Library Addition: World’s Science Fiction Story Collection II

January 27th, 2018

Here’s something I didn’t buy, it showed up on my doorstep as a contributor copy:

Haijun, Yao and Mike Resnick, editors. World’s Science Fiction Story Collection II (ISBN 978-7-5364-8711-6). Sichuan Science and Technology Publishing House, 2017. Trade paperback original, a Fine copy, still in shrinkwrap. Chinese language anthology that prints a translation of my story “Crucifixion Variations.”

I’m pretty sure this is the only time my name has appeared higher on a cover than Robert Silverberg’s…

Shoegazer Sunday: Echodrone’s “The Past or the Present”

January 21st, 2018

Echodrone has a new album out*, Past, Preset and Future, and “The Past or the Present” is a track off that.

*Correction: Evidently it doesn’t drop until January 23.

Library Additions: Lettered Edition of Joe Lansdale’s Hoodoo Harry

January 17th, 2018

This is one of those books that almost eluded me, but I snagged what was evidently the last hardback copy:

  • Lansdale, Joe R. Hoodoo Harry. Mysterious Bookshop, 2016. First edition hardback (small trim size), letter T of 26 lettered copies (along with an additional 100 hardback numbered copies, not seen), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. “Bibliomysteries 33.” 72 page Hap & Leonard novella. Bought directly from the publisher for $100, since they were already out of the numbered edition.

    Included with the same purchase:

  • Lansdale, Joe R. Hoodoo Harry. Mysterious Bookshop, 2016. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with bend to bottom outer tip (due to the way Mysterious Bookshop packaged things), otherwise new and unread. Presumably simultaneous with the hardback issue. Plus:
  • Lippman, Laura. Snowflake Time: A Christmas Story. Mysterious Bookshop, 2017. Center-stapled chapbook. Back cover reads “A holiday gift with the compliments of The Mysterious Bookshop.”
  • Not part of the bundle, but I might as well list it here:

  • Lansdale, Joe R. Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. Subterranean Pres, 2017. First edition hardback, #580 of 1500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Prequel (of a sort) to Bubba Ho-Tep. Elvis, Nixon, Colonel Parker, and cosmic horrors. What’s not to like?
  • Gonna Pass on the Expedited Shipping, Thanks

    January 16th, 2018

    Actual screen cap from an Amazon order I placed yesterday (click to embiggen):

    Think I’ll have to pass on the $12 million in expedited shipping costs. I don’t need it that bad…

    Dolores O’Riordan, RIP

    January 15th, 2018

    Just heard the news that Dolores O’Riordan, the lead singer for The Cranberries, has just died at the untimely age of 46.

    There were most famous for “Zombie” and a few other hits, but my favorite song of theirs has always been the melancholy “Daffodil Lament.” Here’s a live version.

    (Hat tip: Derek Johnson.)

    Elvis vs. King Kong vs. Godzilla

    January 10th, 2018

    Mark Finn reminded me that Elvis Presley’s birthday was this week, so to celebrate I thought I’d put up this very, very silly video…

    Shoegazer Sunday: Deafcult’s “Rubix”

    January 7th, 2018

    Australia’s Deafcult released their album Auras last year, and “Rubix” is off that.

    Library Addition: Ray Bradbury’s The R.B., G.K.C., and G.B.S. Forever Orient Express

    January 6th, 2018

    Here’s an odd little item I picked up off eBay:

    Bradbury, Ray. The R.B., G.K.C., and G.B.S. Forever Orient Express. Joshua Odell Editions, 1994. First edition chapbook original, consisting of a long, skinny (17 1/2″ x 5 1/2″) outer cardstock binding with the four pages of the poem laid in (not stapled or otherwise attached), a Fine- copy with a pinhole through the top of the chapbook and one tiny white scratch to rear, otherwise mint. Reportedly done in an edition of 300 copies. Signed by Bradbury. Poem, longish by Bradbury standards, about Bradbury riding a train with G. K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw in the afterlife. The rear cover says that this is an excerpt from the forthcoming Journey to Far Metaphor: Further Essays on Creative Writing, Literature and the Arts, a book that Joshua Odell Editions evidently cancelled. This work would later show up in Bradbury’s collection The Cat’s Pajamas. Bought off eBay for $37.79.

    IMG_1919

    Colin Furze Shoots 1000 Rockets Off A Bicycle

    December 31st, 2017

    To celebrate New Year’s Eve, here’s everyone’s favorite mad inventor firing 1000 rockets off a bicycle. (For certain values of “bicycle.”)

    Happy New Year!

    Library Additions: Two Michael Swanwick Chapbooks

    December 29th, 2017

    Put in my yearly order to Dragonstairs Press:

  • Swanwick, Michael. Midwinter Fables. Dragonstairs Press, 2016. First edition chapbook original, #22 of 110 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, new and unread. Four short recastings of classic fables (“The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” “The Fox and the Crow,” “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” “The North Wind and the Sun”) and a frame story (“Midwinter Fables”).

    Midwinter Fables

  • Swanwick, Michael. Touchstones. Dragonstairs Press, 2017. First edition chapbook original, #9 of 50 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, new and unread. Three one page stories: “Lovers and Lunatics,” “Bradbury Jar 2.0” and “A Jarful of Keys,” as well as an Afterword. Related to Swanwick’s trip to China in 2017.

    Swanwick Touchstones

  • I’ll have copies of both of these available through the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.