Archive for the ‘technology’ Category
Thursday, December 15th, 2022
The most recent (last?) book by the late, great Greg Bear:
Bear, Greg. The Unfinished Land. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Bear, with a thank you note and several laminated bookmarks from the seller laid in. Bought for $49.95 from an eBay seller.
I was unaware that Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt had merged.
My obituary for Bear can be found here.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Greg Bear, Science Fiction
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Friday, December 9th, 2022
Another Dragonstairs chapbook:
Swanwick, Michael. Solstice Veritas or The Christmas Cat and Other Memories. Dragonstairs Press, 2021. First edition chapbook original, #101 of 120 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Printed last year, but only offered for sale this year. “A collection of eight, well, true stories, memories and musings on holidays past.” Bought from the publisher at the usual discount. I will have a few copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, currently in progress.
Tags:Books, chapbooks, Dragonstairs Press, Michael Swanwick, small press publishers
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Sunday, November 20th, 2022
According to numerous sources on Facebook, science fiction writer Greg Bear, after a sudden onset of multiple medical maladies, suffered a series of strokes that left him unconscious with severe brain damage. Following his stated wishes, his wife Astrid had him taken off life support, and he died yesterday (November 19, 2022).
Bear was one of the giants in the field, probably the best hard science fiction writer of the 1980s, claimed by both the Analog crowd and the cyberpunks. Blood Music (in both novella and novel forms) and Eon are awe-inspiring, sense of wonder science fiction at their best, and would be considered among the greatest works of just about any SF writer. And there was another tier of exceptional works (The Forge of God, Moving Mars, etc.) after that.
Greg and I were on friendly terms, and I ran into him at various SF conventions over the years. He was a smart and genial presence. I have something approaching a complete Greg Bear collection (including a Cheap Street Sleepside Story), minus some recent titles and a few odds and ends like some of the media tie-in books. He was going to be a Nova Express interview subject Back In The Day, but that never happened for various uninteresting reasons.
He was one of the greats, and he will be missed.
Tags:Greg Bear, Obituary, Science Fiction
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Sunday, October 23rd, 2022
Another purchase from that British book dealer:
Russell, Eric Frank. Somewhere A Voice. Dennis Dobson, 1965. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a small Foyle’s stickler on inside front cover under flap in a Near Fine- dust jacket with a 3/4″ split to bottom of front fold (and faint associated crease to front), a nail-head sized semi-closed circular chip to rear spine join near head, slight age darkening to edges of white portion of jacket, a faint, intermittant line of rubbing near right front cover edge, and slight foxing to blind side of dust jacket spine, otherwise a fairly bright example of the dust jacket. Short story collection. Currey, page 424. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy III, page 70. Bought from a notable UK book dealer for £32.
I enjoyed Wasp enough that I think I should pick up some more Russell.
Tags:Books, Eric Frank Russell, Science Fiction
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Sunday, August 21st, 2022
The final two items from the private seller culling his collection. Both of these were $5 each.
McCutheon, Marc. The Online Price Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror. McCutheon, 2000. First edition trade paperback original (essentially just side-stapled 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheets), a Fine- copy with slight bend at top front corners. An odd self-published volume claiming to list online prices realized for a wide variety of SF/F/H books, and while the authors hit most of the biggest names, the selection is otherwise somewhat random and haphazard. Has some tidbits for things that are potentially useful, but fails to provide a lot of title-specific first edition point information (like the various dj states of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot). I can see this being slightly useful for a real newbie the year it was published, but is of extremely dubious utility now. An oddity I bought cheap just because I had never heard of it and there was almost no information about it on the internet.
Wells, Stuart W., III. The Science Fiction Heroic Fantasy Author index. Purple Unicorn books, 1978. First edition trade paperback original (simultaneous with a hardback edition), a Very Good+ copy with 1/2″ tear at bottom of front spine-join, with light soiling along spine. A reference listing of genre books that was (like Marshall B. Tymn’s American Fantasy and Science Fiction: Toward a Bibliography of Works Published in the United States, 1949—1973) born obsolete, already superseded by far more comprehensive reference works published the same year. What was in the water that everyone rushed their SF/F/H bibliographical works into print in the 1978-1980 timeframe? You had Currey’s indispensable Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors: A Bibliography of First Printings of Their Fiction, you had the Firebell update of Bleiler’s Checklist, you Locke’s Spectrum of Fantasy, the first edition of Nichol’s Science Fiction Encyclopedia, the first two volume’s of Tuck’s own SF Encyclopedia, Tymn etc.’s Fantasy Literature, Miller’s Jack Vance bibliography Fantasms and even the Magill’s Survey of Science Fiction set. Extend it just a little into the early 80s and you get Bleiler’s Guide to Supernatural Fiction and the Levack bibliographies. And all this was just before the advent of desktop publishing.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Purple Unicorn Books, reference works, Science Fiction, science fiction bibliography, Stuart W. Wells III
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Friday, August 12th, 2022
Three more books from that private collector culling his collection.
Pohl, Frederik. Midas World. St. Martin’s, 1983. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with the barest bit of bumping at head and heel, and a trace of fixing to inside covers, in a Very Good+ dust jacket with a 3/16th” chip at head, a 1″ closed triangular tear with associated nailhead-sized chip to upper front near spine (and small piece of blindside tape reinforcement), and a few pinpricks of abrasion along the spine, signed by Pohl. Over-graded by the seller as Fine/Fine, but I only paid $12 for it, and a copy with a better jacket to marry should be cheap.
Silverberg, Robert. The Book of Skulls. Scribner’s, 1972. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Silverberg. Hugo and Nebula finalist. Replaces a slightly less Fine signed copy. Bought for $45.
Pellegrino, Charles, and George Zebrowski. The Killing Star. AvoNova, 1995. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Zebrowksi. Supplements a paperback edition inscribed to me by Zebrowski I received for Nebula consideration. Bought for $9.
Tags:Books, Frederik Pohl, George Zebrowski, Robert Silverberg, Science Fiction
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Thursday, July 28th, 2022
I was not particularly interested originally when Centipede Press did their signed, limited prestige reprints of Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead. They’re solid novels (something that can’t be said of Xenocide), but not among my particular favorites of SF novels in the 1980s. However, I was interested in Ender’s Way, since that contains previously uncollected Ender stories, but it sold out before I could pick up dealer copies.
Given that, I was happy to pick up this set:
Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Way. Centipede Press, 2021. First edition, #156 of 300 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine two-piece capped cloth slipcase, still in shrinkwrap. With:
Card, Orson Scott. Speaker for the Dead. Centipede Press, 2020. First edition thus, #156 of 300 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine two-piece capped cloth slipcase. Hugo and Nebula winner for best novel.
Both books bought for $400 off eBay, a significant discount off the original cover price for both ($250 for Ender’s Way and $295 for Speaker for the Dead.
And if any of you out there have #156 of Ender’s Game you’re willing to part with at a reasonable price, let me know…
Tags:Books, Centipede Press, Limited Editions, Orson Scott Card, Science Fiction
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Wednesday, July 20th, 2022
Another signed PBO:
Farmer, Philip Jose. The Lovers. Ballantine Books, 1961. First edition paperback original (PBO), a Very Good+ copy with crease across bottom rear corner and slight spine lean, signed by Farmer. One of the first science fiction novels to deal frankly with sexual themes. Brizzi, The Work of Philip Jose Farmer, pages 18-24. Currey, page 185. Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4, *3-69. Supplements a signed copy of the later hardback first edition. Won off eBay for $9.99.
Tags:Books, PBO, Philip Jose Farmer, Science Fiction
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Wednesday, July 13th, 2022
Three different Jack Vance firsts, bought from various sources.
Vance, Jack (Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan, editors). The Jack Vance Treasury. Subterranean Press, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket, new and unread. When this was published, I managed to pick up the signed, limited edition (probably on sale), but not the regular trade edition. Out of print for over a decade, but bought from Camelot Books at the original cover price of $38.
Vance, Jack. The Star King. Berkley Medallion, 1964. First edition paperback original, a near Fine copy with wrinkle along spine join, slight bumping at head, heel and bottom front corner, slight small creases to outer top corners, trace of age darkening and soiling to white cover, and slight foxing to inside covers, signed by Vance, with color laser-printed picture of Vance signing laid in. The first Demon Princes novel, shortened to Star King for many subsequent editions. Hewett, A15a. Cunningham, 76a. Bought off eBay for $15.50.
Vance, Jack. When The Five Moons Rise. Underwood Miller, 1992. First edition hardback, #245 of 300 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Short story collection. Hewett A86. Cunningham, 83a. Showed up on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $50, easily $100 below what they usually go for, so naturally I jumped on it.
Tags:Books, Jack Vance, Limited Editions, PBO, Science Fiction, Subterranean Press, Underwood/Miller
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Thursday, June 16th, 2022
I should point out that this is the new, new, new, new, new incarnation of New Worlds, this time as a hardback anthology series.
Gevers, Nick, and Peter Crowther, editors. New Worlds Issue #1. PS Publishing, 2021 (i.e., 2022). First edition hardback, #49 of 200 copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards and a Fine dust jacket, and a Fine embossed slipcase. Latest resurrection of this venerable UK fiction title, most famous for Michael Moorcock’s New Wave editorship in the 1960s, and Moorcock contributes a story (and signature) here, as do Alan Moore, Michael Swanwick, Ken MacLeod, James Lovegrove, Ian Watson, Ian R. MacLeod, etc. The trade paperback version came out last year, but this hardback edition is already out of print. Bought from the publisher at the usual discount.
I will have two copies of this to sell in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog (currently in progress).
Tags:Alan Moore, Books, Ken MacLeod, Limited Editions, Michael Moorcock, New Worlds, Nick Gevers, Peter Crowther, Science Fiction
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