Posts Tagged ‘Neil Gaiman’

Books I Picked Up at the Reno Worldcon

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Various issues have kept me remarkably busy the last few days, so it may take a little while to get my blogging back up to speed. In particular, I wanted to do a brief roundup of some of the books I bought at the Reno Worldcon.

This year’s Worldcon had a better dealer’s room than Denver in 2008 (the last Worldcon I went to), and there were many rare and tempting items there (including not one, but two copies of the first edition of William Timlin’s The Ship That Sailed to Mars, as well as a fine signed first edition of Alfred Bester’s Tiger Tiger listed for $2,500, and which sold for a bit less) which, alas, they wanted more for than I was willing to spend.

But here are a few items I was able to add to my collection:

  • Serviss, Garrett P. Edison’s Conquest of Mars. Carcosa House, 1947. First edition hardback, one of 1,500 copies, a Fine copy in one of only 500 (or fewer) dust jackets distributed with the book, a Near Fine example of dj with just a few traces of edgewear and slight age-darkening to the spine. The dust jacket is rarely found, and even more seldom found in such excellent condition.

    The dust jacket art itself is perhaps the finest ever drawn by an eight-year old…

  • Hubbard, L. Ron. Final Blackout. Hadley Publishing, 1948. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight age darkening to white portions of cover. I’m not a big fan of Hubbard (or his church), but this and Fear are reportedly among his best works, and I am less familiar with his output than almost any other Golden Age author. Plus it puts me closer to having a complete collection of Hadley Publishing, an important early SF specialty press.

  • Gaiman, Neil. Melinda. Hill House, 2004. First edition graphic novel, one of 1,500 signed copies, Fine, sans dust jacket, as issued. Wanted this when it came out, but not enough to pay the $250 or so Hill House was asking for it, especially considering how slender it is. But the $50 I picked it up for was just right…


  • Anderson, Poul. Fire Time. Doubleday, 1974. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket with edgewear. Not a difficult or valuable title, except this copy was inscribed by Anderson to Charles N. Brown, which I thought made it worth a good bit more than the $15 the Locus folks were asking for it.
  • Diaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Riverhead Books, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Been looking for a copy at various Half Price Books and not finding one, so I was happy to pick this up from Scott and Willie.
  • Farmer, Philip Jose. The Keeper of the Secrets. Severn House, 1985. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of haze rubbing to the rear cover. First hardback edition of The Mad Goblin.
  • Farmer, Philip Jose. Love Song. Brandon House, 1970. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine- copy, with slight cover wear and ownership stamps and stickers for Diana Ann Barbour. My best find at the convention wasn’t even a purchase; Barbour had specified that her library was to be given away, and when I spotted this green spine among the stacks of Philip Jose Farmer paperbacks being set out, I snagged it. (I left behind two of the Essex House paperbacks they were putting out, because it doesn’t pay to be piggish.) The only copy of the PBO online lists for $850. That’s too high, but $200-400 is probably realistic.

  • Moorcock, Michael. The Sleeping Sorceress. New English Library, 1971. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with color loss along inner flaps edges (possibly a printing flaw). First hardback edition of The Vanishing Tower.
  • Moorcock, Michael. The Runestaff. White Lion, 1974. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with just a tiny bit of wear in a Fine dust jacket. First hardback edition.
  • Shute, Nevil. On the Beach. Heinemann, 1957. First edition hardback, a near Fine plus copy with dust staining to top page blocks and touches of wear to boards at heel, in a Near Fine dust jacket, with slight edgewear at head and heel and a few very short, closed tears.
  • My Locus Piece for April 1 is Up

    Friday, April 1st, 2011

    This time it was Peter Watts and Paolo Bacigalupi’s turn in the barrel. Link Updated

    My many previous April 1 offerings include:

  • Neil Gaiman One Step Closer to Sainthood
  • Doctorow and Stross to write authorized sequel to Atlas Shrugged
  • Greg Egan, Kelly Link Collaborate on Novel
  • 12 Killed in SFWA Flamewar
  • Lucasfilms announces “Adult” Star Wars Novel Line
  • The Lame Excuse Books Catalog for March 2011

    Thursday, March 31st, 2011

    Greetings, and welcome to the latest installment of Lawrence Puts The Latest Book Catalog Up as a Whopping Big Block of Text Without Any Formatting. All these are available for sale. (Check out the Lame Excuse Books page for my previous stock and payment details.)

    Hardbacks

    LP1872. Anderson, Poul. The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson Volume 3: The Saturn Game. NESFA Press, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Bob Eggleton cover. I still have one copy of Volume 2 around if you need one. $26.

    LP1247. Attanasio, A. A. Radix. William Morrow and Company, 1981. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy, some of the usual flaws (see Ex-Library Note), including stamps on all three edges, interior stamps and dj protector remnants inside front and rear covers, a slight bit of spine lean, and a slight bit of wear at heel; however, the dust jacket is in Near Fine shape, with moderate, slightly uneven (from a successful sticker removal that left no other signs) sunfading to spine, but otherwise complete and very attractive. Spine out, there is no sign this is an Ex-Library copy. The true first hardback edition of Attanasio’s first book (and a Nebula Finalist), and very uncommon thus (reportedly only 1000 hardbacks were done). $100.

    LP1874. Bacagalupi, Paolo. The Alchemist. Subterranean Press, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Novella set in the same fantasy universe as Tobias Buckell’s simultaneously published The Executioness. $18.

    LP1875. Buckell, Tobias. The Executioness. Subterranean Press, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Novella set in the same fantasy universe as Paolo Bacagalupi’s simultaneously published The Alchemist. $18

    PBTBCombo1: Pick up both The Executioness and The Alchemist for $35.

    LP1519. Bradbury, Ray. Moby Dick: A Screenplay. Subterranean Press, 2008. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread, still in publisher’s shrinkwrap. The basis of the John Huston movie. $29.

    LP1456. Brite, Poppy Z. Antediluvian Tales. Subterranean Press, 2007. First edition hardback, one of 400 numbered copies signed by Brite in a better binding with marbled endpapers, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. Collection of short stories all written before her home town of New Orleans was flooded. $35.

    LP1253. Bujold, Lois McMaster. Falling Free. Easton Press, 2001. First edition hardback thus (“Collectors Edition”), and first non- book club hardback edition, a Fine- leatherbound copy, new and unread (though with a slight “scratch” to top edge gilt finish), sans dj, as issued. Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel. This edition contains a new introduction by James Gunn, as well as original artwork. Easton Press “Collector’s Notes” laid in. Precedes the NESFA edition by several years. $49.

    LP1838. Butler, Octavia. Patternmaster. Doubleday, 1976. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with previous owner’s signature on inside front cover and slight spine lean (but NO remainder spray) in a Near Fine dust jacket with a few tiny scratches and abrasions, tiny bit of foxing on interior flap edges, and foxing to blind side of dust jacket spine. Still a very attractive and presentable first edition of Butler’s first book. $60.

    LP1053. Campbell, Ramsey. The Overnight. PS Publishing, 2004. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, one of 500 limited copies signed by Campbell (plus an additional 200 slipcased), new and unread. Full length horror novel set in a bookshop. What self-respecting book junkie can resist that? Only have one. $30.

    LP889. Campbell, Ramsey (Poppy Z. Brite). Told By the Dead. PS Publishing, 2003. First edition hardback, one of 500 numbered “trade” hardbacks signed by Campbell and Introduction author Poppy Z. Brite, Fine in a Fine dj, new and unread. Full length short-story collection. Had an extra around a while I forgot to list. $35.

    LP1385. Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. Tor, 1985. First edition hardback, an externally clean Ex-Library copy, with dj flaps formerly attached to book, pocket removal on FFE, and discard stamp on title page, otherwise VG with slight spine lean and slight wear at heel, in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket. Formerly my own personal copy. Far and away the most difficult domestic Hugo and Nebula winner of the last quarter century; you’d have to go back to Lord of Light in 1968 to find a domestic Hugo & Nebula winner that goes for more. $495

    LP1628. Carey, Jacqueline. Kushiel’s Dart. Tor, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight dust staining to head in a Fine- dj with just a tiny trace of wear at the top outer tips. First in the Kushiel series. Supposedly very good, very popular, and very kinky. $35.

    LP48. Carter, Raphael. The Fortunate Fall. Tor, 1996. First edition hardback, Fine/Fine-, unread, with trace of wear to matte black cover. One of the best first novels of the 1990s. Recommended. $10.

    LP655. Cherryh, C. J. Cyteen. Warner Books, 1988. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy, with all the usual flaws, otherwise G+/NF+ with spine lean, significant wear to bottom boards, long black marker line on heel, spine leaned and slightly concave. Well-worn, but an attractive dj for an Ex-Lib, and a true first of a Hugo winner. $8.

    LP1386. Clarke, Arthur C. Earthlight. Ballantine Books, 1955. First edition hardback (no statement of printing on copyright page, as per Currey), an Ex-Library Copy, with two lines of black marker on half title page, small stamp and writing on copyright page, “Salvage” stamp on FFE, pocket and stamps on RFE, and tape ghosts to boards, otherwise VG- with moderate dust soiling to top page block and wear to bottom boards in a VG+ dust jacket with 1″ x 2″ yellowed repair tape to head to repair what appears to be two 1/2 x 1/8″ sections of dj loss along front and rear join folds; save for that, this is a very attractive dust jacket in a Mylar protector that shows no signs of being from an Ex-Lib copy, and save the tape, the rear white panel appears to be free of the usual soiling. All and all, better than a shelf-filing copy of one of Clarke’s better novels, depicting a military conflict centered around a moon colony and near-Earth orbit. The Ballantine Books hardbacks of this era had very small runs compared to the simultaneous paperback editions; while this is not quite as hard to find as Childhood’s End, it’s hard enough. $225.

    LP1119. De Camp, L. Sprague. Time & Chance. Donald M. Grant, 1996. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. De Camp’s massive, Hugo-award winning autobiography. $24.

    LP1878. Dick, Philip K. The Complete Stories of Philip K. Dick Volume 1: The King of the Elves. Subterranean Press, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. If you don’t have the Underwood/Miller Collected PKD set, then you need this. If you do, you should know that is expanded from the edition, incorporating new story notes, and two added tales, one previously unpublished, and one uncollected. So if you’re a serious Dick fan, you probably need this as well… $37.

    LP1395. Dick, Philip K. Voices from the Street. Tor, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Dick’s last previously unpublished novel (or at least the last for which a manuscript is known to exist). David Hartwell tells me that it’s actually much better than it’s reputation. $12.

    LP1260. Disch. Thomas M. The Prisoner. Dennis Dobson, 1979. First hardback edition, an Ex-Library copy, with faint signs of pocket removal from FFE, and stamps to copyright page, in an otherwise VG copy with spine lean, slight wear at heel, and a half a dime-sized stain to RFE, in a VG+ dj with no visible Ex-Lib signs, some slight 1/8″ or less chipping at head and heel spine joins, and a touch of darkening along top and bottom dj edges. Quite a presentable copy, actually. Based on the cult TV show starring Patrick McGoohan. $25.

    LP658. Dozois, Gardner. Strange Days: Fabulous Journeys with Gardner Dozois. NESFA Press, 2001. First edition hardback, Fine in Fine dj, new and unread. A short story collection, not completely overlapping with Slow Dancing Through Time and Geodesic Dreams. This also includes his 1995 travel diary, his novel Strangers, and introductions to the works by people like Michael Swanwick, George R. R. Martin, Ian MacLeod (whose name is misspelled on the back cover), Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Silverberg, etc. Gardner is such an excellent and influential editor that it’s easy to forget what a fine writer he was before taking over Asimov’s. You need it. Signed by introduction author Connie Willis. $24.

    LP1334. Dozois, Gardner, editor (with Bruce Sterling, Howard Waldrop, Lucius Shepard, Michael Swanwick, William Gibson, Frederik Pohl, Bruce Sterling, John Crowley, Orson Scott Card, Karen Joy Fowler, Robert Silverberg, James Patrick Kelley, Avram Davidson, Nancy Kress, Joe Haldeman, Walter John Williams, James Tiptree, Jr., George R. R. Martin, Lucius Shepard, R. A. Lafferty, Pat Cadigan, James P. Blaylock, Lewis Shiner, Kim Stanley Robinson). The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Third Annual Collection. Bluejay, 1986. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dj with one 1/2″ closed tear at top front (right through the dj protector). Signed by Haldeman, Sterling and Waldrop. Man, look at that list of names above! If you want to know why Dozois won more Best Editor Hugos than anyone else, here’s a good place to start. With the exception of S. C. Sykes, every single person in this collection was or is a major writer in the field, even though many were just starting out when he picked these stories. This is one of the strongest of all the Year’s Bests he’s done. All the Bluejay Year’s Best volumes are hard to find now in any state or condition, and hardbacks firsts are nearly impossible. Highly recommended. $115.

    LP1527. Egan, Greg. Incandescence. Gollancz, 2008. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dj with a tiny bit of crimping at head, new and unread. Far future SF novel, and the first in several years for Egan. Precedes the Night Shade edition. Gollancz seems to have cut back drastically on their hardback print runs; this came out May 15, and was already OP in hardback on June 1, and I had to scramble around to find some in the UK. $49.

    LP1836. Egan, Greg. Zendegi. Night Shade Press, 2010. First U.S. edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Egan’s latest novel, set in a post-theocracy Iran and a popular virtual reality game. $15.

    LP1688. Farmer, Philip Jose. The Other in the Mirror. Subterranean Press, 2009. First hardback edition (and first thus), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Collects three novels (Fire and the Nigh, Jesus on Mar, and Night of Light), previously published as paperback originals. Only have one. $35.

    LP487. Fuentes, Carlos. The Good Conscience. Ivan Oblensky, Inc., 1961. First edition hardback (“First Printing” stated), an Ex-Library copy will all the usual flaws, otherwise G+/NF- with wear to head and heel as well as a thin line staining at top and bottom boards (almost certainly from an old style library dust jacket protector), front hinge starting to crack and shallow chipping at dj head. His second novel. $15.

    LP1879. Garton, Ray. Darklings. Bloodletting Press, 2004. First hardback edition, one of only 300 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. $30.

    LP1461. Gaiman, Neil (Gahan Wilson). M is for Magic. Subterranean Press, 2007. First Limited Edition, one of 1000 copies signed by Gaiman and illustrator Gahan Wilson, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. New collection of stories, theoretically of the children-friendly variety, but I’m sure all Neil’s fans will want a copy, especially given the usual wonderful Gahan Wilson illustrations. List price is $60. Your price: $45.

    LP1785. Gentle, Mary. Ash: A Secret History. Gollancz, 2000. First edition hardback (the American edition was broken up into four paperback volumes, the first volume of which preceded this), a Fine- copy with a few pinhead sized spots of black ink to the front free endpaper (transfer from a former magic marker over the price on the dust jacket that wiped right off, leaving no sign on the dust jacket itself) and one page with the very tip slightly dog-eared, in a Fine- dust jacket with one tiny wrinkle at head, and one very faint brownish spot, smaller than a half dime, at the top of the inner flap; just short of a perfect copy, as these are all extremely minor flaws. Huge (1,110+ page), ambitious fantasy (with science fiction elements) about a female mercenary captain in a middle ages very different from our own (a world where a Visigothic Carthage not only never fell, but which lives under the Penitence, a sort of supernatural perpetual twilight), framed by a scholar reading the manuscript of same, only to find elements of this divergent reality leaking into our own. Recommended. $65.

    LP1058. Glass, Julia. Three Junes. Pantheon, 2002. First edition hardback (numberline goes down to I, “First Edition” statement present) in a first state dj (no mention of Good Morning America), a Fine-/Fine- copy with just the barest trace of bumping at head and heel, and a phantom wrinkle to top front cover just above title. National Book Award winner. $10.

    LP1880. Hamilton, Edmund. The Complete Edmund Hamilton, Volume One: The Metal Giants and Others. Haffner Press, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. First volume of the collected stories of this early science fiction giant, whose career started before and continued into the Golden Age. I’ve picked up a few Haffner Press titles to see how they sale, and like all of them this is a big fat, square book. Only have one. $5 off cover price. $35.

    LP1404. Hand, Elizabeth. Illyria. PS Publishing, 2006. First edition hardback, one of less than 400 signed copies (limited to Postscripts subscribers, plus 200 unnumbered copies, of which this is one), Fine in decorated boards, sans dj, as issued. This year’s Postscripts Christmas special. Only have one. $30.

    LP1690. Harris, Charlaine. The Julius House. Scribner, 1995. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy with small previous owner’s name in blue ink on FFE and slight spine lean, in a Near Fine+ dj with a slight crimping at head and heel and some slight, non-breking creasing to back top and back fold, otherwise fairly nice. Part of the Aurora Teagarden mystery series by the author of the enormously popular Sookie Stackhouse vampire books. $34.

    LP1534. Heinlein, Robert A. Project Moonbase and Others. Subterranean Press, 2008. First edition hardback, one of only 750 copies signed by introducer John Scalzi and illustrator Bob Eggleton, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. A huge, 546 page volume containing the screenplay for the SF film of the same name, plus eleven finished teleplays and two story outlines for a projected television show. This, and a forthcoming companion volume, are the last unpublished Heinlein material existent, and 750 is a pretty puny print run considering the huge number of Heinlein fans. No unsigned edition. $60.

    LP1637. Hodgson, William, Hope. The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson Volume 5: The Dream of X and Other Fantastic Visions. Night Shade Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dj, as issued. Fifth and final volume of the collected Hodgson. The first printings of all the rest are out of print. $28.

    LP1881. Kuttner, Henry. Terror in the House: The Early Kuttner, Volume One. Haffner Press, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Kuttner was one of the greats, did his best work in short fiction, and is an under-appreciated writer today, so I’m glad to see Haffner collecting all his stories. Only have one. $5 off cover price. $35.

    LP1882. Kuttner, Henry, and C. L. Moore. Detour to Otherness. Haffner Press, 2010. Haffner Press, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Moore was another great writer who did her best work in short fiction, and the two of them together were usually pretty damn good. Only have one. $5 off cover price. $35.

    LP1640. King, Stephen. Stephen King Goes to the Movies. Subterranean Press, 2009. First edition hardback, one of 2000 copies (and the only hardback edition), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Includes five stories by King that were made into movies (“1408,” “The Mangler,” “Low Men in Yellow Coats” (made into Hearts in Atlantis), “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” “The Mist” and “Children of the Corn,” each with new introductions by King about how the moves were made and what he thought of them. Illustrations by Vincent Chong. With two color printing and heavier than usual paper, this is a lavish production beyond even the usual high Subterranean Press standards. I haven’t read all the stories in here, but the ones I have are among King’s best. Recommended. $65.

    LP1884. Lansdale, Joe R. Christmas With the Dead. PS Publishing, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dj, as issued. Zombie story. According to Joe, this has been fast-tracked to be turned into a film. $14.

    LP18840. Lansdale, Joe R. Christmas With the Dead. PS Publishing, 2010. First edition hardback, one of 300 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Now out of print from the publisher. $35.

    LP1277. Lovecraft, H. P. (edited by S. T. Joshi). Collected Essays Volume 3: Science. Hippocampus Press, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread, still in publisher’s shrinkwrap. I haven’t seen a print run listed for this, but according to the publisher, the print run for the hardbacks for the first two volumes was only 250 copies (and I’ve sold all my copies of those). $34.

    LP1346. Lovecraft, H. P. Collected Essays Volume 4: Travel. Hippocampus Press, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread, still in publisher’s shrinkwrap. I know that there were only 250 copies of the hardback printed for some of the earlier volumes, and of the five copies I ordered, I only have one left. $34.

    LP1414. Lovecraft, H. P. Collected Essays Volume 5: Philosophy, Autobiography & Miscellany. Hippocampus Press, 2007. First edition hardback, one of only 250 hardback copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread, still in publisher’s shrinkwrap. The final volume of Lovecraft Essays. $34.

    LP1885. Martin, George R. R. A Feast for Crows. Voyager, 2005. One of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, in slipcase, as issued, new and unread, still in publisher’s shrinkwrap. List price is $100. My price? $65.

    LP1018. McAuley, Paul [J.]. Whole Wide World. HarperCollins/Voyager (UK), 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dj with a tiny bit of crimping at head and the barest trace of edgewear, otherwise new and apparently unread. They evidently took the J. out of his name in hopes of fooling the computers and making this his breakthrough mainstream technothriller. Actually looks like an SF murder mystery. This UK edition precedes the Tor edition by a year. $10.

    LP1886. Morris, Mark, editor (Joe R. Lansdale, Lucius Shepard, Alastair Reynolds, etc.). Cinema Futura. PS Publishing, 2010. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Companion volume to Cinema Macabre, with the likes of Joe R. Lansdale, Alastair Reynolds, Mike Resnick, etc. providing commentary on important SF movies from Metropolis to Avatar. If you’re a serious movie buff you probably want a copy, and I only have one. $42.

    LP1284. Pohl, Frederik. Gateway. St. Martins, 1977. First edition hardback (no statement of printing on copyright page, as per Currey), an Ex-Library copy with all the usual flaws, otherwise VG- with moderate wear at heel, slight bumping to head and heel, and sticker ghosts on covers, in a NF- dj with slight crinkling at head, library sticker on spine, and three tack-head sized spots of wear that may or may not be on the dj itself rather than the protector, not clipped, with price of $8.95 intact. Signed by Pohl. Hugo and Nebula winner. Perhaps the hardest domestic SF novel of the 1970s to find. $95.

    LP1887. 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. First hardback of Stephenson’s second novel, and the usual quality Subterranean Press production. Let’s list this at $10 off the publisher’s price. $140.

    LP1888. Stross, Charles. Scratch Monkey. NESFA, 2011. First edition hardback, one of only 800 numbered trade copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Previously unpublished novel of far-future, galaxy-spanning SF. 800 copies (plus 200 signed, slipcased copies) is ridiculously low for a Stross book, and the copies I got have numbers in the 790s, so you might ant to pick one up sooner rather than later. $24.

    LP523. Turtledove, Harry. Agent of Byzantium. First edition hardback, Fine/Fine-, with barest trace of edgewear to rear cover. Part of the “Asimov’s Presents” line edited by Gardner Dozois. $13.

    LP1889. Vance, Jack. Book of Dreams. Underwood/Miller, 1981. First hardback edition. On the exterior, this is a Fine copy; unfortunately, someone has annotated this volume with highlighting and several different colors of pen, including notes on the title, quarter title, and half-title page, so call it Very Good-. The fifth and final Demon Prince novel, and the hardest of the five to find by a good measure. $49.

    LP1890. Watts, Peter. Starfish. Tor, 1999. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket, with just the barest touches of wear hear and there, otherwise new and unread. His first novel, and increasingly hard to find since Blindsight was a Hugo finalist. $49.

    LP696. Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties: Volume II: 1958-1962. McFarland, 1986. First edition hardback, VG+ with slight scuffing to covers (mainly the back) and three tackhead to quarter sized stains to top edge, slightly affecting FFE at top, in yellow decorated boards, sans dj, as issued. The second volume of Bill Warren’s excellent and engaging set documenting and reviewing the science films of the 1950s, and is roughly twice the size of its predecessor (and includes a few films left out of that volume). Covers everything from The Time Machine and Village of the Damned to Plan 9 From Outer Space. Also includes cast and crew listings for the films covered. Truly a must for anyone with an interest in SF films of the era, and has earned the Howard Waldrop seal of approval. Recommended. $35.

    LP1192. Wells, Martha. The Element of Fire. Tor, 1992. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dj with just a trace of edgewear at extremities, otherwise immaculate. Difficult to find in any edition, nearly impossible for the hardback, and doubly so for a signed copy. $49.

    LP207. Williams, Walter Jon. Aristoi. Tor, 1992. First edition hardback, Fine in a Fine DJ. His best SF novel, IMHO. Recommended. $15.

    LP1069. Williams, Walter Jon. The Rift. Harper Prism, 1999. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dj with traces of bumping at head and heel; extremely minor for a book this large. His disaster novel, where the real life New Madrid fault along the Mississippi River gives way. $10.

    LP1103. Willis, Connie. To Say Nothing of the Dog. Bantam, 1998. First Edition hardback, a Fine- copy in a Fine- dj, with very faint bumps at head and heel (including a very slight wrinkle at heel), and the barest trace of haze rubbing to the rear cover. Otherwise this is a beautiful copy of a Hugo winning first that’s recently gotten quite pricey. Signed by Willis. $70.

    LP1552. Willis, Connie, with Cynthia Felice. Light Raid . Ace, 1989. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with all the usual flaws, otherwise Near Fine/Fine copy with a trace of spine lean. Signed by Willis and Felice. $10.

    LP1432. Wilson, Robert Charles. Julian: A Christmas Story. PS Publishing, . First edition hardback, one of 300 numbered copies signed by Wilson and introduction author Robert J. Sawyer, a Fine copy in a Fine dj, new and unread. For those who care about such things, the numbers on the ones I got were all between 10 and 20. Out of print from the publisher. $28.

    LP1705. Zelazny, Roger (Neil Gaiman). The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny Volume Three: This Mortal Mountain. NESFA Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. The third in a six volume series of all Zelazny’s short fiction. Neil Gaiman and David Hartwell each provide an introduction. This volume also includes a deleted sex scene from The Guns of Avalon. Another cool thing about this series is a uniform illustration position on the dust jacket so that the spines form a unified picture. I’ll be getting the rest in as they’re published. Highly recommended. $4 off the cover price. $25.

    LP1706. Zelazny, Roger (Joe Haldeman, Steven Brust). The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny Volume Four: Last Exit to Babylon. NESFA Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. The fourth in a six volume series of all Zelazny’s short fiction. Joe Haldeman and Steven Brust each provide an introduction. Again, $4 off the cover price. $25.

    LP1752. Zelazny, Roger. The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny Volume Five: Nine Black Doves. NESFA Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. $25.

    LP17520. Zelazny, Roger. The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny Volume Six: The Road to Amber. NESFA Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. $25.

    LP1891. Zelazny, Roger. Eye of Cat. Underwood/Miller, 1982. First limited Edition, #207 of 300 numbered copies signed by Zelazny, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. A novel of a man of American Indian decent stalked by a fearsome alien he captured many years before. $80.

    LP1815. Zelazny, Roger. Nine Princes in Amber. Doubleday, 1970. First edition hardback (Currey, p. 571, Levack 28a) with First Printing stated and date code L16 on page 188 , an Ex-Library copy with all the usual flaws, including pocket remains to rear, numerous date stamps and paper attachments to FFE, book taped to dust jacket with non-archival tapes, the remains of which have now discolored, with spine lean, worn bottom boards, in a a largely intact but worn dust jacket, with sun-faded spine and stamp at spine heel, numerous white-line creases along spine and at top front of book, a few shallow chips (1/16″) on front dj bottom, small spots of abrasion near the line creasing next to (but not on) the “N” in “Nine” on the front cover, moderate discoloration to white back cover, and general wear; call it a Good/Good Ex-library copy, since the book is very well read, but still structurally sound. The first book in the Amber series. The story is that Doubleday’s warehouse was mistakenly ordered to pulp all Zelazny’s books the same day this one arrived from the printer, which means that only pre-orders and library sales escaped the pulping, and why the vast majority of the very few copies that come up for sale are Ex-Library copies. Normally a book in this condition would only be a space filler copy, but this is so rare that it may have to suffice unless you’re willing to drop a couple of grand for a non Ex-Lib. Highly recommended. $350.

    LP1754. Zelazny, Roger. The Sign of the Unicorn. Doubleday, 1975. First edition hardback (Currey, p. 571, Levack 33a), a Near Fine copy with a bookplate and previous owner’s signature on the FFE in a Near Fine- dust jacket, with a 1/2″ semi-closed tear on rear bottom spine join, a 1/2″ closed tear on front bottom spine join, tiny flecks of white rubbing along rear spine join, a 1/4″ closed tear on bottom rear, and some slight dust staining to white rear dust jacket, but otherwise a very presentable copy. The third Amber novel, and getting harder to find. Highly recommended, as are all five of the original Amber novels. $49.

    Trade Paperbacks

    LP1892. Bennett, Robert Jackson. Mr. Shivers. Orbit, 2010. Advanced Reading Copy (ARC), trade paperback format, of the first edition, a Fine copy, new and unread. First novel. As you can tell from this review, I’m think it’s pretty good: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/02/review-mr-shivers-by-robert-jackson-bennett/ . $10.

    LP1893. Leicht, Stina. Of Blood and Honey. Night Shade Press, 2011. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, new and unread. Stina is a friend and long-time member of the Turkey City Writer’s Workshop, so it’s good to see her first novel make it out into the world. This is a fantasy set against the Troubles of Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Signed by Leicht. $14.

    LP1894. (Zelazny, Roger) Kovacs, Christopher C., compiler. The Ides of Octember: A Pictorial Bibliography of Roger Zelazny. NESFA Press, 2010. First edition trade paperback original (no hardback edition), a Fine copy, new and unread, still in publisher’s shrinkwrap. Same size and with a cover that extends the matching Whelan spine cover from the six-column Collected Zelazny set. Only have one… $23.

    Blogroll Updates

    Friday, December 31st, 2010

    I’ve been doing a little blog-roll updating, and I’ve finally got around to adding the blogs of some other writers. (The Wheels of Futuramen may grind slow, but they grand exceedingly, well, slow. Glacial, even.) These are writers who are personal friends I know and like, who are excellent writers, who write interesting blogs, or all of the above. So I’ve gone ahead and added links to the blogs of:

    No doubt I’ll be adding more as time permits.

    Library Additions, January 25, 2010—July 11, 2010

    Sunday, July 11th, 2010

    It’s been a while since I listed additions to my library, so here’s an update for my fellow bookoholics that includes everything since the weekend of my Archer City trip. All are new and unread Fine first edition hardbacks in Fine dust jackets, unless otherwise noted. Now that I’ve finished staining and varnishing a new bookshelf, and moving books around to accommodate it, I hope to do a more detailed photographic post on my library, since a few people complained that they couldn’t read the spine titles in the last set of pictures.

    Books that I have available for sale through Lame Excuse Books are marked LEB (though some of those titles won’t appear on the stock page until after I send out my book catalog later this month), while other current publications contain Amazon links.

    • Baker, Kage. Not Less Than Gods. Subterranean Press, 2010. One of 474 signed, numbered copies.
    • Barron, Neil, ed. What Fantastic Fiction Do I Read Next? A Reader’s Guide to Recent Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction. Gale Research, 1998. Non-fiction. Issued without dj.
    • Bear, Elizabeth. Bone and Jewel Creatures. Subterranean Press, 2010.
    • Bear, Greg. Hegira. Dell, 1979. PBO original, NF-.
    • Bond, Nelson. Mr. Mergenthwirker’s Lobblies and Other Fantastic Tales. Coward-McCann, 1946. NF in a VG, price-clipped dj. Inscribed by Bond.
    • Campbell, Ramsey. Creatures of the Pool. PS Publishing, 2009. LEB
    • Chabon, Michael. The Final Solution. Fourth Estate, 2004. One of an undetermined number of copies signed on a special limitation page issued by the publisher.
    • Datlow, Ellen and Teri Windling, editors. The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Thirteenth Annual Collection. St. Martins, 2000. Inscribed to me by Datlow.
    • Datlow, Ellen, Gavin Grant and Kelly Link, editors. The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2007: Twentieth Annual Collection. St. Martins, 2007. Inscribed to me by Datlow.
    • Datlow, Ellen, Gavin Grant and Kelly Link, editors. The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection. St. Martins, 2008. Inscribed to me by Datlow.
    • Del Rey, Lester. Mortals and Monsters. Ballantine Books, 1965. PBO, Fine-.
    • (Dick, Philip K.) Williams, Paul. Only Apparently Real: The Life of Philip K. Dick. Arbor House, 1986. Non-fiction. Fine copy in wraps, as issued (no hardback).
    • Domenici, Joe. Bringing Back the Dead. Thomas Dunn, 2008. Inscribed to me by the author.
    • Duncan, Andy. Night Cache. PS Publishing, 2009. LEB
    • Erikson, Steven. Crack’d Pot Trail. PS Publishing, 2009. LEB
    • Fernandez-Florez, W[encesiao]. The Seven Pillars. Macmillan and Co., Ltd. (UK), 1934. First edition hardback, a NF/G+ copy.
    • Gaiman, Neil. The Facts In The Case Of The Departure Of Miss Finch. Night Horse Comics, 2007. Hardback graphic novel.
    • Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. HarperCollins, 2008. Fine in a Fine- dust jacket.
    • Harrison, Harry. Bill, the Galactic Hero. Doubleday, 1965. Fine in a Near Fine, slightly spine-darkened dust jacket.
    • Hill, Joe. Horns. PS Publishing, 2010. First UK and first limited edition hardback, one of 200 copies signed by both the author and artist Vincent Chong in traycase with three extra chapters not in the trade edition, extra art not in any other edition, etc. a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and traycase. Notably thicker than the signed, slipcased edition. LEB
    • Hill, Joe. Horns. PS Publishing, 2010. First UK and first limited edition hardback, one of 500 copies signed, slipcased copies. LEB
    • Houdini, Harry. The Right Way to Do Wrong: An Expose of Successful Criminals. Easton Press, no date (probably around 2000); Reprint of the 1906 wraps original done as part of the Treasures of the Library of Congress series. Hardback, no dust jacket, as issued. Non-fiction.
    • Howard, Robert E. Cthulhu: The Mythos and Kindred Horrors. Baen, 1987. PBO, Fine (replaces a VG copy). LEB
    • Koontz, Dean R./ Bulmer, Kenneth. The Fall of the Dream Machine/The Star Venturers. Ace, 1969. PBO, NF.
    • Kowal, Mary Robinette. Scenting the Dark. Subterranean Press, 2009.
    • Lansdale, Joe R. The Best of Joe R. Lansdale. Tachyon, 2009. TPO. LEB
    • Lansdale, Joe R. and Keith, editor. Son of Retro Pulp Tales. Subterranean Press, 2010. One of 200 signed, numbered copies, signed by all the contributors. LEB
    • Leiber, Fritz. Selected Stories. Night Shade Books, 2010. LEB
    • Ligotti, Thomas. Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Subterranean Press, 2010. Hardback. First edition thus.
    • (Lovecraft, H. P.) Joshi, S. T. Black Wings: Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. PS Publishing, 2010. LEB
    • Mitford, Bertram. The Sign of the Spider. Methuen & Co., 1896. VG- copy, no dust jacket (may not have been issued with one).
    • Partridge, Norman. Lesser Demons. Subterranean Press, 2010. First edition hardback, one of 200 copies with bonus chapbook.Red Rover, Red Rover.
    • (Pohl, Frederik) Hull, Elizbeth Anne, editor. Gateways. Tor, 2010. Tribute anthology.
    • (Powers, Tim) Berlyne, John., ed. Powers: Secret Histories. PS Publishing, 2009.
    • Reynolds, Alastair. Deep Navigation. NESFA Press, 2010. LEB
    • Reynolds, Alastair. Terminal World. Gollancz, 2010. Signed by the author. LEB
    • Shea, Michael. The Extra. Tor, 2010.
    • Shepard, Lucius. Viator Plus. PS Publishing, 2010. LEB
    • Shepard, Lucius. The Tanborn Scale. Subterranean Press, 2010.
    • Simmons, Dan. Black Hills. Reagan Arthur Books, 2010. Inscribed to me by Simmons.
    • Tymn Marshall B. Horror Literature A Core Collection and Reference Guide. R. R. Bowker, 1981. Non-fiction. No DJ, as issued.
    • Vance, Jack. Hard Luck Diggings. Subterranean Press, 2010. LEB
    • VanderMeer, Jeff. Finch: The Rebel Samizdat Edition. Underlands Press, 2009. One of 350 signed, numbered copies with a Murder By Death CD laid in, in wax-signet sealed (!) Mylar bag. LEB
    • Wellman, Manly Wade. Giants from Eternity. Avalon, 1959. A Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket.
    • Wilson, F. Paul. The Last Rakosh. Overlook Connection Press, 2008. One of 500 signed/numbered copies.
    • Zelazny, Roger. The Dream Master. Ace, 1966. PBO, Fine. LEB
    • Zelazny, Roger. Four for Tomorrow. Ace, 1967. PBO, Fine.
    • Zelazny, Roger. Hymn to the Sun: An Imitation, DNA Publications, 1996. Poetry chapbook, a Fine- copy with some rubbing to price code on rear cover.
    • Zelazny, Roger. This Immortal. Ace, 1964. PBO, Fine. LEB
    • Zivkovic, Zoran. Impossible Stories 2. PS Publishing, 2009. LEB

    New Page for Lame Excuse Books

    Thursday, June 10th, 2010

    Given TimeWarner’s continued incompetence, I’m slowly pulling all of my website from rr.com over to here. I now have the main Lame Excuse Books page at:

    https://www.lawrenceperson.com/lame.html

    If you’ve never bought anything from me before, Lame Excuse Books specializes in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and Slipstream first editions, with an emphasis on small press and signed editions. I have lots of books available by the like of Joe R. Lansdale, Howard Waldrop, Neil Gaiman, Charles Stross, John Scalzi, etc.

    So update your book marks! And it wouldn’t hurt for you to buy a book or ten…

    Lawrence Person’s Library of Science Fiction First Editions

    Thursday, December 31st, 2009

    I’ve been meaning to take pictures of my library for quite a while, and I finally got around to doing it. These are just the ones in my fiction library; I haven’t taken pictures of the non-fiction up in my office yet.

    I started collecting hypermodern (i.e., post-Neuromancer) science fiction first editions in the late 1980s, concentrating on hardbacks of works and authors I felt were important. I have essentially completed that collection (though I am always adding new books as they come out), and am now trying to amass a collection of first editions of every important post-WWII work of science fiction, as well as selected fantasy and horror authors, which should keep me busy quite a while. Save one Stephen King ultralimited I bought pre-publication, I have never spent more than $400 for any single book (and precious few over $300). I won’t settle for later printings or copies with corner-clipped dust jackets, but my price ceiling has forced me to settle for ex-library copies of a handful of key works (for example, Dune and The Man in the High Castle). When I refer to an “imperfect” first, it’s generally (but not always) an Ex-Library copy. The rest tend to be Fine/Fine or gently read copies, though with a bit more flexibility for older titles. I am one “difficult” book away from having a complete collection of Hugo winners, and save the most recent one, have a complete collection of Nebula Winners, as well as many World Fantasy and Bram Stoker award winners, plus a smattering of literary firsts and prize winners picked up when I chanced across them.

    Mine is a very extensive SF collection, but far from the largest or most valuable, even in private hands. I’m sure there are many old fans whose libraries would (or may still) put mine to shame. Before being broken up, the legendary collections of Sam Moskowitz and Forrest J. Ackerman would have easily blown mine away. Although David Hartwell has started selling pieces of his, from talking to him I’m sure what remains of David’s collection still exceeds mine by a good measure. Kurt Baty has assembled very close to a complete collection of all science fiction works ever published, but has not concentrated on first editions. Given the number of auctions I’ve lost to him over the years, I’m sure Larry Bigman’s collection leaves mine in the shade. Allen Lewis’ collection of hypermodern science fiction has a breadth that far exceeds my own. Mike Berro and Jerry Hewett have collections at least comparable to my own (and far more complete when it comes to Jack Vance). If I had to guess, my collection might sneak into the top 50 in private hands, but that may be too high.

    Previous and far less complete attempts to document my library are here and here.

    Unless otherwise noted, all the volumes listed under highlights are either the true first edition, or the first hardback edition (frequently British) when the true first was a paperback original. If the UK edition preceded the American, then the true first is the one I have, unless otherwise indicated.

    These pictures were taken with a Kodak EasyPic V803 and edited in iPhoto. The gaps visible on shelves are what I call “expansion joints,” and are there so I can add new acquisitions. Caveats: I don’t have a tripod, and I don’t know how to do keystone correction for camera angle (especially apparent on the eight-high bookshelves). Still, an acute observer should be able to pic out numerous individual volumes…

    Note: This is my personal/professional library, and none of these are for sale. For science fiction books I do have for sale, please see the Lame Excuse Books website.


    A-B

    • Some Isaac Asimov, including a complete Gnome Press Foundation trilogy, plus The Gods Themselves and imperfect copies of many of his early novels and short story collections.
    • A. A. Attanasio’s Radix.
    • Nicholas Baker’s Mezzanine.
    • Some signed J. G. Ballard, including The Atrocity Exhibition (the true UK first, not the later but rarer pulped US edition) and some later books, plus unsigned copies of High Rise and Empire of the Sun, and an imperfect Crystal World.
    • A complete Iain Banks collection (save his most recent one), including The Wasp Factory and Use of Weapons.
    • A nearly-complete Clive Barker collection (missing some of the graphic novel and illustration stuff, as well as a recent book or two), including copies of The Damnation Game, various states of The Books of Blood, Cabal and the UK Weaveworld, the last two signed.
    • An nearly complete Neal Barrett, Jr. collection (discounting the media tie-in stuff).
    • A signed copy of Stephen Baxter’s The Time Ships, plus Timelike Infinity and imperfect firsts of Raft, Anti-Ice, and Ring. My Baxter collection is collection is complete up to the point (sometime shortly after 2000 or so) when he started cranking them out so fast I couldn’t even hope to keep up with him.
    • A nearly complete Greg Bear collection (missing the Cheap Street Sleepside Story and one or two recent ones), including Blood Music, Eon, The Wind from a Burning Woman, Darwin’s Radio and Early Harvest, most signed or inscribed.


    B-C

    • Gregory Benford’s Timescape.
    • A mint copy of Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man with his business card laid in, as well as an imperfect but inscribed copy of Who He?.
    • A complete Michael Bishop collection, including No Enemy But Time, several inscribed to me.
    • A nearly complete James P. Blaylock collection (missing one or two of the recent ones), including one of 100 hardback copies of the Axolotl Paper Dragons, as well as the signed, limited editions of The Last Coin and The Magic Spectacles.
    • A mostly complete Robert Bloch collection, including an imperfect copy of Psycho.
    • A woefully incomplete Ray Bradbury collection, some signed.
    • A true (UK) first of Ernest Bramah’s Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat in dust jacket.
    • David Brin’s Startide Rising and Uplift War.
    • A mostly complete Poppy Z. Brite collection, including the hardback of Plastic Jesus.
    • Peter Currell Brown’s Smallcreep’s Day
    • An imperfect first of John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar, as well as a signed first of The Sheep Look Up, and an inscribed copy of The Stone That Never Came Down that formerly belonged to Christopher Priest.
    • Stephen Brust’s To Reign in Hell.
    • The Easton Press signed first hardbacks of Lois McMaster Bujold Barryar and The Vor Game, as well as the hardback first of Mirror Dance and The Paladin of Souls.
    • A complete Octavia Butler collection (several signed), including Survivor, the rarest of her books.


    C-D

    • A complete Pat Cadigan collection (discounting some media tie-in stuff).
    • Something like a complete Jack Cady collection.
    • Inscribed firsts of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, as well as Songmaster, A Planet Called Treason and Cardography; indeed, all Card’s fiction hardbacks up to Xenocide; I read that and Prentice Alvin, and after that I stopped buying his books.
    • A complete Jonathan Carroll collection, all signed or inscribed, including The Land of Laughs.
    • Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve and copy of The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman that formerly belonged to Carter.
    • Inscribed firsts of Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
    • A signed copy of Suzy McKee Charnes’ The Vampire Tapestry.
    • C.J. Cherryh’s Cyteen and an inscribed SFBC (first hardback) Downbelow Station.
    • An imperfect Ballantine Books hardback of Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End, a decent Earthlight, a very nice Against the Fall of Night, an imperfect Rendezvous With Rama, a nice The Fountains of Paradise and the signed, slipcased PS Publishing edition of Tales from the White Hart.
    • Some Hal Clement, including a signed, imperfect Mission of Gravity and a nice Iceworld.
    • An extensive Storm Constantine collection.
    • A nearly complete John Crowley collection, including signed or inscribed copies of Little, Big (reportedly Gollancz only did 300 hardbacks), The Deep and Engine Summer.
    • A complete run (at least up through issue 17) of the signed hardback state of Postscripts (including Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Joe Hill, etc.).
    • A bunch of Jack Dann.


    D

    • Closing in on a complete Avram Davidson collection, including one of only 25 hardback copies of El Vilvoy de las Islas
    • An extensive Samuel R. Delany collection up to 1980 or so, all signed, including solid (but not pristine) Gollancz hardback firsts of Babel-17 and The Einstein Intersection.
    • A complete Bradley Denton collection, all signed or inscribed, including The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians/A Conflagration Artist and Blackburn’s Lady.
    • August Derleth’s Someone in the Dark (the second Arkham House book), sadly lacking the dust jacket, and a signed copy of The Mask of Cthulhu
    • A not-yet complete Philip K. Dick collection, including Imperfect firsts of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Time Out of Joint, The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik, and The Penultimate Truth, a nice set of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, nice copies of The Man Whose Teeth Were Exactly Alike, Martian Time Slip, The Game Players of Titan, Confessions of a Crap Artist, A Scanner Darkly and the slipcased Valis set with Cosmogony and Cosmology. (A number of paperback firsts appear on the paperback shelf, and a number of non-fiction works are upstairs in my reference library.)
    • A complete Paul Di Filippo collection, including one of 100 signed hardback copies of Ciphers.
    • An extensive Thomas Disch collection, including Camp Concentration, 334 and Torturing Mr. Amberwell.
    • A complete hardback set (save a few of the most recent volumes) of Gardner Dozois’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction, including the very rare first three Bluejay Books editions, several signed by many of the contributors.


    D-G

    • A complete Greg Egan collection, including a copy of Axiomatic inscribed to his editor David Pringle (Egan signatures, much less inscriptions, are vanishingly rare), as well as firsts of An Unusual Angle (only 100 hardback copies), Quarantine, and Permutation City.
    • A complete George Alec Effinger collection, many inscribed to me.
    • A nearly-complete Harlan Ellison hardback collection (though I lack several of the most difficult paperbacks).
    • A fair amount of Philip Jose Farmer, including a beautiful copy of To Your Scattered Bodies Go (formerly Buck and Juanita Coulson’s copy), plus signed copies of Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Love Song, The Adventure of the Peerless Peer and Up from the Bottomless Pit.
    • The first English-language edition of Camille Flammarion’s Urania and the first U.S. edition of Lumen.
    • A not-quite complete Neil Gaiman collection, including 1/26 signed, lettered, traycased copies of M is for Magic (with an original drawing by Gahan Wilson on the limitation page), one of 500 signed, numbered copies of Neverwhere, Murder Mysteries: A Play for Voices and Snow Glass Apples: A Play for Voices (both signed and limited in slipcase), Angels and Visitations, the signed/limited editions of American Gods and Anansi Boys, as well as signed copies of the trade state, plus a bunch of other signed Gaiman (not shown: hardback collections of the complete run of Sandman (both the first and the four-volume Absolute Sandman), plus a bunch of other Gaiman graphic novels, most signed, up in the graphic novel section on the second floor).
    • An extensive John Gardner collection, including Grendel.
    • A bunch of Ray Garton, including the Charnel House (true first) signed/limited edition of The New Neighbor.
    • A nearly complete Jane Gaskell collection, including Strange Evil and King’s Daughter.
    • A complete Mary Gentle collection (discounting her pseudonymous porn novels), including Ash: A Secret History.


    G-J

    • A complete William Gibson book collection (discounting Agrippa), all signed, including a Fine Gollancz Neuromancer (one of the highpoints of the entire collection) and a copy of Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s The Difference Engine signed by both.
    • William Goldman’s The Princess Bride.
    • Alasdair Gray’s Lanark.
    • A signed copy of Curme Gray’s Murder in Millennium VI.
    • Signed copies of Ken Grimwood’s Elise and The Voice Outside.
    • U.S. first edition of General Sir John Hackett’s The Third World War: August 1985, with a signed typed letter by Hackett laid in.
    • Inscribed firsts of Joe Haldeman’s Forever Peace, The Accidental Time Machine and Camouflage, plus an inscribed, imperfect first of The Forever War.
    • Peter F. Hamilton’s first ten or so phone books, including an inscribed first of The Reality Dysfunction.
    • A fair amount (but by no means a complete collection) of Robert A. Heinlein, including imperfect firsts of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Double Star, Stranger in a Strange Land, and Starship Troopers (the last rather nice), and a pristine first of Sixth Column.
    • A very imperfect true first of Frank Herbert’s Dune.
    • Two different states of the signed, limited edition of Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts.
    • The Gnome Press editions of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Conqueror and King Conan.
    • Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen, plus the signed Subterranean press omnibus.
    • One of less than 100 copies of the H. P. Lovecraft/Russ Meyer crossover anthology, Hastur, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!




    J-M

    • An essentially complete Shirley Jackson collection, including The Haunting of Hill House, The Road Through the Wall, Hangsaman and an imperfect copy of The Lottery.
    • A complete K. W. Jeter collection (save the media tie-in work), including the signed, limited hardback of Dr. Adder.
    • Ha Jin’s Waiting.
    • One of 52 signed hardback copies of Graham Joyce’s Leningrad Nights, the second PS Publishing novella.
    • Essentially complete James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel collections, including Freedom Beach, one of only 100 hardback copies, signed by both.
    • Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon.
    • I have a fair amount of Stephen King, but nothing approaching a complete collection (I may be an insane collector, but I’m not that insane), including one of 99 copies total (and one of only 33 with this cover art) of the PS Publishing (first hardback edition) signed, limited, tray-cased edition of Stephen King’s The Colorado Kid, plus a copy of the signed, limited edition of same, one of 1,250 signed, limited copies of the Mark V. Ziesing (true first) edition of Insomnia, the first four Donald M. Grant Dark Tower books, the signed, limited edition of Under the Dome (reportedly 1,500 copies, all of which were sold out within a day of being available for order), and an imperfect first of The Shining.
    • A complete Russell Kirk fiction collection (including The Surly Sullen Bell, Old House of Fear, and his two Arkham House Books, The Princess of All Lands and Watchers at the Straight Gates, most signed.
    • Henry Kuttner’s Robots Have No Tails.
    • A complete R. A. Lafferty hardback collection (save the two Pendragon Press chapbooks I have in wraps), including Tales of Chiacago, Tales of Midnight, and Argo, and the Gregg Press The Devil is Dead.
    • An essentially complete Joe R. Lansdale collection (see if you can spot the oddball exception), all signed, including the lettered edition of For a Few Stories More (with a young-adult vampire novel, Shadow Time, found only in this edition), the signed/limited edition of The Bottoms, one of only 26 signed, hardback copies of My Dead Dog Bobby and Triple Feature, one of only 100 signed hardback copies of Veil’s Visit (with Andrew Vachess) and Private Eye Action, As You Like It (with Lewis Shiner), inscribed copies of The Magic Wagon and The Nightrunners.
    • Imperfect firsts of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, and A Wizard of Earthsea.
    • Something approaching a complete Fritz Leiber collection, including the Gregg Press (first hardback) editions of The Big Time and The Sinful Ones, as well as Nights Black Agents, The Wanderer, and Manly Wade Wellman’s copy of Rime Isle, inscribed to him by the publisher.
    • The first English-language edition of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris.
    • Being only slightly insane, I don’t have a complete H. P. Lovecraft collection, but I do have several of the latter Arkham House books, including The Horror in the Museum. (I also have the complete Letters and Essays up in my non-fiction library.)
    • A complete Ken MacLeod collection.
    • A complete George R. R. Martin (discounting some Wild Cards SFBC hardbacks), including the signed/limited edition Songs the Dead Men Sing, plus A Game of Thrones and GRRM.
    • I’m closing in on a complete Richard Matheson collection, including the signed, slipcased state of Collected Stories, Hell House and an imperfect first of I Am Legend (though I do still need the Chamberlain Born of Man and Woman, Stir of Echoes, and the UK Shrinking Man).
    • A complete Paul J. McAuley collection, save for a few recent ones.
    • A complete Robert R. McCammon collection (including Blue World) save the UK Baal and a couple of recent ones.
    • Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
    • A complete Ian McDonald collection.
    • Vonda McIntyre’s Dreamsnake and The Sun and the Moon.
    • Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove.
    • A complete China Mieveille collection, including Perdido Street Station and one of 400 signed, numbered hardbacks of The Tain.
    • An imperfect first of A Canticle for Leibowitz.
    • A few Yukio Mishima firsts (or rather, first American/English Language editions).
    • David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas.
    • An inscribed copy of Elizabeth Moon’s The Speed of Dark.
    • A somewhat random assortment of Michael Moorcock firsts, including Glorianna, all signed or inscribed.
    • Signed copies of C. L. Moore’s Mutant and Black God’s Shadow.


    M-P

    • A complete Richard Morgan collection, most signed, including Altered Carbon.
    • Some David Morrell, including First Blood.
    • A good bit of James Morrow, many signed.
    • Signed copies of Haruki Murakami’s A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
    • Pat Murphy’s The Falling Woman.
    • John Myers Myers’ Silverlock in a rubbed dust jacket.
    • Something approaching a complete collection of Kim Newman’s works under his own name (don’t have the Jack Yeovil/GDW stuff), including Anno Dracula.
    • Complete set of the Night Visions series, some (Barker, Lansdale, Martin) signed or inscribed.
    • I don’t have a complete Larry Niven collection, but I do have a fair amount, including a Gollancz Ringworld, marred only by an excised front free endpaper, as well as an imperfect first of The Mote in God’s Eye.
    • A complete Jeff Noon collection.
    • The first three Naomi Novik books.
    • A nearly complete Chad Oliver collection, including Mists of Dawn.
    • Alexi Panshin’s Rite of Passage.


    P-R

    • Some Frederik Pohl, including signed or inscribed firsts of The Space Merchants, Man Plus and Gateway.
    • Charles Portis’ True Grit.
    • A pretty completely Tim Powers collection, including The Anubis Gates, the Charnel House Stress of Her Regard and Where They Are Hid, the Subterranean Press Declare, Three Days to Never and Ten Poems, the Hypatia Press The Drawing of the Dark, the Cahill The Skies Discrowned, and the NESFA An Epitaph in Rust.
    • Christopher Priest’s The Prestige.
    • A complete run of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine.
    • Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 (however, the Gravity’s Rainbow is, alas, a book club edition).
    • A complete Alastair Reynolds collection, including Revelation Space.
    • Some early Anne Rice, including Interview With a Vampire and The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, and a signed copy of Queen of the Damned.
    • Maurice Richardson’s The Exploits of Engelbrecht.


    R-S

  • A complete Kim Stanley Robinson collection (save a few recent books), including the true UK first editions of Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, as well as The Blind Geometer.
  • A mostly complete Rudy Rucker collection (I lack a couple of the recent ones), including 1 of 200 signed, numbered copies of Transreal!
  • An imperfect first of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and a U.S. first of The Satanic Verses.
  • A bunch of Geoff Ryman.
  • A complete John Scalzi collection (save, I think, the hardback state of the first Subterranean Press chapbook), including Old Man’s War, all of it signed or inscribed.
  • Elizabeth Ann Scarborough’s The Healer’s War.
  • Complete David J. Schow collection, including The Shaft.
  • A complete Michael Shea collection, including Polyphemus and the Hypatia edition of Nifft the Lean.
  • The Collected Stories of Robert Sheckley.
  • A complete Lucuis Shepard collection (save that poetry collection he did way back when), including The Jaguar Hunter, Nantucket Slayrides, Barnacle Bill the Spacer, and The Last Time.


    S

    • A complete Lewis Shiner collection, some inscribed to me.
    • A complete John Shirley collection (save a few recent books and some of the paperback pseudonyms), including one of only 50 signed hardback copies of Black Glass, and one of 100 signed, slipcased copies of Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories.
    • A small collection of Robert Silverberg (especially compared to his overall output), including Dying Inside, A Time of Changes, and The Book of Skulls.
    • A complete Dan Simmons collection (save a few recent ones), many signed or inscribed, including Hyperion, Song of Kali, Carrion Comfort and Entropy’s Bed at Midnight.
    • Closing in on a complete John Sladek collection, including Roderick.
    • Some Clark Ashton Smith, including some later Arkham Houses, including Collected Poems.
    • A complete Cordwainer Smith collection, including Atomsk, Ria, and Carola. (I also have Psychological Warfare and The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat San upstairs in the non-fiction library.)




    S-W

    • A complete William Browning Spencer collection, all signed or inscribed, including Resume With Monsters.
    • Some Brian Stableford, including Empire of Fear and all three of The Werewolves of London trilogy.
    • L. Sprague De Camp’s copy of Olaf Stapledon’s To the End of Time, with his ownership plate pasted in.
    • A nearly complete Neal Stephenson collection, most signed or inscribed, including Snow Crash and The Diamond Age.
    • A nearly complete Sean Stewart collection (lacking his most recent and a media tie-in novel), including Nobody’s Son, Resurrection Man and Mockingbird, most signed.
    • A complete Bruce Sterling collection, including The Artificial Kid, all signed or inscribed to me. (I also have one of only 200 hardback copies of Shaping Things up in the non-fiction library. When I had Bruce sign it, he said he had never seen the hardback edition before…)
    • A complete Charles Stross collection, many signed.
    • The Collected Stories of Theodore Sturgeon.
    • A complete Michael Swanwick fiction collection, including one of only 30 signed hardbacks of Puck Aleshire’s Abecedary, as well as Stations of the Tide.
    • Bernard Taylor’s Sweetheart, Sweetheart inscribed to his niece.
    • Wilson Tucker’s The Long, Loud Silence (formerly Bruce Pelz’s copy).
    • I’m working on a complete Jack Vance collection, but still have many gaps. One thing I do have is The Jack Vance Integral Edition, containing all his works (except, I think, the Ellery Queen mysteries) with the original text and titles restored, in a uniform edition of 44 volumes; because I was one of the first 200 subscribers, the last volume (which contains previously uncollected material) is signed by Vance. I also have the Underwood/Miller firsts of many Vance works, including Night Lamp and Ports of Call.
    • A. E. van Vogt’s World of Null A and The War Against the Rull.
    • A signed copy of Joan D. Vinge’s The Snow Queen.
    • A complete Vernor Vinge collection, including A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, all but The Witling and Rainbows End inscribed.
    • A complete Howard Waldrop collection, including both Cheap Street books (the traycased You Could Go Home Again and Flying Saucer Rock and Roll), as well as All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past, all signed or inscribed to me (Howard rented out a spare room in my house for a little over six months in 2007).
    • Alice Walker’s The Color Purple.
    • A complete Don Webb collection, save one of the 15 hardback copies of When They Came.
    • Closing in on a complete Manly Wade Wellman collection, including Who Fears the Devil? and the the two Carcosa House collections, Worse Things Waiting and Lonely Vigils, and a copy of Third String Center inscribed to his brother, western writer Paul I. Wellman, noting that he “should recognize some of the players.” I lack the Avalon Giants from Eternity and a few of the juveniles. (I also have a collection of Wellman non-fiction upstairs.)


    Oversized Hardbacks
    Some Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, etc. I think this photo is large enough that you can easily read the titles…


    W

    • A complete Martha Wells collection (Save the media-tie-in novels), all inscribed to me, including An Element of Fire.
    • A complete Edward Whittimore collection.
    • Kate Wilhelm’s Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang.
    • Some Jack Williamson, including Darker Than You Think.
    • A complete Connie Willis collection, most inscribed to me, including Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog.
    • A complete Robert Charles Wilson collection (including Spin), save his most recent.
    • A complete Gene Wolfe collection, including Shadow of the Torturer, The Castle of the Otter the two Cheap Street hardbacks, Empires of Flowers and Foliage and Biblioman, and the hardback states of The Young Wolfe and Letters From Home, many signed or inscribed to me.


    W-Z, and Trade Paperbacks (including chapbooks, proofs, etc.)

    • Closing in on a complete Roger Zelazny collection, including a very clean, signed ex-library copy of Lord of Light, This Immortal, an Ex-Library Nine Princes in Amber, etc., some signed or inscribed to me.

      Trade Paperbacks

    • One of 100 signed copies of J. G. Ballard’s News from the Sun
    • A proof of David Brin’s The Tides of Kithrup, the name of which was later changed to Startide Rising.
    • Greg Egan’s Our Lady of Chernobyl, Quarantine and An Unusual Angle.
    • An inscribed copy of George Alec Effinger’s Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson.
    • Matthew Hughes’ The Farouche Assemblage
    • An ARC of the Random House edition of Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina, the publication of which was canceled by that publisher.
    • Both blue and green variant covers of Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe’s A Walking Tour of the Shambles, inscribed to me by both.
    • Numerous R. A. Lafferty chapbooks, some signed
    • Proofs of Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive-In and The Drive-In 2, plus the original publication of Dead in the West, various chapbooks, and a copy of Cross Plains Universe (which I have a story in) inscribed to me by most of the contributors.
    • Signed copies of Michael Moorcock’s The Great Rock-and-Roll Swindle (printed in tabloid newspaper format) and the festschrift Moorcock@60, signed by Mike as well as contributors Rick Klaw and Howard Waldrop.
    • James Morrow’s The Adventures of Smoke Baily, a novella only included as part of the packaging for a video game.
    • A proof of Chad Oliver’s last novel, The Cannibal Owl.
    • A proof of Susan Palwick’s Chambers of the Blood, the title of which was changed to Flying in Place for publication.
    • A copy of Lewis Shiner’s one-off fiction fanzine Modern Stories signed by contributors William Gibson, Joe R. Lansdale, Howard Waldrop, Steven Utley, and Walton Simons.
    • Dan Simmons’ Banished Dreams
    • Inscribed copies of Neal Stephenson’s The Big U and Zodiac, as well as signed proofs of Interface and The Cobweb.
    • Jack Vance’s The Space Pirates.
    • Some signed Howard Waldrop, including one of only 25 copies of The Soul-Taker, self-published as from “The Vorpal Press” in 1966.
    • Manly Wade Wellman’s The Invading Asteroid.
    • Several Gene Wolfe volumes, including three Cheap Street chapbooks, a proof of The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories and several more recent proofs.
    • Roger Zelazny’s Poems and A Rhapsody in Amber.


    Mass Market Paperbacks

    • All six volumes of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, first editions, first printings, first states, signed by Barker.
    • A copy of John Brunner’s pseudonymously published porn novel The Incestuous Lovers.
    • All Neal Barrett Jr.’s non-media tie-in paperbacks, signed or inscribed by Neal.
    • PBOs of Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Vor Game and Barrayar.
    • Several inscribed Pat Cadigan PBOs.
    • Several A. Bertram Chandler PBOs.
    • Several C. J. Cherryh PBOs.
    • Several Avram Davidson PBOs.
    • Several Philip K. Dick PBOs.
    • Several Harlan Ellison PBOs.
    • Several Ray Garton PBOs.
    • Several K. W. Jeter PBOs, including Seeklight, The Dreamfields and Morlock Night, all signed or inscribed.
    • Several R. A. Lafferty PBOs, including Ringing Changes.
    • Several Joe R. Lansdale PBOs, including pseudonymous porn novel Molly’s Sexual Follies, signed by both Lansdale and co-author Brad Foster, the three MIA Hunter books he wrote, and Texas Night Riders, all signed or inscribed.
    • A fair number of Tanith Lee PBOs.
    • Jonathan Littell’s Bad Voltage.
    • Some H. P. Lovecraft, including the Avon edition of The Lurking Fear.
    • All Daniel Keyes Moran’s PBOs.
    • A complete collection of Tim Powers’ PBOs, including An Epitaph in Rust and The Skies Discrowned, all signed or inscribed.
    • Spider Robinson’s Antimony.
    • Most of Rudy Rucker’s PBOs, including White Light and The Sex Sphere.
    • All Michael Shea’s PBOs, including Nifft the Lean.
    • A lot of signed John Shirley PBOs, including City Come A’Walkin and The Brigade, plus several books he wrote in the Traveler series of post-apocalyptic men’s adventure novels.
    • Complete set of John Skipp & Craig Spector PBOs.
    • Several Brian Stableford PBOs.
    • Bruce Sterling’s Involution Ocean, signed.
    • Several Thomas Burnet Swann PBOs.
    • Some Manly Wade Wellman PBOs, including the rare movie novelization A Double Life.
    • A complete collection of Nichola Yermakov books, up until he changed his name to Simon Hawke.
    • Several Roger Zelazny paperbacks, including some PBOs, several signed.
    • Several Zoran Zivkovic books printed by his press in Belgrade.