Library Addition: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Stan’s Kitchen

May 8th, 2020

When I saw they only did 600 copies of this, I thought “I better pick some up.”

Robinson, Kim Stanley. Stan’s Kitchen. NESFA Press, 2020. First edition hardback, #171 of 600 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Short story collection.

I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

Library Additions: Signed Books Bought From Dreamhaven

May 7th, 2020

Part Two:

  • (Bradbury, Ray) James Tucker and Erin Mckee, editors. Touchstone: Celebrating the Lives of Fritz Leiber and Ray Bradbury. Mysterious Stranger Press, 1978. First edition trade paperback original, a Near Fine copy with slight crease to bottom front corner, a stray ink mark to bottom outer pageblock edge, and a touch of grubbiness to the uncoated covers, signed by Bradbury and McKee, with 183/977 written at the bottom right corner of the title page (presumably the limitation). Odd mélange of festschrift, bits of fiction from the two authors, a bibliography, etc. Includes contributions from Harlan Ellison, Poul Anderson, William F. Nolan, Richard Lupoff (as Ova Hamlet), etc. Reginald, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature 1975-1991, 29608. Not in Currey. Not in The Undead (which had a lot of obscure Bradbury items listed). Not in Morgan, Fritz Leiber: a Bibliography 1934—1979. Not in Staicar, Fritz Leiber. Not in a whole damn lot of things it should have been in (but it is in the ISFDB). Found literally in Dreamhaven’s basement, and I think I ended up paying something like $16.

  • Disch, Thomas. Fun With Your New Head. Doubleday, 1971. First U.S. edition and first edition under this title, previously published as Under Compulsion in the UK three years before, a near Fine copy with purple remainder speckling at heel, owners name of “Scott Imes” written in ink on inside top back cover under flap, and slight bend at head and heel, in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to spine and a few traces of dust soiling. Inscribed by Disch: “For Margee & Scott,/Best,/Thomas M. Disch.” Imes was the long-time manager of Uncle Hugo’s SF bookstore store. Currey, page 164. Bought for $28.
  • Lovecraft, H.P. A Winter Wish and Other Poems. Whispers Press, 1977. First edition hardback, #160 of 200 signed, numbered hardback signed by editor Tom Collins, publisher Stuart Schiff, and artist Steve Fabian, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine (and very tight) slipcase. Bought for $60.
  • Library Additions: Unsigned Books Bought from Dreamheaven

    May 4th, 2020

    I was in Minneapolis in early March (right before everything went into lockdown), and I had a chance to drop by Dreamhaven Books and pick up a few things. Here are the unsigned books I bought.

  • Blish, James. Black Easter. Doubleday, 1968. An Ex-library copy I bought for $4 for the quite bright Near Fine+ dust jacket to marry to another copy.
  • Dick, Philip K. Mary and the Giant. Arbor House, 1987. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. For some reason I ended up with a copy of the UK first edition and the Ultramarine Press leather-bound-with-the-cancelled check edition, but never picked up the American trade edition (the true first) until now. Precious Artifacts, MS5.2. Bought for $20.
  • Dozois, Gardner. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection. St. Martin’s, 2013. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Bought for cover price minus 20%. The remaining volumes I lack are 15, 23, 24, 27 and 28.
  • Martin, George R. R. Nightflyers. Bluejay Books, no date (but 1985). First edition uncorrected proof of the trade paperback original, a Near Fine+ copy with blue bunching along front spine (not uncommon among proofs), and a 1″ square dragon stamp in red at top right corner of half title page. Bought for I think $16.

  • Shoegazer Sunday: Deserta’s “Hide”

    May 3rd, 2020

    This is from Deserta ‘s new album Black Aura My Sun, which is already making a lot of people’s “Best Shoegaze albums of 2020” list. They remind a little bit of Highspire.

    Library Addition: Robert E. Howard’s Skull-Face And Others

    April 20th, 2020

    Picked up another key book at a nice price:

    Howard, Robert E. Skull-Face And Others. Arkham House, 1946. First edition hardback, a Near Fine copy with slight bumping at points, slight bend at head and heel, trace of rubbing to center of gold designs along spine, in a Near Fine dust jacket with slight sun-fading to spine, slight wear at points, a 1/16″ closed tear at head, slight wrinkling at top right cover, a touch of dust soiling around just the edge of white rear cover, and blindside foxing to dust jacket; all in all, an extremely nice copy of this key Howard and Arkham House work. Joshi, Sixty Years of Arkham House, 17. Jaffrey, Horrors and Unpleasantries, 19. Nielsen, Arkham House Books, 17. Derleth, Thirty Years of Arkham House, 17. Currey, page 251. Bleiler, Guide to Supernatural Fiction, 852. Locke, Spectrum of Fantasy, page 117. Bleiler, Checklist (1978), page 104. Bleiler, Checklist (1948), page 153. Chalker/Owings (1991), page 23 (“What The Outsider and Others is to Lovecraft, this book is to Howard”). Kemp, Anthem Series, pages 305-6. Barron, Horror Literature, 3-95 (but not in the companion Fantasy Literature volume). One of four “tall” Arkham house volumes, of which I now have two. Bought for $382.46 plus shipping from a fellow Biblio dealer.

    Shoegazer Sunday: Static Daydream’s “Drift Away”

    April 19th, 2020

    Here’s a pleasant one off the Saint Marie Records Static Daydream sampler.

    Would You Believe William Shatner As Archie Goodwin?

    April 17th, 2020

    Seeing is believing:

    That’s the unsold pilot for a 1959 Nero Wolfe TV show, with Shatner as Goodwin and Kurt Kasznar (probably known best, most unfairly, for a role in Land of the Giants) as Wolfe.

    I could definitely see myself watching this on METV…

    (Hat tip: Don Webb.)

    Library Addition: Michael Swanwick’s In Memoriam Gardner Dozois

    April 13th, 2020

    Sometimes things just show up in my mailbox:

    Swanwick, Michael and Sean Swanwick. In Memoriam: Gardner Dozois 1947-2018. Dragonstairs Press, 2020. First edition chapbook, #60 of 70 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy. Came in the mail with a “with the Compliments of the Press” notice laid in. Originally appeared in the Philcon 2018 program book.

    I’ll have copies of this available in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog.

    Library Addition: Signed, Limited Edition of Robert Silverberg’s Reflections and Refractions

    April 8th, 2020

    Here’s something else I missed when it came out:

    Silverberg, Robert. Reflections & Refractions: Thoughts on Science Fiction, Science and Other Matters. Underwood Books, 1997. First edition hardback, #180 of 300 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in decorated boards and Fine slipcase, sans dust jacket, as issued. Collection of essays, most (but not all) from his “Reflections” series of columns in Amazing and Asimov’s. Bought off eBay for $25, exactly half off the original list price of $50.

    Another Industrial Book Piracy Site

    April 6th, 2020

    It looks like we have another massive book piracy site, https://full-english-books.net.

    Here’s the WhoIs information:

    Domain Name: FULL-ENGLISH-BOOKS.NET
    Registry Domain ID: 2298584626_DOMAIN_NET-VRSN
    Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namesilo.com
    Registrar URL: http://www.namesilo.com
    Updated Date: 2019-06-10T04:26:19Z
    Creation Date: 2018-08-17T17:40:19Z
    Registry Expiry Date: 2021-08-17T17:40:19Z
    Registrar: NameSilo, LLC
    Registrar IANA ID: 1479
    Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@namesilo.com
    Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4805240066
    Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
    Name Server: ARNOLD.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
    Name Server: ZITA.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
    DNSSEC: unsigned

    Among the writers they appear to have ripped off are:

  • Neil Gaiman
  • William Gibson
  • Joe Haldeman
  • Elizabeth Hand
  • Stephen Jones
  • Stephen King
  • Joe R. Lansdale
  • George R. R. Martin
  • J. K. Rowling
  • Charles Stross
  • Bruce Sterling
  • Lisa Tuttle
  • Among many, many others.

    I’m no longer a member of SFWA, but those who are may want to pass this on to the legal committee…