Two Michael Swanwick books:
Copies of both of these will be available in the new Lame Excuse Books catalog I’m sending out on Monday.
Library Additions: Two Signed Michael Swanwick Books
December 5th, 2016Shoegazer Sunday: Bleach’s “Seeing”
December 4th, 2016Bleach were a short-lived Ipswich band during the first bloom of Shoegaze who out a few EPs then broke up. Here’s “Seeing.”
(Hat tip: Primal Music Blog’s Twitter feed.)
Library Addition: Set of Two Signed Lansdale Books
December 2nd, 2016Here’s a signed Lansdale set from the UK that has a much smaller limitation than most Lansdale items:
With:
Note that I will be offering up a few additional sets in the Lame Excuse Books catalog that I should be emailing out on Monday.
Library Addition: Two Signed Books
November 29th, 2016Here are two signed books I picked up during the most recent Half Price Books coupon sale:
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Peaked at Tony Sarg
November 24th, 2016I dislike Macy’s (for numerous reasons I need not detail here) and am bored by parades, but when I came across this image of an early balloon from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, I thought it was so cool it must be fake:
Turns out that not only is it real, but it was among the very first balloons featured in the parade, and was designed by a man named Tony Sarg:
In 1921, Tony Sarg, a celebrated illustrator and puppeteer, bought a home on Nantucket and eventually opened a toy store in town. From his off-island studios nestled in Times Square, Sarg’s artwork appeared on the covers of magazines, on the pages of children’s books, and eventually in Macy’s department store window displays. Beginning in 1924, Macy’s held an annual Christmas parade to celebrate the holiday shopping season in New York City, and appointed Tony Sarg as its chief designer.
After three years of the Christmas Parade, in November 1927, the president of Macy’s, Jesse Strauss, announced to America that the parade was going to take it up a notch, way up. The press and the people of New York City swelled with anticipation, all waiting to see what Tony Sarg had in mind. At one o’clock, Thanksgiving Day 1927, Sarg unveiled his lofty creations—first a twenty-one-foot balloon man that peeked into second story windows and then a jaw-dropping sixty-foot-long balloon dragon. The balloons were a huge hit, and have been the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving Day Parade ever since.
Later he used the same balloon (or a modified version of it) to hoax the media that there was a sea serpent out on Nantucket. What a card.
Anyway, I don’t think Macy’s has had a balloon in the parade nearly as interesting since.
Insert your own (SFW) Man from Nantucket limerick below.
Colin Furze’s Insane (Yet Functional) Turkey Cooking Device
November 24th, 2016This is from last year, but I thought it would be perfect to save for Thanksgiving.
Bon appetit, and Happy Thanksgiving!
The Annual William Shatner Warning Not To Set Yourself on Fire Frying a Turkey
November 23rd, 2016In the now-annual tradition, I bring you a public service announcement from William Shatner: try not to set yourself on fire while frying a turkey.
Behold the Shatner!
For those with low Shatner thresholds, the advice is:
If you’re going to fry a turkey, this is pretty sound advice.
Library Addition: Crowley’s Chemical Wedding
November 21st, 2016Here’s an item I picked up backing the Kickstarter:
Andreae, Johann Valentine and John Crowley. The Chemical Wedding by Christian Rosencreutz: A Romance in Eight Days. Small Beer Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Crowley’s version of the classic work of allegorical, alchemical fiction originally published in Germany in 1616, introduced and annotated by Crowley with two color illustrations. Bought for backing the Kickstarter to the tune of $30.
The Lame Excuse Books Page Has Been Updated
November 20th, 2016The Lame Excuse Books Web Page has been updated.
I’ve just started work on the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, so drop me a line if you’d like to receive it via email.
Library Addition: Michael Swanwick Signed Poem on Leaf
November 18th, 2016Here’s an incredibly odd (and likely fragile) item:
Swanwick, Michael. Signed Poem on Leaf. Dragonstairs Press, 2016. First edition. Note: Signed poem on leaf is a description more than a title, since it’s literally a leaf with a poem written on one side, and signed, numbered (4/20) and dated “2016” by Swanwick on the other. This just showed up unexpectedly in the mail. In cardboard sleeve stating “For a friend of/Dragonstairs Press” and the shipping envelope.
