Posts Tagged ‘Neal Stephenson’
Friday, April 22nd, 2022
All of these were bought at various Half Price Books locations with 10% off coupons.
Gaiman, Neil. Trigger Warning. HarperCollins, 2015. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of crimping at head. Short story collection. Bought for $12.14
Lake, Jay. Last Plane to Heaven. Tor, 2014. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Short story collection. Foreword by Gene Wolfe. Bought for $7.19.
McCrumb, Sharyn. Bimbos of the Death Sun. TSR, 1987. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Near Fine- copy with a dime-sized sticker pull on the top left front cover, foxing to inner covers, and touches of edgewear. Her acclaimed, Edgar-Award winning murder mystery set at a science fiction convention. Replaces a less attractive copy. Bought for $2.24.
Morrow, James. Reality By Other Means: The Best Short Fiction of James Morrow. Wesleyan University Press, 2015. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. I’ll have one of these available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Stephenson, Neal. The System of the World. William Morrow, 2004. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with trace of crimping at head, a couple of small spots of dust staining to boards and a small bump along bottom front board, in a Fine- dust jacket with slight crimping at head and touch of crimping at points, inscribed by Stephenson: “To Harris,/Neal Stephenson.” Bought for $7.19.
Twain, Mark. Autobiography of Mark Twain Volume 2. University of California Press, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-covered dust jacket. The second massive volume in Twain’s anecdotal autobiography, the one he insisted not be published until 100 years after his death. Supplements a copy of Volume 1. Bought for $8.99.
Tags:biography, Books, Fantasy, James Morrow, Jay Lake, Mark Twain, Mystery, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Science Fiction
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Friday, January 14th, 2022
Another signed first:
Stephenson, Neal. Termination Shock. Morrow, 2021. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with “SIGNED FIRST EDITION” sticker on front, signed by Stephenson on page stating “This signed edition has been specially bound by the publisher.” Bought from the Mysterious Bookstore for $28.
Tags:Books, Neal Stephenson, Science Fiction
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Thursday, March 18th, 2021
Still more books from the Subterranean Press PC sale:
Stephenson, Neal. Atmosphæra Incognita. Subterranean Press, 2019. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 26 Lettered copies, a Fine copy in embossed boards and a Fine traycase, sans dust jacket, as issued. Novella about building a giant tower. Bought for $500 (the original offering price).
Stephenson, Neal. Atmosphæra Incognita. Subterranean Press, 2019. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 400 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $100.
Lettered edition on left, numbered edition on right
All editions are long sold out.
Tags:Books, Limited Editions, Neal Stephenson, Science Fiction, small press publishers, Subterranean Press
Posted in Books, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021
All of these are Half Price Books finds (mostly in Houston) unless otherwise noted, including a fair amount of signed work and non-fiction.
Adams, Douglas. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Simon & Schuster, 1987. First edition hardback (simultaneous with the UK Heinemann edition), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $9.99.
Barksdale, Dante, with Grace Kearney. Growing Up Barksdale: A True Baltimore Story. No publisher listed, printed 2020. Trade paperback POD reprint, a Fine copy. Autobiography by a former Baltimore gang member who’s family’s story provided some of the grist for David Simon’s The Wire. A Christmas gift from Dwight.
(Ellison, Harlan) Ellen Weil and Gary K. Wolfe. Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever. Ohio State University Press, 2002. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine- copy with bottom outer edges slightly bumped. Bought for $12.49.
Gaiman, Neil. The View from the Cheap Seats. William Morrow, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Gaiman. Collection of non-fiction (essays, interview, etc.).
King, Stephen. Lisey’s Story. Scribner, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought at Goodwill for $3.99. I generally don’t pick up King’s new trade editions because I know they will show up used cheap. And I generally can’t afford the signed limited editions unless they’re coming out from a publisher I’m already a regular customer of and can pick them up at a (usually slight) discount pre-publication. But $3.99 for a perfect copy falls into “good enough” territory.
McCarthy, Cormac. All the Pretty Horses. Knopf, 1992. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with all the usual flaws, otherwise Very Good. A true first of his first Pulitzer winner and first book of the Border trilogy. Bought for $6.99.
Stephenson, Neal. Seveneves. HarperCollins, 2015. First edition hardback, special signed edition with gold “Signed First Edition” sticker on the cover and “THIS SIGNED EDITION OF/seveneves/by/Neal Stephenson/[signature]/HAS BEEN SPECIALLY BOUND/BY THE PUBLISHER” signature page bound in before the half-title page, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for $9.99.
Sterling, Bruce. Schismatrix Plus. Ace, 1996. First edition trade paperback original, Near Fine- with slight spine crease, slight sun fading to spine, and edgewear, signed by Sterling. Contains the novel plus the Shaper/Mechanist stories from Crystal Express. I never bothered to pick this up when it came out because I already had first editions of both, but picking up variant titles is classic late-phase book collecting behavior. Bought for $7.49.
(Tolkien, J. R. R.) Day, David. An Encyclopedia of Tolkien: The History and Mythology That inspired Tolkien’s World. Canterbury Classics, 2019. First edition hardback, a Fine copy bound in embossed leather, sans dust jacket, as issued. Tolkien reference work by an author who has done a lot of other Tolkien reference works. A very attractive book, with gilded edges and full-color illustrated endpapers, from a publisher that mostly seems to do leatherbound prestige reprints. Bought for $12.49.
Tags:Books, Bruce Sterling, Cormac McCarthy, Douglas Adams, Fantasy, Gary K. Wolfe, Harlan Ellison, J. R. R. Tolkien, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Science Fiction, Stephen King, The Wire, TV
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Monday, December 23rd, 2019
Bought this at a Half Price Books coupon sale last month:
Stephenson, Neal, and Nicole Galland. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. HarperCollins, 2017. First edition hardback, one of an unknown number of copies with a special signature page signed by both authors bound in, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with wear at points and a “Signed Copy” sticker taped to heel (in addition to the gold “Signed First Edition” sticker that seems standard now). Same ISBN (978-0-06-240916-4) as the trade edition. Bought at Half Price Books during a coupon sale for $10.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Half Price Books, Limited Editions, Neal Stephenson, Science Fiction
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Tuesday, March 18th, 2014
I also pick up science fiction-related reference works, especially when I see them cheap.
(Ballard, J. G.) Baxter, John. The Inner Man: the life of J. G. Ballard. Weidenfield & Nicolson, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Critical biography.
(Gilliam, Terry) McCabe, Bob. Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Grimm, and other cautionary tales of Hollywood. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with what appears to be “delamination” of otherwise shiny area at base of the spine, in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Book on the making of the Terry Gilliam film The Brothers Grimm.
Lovecraft, H.P. (S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, editors. O Fortunate Floridian: H.P. Lovecraft’s Letters to R. H. Barlow. University of Tampa Press, 2007. First edition hardback (stated), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread.
Barlow was an interesting fellow in his own right. He was studying ancient Mexican writings at Mexico City College (at the same time William S. Burroughs was there) when he committed suicide in January of 1951.
Now I have the perfect thing to lay the envelope from Lovecraft to Barlow into.
(Moskowitz, Sam) The Sam Moskowitz Collection of Science Fiction b/w Comic Books and Comic Art. Southbys, 1999. First edition oversized trade paperback original, Fine. Auction catalog for the Sam Moskowitz’s science fiction collection held June 29, 1999 (plus a collection of rare comics sold the next day).
Stephenson, Neal. In the Beginning was the Command Line. Avon Books, 1999. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Long essay on the history of computing the Internet, and cyber culture.
Tags:Books, H. P. Lovecraft, J. G. Ballard, John Baxter, Movies, Neal Stephenson, R. H. Barlow, reference works, S. T. Joshi, Sam Moskowitz, Terry Gilliam
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Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
I just sent out a new Lame Excuse Books catalog filled with interesting science fiction, fantasy, and horror first editions. Once again there’s lots of great stuff, including new books from Joe R. Lansdale, Jay Lake, Henry Kuttner, Charles Stross, Neal Stephenson, a Tim Powers Charnel House book, a signed Roger Zelazny limited edition, a desirable Jack Vance first, and numerous small press books from Subterranean, Haffner, PS Publishing, and Night Shade, among others. Let me know if you’d like me to email you a copy.
The Lame Excuse Books homepage can be found here.
Tags:Books, Charles Stross, Fantasy, first editions, Horror, Jay Lake, Joe R. Lansdale, Neal Stephenson, Night Shade Books, PS Publishing, Roger Zelazny, Science Fiction, Stephen King, Subterranean Press, Tim Powers
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