Posts Tagged ‘Slipstream’

Library Additions: Various First Editions

Friday, January 5th, 2024

Found at various Half Price Books locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the Book Celler in Temple, and Recycled Books in Denton.

  • Anonymous. In the Future. Arno Press, 1974. First edition hardback thus, a reprint of a book originally published in 1867, a Fine- copy with slight bumps at points, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought for $7.99.

    Not to be confused with the David Byrne piece of the same name:

  • Clarke, Arthur C. A Fall of Moondust. Harcourt, Brace and World, 1961. First edition hardback, an Ex-Library copy with the usual flaws, including stamps, pocket removal, tape to boards, etc, but with a much better than usual dust jacket, with a couple of short closed tears on flap edges, a small sticker ghost on spine, and slight protector discoloration to edges; call it a G/NF Ex-Lib copy. Currey, page 114. Replaces a less attractive Ex-Library copy. Bought for $20.

  • Erickson, Steve, Our Ecstatic Days. Simon & Schuster, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket. Bought at Recycled Books in Denton for $6.80.
  • Kuttner, Henry. The Best of Henry Kuttner. Nelson Doubleday (SFBC), 1975. First edition hardback (code “01 R” on page 335, as per Currey), a Fine- copy with trace of bumping at points in a Fine- dust jacket with slight edgewear and small fold to tip of bottom front flap. Introduction by ray Bradbury. Currey, page 291. Bought for $6 at the Book Cellar in Temple.

  • Martin, George R. R., editor. Wild Cards VI: Ace in the Hole. Bantam Books/SFBC, 1989. First hardback edition, the SFBC book club edition, preceded by the PBO, a Fine- copy with bumping at head, heel and top points, in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight bumping at head, heel and top points, a couple of phantom creases across rear cover, and slight edgewear. Bought for $6 at the Book Cellar in Temple.

  • Matheson. Richard. Duel: Terror Stories By Richard Matheson. Tor, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine- with slight bend at heel copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a slight wrinkle at rear bottom. Supplements a trade paperback edition. Bought for $12.99.
  • Vance, Jack. The Space Pirate. Toby Press, 1953. First edition trade paperback original (no statement of printing, as per Currey), a Fine- copy with a bare trace of dust oiling age darkening to rear cover, plus the usual age darkening to pages; all but perfect, and far and away the nicest copy I’ve seen. Vance’s second novel. Hewett, A2. Cunningham, B.75.a. Currey, page 500. Supplements a signed but less attractive copy. Bought for $12 from Recycled Books in Denton.

    • Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »

    Library Additions: Firsts by Calvino, Gibson, Heinlein

    Monday, June 12th, 2023

    Here are three first edition hardbacks, all bought at Half Price Books.

  • Calvino, Italo. Invisible Cities. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974. First English language edition, a Near Fine+ copy with small name to front free endpaper, slight bumping at head and heel and uneven fading at top and bottom edges, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with two closed 3/4″ tears at top front cover, shallow chipping at head, crease to front inner flap, slight bumping at points, and traces of wear to reflective silver surfaces along spine board join, front edge-fold and rear cover (slightly exaggerated in the scan). Important slipstream work of European fantasy, or what John Clute would call “Fantastika.” Bought for $45.

  • Gibson, William. Agency. Berkley, 2020. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Sequel to The Peripheral. Bought for $9.99.
  • Heinlein, Robert A. Off the Main Sequence: The Other Science Fiction Stories of Robert A. Heinlein. Science Fiction Book Club, 2005. First edition hardback (stated “First SFBC Science Fiction Printing, October 2005”; the SFBC is the only edition), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Short story collection, including three (“My Object All Sublime,” “Pied Piper,” and “A Tenderfoot in Space”) that were previously uncollected. Bought for $5.95.

    • Tags:, , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »

    Library Addition: Matt Hughes’ What The Wind Brings

    Monday, March 23rd, 2020

    The last book (but not the last item) left over from 2019:

    Hughes, Matthew. What the Wind Brings. Pulp Literature Press, 2019. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Slipstreamy historical novel of the Caribbean by the fantasy and science fiction writer. Bought for $40 plus shipping.

    Tags:, , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »

    Library Additions: Five Signed Firsts

    Monday, September 2nd, 2019

    All five of these books were picked up from Adventures in Crime & Space at Armadillocon, and all five came from the estate of late SF writer Carrie Richerson.

  • Banks, Iain. Canal Dreams. Macmillian (UK), 1989. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a few pinpricks of light staining at head and a small wrinkle at top center to the first few pages, in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to Richardson: “Yo, Carrie!/This one’s for you./Iain Banks/10 March 90/at Wiscon 14.” Supplements an unsigned copy. Bought for $15.00.
  • Banks, Iain. Espedair Street. Macmillian (UK), 1987. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy one light pinprick stain at head and slight ear at heel, in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to Richardson: “To Carrie!/Weird regards/Iain Banks/10 March 90/at Wiscon 14.” Supplements an unsigned copy. Bought for $15.00.
  • Banks, Iain. The State of the Art. Mark V. Ziesing, 1989. First edition hardback, a Fine- with a few pinpricks of light staining at head, in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed to Richardson: “To Carrie!/best wishes from am on the/GS GCU Arbitrary/Iain M. Banks/10 March 90/at Wiscon 14.” Interesting that he puts the middle “M” on the signatures for the SF books as well. Supplements an unsigned copy. Bought for $10.

  • Butler, Octavia. Xenogenesis. Guild America Books, 1989. First edition hardback thus (an omnibus edition of Dawn, Adulthoode Rights, and Imago), a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel, in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of edgewear. Inscribed by Butler: “To Carrie/Good reading/Octavia E. Butler.” Supplements signed copies of the three individual first editions. Bought for $25.

  • Emshwiller, Carol. Carmen Dog. mercury House, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight spotting to head, in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Emshwiller: “To Carrie,/Carol Emshwiller.” Nova Express slipstream list. Bought for $7.50.

    • Tags:, , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | No Comments »

    Books Read: Zoran Zivkovic’s Impossible Encounters

    Monday, December 6th, 2010

    Impossible Encounters
    By Zoran Zivkovic
    Polaris, 2000

    This is a short book of six stories by Yugoslavian Serbian writer Zoran Zivkovic, each dealing with an impossivle situation (post-mortem, a conversation with God, a writer visited by his own character, etc.), and each of which feature, recursively, a book called Impossible Encounters. These are well crafted, but somewhat slight, and, as Bruce Sterling noted in his Nova Express review, somewhat stateless, existing in a world where “trains have no destinations, streets have no names, rivers and mountains have no histories, and characters have no ethnicities. It’s a very quiet world of used bookstores, family dining tables, and cramped university offices.”

    I’m not sure I would want to read too many of these in a row, but they make nice “palate cleansers” between other fiction.

    Since the Belgrade Polaris editions will probably be hard to come by, if you’re interested in reading these, they’re collected (along with several other Zovkovic books published by Polaris) in the PS Publishing collection Impossible Stories. I don’t have a copy of that for sale anymore, but I do have a copy of Impossible Stories II available if you’re interested.

    Tags:, , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »