled fanzine originals, each #5 of 30 copies, signed by Parmentier (and sometimes other contributors), each a Fine copy. Fanzines full of interesting articles from Vance fans, from reprints of rare Vance works to a lot of bibliographic updates (include some from Jerry Hewett to his Vance bibliography). Strangely, I’ve been on a private Vance collector’s list with Gregg for decades now, but I believe I started getting those only after his period of publishing these, so I never heard about it. There was evidently an Issue 7 I’m still trying to track down a print copy of. I seem to be picking up quite a number of Vance fanzines this year. (See here.)
Once again, The Simpsons “Steamed Hams” segment has inspired the Internet to produce an alternate version, this one in terrifying Soviet-style animation.
Here’s a nicely creepy borderlands of science/urban legend/conspiracy theory video about a hole that has no bottom.
80,000 feet worth of fishing line found no bottom. Plus animals avoided it, and radios went crazy, when they weren’t picking up signals from 30 years before.
Then the government took it over.
Much more paranormal weirdness ensues
Was it real? Well, as real as anything else with a Wikipedia entry featured on Art Bell.
I guess that technically one of these is a magazine, but it looks and feel just like a paperback.
Brunner, John. The Traveler in Black. Ace, 1971. First edition paperback original (no statement of printing and 75¢ as per Currey), a Fine- copy with slight wear at points and a drop of discoloration to bottom page block at heel, otherwise a very nice copy. Celebrated fix-up of linked stories. Currey, page 74. De Bolt, The Happening Worlds of John Brunner, page 57.
Moorcock, Michael, editor (John Brunner, Roger Zelazny, J. G. Ballard, etc.). New Worlds March 1966, Vol. 49, No. 160. Compact SF, 1966. First edition magazine in the form of a paperback original, a Near Fine copy with slight glue ridging to spine, slight wear at points, a faint, thin line of abrasion down rear cover near outer edge, and a few touches of general wear. Right in the middle of Moorcock’s acclaimed run as editor of New Worlds when it became the epicenter of the New Wave, with a murder’s row of writers in this issue. The Zelazny is the first appearance of the classic “For a Breath I Tarry” (Levack, Stories 69a), and both this and the above came from the last purchase of books from Bob Pylant’s Zelazny collection.
I have cover scans, but for some reason BlueHost isn’t letting me upload pics right now, so you’ll have to wait to see them…
I found this S.C.U.M. video in a list of Shoegaze videos, and I see them described as “Post-punk,” but what they sound like to me is 1980s-era Simple Minds. Here’s “Whitechapel.”
I have a signed first of Sorceror’s Son, so it made sense to add this.
Eisenstein, Phyllis. The Crystal Palace. Grafton Books, 1991. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Eisenstein. Sequel to Sorceror’s Son. The U.S. paperback precedes, but this was the first hardback. This was part of the last big Zelazny purchase in 2020 and I’ve just now gotten around to cataloging it. As I’ve said before, there are few price points more attractive than “you’ve already paid for it.”
Saki (H.H. Munro) (edited by Stuart David Schiff). A Little Red Book of Wit & Shudders. Bands Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #462 of 500 copies signed by Schiff, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued.
I will have a small number of copies available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
This video features a complete play-through of Isle of Eras, which starts out as a search for a missing brother and quickly morphs into a weird cosmic horror/time travel game with giant monsters and nods to everything from Donnie Darko to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s amazingly elaborate for an indie game put together by a tiny team. The monster design is particularly impressive.
