Archive for November, 2022

Library Additions: Three Gene Wolfe Critical Companions

Wednesday, November 30th, 2022

Three Michael Andre-Driussi critical companions to Gene Wolfe works, all bought from Amazon (the only place they’re available; click on the hyperlinks to buy them there).

  • (Gene Wolfe) Andre-Driussi, Michael. A Chapter Guide for the Long Sun & the Short Sun. Sirius Fiction, 2022. First edition POD hardcover, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Just what it says, a chapter-by-chapter summary of The Book of the Long Sun and The Book of the Long Sun and The Book of the Short Sun, including lists of characters and unusual terms that show up in each chapter.

  • (Gene Wolfe) Andre-Driussi, Michael. Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun: A Chapter Guide. Sirius Fiction, 2019 (2022). First edition POD hardcover, a Fine copy in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Same as the above, but for The Book of the New Sun.

  • (Gene Wolfe) Andre-Driussi, Michael. Gene Wolfe: 14 Articles. Sirius Fiction, 2016 (2022). First edition POD trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Various essays on Wolfe’s work.

    • Counting chapbooks, I now have 14 Andre-Driussi books on Gene Wolfe…

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    Posted in Basketball, Books, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »

    Greg Bear, RIP

    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.

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    Posted in Music, Science Fiction, technology | No Comments »

    Library Addition: Signed First of Stephen J. Cannell’s White Sister

    Friday, November 18th, 2022

    I was looking through a bookseller list of signed books when I saw Stephen J. Cannell’s name. “Huh, the Rockford Files guy! I wonder what signed firsts from Stephen J. Cannell are available?”

    Turns out a lot, some of which are available quite cheaply. (Hypermodern mystery firsts are doing much worse, on average, than hypermodern SF/F/H firsts right now.) This was available online as one of the cheapest signed firsts, and it turns out it’s the only one of his books (he did a whole series of Shane Scully mysteries) that had its own entry on Wikipedia, and the plot sounds interesting, so I picked it.

    Cannell, Stephen J. White Sister. St. Martin’s Press, 2006. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed and dated (“9/12/06”) by Cannell. Bought off the Internet for $5.

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    Library Additions: Five Arkham House Firsts

    Monday, November 14th, 2022

    I won these as part of an Arkham House lot at an Invaluable auction for $217 plus shipping. Other books from that lot will be in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, already in progress (probably going out just before Christmas).

  • Carter, Lin. Dreams from R’lyeh. Arkham House, 1975. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with bumping at head and heel in a Near Fine- dust jacket with wear at head, heel and points, and dust soiling to rear cover, mostly along fold edge. Poetry collection. In terms of desirability, this one is way, way down the list of Arkhams that took forever to sell out, down there with Gary Myer’s In the House of the Worm and those very later novels from people nobody ever heard of. Honestly, I was sort of surprised to discover that I hadn’t already picked up a cheap copy somewhere along the line. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 133. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 137. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 139.
  • Derleth, August, and Mark Schorer. Colonel Markesan and Less Pleasant People. Arkham House, 1966. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a few touches of light dust staining to rear, the largest about dime-sized near the top where the back jacket copy begins. Story collection. Replaces a slightly less attractive copy. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 87. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 87. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 93. Bleiler, Guide to Supernatural Fiction 530.

  • Derleth, August, editor. Dark of the Moon: Poems of Fantasy and the Macabre. Arkham House, 1947. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with bumping to top corners, slight bumping at head and heel, and a trace of foxing to interior gutters, in a Very Good- first state (green) dust jacket with a 1″ x 1/2″ chip to top front cover, notable bump and creasing to top rear corner trace of dust soiling to perimeter of rear dust jacket slight loss at bottom rear corner, a light, thin 1″ abrasion scratch to spine just above “Arkham House,” a bit of general wear, and slight blind-side foxing; a nice copy in a flawed dust jacket. “A pioneering and well-nigh definitive anthology of weird poetry from the entire range of English and American literature…” – Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 23. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 23. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 26. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 24 (and 34th on his list of most valuable Arkham House books). Derleth, 100 Books By August Derleth 46. Bleiler, Checklist of Fantastic Fiction (1948), page 98. Bleiler, Checklist of Fantastic Fiction (1978), page 60.

  • Lovecraft, H. P., etc. (collected by August Derleth). Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Arkham House, 1969. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with just a trace of dust soiling to the rear panel. Beautiful copy. “A volume that has come to be regarded as the definitive anthology of tales utilizing the framework of the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’…” – Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 102. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 97. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 109. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 108.

  • (Lovecraft, H.P.) Derleth, August. Some Notes on H. P. Lovecraft. Arkham House, 1959. First edition chapbook original, a Very Good copy to which someone has attached a now-yellowing plastic protector, as well as attaching the bookplate of late antiquarian book dealer Franklin Victor Spellman to the inside front cover. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House 55. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House 55. Jaffery, Horrors and Unpleasantries 55. Nielsen, Arkham House Books 58. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House (unnumbered item between 86 and 87 on page 84). Joshi, H.P. Lovecraft: A Comprehensive Bibliography, III.C.32. Tymn/Schlobin/Currey, A Research Guide to Science Fiction Studies, 284.

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    Library Additions: Two Signed Tim Powers Firsts+

    Wednesday, November 9th, 2022

    Three books, including two signed Tim Powers firsts.

  • Powers, Tim. Always Going On. Subterranean Press, 2020. First edition hardback, #183 of 250 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued, with Subterranean “packed by” slip laid in. Only available as a set with Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3 (see below).

  • Powers, Tim. The Skies Discrowned. Charnel House, 2022. First edition hardback, #54 of 200 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. “Handbound in Indigo Night Cave Paper (Belgium Flax dyed with Indigo & Walnut). This Cave Paper was made by hand for this edition. Each one of a kind sheet sheet guaranties that each book is unique. Exquisitely printed on 80lb Mohawk Superfine.” Part of a uniform prestige edition that Charnel House is doing of all Powers’ books. I will have one copy of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

  • Schafer, William, editor. Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3. Subterranean Press, 2020. First edition hardback, #183 of 250 numbered copies signed by all the contributors, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, with Subterranean “packed by” slip laid in. Anthology with stories by Robert R. McCammon, Richard Kadrey, etc. Sold as a set with Always Going On, bought as a set from Subterranean for $75, 50% off the original cover price. Now sold out from the publisher.

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    Posted in Books, Fantasy, Games, Horror | No Comments »

    Library Addition: A Little Jasmine Book of M. R. James

    Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022

    Another book in the Borderlands Little Book series:

    James, M. R. (edited and illustrated by Stephen R. Jones). A Little Jasmine Book of M. R. James. Borderlands Books, 2022. First edition hardback, #462 of 500 copies signed by Jones, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Six tales from the master of the ghost story, plus some nonfiction pieces from James, Jones and others, including a select bibliography.

    I will have a small number of copies available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog (currently in progress).

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