Posts Tagged ‘Books’
Thursday, November 18th, 2021
Two more SST Lansdale limiteds came out a while back, and I’m just now getting around to listing them.
Lansdale, Joe R. Hap and Leonard: Of Mice and Minestrone. Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, 2021. First hardback edition and first limited edition (the Tachyon trade paperback, which I also have, precedes), #101 of 400 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Linked Hap and Leonard short stories.

(Lansdale, Joe R.) Fred Isajanko. The World Lansdalean: The Authorized Joe R. Lansdale Bibliography. Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, 2021. First edition hardback, #101 of 1000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Bibliography of Lansdale’s work, that also includes bonus Lansdale fiction in the back. I have not checked to verify that all of my edit suggestions on the ARC made it into the final edition.


I will have copies of both these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:bibliography, Books, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Limited Editions, Mystery, Short Scary Tales (SST) Publications, small press publishers
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Thursday, November 11th, 2021
Every now and then, I do buy books that aren’t science fiction, fantasy or horror-related. In this case, I became aware (possibly from one of their YouTube videos) that the British Tank Museum in Bovington (which I visited in 2014) was doing a new book on the Tiger tank, and went “Yes, I do want that!”
Fletcher, David, editor. Tiger! The Tiger Tank: A British View. The Tank Museum, 2021. First revised edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. A considerably revised edition of a book first published in 1986, featuring extensive British intelligence documentation and analysis gathered on captured Tiger 131 (still, I think, the only fully running, intact, surviving Tiger 1 from World War II, and the Tiger seen in Fury). The paperback version of this book is available through the Tank Museum, but this hardback was done as a Kickstarter-like deal through them, and my name can be found on page 255. Bought for £32.94, including transatlantic shipping.

Tags:Books, Tiger tank, World War II
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Wednesday, November 10th, 2021
Every now and then, one of my friends will point out a Kickstarter for something in the “Isn’t this silly?” vein, I’ll look at it, and then go “I am totally backing this!” This is one of those times.
Fitz Gerald, Caitlin. The Children’s Illustrated Clausewitz: Volume One. Helios House Press, 2021. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, in slipcase. Just what it says: An illustrated, children’s version of the lessons imparted in Carl von Clausewitz’s 19th strategy classic On War. In this book, the role of Clauswitz is played by a hare. Extras from the Kickstarter include a portfolio of four full page cardstock illustrations in printed envelope (“A Year in Hare Clausewitz’s Classroom”), a set of temporary tattoos, and an Ex-Libris sticker. Bought for backing the Kickstarter for £38, including slipcase and shipping. Technically this qualifies as a talking animal fantasy, but what it vaguely reminds me of is a series of pamphlets starting with The Fight at Dame Europa’s School, which cast late 19th century European geopolitical conflight as an inter-school fight, with each student representing a different country.

Tags:Books, Clausewitz, Fantasy, Kickstarter, strategy
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Monday, November 8th, 2021
Here’s a limited edition I’ve long wanted to pick up. Indeed, the lettered edition of this is considered one of the most extravagant and desirable modern limited editions, but that was sold out before I even heard about it, and the last time I saw one for sale it went for something like $6,500.
Powers, Tim. Last Call. Charnel House, 1992. First edition hardback (“by a whisker” says Chalker/Owings), #141 of 350 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine- decorated slipcase with some rubbing to bottom and at points. His celebrated “playing poker with Tarot cards” book, and the first (and best) in a loose trilogy. Berlyne, A8b.1. Chalker/Owings (2002), page 211. Bought from a noted SF book dealer for $325. I think I now have all the Charnel House Powers limiteds (at least in numbered state).


Tags:Books, Charnel House, Fantasy, Horror, Limited Editions, small press publishers, Tarot Cards, Tim Powers
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Friday, November 5th, 2021
Dark Regions Press had a 50% off sale so I picked up a few things:
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Sammons, Brian M and Glynn Owen Barrass, editors. Summer of Lovecraft: Cosmic Horrors in the 1960s. Dark Regions Press, 2021. Trade paperback reprint (a POD edition), a Fine copy. Bought for $9.
Nolan, William F. Writing as Life. Dark Regions Press, 2021. First edition hardback, #34 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, still in shrinkwrap. Mixture of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and autobiography. Bought for $37.50.
Tags:Books, Cthulhu, Dark Regions Press, Horror, Lovecraft, small press publishers, William F. Nolan
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Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021
Two chapbooks:
Howard, Robert E. Two Against Tyre. Dennis McHaney, 1975. First edition chapbook original, one of 1,500 copies (Currey state B), a Fine- copy with slight wear to black border at top front and slight dust staining along spine. Currey, page 252. Bought off a fellow Biblio dealer for $8.10.
Swanwick, Michael and Greer Gilman. The Lonely and the Rum: A Conversation. Dragonstairs Press, 2021. First edition chapbook original, #50 of 125 copies, a Fine copy with hand-made, uneven (I think intentionally) covers. Transcription of a conversation between Gilman and Swanwick on fantasy. Obtained directly from the publisher at the usual discount.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Dragonstairs Press, Fantasy, Michael Swanwick, Robert E. Howard, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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Thursday, October 21st, 2021
Unless you count the withdrawn American edition of The Atrocity Exhibition (which is not the true first, as the Cape (which I have) precedes), the true first of J. G. Ballard’s Crash is (along with The Drowned World) among Ballard’s most expensive and difficult first editions. I’d been looking for an affordable copy of Crash for a while, and I finally found one:
Ballard, J. G. Crash. Jonathan Cape, 1973. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with all the usual flaws, including stamps to pages and page block edges, in a dust jacket that, while intact, has been glued to the book, with a long, thin library sticker across the front, spine, back and rear flap, and a large square library affixed to rear, plus some glue wrinkling; call it a Good/Good Ex-Lib copy. Goodard and Pringle, J. G. Ballard: The First Twenty Years 101. Currey, page 23. Bought off an Australian bookseller for $68 plus shipping.

Tags:Books, J. G. Ballard, Science Fiction
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Thursday, October 14th, 2021
I think this ends this current run of Lansdale library additions. This one came from another publisher having a 50% off sale rather than a private collector.
Lansdale, Joe R. The Sky Done Ripped. Subterranean Press, 2019. First edition hardback, #324 of 350 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Third book in the Ned the Seal trilogy. This edition features a collection of sketches at the back not in the trade edition. Supplements a signed copy of the trade edition. Bought for $47.50.
Tags:Books, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Limited Editions, Science Fiction, small press publishers, Steampunk, Subterranean Press
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Wednesday, October 13th, 2021
Another book for my complete Lansdale collection from that same private collector:
Lansdale, Joe. R. Tight Little Stitches In A Dead Man’s Back. Pulphouse, 1992. First edition hardback chapbook, #70 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Short story hardback issue #28. Story originally appeared in John Maclay’s Nukes anthology in 1986. This is the first separate edition. Bought from a private collector for $75 (which is considerably more than I paid for The Steel Valentine).

I may have mentioned that I avoided the Pulphouse short story hardback line when it first came out, as I had a hard time thinking of them as real books rather than gimmicks, and didn’t expect them to hold their value. Now, after I’ve collected everything else by the author, I’ve been picking them up. Most can still be had cheap, but not this one.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Horror, Pulphouse, Science Fiction, small press publishers
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Monday, October 11th, 2021
Another private collector Lansdale purchase:
Lansdale, Joe R., Howard Waldrop and Neal Barrett, Jr. The Gonzo Tapes. Scorpio Inc., no date (Howard says he recorded his October 7, 1992; since they were first sold at Armadillocon, and that year’s Armadillocon started just two days later, I’m guessing it was released at the 1993 Armadillocon). First edition cassette tape package, containing three cassettes with two stories each being read by authors Joe R. Lansdale (“Steppin’ Out, Summer 1968” and “By Bizarre Hands”), Howard Waldrop (“French Scenes” and “The Passing of the Western”) and Neal Barrett, Jr. (“Winter on the Belle Forche” and “Class of ’61”), along with a single trifold sheet attached to the inside of the front case lid with adhesive to the back, a Fine copy. Bought from that same private collector for $10.


Neal Barrett’s wife Ruth was the driving force behind this project. According to Howard, these all sold out at the Armadillocon they were released at, but I know copies were easy to find for many years after. Now, however, you don’t see them much anymore, and there’s precious little information about this on the Internet…
Tags:Books, cassette tape, Horror, Howard Waldrop, Joe R. Lansdale, Neal Barrett Jr., Science Fiction
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