Posts Tagged ‘Horror’
Monday, August 3rd, 2026
One of my more obscure collecting vectors is festschriften, a volume in which a science fiction writer or editor is lionized by other luminaries. Other volumes I have include Polder (celebrating John Clute) and Moorcock@60.com, about which I’m pretty sure you can figure out who’s being celebrated. This volume celebrates Britsh horror editor Stephen Jones, who I know a bit.
(Jones, Stephen) Val Edwards, editor. The Mammoth Book of Stephen Jones. PS Publishing, 2003. First edition trade paperback original, one of 200 copies printed, a Fine copy. Festschrift in honor of Stephen Jones on his 50th birthday, with contributions from the likes of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Kim Newman, Lisa Tuttle, Pat Cadigan, Ramsey Campbell, etc. Bought from Cold Tonnage Books at the same time as the Pat Cadigan chapbook for about £20 pounds, plus shipping for both (which was pretty reasonable for UK post).
I don’t think any of these were for sale from the publisher, just issued to contributors (which is the usual case with festschriften).
Tags:Books, Clive Barker, Cold Tonnage, festschrift, Horror, Lisa Tuttle, Pat Cadigan, PS Publishing, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Jones, Stephen King
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Monday, July 27th, 2026
Here’s a chapbook I was unaware of before it popped up in a Cold Tonnage Books catalog:
Cadigan, Pat. Chalk. This Is Horror, 2013. First edition chapbook original, #46 of 125 copies, a Fine copy, signed by Cadigan, with an 8 written on the title page and eight Xs on the inside front cover. (I sent Pat an email asking what was up with that.) Horror novella about two girls that can disappear in plain sight. Bought for £10.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Cold Tonnage, Horror, Pat Cadigan, signatures, signed
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2026
Another Borderlands Little Book:
Onions, Oliver. A Little Tan Book of Terror. Borderlands Press, 2026. First edition hardback, #463 if 350 signed, numbered copies signed by editor (and publisher) Thomas F. Monteleone (Borderlands: “we only print 350 copies but if anyone has matching numbers above 350, we make sure they continue to get it”), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Short story collection. For some reason, I got the impression that Onions (like so many writers in David Hartwell’s The Dark Decent, which is where I first encountered him) was a 19th century writer, but all these stories appeared between 1910 and 1922, and Onion himself didn’t die until 1961.
I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog (Novemberish).
Tags:Books, Borderlands Press, Horror, Little Books, small press publishers
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, June 15th, 2026
This was the last Simmons title I didn’t own.
Simmons, Dan. The Abominable. Little Brown, 2015. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Simmons. Bought off eBay for $50, the opening bid.
The only Simmons first I lack is the trade first of The Fifth Heart, which preceded the Subterranean Press limited edition (which I have).
Tags:Books, Dan Simmons, Horror
Posted in Books, Horror | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 20th, 2026
Another Borderlands Little Book:
Kafka, Franz. A Little Scarlet Book of the Surreal. Borderlands Press, 2026. First edition hardback, #463 of 350 copies signed by editor Ben Keefe (Borderlands: “we only print 350 copies but if anyone has matching numbers above 350, we make sure they continue to get it”), a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Collection including eight stories, of which “In the Penal Colony” is probably the most famous.
(White smudges are scanner artifacts.)
I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.
Tags:Borderlands Press, Franz Kafka, Horror, small press publishers, surrealism
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Monday, May 18th, 2026
That Heritage auction of the David Aronovitz collection happened last week, and there were some truly breathtaking prices achieved. Here’s a look at some of them.
An unsigned, first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit went for a jaw-dropping $450,000. Pretty sure that smashes the record for that title.
Speaking of Tolkien, an unsigned but exceptionally nice first edition, first state set of The Lord of the Rings went for a similarly astounding $325,000.
An inscribed, first edition of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot in a first state dust jacket (Father Cody and unclipped, original $8.95 price on the dust jacket), pretty much a holy grail for King collectors, went for a breathtaking $68,750.
Speaking of King, an asbestos-bound Firestarter went for $75,000.
Somehow Aronovitz had gathered all three dedicate copies of Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land (to Robert Cornog, Frederic Brown, and Philip Jose Farmer), and the lot went for a whopping $118,750. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.
An associational copy of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot inscribed to John W. Campbell (which is a great associational copy) went for an eye-popping $87,500.00.
A first English-language edition in dust jacket of Eugene Zamiatin/Yevgeny Zamyatin classic dystopia We went for $52,500. I’m not sure I’ve seen a copy offered in the dust jacket. I have a reprint of a later translation Bruce Sterling gave me. (I should probably read it some time…)
A green-jacketed first of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four went for $32,500. Interestingly, a copy of the more desirable red-jacked version, with the paper Evening Standard recommendation band, went in a Freeman’s auction for $48,000. I have a less attractive copy in a green jacket.
A nice but unsigned first of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? went for $37,500.00. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.
In a really inexplicable result, a signed Currey D binding (pretty much the ordinary hardback state) of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 went for $42,500, which is much more than the much rarer “asbestos-bound” copy went for in the same auction ($25,000), and than an association copy of the presentation state B inscribed to longtime friend and fan Forrest J. Ackerman went for $23,750.00. Similar signed Currey D copies can be had for much less online. My own, less desirable D-state copy is covered here.
A very nice inscribed first of Frank Herbert’s Dune went for $75,000. I only have an Ex-Library first of this.
A copy of the Gollancz hardback first of Larry Niven’s Ringworld in the very rare proof state dust jacket (I know of only one other copy) went for $8,125.
A very nice (but unsigned) trade first of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World in dust jacket went for $32,500, which is more than the one of 324 signed, limited copies went for ($8,125). I have an unsigned, jacketless copy of the trade first.
A nice, but not pristine, first of H. G. Wells First Men in the Moon signed by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went for $10,625. I have a less-attractive first of First Men in the Moon. I also have a first of another book signed by Buzz Aldrin.
A partial manuscript first draft of Gene Wolfe’s The Shadow of the Torturer went for $16,875.
Not everything went for crazy money. An E. E. “Doc” Smith History of Civilization set with box and lid went for $7,500, less than $2,000 more than a similar set with lid sold for all the way back in 2008. A copy of Stanley G. Weinbaum’s Dawn of Flame went for $1,250, or all of $50 more than I paid for my copy back in 2013. A nice copy of H. P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others went for $5,625, which seems around market to me. A signed Gollancz Neuromancer went for $6,875, down considerably off recent over $10,000 highs (though $3,500 for a signed first of the PBO is probably a new record).
But generally, the very highest highpoint firsts of SF/F/H seem to be appreciating in value more rapidly than similar literary highpoints,
Tags:Associational Copy, auction, Books, Fantasy, George Orwell, H. G. Wells, Heritage Auctions, Horror, Isaac Asimov, J. R. R. Tolkien, Larry Niven, Philip Jose Farmer, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, Stephen King
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, May 4th, 2026
There’s a big Heritage SF/F/H book auction coming up, this one for book dealer David Aronovitz’s collection, and Heritage sent me a big fat catalog for it. I’ve been receiving catalogs from Heritage since 2007, but haven’t recorded them previously.
(Aronovitz, David) The David Aronovitz Collection of Important Science Fiction & Fantasy Part I. Heritage Auctions, 2026. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Aronovitz is an SF bookseller who got started a lot earlier than me, all this is expensive stuff I wouldn’t have been able to bid on even if I weren’t between jobs. While I have copies of a lot of the first editions being auctioned (I have firsts of six of the ten books shown on the cover), Aronovitz generally had much nicer copies and/or more desirable states, along with manuscripts and associational copies (like I, Robot inscribed to John W. Campbell).
Previous notable Heritage SF/F/H auctions include:
The Jerry Weist Collection
The Robert and Diane Yaspan Collection
The Ventura Collection
Tags:book auction, Books, Fantasy, Heritage Auctions, Horror, Science Fiction
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | 3 Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2026
In 2004, BBC 4 aired Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, a horror parody series satirizing the cheapness of 1980s BBC TV shows, created by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade, all supposedly the work of “Garth Marenghi” (Holness), “the only writer to publish more books than he’d read.” Last year, I showed these as the Halloween offering for our regular Saturday movie group. Dwight took that as a license to buy these two signed “Marenghi” firsts and give them to me as a birthday gift.
“Marenghi, Garth” (i.e., Matthew Holness). Garth Marenghi’s Incarcerat. Hodder & Stoughton Coronet, 2023. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine protected dust jacket, signed by the author (as Marenghi). Received as a gift.
“Marenghi, Garth” (i.e., Matthew Holness). Garth Marenghi’s TerrorTome. Hodder & Stoughton, 2022. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket, signed by the author (as Marenghi). Received as a gift.
Tags:Books, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Horror, Matthew Holness, Parody, TV
Posted in Books, TV | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 31st, 2026
Another Borderlands Press Little Book came in:
London, Jack. A Little White Book of the Wild. Borderlands Press, 2026. First edition hardback, #463 of 350 copies signed by editor John DeChancie, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Five stories, the only one I’ve which I’ve already read is “To Build A Fire.”
I will have a small number of these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, Borderlands Press, Horror, Jack London, small press publishers
Posted in Books, Horror | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 4th, 2026
This Kickstarter from 2024 finally came in.
Aquilone, James, editor. Kolchak Meets the Classic Monsters Volume 1. Monstrous Press, 2026. First edition hardback graphic novel, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued, with three cards laid in. Just what the title says, the latest graphic novel featuring dogged investigative reporter of the supernatural Carl Kolchak. Brought to you by the same people who previously brought you the 50th anniversary edition graphic novel compilation and the first hardback edition of the original Jeff Rice Night Stalker novel. Bought from the Kickstarter for $32.
Tags:Books, Carl Kolchak, graphic novel, Horror, James Aquilone, Kickstarter
Posted in Books, Horror, Kickstarter | No Comments »