Archive for July, 2018

Library Additions: Four Signed First Editions

Monday, July 16th, 2018

More of the Fred Duarte/Karen Meschke book collection showed up at the Austin Public Library’s Recycled Reads Bookstore. Two of the books here were 50% off their marked price, and the other two were pretty cheap. All these are in dust jacket protectors.

  • Godwin, Parke, and Marvin Kaye. The Masters of Solitude. Doubleday, 1978. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with purple remainder speckling at heel in a Near Fine dust jacket with moderate soiling to white back cover. Inscribed by both authors: “[In Kaye’s hand]Worldcon 1986″/[In Godwin’s hand] For Fred/Parke Godwin/[In Kaye’s hand] For Fred/with best wishes/Marvin/Kaye.” I did not previously have examples of either author’s signatiure. Bought for $12. (Note: Kaye’s name comes first on the cover, but I have more of Godwin’s books so I’ll be filing it there.)

  • Hunter, Stephen. Pale Horse Coming. Simon & Schuster, 2001. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Hunter. Bought for $5. Dwight tells me that this is one of his best.

  • Jeter, K.W. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Warped. Pocket Books, 1995. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Jeter: “For Karen + Fred—/See you in/San Antonio!/Best,/K. W. Jeter.” Meschke was con chair for the 1997 San Antonio Worldcon. Bought for $5 after discount.

  • Kay, Guy Gavriel. Tigana. Roc, 1990. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Kay: “For Fred,/All best,/Guy Kay.” Bought for $15 after discount.

  • Other books I found there will show up in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    For more on Fred Duarte, see here, or click the Fred Duarte tag to see other books I acquired from his estate. (For more items from Meschke’s collection, watch this space…)

    Sunday Shoegazer: Lorelle Meets the Obsolete’s “Waves Over Shadows”

    Sunday, July 15th, 2018

    Been a while since I did a Sunday Shoegazer. I’ve been busy.

    Operating out of Guadalajara, Mexico, Lorelle Meets the Obsolete hits a sweetspot between shoegaze, slowcore and psychadelic, sounding a little bit like a heavier Mazzy Star. “Waves Over Shadows” is off Balance.

    Library Additions: Three Signed Firsts

    Monday, July 9th, 2018

    Three signed first edition hardbacks picked up from two different sources. The Effinger and the Lovegrove were picked up from a Lame Excuse Books customer for trade credit, and the Zelazny was from eBay.

  • Effinger, George Alec. Relatives. Harper & Row, 1973. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- dust jacket with one 1/4″ closed tear on bottom front and very slight dust soiling to rear. Inscribed by Effinger: “For Dan Monte—/This is pretty scarce title. I/think the Center for Disease Control/developed a vaccine against this novel/shortly after publication. Well, it/was only my second book and I/was still learning—/George Alec Effinger.” I knew George (he came to the second Turkey City Writer’s Workshop I ever threw) and he signed most of his books for me, but I don’t think I picked this one up before he died. This and the Lovegrove were exchanged for credit.

  • Lovegrove, James. Provender Gleed. Gollancz, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed and dated by Lovegrove. I should really read some of the Lovegrove I already have…

  • Zelazny, Roger, editor. The Williamson Effect. Tor, 1996. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel and a few pinprick spots of foxing to FFE (maybe something with acidic paper was laid in there) in a Fine dust jacket. Tribute anthology for Jack Williamson, published after Zelazny’s death. Signed by Williamson and contributors Ben Bova, Mike Resnick and David Weber. Won off eBay for $24.07. Replaces an unsigned copy.

  • Library Addition: The Heavenly Host

    Monday, July 2nd, 2018

    I doubt there’s anyone alive who’s read everything Isaac Asimov wrote (there’sw simply too much of it), but a goodly number SF fans probably think they read all of Asimov’s science fiction, or at least up through about Foundation’s Edge and Robots of Dawn, at which point it became obvious that the good doctor’s novel-writing career was running on fumes. But I suspect that many are unaware of this YA science fiction novel (really more like an illustrated novelette) that came out in 1975.

    Asimov, Isaac. The Heavenly Host. Walker, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with a trace of wear to boards, in a Near Fine dust jacket with a couple of 1/4″ closed tears at top edge, a few traces of dust soiling, and slight sun-yellowing around the perimeter (greatly exaggerated in the scan). Young adult novel set on another planet. Currey (1979), page 17. Bought from an online dealer for $20 plus shipping.