Here’s another Heritage Auctions lot I placed lowball bid on and won. There were three books, one of which will be in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog. Both of these were on my Books Wanted List.
Kuttner, Henry, with C. L. Moore (as Lewis Padgett). Gnome Press, 1951. First edition hardback, a near Fine copy with previous owner’s name on FFE and slight bend at head, in a Near Fine-, price-clipped dust jacket with slight wear and shallow loss at heel, slight wear at head, and slight rubbing along folds. Currey, page 293. Chalker/Owings, page 198 (“One of the scarcest Gnomes”). Kemp, The Anthem Series, pages 200-201 (though he calls for gray boards lettered in “dark blue,” and the lettering here is clearly black; this calls for dark gray lettered in black, but honestly it looks more like a dark beige to me, so I’ve added a scan below). Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy page 171 (under Padgett).
This scans lighter than it actually is, so I’ve adjusted the brightness down a smidge to closely match the color I’m seeing with my eye.
Leiber, Fritz. Two Sought Adventure. Gnome Press, 1957. First edition, first state binding (black boards, labeled in red, as per Currey A), a Fine copy (albeit with the age-darkening of the pages characteristic of Gnome Press books of this era) in a Fine dust jacket. The first Fafhrd and Gray Mouser book, and one that completes my hardback first Fafhrd and Gray Mouser collection (along with the six volume Gregg Press set and the Rupert Hart-Davis The Swords of Lankhmar). Currey, page 309. Chalker/Owings, 203. Kemp, The Anthem Series, pages 256-258 (“highly recommended”). Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy page 238.
I paid less than $50 each for these with buyer’s premium.
Found at various Half Price Books locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the Book Celler in Temple, and Recycled Books in Denton.
Anonymous. In the Future. Arno Press, 1974. First edition hardback thus, a reprint of a book originally published in 1867, a Fine- copy with slight bumps at points, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $7.99.
Not to be confused with the David Byrne piece of the same name:
Clarke, Arthur C. A Fall of Moondust. Harcourt, Brace and World, 1961. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with the usual flaws, including stamps, pocket removal, tape to boards, etc, but with a much better than usual dust jacket, with a couple of short closed tears on flap edges, a small sticker ghost on spine, and slight protector discoloration to edges; call it a G/NF Ex-Lib copy. Currey, page 114. Replaces a less attractive Ex-Library copy. Bought for $20.
Erickson, Steve, Our Ecstatic Days. Simon & Schuster, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket. Bought at Recycled Books in Denton for $6.80.
Kuttner, Henry. The Best of Henry Kuttner. Nelson Doubleday (SFBC), 1975. First edition hardback (code “01 R” on page 335, as per Currey), a Fine- copy with trace of bumping at points in a Fine- dust jacket with slight edgewear and small fold to tip of bottom front flap. Introduction by ray Bradbury. Currey, page 291. Bought for $6 at the Book Cellar in Temple.
Martin, George R. R., editor. Wild Cards VI: Ace in the Hole. Bantam Books/SFBC, 1989. First hardback edition, the SFBC book club edition, preceded by the PBO, a Fine- copy with bumping at head, heel and top points, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight bumping at head, heel and top points, a couple of phantom creases across rear cover, and slight edgewear. Bought for $6 at the Book Cellar in Temple.
Matheson. Richard. Duel: Terror Stories By Richard Matheson. Tor, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine- with slight bend at heel copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a slight wrinkle at rear bottom. Supplements a trade paperback edition. Bought for $12.99.
Vance, Jack. The Space Pirate. Toby Press, 1953. First edition trade paperback original (no statement of printing, as per Currey), a Fine- copy with a bare trace of dust oiling age darkening to rear cover, plus the usual age darkening to pages; all but perfect, and far and away the nicest copy I’ve seen. Vance’s second novel. Hewett, A2. Cunningham, B.75.a. Currey, page 500. Supplements a signed but less attractive copy. Bought for $12 from Recycled Books in Denton.
Some ten years ago I put up a books wanted list, and since then I’ve obtained a lot of things on it. Now here’s a greatly expanded list.
The vast majority of these are first edition first printings, mostly hardbacks, but I do have more PBOs listed this time around (especially for Michael Moorcock and Jack Vance). Hardback is the default, but other formats are listed where otherwise, as are a occasional first edition points for clarity or to jog my memory.
I don’t buy later printings, copies without dust jackets (when issued with same), copies with price-clipped dust jackets (unless all copies of the true first edition were released that way), copies with facsimile dust jackets, or overly crummy copies. Most of the books I buy are in Fine/Fine condition, but that relaxes a bit the older (and pricier) books become. I have picked up Ex-Library copies in dust jacket when the better copies of the true first can’t be found under a grand. I also only buy first state bindings and dust jackets, unless there’s no priority, or the true first state is insanely rare (such as with Stanley G. Weinbaum’s Dawn of Flame). I prefer signed copies to unsigned copies for most things, especially for dead writers (an ever-growing list). Trade editions of recent books from mainstream publishers are mainly here to jog my own memory when visiting bookstores.
I have a few books here under the writer’s pseudonym, so I can enter them under that name in various search fields.
Some of these are aspirational, as I doubt I’m going to find a first printing of The Hobbit I can afford, but you never know.
If you have nice copies of the below you’re willing to part with at an attractive price, feel free to drop me a line at lawrenceperson at gmail dot com.
Anonymous (actually Dorothy Scarborough)’s The Wind (Harper & Brothers, 1925)
Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Arthur Baker, 1979)
Richard Adams’ Watership Down (Rex Collins, 1972)
Robert Aickman’s Sub Rosa (Gollancz, 1968)
Brian Aldiss’ At the Caligula Hotel (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1995) (trade paperback)
Brian Aldiss’ Greybeard (Harcourt Brace & World, 1964)
Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia Spring (Cape, 1982)
Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia Summer (Cape, 1983)
Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia Winter (Atheneum, 1985)
Brian Aldiss’ Hothouse (Faber & Faber, 1962)
Brian Aldiss’ A Plutonian Monologue (Frogmore Press, 2002) (chapbook)
Brian Aldiss’ At a Bigger House (Avernus, 2002) (chapbook)
Brian Aldiss’ The Dark Sun Rises (Avernus, 2002) (chapbook)
Poul Anderson’s The Broken Sword (Abelard-Schulman, 1954)
Poul Anderson’s The High Crusade (Doubleday, 1960)
Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity (Doubleday, 1955)
Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot (Gnome Press, 1950)
Isaac Asimov’s Liar! (Cambridge University Press, 1977) (chapbook)
Steve Aylett’s Shamanspace (Codex, 2001) (TPO)
Steve Aylett’s Dummyland (Gollancz, 2002) (TPO)
Paul Bailey’s Deliver Me From Eva (Murray & Gee, 1946)
J. G. Ballard’s Crash (Cape, 1973)
J. G. Ballard’s The Day of Forever (Gollancz, 1986)
J. G. Ballard’s The Drowned World (Gollancz, 1962)
J. G. Ballard’s Kingdom Come (Fourth Estate, 2006)
J. G. Ballard’s Low Flying Aircraft (Cape, 1976)
J. G. Ballard’s Rushing to Paradise (Flamingo, 1994)
Bill Barclay’s Somewhere in the Night (Compact PBO, 1966)
Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart (Earthling Publications, 2007)
Clive Barker’s The Scarlet Gospels (St. Martin’s, 2015)
Peter S. Beagle’s Lila the Werewolf (Capra Press, 1974) (1/75 signed hardbacks)
Michael Bishop’s Windows & Mirrors (The Moravian Press, 1977) (poetry chapbook)
Jerome Bixby’s The Devil’s Scrapbooks (Brandon House, 1964) (PBO)
(Blackwood, Algernon) Mike Ashley’s Algernon Blackwood: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood, 1987)
William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (Harper & Row, 1971)
James P. Blaylock’s Doughnuts (ASAP, 1994) (1/26 triptych copies)
James P. Blaylock’s Home Before Dark (Subterranean, 2000) (1/26 signed, lettered hardback copies)
James Blish’s The Day After Judgment (Doubleday, 1971, code L47 on p. 166)
Robert Bloch’s Atoms and Evil (Robert Hale, 1976)
Robert Bloch’s Blood Runs Colds (Simon and Schuster, 1961)
Robert Bloch’s Chamber of Horrors (Award Books, 1966) (PBO)
Robert Bloch’s Cold Chills (Doubleday, 1977)
Robert Bloch’s The Dead Beat (Simon and Schuster, 1960)
Robert Bloch’s Fear Today, Gone Tomorrow (Award, 1971) (PBO)
Robert Bloch’s The Laughter of a Ghoul/Whatever A Young Ghoul Should Know (Necrominocon Press, 1977) (chapbook)
Robert Bloch’s Once Around the Bloch (Tor, 1993)
Robert Bloch’s The Opener of the Way (Arkham House, 1945)
Robert Bloch’s Pleasant Dreams – Nightmares (Arkham House, 1960)
Robert Bloch’s The Scarf (Dial Press, 1947)
Robert Bloch’s Sea-Kissed (Utopian Publications, 1945)(PBO)
Robert Bloch’s The Skull of the Marquis de Sade and other stories (Robert Hale, 1975)
Robert Bloch and Ray Bradbury’s Bloch and Bradbury (Tower, 1969) (PBO)
Pierre Boulle’s Monkey Planet (Secker & Warburg, 1964)
Edward P. Bradbury’s Barbarians of Mars (Compact, 1965) (PBO)
Edward P. Bradbury’s Blades of Mars (Compact, 1965) (PBO)
Ray Bradbury’s About Norman Corwin (Santa Susana Press, 1979)(boxed art portfolio)
Ray Bradbury’s The Anthem Sprinters (Dial Press, 1963, hardback)
Ray Bradbury’s The April Witch (Creative Education, 1987) (hardback chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Beyond 1984: Remembrances of Things Future (Targ, 1979)
Ray Bradbury’s Christmas Greetings broadsides (all years except 1982, 1986, 1989, 1994, and 2008)
Ray Bradbury’s Christus Apollo: Cantata Celebrating the Eighth Day of Creation and the Promise of the Ninth (The Gold Stein Press, 1998) (1/50 signed hardback copies in traycase)
Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (Doubleday, 1957)
Ray Bradbury’s Dawn to Dusk (Gauntlet, 2011) (signed numbered or signed lettered edition)
Ray Bradbury’s The Day It Rained Forever. (Rupert Hart Davis, 1959) (Currey state A (navy blue binding))
Ray Bradbury’s The Day It Rained Forever: A Comedy in One Act (Samuel French, 1966) (play chapbook, 75¢ price)
Ray Bradbury’s A Device Out of Time (Dramatic Publishing, 1986)
Ray Bradbury’s The Engines Drive the Summer With Their Purr (Green Cat Press, 2001) (broadsheet)
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (Ballantine Books, 1953) (any Currey hardback state (B-E))
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaption (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009) (graphic novel)
Ray Bradbury’s Falling Upward (Dramatic Publishing Company, 1989) (play chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Farewell Summer (Morrow, 2006)
Ray Bradbury’s Farewell Summer (Subterranean, 2011) (lettered edition with extra book)
Ray Bradbury’s The Fog Horn (Creative Education, 1987) (hardback chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Fragments (Gauntlet, 2005)
Ray Bradbury’s Frost and Fire (DC Comics, 1985) (graphic novel)
Ray Bradbury’s From the Dust Returned (Morrow, 2001)
Ray Bradbury’s A Gathering of Authors & Their Admonitions (Castle Press, 1981) (broadsheet)
Ray Bradbury’s The God in Science Fiction (Santa Susana Press, 1978)(chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The Golden Apples of the Sun (Doubleday, 1953)
Ray Bradbury’s Halloween (Shuttlebop Press, 1983)
Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree (Gauntlet Press, 2005) (1/52 lettered copies with metal case and popup tree)
Ray Bradbury’s Imagine (Lord John, 1981) (broadside, 1/100 signed)
Ray Bradbury’s I Live By The Invisible (Salmon Poetry, 2002) (TPO)
Ray Bradbury’s I Sing the Body Electric (Knopf, 1969)
Ray Bradbury’s Kaleidoscope (Dramatic Publishing, 1975)(play chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The Last Good Kiss (Santa Susana Press, 1984) (art portfolio thing)
Ray Bradbury’s Long After Ecclesiastes (Gold Stein Press, 1985; miniature book)
Ray Bradbury’s The Love Affair (Lord John Press, 1982) (1/300 signed hardbacks)
Ray Bradbury’s Long After Midnight (Knopf, 1976)
Ray Bradbury’s The Machineries of Joy Simon and Schuster, 1964)
Ray Bradbury’s Madrigals for the Space Age (Associated Music Publishers, 1972) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Man Dead? Then God Slain (Santa Susana Press, 1977) (1 of 26 numbered hardback copies in slipcase)
Ray Bradbury’s Match to Flame (Gauntlet, 2006) (Wooden slipcase lettered edition)
Ray Bradbury’s A Medicine for Melancholy (Doubleday, 1959)
Ray Bradbury’s My Cat Has Swallowed a Bumblebee (Green Cat Press, 2003) (broadsheet)
Ray Bradbury’s 1984 Will Not Arrive: A Prediction for the Greening of Scripps (Grant Dahlstrom at The Castle Press, 1975) (chapbook text lecture)
Ray Bradbury’s No Man Is An Island (Brandeis University, 1952) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The October Country (Ballantine Books, 1955; first state with inverted logo on spine)
Ray Bradbury’s One More For The Road (Morrow, 2002)
Ray Bradbury’s One the Years Were Numerous and the Funerals Few (broadsheet, 2004)
Ray Bradbury’s The Pedestrian (Roy Squires, 1964) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The Pedestrian: A Fantasy in One Act (Samuel French, 1966) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Pillar of Fire and Other Plays (Bantam Books, 1975) (PBO)
Ray Bradbury’s The Poet Considers His Resources (Lord John Press, 1979) (broadside)
Ray Bradbury’s R is for Rocket (Doubleday, 1962)
Ray Bradbury’s Ray Bradbury Chronicles (Volumes 1, 3 and 5) (Byron Preiss/NBM) (signed hardback graphic novels)
Ray Bradbury’s Samurai/Kabuki (Hill House, 2006 hardback)
Ray Bradbury’s S is for Space (Doubleday, 1966)
Ray Bradbury’s Skeletons (Subterranean, 2008) (lettered edition)
Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (Simon and Schuster, 1962)
Ray Bradbury’s The Stars (Gold Stein Press, 1/95, 1993, miniature book)
Ray Bradbury’s Sun and Shadow (Quenian Press, 1957) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Switch on The Night (Pantheon, 1955)(first state, no mention of Random House on copyright page)
Ray Bradbury’s That Ghost, That Bride of Time (Roy A. Squires, 1976)
Ray Bradbury’s That Son of Richard III: A Birth Announcement (Roy A. Squires, 1974)
Ray Bradbury’s Tomorrow Midnight (Ballantine Books, 1966) (PBO, ¢50)
Ray Bradbury’s To The Chicago Abyss (Dramatic Publishing Company, 1988) (play chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s The Tonybee Convector (Knopf, 1988) (1/350 signed/numbered)
Ray Bradbury’s Twice 22 (Doubleday, 1966) (book club, code 47G on page 405)
Ray Bradbury’s The Trivial Pursuits Transporter (Hill House, 2006)
Ray Bradbury’s The Vintage Bradbury (Vintage Books, 1965)
Ray Bradbury’s Where Everything Ends (Subterranean Press, 2009) (1/26 lettered copies)
Ray Bradbury’s The Wish (Hill House, 2006)
Ray Bradbury’s The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone (?, 1985) (chapbook)
Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing (Capra Press/ Joshua Odell Editions, 1973 (1/250 signed, numbered copies)
Ray Bradbury editor’s The Circus of Dr. Lao and Other Stories (Bantam Books, 1956) (PBO)
Ray Bradbury editor’s Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorrow (Bantam Books, 1953) (PBO, 35¢)
Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch’s Bloch and Bradbury (PBO, Tower, 1969, Tower 43-246, 60¢)
(Ray Bradbury) Steven Ageliss’ Conversations With Ray Bradbury (University Press of Mississippi, 2004, paperback)
(Ray Bradbury) Jonathan R. Eller & William F. Touponce’s Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction (Kent State University Press, 2004)
(Ray Bradbury) Joseph Mugnaini: Drawings & Graphics (Scarecrow Press, 1982)
(Ray Bradbury) Joseph Mugnaini: Ten Views of the Moon (Lynton Kistler, 1981) (art portfolio with 10 signed prints)
(Ray Bradbury) Sam Weller’s Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews (Stopsmiling Books/Melville House, 2010) (TPO)
(Ray Bradbury) William F. Nolan’s Ray Bradbury Review (Graham Press, 1988)
Ernest Bramah’s Kai Lung: Six (Non-Profit Press, 1974)
William S. Burroughs’ Cities of the Red Night (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1981)
William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch (Grove Press, 1959 (i.e., 1962))
William S. Burroughs’ The Soft Machine (Grove Press, 1966)
John W. Campbell’s Invaders from the infinite (Fantasy Press, 1961) (one of 300 (actually 112) signed, numbered copies)
John W. Campbell’s Islands of Space (Fantasy Press, 1956) (1/50-odd signed copies)
John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? (Shasta Publishers, 1952)
John Dickson Carr’s The Devil in Velvet (Harper & Brothers, 1951)
Angela Carter’s Heroes and Villains (Heinemann, 1969)
Edd Cartier’s The Known and the Unknown (De La Ree, 1977)
Michael Chabon’s Werewolves in Their Youth (Random House, 1999) (Number line ends with 2)
G. K. Chesterton’s Napoleon of Notting Hill (John Lane, 1904)
Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood Ends (Portentious Press HB, 1996)
Arthur C. Clarke’s Expedition to Earth (Ballantine Books, 1953)
Arthur C. Clarke’s The Sands of Mars (Sidgwick & jackson, 1951)
Arthur C. Clarke’s Tales From the White Heart (Ballantine Books, 1957)
Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (NAL, 1968)
James Clavell’s King Rat (Little Brown, 1962)
Hal Clement’s Cycle of Fire (Ballantine, 1957)
Colvin, James. The Deep Fix (Compact, 1966) (PBO)
Avram Davidson’s And Don’t Forget The One Red Rose (Dryad Press, 1986) (1/15 hardbacks)
L. Sprague De Camp’s Lest Darkness Fall (Henry Holt, 1941)
L. Sprague De Camp’s The Tritonian Ring (Twayne, 1953)
L. Sprague De Camp and Fletcher Pratt’s The Castle of Iron (Fantasy Press, 1950)
L. Sprague De Camp and Fletcher Pratt’s The Incomplete Enchanter (Henry Holt & Co., 1941)
Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren (Gregg Press, 1977)
Samuel R. Delany’s The Einstein Intersection (Ace, 1967) (PBO)
Samuel R. Delany’s The Fall of the Towers (Gregg Press, 1977)
Samuel R. Delany’s Out of the Dead City (Sphere, 1968) (PBO)
(Samuel R. Delany) George Edgar Slusser’s The Delany Intersection (Borgo Press, 1977) (chapbook)
(Samuel R. Delany) James Sallis, editor. Ash of Stars: On the Writings of Writing of Samuel R. Delany (University of Mississippi Press, 1996)
August Derleth’s The Trail of Cthulhu (Arkham House, 1962)
Philip K. Dick’s Dr. Bloodmoney (Gregg Press, 1977)
Philip K. Dick’s Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s (Library of America, 2008) (in dust jacket with green band)
Philip K. Dick’s Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s (Library of America, 2008) (without dust jacket, in slipcase)
Philip K. Dick’s VALIS and Later Novels (Library of America, 2009) (in dust jacket with pink band)
Philip K. Dick’s VALIS and Later Novels (Library of America, 2009 (without dust jacket, in slipcase)
Philip K. Dick’s Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (Doubleday, 1974) (no remainder spray)
Philip K. Dick’s The World Jones Made (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1968)
Gordon R. Dickson’s The Dragon and the George (Nelson Doubleday/SFBC, 1976) (book club hardback) (code G24 on page 243)
Thomas M. Disch’s Haikus of an Ampart (Coffee House Press, 1991) (chapbook)
Thomas M. Disch’s Orders of the Retina (Toothpaste Press, 1982) (1/100 signed, numbered hardbacks)
Thomas M. Disch’s Ringtime (Toothpaste Press, 1982, 1/100 signed, numbered hardbacks)
Thomas M. Disch’s Under Compulsion (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1968)
Thomas M. Disch, Marilyn Hacker and Charles Platt’s Highway Sandwiches (chapbook, 1970)
Gardner Dozois’s Sunk beneath the Waves (Dragonstairs Press, 2013) (chapbook)
Gardner Dozois’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction Volumes 15, 23, 24, 27, 28 (St. Martin’s hardbacks)
Robert Eighteen-Bisang’s A Vampire Bibliography: Volume One, Literature (Transylvania Press, 1996)
E. R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros (Cape, 1922)
Harlan Ellison’s All the Sounds of Fear (Panther, 1973) (PBO)
Harlan Ellison’s Broken Glass (Avenue Victor Hugo, 1981) (broadside)
Harlan Ellison’s The Deadly Streets (Ace, 1958) (PBO)
Harlan Ellison’s Ellison Under Glass (Charnel House, 2019) (1/100 signed/numbered)
Harlan Ellison’s Gentlemen Junkie (Regency, 1961) (PBO, 50¢ on the cover)
Harlan Ellison’s The Glass Teat & The Other Glass Teat (Charnel House, 2014)
Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream (Pyramid, 1967) (PBO, 60¢ on cover)
Harlan Ellison’s Jokes Without Punchlines (White Wolf, 1995) (chapbook)
Harlan Ellison’s The Juvies (Ace, 1961) (PBO, 35¢ on the cover)
Harlan Ellison’s The Man With Nine Lives b/w A Touch of Infinity (Ace, 1960) (PBO, 35¢ on the cover)
Harlan Ellison’s One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty (Lance Brown, 1993) (broadside, 1/100 copies)
Harlan Ellison’s Over the Edge (Belmont, 1970) (PBO, May 1970 on copyright page, 75¢ on cover)
Harlan Ellison’s Night of Black Glass (1981) (broadside)
Harlan Ellison’s Rockabilly (Fawcett, 1961) (PBO, First Printed October 1961 on copyright page, 35¢ on the cover)
Harlan Ellison’s Spider Kiss (Pyramid, 1975) (PBO, Pyramid Edition published July 1975 on copyright page, $1.25 on cover)
Harlan Ellison’s The Time of the Eye (Panther, 1974) (PBO, first published in Great Britain in 1974 on copyright page, 35p on cover)
Harlan Ellison’s Web of the City (Pyramid, 1975) (PBO, New Pyramid edition: December 1975 on copyright page, price of $1.50 on cover)
Harlan Ellison (& Steranko)’s “Repent, Harlequin,” Said The Ticktock Man (art Portfolio w/6 prints) (Baronet, 1978)
Harlan Ellison’s Vic and Blood (Edgeworks Abbey, 2003)
(Harlan Ellison) Ellen Weil and Gary K. Wolfe’s Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever (Ohio State University Press, 2002)
Philip Jose Farmer’s A Barnstormer in Oz (Phantasia Press S/L, 1982)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Blown or Sketches Among the Ruins of My Mind (Essex House, 1968, PBO)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Flesh (Doubleday, 1968)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Greatheart Silver and Other Pulp Heroes (Meteor House, 2019)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Image of the Beast (Essex House, 1966, PBO)
Philip Jose Farmer’s The Unreasoning Mask (Putnam, 1981) (signed/limited edition)
Philip Jose Farmer’s Strange Relations (Gollancz, 1964)
Gans T. Field’s Romance in Black (Utopian Publications, 1946) (chapbook)
Virgil Finlay’s The Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1975)
Virgil Finlay’s The Third Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1979)
Virgil Finlay’s The Fourth Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1979)
Virgil Finlay’s The Fifth Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1979)
Virgil Finlay’s The Sixth Book of Virgil Finlay (De La Ree, 1980)
Jack Finney’s Time and Again (Simon & Schuster, 1970) (1st stated, no book club mention on dj or embossed book club square on rear)
John Fowls’ The Magus (Cape, 1966)
Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon (Lippincott, 1959)
Jane Gaskell’s The Shiny Narrow Grin (Hodder & Stoughton, 1964)
Neil Gaiman’s The Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff (Borderlands, 2011)
William Golding’s The Inheritors (Faber & Faber, 1955)
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (Faber & Faber, 1954)
William Golding’s Pincher Martin (Faber & Faber, 1956)
Herbert Gorman’s The Place Called Dagon (Doran, 1927)
Charles L. Harness’s Flight Into Yesterday (Bouregy & Curl, 1953)
Roger Harris’ The LSD Dossier (Compact, 1966) (PBO)
Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room! (Doubleday, 1966)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Between Planets (Scribner’s, 1951) (First Printing A & seal, unclipped $2.50 dj)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Beyond This Horizon (Fantasy Press, 1948)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (Putnam, 1985) (1/350 signed, numbered copies)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy (Scribner’s, 1957) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Door Into Summer (Doubleday, 1957)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold (Putnam, 1964)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Farmer in the Sky (Scribner’s, 1950)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Friday (Holt Reinhardt & Winston, 1982) (1/500 signed, numbered copies)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Glory Road (Putnam, 1963)(no statement of printing)
Robert A. Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil (Putnam, 1970)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice (Del Rey, 1984, 1/750 signed, numbered copies)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Menace From Earth (Gnome, 1959)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Methuselah’s Children (Gnome, 1st state binding (black boards), 1st state dj (“New York 3”)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky (Gollancz, 1963)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Red Planet (Scribner’s, 1949) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Rocket Ship Galileo (Scribner’s, 1947) (First Printing A & seal, unclipped $2.00 dj)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Rolling Stones (Scribner’s, 1952) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Space Cadet (Scribner’s, 1948) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Starman Jones (Scribner’s, 1953) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love (Putnam, 1973)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Time for the Stars (Scribner’s, 1956) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky (Scribner’s, 1955) (First Printing A & seal)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Universe (Dell, 1951) (PBO)
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (Gnome, 1959)
Robert A. Heinlein’s Waldo & Magic Inc. (Doubleday, 1950)
Peter Held’s Take My Face (Mystery House, 1957)
Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983)
Joe Hill’s Basket Full of Heads (Hill House Comics/DC, 2020) (Hardback graphic novel)
Joe Hill’s Dying Is Easy (IDW, 2020) (Hardback graphic novel)
Joe Hill’s Plunge (Hill House Comics/DC, 2020) (Hardback graphic novel)
Joe Hill’s You Are Released (Lividian Publications, 2022) (chapbook)
Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker (Cape, 1980)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Boats of the ‘Glen Garrig’ (Chapman and Hall, 1907) (no statement of printing)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Calling of the Sea (Selwyn & Blount, 1920)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Ghost Pirates (Stanley Paul, 1909) (red cloth binding)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Haunted Pampero (Donald M. Grant, 1991, 1/500 signed copies)
William Hope Hodgson’s The House on the Borderland (Chapman and Hall, 1908)
William Hope Hodgson’s Men of Deep Waters (Eveleigh Nash, 1914)
William Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land (Eveleigh Nash, 1911)
William Hope Hodgson’s Terror of the Seas (Donald M. Grant, 1996, with signed illustration sheet laid in)
William Hope Hodgson’s Voice of the Ocean (Selwyn & Blount, 1921)
(William Hope Hodgson) Ian Bell, editor William Hope Hodgson: Voyages And Visions (Bell, 1987 chapbook)
Nancy Holder’s Dead in the Water (Dell Abyss, 1994) (PBO)
Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood (Gollancz, 1984)
Gordon Honeycombe’s Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (Hutchison, 1969)
Geoffrey Household’s Dance of the Dwarfs (Michael Joseph, 1968)
Robert E. Howard’s Always Comes Evening (Arkham House, 1957)
Robert E. Howard’s “…and their memory was a bitter tree” (Black Bart, 2008) (1/500 signed slipcased)
Robert E. Howard’s Black Vulmea’s Vengence (Donald M. Grant, 1976)
Robert E. Howard’s Blades for France (George T. Hamilton, 1975) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s Bloodstar (Morning Star Press, 1976) (Graphic novel, one of 1,500 signed by artist Corban)
Robert E. Howard’s Echoes From an Iron Harp (Donald M. Grant, 1972)
Robert E. Howard’s Etchings in Ivory (Glenn Lord, 1968) (chapbook)(see Currey for points)
Robert E. Howard’s The Grey God Passes (Charles Miller, 1975) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s The Grim Land and Others (Stygian Isle Press, 1976, 1/1450)
Robert E. Howard’s A Gent From Bear Creek (Herbert Jenkins, 1937)
Robert E. Howard’s The Ghost Ocean (Gibbelins Gazatte Pubns, 1982, hardback)
Robert E. Howard’s The Grim Land and Others (Stygian isle Press, 1976) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s The Illustrated Gods of the North (Necronomicon Press, 1977) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s The Incredible Adventures of Dennis Dorgan (Fax Collector’s Edition, 1977)
Robert E. Howard’s The Iron Man and other tales (Donald M. Grant, 1976)
Robert E. Howard’s Isle of Pirate’s Doom (George T. Hamilton, 1975)
Robert E. Howard’s The King’s Service (George T. Hamilton, 1975)
Robert E. Howard’s Kull (Donald M. Grant, 1985)
Robert E. Howard’s The Hyborian Age (Los Angeles-New York Cooperative Publications, 1938)
Robert E. Howard’s The Lost Valley of Iskander (FAX Collector’s Edition, 1974)
Robert E. Howard’s The Last Cat Book (Dodd Mead, 1984)
Robert E. Howard’s The Pride of Bear Creek (Grant, 1966)
Robert E. Howard’s Red Blades of Black Cathay (Grant, 1971)
Robert E. Howard’s Red Shadows (Grant, 1968)
Robert E. Howard’s Shadows of Dreams (Donald M. Grant, 1989)
Robert E. Howard’s The Shadow of the Beast (George T. Hamilton, 1977)
Robert E. Howard’s Shadow of the Hun (George T.Hamilton, 1977)
Robert E. Howard’s Singers in the Shadows (Donald M. Grant, 1970)
Robert E. Howard’s Son of the White Wolf (Fax Collector’s Edition, 1977)
Robert E. Howard’s Spears of Clontarf (George T. Hamilton, 1978) (chapbook)
Robert E. Howard’s The Sword of Shahrazar (FAX Collector’s Editions, 1976)
Robert E. Howard’s Tigers of the Sea (Donald M. Grant, 1974)
Robert E. Howard’s Two Against Tyre (Dennis McHaney, 1976) (chapbook)(1/600 numbered)
Robert E. Howard’s Valley of the Lost (Chuck E. Miller, 1975)
Robert E. Howard’s Writer of the Dark (Dark Carnival Press, 1986) (trade paperback)(1/500)
Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, H.P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt and C.L. Moore’s The Challenge From Beyond (Weltschmertz Publications, 1954) (Mimeographed)
(Robert E. Howard) Glenn Lord’s The Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert E. Howard
Jan Hudson’s Those Sexy Saucer People (Greenleaf Classics, 1966)
Shirley Jackson’s The Bad Children (Dramatic Publishing Company, 1958)
Shirley Jackson’s The Magic of Shirley Jackson (Farrar Straus, 1966)
Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (Doubleday, 1976) (Father Cody and not price-clipped on front flap)
Henry Kuttner’s The Valley of the Flame (Ace, 1964) (PBO)
R. A. Lafferty’s The Audifaxes (2019 chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s Alaric: The Day The World Ended (United Mythologies Press, 1994)
R. A. Lafferty’s Anamnesis (United Mythologies Press, 1992) (chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s The Best of R.A. Lafferty (Gollancz, 2019) (trade paperback)
R. A. Lafferty’s The Best of R.A. Lafferty (Tor, 2021) (hardback)
R. A. Lafferty’s Cranky Old Man From Tulsa (United Mythologies Press, 1990)
R. A. Lafferty’s How Many Miles to Babylon (United Mythologies Press, 1989)
R. A. Lafferty’s Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas (Aegypan, 2007) (hardback chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s The Six Fingers of Time (Aegypan, 2011) (hardback chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s Strange Skies (United Mythologies Press, 1988) (chapbook)
R. A. Lafferty’s Funnyfingers & Cabrito (Pendragon Press HB)
(R. A. Lafferty) Boomer Flats Gazette (Volumes 1-4)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Blood and Shadows (volumes 1-4) (DC Vertigo, 1996)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Blood Dance (Subterranean, 2000) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Bubba Ho-Tep (Hail To the King edition DVD with jacket packaging, 2007)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Conan and the Songs of the Dead (Dark Horse, 2007)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Crawling Sky (Antarctic Press, 2013) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Dead in the West (Crossroads Press, 1994) (signed/limited)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Dead in the West (Night Shade Books, 2005) (1/150 signed, limited copies)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive In Bus Tour (Subterranean, 2005) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Freezer Burn (Crossroads Press, 1999) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Freezer Burn (Crossroads Press, 1999) (Special Edition, 1 of 5 copies)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Good, the Bad and the Indifferent (Subterranean Press, 1997) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror (IDW, 2012) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s I Tell You It’s Love (SST Publications, 2014) (hardback graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo (DC Vertigo, 1994) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Lone Ranger & Tonto (Topps Comics, 1995) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Long Ones (Necro Publications, 1999) (lettered traycased edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Magic Wagon (Borderlands Press signed/limited hardback, 1991)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Nightrunners (Dark Harvest, 1987) (signed slipcased edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Nightrunners (Dark Harvest, 1987) (signed leatherbound “slipcrate” edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s On the Far Side with Dead Folks (Avalon, 2004) (graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Orbit 1 & 2 (Subterranean, 2000) (hardback)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Pigeons From Hell (Dark Horse, 2009) (graphic novel TPO)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Something Lumber This Way Comes (Subterranean, 1999) (1/13 lettered editions)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Steam Man (Dark Horse, 2016) (graphic novel TPO)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Tarzan and the Land That Time Forgot (TimeShifter/ECOF, 2018) (chapbook)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back (Pulphouse hardback)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The Thicket (Earthling Publications, 2015) (1/250 signed/limited hardbacks)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Two-Bear Mambo (Cahill Press, 1995) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Waltz of Shadows (Subterranean, 1999) (lettered edition)
Joe R. Lansdale and Lewis Shiner’s Private Eye Action As You Like It (Crossroads Press, 1998) (1/26 lettered editions)
Joe R. Lansdale’s The X-Files: Case Files (IDW, 2018) (hardback graphic novel)
Joe R. Lansdale’s Robert Bloch’s Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (IDW, 2010) (graphic novel)
Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife (Twayne, 1953) (no statement of printing)
Fritz Leiber’s Gather, Darkness (Pellegrini & Cudhay, 1950)
Fritz Leiber’s The Green Millennium (Abelard, 1953) (no statement of printing, no overprice)
Fritz Leiber’s Night Monsters (Gollancz, 1974)
Fritz Leiber’s Two Sought Adventure (Gnome Press, 1957)
Fritz Leiber’s The Secret Songs (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1968)
Cornel Lengyel’s The Atom Clock (FPCI, 1951) (hardback or chapbook)
Doris Lessing’s Briefing for a Descent Into Hell (Cape, 1971)
C. S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet (John Lane The Bodley Head, 1938)
C. S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength (John Lane The Bodley Head, 1945)
David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus (Methuen, 1920) (Gilt-stamped spine, undated publisher’s catalog)
H. P. Lovecraft’s Essential Solitude: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth (Hippocampus Press, 2013) (two volumes)
H. P. Lovecraft’s Juvenilia 1895-1905 (Necronomicon Press, 1984) (chapbook)
H. P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others (Arkham House, 1939)
H. P. Lovecraft’s Beyond the Wall of Sleep (Arkham House, 1943)
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Donald R. Burleson’s Lovecraft: Disturbing the Universe (University of Kentucky Press, 1990)
(Lovecraft, H.P.) Peter Cannon’s The Chronology Out of Time (Necronomicon Press chapbook, 1986)
Mervyn Peake’s Titus Alone (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959)
H. Beam Piper’s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (Garland HB, 1975)
H. Beam Piper’s (and Andre Norton’s) A Planet For Texans (and Star Born) (Ace, 1958) (PBO, 35¢)
H. Beam Piper’s Space Viking (Ace, 1962) (PBO, 40¢)
Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth’s Gladiator-At-Law (Ballantine Books, 1955)
Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth’s Presidential Year (Ballantine Books, 1956)
Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth’s Search the Sky (Ballantine Books, 1954)
Terry Prachett’s The Colour of Magic (Colin Smythe, 1983)
Terry Prachett’s The Light Fantastic (Colin Smythe, 1986)
Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow (Viking, 1973) (First issue dj with ISBN lettered in white over red on rear panel, date code 0273 on lower front flap)
Ellery Queen’s And On the Eighth Day (Random House, 1964)
Ellery Queen’s The Fourth Side of the Triangle (Random House, 1965)
Ellery Queen’s The Player on The Other Side (Random House, 1963)
Kuttner, Henry and C.L. Moore (as Lewis Padgett). The Day He Died. Duell, Sloan and Pierce, 1947. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a little bit of bend at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with small chip at heel and associated 1/2″ closed tear, plus a trace of wear at points. Mystery. I saw a less attractive copy in an online auction go for considerably more than I was willing to spend, so I bought this (the nicest copy online) from a notable SF dealer for $220.
These were all books I picked up at various Houston Half Price Books stores the day after Thanksgiving. Those without prices were bought at half cover price.
Chabon, Michael. Moonglow. Harper, 2016. First edition hardback, one of an unstated number of signed limited copies sold by Powell’s Books, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket in a special slipcase, with a non-fiction Moonglow chapbook containing “The Box,” “The Facts,” and “The Interview” (Near Fine, with slight creasing) laid in. #63 in the Powells’ “Indiespensible” series, special signed editions sent out to book club members with various extras. Bought for $25.
Crais, Robert. The Wanted. Putnam, 2017. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Crais. I was looking through the discounted section of a Half Price Books, saw that this was a nice copy, thought to myself “I wonder if it’s signed,” picked it up, and it was. Hence George Locke’s dictum: “Don’t look for books, look at books.” Mystery novel. Bought for $3.00.
Duncan, Andy and Ellen Klages. Wakulla Springs. Tor, 2015. First edition hardback (evidently a reprint of an electronic version), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, presumably as issued. Weird trim factor, being a small format hardback sightly smaller than a paperback. Bought for $4.99.
Howard, Robert E. Trails in Darkness. Baen, 1996. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight edgewear to top front cover and slight foxing to inside covers. Volume VII in the Robert E. Howard library.
Howard, Robert E. Beyond the Borders. Baen, 1996. First edition paperback original, a Fine copy. Volume VI in the Robert E. Howard library.
Kuttner, Henry (& C. L. Moore). Clash By Night. Hamlyn, 1980. First edition paperback original, a Very Good copy with a a long crease across the front cover. Short story collection. Kuttner’s name alone appears on the cover, but the title page also has C.L. Moore’s name, and all the stories are collaborations between the two.
Sammon, Paul M., editor. Splatterpunks: Extreme Horror. St. Martin’s Press, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight edgewear at head, heel and points. Signed by contributors Joe R. Lansdale, Ed Bryant, Nancy Collins and Chas. Balun. I had a copy of this (and I’m cited as an expert in here), but I didn’t get Ed Bryant to sign my copy, so this was a nice find. Bought for $12.49.
I try to collect at least one signature for every writer I seriously collect. I have signatures for H. G. Wells, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Tom Reamy, to name a few.
I also have a few books signed by C. L. Moore, but not (until this item) any by her husband, Henry Kuttner, who were both behind the Lewis Padgett pseudonym. Kuttner, a first rate writer, died in 1958, and works signed by him seldom come on the market. However, I found the following first edition online, and not only is it signed, it’s an inscribed association copy.
Padgett, Lewis (Henry Kuttner and possibly C.L. Moore). The Brass Ring. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946. First edition hardback, a Very Good+ copy, with uneven fading to the spine (looks to be lightening in relation to the dust jacket) and age darkening to pages, in a Good+ dust jacket with a 1″ chip to bottom front and 1/4″ chipping at head and heel. Not a great copy, but it does have a great inscription on the front free endpaper: “For Bob —/In memory of a happy childhood at the old Basutoland reformatory,/now dust./Hank/(“Lewis Padgett”)”. It also has Bloch’s signature at the top of the page. Currey, page 291 (which says this was in collaboration with C. L. Moore). Hubin, Crime Fiction: 1749—1980, page 309 (which credits this to Kuttner alone). Bloch and Kuttner were friends and collaborators, making this a very important association copy from one SF giant to another. Bought, after much haggling, for $500 from a dealer online.
Though much of Kuttner is coming back into print thanks to Haffner Press, the following item dates from a period when most (if not all) of it was out of print:
Kuttner, Henry. Kuttner Times Three. Virgil Utter, 1988. First edition chapbook original, one of 200 copies, a Fine- copy with a light crease at head and a thin line of fading along spine, with Erratum slip inserted before the introduction. Contains the stories “The Old Army Game,” “Bamboo Death” and “The Wolf of Aragon.” Bought off the Internet for $10.
Picked up a not-particularly-common Henry Kuttner hardback:
Kuttner, Henry. Murder of a Wife. Garland, 1983. First hardback edition (originally a PBO by Permabooks in 1958), a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel, sans dust jacket, as issued. Number 26 of Garland’s 50 Classics of Crime Fiction: 1950—1975 series. I’m not sure what the print run was, but if they were anything like Garland’s 50 Classics of Science Fiction runs, it was probably quite small. Hubin, Crime Fiction, 1749—1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography, page 236 (for the PBO). Bought for $30 online.
At his best, Henry Kuttner was one of top SF/F writers of the Golden Age.
The Dark World is not Henry Kuttner at his best.
Essentially I only picked this up because it had been a while since I read any Kuttner, and this paperback original fit nicely in my bag on my trip to Stavanger. Even though this shows up on the Cawthorn and Moorcock Fantasy 100 list, and Roger Zelazny cites it as an influence on the Amber books, it’s a very uneven (and sometimes overwritten) parallel world fantasy. Protagonist Edward Bond has returned home after a plane crash and long period of jungle convalescence in World War II. He finds himself drawn from his house to a “need fire” by people claiming to need his help in another world. Traveling to the world with them, he discovers he’s actually Ganelon, one of the leaders of The Coven, who ruled the dark world of the title, and who has been bonded to Llyr, a powerful being who demands sacrifice. Ganelon had been exchanged for Bond (his doppelganger on earth) by the magic of his enemies, but whose memories of the dark world are still incomplete. After his fellow Coven members secretly dress him in the robes of sacrifice, he decides that some adjustment of loyalties is in order…
Despite it’s brevity (The Dark World clocks in at 126 pages), modern readers are likely to have problems with this. For one thing, the prose occasionally takes florid flights that betray its pulp-era origins. (“Medea and Edeyrn and Matholoch! The names of the three beat like muffled drums in my brain.”) Exclamation points are freely dispensed, frequently in one-word sentences. (“Llyr! the though of it-of him-crystallized that decision in my mind.”) In the world of post-Lord of the Rings fantasy, the Dark World seems both underdeveloped and under-populated, and the semi-scientific mutant explanation is unconvincing.
It’s not awful; the story moves along at a steady clip. There are also a few points of formal novelty. It was probably rare to have a novel told from the viewpoint of the bad guy, and who remained the bad guy, pretty much all of the novel. Also, the scene where Edward Bond and Ganelon face off against each other in some sort of nether corridor between the worlds makes you wonder if Don Ingalls, the screenwriter for the Star Trek episode “The Alternative Factor,” read The Dark World, given the obvious parallels.
if you haven’t read any Kuttner, this is not the one to start with.
Books that I have available for sale through Lame Excuse Books are marked LEB (though a few of those titles won’t appear on the stock page until after I send out my next book catalog).
I’ve included scans of a few of the more uncommon titles.
Bacagalupi, Paolo. The Alchemist. Subterranean Press, 2011. LEB
Banks, Ian M. The Spheres. Novacon, 2010. Chapbook, Fine, with Novacon 40 program book.
Bear, Elizabeth. The White City (with Twilight chapbook). Subterranean Press, 2011, one of 200 signed, numbered copies, with chapbook, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Blaylock, James P. The Affair of the Chalk Cliffs. Subterranean Press, 2011. One of 1,500 signed copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. LEB
Brackett, Leigh. Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances. Haffner Press, 2007.
Brackett, Leigh. Martian Quest: The Early Brackett. Haffner Press, 2002.
Buckell, Tobias S. The Executioness. Subterranean Press, 2011. First edition hardback, one of 300 signed and numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. LEB
Cady, Jack. Rules of ’48. Night Shade Books, 2008. Trade paperback original.
Dick, Philip K. Clans of the Alphane Moon. Gregg Press, 1979. Fine, sans dust jacket, as issued. Replaced an Ex-Library copy.
Dick, Philip K. The Complete Stories of Philip K. Dick Volume 1: The King of the Elves. Subterranean Press, 2011. LEB
Eshbach, Lloyd Arthur. Over My Shoulder: Reflections on a Science Fiction Era. Oswald Train, 1983. Non-fiction.
Grant, Donald M. Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny. Donald M. Grant, 1983. Non-fiction.
Howard, Robert E. The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard Subterranean Press, 2011. One of 750 copied signed and numbered by the artist, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, in slipcase. LEB
King, Stephen. Little Sisters of Eluria. Donald M. Grant, 2009. First edition hardback, one of 4000 artist’s copies signed by Michael Whelan, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase.
Kuttner, Henry. Terror in the House: The Early Kuttner, Volume One. Haffner Press, 2010. LEB
Kuttner, Henry, and C. L. Moore. Detour to Otherness. Haffner Press, 2010.
Lake, Jay. The Baby Killers PS Publishing, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. LEB
Lansdale, Joe R. Christmas with the Dead PS Publishing, 2010. First edition hardback, one of 300 copies signed and numbered by Lansdale, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. LEB
Lansdale, Joe R. Christmas with the Dead PS Publishing, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Trade edition. Signed by Lansdale. LEB
Lansdale, Joe R. Devil Red. Knopf, 2011. Inscribed, with promotional postcard laid in.
Lansdale, Joe R. Dread Island. IDW, 2010. First edition hardback, one of 500 copies with signed square bound in, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Lansdale, Joe R. Hyenas. Subterranean Press, 2011. One of 400 signed, numbered copies. LEB
Lansdale, Joe R. Hyenas. Subterranean Press, 2011. Trade edition. Signed by Lansdale.
Lansdale, Joe R. The Magic Wagon. Chivers Press, 1988. First British Edition. Fine in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Signed by Lansdale.
Leicht, Stina. Of Blood and Honey. Night Shade Books, 2011. First edition trade paperback original, Fine. Inscribed by the author. LEB
Moorcock, Michael. The Vanishing Tower. Archival Press, 1981. A Fine copy, sans dust jacket, in slipcase, as issued.
Moore, Ward. Cloud by Day. Heinemann, 1956. First edition hardback, a near Fine copy with non-authorial gift inscription, in a Near Fine dust jacket with faint spots of foxing to inner flaps and a bit of edgewear and crinkling at head.
Powers, Richard. The Gold Bug Variations. William Morrow, 1991.
Robinson, Kim Stanley. The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson. Night Shade Books, 2010. LEB
Rucker, Rudy. Jim and the Flims. Night Shade Books, 2011.
Shea, Michael. The Autopsy and Other Tales. Centipede Press, 2009. One of 500 copies signed by Shea, Fine, sans dj, as issued.
Sheckley, Robert E. Immortality Delivered. Avalon Books, 1958. A Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with moderate spine-fading.
Stephenson, Neal. Zodiac: The Eco Thriller. Subterranean Press, 2011. First hardback edition, one of 500 copies signed by Stephenson, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread, in slipcase. LEB
Straub, Peter. Sides. Cemetery Dance, 2007. Signed by Straub. Non-fiction.
Swanwick, Micheal. Dancing With Bears. Night Shade Books, 2011. LEB
Totten, Michael. The Road to Fatima Gate. Encounter Books, 2011. Signed by the author. Non-fiction.
Vance, Jack. Dangerous Ways. Subterranean Press, 2011. Omnibus edition.
Vance, Jack. Trullion: Alastor 2262 with Marune:Alastor 993 with Wyst: Alastor 1716. Underwood/Miller, 1984. First hardback editions, Fine copies in Fine dust jackets, in slipcase (though these are the unsigned editions, the slipcase appear to be the one they issued for the signed edition).
Williamson, Jack. The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson Volume 4: Spider island. Haffner Press, 2002.
Williamson, Jack. The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson Volume 7: With Folded Hands and Searching Mind. Haffner Press, 2010.
Zelazny, Roger. Blood of Amber. Underwood-Miller, 1986. First edition hardback, one of 500 signed/numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, in a Fine slipcase.
