Archive for the ‘Basketball’ Category
Tuesday, May 14th, 2024
I already had a copy, but this one popped as both signed and listed at a bargain price, so I jumped on it.
Vance, Jack. Coup de Grace and Other Stories. Vance Integral Edition, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a dozen pinpricks to light spotting to top page block and a tiny trace of wear at head, heel and points, sans dust jacket, as issued, matching the appearance of the “Reader’s Edition” of the Vance Integral Edition, signed by Vance (characteristic of Vance’s late, overlapping signature after he went blind). Short story collection done as a “preview” edition to generate interest in the VIE project. Offered at $75. Chalker & Owings (2002), page 946. Chalker & Owings list a print run of 1,000 copies, which seems too high given the relative scarcity of the title, though several were evidently distributed at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Bought from Half Price Books on the Internet for $50.
Since I already have a copy for sale, I’m inclined to keep both this and the slightly better, unsigned copy. So I now have a 48 volume VIE set: the 44 volume initial set being #62 of 200 with Volume 44 signed by Vance, plus two copies of Coup de Grace and Other Stories, one signed, plus Strange She Hasn’t Written/Death of a Solitary Chess Player/The Man Who Walks Behind (AKA 14 bis) and The Languages of Pao and The Dragon Masters with signed VIE project bookplates laid in, and the latter in the proof dust jacket I obtained from the Vance estate.
Whey yes, I am feeling unreasonably smug about it. Thanks for asking.
Tags:Books, Half Price Books, Jack Vance, Science Fiction, signatures, small press publishers, Vance Integral Edition
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Friday, April 19th, 2024
When Mysterious Press first announced this book, I thought to myself “That’s nice, but not $150 nice.” Fortunately they had a 45th Anniversary sale that put it in my price range.
Stevenson, Robert Louis (Joe Hill) . The New Annotated Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Mysterious Press, 2022. First edition hardback, #198 of 250 numbered copies signed by annotator Leslie S. Klinger and introduction author Joe Hill, a Fine copy in quarter-leather and marbled boards and Mylar protector, sans dust jacket, as issued. Profusely illustrated and annotated edition of the classic novel. Bought for $45, marked down from the original price of $150.
Tags:Books, Horror, Joe Hill, Robert Louis Stevenson, signatures, signed
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Friday, March 15th, 2024
Here’s another Lovecraft-themed anthology from PS in the mold of Pedersen’s earlier The Starry Wisdom Library.
Pedersen, Nate, editor. The Dagon Collection: An Auction Catalogue of Items Recovered in the Federal Raid on Innsmouth, Mass. PS Publishing, 2024. First edition hardback in decorated boards, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Anthology in the form of a mock auction catalog of Cthulhu Mythos related items from the Esoteric Order of Dagon, with contributions from F. Paul Wilson, Ramsey Campbell, etc.
I will have a small number of copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, Cthulhu, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, Nate Pedersen, PS Publishing, small press publishers
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Wednesday, February 28th, 2024
This is a case of replacing a just slightly less attractive first with a pristine copy.
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. HarperCollins, 2008. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Newbery and Carnegie Medal winner. Replaces a Fine/Fine- copy. Bought for $8.09 from Half Price Books.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Neil Gaiman
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Monday, February 26th, 2024
These four books were offered as The John Crowley Conway Miscellany set on Kickstarter. Each has a different trim size.
Crowley, John. Seventy-Nine Dreams. Ninpin Press, 2024. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. A dream journal. 5″ tall by 5″ wide
Crowley, John. The Sixties: A Forged Diary. Ninpin Press, 2024. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. A reconstruction of Crowley’s life in New York City in the 60s. “After taking a job with a photography studio, he soon crosses paths with the likes of Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon, Claudia Cardinale and Raquel Welch.” 8″ tall by 6″ wide.
Crowley, John. Two Chapters in a Family Chronicle. Ninpin Press, 2024. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Two stories, “Percy and Lulu Go to Vermont” and “Poker Night at the Elks Club 1938” that “link three generations of John Crowley’s family.” 7″ tall by 5″ wide.
Crowley, John. Seventy-Four Dreams. Ninpin Press, 2024. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy, with signature plate by Crowley laid in (only one per set). Two speeches, “Practicing the Arts of Peace and “The Uses of Allegory.” 6″ tall by 4″ wide.
The four books together can be laid out to form a single image. Because the books are too large to fit on my scanner, I have copied the image from the Kickstarter page.
I will have a small number of sets of these (with the signature plate) in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, John Crowley, Kickstarter, Science Fiction, signatures, small press publishers
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Monday, February 19th, 2024
Another signed Subterranean Lansdale first.
Lansdale, Joe R. The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team. Subterranean, 2023 (stated; received early 2024). First edition hardback, #371 of 1250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. The latest Lansdale short story collection. I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Books, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Mystery, small press publishers, Subterranean Press
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Monday, November 20th, 2023
You may have noticed that Joel Hodgson and MST3K gang are having a new kickstarter for the next season (for values of “kickstarter” that include “not on the Kickstarter platform”). There are five days left and they are only 38% of the way to the first goal of $4.8 million, which will be six features and six shorts.
The last two Kickstarters they had blew past their goals.
This one? Not so much. Despite announcing that Plan 9 from Outer Space will be among the riffed films.
Donor fatigue? The Biden Recession? Not doing enough promotion? Not enough boost from a non-Kickstarter platform? Disgruntlement over how long it took people to get their promised rewards from the last campaign?
I think it may be some combination of all the above.
Maybe the usual Turkey Day festivities will kick it into higher gear. But if they don’t, this may be the first MST3K fundraising effort to fail.
Tags:Bad Movies, Fantasy, Horror, Joel Hodgson, Kickstarter, Movies, MST3K, Science Fiction, TV
Posted in Basketball, Food, Games, Horror, Movies, pics, Science Fiction, TV, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 9th, 2023
I guess that technically one of these is a magazine, but it looks and feel just like a paperback.
Brunner, John. The Traveler in Black. Ace, 1971. First edition paperback original (no statement of printing and 75¢ as per Currey), a Fine- copy with slight wear at points and a drop of discoloration to bottom page block at heel, otherwise a very nice copy. Celebrated fix-up of linked stories. Currey, page 74. De Bolt, The Happening Worlds of John Brunner, page 57.
Moorcock, Michael, editor (John Brunner, Roger Zelazny, J. G. Ballard, etc.). New Worlds March 1966, Vol. 49, No. 160. Compact SF, 1966. First edition magazine in the form of a paperback original, a Near Fine copy with slight glue ridging to spine, slight wear at points, a faint, thin line of abrasion down rear cover near outer edge, and a few touches of general wear. Right in the middle of Moorcock’s acclaimed run as editor of New Worlds when it became the epicenter of the New Wave, with a murder’s row of writers in this issue. The Zelazny is the first appearance of the classic “For a Breath I Tarry” (Levack, Stories 69a), and both this and the above came from the last purchase of books from Bob Pylant’s Zelazny collection.
I have cover scans, but for some reason BlueHost isn’t letting me upload pics right now, so you’ll have to wait to see them…
Tags:Bob Pylant, Books, Fantasy, John Brunner, Michael Moorcock, New Worlds, Roger Zelazny, Science Fiction
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Monday, August 28th, 2023
Here’s a Kickstarter project that was a long time in coming that finally shipped earlier this year.
Lovecraft, H. P. Miskatonic Missives. Helios House, 2022 (actually 2023). First edition hardback, one of 521 Limited Collector’s Edition sets (given the number of kickstarter backers), containing three volumes, plus a fake box that’s actually a traycase to contain the ephemera extras, all Fine copies, sans dust jacket, as issued, in a Fine slipcase.
Each volume contains a reprint of one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most interesting letters, presented alongside related archival material such as contemporary short stories, art, maps, etc., as well as original art and new scholarship.
Each volume is also packaged with a set of exclusive extras—replicas of related contemporary materials such as photos, maps, ticket stubs, postcards, news clippings, and diary pages. The Collector’s set packages all of these extras in a custom box which nests in the slipcase alongside the three books. Each Limited Edition Collector’s set is supplied with a Certificate of Ownership signed by editors Andrew Leman and Sean Branney of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, and a collectible enamel pin.
This is just the loose extras; there are additional extras for each volume, in their individual envelopes in the Ephemera traycase.
with
Lovecraft, H. P. (Sean Branney and Andrew Lman, editors and annotators). The Spirit of Revision: Lovecraft’s Letters to Zeila Brown Reed Bishop. Helios House, 2022. Second Edition hardback (I believe the first edition was trade paperback only), a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Bought with the above as an add-in.
It’s an impressive assemblage, and one legions of Lovecraft fans will be kicking themselves over not picking up in years to come.
Total price for both with shipping was $203.50.
Tags:Books, H. P. Lovecraft, Helios House, Horror, Kickstarter, reference works, small press publishers
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Friday, August 18th, 2023
Another Borderlands Little Book.
Connell, Richard (Ted Connair, editor). A Little Gray Book of Grisly Tales. Borderlands Press, 2023. First edition hardback, #462 of 500 copies signed by Connair, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Connell is most famous for having penned “The Most Dangerous Game” (one of the stories here), which has been adapted so many times it has a Wikipedia entry just for the adaptations. Contains eight stories total. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount. Now out of print from the publisher.
Copies will be available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Tags:Borderlands Press, Horror, Little Books, Richard Connell, small press publishers
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