Posts Tagged ‘small press publishers’

Newer Entries »

Library Addition: 1 of 52 Hardbacks of Tim Powers’ Nine Sonnets

Tuesday, November 8th, 2016

Here’s another book I picked up at a bargain price:

Powers, Tim (as Francis Thomas Marrity). Nine Sonnets. Subterranean Press, 2006. First edition hardback chapbook, letter Q of 52 signed, lettered hardbacks, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Berlyne, B14a2. (In addition to this and the wraps chapbook state made to accompany the Subterranean Press edition of Three Days to Never, there were 9 (!) hardback copies in a different patterned binding and matching traycase, not seen.) Bought for $50 from a Camelot Books 50% off sale.

nine-sonnets

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Books, Fantasy | No Comments »

Library Additions: 10 Subterranean Press Books

Thursday, November 3rd, 2016

I picked the following up at various Subterranean Press sales (some were 50% off, others discounted even more than that as part of a “grab bag” deal). A few of these will be available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which I’m about to start work on.

  • Blaylock, James P. The Further Adventures of Langdon St. Ives. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #104 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Omnibus edition of Lagdon St. Ives novellas. “The Here-and-Thereians” plus a short coda (“Earthbound Things”) are original to this volume.
  • Blaylock, James P. The Further Adventures of Langdon St. Ives. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Trade edition.
  • Chu, Wesley. The Days of TAO. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #268 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
  • Egan. Greg. The Four Thousand, The Eight Hundred. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
  • McCammon, Robert. The Last Train to Perdition. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Trade edition.
  • McCammon, Robert. Stinger. Subterranean Press, 2015. Signed limited edition hardback, #467 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Supplements a copy of the Kinnell first hardback.
  • Mieville, China. This Census-Taker. Subterranean Press, 2016. First limited edition hardback (the Del Rey trade edition precedes), #442 of 750 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
  • Powers, Tim. Down and Out in Purgatory. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Trade edition.
  • Shepard, Lucius. Five Autobiographies and a Fiction. Subterranean Press, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Trade edition.
  • Silverberg, Robert. Early Days: More Tales from the Pulp Era. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #169 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.

    • Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »

    Library Addition: First Edition of Clark Ashton Smith’s Out of Space and Time

    Monday, August 22nd, 2016

    The hits keep coming! We interrupt our cataloging of the Cold Tonnage 40% off sale to catalog this exceptional item I picked up off eBay at an exceptional price:

    Smith, Clark Ashton. Out of Space and Time. Arkham House, 1942. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with slight bumping to bottom corner points and slight bend at head and heel, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with yellowing tape at head, heel and top points and the usual age darkening of the spine lettering (turning it from pale green to off-white), plus extremely slight wear at edges; despite the flaws, this is actually an intact and attractive specimen of the dust jacket. The third Arkham House book published and, with only 1,054 copies printed, the smallest print run among all Arkham House titles until Leah Bodine Drake’s partially subsidized poetry collection A Hornbook for Witches (with a print run of 553 copies) in 1950. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 3. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House, 3. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 3. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 3. Sidney-Fryer, Emperor of Dreams, page 183. The Tales of Clark Ashton Smith: A Bibliography, page 1. Currey, page 453. Chalker/Owings, page 21. Kemp, The Anthem Series, page 290. Bleiler, Checklist of Science-Fiction and Supernatural Fiction, page 252 (1948), page 181 (1978), Bleiler, Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 1484. Barron, Horror Literature 3-182. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, page 200-201 (he had Fryer’s inscribed copy!). Bought off eBay for $399.

    CAS Space and Time

    Of the many books Arkham House published by Clark Ashton Smith, I now own:

  • Out of Space and Time
  • Lost Worlds
  • Tales of Science and Sorcery
  • Poems in Prose
  • Other Dimensions
  • Selected Poems
  • The Black Book of Clark Ashton Smith, and
  • A Rendezvous in Averoigne

    • However, I still lack

  • Genius Loci and Other Tales
  • The Dark Chateau
  • Spells and Philtres
  • The Abominations of Yondo
  • Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith

    • Note that, barring postal delays, I should be blogging about another notable Clark Ashton Smith acquisition in the near future…

    Tags:, , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »

    Library Addition: Michael Swanwick’s Fallen Leaves

    Tuesday, April 19th, 2016

    It’s another Michael Swanwick Dragonstair Press book with a ridiculously short print run:

    Swanwick, Michael, with Marianne Porter. Fallen Leaves. Dragonstairs Press, 2016. First edition hardback, number 17 of 20 signed, numbered copies (the only edition), a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, with spine label affixed.

    Swanwick Leaves

    IMG_0622

    Says the Publisher:

    The Fallen Leaves Project was carried out during October, 2015, in multiple locations around Philadelphia, including Laurel Hill Cemetery, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Morris Arboretum, and Gorgas Park.

    Michael Swanwick composed “epitaphs”, and wrote them on fallen leaves. The leaves were photographed by Marianne Porter and Michael Swanwick within a few feet of where they were found and left where they were, to be discovered by passersby. Or not. The photographs were posted daily throughout October on Twitter, Facebook, and Swanwick’s blog. In total, ninety-four images were created.

    Fallen Leaves is a set of albums made of hand-crafted mulberry paper, manufactured by Karin tribe members, with a selection of leaf photographs pasted in. Archival glue was used throughout. Each album contains fifteen images and no two albums contain the same set of images. Fallen Leaves is limited to an edition of twenty albums.

    The book sold out pretty much the same day it was announced…

    Tags:, , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »

    Library Additions: Two Horror First Editions

    Thursday, September 24th, 2015

    The only thing tying these two books together is that they’re both horror and I bought both from Lloyd Currey at 50% off:

  • Baker, Denys Val. The Face in the Mirror. Arkham House, 1971. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of wear at bottom edge (probably do to an old fold-around dj protector that doesn’t encase the edges). Joshi, 60 Years of Arkham House, 112. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 118. Nielsen, Arkham House Books: A Collector’s Guide, 118. Chalker & Owings (1991), page 39. Not in Bleiler’s Guide to Supernatural Fiction (an odd omission). Bought for $12.50
  • Wagner, Karl Edward. Why Not You and I? Dark Harvest, 1987. First edition hardback, #252 of 300 copies signed by Wagner, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with waviness to dust jacket rear, in a Near Fine paper slipcase. I also have a copy of the trade edition inscribed to me by Wagner at the 1988 Worldcon in New Orleans. Bought for $32.50.

    • Tags:, , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »

    Library Additions: Several Arkham House Books

    Tuesday, February 24th, 2015

    Here are are several Arkham House books I’ve bought over the last couple of months. All except The Dark Man are widely available titles I picked up at bargain prices.

  • (Cave, Hugh B.) Thomas, Milt. Cave of a Thousand Tales: The Life and Times of Hugh B. Cave. Arkham House, 2004. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Non-fiction biography. Bought for $14 off eBay.
  • Derleth, August. Dwellers in Darkness. Arkham House, 1976. Octavo, cloth. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought from L. W. Currey for $17.50
  • Eisenstein, Phyllis. Born to Exile. Arkham House, 1978. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought from L. W. Currey for $12.50.
  • Howard, Robert E. The Dark Man and Others. Arkham House, 1963. First edition hardback, a Near Fine- copy with crimping at head and heel, previous owner’s bookplate on FFE, and a drop of dampstaining that affects the FFE and the first few pages, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with slight creasing at head and heel, slight wear along spine, slight dust staining to white rear cover. The second Arkham collection of Howard’s short stories, all but one from Weird Tales. Won off eBay for $60.

    Howard Dark Man

  • Page, Gerald W. (editor). Nameless Places. Arkham House, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a touch of wear at extremities. Bought from L. W. Currey for $12.50.
  • Smith, James Robert and Stephen Mark Rainey, editors. Evermore. Arkham House, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Edgar Allen Poe tribute anthology. Bought for $14 off eBay.

    • Tags:, , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror | No Comments »

    Library Additions: Three Interesting Chapbooks

    Thursday, September 11th, 2014

    I recently got in three interesting trim-sized chapbooks, two hardback and two signed:

  • Gaiman, Neil. The Sleeper and the Spindle. Morrow/Harper Collins, 2014. First separate edition hardback (it appeared in an anthology in 2013), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Chapbook on the Sleeping beauty theme, only available through California bookstores on California Book Day (May 3, 2014).

    Gaiman Sleeper Spindle

  • Powers, Tim. Appointment on Sunset. Charnel House, 2014. First edition hardback, #115 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, with signed and numbered toe-tag affixed to the front cover.

    Powers Sunset

  • Swanwick, Michael. Solstice Fire. Dragonstairs Press, 2013. First edition side-sewn chapbook original, #42 of 100 signed numbered copies, a Fine copy.

    Solstice Fire

    • One other thing these have in common: I’ll have copies for all three available through Lame Excuse Books (inquire if you want one).

    Tags:, , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »

    Night Shade Books

    Thursday, July 8th, 2010

    The hot topic of conversation in the skiffy blogsphere has been Night Shade Books,
    which
    seems
    to be
    having some
    problems.

    This is a shame, as the guys behind Night Shade seem like good people, and they’ve published some swell books. As for the reasons behind these problems, well, anyone who has read Jack Chalker & Mark Owings’ The Science Fantasy Publishers: A Critical and Bibliographic History will recognize a certain pattern. Small press publishers don’t duck calls from authors and agents and fail to send out royalty checks because of “major miscommunication” or “lack of communication,” they do those things because they’re out of money.

    By an amazing coincidence, here are some Night Shade Books from the Lame Excuse Books stock which just happen to have been marked down to outrageously low prices today for absolutely no particular reason:

    • LP1115. Baker, Kage. Mother Aegypt and Other Stories. Night Shade Books, 2004. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. includes an original, never before published novella. $12.
    • LP1261. Drake, David (Gene Wolfe). The Complete Hammers Slammers. Night Shade Books, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. First of three volumes of linked stories of future tank warfare. Gene Wolfe provides the introduction. If you think that’s odd, Barry Malzberg is penning the intro to one of the subsequent volumes… $19.
    • LP795. Harrison, M. John (China Mieville, Simon Inge). Things That Never Happen (w/ The Rio Brain). Night Shade Books, 2003. First edition hardback, one of only 150 copies signed by Harrison and introduction author China Mieville, Fine in a Fine dj, new and unread. Also included with the limited edition is the chapbook The Rio Brain by Harrison and Simon Inge. (The latter features a photo of Samuel Beckett on the cover, and seems to revolve around theater.) Harrison has long been a critical favorite for his Virconium sequence, among other works, but the recent popularity of Light and his influence on Mieville has raised his visibility considerably. Sold out from the publisher and already very hard to find. The minuscule limited edition all but guarantees this to be one of the more difficult items for the Mieville completist to obtain in coming years. (Note: Originally this edition was supposed to be slipcased, but Night Shade substituted the chapbook when they were unable to obtain the slipcases for the limited.) $80.
    • LP1270. Hughes, Matthew. The Gist Hunter & Other Stories. Night Shade Books, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. I know a number of Jack Vance fans who think very highly of Hughes, whose work as very obviously influenced by The Dying Earth Stories. $14.
    • LP1471. Moon, Elizabeth. Moon Flights. Night Shade Books, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. Short story collection by the Nebula and Robert A. Heinlein Award-winning author of The Speed of Dark. Specially signed by Moon. $18.
    • LP1478. Shepard, Lucius. Softspoken. Night Shade Books, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. At 179 pages, this is more a short novel than the usual Shepard small press novella. $14.
    • LP698. Wellman, Manly Wade. Fearful Rock and Other Precarious Locales (The Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman, Volume 3). Night Shade Books, 2001. First edition hardback, Fine sans dj, as issued, new and unread. Introduction by Stephen Jones. This volume contains some of Wellman’s novella length fiction, including the excellent “Coven.” $22.
    • LP806. Wellman, Manly Wade (David Drake). Sin’s Doorway and Other Ominous Entrances (The Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman, Volume 4). Night Shade Books, 2003. First edition hardback, Fine, new and unread, sans dj, as issued. Introduction by David Drake. Some of Wellman’s best work in here, including most of the work in the excellent (and now very expensive) Carcosa collection Worse Things Waiting. Recommended. $22.
    • LP922. Wellman, Manly Wade (Karl Edward Wagner). Owls Hoot in the Daytime and Other Omens (Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman, Volume 5). Night Shade Books, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dj, as issued. Fifth and final volume of collected Wellman, containing all the Silver John stories. Introduction by Karl Edward Wagner. $22
    • LP1132. Wellman, Manly Wade. Giants from Eternity (with The Timeless Tomorrow). Night Shade Books, 2004. First edition this, including the first hardback appearance of The Timeless Tomorrow, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dj with a tiny bump at heel, otherwise new and unread. $10.
    • LP1553. Williams, Walter Jon. Implied Spaces. Night Shade Books, 2008. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Far future space opera that looks like a cross between Jack Vance and Charlie Stross. Having his latest come from a small press might flat-foot some people, and I’m pretty sure the print run on this will be smaller than his books from Eos or Tor… $12.

    To order any of these, email Lawrence Person (lawrenceperson@gmail.com).

    Tags:, , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »

    Newer Entries »