I was pleasantly surprised to get to the end of the trailer and not automatically think “Boy, this is going to suck.”
It might still suck, but it looks like they’re making a good-faith effort to capture the postcyberpunk vibe at the heart of the franchise. Never mind that I’m a much bigger fan of GitS:SAC than I am of the original movies, and that the movie leans much more heavily on the latter. (“No Tachikomas for you!”)
Here’s another chapbook I had been looking for a long time that, like Moorcock’s Caribbean Crisis, popped up on an ABE Books want search at a bargain price:
Asimov, Isaac. Little Brothers. The Pretentious Press, 1988. First edition chapbook original, one of 126 copies signed by Asimov (the only edition), a Fine copy, with two photos (of Isaac and Stanley Asimov) tipped into front, as issued. Reprints Asimov’s first published work, an essay about how much he hated his little brother, from the Boys High Recorder in 1934. Bought for $35 plus shipping from a well-known literary dealer.
Pretentious Press chapbooks were done by bookseller David Aronovitz in very small runs, most of which were given away as freebies to his best customers. I now have the Zelazny and Asimov chapbooks (both very hard to find), but still need to track down the rest…
I picked the following up at various Subterranean Press sales (some were 50% off, others discounted even more than that as part of a “grab bag” deal). A few of these will be available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, which I’m about to start work on.
Blaylock, James P. The Further Adventures of Langdon St. Ives. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #104 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Omnibus edition of Lagdon St. Ives novellas. “The Here-and-Thereians” plus a short coda (“Earthbound Things”) are original to this volume.
Blaylock, James P. The Further Adventures of Langdon St. Ives. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Trade edition.
Chu, Wesley. The Days of TAO. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #268 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Egan. Greg. The Four Thousand, The Eight Hundred. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
McCammon, Robert. The Last Train to Perdition. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Trade edition.
McCammon, Robert. Stinger. Subterranean Press, 2015. Signed limited edition hardback, #467 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Supplements a copy of the Kinnell first hardback.
Mieville, China. This Census-Taker. Subterranean Press, 2016. First limited edition hardback (the Del Rey trade edition precedes), #442 of 750 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
Powers, Tim. Down and Out in Purgatory. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Trade edition.
Shepard, Lucius. Five Autobiographies and a Fiction. Subterranean Press, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Trade edition.
Silverberg, Robert. Early Days: More Tales from the Pulp Era. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #169 of 1,000 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.
If you were trying to construct The Most Painfully 1970s SF TV Show Ever, you might come up with The Phoenix, and never mind that it debuted in 1981.
I mean, look at the intro footage, and tell me it doesn’t reek of the 1970s:
I mean, ancient astronauts, pyramid power, ESP, big medallions and feathered hair! How much more 70s can you get?
This arrived after my “I’ll Watch Any Damn SF/F/H Show On TV” phase, and it actually came and went so quickly (only five episodes aired, including the pilot) I wasn’t even aware of it.
Someone has put up a fairly crappy quality video of the complete pilot:
Hope you like flute music. The writing isn’t very good, but Judson Scott (who I remember best as Khan’s second-in-command) is surprisingly tolerable as Hunky McSunAlien.
Back in August, I ordered three PS Publishing slipcased editions on sale at £12.99 each marked down from £60:
Baxter, Stephen. Universes. PS Publishing, 2013. First edition hardback, #131 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine decorated slipcase.
McAuley, Paul J. A Very British History with A Very British History: Additional Stories. PS Publishing, 2013. First edition hardback, #127 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine decorated slipcase.
Watson, Ian. The Best of Ian Watson with Squirrel, Reich and Lavender: Bonus Stories. PS Publishing, 2014. First edition hardback, #47 of 100 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine decorated slipcase. Note that in this set the signature page is found in the additional volume, not the main volume.
Wong, David. John Dies At the End. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Cult science fiction horror novel and basis of the Don Coscarelli movie of the same name. Bought for $32.50 from Half Price Books with a 50% off coupon.
Picked up one more thing from the Fred Duarte estate that I didn’t see during my previous purchase:
Bradbury, Ray. Green Shadows, White Whale. Random House Audio, 1992. Audio cassette (probably the “first edition,” as I suspect there was only one) in a Very Good- packaging with 1″ of the inner cardboard cassette sleeve missing at bottom. Signed by Bradbury across the rear of the package. Two cassettes adding up to three hours of audio (presumably abridged) of Bradbury reading from his own novel. (I also have a first edition of the novel signed by Bradbury.) Bought from the Duarte estate sale at Armadillocon for $5.
Normally I don’t do a separate post about every Subterranean Press book that comes in, but since I picked up both the trade and limited state of this book, I thought I would do a post to highlight the different cover art.
Reynolds, Alastair. Beyond the Aquila Rift. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, trade state, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Another huge career retrospective collection, and at 781 pages, I think it’s the largest yet.
Reynolds, Alastair. Beyond the Aquila Rift. Subterranean Press, 2016. First edition hardback, #171 of 350 signed and numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and Fine slipcase. I find it slightly odd that the trade edition includes a wraparound dust jacket illustration, whereas the spine and rear of the limited are just a background dark blue color, but the cover art here is by Reynolds himself.
I’ll have copies of the trade edition available for sale in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.
Now that I’ve finished cataloging those National Book Auction Books, I can finally start cataloging the books I bought at Armadillocon, way back in July. First up: Two Neal Barrett, Jr. chapbooks I already had in wraps, but not in the hardback versions I picked up there. Both of these are unnumbered copies, presumably from Neal’s own contributor copies, and both bought for $40 from two different sellers (Adventures in Crime and Space and Rick Klaw).
Barrett, Neal, Jr. The Day the Decorators Came. Subterranean Press, 2000. First edition hardback, a signed but unnumbered copy among 26 lettered copies, a Fine copy with pictorial pastedown on front boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
Barrett, Neal, Jr. Way Out There. Subterranean Press, 2004. First edition hardback, a signed but unnumbered copy among 52 lettered copies, a Fine copy with pictorial pastedown on front boards, sans dust jacket, as issued.
At this point I think all I’m missing of Neal’s books are some media tie-ins and the pseudonymous series work (of which he did quite a bit).
Here’s the last two books from that Cold Tonnage 40% off sale:
Clute, John. Pardon This Intrusion: Fantastika in the World Storm. Beccon Publications, 2011. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Collection of reviews and essays.
Clute, John. Stay. Beccon Publications, 2014. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Collection of reviews and essays.
I now have all the Clute critical collections, as well as both his novels.
And now that I’ve finished cataloging the Cold Tonnage purchase, instead of being 100 books behind in my cataloging, I’m only about 55…
