Background
In The Wizard of Oz (the movie), protagonist Dorothy wakes up at the end and finds out her entire trip to Oz was just a dream.
In Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Merricat, the first-person protagonist, believes she can work a sort of sympathetic magic through wards and charms to keep the world at bay. When these charms are breached by an interloper, the outside world (and disaster) come crashing in. Also, one character believes Merricat is a ghost and never interacts with her, and by the end of the novel, several characters in the village she and her sister Constance live in have come to believe they are a witches.
Problem
Is either of these novels a fantasy, neither, or both? Explain your answer.
Joe R. Lansdale is one of the many authors I collect, who’s a damn fine writer in addition to being a friend and mentor. But for more than two decades, one of Joe’s rarest hardbacks continued to elude me.
Until now.
Lansdale, Joe R. (writing as Ray Slater). Texas Night Riders. Chivers Press/Curley Publishing, 1991. First hardback edition (preceded by the 1983 Leisure Books paperback original), an ex-library copy with minimal markings (a stamp on front free endpaper), otherwise VG in decorated boards with bumping along extremities, sans dust jacket, as issued. Part of the Large Print Atlantic Western line. Hankow, A Checklist of Joe R. Lansdale, A3b.
Pseudonymous western novel, and Joe’s third published book. My understanding is that the overwhelming majority of all large print editions are sold to the library market. Easily the rarest Lansdale hardback, and possibly the second rarest Lansdale book behind Molly’s Sexual Follies (which I also have).
Since this is so bibliographically rare, I thought I would scan the back cover, title page, and copyright page for fellow Lansdale bibliophiles and librarians.
The movie is only showing in a few theaters nationwide (including the Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane in Austin), but it’s also available for video download through Amazon and elsewhere.
No particular theme, just a few books fellow science fiction bibliophiles might find of interest.
Anderson, Poul. Homebrew. NESFA Press, 1976. First edition hardback, one of 500 copies signed by Anderson (Currey B, no priority), a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of dust patterning to rear dust jacket. Currey (1978), pages 10-11. Three short stories plus miscellany.
Asimov, Isaac and Theodosius Dobzhansky. The Genetic Effects of Radiation. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, 1966. Presumed first edition chapbook (no additional printings listed), a Near Fine copy with slight dust soiling and age darkening to covers, and phantom crease to bottom corner. Non-fiction pamphlet. Marjorie M. Miller, Asimov: A Checklist, page 48.
Smith, Reginald. Weird Tales in the Thirties. Self published, no date (but 1966). First edition, 8 1/2″ x 11″ side-stapled, mimeographed from typewritten copy, Near Fine- copy with small abrasion at top front, and slight bend to front and rear self-covers. Long essay about the magazine. Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft: An Annotated Bibliography, III-D-574.
Vance, Jack. Strange Notions with The Dark Ocean. Underwood/Miller, 1985. First edition hardbacks, number 47 of 500 signed (Strange Notions only, as issued), numbered sets in slipcase, Fine, sans dust jackets, as issued. Mystery novels. Hewett, A75 and A76.
Zelazny, Roger. Damnation Alley. Putnam, 1969. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a tiny bit of edgewear along top front. Levack, 9a. Currey (1978), page 570.
Any year is a good year to read Gene Wolfe, but it seems that right now we’re in a Gene Wolfe Year, or even a Gene Wolfe Sesquiennial, which started with his induction into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame and continued with him being named Nebula Grandmaster.
Then Michael Andre-Driussi (the author of Lexicon Urthus and other useful Wolfe critical works) published this:
And sent me a review copy, which I hope to get to shortly. I also have copies of Gate of Horn, Book of Silk for sale through Lame Excuse Books; just drop me a line if you want one.
I managed to pick up three relatively uncommon Clark Ashton Smith items from Heritage Auction’s weekly book auction:
Smith, Clark Ashton. The Tartarus of the Suns. Roy A. Squires, 1970. First edition thread-bound chapbook, a Fine copy in envelope. The Fugitive Poems, First Fascicle, Zothique Edition. This is copy 105. Donald Sydney-Fryer, Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography, P. 140. Chalker Owings, P. 588.
Smith, Clark Ashton. The Titans in Tartarus. Roy A. Squires, 1974. First edition thread-bound chapbook, a Fine copy in envelope. The Fugitive Poems, Second Series, First Volume, Xigarph edition. This is copy 30 of the “small” edition (as opposed to the “manuscript” sized edition). Donald Sydney-Fryer, Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography, P. 140. Chalker Owings, P. 589.
(Smith, Clark Ashton). The Tales of Clark Ashton Smith: A Bibliography. Thomas C. L. Cockcoft, 1951. First edition chapbook, one of 500 copies, Near Fine- with a few small spots of soiling, phantom crease to rear dust jacket, and age darkening. Non-fiction. Currey (1978), P. 455. Tymn Schlobin Currey, A Research Guide to Science Fiction Studies, 323. A very early Clark Ashton Smith bibliography. Not as useful as I hoped it would be.
I’d long heard that Roy A. Squires’ small press chapbooks were very well made, and I finally was able to snag a couple of them at a reasonable price.
I bought the Cockcroft because, well, I’m slightly fanatical about collecting bibliographic material, but also because I was hoping it might have some things not in Emperor of Dreams, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I really would like a better Smith bibliography, as Emperor of Dreams is perhaps the most confusingly organized bibliography I’ve ever seen.
Unlike a complete H. P. Lovecraft collection, a complete Clark Ashton Smith collection is probably within my means, but it’s a pretty long-term goal…
Molly let me know that Steve passed last night at about 10:40 pm, eastern. His family was with him.
I’ll miss him.
As will we all.
Utley announced to his friends that he had been diagnosed with Type 4 cancer in his intestines, liver, and lungs, and a lesion on his brain on December 27, 2012. On January 7, he sent out an email saying that he was losing his motor skills and designated Jessica as his literary executor (and hopefully she’ll be able to get some of his swell stories back in print). On the morning of January 12 he slipped into a coma and died that night.
Jessica Reisman sent this out with permission to pass it on, so I’m putting it here:
Hi all,
I’m passing on this news somewhat piecemeal, but trying to let enough people know who I think would want to know. Please pass it on as you feel appropriate.
Steve was fairly recently diagnosed with stage four cancer and a lesion on his brain and it’s progressed quickly. I heard from Molly this morning that he’s fallen into a coma and the doctor estimates two days. His mother and brother and ex-wife Molly are there with him.
Very sorry to be the bearer of this news.
Jessica
Utley was one of the original Turkey City writers, along with Chad Oliver, Tom Reamy, Howard Waldrop, etc.
Between this and Jay Lake’s latest bout, it hasn’t been a good cancer year for SF writers…
“Texas Died for Somebody’s Sins But Not Mine” by Stina Leicht
“Jump the Black” by Marshall Ryan Maresca
“An Afternoon’s Nap, or; Five Hundred Years Ahead” by Aurelia Hadley Mohl
“The Nostalgia Differential” by Michael Moorcock
“Novel Properties of Certain Complex Alkaloids” by Lawrence Person
“The Chambered Eye” by Jessica Reisman
“Avoiding the Cold War” by Josh Rountree
“The Art of Absence” by Don Webb
Congrats to my fellow writers for making the cut, and for Aurelia Hadley Mohl for not letting the fact that she died over a hundred years ago slow her down!
