Here are all the books I’ve added to my professional library over the past two months. Every time I start to think I’m slowing down I buy a bunch more stuff…
Baker, Kage. The Hotel Under the Sand. Tachyon, 2009. Trade paperback original, Fine.
Beagle, Peter S. The Line Between. Tachyon, 2006. One of 250 signed, numbered copies, Fine, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Beagle, Peter S. The Unicorn Sonata. Turner Publishing, 1996.
Beagle, Peter S. Your Friendly Neighborhood Magician. Tachyon, 2006. Chapbook, one of 100 signed copies, Fine.
Bear, Greg. Foundation and Chaos. Harper Prism, 1998.
Bear, Greg. Sleepside Story. Cheap Street, 1988. One of 52 signed and numbered, traycased “publisher’s edition” copies, a fine copy in tray case, sans dust jacket. See here for details.
Brunner, John. Stand on Zanzibar. Doubleday, 1968. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just the tiniest bit of wear. Replaces an ex-library copy. (I bought this back in June and forgot to list it last time around.)
Carriger, Gail (pen name for Tofa Borregaard). Soulless. Orbit, 2009. Paperback original, Fine- with slight spine creasing. Thought I’d pick this up since we swanned about together at Worldcon before she hit the big time…
Chabon, Michael. Manhood for Amateurs. Harper, 2009. Non-fiction.
Cherryh, C. J. Cuckoo’s Egg. Phantasia Press, 1985. First edition hardback, one of 350 signed, numbered copies, in slipcase.
Clark, Alan M., Randy Fox and K. J. Peterson. The Pain Doctor’s of Suture Self General. Arts Nova Press, 1995. First edition hardback, one of 550 signed, numbered copies. Art book.
Clavell, James. Shogun. Atheneum, 1975. VG with spine worn, slight separation between page block and backing at head, and stains to page block edges, in VG, price-clipped dust jacket.
Dick, Philip K. Eye in the Sky. Gregg Press, 1979. First hardback edition. Fine, sans dust jacket, as issued. Replaced an Ex-library copy in my collection.
Dick, Philip K. Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick. Pantheon, 2002.
Dick, Philip K. Vulcan’s Hammer. Gregg Press, 1979. First hardback edition. Fine, sans dust jacket, as issued. Replaced an Ex-library copy in my collection.
(Dick, Philip K.) Dick, Anne. The Search for Philip K. Dick. Tachyon, 2010. Trade paperback original. Expanded, revised, and corrected edition. Non-fiction.
Disch, Thomas M. The Wall of America. Tachyon, 2008. Trade paperback original, Fine.
Disch, Thomas M. The Word of God. Tachyon, 2008. Trade paperback original, Fine.
Fforde, Jasper. Shades of Grey Hodder & Stoughton, 2010. First UK edition (curiously, the American precedes, which is very unusual for Fforde), a Fine copy, one of 1000 numbered copies signed by Fforde to be sold through the Waterstone’s bookstore chain, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dj, in decorated slipcase, as issued.
King, Stephen. The Bachman Books. NAL, 1985. First hardback edition and first omnibus edition, all four included books (Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork and The Running Man) having previously been published as paperback originals. F/NF- copy, with rubbing to edgewear to dust jacket.
King, Stephen. Pet Semetary. Viking, 1983. Fine/Near Fine, with slight wear at dust jacket head and heel.
Lansdale, Joe R. By Bizarre Hands Rides Again. Morning Star Press, 2010. Expanded edition with new stories and story notes, one of 300 copies signed by Lansdale.
Lansdale, Joe R. Deadman’s Road. Subterranean Press, 2010.
Lansdale, Joe R. Flaming Zeppelins. Tachyon, 2010. Trade paperback original thus (omnibus edition), Fine.
Lansdale, Joe R. and Pat LoBrutto, editors. Razored Saddles. Dark Harvest, 1989. Octavo, cloth. First edition hardback, one of 600 numbered copies signed by all the contributors, in slipcase. I had the trade, but not the limited.
(Lovecraft, H. P.) Joshi, S. T. I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft. Hippocampus Press, 2010. First edition hardback, two volume set. Non-fiction.
Marquis, Don. archy and mehitabel. Dolphin Books, no date (probably about 1969). Paperback reprint.
Martin, George R. R. A Feast for Crows. Voyager, 2005. One of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, Fine, sans dust jacket, in slipcase, as issued.
Michaels, Barbara (AKA Barbara Mertz, AKA Elizabeth Peters). Ammie, Come Home. Meredith Press, 1968. First edition hardback, Fine- with a trace of spine lean in a Fine- dj with slight wear at head and heel.
Moorcock, Michael. The Best of Michael Moorcock. Tachyon, 2009. First edition trade paperback original, Fine.
Morrow, James. The Cat’s Pajamas. Tachyon, 2004.
Niven, Larry. The Best of Larry Niven. Subterranean Press, 2010. One of 250 signed, numbered, leatherbound copies
Niven, Larry. The Best of Larry Niven. Subterranean Press, 2010. Trade edition.
Power, Tim. Deliver Us From Evil. Charnel House, 2010. One of 100 signed, numbered copies in slipcase, sans dj, as issued, accompanied by an original manuscript page. See here for full details.
Powers, Tim. Night Moves. Axolotl Press, 1986. First edition hardback, one of 100 signed, numbered copies.
Schroeder, Karl. Pirate Sun. Tor, 2008.
Shea, Michael. I, Said the Fly. Silver Salamander Press, 1993. First edition hardback, one of 300 signed hardback copies.
Simmons, Dan. Drood. Little, Brown, 2009.
Vance, Jack. Lurulu Tor, 2004.
Watts, Peter. Maelstrom. Tor, 2001.
Williamson, Jack (John Stewart Williamson). Wolves of Darkness: The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson Volume 2. Haffner Press, 1999.
There. I thought I’d document this bunch since I have another bunch coming in…
My most recent acquisition of particular note is the new Tim Powers book Deliver Us From Evil from Charnel House. It’s quite an elaborate production, on par with some of Cheap Street’s books.
Full description:
Powers, Tim. Deliver Us From Evil. Charnel House, 2010. First edition hardback, one of only 100 signed, numbered copies, handbound in Japanese silk, in matching slipcase, accompanied by one page of the original Powers manuscript. Includes three chapters and a very detailed outline of a book Powers never finished. The book itself is accompanied by a page of Powers’ original manuscript.
(Note: I do have one additional copy available for sale or trade through Lame Excuse Books if you’re interested…)
So you find yourself thinking: I want to watch Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, but I’m afraid it may be too intellectually challenging to jump into right away. Is there perchance a stupider movie I can watch first?
Come January 20, the answer to your question will be: Yes, yes there is. Behold the wonder that is MegaPython vs. Gateroid.
Still not convinced? Hey, it stars Debbie Gibson AND Tiffany! (Granted, 15 years too late, but still…) And if that’s not enough, I have two words for you: cake wrestling.
It’s good to see the folks at The Asylum and the SyFy Channel maintaining the reputation they’ve worked so hard to earn…
So, you’ve got some old books and see a big box that says “Books for Charity” on the side, and you think “Well, that’s better than selling them to a used bookstore, isn’t it?”
Not so fast. You could be about ready to fall for a Penny Seller scam. A tiny portion, 25% or less, goes to charity; the rest of the books are sold for profit for a company called Thrift Recycling Management, or pulped.
They’re also torpedoing friends of the library sales, which are a much more deserving destination for your book donations than a for-profit company that doles out a few pennies for charity.
The views and opinions expressed by GWAR do not reflect those of The Pentagon Channel or the Department of Defense
Well, thank God they cleared that up. I just naturally assumed that the views of a 1980s metal band in alien monster costumes did indeed reflect the opinions of the Defense Department of the United States of America, and will have to adjust my opinions on overseas base closing strategies appropriately. In light of this shocking revelation, I must also reconsider my long-held beliefs that Motley Crüe reflected the official views of the Secretary of State for events in southeast Asia, and that the pronouncements of H.R. Pufnstuf adequately reflected official Department of Energy policy on building additional nuclear power plants…
So, I finished watching Bob’s Burgers, and thought I would delay writing about it until today because I’m incredibly lazy I wanted to ruminate on it for a while. The short description is: It’s not great. Not awful, but not great.
A few random thoughts:
Right now it seems more than a little generic (family with three kids: lord knows we’ve never seen that on a Fox animated Sunday show).
The setup (small business owner vs. the bureaucracy) has the potential to be good, but most of the restaurant gags already seem stale.
I like two of the three kids, but the quiet girl and the father don’t do much for me.
The mother, with her generic New York Jewish Mother accent, does less than nothing for me. If you talk like that, you damn well better look like Fran Drescher if you want people west of the Hudson to endure your voice.
The edgy stuff (the suggestions of cannibalism, the funny daughter putting up a notice for a hamburger special called The Child Molester (“it comes with candy on the side”)) didn’t bother me (after all, I watch South Park), but the “can’t remember my wedding anniversary/old boyfriend” business was so old it might have been written by Henny Youngman. (No, scratch that; if Henny Youngman had written it, it would have been funnier.)
Every now and then there was a funny bit, but there weren’t enough of them.
I don’t want to write it off entirely, because the first episodes of animated shows frequently suck (have you watched “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” recently?); it might very well get better.
I was able to watch all of it, unlike Sit Down, Shut Up (I’m amazed that lasted all of four episodes).
It’s still better than The Cleveland Show, which I couldn’t last beyond the first commercial break of the premiere, and even that took willpower. Every time since I’ve happened to catch part of it, something would make me turn it off before two minutes had passed. It seems that every time Seth McFarlane creates a new show, his old shows become half as funny. Which is why I gave up on Family Guy shortly after the O.J. Simpson episode.
I’ll probably watch the next episode of Bob’s Burgers, but if it doesn’t improve I expect it to fall off my list well before Fox axes it 6-8 weeks from now…
So it’s the first commercial break for Bob’s Burgers, the new animated show after The Simpsons on Fox. So far, I’m sort of enjoying it, not because it’s great (it’s OK: moderately funny, too predictable), but simply because it’s not The Cleveland Show…
