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…
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?
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.
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.
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”).
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.
I’ll have copies of both of these available through the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.