Time for another roundup of what additions I’ve made to my library of science fiction first editions. This is what I’ve picked up in the last six months. All are Fine/Fine hardback first editions unless otherwise noted.
Baker, Kage. The Best of Kage Baker. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Baxter, Stephen. Last and First Contacts. Newcon Press, 2012. One of 150 signed, numbered copies.
Beagle, Peter S. The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche and other odd acquaintances. Tachyon Publications, 1997. First edition hardback, one of 100 signed, numbered copies (and only 126 hardbacks total).
Bear, Elizabeth. ad eternum. Subterranean Press, 2012. First edition hardback, one of 250 signed, numbered copies with the chapbook Underground.
Bear, Greg. Hull Zero Three. Orbit, 2010.
Bishop, Michael. The Door Gunner and Other Perilous Flights of Fancy. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 250 signed, numbered copies.
Black, Pansy E. The Valley of the Great Ray. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning. More information on the Stellar Science Fiction series books here.
Bloch, Robert. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper. Subterranean Press, 2012. First edition thus, collecting all Bloch’s Jack the Ripper-related material.
Bourne, Frank/Long, Amelia Reynolds. The Thought Stealer (Bourne) and The Mechanical Man (Long). Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Brackett, Leigh. Shannach: The Last Farewell to Mars. Haffner Press, 2012.
Bradbury, Ray. Witness and Celebration. Lord John Press, 2000. First edition hardback, Fine, sans dust jacket, as issued. Signed by Bradbury.
Bradley, Jack. The Torch of Ra. Stellar Publishing Corporation, no date (1930). First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Brown, Chris, and Eduardo Jimenez Mayo, editors. Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic. Small Beer Press, 2012. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, inscribed to me by Brown and contributors Bernardo Fernandez and Pepe Rojo. More information here.
Cadigan, Pat. Synners. Bantam Books, 1991. First edition uncorrected proof, mass market paperback trim size, of a paperback first edition, a Fine copy, signed by Cadigan. Bought for $5 from Half Price Books.
Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Crown Publishers, 2011.
Colladay, Morrison. When the Moon Fell. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Clute, John. Canary Fever. Beccon Publications, 2009. First edition hardback, one of only 40 (!) hardback copies signed by Clute, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Non-fiction.
Dick, Phillip K. The Complete Stories of Philip K. Dick Volume 2: Adjustment Team. Subterranean Press, 2011.
Dick, Philip K. Counter Clock World. White Lion, 1977. First hardback edition, an Ex-Library copy, otherwise VG/VG. Complete details here.
Duncan. Andy. The Pottawatomie Giant and Other Stories. PS Publishing, 2012. Fine in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Eberle, Merab/Mitchell, Milton. The Thought Translator (Eberle) and The Creation (Mitchell). Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Farmer, Philip Jose (and Christopher Paul Carey). Gods of Opar: Tales of Lost Khokarsa. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 250 signed, numbered copies.
Farrar, Clyde/Sharp, D.D.The Life Vapor (Farrar) and Thirty Miles Down. Stellar Publishing Corporation, no date (1930). First edition chapbook original, VG-, with punch holes and usual page browning, slight staining to top back corner near spine, and initials to very bottom of cover.
Gaiman, Neil. Rhyme Maidens. Biting Dog Press, 2012. Folio edition of first edition broadsheet. Details here.
Gaiman, Neil. Rhyme Maidens. Biting Dog Press, 2012. First edition broadsheet. Trade edition (though still signed by Gaiman).
Higginson, H. W. The Elixir. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
(Howard, Robert E.) de Camp, L. Sprague and George Scithers, editors. The Conan Swordbook. Mirage Press, 1969. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine -dust jacket, with a few pinpricks of wear.
Hughes, Matthew. The Yellow Cabochon. PS Publishing, 2012. One of only 100 signed copies.
Hughes, Matthew. The Yellow Cabochon. PS Publishing, 2012. Trade edition.
Kennedy, Leigh. Wind Angels. PS Publishing, 2011. First edition hardback in decorated boards, Fine, sans dj, as issued.
Kuttner, Henry. Man Drowning. Harper & Brothers, 1952. Near Fine copy with slight spine creasing at top and bottom in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight edgewear at head and heel, one phantom crease on top front pane, and short, thin indention line on rear cover.
Kuttner, Henry. Thunder in the Void. Haffner Press, 2012.
Lansdale, Joe R. Act of Love. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 200 signed, numbered slipcased copies. First edition hardback thus, with a new novelette, “A Bone Dead Sadness,” and interview with Lansdale not included in any previous edition.
Lansdale, Joe R. Act of Love. Subterranean Press, 2012. Trade edition.
Lansdale, Joe R. and John l. Lansdale. Shadows West. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 500 signed, numbered copies.
Lee, Tanith. Electric Forest. DAW, 1979. Paperback original, a Fine- copy with edgewear.
Lindholm, Megan, and Robin Hobb. The Inheritance & Other Stories. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 1,000 numbered copies signed by “both” authors (actually, Robin Hobb is just Megan Lindholm’s pseudonym).
Lorraine, Lilith. The Brain of the Planet. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG-, with punch holes and usual page browning, and a few stray black marks to cover.
Lovercraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi and Marc A. Michaud). Uncollected Prose and Poetry. Necronomicon Press, 1978. First edition side-stapled chapbook, a Near Fine- copy with uneven darkening along spine and top far edge.
Michelmore, Reg. An Adventure in Venus. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Moon, Elizabeth. Phases. Baen, 1997. Paperback original, a Fine- copy with just a touch of wear.
Powers, Tim. The Bible Repairman and Other Stories. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 500 signed, numbered copies.
Reed, Robert. Eater-of-Bone and other novellas. PS Publishing, 2002. First edition hardback, Fine in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Reynolds, Alastair. Blue Remembered Earth. Gollancz, 2012.
Sarath, Patrice. Gordath Wood. Ace, 2008. Paperback original, a Fine- copy with a tiny bit of wear to points.
Scalzi, John. 24 Frames Into the Future. NESFA Press, 2012. One of 150 signed, numbered, slipcased copies. Non-fiction.
Scalzi, John. 24 Frames Into the Future. NESFA Press, 2012. Trade edition. Non-fiction.
Schroeder, Karl. Lady of Mazes. Tor, 2005.
Shepard, Lucius. The Dragon Griaule. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Silverberg, Robert. The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume Six: Multiples 1983-1987. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Stone, Leslie F. When the Sun Went Out. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Straub, Peter. The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine. Subterranean Press, 2012.
Vance, Jack. The Magnificent Showboats of the Lower Vissel River, Lune XXIII, Big Planet (AKA Showboat World). Underwood Miller, 1983. First hardback edition, one of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. The longer title is Vance’s original title, and appears only on the book cover and title page of this edition (but not the dust jacket), and on volume 19 of the Vance Integral Edition.
Wagner, Karl Edward. Where the Summer Ends: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner Volume One. Centipede Press, 2012. One of 500 hardback copies.
Wagner, Karl Edward. A Walk on the Wild Side: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner Volume Two. Centipede Press, 2012. One of 500 hardback copies.
Wellman, Manly Wade. The Invading Asteroid. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1932. First edition chapbook original, a Near Fine copy with usual page browning.
Wellman, Manly Wade. Napoleon of the West: The Aaron Burr Conspiracy. Washburn, 1970. A Fine- copy with slight crimping at head and heel in a Near Fine- dust jacket with spine fading and a trace of soiling to rear cover.
Willis, Connie. All About Emily. Subterranean Press, 2012. One of 400 signed, numbered copies bound in leather.
Yu, Charles. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. Pantheon, 2010.
Do we need really another go-round explaining all the problems with Prometheus?
Why, yes. Yes we do.
Which is why I’m linking to this Prometheus Captain’s Log, not least for this line: “Weyland Corporation must not give a crap about this mission since they hired Insane Clown Posse to be our science team.”
If the review Howard and I did of Prometheus wasn’t enough to warn you away, here’s a spoiler-filled and NSFW list of all the questions regarding various plot idiocies in the movie, some we covered, some we haven’t. Enjoy!
I picked up an interesting lot in a recent Heritage auction: 12 of the 18 volumes in the Stellar Publishing Corporation Science Fiction Series. SF pioneer Hugo Gernsback formed Stellar Publishing Corporation in 1929, and I’m given to understand that many volumes were available for sale for decades in the back of various science fiction magazines.
Alas, there seems to be a dearth of information about Stellar Publishing itself out on the Internet. Fortunately, I have the very first science fiction bibliography ever published, Science Fiction Bibliography, VOL 1, NO 1 (and only), published by the “Science Fiction Syndicate” right here in Austin, Texas in 1935. Let’s see what it has to say about the series:
The titles and authors of these eighteen booklets are too well known to enumerate.
Well, thanks a lot, long-dead dumbasses!
All of these (except the Manly Wade Wellman volume) can only be considered VG (at best) because the previous owner punched a set of small binding holes near the spine, presumably to store them all in one binder. Still, I only paid $38 for the entire set.
All of these have browned pages due to the paper used, but the scanner slightly exaggerates the shading variation. List numbers are the number each volume comes in the series.
Michelmore, Reg. An Adventure in Venus. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Stone, Leslie F. When the Sun Went Out. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Lorraine, Lilith. The Brain of the Planet. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG-, with punch holes and usual page browning, and a few stray black marks to cover.
Colladay, Morrison. When the Moon Fell. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1929. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Bourne, Frank/Long, Amelia Reynolds. The Thought Stealer (Bourne) and The Mechanical Man (Long). Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Bradley, Jack. The Torch of Ra. Stellar Publishing Corporation, no date (1930). First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Eberle, Merab/Mitchell, Milton. The Thought Translator (Eberle) and The Creation (Mitchell). Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Higginson, H. W. The Elixir. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Black, Pansy E. The Valley of the Great Ray. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1930. First edition chapbook original, VG, with punch holes and usual page browning.
Farrar, Clyde/Sharp, D.D. The Life Vapor (Farrar) and Thirty Miles Down. Stellar Publishing Corporation, no date (1930). First edition chapbook original, VG-, with punch holes and usual page browning, slight staining to top back corner near spine, and initials to very bottom of cover.
Wellman, Manly Wade. The Invading Asteroid. Stellar Publishing Corporation, 1932. First edition chapbook original, a Near Fine copy with usual page browning (and unlike the above, no side hole punching).
Generally, the Wellman is (along with Clark Ashton Smith’s The Immortals of Mercury and Jack Williamson and Dr. Miles J. Breuer’s The Girl From Mars, neither of which I’ve picked up yet) considered among the more desirable titles in the series. But the Lorraine and Bourne/Long titles are also getting somewhat hard to find as well.
I’m in the process of acquiring a complete collection of Philip K. Dick’s first editions in hardback, including those books first published as paperback originals. Some of these are fairly hard to find, among them the UK White Lion edition of Counter Clock World. It came out in 1977, preceding the Gregg Press hardback by two years. I finally found an acceptable Ex-Library copy I could afford, thanks to a private seller who contacted me about after seeing it on my books wanted list.
Dick, Philip K. Counter Clock World. White Lion, 1977. First hardback edition, an Ex-Library copy with remnants of pocket removal on inside front cover, FFE excised, and small stamps on title and copyright pages, otherwise VG, with signatures slightly shaken, 1/4″ cloth wear-through on rear board edge at heel and general wear, in a VG dust jacket with extremely shallow chipping at head and heel, wrinkling to bottom edge of front flap, and haze rubbing to black back panel, but otherwise intact and not price-clipped. Currey, p. 156. Not in Levack, which is the only omission I’ve found in PKD.
Non Ex-Library copies tend to list around two grand.
That leaves three UK Dick hardback firsts I still need:
Philip K. Dick’s A Handful of Darkness (Rich & Cowan, 1st state in blue boards stamped in silver, in first state dj (no mention of World of Chance))
Philip K. Dick’s The World Jones Made (Sidgwick & Jackson)
Bradbury was one of the few unquestioned giants of the field. Personally, if I hadn’t read The Illustrated Man at an early age, I may never have become a science fiction writer. I corresponded with him a tiny bit, and once I got a phone call from him (in response to a letter) talking about meeting in person at the Anaheim Worldcon in 2006. Alas, my flight flew out before his one appearance at the convention, so I never got a chance to meet him face-to-face.
I’ve gone from being deeply annoyed at 3D to being ambivalent about it. The 3D in Alice in Wonderland was actively annoying, and that in Thor disappointing. However, the 3D was just fine in Hugo and The Avengers, which suggests that the secret to having a successful 3D film is: A.) Film it in 3D from the start, and B.) Use it for films that don’t suck.
Ridley Scott’s Prometheus is coming out next week, and Scott isn’t ambivalent about 3D at all. He loves it:
Also: Interesting tidbits about the movie, and why it’s always better to film live rather than using CGI.
