Library Addition: Signed PBO of Jack Vance’s The Palace of Love

November 13th, 2024

An eBayer auctioned off a number of signed Vance and Matheson PBOs. I bid on several, but this is the only one I won.

Vance, Jack. The Palace of Love. Berkley Medallion, 1967. First edition paperback original (60¢ price and October, 1967 on copyright page, as per Currey), a Near Fine+ copy with 1/4″ closed tear at top front spine join and slight edgewear, signed by Vance (typical late overlapping Vance signature). Third book in the Demon Princes series. Hewett, A31. Cunningham, 62.a, Currey, page 499. Bought off eBay for $18.

Library Addition: Sax Rohmer’s A Little Yellow Book of Perilous Tales

November 12th, 2024

Another Borderlands Little Book:

Rohmer, Sax (F. Paul Wilson, editor). A Little Yellow Book of Perilous Tales. Borderlands Press, 2024. First edition hardback, #463 of 500 copies signed by Wilson, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket, as issued. Short stories, including the very first Fu Manchu story ever published.

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

Library Addition: Strand Magazine LXXIII 2024 (Lansdale)

November 11th, 2024

This is an odd thing, because I don’t usually pick up first magazine appearances of stories for writers I collect, but this one was a gift from Dwight, who bought a copy for the G. K. Chesterton piece, and picked up an extra copy for me due to the Lansdale story (“it was as easy to pick up two copies as one”).

Strand Magazine, LXXIII 2024. First edition magazine original, 2024, a Fine copy. Contains the original Joe R. Lansdale story “Night Trails,” as well as a previously unpublished G. K. Chesterton essay on detective stories, plus work by Josh Malerman, John M. Floyd and Margie Deck, as well as interviews with James Patterson and Rupert Holmes.

Library Addition: Naomi Novik’s The Last Graduate

November 4th, 2024

Another Half Price Books find:

Novik, Naomi. The Last Graduate. Del Rey, 2021. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. “Lesson 2 of the Schoolomance.” Sequel to A Deadly Education. Bought for $12.59.

Fark Scary Story Thread for 2024

October 31st, 2024

Today is Halloween, which means it’s time for the annual Fark scary story thread!

Here are the links to threads from previous years:

  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012
  • 2011
  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2006
  • 2005
  • 2004
  • While you’re here, feel free to check out some of my other freaky/creepy/scary/silly Halloween posts.

    Library Addition: Signed, Limited First of Dan Simmons’ Carrion Comfort

    October 29th, 2024

    The third (and thus far final) book from that seller of Dark Harvest books on eBay.

    Simmons, Dan. Carrion Comfort. Dark Harvest, 1989. First edition hardback, #303 of 400 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket a few touches of edgewear and a trace of rubbing to front spine join in a Fine slipcase. His celebrated novel of psychic vampirism. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel. Chalker/Owings, page 121. Bought off eBay for $75.

    Simmons published this, Hyperion and the underrated Phases of Gravity the same year, quite an impressive literary feat (though I’d already been following him from Song of Kali), and briefly enjoyed some “The Next Stephen King” collecting hype. But overproduction of some of Simmons work (particularly from Lord John Press) quickly proved that the market for Dan Simmons limited was not as large as the market for Stephen King limiteds. But Simmons still produces some fine work up to this day…

    Library Addition: Signed, Limited First of The Asimov Chronicles

    October 28th, 2024

    This is the second volume from that Dark Harvest sell-off on eBay.

    Asimov, Isaac (Martin H. Greenberg, editor). The Asimov Chronicles: Fifty Years of Isaac Asimov. Dark Harvest, 1989. First edition hardback, #317 of 500 numbered copies signed by Asimov and illustrators Ron and Val Lakey Lindahn, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with touches of edgewear at points and a Fine- slipcase with with one thin 2″ scratch to rear. Career retrospective collection. Supplements a trade edition. Chalker/Owings, page 121. Bought off eBay for $75.

    Halloween Horrors: Giant Insects

    October 26th, 2024

    If you’re easily freaked out by ordinary insects, you might not to want this giant insects video:

    Obviously AI, but pretty well done. The guy’s entire channel features more of this sepia-toned nightmare fuel…

    Halloween Horrors: Pitch Meeting for The Shining

    October 25th, 2024

    What’s more Halloween than an iconic horror movie directed by iconic director Stanley Kubrick from an iconic horror novel by Stephen King mocked by iconic Ryan George?

    Honestly, I remember not being all that impressed with The Shining when I saw it back in the 1980s. A rewatch is probably overdue.

    (And for fans of The Shining, this odd item might be of interest…)

    Library Addition: Signed, Numbered Edition of Joe R. Lansdale’s The Nightrunners

    October 24th, 2024

    Someone on eBay was selling off a bunch of Dark Harvest limiteds, and I picked up three of them for a comparative song. This is the first.

    Lansdale, Joe R. The Nightrunners. Dark Harvest, 1987. First edition hardback, #60 of 300 numbered copies signed by Lansdale, introduction author Dean R. Koontz, and illustrator Gregory Manchess, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase; a pristine, mint copy. Joe’s most splatterpunk work. Supplements both the lettered slipcrate edition and the trade edition I bought and had Joe sign back when it came out, so I now have all three states. Isajanko, A009.a.ii. Person/Orbaugh/Lansdale, “Joe Lansdale: Notes Toward a Bibliography,” 10a. Chalker/Owings, page 120 (Jack was not a fan of the novel). Bought off eBay for $75.

    By way of coincidence, I will have a copy of the trade edition of The Nightrunners signed by both Lansdale and Koontz in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.