Archive for August, 2025

Library Additions: John Shirley’s Lovecraft Alive

Wednesday, August 27th, 2025

Another purchase from that Facebook seller:

Shirley, John. Lovecraft Alive!. Hippocampus Press, 2016. First edition trade paperback original (stated, though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Fine copy. Collection of Shirley’s Lovecraftian stories. Bought for $10.

Library Additions: Firsts of Joshi’s Black Wings II and III

Monday, August 25th, 2025

I have all the rest in this series, mostly bought from the publisher when they were first published, but for some reason I missed these two:

  • Joshi, S. T., editor. Black Wings II: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. PS Publishing, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket with UPC sticker to rear cover (presumably as issued). Original Lovecraftian horror anthology featuring work from John Shirley, Don Webb, Steve Rasnic Tem, etc. This is the trade edition (there was also a signed, limited edition). Long out of print in hardback, but bought for $30 (pretty close to the original price of £25).

  • Joshi, S. T., editor. Black Wings IIi: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. PS Publishing, 2014. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. original Lovecraftian horror anthology featuring work from Brian Stableford, Don Webb, Peter Cannon, etc. This is the trade edition (there was also a signed, limited edition). Long out of print in hardback, but bought for $30 (pretty close to the original price of £25).

  • Library Addition: Ron Haydock’s Deerstalker: Watson and Holmes on Screen

    Friday, August 22nd, 2025

    Another purchase from that Facebook seller.

    Haydock, Ron. Deerstalker! Holmes and Watson on Screen. Scarecrow Press, 1978. First edition hardback (no additional printings listed), a Fine- copy with wear at points, sans dust jacket, presumably as listed. Filmography of Sherlock Holmes films and TV shows. Bought for $10.

    Library Additions: Three Hippocampus Weird Tales Writers Reference Books

    Thursday, August 21st, 2025

    Three more books from that Facebook seller:

  • (Howard, Robert E.) Derie, Bobby. Weird Talers: Essays on Robert E. Howard and Other. Hippocampus Press, 2019. First edition trade paperback original (though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Fine copy. Bought for $5.

  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Mariconda, Steven J. H. P. Lovecraft: Art, Artifact, and Reality. Hippocampus Press, 2013. First edition trade paperback original (though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Near Fine+ copy with a trace of light staining to page block edges and few light spots of staining to first few pages, and a trace of wear at points. Bought for $10.

  • Smith, Clark Ashton, and George Sterling (David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi, editors). The Shadow of the Unattained: The Letters of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith. Hippocampus Press, 2019. First edition trade paperback original (though I think all Hippocampus Press trade paperbacks are POD books now), a Fine copy. Sterling was the California poet who mentored and championed the work of the young Clark Ashton Smith. Bought for $10.

  • I’m pretty good at picking up the Hippocampus Press hardbacks before the sell out, but I don’t pick up every trade paperback on publication (and when I do pick them up, they tend to hang around in Lame Excuse Books stock). These were all at good prices.

    Library Addition: Edith Nesbit’s A Little Fuchsia Book of Fantasy

    Tuesday, August 19th, 2025

    Another Borderlands Little Book:

    Nesbit, Edith. A Little Fuchsia Book of Fantasy. Borderlands Press, 2025. First edition hardback, #463 of 350 numbered copies (Borderlands: “we only print 350 copies but if anyone has matching numbers above 350, we make sure they continue to get it”) signed by editor Hal Bodner, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Ten stories (including retellings of Hamlet and Macbeth) from an English author better known for children’s books.

    I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog (probably November December).

    Library Addition: Willard M. Oliver’s Robert E. Howard Biography

    Monday, August 18th, 2025

    Here’s a rare case of my buying a book from Amazon:

    (Howard, Robert E.) Willard M. Oliver. Robert E. Howard: The Life and Times of a Texas Author. University of North Texas Press, 2025. First edition hardback (“10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1” numberline), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Hefty 580 page biography of Howard that’s gotten lots of praise in the various REH-adjacent bibliographic groups I visit on Facebook. Bought for $20.80, a hefty discount off the $40 list price.

    This is the fourth full-length biography of Howard I own, including the Mark Finn, Novalyne Price and de Camp et. al. biographies (plus two shorter ones), none of which I’ve read yet. I’ll probably read the considerably shorter Finn biographer before this one.

    Library Addition: ARC of Joe R. Lansdale’s The Horror Hall of Fame

    Wednesday, August 13th, 2025

    I don’t usually pick up ARCs, but this was offered at a bargain price.

    Lansdale, Joe R., editor. The Horror Hall of Fame. Cemetery Dance, 2011. First edition Advanced Uncorrected Proof, trade paperback format, of the hardback first edition, a Fine copy. Isajanko D13.a (but no mention of proof states). Bought off Facebook for $10.

    Library Addition: Alastair Reynolds The Dagger in Vichy

    Tuesday, August 12th, 2025

    New signed, limited edition from Subterranean:

    Reynolds, Alastair. The Dagger in Vichy. Subterranean Press, 2025. First edition hardback, #422 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with bookmark laid in. Novella described as a mixture of science fiction and fantasy, with perhaps a dollop of Eldritch Horror.

    I will have a small number of these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    Library Additions: Two Avram Davidson Ellery Queen Firsts

    Monday, August 11th, 2025

    These are the last books from that Kathryn Cramer purchase:

  • Davidson, Avram (as Ellery Queen). And on the Eighth Day. Random House, 1964. First edition hardback (“First Printing” stated, as per Currey), a Near Fine- copy with wear at head, heel and points, in a Very Good dust jacket with several 1/4″ to 1/8″ chips at head, heel, points and bottom center, “3-24” written in pen on inside top flap, two hairline tears to bottom front cover, and trace of dust soiling to white rear cover. Currey, page 131. Hubin, page 326.

  • Davidson, Avram (as Ellery Queen). The Fourth Side of the Triangle. Random House, 1965. First edition hardback (“First Printing” stated, as per Currey), a Fine- copy with a trace of wear at head, heel and points in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight grubbiness to white jacket, 1/4″ close hairline tear at bottom front, and a touch of edgewear. Currey, page 131. Hubin, page 326. Currey says this Random House edition precedes, but Hubin says the Gollancz edition precedes.

  • Bought for $10 each.

    Library Addition: Signed, Limited Edition of Philip Jose Farmer’s The Unreasoning Mask

    Wednesday, August 6th, 2025

    Another Kathryn Cramer purchase:

    Farmer, Philip Jose. The Unreasoning Mask. Putnam, 1981. First edition hardback (simultaneous with the trade hardback), #349 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Pringle, Science Fiction: The Hundred Best Novels 96. Pringle, Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, pages 339-340 (“***…Metaphsyical space opera, one of the author’s best”). Supplements a copy of the trade hardback. Bought for $35.