Finally obtained a book I’ve been trying to get for over 20 years, ever since hearing about it while compiling Bruce Sterling’s bibliography for Nova Express in the early 1990s:
Martin, George R. R. The John W. Campbell Awards Volume 6. Bluejay Books, 1986. Uncorrected proof, trade paperback format, of the never-published hardback first edition, a Very Good- copy, being well-read with creasing along front and back spine joins, bottom of front spine join starting to split, a few spots of staining (including one to the edge of side/bottom page block), and general wear, with note on front cover stating “To/Shelia/Williams/Isaac/Asimov” and a note on the table of contents saying the Orson Scott Card story listed was going to be replaced with another Card story. Never produced because Bluejay Books went out of business in 1986. Copy on the back covers states the book was to be produced in both hardback and trade paperback formats.
The contents are as follows:
Page 1: “Preface” — George R. R. Martin
Page 9: “On John Campbell” — Jack Williamson
Page 17: “The Djinn Who Watches Over the Accursed” — Stephen R. Donaldson (Published in Word Tales, the book published for the 1985 World Fantasy Convention in Tucson.)
Page 41: “Angel Engines” — Bruce Sterling (Note: This story is present in the book, but is missing from the the (probably hastily typed) Table of Contents.) (Remains unpublished.)
Page 57: “The Necropolis at Fang Shang” — Bruce Sterling (Remains unpublished.)
Page 71: “Adrift Among the Ghosts” — Jack L. Chalker (Appeared as an original story in the Chalker collection Dance Band on the Titanic in 1988.)
Page 89: “The Red Hawk” — Elizabeth A. Lynn (Had previously appeared as a stand-alone Cheap Street chapbook in 1983.)
Page 123: “Unwyrm” — Orson Scott Card (Never published in this form, a novella that takes up half the book, but was evidently incorporated into Card’s 1987 novel Wyrms.)
Page 251: “The John W. Campbell Award Winners: 1973—1985” (No author listed, just a list of winners and nominees by year.)
Bought for $100 from an editor who was downsizing his library as part of moving.
Tags: Bluejay Books, Books, Bruce Sterling, Elizabeth Lynn, First Edition, George R. R. Martin, Jack Chalker, Jack Williamson, Jim Frenkel, John W. Campbell Award, Orson Scott Card, proof, Stephen R. Donaldson
This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2015 at 8:00 AM and is filed under Books, Science Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
These two works – apart from the one still in the clutches of Harlan Ellison – are the only fiction by Bruce Sterling which I haven’t read. I want.