Three more paperback originals added to the library, all from DFW used book stores.
Brunner, John. Wear the Butcher’s Medal. Pocket Books, 1965. First edition paperback original (“First printing……..May, 1965,” as Per Currey), a Very Good copy with spine creasing, foxing to inside covers, and slight wear at points, one crease and a few small indentations to rear cover, otherwise a fairly nice copy. Looks like a mainstream thriller in the mode of Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male. Like Philip K. Dick, Brunner wrote several novels outside the SF/F/H genre, but unlike Dick, managed to get them published in his lifetime, though none seemed to make much of an impression. Currey, page 74. De Bolt, The Happening Worlds of John Brunner, page 23. Bought from Half Price Books for $2.99.
Lee, Tanith. Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer. DAW, 1983. First edition paperback original, a Near Fine copy with one faint spine crease, previous owner’s name on blurb page, and slight edgewear. Supplements a copy of the SFBC (first hardback) edition. Bought from Lucky Dog Books for $2.50.
Niven, Larry. Ringworld. Ballantine Books, 1970. First edition paperback original (“First Printing: October 1970,” as per Currey, a Very Good- copy with 1/4″ chip to top front corner, and another 3/4″ x 1/16″ chip to middle of front cover edge, spine crease, pages brittle, and a few pinpoint spots of soiling to page block edges, plus a few other spots of wear. Hugo and Nebula winner for Best Novel. Currey, page 387. Pringle, Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, page 262 (“***”). Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4 *4-316. Magill, Survey of Science Fiction Literature, pages 1799-1804. The true first edition and the one in which Niven infamously had the earth rotating the wrong way. Supplements a copy of the Gollancz hardback first. Bought for $4.99.
Resnick, Mike. Walpurgis III. Signet, 1982. First edition paperback original, a Fine- copy with slight edgewear, inscribed on the insider cover by Resnick to Horseclans author Robert Adams: “For Bob Adams/From Mike/Resnick.” Bought for $8.
The book is so tight I didn’t want to risk cracking it by scanning the inside cover, so this crappy iPhone snap is all you get of the inscription.
Five more hardback first editions bought at Half Price Books in the DFW metroplex.
Fraser, George MacDonald. Flashman and the Mountain of Light. Knopf, 1990. First American edition, hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Fine- dust jacket with slight bumping at head and heel and age-darkening to top edge of front flap. Flashman up to his usual tricks on the India frontier. Bought for $7.99.
Novik, Naomi. The Golden Enclaves. Del Rey, 2022. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. “Lesson Three of the Scholomance.” Bought for $13.99. In the past year I’ve picked up all three of these volumes at Half Price Books.
Rand, Ayn. Ideal: The Novel and the Play. new American library, 2015. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight wrinkle at top right front cover and slight bend at head and heel. Previously unpublished novel and play, both featuring the same plot and characters, neither of which Rand was happy enough with to publish. Bought for $7.99.
Westerfeld, Scott. The Risen Empire. Tor, 2003. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine Mylar-protected dust jacket. Space Opera. Replaces a slightly less attractive copy. Bought for $5.99
Whitehead, Colson. The Underground Railroad. Doubleday, 2016. First edition hardback “1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2” numberline and “First
Edition” stated), a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a trace of wear at points and a “OPRAH’S/2016 SELECTION/BOOK CLUB” sticker (apparently as issued for some copies) and no barcode sticker over original. An alternate history/slipstream novel in which the underground railroad for escaped slaves is a literal railway underground, with stations along the way, and a different timeline from our own. Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and Arthur C. Clarke Award winner. Bought for $13.99.
Two more Half Price Books purchases from the Metroplex, these being science fiction reference works.
(Bradbury, Ray) Jonathan R. Eller and William F. Touponce. Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Ken State, 2004. First edition hardback (“08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1” numberline), a Fine- copy with a small binding flaw where a small rectangle of the black endpaper covering is missing from the top of the rear inside cover near the gutter, in a Fine dust jacket. Massive 570-page biography of Bradbury. Eller and Touponce are the ones editing the Critical Editions of Bradbury stories. This has had at least one printing since. Bought for $38.
(Heinlein, Robert A.) James Gifford. Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader’s Companion. Nitrosyncratic Press, 2000. First edition trade paperback original (“First Edition/First printing, 8 May 2000”) on copyright page, presumably simultaneous with the hardback edition (also listed on the copyright page), a Near Fine+ copy with slight crease to bottom front corner. Critical companion covering all of Heinlein’s works. Hugo Award nominee. Bought for $9.99.
Now that I’ve sent out the latest Lame Excuse Books catalog, I finally have time to list additions to my own library that I found in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. This post includes all the signed hardbacks, and all were bought at various DFW-area Half Price Books.
Allston, Aaron. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast. Del Rey, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with the tiniest little crimping at head and heel, inscribed by Allston: “To Chris: May the/Force be with you!/Aaron Allston/2011/10/8.” Bought for $7.99.
Braunbeck, Gary A. In the Midnight Museum. Necessary Evil Press, 2005. First edition hardback, #118 of 450 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Braunbeck is the only writer in this post I don’t (or didn’t) know personally. Bought for $10.
Bryant, Edward. The Baku. Subterranean, 2001. First edition hardback, #221 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. I think I passed on this when it first came out because I thought $35 was too pricey for what was essentially a 28 page novelette that had already been published in Night Visions 4 (plus an introduction and teleplay of same). Oh those younger, more innocent times. Bought for $10.
Cadigan, Pat. Patterns. Ursus Imprints, 1989. First edition hardback, 162 of 400 signed, numbered copies, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with a thin 2″ long scratch on rear near spine and slight edgewear. Supplements a trade edition inscribed to me. Bought for $7.99.
Lethem, Jonathan. You Don’t Love Me Yet. Doubleday, 2007. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Lethem. Supplements an unsigned copy. Bought for $9.99.
Been a good long while since we did a Dead Leaf Echo song, so here’s “Lemonheart,” featuring a thoroughly silly video that talks a macabre (but still silly) turn.
If you’re looking for a terribly dangerous and really stupid way to cook a Thanksgiving Turkey, have you considered encasing it in molten glass?
If so, Alton Brown has you covered.
The worst thing about this, apart from the real possibility of horrifying maiming and potential death, is the fact that the skin is the best part of the turkey and breaking the glass to get at the turkey will probably take the skin off with the glass…
Another signed Ray Bradbury Christmas broadside, this one signed to a fellow writer.
Bradbury, Ray. A Christmas Wish 1991. Self published, 1991. First edition broadside, only Very Good with staining to left side, but inscribed to fellow writer F. Paul Wilson. Bought off eBay for $20.50.
Here are two Kickstarter books I backed on 2023 that just came in.
Monson, Joe, editor. The Horror at Pooh Corner. Hemelein Publications, 2024. First edition hardback, #82 of 100 numbered hardbacks signed by the editor and with a bookplate signed by the contributors laid in, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with no less than three bookmarks laid in. Horror stories in Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood, following the lapse of the copyright in 2022.
(Wolfe, Gene). Cano, Ramon Perales, editor. The Book of Fuligin. Strangers Publishing, no date (2024). First edition hardback graphic novel, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Slightly oversize (10 1/2″ high) graphic novel anthology of stories set in Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun milieu.
I will have a small number copies of The Book of Fuligin in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.
