William Browning Spencer is evidently suffering from some medical issues, and money issues that result from medical issues, which is why someone set up a Go Fund Me account for him.
If you’re a friend of Bill, or a fan of his work, you might consider pitching in.
Two of these were bought as part of the Subterranean PC copy sale, and the other was an unrelated eBay purchase.
Another book I picked up at the Subterranean Press PC copy sale:
Mieville, China. Railsea. Subterranean Press, 2012. First limited edition hardback (the Del Rey hardback is the true first), PC copy of 26 signed lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine traycase (even by the standards of lettered editions, this is a very nice leather traycase with suede baffle surfaces on the inside of the front and back). Bought for $150.
Another book I picked up at the Subterranean Press PC copy sale:
Farmer, Philip Jose. The Other in the Mirror. Subterranean Press, 2009. First edition hardback, a PC copy of 26 lettered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine traycase. Omnibus edition of Fire and the Night, Jesus on Mars, and Night of Light, and the first hardback editions of the first two. Supplements both a trade edition and a copy of the limited edition I got very cheap. Bought for $150 (half cover price for the lettered edition).
Subterranean Press had a charity sale for PC copies of various lettered and numbered states of various books, most of which had already sold out. I took advantage of it to snap out some books for authors I collect, this being the first:
Vance, Jack. Desperate Days. Subterranean Press, 2012. First edition hardback, a PC copy of the 26 copy lettered edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dustjacket and a Fine- traycase (there’s a small flaw to the cork-lined interior front lid), signed by Vance. Contains “The Genessee Slough Murders: Outline for a Novel” not in the trade edition (though reprinted from Jerry Hewett’s bibliography). Contains three Vance mysteries: The Fox Valley Murders, The Pleasant Grove Murders and The Dark Ocean. Note that there was no regular numbered edition of this, so the lettered edition was the only one signed by Vance. Bought from the Subterranean PC sale for $250 plus shipping. Supplements a trade edition.
Also note that the traycase for Desperate Days is distinctively different from the one the lettered edition of Dangerous Ways, the first book in this mystery reprint series and which resembles an even larger book with it’s rounded spine. The traycase for Desperate Days resembles the regular Subterranean square traycase.
The University of Maryland-Baltimore County just made NCAA basketball tournament history, becoming the first #16 seed to knock off a #1 seed (indeed, the number 1 overall seed) by beating Virginia 74-54.
Their team mascot? The Retrievers.
Good boy!
Somewhere, Jigsaw is smiling…
No theme, just two signed first editions, bought from different sources:
Friday, March 9, I had to have Jigsaw, my faithful canine companion of over 13 years, put to sleep.
I picked him up at Town Lake Animal Shelter through Gold Ribbon Rescue way back in December 2004, having finally bought my house earlier in the year and having already gone through GRR’s grueling vetting process.
Jigsaw started out as an unrestrained riot of affection. He wanted to chew through everything (including a nylon leash and a shoe, just his first night!) and jump excitedly on everyone who came through the door. Over the years he calmed down a bit, but he was well into his golden years before losing his puppish enthusiasm for jumping to greet people.
He loved swimming, chasing balls (though not so much dropping them), seeing people, and playing with other dogs; all the usual Golden Retriever joys. Going out to the regular GRR swim events, and having people come over to the house, were among his favorite things. (I’ll always remember that whenever we went to a GRR event, he loved swimming, but he always wanted to keep me in sight at all times, evidently scared I might leave him. He was always overjoyed to see me when I got back from trips to pick him up at my parents house.)
Age mellowed him into a dog all my friends loved.
I’ll always remember my father, in home hospice care for his own terminal cancer, scratching Jigsaw’s ears at his bedside.
Fourteen is a ripe old age for a Golden Retriever. I asked my vet how he was doing for his age. She said “I don’t know. They don’t usually live this long.”
I’d had false alarms with his health before. A couple of years ago he had increasing trouble getting up and down the stairs, and after long car trips he wouldn’t be able to stand for a while. Starting him on pain medication, and a round of antibiotics, seemed to fix that.
Then last year, when I adopted Avery, a black lab mix, to keep him company, she ran him ragged the first couple of days, to the point the same problems started to assert themselves. But slowly, with another upped medicine dosage, he got back to his old self, and was back to getting up and down the stairs without trouble.
I had suspected he had cancer for some time, but the first ultrasound last year was inconclusive, and I kept his pain under control with medication. But he started slowly but steadily losing weight the last few months. He’d still eat, but not as much, and stopped eating his dry food at all.
Finally, it got to the point he wasn’t pooping or peeing properly, probably due to (I found out a couple of weeks ago) inflamed lymph nodes near his spine. And when they finally got a good ultrasound of his bladder last week, the walls looked thickened, making cancer the likely culprit.
Finally, on Thursday night he had stopped eating entirely. And after two short walks that night, Friday morning his rear legs couldn’t support him at all. He walked about ten feet into the front yard and then feel down and lay in the grass.
It was time.
Here are some pictures of him over the years.
From his last day:
He was a good dog, and I’m going to miss him very, very much.
Both of these I got from the same book auction:
Another small press Joe R. Lansdale item:
Lansdale, Joe R. and Jussi Piironen. Hap and Leonard: Savage Season. SST, 2017. First hardback and first limited edition, number 105 of 270 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread. Graphic novel adaptation of the first Hap and Leonard novel. The IDW trade paperback edition precedes.
I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.