Posts Tagged ‘Fantasy’
Monday, June 2nd, 2025
I managed to pick up an Avram Davidson associational PBO at a bargain price.
Davidson, Avram. The Island Under The Earth. Ace, 1969. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with faint creasing along front spine join and slight edgewear (most noticeable at head and heel), otherwise square and bright, inscribed by Davidson to editor Lin Carter: “From one six-limbed to/another -/Lin Carter from/Avram Davidson/Jun 11, 1976/New York City.” In addition to having edited the acclaimed Ballantine Adult Fantasy line, Carter also bought two stories from Davidson: “Caravan to Illiel” for Flashing Swords #3: Warriors and Wizards, and “Milord Sir Smiht, The English Wizard” for Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 2, making this an even better associational copy. Dillon cover. Supplements an unsigned copy. Bought off eBay for $13.95.
Tags:Associational Copy, Avram Davidson, Books, Fantasy, Lin Carter, PBO
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Thursday, May 29th, 2025
Two more purchases from the same Facebook seller I bought several Robert E. Howard items from.
(Moorcock, Michael) Edward Kramer, editor. Michael Moorcock’s Pawn of Chaos. White Wolfe, 1996. Presumed first edition trade paperback original (most White Wolf Moorcock books have a first printing statement and/or numberline; while this one does not, it doesn’t have any later printing statement either, I have been unable to find anyone who has a copy with a printing statement, and it seems unlikely an anthology would have multiple printings), a Fine- copy with a trace of soiling to outer pageblock edge. Original anthology of Eternal Champion stories, featuring work by John Shirley, Don Webb, Bill Crider, Peter Crowther, etc. (even Gary Gygax!). Bought for $10.
Moore, Christopher. Island of the Sequined Love Nun. Avon, 1997. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Moore. Comic novel. Bought for $10.
Tags:Books, Christopher Moore, Fantasy, Michael Moorcock, signatures
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Monday, May 12th, 2025
Three more signed PBOs from that same eBay seller:
Sturgeon, Theodore. More Than Human. Farrar. Straus & Young and Ballantine Books, 1953. First edition paperback original (Currey state B, simultaneous with the hardback issue), a Good+ copy only with significant waviness to book and moisture spotting to edges, a touch of edgewear to covers, and just a trace of space concavity, otherwise square, signed by Sturgeon to the inside front cover. His celebrated fixup novel of a gestalt organism, including the classic “Baby is Three.” Currey (1978), page 472. Currey (2002), page 403. Pringle, SF 100 14. Bought off eBay for $20.61.
Wagner, Karl Edward. Bran Mak Morn: Legion From the Shadows. Zebra Books, 1976. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with a tiny crease to bottom front corner and a trace of wear at points, inscribed by Wagner: “To Ed —/from the King of the Picts/Karl Edward Wagner/CONAN.” Novel featuring Robert E. Howard’s Bran Mak Morn character. Bought off eBay for $37.
Wellman, Manly Wade. The Beyonders. Warner Books, 1977. First edition, second printing paperback original (This is the rare case where Currey (1978) got something wrong: There it states “First Printing: April 1977/10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2” on the copyright page as the true first, but the 2002 Currey CD says “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1” and no “First Printing” statement is the true first), a Near Fine+ copy with slight small crease to bottom outer corner, hairline crease along front spine join, and slight edgewear, otherwise nice and square, inscribed by Wellman: “To Vickie [?]/From whom I’ll sign/anytime./Manly Wade Wellman.” Science fiction novel. Currey (1978), page 512. Currey (2002), page 435. Supplements an unsigned first printing. Bought off eBay for $26.79.
Tags:eBay, Fantasy, Karl Edward Wagner, Manly Wade Wellman, PBO, Robert E. Howard, Science Fiction, signatures, Theodore Sturgeon
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Monday, May 5th, 2025
Another purchase from that estate sale:
Howard, Robert E. The Early Adventures of El Borak. The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2010. First edition hardback, #26 of 150 copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. All the Francis X. Gordon, Lal Singh and Yar Ali Khan stories. Although not signed when I purchased, I’ve now had introduction author David A. Hardy inscribe it to me. Bought for $50.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Robert E. Howard, Robert E. Howard Foundation Press
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Monday, April 28th, 2025
I came across this in a Half Price Books store, and was either unaware it existed or had forgotten about it.
Crowley, John. Great Work of Time. Bantam, 1991. First edition paperback original thus and first separate edition, original publish as one of four novellas in Novelty two years before, a Fine- copy with edgewear. His World Fantasy Award-winning time travel novel, it which an initial time travel effort to keep the British Empire intact eventually results in radical changes up the line. Bought from Half Price Books for $1.79.
I think Bantam may have been the only mainstream SF publisher of the late 1980s and early 1990s who would put out novellas in paperback form, as I know they did a few others.
Note that I still have copies of the signed, limited hardback edition available through Lame Excuse Books.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, John Crowley, Science Fiction, Time Travel, World Fantasy Award
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Monday, April 21st, 2025
This was another purchase from that Facebook estate seller I bought the Howard chapbooks from.
Howard, Robert E. (Rob Roehm, editor). The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard Volume One: 1923 – 1929. Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2007. First edition hardback, #267 of 300 copies, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight bumping at heel, small fold to top of front flap, trace of wear at points, and slight haze rubbing to rear. Most of the letters in this volume seem to be to longtime close friend Tevis Clyde Smith.
With:
Howard, Robert E. (Rob Roehm, editor). The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard Volume Two: 1930-1932. Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2007. First edition hardback, #266 of 300 copies, a Fine- copy with bump to top front point in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bend at head, bump at point, trace of wear at points, and faint non-breaking surface scratches to rear cover. In this volume we finally start to see a number of letters to H.P. Lovecraft (I haven’t looked yet, but I’m guessing most if not all are included in the two volume A Means to Freedom, which I also have).
With:
Howard, Robert E. (Rob Roehm, editor). The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard Volume Three: 1933-1936. Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2007. First edition hardback, #265 of 300 copies, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- dust jacket with two long, faint scratches to the front cover, slight wrinkling at head and a trace of wear at points. Letters to a wide range of recipients: Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, Emil Petja, etc.
All bought for $60 for the set, which I think is a great bargain, as the majority of the REH Press stuff, especially early books like these, are all long out of print and hard to find.
Tags:August Derleth, Books, Clark Ashton Smith, Emil Petaja, Fantasy, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, reference works, Robert E. Howard
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Wednesday, April 16th, 2025
Someone on Facebook was selling off the collection of an Arkham House/Weird Tales collector, and he had some Robert E. Howard chapbooks I pulled the trigger on.
Howard, Robert E. The Complete Yellow Jacket. Paul Herman, 1999. First edition chapbook original, #80 of 100 copies, a Fine copy. Collection of Howard’s work that appeared in The Yellow Jacket, the school paper for Howard Payne University.
Howard, Robert E. Pay Day. Cryptic Publications, 1986. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Eight extremely short stories. Editor Robert M. Price: “These tales represent Howard’s attempt to write ‘realistic’ fiction.”
Howard, Robert E. Two-Fisted Detective. Cryptic Publications, 1984. First edition chapbook original, one of 450 unsigned, unnumbered copies, a Fine- copy with slight bit of wear to the spine. Four stories featuring Detective Steve Harris.
Price, Robert M., editor. Two-Fisted Detective Stories Volume 2. Cryptic Publications, 1988. First edition chapbook original, a Fine copy. Anthology of detective stories, including stories from Manly Wade Wellman (“Murder Music,” which doesn’t appear to be in the five volume Selected Stories), Robert Bloch (“The Knife and the Throat,” which doesn’t appear to have been reprinted in any Bloch collections), Lin Carter and C.J. Henderson.
All the above bought for $80.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Fantasy, Manly Wade Wellman, Mystery, Robert Bloch, Robert E. Howard
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Wednesday, April 9th, 2025
Another Half Price Books find:
McDonald, Ian. Hopeland. Tor, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine-/Fine- copy with slight bumping to top points. Looks a bit New Weird-ish. ISDFB says the Tor edition precedes by a couple of days. Bought from Half Price Books for $13.49.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, New Weird, Science Fiction
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Wednesday, March 26th, 2025
Another Dragonstairs chapbook:
Swanwick, Michael. A Fantasist’s Guide to Venice. Dragonstairs Press, 2025. First edition chapbook original, #30 of 79 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Collection of short essays on various fantastic elements of Venice, in fact and fiction, following the author’s visit there.
Note that this is one of at least four different cover patterns for this title, all done in reds and yellows.
I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which should be out in May.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Dragonstairs Press, Fantasy, Italy, Michael Swanwick, Venice
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Monday, March 24th, 2025
I did a fair amount of wargaming in my youth, but have done piratically none since graduating college. Still, every now and then a boardgaming Kickstarter strikes my fancy, as this one, vaguely based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail and first announced back in 2022, did. I think this is the first game I’ve bought since the designer edition of Ogre.
Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme. Exalted Funeral, 2025. This has numerous components:
The “Public School Edition” of the main game book
Head of Light Entertainment Gamemaster Screen with 18 HoLE cards
A Head of Light Entertainment sash
Two “Black Beast” Nesting Box Dice Sets
Meeple Set
Bag of tokens
Coconut dice roller
Fetchez la Vache! boardgame feature catapults and cows. This was an add-on. It’s too big to fit on the scanner, so here’s an image I stole from the Kickstarter page:
All components are Fine/New, still in shrinkwrap or bag.
Bought for $250 back in 2022, but only shipped this year.
Tags:boardgames, Fantasy, Kickstarter, Monty Python
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