Posts Tagged ‘Science Fiction’
Monday, January 19th, 2026
Both of these books are signed by Positronic Publishing Editor/Publisher Warren Lapine, who I think also edited both of these (though that’s not mentioned on their covers or title pages).
Zelazny, Roger. Immer, Zlaz: The Zelazny Yoke Letters, Portrait of a Lifelong Friendship. Positronic Publishing, 2022. First edition? hardback, (sold as such, though its a print on demand book; as there’s no date code on the POD page at the back, so its possible that it’s a first printing), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, signed by editor/publisher/introduction author Warren Lapine. Massive 933 page volume of correspondence between Zelazny and longtime friend/critical biographer Carl B. Yoke. Bought from Lapine off eBay for $20.
Zelazny, Roger. Seven Tales in Amber. Positronic Publishing, 2023. Hardback print on demand book; as there’s no date code on the POD page at the back, so its possible that it’s a first printing, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, signed by editor/publisher/introduction author Warren Lapine. In contrast to the above, this is a slender, 86 page hardback containing seven Amber stories, many of which had originally appeared in obscure places like Amberzine. Bought from Lapine off eBay for $12.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Positronic Publishing, Print-on-Demand, Roger Zelazny, Science Fiction, Warren Lapine
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Friday, January 9th, 2026
Two more Houston Half Price Books finds, the only connection being two Texas authors I know personally.
Lansdale, Joe R. Freezer Burn. Mysterious Press, 1999. Advanced Reading Copy, trade paperback format, of the trade hardback first edition, a Fine- copy, with slight wear at corners. Supplements the Crossroad Press signed, limited, true first edition. Bought for $9.99.
Sterling, Bruce. Schismatrix Plus. SFBC, 2006. First hardback edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Part of SFBC’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Honestly, I wasn’t even aware they had done this until I chanced across it. Supplements the trade paperback original and the hardback firsts of Schismatrix and Crystal Express. Bought for $4.99.
Tags:ARC, Books, Bruce Sterling, cyberpunk, Half Price Books, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Mysterious Press, Mystery, Science Fiction, SFBC, Texas
Posted in Books, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026
Shortly after I finished my DFW trip and sent out the latest Lame Excuse Books catalog, I had a chance to visit my mother in Houston, and do some book shopping while in town.
It’s always a good book hunting trip when you find a signed Heinlein for $2.99.
Pournelle, Jerry (with John F. Carr). The Survival of Freedom. Fawcett Crest, 1981. First edition paperback original (“First Fawcett Crest Printing: August 1981” and “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1”), a Near Fine- copy with slight spine creasing and a touch of edgewear, a few other touches of wear, and pages slightly toned, signed not only by editor Pournelle, but also contributors Robert A. Heinlein (twice; once on the title page and once after his non-fiction piece on the L-5 society), Poul Anderson and Larry Niven. Proof, once again, of George Locke’s dictum not to look for books, but look at books. Heinlein didn’t make many (if any) public appearances after the Kansas City Worldcon in 1976. I found this book at the Half Price Books in Clear Lake City, so I wonder if the contributors might have signed this at a NASA or L-5 event. Contains a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, and includes contributions from Russell Kirk (non-fiction), Harlan Ellison (“‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman”) and Jack Vance (“Dodkin’s Job”). Bought for $2.99, quite a bargain considering that signed Heinleins start at about $300 these days.
This was the most valuable book I found on my Houston trip, followed by a signed first of Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate.
Tags:Books, Half Price Books, Harlan Ellison, Jack Vance, Jerry Pournelle, John F. Carr, Larry Niven, PBO, Poul Anderson, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, signatures
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 1st, 2026
Another DFW Half Price Books purchases:
Jeter, K.W. Star Wars: Slave Ship: Book 2 of The Bounty Hunter Wars. Bantam Spectra, 1998. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight foxing to inside covers and a trace of edgewear. I already had volume 1 and volume 3 of the trilogy, as well a signed copy of the SFBC hardback omnibus. Bought for $3.99.
Tags:Books, Half Price Books, K. W. Jeter, Science Fiction, Star Wars
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 31st, 2025
Three more PBOs bought at DFW Half Price Books locations.
Kurland, Michael. The Unicorn Girl. Pyramid, 1969. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine copy with non-breaking crease across front cover and some edgewear (but no spine creasing). Second book in the hippie science fiction trilogy, preceded by Chester Anderson’s The Butterfly Kid and followed by T. A. Waters’ The Probability Pad (which I have). Bought for $2.49.
Saha, Arthur W., editor. The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories: 9. SAW, 1983. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine copy with slight abrasion line to spine, slight age toning to pages, moderate foxing to inside covers, a trace of edgewear, and a trace of age darkening of white rear cover along spine. Year’s Best anthology with stories from R. A. Lafferty, Michael Shea, Tanith Lee, Harlan Ellison, Parke Godwin, etc. Saha took over from Lin Carter on this series starting with volume 7. Bought for $1.99.
Wagner, Karl Edward and David Drake. Killer. Baen, 1985. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with phantom crease to top front corner, a trace of edgewear and slight foxing to inside covers (but no spine creasing). Novel of hunting an outer space monster in ancient Rome. Replaces a slightly less attractive copy. Bought for $1.49.
Tags:Arthur W. Saha, Books, David Drake, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Harlan Ellison, Horror, Karl Edward Wagner, Michael Kurland, Michael Shea, Parke Godwin, R. A. Lafferty, Science Fiction, Tanith Lee
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 30th, 2025
Two Henry Kuttner PBOs, both bought on my DFW trip.
Kuttner, Henry. Valley of the Flame. Ace, 1964. First edition paperback original (40¢ price and no printing statement on copyright page, as per Currey), a Fine- copy with a trace of wear at points. Currey, page 293. Cawthorn and Moocrcock, Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, page 135. Bought at Recycled Books in Denton for $3.
Kuttner, Henry and C. L. Moore. Earth’s Last Citadel. Ace, 1964. First edition paperback original (40¢ price and no printing statement on copyright page, as per Currey), a Near Fine copy with hairline creasing along front spine join, slight edgewear at head, heel and points and a few other traces of edgewear. Currey, page 292. Bought at a DFW Half Price Books for $3.
Tags:Books, C. L. Moore, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Henry Kuttner, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Friday, December 26th, 2025
Three reference works I picked up on my DFW trip.
(Donaldson, Stephen R.) W. A. Senior. Stephen R. Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Variations on the Fantasy Tradition. Kent State University Press, 1995. First edition hardback (“03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95 5 4 3 2 1” numberline), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket (although, oddly, it seems quite like a heavy grade of red construction paper). Critical companion to the Thomas Covenant books. Added mainly because Kent State has put out a number of interesting SF/F/H related books over the years, some of which (like Bleiler’s Guide to Supernatural Fiction) have gotten quite pricey on the secondary market. Bought for $8 at Recycled Books in Denton.
Moskowitz, Sam. Explorers of the infinite: Shapers of Science Fiction. World Publishing Company, 1963. Hardback reprint (Currey says First Edition stated on copyright page, and I’m not seeing it anywhere), a Near Fine copy with bend at head and heel and a few pinpoint spots to boards, in a Near Fine- Mylar-protected dust jacket with wear at head and heel, slight age darkening to spine, some rubbing, and slight darkening to white portions of rear panel. Mostly essays on individual writers, arranged chronologically, from well-known figures like Lovecraft, Stapledon and Burroughs to more obscure ones like Fitz-James O’Brien and Frank Reade Jr. Moskowitz was tremendously important as one of the field’s first historians and critics, but also tremendously controversial due to many tendentious opinions. Bought at a DFW Half Price Books for $6.99.
Westwood, Emma, editor. Midnight Movie Monographs: Bride of Frankenstein. Electric Dreamhouse/PS Publishing, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Essays on the celebrated second film in the Universal Frankenstein series. The only other volume I have in this series is their Plan 9 From Outer Space book. Bought for $6 from Recycled Books in Denton.
Tags:Books, Electric Dreamhouse, Emma Westwood, Fantasy, Frankenstein, Half Price Books, Horror, Movies, PS Publishing, Recycled Books, reference works, Sam Moskowitz, Science Fiction, science fiction criticism, science fiction history, Stephen R. Donaldson
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Movies, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 24th, 2025
Here are three Charles Stross “Laundry Files” I found at a Half Price Books in the DFW area.
Stross, Charles. A Conventional Boy. Tor, 2025. First edition hardback (ISFDB states that the UK and U.S. editions came out the same day), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. For some reason I’m not finding the Half Price Books receipt for all three of these books, but I believe they were each around $9.99.
Stross, Charles. Dead Lies Dreaming. Tor, 2020. First edition hardback (ISFDB states that the U.S. edition came out two days before the UK edition), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Stross, Charles. The Labyrinth Index. Tor, 2018. First edition hardback (ISFDB states that the UK and U.S. editions came out the same day), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Tags:Books, Charles Stross, Cthulhu, Half Price Books, Horror, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2025
All of these were bought at a Half Price Books in McKinney, Texas.
Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Shadow. Tor, 1999. First edition hardback (trade state; Tor did expensive signed/leatherbound editions for both this and Shadow of the Hegemon), a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by Card. Bought for $8.49.
Card, Orson Scott. Shadows in Flight. Tor, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by Card. Bought for $8.49.
Card, Orson Scott. Shadow of the Hegemon. Tor, 1999. First edition hardback (trade state), a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by Card. Bought for $7.49.
Card, Orson Scott. Stonefather. Subterranean Press, 2008. First separate edition, one of 2,000 signed, hardback copies, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket. Fantasy novella. Bought for $16.99.
I checked out of the Ender books after Xeonocide, but I don’t mind adding signed Fine/Fine firsts at about 1/3rd cover price when I chance across them.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Orson Scott Card, Science Fiction, signatures
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, December 22nd, 2025
This is an odd one. I had an unsigned first of Warren Hammond’s KOP, but then found a signed copy of KOP on my Thanksgiving trip to the DFW metroplex. Then, just before I had a chance to catalog it, I found an inscribed first of KOP Killer on my recently completed Houston trip to visit my mother and do some book-shopping.
Hammond, Warren. KOP. Tor, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Hammond. Postcyberpunk crime drama. Back when I was still invited to Worldcon etc., someone mentioned that this was a good cyberpunk police procedural. Bought from Half Price Books for $4.99.
Hammond, Warren. KOP Killer. Tor, 2012. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of haze rubbing to rear panel, inscribed by Hammond: “To Deane,/Down the/rabbit hole/Warren Hammond.” Postcyberpunk crime drama. Bought from Half Price Books in Pearland for $4.99.
Now I need to track down a signed copy of Ex-KOP…
Tags:Books, cyberpunk, Half Price Books, Science Fiction, signatures, signed, Warren Hammond
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | No Comments »