Posts Tagged ‘Science Fiction’
Thursday, March 20th, 2014
I just got a big box of books from a dealer holding a 70% off sale, which I’ll probably be cataloging for the next week or so. This is the item that made me start piling things in the virtual basket for immediate purchase:
Chacal No. 1. First edition magazine original, a Fine- copy with slight bumping to top of spine. Signed by contributors Tom Reamy, Howard Waldrop, Richard Corben, Tim Kirk, and publisher Arnie Fenner.


Tom Reamy was widely acclaimed as the very best SF writer in Texas, winning a John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer as well as a Nebula Award for “San Diego Lightfoot Sue.” Reamy died of a heart attack on November 4, 1977 at the horrifically young age of 42. Reamy had no books of his own published during his lifetime, and things signed by him are genuinely rare and seldom come on the market.
Chacal was Arnie Fenner’s first magazine, a big color glossy magazine featuring first-rate fantasy fiction and art. (After two issues this would be followed up by Shayol, which had more of a science fiction focus, co-edited with Fenner’s then-wife Pat Cadigan.)
Howard believes that this was almost certainly signed at the 1976 Worldcon in Kansas City, which is the only time he recalled all of them being together at the same place and time after it was published.
Price paid: $29.99.
Tags:Arnie Fenner, Books, Fantasy, Howard Waldrop, Science Fiction, Texas, Tom Reamy
Posted in pics, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »
Thursday, March 20th, 2014
Though I have seen no official word, people on Lucius Shepard’s Facebook page are mourning his death this morning.
Shepard was one of the most important new writers of the 1980s, with most of the stories in The Jaguar Hunter nominated for or winning major awards. His output fell off in the 1990s, then came back in the 21st century. He was certainly one of the finest prose stylists of his generation.
Shepard suffered a stroke while in the hospital in August of 2013.
It looks like the terrible year for deaths in the field that was 2013 is extending into 2014…
Tags:Books, Lucius Shepard, Obituary, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 19th, 2014
It’s not so much that I’ve been on a crazy buying spree of these last few books as that: A.) I bought a few things between January and now I hadn’t had time to catalog yet, B.) I paid for pre-publication books a while back that just now showed up (as with this book), or C.) Actually, I did go on a crazy buying spree last week, and I have to catalog stuff before those books show up.
So…
Ellison, Harlan. Flintlock. Charnel House, 2013 (actually 2014). First edition hardback, #55 of 274 signed and numbered copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Unproduced screenplay for James Cobrun’s Derek Flint character.

I have one additional copy for sale at $145 ($5 off cover price).
Tags:Harlan Ellison, Science Fiction, signed, Thriller
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2014
Someone was selling off a numbered of signed editions of books on eBay; three of those are here, and the fourth (Farmer’s River of Time) was from Lloyd Currey.
Farmer, Philip Jose. River of Eternity. Phantasia Press, 1983. First edition hardback, #81 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread.
Lansdale, Joe R. The Drive-In: The Bus Tour. Subterranean Press, 2005. First edition hardback, #223 of 350 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread. Supplements a signed trade edition.
Leiber, Fritz. Gummitch and Friends. Donald M. Grant, 1992. First edition hardback, #237 of 1000 signed, numbered copies (though not signed by Leiber, who died before the book was finished), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread. Contains both Leiber’s cat stories, as well as memorial appreciations of Leiber by Stephen King, Robert Bloch, etc. bound at the front of the volume. Also, for some reason, an unsigned limitation number plate for the Grant edition of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Black House is also laid in.
Straub, Peter. Mrs. God. Donald M. Grant, 1990. First edition hardback, #179 of 600 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket (as issued) in a Fine slipcase, new and unread.
I didn’t pay more than $40 for any of these…
Tags:Books, Donald M. Grant, Fantasy, First Edition, Fritz Leiber, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Peter Straub, Phantasia Press, Philip Jose Farmer, Science Fiction, Subterranean Press
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Thursday, March 13th, 2014
I haven’t gone to Aggiecon for about a quarter century for reasons too detailed and annoying to get into here. But I have watched from a distance as serial administrative blunders have reduced the con to a shadow of its former self.
With that in mind, I thought you might be interested to know that Aggiecon has announced its guest lineup this year.
Both of them.
That’s right, a convention that used to boast such guests as Jack Williamson, Fred Pohl, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, Greg Bear, Joe R. Lansdale and George R. R. Martin now has a guest list of two: a guy who co-writes a podcast and an anime voice actor. I’ve had better guest lists in my living room. Hell, I’ve had better guest lists in my living room when it was just me and Howard Waldrop.
I think I’ll be missing it again this year…
Updated to add: Someone has alerted me that Aggiecon has announced more guests on their Facebook page. Still no names to conjure with, but at least there are more of them. It also suggests that they’re so organizationally dysfunctional they can’t update their own website less than a month before the con…
Tags:Aggiecon, Conventions, Science Fiction, Texas, Texas A&M
Posted in Science Fiction | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 12th, 2014
My habit of picking up signed Ray Bradbury first editions when I see them cheap continues apace:
Bradbury, Ray. Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far From the Stars. William Morrow, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of spine-join haze rubbing. Signed by Bradbury: “MARK!/Ray/Bradbury”. Collection of essays.
(Bradbury, Ray). Nolan, William F. and Martin H. Greenberg, editors. The Bradbury Chronicles: Stores in Honor of Ray Bradbury. Roc, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of wrinkling at head. Signed by Bradbury. Anthology.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, signed
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, February 17th, 2014
Another important small press work I bought at auction:
Smith, Edward E., PhD. The Skylark of Space. Buffalo Book Company, 1946. First edition hardback, a VG+ copy with slight bumping at head, heel and corners and faint dust staining at heel, in a VG- dust jacket missing a small 1/4″ triangular chip from center of dj spine, plus about 1/4″ of chipping loss at head and heel, and slight overall rubbing, otherwise intact with $3.00 price on flap. The very first of Doc Smith’s famous space operas. Currey (1979), page 457. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 78. One of two books done by the Buffalo Book Company (the other of which, John Taine’s The Time Stream, I picked up in December).

Bought for $237 from Heritage Auctions.
Tags:book auction, Books, E. E. "Doc" Smith, First Edition, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, pics, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 29th, 2014
So the trailer for Terry Gilliam’s forthcoming Zero Theorem is out:
It’s the science fiction dead end job loser virtual reality physics dating sim you’ve been waiting for!
Could be epic, or an epic train wreck…
Tags:Movies, Science Fiction, Terry Gilliam, weird, Zero Theorem
Posted in Movies, Science Fiction, video, weird | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 15th, 2014
With Neal’s passing I thought I would pull out some of the photos I have of him and put them up here. The first couple are from Armadillocon, the rest from his Author Emeritus Award Party on May 30, 2010:






Tags:Books, Neal Barrett Jr., pics, Science Fiction
Posted in Austin, Books, pics, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, January 13th, 2014
Dang. Just heard that Neal Barrett, Jr. has died. One of the great Texas Gonzo writers with an impressive body of work.
He will be missed.
Condolences to his widow Ruth, his family and friends.
Tags:Austin, Books, Neal Barrett Jr., Science Fiction, Texas
Posted in Austin, Books, Science Fiction | No Comments »