Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah? (The same lineup as Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, the fifth Shōwa-era Godzilla film.) I suspect things will get a little windy…
Due May 31, 2019.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters Trailer Drops
July 21st, 2018Library Addition: The Bradbury Chronicles Signed
July 20th, 2018If that headline seems like a repeat, it’s because there are an awful lot of books with Bradbury and Chronicles in their titles, and I have several…
(Bradbury, Ray) Weller, Sam. The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury. William Morrow, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Signed by Bradbury. Biography and in-depth look at his work. Bpught off eBay for $25.
And that marks the last thing that came in during the first half of the year. Expect another big library additions roundup post sometime next week…
Library Additions: Four Signed First Editions
July 16th, 2018More 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.
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”
July 15th, 2018Been 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
July 9th, 2018Three 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.
Library Addition: The Heavenly Host
July 2nd, 2018I 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.
Library Addition: Signed First of Harlan Ellison’s Rumble
June 29th, 2018I had already purchased this and was about to cue it up here when news of Ellison’s death reached me. This is the most I’ve ever paid for a mass-market paperback, but signed copies usually go for about thrice what I paid for this.
Ellison, Harlan. Rumble. Pyramid Books, 1958. First edition paperback original (“Pyramid Books edition 1958” on copyright page and 35¢ price, as per Currey), a Near Fine copy with slight wear along spine, faint crease on top front corner, slight characteristic age-darkening of pages, and a few other touches of wear, otherwise a bright, tight, square copy of a book usually found in much worse shape. Inscribed by Ellison: “Best of/luck to Perry/and to Sue, undisguised/lust and an all-expense paid/trip to anywhere with me/Harlan Ellison/22 JAN 73”. Mainstream novel of juvenile delinquency. Currey (1979), page 179. Slusser, Harlan Ellison: Unrepentant Harlequin, page 62, 1. Segaloff, A Lit Fuse, page 75. Bought for $66 off eBay.
Harlan Ellison, RIP
June 28th, 2018The man many thought was too stubborn and angry to die has passed away in his sleep: Harlan Ellison, dead at 84.
Ellison was a tremendously important science fiction writer in his heyday in the 1960s, the infant terrible of the American New Wave. His prose was both razor sharp and packed an emotional urgency pretty much unseen in the field heretofore, the SF counterpart to the “angry young man” briefly fashionable in the literary world. Among his prodigious short fiction output was “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” a story most would place among the genre’s very best, if not the best, and he won Hugos and Nebulas left and right back when they actually meant something.
He had a singular gift for memorable titles, superb taste in enemies, and a penchant for suing people at the drop of a hat (sometimes deserved, sometimes not). He wrote several memorable screenplays, including “Demon With a Glass Hand” for The Outer Limits and “City on the Edge of Forever” for Star Trek, as well as a large number of comic book issues. He was exceptionally smart, extremely charismatic, unusually hotheaded, irascible, opinionated and irreplaceable, and the source of hundreds of stories of his outrageous antics.
The field shall not see his like again.
Below: A few Ellison-related titles from my library. And I’ll actually be listing another recent purchase tomorrow…
Library Addition: John Brunner’s The Crutch of Memory
June 28th, 2018John Brunner is something of an odd author for me. I have nice firsts of Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up, and pick up his signed first editions when I see them cheap, but I’m not actively trying collect everything he wrote.
But I saw this on sale on eBay from a major UK dealer who has tons of nice stuff that’s usually at prices in excess of what I want to spend, and thought it was worth picking up.
Brunner, John. The Crutch of Memory. Barrie and Rockcliff, 1964. First edition hardback (“First published 1964,” as per Currey), a Near Fine- copy with dust soiling to page block edges, slight bumping at head and heel and extremely slight blunting of points, in a Very Good dust jacket with shallow chipping at head and heel, some dust soiling around the edge of the white rear cover, foxing to blind side of dj spine and edges, and general wear. With Brunner’s own ownership bookplate affixed to front flap. Brunner’s first mainstream novel. Currey, 1979, page 70. de Bolt, The Happening World of John Brunner, page 205. Bought £9.50 plus shipping.
Library Addition: Holkins & Krahulik’s Lexcalibur
June 27th, 2018Saw this mentioned on Penny Arcade and immediately decided to order a copy. Good thing, since it was sold out by the next time they posted…
Holkins, Jerry and Mike Krahulik. Lexcalibur: Useful Poetry for Adventurers Above And Below The World. Penny Arcade, 2017 (actually 2018). First edition hardback (“First Printing. November 2017. Printed in China.”), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread, with additional “Table of Malcontents” poem on bookmark laid in. Fantasy-gaming themed humorous poetry. Not actually offered for sale until May 2018.
