12/30/04 THU:
---Here today from VHPS:

Datlow, Ellen (ed) THE DARK: New Ghost Stories, Tor, 10/03, 1st edn, new in dj 25.95
--- and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant (eds) THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR: Seventeenth Annual Collection, St. Martin's Griffin, 8/04, 1st edn, (more than 350,000 words of the finest fantasy and horror; includes special section on Anime & Manga), {hc in dj available @ $35}, new 19.95

de Camp, L. Sprague, Lin Carter & Björn Nyberg SAGAS OF CONAN: Three Conan Novels in One Volume, Tor, 2nd, (collects Conan the Swordsman, Conan the Liberator & Conan and the Spider God; originally published 1978-80), new 18.95

De Lint, Charles SPIRITS IN THE WIRES, Tor, 9/04, (a novel of myth and magic--on the streets and on The Net), new 14.95

Dozois, Gardner (ed) THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: Twenty-First Annual Collection, St. Martin's Griffin, 7/04, 1st edn, (more than 300,000 words of fantastic fiction), {hc in dj available @ $35}, new 19.95

Etchison, Dennis, Ramsey Campbell & Jack Dann (eds) GATHERING THE BONES: Original Stories from the World’s Masters of Horror, Tor, 8/03, 1st edn, new 15.95

Holdstock, Robert MYTHAGO WOOD, Orb, 3rd, (one of the true fantasy classics of our time; winner of The World Fantasy Award), new 14.95

Hughes, Matthew BLACK BRILLION, Tor, 11/04, 1st edn, (A Novel of the Archonate), new in dj 23.95

Lumley, Brian HARRY KEOGH: NECROSCOPE and Other Weird Heroes, Tor, 7/03, (three new tales of the Necroscope plus classic stories of Titus Crow & David Hero!), new in dj 25.95

Reed, Robert SISTER ALICE, Tor, 10/03, 1st edn, (linked stories; far future), new in dj 25.95

Vance, Jack LURULU, Tor, 12/04, 1st edn, (sequel to Ports of Call), new in dj 22.95

Wilson, Robert Charles BLIND LAKE, Tor, 2nd, (gripping tale of alien contact and human love in a mysterious but hopeful universe), new in dj 24.95

Wolfe, Gene INNOCENTS ABOARD: New Fantasy Stories, Tor, 6/04, 1st edn, new in dj 25.95
---THE KNIGHT, Tor, 1/04, 1st edn, (Wizard Knight #1), new in dj 25.95
---THE WIZARD, Tor, 11/04, 1st edn, (Wizard Knight #2), new in dj 25.95

Wright, John C. THE GOLDEN TRANSCENDENCE or, The Last of the Masquerade, Tor, 11/03, 1st edn, (The Golden Age #3; grand space opera), new in dj 25.95
---THE LAST GUARDIAN OF EVERNESS, Tor, 8/04, 1st edn, (epic fantasy; Being the First Part of the War of the Dreaming), new in dj 25.95

---Back in stock:

Chiang, Ted STORIES OF YOUR LIFE and Others, Tor, 7/02, 1st edn, (multiple-award winning stories), {trade pb available @ 14.95}, new in dj 24.95

Clement, Hal HEAVY PLANET, Orb, 11/02, (the classic Mesklin stories), new 15.95

Vance, Jack ALASTOR, Orb, 7/02, (3-in-1 edn; collects Trullion: Alastor 2262, Marune: Alastor 933 & Wyst: Alastor 1716), new 14.95

Wilson, F. Paul THE BARRENS and Others, Forge, 12/00, (supernatural stories), new 15.95

12/29/04 WED:
---Here today from Galaxy Press:

Budrys, Algis (ed) L. RON HUBBARD Presents THE BEST OF WRITERS OF THE FUTURE, Bridge ('00), 1st edn, (top stories, essays, art from 16 years of program for new writers), new 14.95

Hubbard, L. Ron OLE DOC METHUSELAH, Bridge ('92), 1st thus, (The Intergalactic Adventures of the Soldier of Light; good-natured entertainment; orig: Astounding 1947-1950), new in dj 18.95
---SLAVES OF SLEEP & THE MASTERS OF SLEEP, Bridge ('93), (first time together with sequel; orig: Unknown 1939 & Fantastic Adventures 1950), new in dj 19.95
---TO THE STARS, Galaxy, 2nd, (orig; Astounding 1950), new in dj 24.95
---TYPEWRITER IN THE SKY, Bridge ('91), 1st thus, (orig: Unknown ‘40), new in dj 16.95
--- & Dave Wolverton A VERY STRANGE TRIP, Bridge ('99), 1st, (novelization of full-length Hubbard screenplay), new in dj 25.00

Hubbard, L. Ron GUNS OF MARK JARDINE, EMPTY SADDLES, SIX GUN CABALLERO, Bridge Audio ('93-96), (abridged westerns read by Geoffrey Lewis), cassettes, new (shrinkwrapped) each, 9.95

---Discount to members of discount plan on these is 30%.

---Apparently, Galaxy Publishing is the fiction-publisher of L. Ron Hubbard, having been split off from Bridge, which is now the publisher of his non-fiction. The three audiobook westerns I thought would be books, but it turns out they are only available as audiobooks on cassette.
---I remember going to book sales looking through the westerns for L. Ron Hubbard (as well as Sturgeon and Leinster and others), but never seemed to find too many. It looks like Bridge/Galaxy has a mammoth program of republishing all Hubbard’s pulp writing. As one of the greats of the Astounding/Unknown stable of writers, this seems as laudable as lots of the other pulp-reprint projects. I don’t know if what I hear is correct--that Hubbard was basically excommunicated from his own religion and the ten-volume Mission Earth series was really written by a team of ghost writers--and not very good ones. But the early fiction maybe deserves resuscitation. It is interesting to see these titles available now, in some okay-looking editions. As well, it seems that the Hubbard-founded Writers of the Future series has performed a valuable role in initiating the careers of some pretty decent writers--so although this religious-figure deification business makes me uneasy, I applaud some of its side-benefits. Scientology itself I am quite dubious about. But if it has kept the likes of Tom Cruise and Kirstie Alley from being basket cases, then maybe there is something to it.

12/28/04 TUE:
---Some titles back in stock from PS Publishing:

Chadbourn, Mark THE FAIRY FELLER'S MASTER-STROKE, PS Publishing '02, 1st edn, one of 800 SIGNED copies, (Gaiman intro; 109 pages), new 16.00

Di Filippo, Paul FUZZY DICE, PS, 6/03, 1st edn, (Rucker intro), new in dj 50.00

Hand, Elizabeth BIBLIOMANCY: Four Novellas, PS, 10/03, 1st edn, one of 700 SIGNED copies, (Lucius Shepard intro), new in dj 50.00

Morris, Mark THE UGLIMEN, PS Publishing, 5/02, 1st edn, SIGNED, new in dj 40.00

Park, Paul NO TRAVELLER RETURNS, PS, 8/04, 1st edn, one of 800 SIGNED copies, (novella; Elizabeth Hand intro; 74 pages), new 16.00

Shepard, Lucius TRUJILLO: Stories, PS, 6/04, 1st edn, one of 700 total SIGNED copies, (Swanwick intro; 682 pages), new in dj 50.00
---and I still have one copy of:
---another copy of the preceding, one of 200 SIGNED copies, BOXED, new in dj $90

Wexler, Robert Freeman IN SPRINGDALE TOWN, PS '03, (Shepard intro), new 16.00

12/27/04 MON:
---Here today from Psychotronic:

PSYCHOTRONIC VIDEO #41, '04, (The Magazine of Mass Destruction; Robert Fuest, Dr. Phibes, Ken Norton, Mandingo, Conny Van Dyke, Hell’s Angels ‘69, George W. In Hollywood, etc.), new 5.95

12/23/04 THU:
---Finally getting around to dispatching an order off to Wheatland Press for their:

Polyphony, Volume 4
Twenty Questions / Oltion
American Sorrows / Lake
Knuckle Sandwiches / Smario
Thirteen Ways to Water / Bruce Holland Rogers
All Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories (pre-order)
Weapons of Mass Seduction (pre-order) / Shepard
Paradise Passed (pre-order) / Oltion

---Could it be that all this has come out since my last order? Indeed, all I see listed in my catalog now is Greetings from Lake Wu and Polyphony 1-3.

12/22/04 WED:
---Here today from TTA:

THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE #40, win/04, (tenth anniversary issue; Steve Mohn, Paul Meloy, Melanie Fazi, David J. Schwartz, Eugie Foster, Bryan Talbot, Vandana Singh; Stephen Volk on horror films; The Dodo; Japan’s Dark Lanterns; reviews), new 7.00

---Looks like the bulk of what I have been waiting on from Wildside has now arrived. Only Adventure Stories #1 is still outstanding on the invoice--and already I have a few things for another order. Here today, some hardbacks (mostly of editions I also have in trade paperback):

Park, Paul THREE MARYS, Cosmos ('03), (luminous retelling of life of Christ), {trade pb still available @ $15}, new in dj 29.95

Sladek, John MAPS: The Uncollected…, Cosmos '03, (presents a brilliant overview of author's talents; David Langford [ed]), {trade pb still available @ 17.95}, new in dj 29.95

Smith, Clark Ashton THE DOUBLE SHADOW and Other Fantasies, Wildside ('03), (stories; fascinating introduction and showcase to author’s decadently jeweled prose; 108 pages), new in dj 29.95

Turner, Alice K. & Michael Andre-Driussi SNAKE'S HANDS: The Fiction of John Crowley, Cosmos/Wildside ('03), ( much expanded; 405 pp), {trade pb still available @ 19.99}, new in dj 49.95

---Catalogued a couple Ace Doubles (both appearing to be all originals):

F-123a/b Silverberg/Brackett COLLISION COURSE/NEMESIS FROM TERRA, ('61), g 2.50
F-143a/b McNight, Bob/Fox, Clayton A STONE AROUND HER NECK/END OF A BIG WHEEL, ('62), (mystery; To Know Her Was To Know Fear/In This Union There Was - Death), g 3.00

12/21/04 TUE:
---Another book has trickled in from Wildside:

Szumskyj, Ben J.S. & S.T. Joshi (eds) FRITZ LEIBER AND H.P. LOVECRAFT: Writers of the Dark, Wildside '03, (presents Lovecraft’s letters to Leiber, an impressive selection of Leiber’s Lovecraft-inspired fiction, and a selection of Leiber’s fine essays on H.P. Lovecraft and Matters Lovecraftian; Szumskyj intro; Joshi afterword), new no dj issued (pictorial boards) 39.95

---Just added to my biblio.com listings, bringing it through Schweitzer in the alphabet now.

---Dear Sams Club:

I appreciate the reminder that my membership has run out, but I knew it already. Thing is, I have decided not to renew. To get the products you carry at the prices you offer, I was willing to overlook your bullying of your suppliers and of your employees and of your competition--but your apparent decision not to stock Philip Roth’s bestselling novel The Plot Against America (at least I could never find it at your store), as well as other troubling decisions on what music and books your customers and WalMart’s customers can buy, amounts to nothing less than censorship in my book.
As a bookseller myself I make decisions on what I carry too, but the way I do it does not cause a chilling effect on what publishers or music labels will produce, as does yours. I do not approve of you having such a powerful position--in the world of business maybe; but not in the world of ideas and art. I don’t think you are qualified in any way to wield power in that sphere.
Thank goodness a Costco has moved in down the street, just when my Sams Club membership expired.

12/20/04 MON:
---Back in stock from Wildside (an outsized paperback):

Joshi, S.T. H.P. LOVECRAFT: The Decline of the West, Wildside, nd, (orig: Starmont, 1990), new 19.95

---Finally sent a couple mass emails to my email list--an attempt to mine that vein a little bit after much neglect. They will probably decide this is too much now even after nothing for so long. Somewhat discombobulating, the onrush of responses, even within five minutes, but I will try to not be overwhelmed, especially since most of them do not involve actual orders (at least so far)--lots of them are notices of outdated addresses or of already full inboxes.

12/18/04 SAT:
---Here today from Wildside, bringing the order to within a half-dozen of fulfillment (hardcovers and outsized pbs remaining, it seems):

Blackwood, Algernon THE EXTRA DAY, Wildside, nd, (orig: 9/15), new 19.95

Collins, Paul STALKING MIDNIGHT, Cosmos ('01), (stories), new 15.99

Dingle, Captain A.E. OUT OF THE WRECK and Other Nautical Tales From the Pulps, Wildside '04, (enthralling high-seas mystery for the discerning connoisseur, including one featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson!), new 14.99

Langford, David THE COMPLETE CRITCAL ASSEMBLY: The Complete White Dwarf (and GM, and GMI) SF Review Columns, Cosmos ('02), new 15.00
---and finding myself in the index, too!

Price, E. Hoffmann SATAN'S DAUGHTER and Other Tales From the Pulps, Wildside ('04), (pulp stories at their pulpiest from a master; Schweitzer intro), new 15.95

Sladek, John MAPS: The Uncollected…, Cosmos '03, (David Langford [ed]), new 17.95
---WHOLLY SMOKES: Puff Love, Cosmos ('03), (author's last book), new 15.00

Stacpoole, H. de Vere THE SLAYER and Other Tales From the Pulps, Wildside ('04), (full of the langour of the tropics, the hypnotism of the “meadows of gold”, and the “eternal song of the Southern Seas; special magic weaved by author of The Blue Lagoon), new 15.95

Steele, Curtis OPERATOR #5: Blood Reign of the Dictator, Wildside Pulp Classic, nd, (orig: 5/35), new 12.95

---Back in stock:

FANTASY ANNUAL #3, 12/99, Cosmos/Wildside, (new stories by Tubb, High, Bounds, etc.), new 12.00
---#4, Cosmos/Wildside '00, (orignals by Bounds, Fearn, High, Tubb, etc.), new 12.00
---#5, Cosmos ('03), (Bayley, Fearn, Dan Morgan), new 16.99

Haggard, H. Rider THE WITCH'S HEAD, Wildside '99, (photo-reprint), new 19.50

Rohmer, Sax TALES OF CHINATOWN, Wildside ('02), new 17.50

Turner, Alice K. & Michael Andre-Driussi SNAKE'S HANDS: The Fiction of John Crowley, Cosmos/Wildside ('03), ( much expanded; 405 pp), new 19.99

---And from PS Publishing:

POSTSCRIPTS #2, sum/04, PS, (Rhys Hughes, Jack Dann, Brian Hopkins, Robert B. Parker, Mike Resnick, Adam Roberts, RobertSheckley, Michael Marshall Smith, etc.), as new 10.00

12/16/04 THU:
---I did get that VHPS order (alluded to yesterday) sent out--mostly a bare-bones'er: getting things people have asked for, but holding off on restocks of sold out books--or even checking Locus for their new releases. There seemed to be enough I need already, although it is a much smaller order than in the past. Maybe now when the books come it won't be such a bottleneck. I still need to do the same thing with PGW and Simon & Schuster, among others. Now that I am getting on a roll, maybe it won't be so long.

12/15/04 WED:
---Finally am working on orders to VHPS (St. Martin's, Tor, FSG, Holt, etc.) and Simon & Schuster (Pocket, iBooks, Scribners, et al.)

---Starting to get books from Wildside. Looks like about half the invoice so far--others no doubt coming from POD-central. So far today:

High, Philip E. THE BUTTERFLY PLANET, Cosmos ('00), new 15.00

Langford, David UP THROUGH AN EMPTY HOUSE OF STAIRS: Reviews and Essays 1980-2002, Cosmos ('03), (mixes serious critical insight with inimitable wit), new 21.95

Ligotti, Thomas THE THOMAS LIGOTTI READER: Essays and Explorations, Wildside ('03), (includes two interviews & Ligotti essay, up-to-date bibliography), new 19.95

LOVECRAFT'S MAGAZINE OF HORROR, H.P...., #1, sum/04, Wildside, (films of HPL, Ramsey Campbell interview, T. Lee, H. Phillips, T. Pratt, M. Jasper, D. Schweitzer), new 5.99
---#1.5, fall/04, (Niswander, C.S. Gardner, C.C. Finlay, 36 pages), new 2.95

Park, Paul THREE MARYS, Cosmos ('03), (luminous retelling of life of Christ, as witnessed by the women who knew him best), new 15.00

Pollotta, Nick & James Clay THAT DARN SQUID GOD, Wildside '04, 1st, autographed by Pollotta, (fantasy; rewrites literary history; heavily laced with their trademark off-the-wall humor sprinkled with a light dusting of parody), new 15.95
---Don’t believe I ordered this: wonder what book I did order it replaces; not that I wouldn’t have ordered it--but there is just such a bewildering an array of Wildside titles.

Resnick, Mike ONCE A FAN…: The Selected Fannish Writings of…, Wildside ('02), new 17.50
---RESNICK AT LARGE, Wildside ('03), (speaks his mind on everything), new 19.95

Rodgers, Alan BONE MUSIC, Wildside, 2nd edn, new 16.95

Steele, Curtis OPERATOR #5: The Army of the Dead, Wildside, nd, (America’s Secret Service Ace; orig: 3/35), new 12.95

Stross, Charles TOAST, Cosmos ('04), (new edn; wildly original stories), new 17.95

Watt-Evans, Lawrence THE BLOOD OF A DRAGON: A Legend of Ethshar, Wildside ('01), 2nd Edn, (orig: Del Rey, 1991; adds Portrait of a Hero), new 15.95

---Need to get my order out to Publishers Group West (Carroll & Graf, North Atlantic, Four Walls Eight Windows, Underwood, et al.) any day now. I see that Amazon gives Jan 5 as the release date for Sturgeon’s Vol. 10 of his Collected Stories--always a pretty good seller for me.

---Tried to grip something slippery this morning, performing an update of Catalog file to be able to burn onto CDRs. I need to get the process worked out, because it is too unnerving the way I am doing it now: file names get changed or get named wrong or get saved in the wrong place--you have to really be paying attention. I tried saving one file (Misc Softcovers) as a Windows Word document, and that seemed to go well. Anyone wanting to test it--it will be on the disc. Or you could have me send it as an attached file.

---As usual, Michael Moore’s latest message seems to be right on the money.

12/14/04 TUE:
---Here today from Tartarus:

Stevenson, Robert Louis THE SUICIDE CLUB & Other Dark Adventures, Tartarus '04, one of 400 copies, (Mark Valentine intro; 507 pp), new in dj 65.00

---Uploaded new batch of listings to biblio.com, bringing them through Sarban in the alphabet. Next batch will be through Schweitzer, on threshold of the daunting “Science...” listings in Misc. Softcovers--all those individual magazine issues...

12/13/04 MON:
---Here today from Stark House:

Rabe, Peter MURDER ME FOR NICKELS/ BENNY MUSCLES IN, Stark House Noir Classics, 11/04, 1st thus, (two complete thrillers from 1955 and 1960; Gorman, Crider, Westlake appreciations), new 19.95

12/11/04 SAT:
---Am downloading PDF of The William Gibson Blog for Jan to Sep/2003--looks like it might be interesting to browse around in. Comes to 93 pages. If I need to use up the ink cartridge in the printer for my out-phased downstairs (business) computer, I ought to print it out (easier for me to read that way). The PDF program down there sometimes acts ornery, though--as does the computer, although it still has its moments.

---Email rec’d:

Hi there,
I don't know if you are one and the same as drummbooks that sells on Amazon. I wanted to buy THREE copies of a book and can't figure out how to do so on Amazon and so thought I would try to contact the seller directly.

The book is:
The 101 Greatest Business Principals of all Times, published by Warner Business Books, and edited by Lesie Pockell with Adrienne Avila.

Price listed at Amazon is $4.55 per book.

Please let me know if you are the seller and if 3 copies are available. I can then give you a call or fax with payment information (or perhaps a website link?) I want to get these books to give as Xmas presents, so need ensure "in stock" or appropriate shipping time.

thanx

---Confusing name: drummbooks, especially since it does not seem to be me. I looked it up on Amazon and think I found their email to forward the above request. At least they seem to have a very high reliability rating, so that won’t sully my name if we get confused with each other. I hope I can reciprocate.

12/10/04 FRI:
---Email rec’d:

Was pulling together my book collection recently and your booklets (bought several Lafferty items from you in the mid 80s) surfaced. Glad to see you still in the saddle and, I assume, doing well. I notice your last postings (using Google) were in 1999; could not find an official web site. Best of luck and if you have an e-mail "mailing list", please put me on it.

---My reply:

Good to hear from you. I need to do something about that abandoned AOL site. I've forgotten how to do the uploads! Lately I have been using blogspot--that works a lot better for me than trying to maintain a regular website. I also am slowly putting my inventory on biblio.com and have a data CDR I can send with my complete catalog on it in various formats.
I have added you to my emailing list, which I have not sent anything to in a very long while--a situation I hope to rectify soon.

Yours,
Chris

12/09/04 THU:
---A few used books catalogued today:

hardcovers:
Baum, L. Frank DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ, Reilly & Lee, nd (c. 40s), front foldown panel of dj with $2.50 price laid in, fr-g (pict. boards) $30
Baum, L. Frank OZMA OF OZ, Reilly & Lee, nd (c. 40s), blue cloth, fr-g (pictorial boards) 35.00
Baum, L. Frank THE ROAD TO OZ, Reilly & Lee, nd (c. 40s), blue cloth, fr-g (pictorial boards) 35.00

---Saw a similar copy in similar conditon listed for $95 on the web; possibly these Reilly & Lee L. Frank Baum books are worth a good deal more than what I am asking; they are not in real good condition, but they are hanging in there and have a good deal of patina; I think I would go for these over similar-priced new facsimile reprints (which I also have a few of still in stock)

Baum, L. Frank THE WIZARD OF OZ, Bobbs-Merrill ('44), fr-g in p dj (in tatters but illo intact) 10.00
Clarke, Arthur C. & Gentry Lee CRADLE, Warner, 8/88, (a novel), vg in dj $8
Clarke, Arthur C. 2061: ODYSSEY THREE, Del Rey, 1/88, 1st edn, vg in dj $10
Di Fate, Vincent & Ian Summers DI FATE'S CATALOG OF SCIENCE FICTION HARDWARE, Workman, 10/80, 1st, (visual survey of the mechanical marvels of the future), vg-f in dj 18.00
Froud, Brian & Alan Lee FAERIES, Book Club, nd, (art feast to revel in), vg+ in dj 6.00
Healy, Raymond J. & J. Francis McComas (eds) ADVENTURES IN TIME AND SPACE, Random House, ('46), (landmark anthology), g-vg $10
O'Connor,Philip F. DEFENDING CIVILIZATION, Weidenfeld & Nicolson '88, 1st edn, (novel laced with a comic, philosophical sadness; nebbishness under pressure, male bonding, peacetime army), vg-f in dj 15.00

---might be interesting to read in light of current events

Pohl, Frederik THE GATEWAY TRIP: Tales and Vignettes of the Heechee, Del Rey, 11/90, 1st edn, (illustrated by Frank Kelly Freas), vg+ in dj $10

book club ($3 each):
• Asimov FOUNDATION'S EDGE • Heinlein JOB: A Comedy of Justice • Pohl BEYOND THE BLUE EVENT HORIZON • ---GATEWAY

misc. softcovers:
ANALOG magazine, 2/70, (Birthright by Poul Anderson; pt 4 of Harry Harrison serial), fr-g 1.00

---Heard from USPS stamps.com that a shipment from Wildside is in transit. Caught them in one of their quicker moments, I guess.

12/09/04 THU:
---Word from Overlook Connection:

Overlook Connection Press New Title Annoucements
New Titles Now Shipping! Stephen King on Jack Ketchum in Ent. Weekly
Hello Everyone!
Exciting news here recently at OCP. Stephen King annouced in the Nov. 19th issue of Ent. Weekly that "Jack Ketchum is probably the scariest guy in America." He mentioned our edition of OFF SEASON by Ketchum... cannibalism in Maine.. around Thanksgiving of course ;-). With that in mind, we've got some special signed plates for the trade paperback release (read more below). Please keep in mind our next newsletter to you will annouce OFFSPRING, the sequel to Off Season, coming in limited edition in April 2005. We'll have an annoucement with complete details later this month. The list price is $45.00 if you'd like to promote it early to your customers.
More books shipping below. So take a look and let us know what we can help you with.

Happy Holidays!

Dave Hinchberger
Publisher, OCP
See More about Off Season and Offspring by going to the Offseason Web Site Off Season - Special Signed Plates with each copy you order - First Come, First Served
The trade paperback edition is $21.95 and we'll give you a special signed plate by the author, with the cover reproduced in full color. It fits nicely inside the title page. We have a limited number, so take us up on this offfer before the Free Signed Plates are gone.

== OFFSPRING SHIPS APRIL 2005 ==
This is a perfect oppurtunity to start promoting OFFSPRING, the sequel to Off Season, when you offer Off Season to your customers. List price is $45.00.
The Silence Between the Screams by Lucy Taylor - See the Web Site here! The Silence Between The Screams by Lucy Taylor is Shipping !
Lucy Taylor's new collection, THE SILENCE BETWEEN THE SCREAMS, is now shipping. If you have already placed an order, the books have just shipped. $39.95

The signed limited, A Hairy Chest, A Big Dick, and a Harley is still in pre-production, but should be available to ship right after Christmas. It's 44.95 and features original cover art, interior art for each story, and signed by the author.
See More about the Bighead by Edward Lee at the Bighead Web Site The Bighead - Signed Limited Edition with Original Frontispiece Color Art !! Now Shipping!
The Bighead, Signed and Illustrated by Erik Wilson, features original frontispiece color art "only" available in this limited edition. And ONLY available thru OCP and YOU - the Specialty Bookstore. It cannot be bought thru any major chains... this is yours and yours alone! We have a list of specialty bookstores on our site that carry our products. If you are not on our web site yet, please let me know and I'll make sure you're added.

Now Available and Shipping $44.95 - Let us know if you need any more for your orders.
Visit The Overlook Connection Press Website HERE! Visit Our Website For Cover Art and Text for Your Web Site !
You are welcome to use any information from our website to promote our titles. If you need something special, please let us know.

Thank you all for a wonderful year, and please let us know if we can be of further asisstance.

All our best from Overlook Connection Press
Overlook Connection Press

---Anyone wanting any of these, let me know. I don’t get as much call for the hardcore contemporary horror these days. Other places, specializing in this material seem to be going like gangbusters, and I used to sell it a good bit, when I utilized my full mailing list more efficaciously; but the way things have been going lately, I am somewhat loth to lay in new books that I don’t feel I have a ready market for with my present clientele.
---Discount on Overlook (and many others) would be 20% for members of discount plan, who include anybody that has become a member in the past two or three years, even if their membership has nominally expired. I routinely give one or two year free renewals (whatever it takes) to people who have not ordered in a while, and two month extensions with every order sent to people who have been regulars and whose membership is still not expired. What it amounts to is virtually lifetime memberships being offered rather than ones that have to be renewed yearly. The ongoing membership fee was intended as a way to cover the overhead of sending out catalogs, so the thin profit margin after giving discounts would still hold up. Now that my expenses are way down I don’t feel so justified in charging the fee. (But how will I pay for a new computer?)

12/08/04 WED:
---Sent the order to Wildside this morning. There were a few revisions based on feedback to my earlier post, which was great to be able to get. Also, a number of the titles were for replacement copies of books I had sold out of. I decided to put these back in the order file instead of trying to get now. Wildside has just so many titles, I can't even begin to try to carry them all. I am basically just getting the ones that people have specifically said they want.

---Also, I just sent a re-order for out-of-stock titles to PS Publishing (notably Trujillo and Bibliomancy). I notice they are raising their basic USA prices on their books--not unexpected considering the weakening value of the dollar. I will not modify the prices on books I already have in stock, but replacement copies coming in and, of course, new titles will reflect the change.

12/07/04 TUE:
---Here today from Tartarus:
Cram, Rallph Adams BLACK SPIRITS AND WHITE: A Book of Ghost Stories, Tartarus '04, one of 300 copies, (orig: 1893-6; Dziemianowicz intro), new in dj 55.00

12/05/04 SUN:

---At long last am working on an order for Wildside books. Maybe get it ready for print out to send tomorrow. Here are the books I have on the list so far:

Adventures Tales #1+ - Newsstand or Book Edition (Extra Content) -- issues available 15.95
Best of Sydney J. Bounds, Volume 2: The Wayward Ship and other Stories (TPB) $15.99
BLOOD OF A DRAGON / Watt-Evans 15.95
BUTTERFLY MAN / High
David Langford: The Complete Critical Assembly (2001).
Day the World Stopped / Coblentz 14.95
Dope, by Sax Rohmer (trade paperback) $17.95 (all for Held)
DOUBLE SHADOW / Clark Aston Smith , HC in dj
Dreamer's Tales, by Lord Dunsany (trade paperback) 15
EXTRA MAN / Tubb
FANTASY ANNUAL #3
FANTASY ANNUAL 4
FRITZ LEIBER & H.P. LOVECRAFT / Szumsky & Joshi hc
FROZEN DEEP / Collins 13.95
Galaxy of Strangers by Lloyd Biggle Jr. (TPB) 14.95
GARDEN OF SURVIVAL / Blackwood 13.95
GHOST AND THE BONESETTER / Le Fanu 13.95
Great World and the Small by Darrell Schweitzer 15
H.P. LOVECRAFT: The Decline of the West / Joshi 19.95
HP LOVECRAFT’S MAGAZINE OF HORROR, issues available
Harry Harrison: An Annotated Bibliography, by Paul Tomlinson (Compiler) 19.95
I HAVE THIS NIFTY IDEA / Resnick 22.00
LARKS WILL SING / Cave 15.00
Liquid Death and Other Stories, by John Russell Fearn 15.95
MAPS: THE UNCOLLECTED JOHN SLADEK (hc?) hc
MOUTHFUL OF TONGUES / Di Filippo 29.95
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and Joseph Campbell: In Search of the Modern Myth by Stephen Rauch
Next Door to the Sun, by Stanton Coblentz 14.95
Out of the Wreck and Other Nautical Tales from the Pulps $14.99
Paul Di Filippo ``Harp, Pipe, and Symphony'' Limited Edition Hardcover 45.00
Resnick at Large, by Mike Resnick (trade pb) Once a Fan..., by Mike Resnick (trade pb)
RESURRECTED MAN / Tubb
Satan's Daughter and Other Tales from the Pulps, by E. Hoffman Price (TPB) 15.95
SNAKE’S HANDS / Turner (hc) 49.95
SNAKE'S HANDS: The Fiction of John Crowley / Turner & Andre-Driussi 19.99
Spider Strain and Other Tales from the Pulps, by Johnston McCulley (tpb) 15.95
TALES OF CHINATOWN / Rohmer 17.50
Tattoo Murders, by John Russell Fearn (TPB) 13.95
THAT DARN SQUID GOD / Polotta & Clay pb preferred
THAT WORLDS MAY LIVE / Bond 15.00
THOMAS LIGOTTI READER / Ligotti 19.95
THOMAS LIGOTTI READER / Ligotti hc
THREE MARYS / Park 29.95
THREE MARYS / Park tpb
TIME AND THE GODS / Dunsany 15.00
TOAST / Stross 15.00
TOAST / Stross (hc) 29.99
Under the Andes, by Rex Stout (TPB) 15.99
UNDER THE SUNSET / Stoker 15.95
UNSPEAKABLE and Others / Clore 19.95
Up Through an Empty House of Stars / Langford 21.95
WEIRD TALES #324+
WHOLLY SMOKES: PUFF LOVE / John Sladek 15.00
WITCH'S HEAD / Haggard 19.50

Hopefully I can get some other long-delayed orders to publishers sent out too.

12/03/04 FRI:
---Here today from Ash-Tree:
Smith, Lady Eleanor SATAN'S CIRCUS, Ash-Tree '04, (stories; orig: 1932; augmented edn; introduction by Christopher Roden), new in dj 47.50

---Also, word from Ash-Tree about:

...our new anthology of original supernatural fiction, ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT.

The book will be available from mid-December onwards, and you'll see that we are offering an extremely competitively priced paperback option, to attract those readers who don't generally buy limited edition volumes.
The writers who have grafted hard on their stories deserve all the support we can give them, so please consider stocking and promoting the paperback to those who might not otherwise buy Ash-Tree books from you.

We really do support this collection with our strongest recommendation, and we hope you'll agree when you see it. PLEASE LET US KNOW, AS SOON AS YOU CAN, IF YOU WISH TO ADD PAPERBACKS TO YOUR NORMAL STANDING ORDER. Many thanks.

All best regards,
Christopher & Barbara

---Babbage has sent word that they are putting their books on sale to dealers, so I will take this occasion to offer my 30% discount:

We need to make room for a slew of titles coming out in 2005, so now's your chance to
Stock up on Babbage Press titles with our
(End-of-Year Sale

James P. Blaylock
THE DIGGING LEVIATHAN 18.95
HOMUNCULUS 17.95

Ramsey Campbell
HEIGHT OF THE SCREAM 17.95

Dennis Etchison
THE DARK COUNTRY 17.95

John Farris
ELVISLAND 19.95

Christa Faust
CONTROL FREAK 18.95

George R.R. Martin
A SONG FOR LYA 17.95

William F. Nolan
THINGS BEYOND MIDNIGHT 17.95

Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
SHIFTER 18.95
NIGHTFEEDER 18.95
DARK HUNTER 19.95

David J. Schow
CRYPT ORCHIDS 17.95
LOST ANGELS 17.95
SEEING RED 18.95
WILD HAIRS 19.95

John Shirley
ECLIPSE 17.95
ECLIPSE CORONA 17.95
ECLIPSE PENUMBRA 17.95

John Skipp & Marc Levinthal
THE EMERALD BURRITO OF OZ 19.95

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
FALSE DAWN 17.95

Limited quantities left on some titles.

See the difference quality makes.

Also available from Menabrea Books:
Brian Muirhead & Walter Simon
HIGH VELOCITY LEADERSHIP 17.95 (20%)
The Mars Pathfinder Approach to Faster, Better, Cheaper

Coming in 2005
THE DISAPPEARING DWARF by James P. Blaylock
THE ELVIN SHIP by James P. Blaylock
THE STONE GIANT by James P. Blaylock
AUTUMN ANGELS by Arthur Byron Cover
THE PLATPUS OF DOOM by Arthur Byron Cover
LADY MADONNA by Nancy Holder (*a Babbage Press original collection)
ON STRANGER TIDES by Tim Powers
THE STRESS OF HER REGARD by Tim Powers
THE NIGHT PEOPLE by Michael Reaves (*a Babbage Press original collection)
"Bluebound" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (*a Babbage Press original chapbook)
CHILDREN OF THE SHROUD by Garfield Reeves-Stevens
NIGHTEYES by Garfield Reeves-Stevens
SILVER SCREAM edited by David J. Schow
THE SHAFT by David J. Schow
A SPLENDID CHAOS by John Shirley

2006 ?
LAND OF DREAMS by James P. Blaylock
AN EAST WIND COMING by Arthur Byron Cover
THE SOUND OF WINTER by Arthur Byron Cover
MY LIFE IN THE CINEMA by Mick Garris
DARKWORLD DETECTIVE by Michael Reaves
DARK MATTER by Garfield Reeves-Stevens
[perhaps the next Galen Sword book by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens]
FUNLAND by Garfield Reeves-Stevens
THE KILL RIFF by David J. Schow

--

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it." --Chinese Proverb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BABBAGE PRESS http://www.babbagepress.com

---Word from Hippocampus:

Dear Bookseller:

Please be advised that our forthcoming release TALES OUT OF DUNWICH is delayed till January. However, our newly announced project THE STRANGE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN (book + audio CD) is coming in December. A full blurb and pricing information is below. We hope that those with standing orders will take your usual quantities of this exciting product. Others, please advise what quantities are desired.

Best regards,
Derrick Hussey
==========================

We are pleased to announce a new line of books comprising original poetry, primarily in the fantastic vein. The first such release is "The Strange Music Of Erich Zann," a lengthy poem by R. Nemo Hill based upon the short story by HPL. This 52 page book features original cover art by Joe Wehrle, Jr., and comes with a CD of the poet reading the entire work.

In a forgotten street, the Rue d'Auseil, a demented musician's unearthly masterpiece cycles to a fever pitch. Abandoning himself to Zann's strange music, the listener is swept into a maelstrom of sound and visions. He is drawn into another realm . . . where something awaits. Inspired by the 20th century's master of the macabre, H. P. Lovecraft, the poet R. Nemo Hill weaves a nightmarish vision of madness and unreality. With hallucinatory clarity the classic tale of terror unfolds in new and unexpected ways.

THE STRANGE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN
by R. Nemo Hill
Based upon the short story by H. P. Lovecraft
December 2004: ISBN 0-9761592-6-0: Paperback + Audio CD: $15.00
Book: 52 pages + CD: approx. 80 min.

==========================
Hippocampus Press
http://www.hippocampuspress.com

12/01/04 WED:
---After the holidays threw me off my delicate balance again, I am striving mightily to recover what momentum I had just managed to build up. Yesterday the old downstairs (business) computer went back to its routine of putting out little popping noises instead of the reassurnig intonation it should emit on start-up. Accompanying the noises it froze and crashed several times before I managed to get everything on a zip disk to bring to the upstairs (family) computer. I was tempted to start doing my work up here, but any changes I make, if I go back downstairs, will not be easy to reinstate. It is easy to make upgraded versions of files, but not so easy to downgrade the upgrades. All that zipping did cause me to make a new catalog data batch (PDFs, RTFs, text files, and the Mac files I am working with) to burn to CD, for anyone interested. I can also save as Mac Word and various Windows Word documents, if anyone might wish it.
---After all that, it may be that the downstairs computer has gone back to behaving itself again for now, so I will see what I can do down there when I get the chance.

11/30/04 TUE:
---Disc Log (upstairs accumulation):
- Michael J. Schumacher ‘FIDICIN DRONES’
- The Bottle Rockets SONGS OF SAHM (Xgau: A Minus)
- Fred Eaglesmith RALPH’S LAST SHOW (2CD) (Xgau: A Minus)
- PAROXYSM samper (MP3s downloaded from www.paroxysmrecords.com)
- Roger Lasley DINNER ON THE GROUND
- Burnt Sugar THAT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU KNOW: Fubractive: Since Antiquity Suite (Xgau: A Minus)
- Burnt Sugar THAT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU KNOW: The Crepescularium (Xgau: select cut)
- Michael J. Schumacher ROOM PIECE
- TAFELMUSIK: A Baroque Feast
- Delta Dart FIGHT OF FLIGHT (Xgau: HM**)
- Charles Avison CONCERTI FROM OPUS 9
- The Moldy Peaches THE MOLDY PEACHES (Xgau: A Minus)
- James Sellars PIANO WORKS (Gann: A)
- Northern State HIP HOP YOU HAVEN’T HEARD (Xgau: A)
- J.S. Bach MAGNIFICAT, Cantata BMV 10
- Sidney Bechet KEN BURNS JAZZ
- Kékélé RUMBA CONGO (Xgau: A Minus)
- Philip Glass THE MUSIC OF CANDYMAN
- George Harrison THE BEST OF GEORGE HARRISON (Xgau: B Minus)
- TEA IN MARRAKECH (Xgau: A)
- Halim El-Dabh CROSSING INTO THE ELECTRIC MAGNETIC
- Marvin Gaye THE VERY BEST OF MARVIN GAYE (2CD) (Xgau: A)
- Bullfrog BULLFROG (Xgau: B Plus)
- The Strokes IS THIS IT (Xgau: A Minus)
- Mary Wells THE BEST OF MARY WELLS: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection (Xgau: A)
- Eric B. & Rakim THE BEST OF ERIC B. & RAKIM: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection (Xgau: A)
- The Doors THE VERY BEST OF THE DOORS (Xgau: A)
- Roger Miller OH BOY CLASSICS PRESENTS ROGER MILLER (Xgau: A Minus)
- The Holy Modal Rounders and Friends I MAKE A WISH FOR A POTATO (Xgau: A)

11/26/04 FRI:
---Here today from TTA: INTERZONE #195 ($6)

11/23/04 TUE:
---Here today from TTA:
SUCCESS...AND HOW TO AVOID IT by Matt Coward--a hip writer’s book which doesn’t insult its readers’ intelligence--$20 (25% discount for MDP).

---A batch of new-arrival paperbacks ready for their print-out (after more than six months!):

• • NEW ARRIVALS (& re-arrivals): 5/13/2004—11/22/2004 • •
Avon 23168 Asimov, Isaac FOUNDATION, 21st, (Foundation #1), g-vg 1.50
Tor 53202 Bova, Ben BATTLE STATION, 10/87, (orig; stories), vg+ 5.00
Ace pb 75988 Carl, Lillian Stewart SHADOW DANCERS, 11/87, (orig; fantasy), g 1.50
Ace pb 89443 Carl, Lillian Stewart THE WINTER KING, 19/86, (orig; fantasy), vg+ 3.00
Zebra 1974 Carr, John Dickson CASTLE SKULL, 1/87, (Bencolin mystery), g-vg 2.50
Perennial 81040 Carr, John Dickson DEATH-WATCH, '90, (Dr. Gideon Fell mystery), vg 3.00
Carroll & Graf pb 0223 Carr, John Dickson THE EMPEROR'S SNUFF-BOX, 2nd('95), (mys), gvg 2.00
DAW 391 Carter, Lin ZANTHODON, 6/80, (Underground World; Carstairs #2), vg-f 5.00
Award A130F Carter, Nick A BULLET FOR FIDEL, 3/65, (A Killmaster Spy Chiller), g-vg 2.00
Dell pb 17310 Carver, Jeffrey A. PANGLOR, 4/80, (orig; adrift on a lunatic world), vg-f 5.00
DAW 677 Clayton, Jo QUESTER'S ENDGAME, 7/86, (orig; Diadem), vg-f 4.00
Pop Libr 04458 Dann, Sam THE THIRD BODY, ('79), (orig; Future Earth), vg-f 3.00
Mentor MT347 Dante THE INFERNO, 13th, (immortal masterpiece; Ciardi translation), g 2.00
Mentor MQ768 Dante THE PURGATORIO, 4th, (masterpiece; Ciardi translation), g 2.00
Del Rey 27642 Eisenstein, Phyllis SORCERER'S SON, 4/79, (orig; fantasy), vg-f 5.00
Pocket pb 48766 Elwood, Roger (ed) SIX SCIENCE FICTION PLAYS, 1/76, vg+ 5.00
Ball 24236 Fontana, D.C. THE QUESTOR TAPES, 10/74, (orig; TV pilot tie), vg 4.00
Pocket 82947 Ford, John M. WEB OF ANGELS, 7/80, (orig; computerized universe), vg-f 7.00
Ball 24435 Foster, Alan Dean STAR TREK: Log Four, 3/75, (orig; cartoon tie), vg-f 5.00
DAW 135 Foster, M.A. THE WARRIORS OF DAWN, 1/75, (orig; Ler #2), vg+ 4.00
Avon 75001 Friesner, Esther M. SPELLS OF MORTAL WEAVING, 5/86, (orig), vg-f 5.00
Vintage V8 Gide, André THE IMMORALIST, nd, (protective veneer of civilzation), vg 4.00
Faw GM 14351 Granger, Bill SWEEPS, 8/80, (orig; heady mix of TV, politics & murder), vg+ 4.00
Playboy 16554 Grant, Charles L. (ed) NIGHTMARES, 9/79, (orig; bloodcurdling), vg 5.00
Del Rey 32339 Gravel, Geary THE PATHFINDERS, 5/86, (orig), vg+ 3.00
Faw GM 4422 Graverson, Pat INVISIBLE FIRE, 8/81, (orig; ancient-evil child), g-vg 2.00
New Infinities 10636 Gygax, Gary CITY OF HAWKS, 11/87, (Gord the Rogue), g-vg $1; vg+ 2.00
Bantam 14647 Harrison, Harry STARWORLD, 7/81, (orig; To the Stars #3), vg-f 4.00
Ace pb 81126 Heinlein, Robert A. TIME FOR THE STARS, nd, g-vg 2.00
Zebra 144 Howard, Robert E. THE VULTURES OF WHAPETON, 11/75, vg+ 4.00
Signet J9498 Hughes, Zach PRESSURE MAN, 11/80, (orig; earth's final hope), vg-f 4.00
Dell pb 12217 Jones, D.F. EARTH HAS BEEN FOUND, 2/79, (orig; Xenos are here), vgf 4.00
Signet 19712 King, Stephen DIFFERENT SEASONS, 11/98, (movie tie-in edn), vg-f 3.00
DAW 582 Lake, David J. THE RING OF TRUTH, 9/84, (pocket-universe tale), vg-f 3.50
Onyx 19472 Levin, Ira SON OF ROSEMARY, 9/98, (Rosemary's Baby sequel), vg 2.50
DAW 679 Llewellyn, Edward WORD-BRINGER, 7/86, (orig; First Contact!), vg-f 4.00
Pinnacle 00711 Lory, Robert CHALLENGE TO DRACULA!, 9/75, (Dracula Horror #9), vg+ 25.00
Pinnacle 00200 Lory, Robert THE HAND OF DRACULA!, 6/73, (Dracula Horror #2), vg-f 25.00
Pinnacle 00398 Lory, Robert THE WITCHING OF DRACULA, 8/74, (Dracula Horror 6), vg 25.00
Faw GM d1739 MacDonald, John D. CRY HARD CRY FAST, nd, (ruthless passions), g-g 2.50
Pop Libr 00298 Malzberg, Barry THE MANY WORLDS OF..., ('75), (orig; Elwood intro), vg+ 4.50
Pocket 77789 Malzberg, Barry THE SODOM AND GOMORRAH BUSINESS, 12/74, vgf 5.00
Faw GM 402 Mara, Bernard FRENCH FOR MURDER, 5/54, (orig; hard-boiled), g 5.00
Tower 51493 McGiverns, William P. & Maureen THE SEEING, ('80), (evil child), vg+ 3.00
Del Rey 34133 McKinney, Jack GENESIS, 3/87, (Robotech; First Generation #1), g-vg 2.00
HarperPrism 05675 Moore, James A. HELL-STORM, 6/96, INSCRIBED, (World of Darkness: Werewolf), g-vg 2.50
Bantam 56359 Navarro, Yvonne DEADRUSH, 10/95, (orig; horror), g-vg 2.50
Pocket 80490 Niven, Larry & Jerry Pournelle INFERNO, 5/76, (orig; hell of a book), vg 5.00
Berkley S2693 Norton, Alden (ed) HORROR TIMES TEN, 12th, fr (magic markered cover) 2.00
Del Rey 31545 Pohl, Frederik POHLSTARS, 10/84, (orig; stories), vg-f 4.50
Ace pb 00265 Reynolds, Mack ABILITY QUOTIENT, ('75), (orig; new human race), vg+ 4.50
Spectra 57461 Robinson, Kim Stanley A SHORT, SHARP SHOCK, 3/96, INSCRIBED (to Bruce Boston), vg 3.00
Faw GM 14638 Romkey, Michael I, VAMPIRE, 10th(6/93), (confessions), vg 2.50
Leisure 913 Ross, Clarissa SATAN WHISPERS, ('81), (horrifying novel), vg+ 3.00
Pop Libr 20666 Russo, John LIVING THINGS, 10/88, (orig; awesome terror), vg+ 2.50
Ace pb 60739 Saberhagen, Fred OCTAGON, 7/81, (orig; computer game), g-vg 4.00
Pop Libr 00503 Samuels, Victor THE VAMPIRE WOMEN, ('73), (orig; orgy of blood), vg+ 5.00
Ball 24182 Saunders & Waldrop THE TEXAS-ISRAELI WAR: 1999, 9/74, (orig), vg+ 5.00
Dell pb 18289 Sherrell, Carl THE SPACE PRODIGAL, 8/81, (orig; magical Earth), vg-f 3.00
Pocket 83085 Silverberg, Robert (ed) NEW DIMENSIONS 11, 7/80, (orig; OA), vg-f 5.00
Ace pb 71156 Smith, David C. & Richard L. Tierney THE RING OF IKRIBU, 12/81, (Red Sonja #1), vg-f 3.50
Ace pb 10258 St. Clair, Margaret CHANGE THE SKY and Other Stories, ('74), fr-g 1.50
DAW 149 Stableford, Brian M. SWAN SONG, 5/75, (orig; Star-Pilot Grainger 6), vg+ 3.50
DAW 441 Stateham, B.R. BANNERS OF THE SA' YEN, 7/81, (second coming), vgf 4.00
Pyramid 03297 Sutherland, James STORMTRACK, 6/74, (Harlan Ellison Discovery #1), vg+ 4.50
Avon 89518 Vardeman, Robert E. THE QUAKING LANDS, 1/85, (Jade Demons #1), vg+ 3.00
Bantam pb 12103 Williams, Gordon THE MICROCOLONY, 5/79, (orig; The MicroSociety), vg 4.00
Pocket 80916 Wilson, Colin THE SPACE VAMPIRES, 3/77, (superior SF), fr-g 1.75
Avon Eos 05806 Zebrowski, George CAVE OF STARS, 12/00, (stirring fable), vg-f 4.00

11/22/04 MON:
---Here today from Hippocampus:
OUT OF THE IMMORTAL NIGHT: Selected Works by Samuel Loveman ($15)

---And from Small Beer:
CARMEN DOG by Carol Emshwillwer (Peapod Classics , $14)

---And back in stock: LADY CHURCHILL’S ROSEBUD WRISTLET #7 ($3) and #9 ($4).

---Have uploaded all those Tor paperbacks to my biblio.com listings. But when I was shown the summary of a sample of listings, every book was marked as being 'sold' in the status area. No wonder I haven’t received any orders in a while. Hmmm. I wonder how that happened.

---Received information about shipping charges ($148) for The Vance Intergral Edition, which I never subscribed to, but I did inquire about carrying. I think I tried to get their first book, a promotional item, but was unsuccessful. I see on the website there is a second (The Languages of Pao) for $32, which is also probably not eligible for a bookseller discount. Looks like maybe they have the full 44-book set available now (or soon)! I believe it is only available by subscription and not to booksellers at a trade discount. But it sure looks like quite a feat of bookmaking.

---Tried the Body Mass Index Calculator at the Runner’s World website.. Mine is 22.8, below the “healthiest” range.

11/20/04 SAT:
---Converted most recent catalog files (as of yesterday) to text, RTF, PDF files and put them in a folder that can be dragged with ease onto a CD-R and burned. Now I can send a CD copy of my complete catalog inventory to anyone who wants it--and maybe a few others too. Don’t know why it took me so long to exploit this capability. I’ve been burning music compilation CDs for a couple years now, but I never bothered to figure out how to burn data. Basically, I never had all my information from the downstairs (business) computer available on this (family) computer. Only when that computer started to misbehave, causing me to back up all my data to a zip disk and transferring it to this computer, to see if I could still get work done up here, did it dawn on me that I could be burning something else than what I had been burning. I’m a slow learner, I guess.

11/19/04 FRI:
---A few used books catalogued:
Carlile, Clancy THE PARIS PILGRIMS, Carroll & Graf '00, (biographical novel about Hemingway and the company he keeps in the Paris of 1922), vg 5.00

Dozois, Gardner (ed) THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: Seventeenth Annual Collection, St. Martin's Griffin, 7/00, 1st edn, vg+ 8.50

Gunn, James THE JOY MAKERS, Crown Classics of Modern SF #2, '84, vg-f in dj $12

Leoni, Edgar NOSTRADAMUS AND HIS PROPHECIES, Wings, 22nd, vg+ in dj 6.50

Rogers, Bruce Holland WIND OVER HEAVEN and Other Dark Tales, Wildside '00, 1st edn, SIGNED by author, vg+ 10.00

---And a mighty simple thing it turned out to be able to do, converting all my catalog data to PDF and simple text files for burning on CD-Rs. All it comes up to is 9.4 MBs. I could add some pictures if I had them to scan, because those CD-Rs hold seventy times that much information. But that will be something for later. I will try to maybe upgrade the files every month at least. That will involve, for now, having the Zip Drive work, so I can transfer data from from the old downstairs (business) computer. Lately it has decided to run reliably again, so I am under no compunction to replace it yet. It would be nice if the two were running on the same systems and could share data more easily, though. One thing about putting it all on the Zip Drive is that it constitutes a backing up of all my data. Having it in more than one place does make me breathe easier--and anyone who wants a copy of my catalog-data CD-R, just let me know.

11/16/04 TUE:
---Word from TTA:

Hi Chris

Your copies of Interzone 195 and Success And How To Avoid It are now on their way :)

Best wishes
Andy
www.ttapress.com

---More personalized word from Small Beer:

Chris,

We are out of the hardcovers of each of them and have been for a bit, sorry.
Will send the other LCRWs with the new ish which will go out in a week or
two.

Sorry -- just found your email. Can't seem to get the inbox down under 250
messages! Must erase and file more.

Cheers,

Gavin

11/15/04 MON:
---Word from Night Shade:

2005 titles

Keep an eye on the site, as we'll be announcing most of the 2005 schedule in the next week, and there's a lot of great titles coming.

Coming soon!

Look for Iain M. Banks' collection, The State of the Art, to start shipping this month. We also wanted to point out that this is not the same as the Ziesing edition published many years ago. That was just the novella. This is actually a full short story collection, and includes Iain's brilliant essay, "A Few Notes on the Culture."

Also later this month, look for Leviathan 4.

Next month is a Wellman fiesta, as we'll be shipping both Strangers on the Heights and Giants from Eternity.

---Checking on books from Hill House, limited editions of the books in Neal Stepehenson’s Baroque Cycle.

11/12/04 FRI:
---Word from Small Beer:

Dear Bookseller,

Hope the holidays are gearing up well for you. In about a week or so the
first of our Peapod Classics reprint titles, Carol Emshwiller's CARMEN DOG
(tpb, ISBN 1931520089, $14, cover art by Drawn & Quarterly star Kevin
Huizenga), will arrive from the printer.

More info on the book is below and on this page:
http://www.lcrw.net/peapod/emshwiller/carmendog.htm

---Installed Panther OS-X operating system on eMac. Looks like it will be pretty good. We needed it to run FileMaker Pro 7, which we also bought. Except for FedEx leaving it on a picnic table out in the rain and cold three doors down from our house.

11/11/04 THU:
---Email rec’d:

I am glad to see all the titles I ordered were still in stock. A
preliminary check on Biblio was not useful since only your used books are
listed there for now.

Reading through your blog is not painful; it just requires the discipline to
remember going to it. Your little catalogues were useful physical
reminders, visibly laying on the desk or the night table, that there were
new publications waiting to be ordered.

Have you sent any e-mail updates recently? It has been quite a while since
I received one.

If you go to Necronomicon Press' site, you'll see they have just reissued
Joshi's biography of Lovecraft, with a rather ugly cover. It might interest
those who missed it.

I was surprised by the computer problems you report. I am still working on
my iMac Special edition without any problems since I bought it. I am now
looking at buying one of the new iMac G5, and I hope what you recount does
not point to a lowering of quality standards at Apple.

Thanks for remembering the Crypt of Cthulhu back order; I guess you haven't
received anything from Mythos for some time.

When the Midnight House Leiber comes in, I will add a few titles I left
aside this time around. And when Wormwood #3 comes in, please reserve me a
copy also.

---My reply

The problems with the G3 might be associated with its being a bit old now, and my using it near the floor in the basement. I still don't know what causes the problem (seems like a little micro-short in the micro-circuits somwhere), but that computer has served its purpose well over a long time. An iMac came and went as the family computer, while that one has kept going okay. Having it do its freezing up intermittantly now bit might actually be a blessing in disguise, because it did cause me to back everything up on a zip drive and bring it up to the now family computer (an eMac G4), where I can burn everything onto a CD. I want to try to set it up so I can have a folder that I burn onto a CD once a month, with my entire inventory. At 20¢ each I can't think of too many better deals. But I will still try to get those paper catalogs and booklists out in one form or another.
No, I haven't sent an email update in a very long while. I keep wanting to do it--hopefully soon--and hopefully regularly. I should set up a two-week schedule to follow. It wouldn't be that hard to do, but I do have to do it.
As far as Apple is concerned, I don't think I have had near the problems over the years, always using Macs, that other people always seem to be having. Even though some of mine have gone belly up after a while, I have not lost any data. I still have some of the first things I ever keyboarded in, such as Lafferty text--and, alas, probably too many catalog entries. Every computer has certainly lasted long enough to have been well worth having. I would like to get a G5 too, but the CPU can't be behind the screen with that loud fan. The tower models I can put under the desk (using my current not-bad monitor) are a bit pricey for the low-level advantage I take of all the features and capabilities. Maybe a notebook computer next, so I can lay on the couch or recliner and work. Or go out in the sunroom. (Lately I have been having trouble esconsing myself in the office chair down in the cellar as much as I should.)
My Biblio listings do include new books too, but only Mic- to Rus- (or something like that) in the alphabet so far. I have been working on the Tor paperbacks to add to the listings, so I won't have that big bottleneck along with other books when they come up in the alphabet. That has proven to be a bit of an undertaking (with 539 books), but I have found that paperbacks do sell there. Usually when I post a new batch a little trickle of orders comes in, probably due to hits on peoples' want lists. But it is still nothing much. Total orders I have received in the whole time I have had listings hardly amount to what I would take in in one week if I had a printed catalog out. But that would be a lot of work keeping up with. I would never be able to sit around and read a book or pursue any other interest. Still, I have to do what provides the cashflow, so I ought to stop coddling myself.

11/09/04 TUE:
---Here today from Tartarus: THE GOLEM by Gustav Meyrink ($55).
---Also, word from them about future plans:

Dear Chris,

You might like to know that a reprint of our World Fantasy Award winning anthology Strange Tales, edited by Rosalie Parker, will be available on the 19th November. It is essentially the same as the first printing, but we have taken the opportunity to mention the World Fantasy Award in big gold letters on the dust jacket.

Our next new book, Black Spirits and White by Ralph Adams Cram will be published on the 30th November. It is a collection of 1890s ghost stories, which also includes the author's only two other known pieces of fiction.

This will be followed in December by our big Christmas book, The Suicide Club and Other Dark Adventures by Robert Louis Stevenson. With an introduction by Mark Valentine, it is all of the essential Stevenson in a volume similar to our two recent Machen reprints, Ritual and Tales of Horror.

I hope that these will appeal to your customers!

All the best

Ray

TARTARUS PRESS - World Fantasy Award winners 2002 and 2004

11/08/04 MON:
---Here today from Night Shade:
Roberts, Adam SWIFTLY: Stories That Never Were and Might Not Be, Night Shade ('04), 1st edn, (author's first collection; eight originals), new in dj 27.00

Shepard, Lucius VIATOR, Night Shade ('04), 1st thus, (ltd. edn still avail. @ $45}, new in dj 25.00
---One copy of this trade edn of Viator arrived with a quarter-inch hunk of the dj missing from the top of the spine. Nothing wrong with the book itself, but I will offer up this copy for $15.

Williams, Liz THE BANQUET OF THE LORDS OF NIGHT & Other Stories, Night Shade ('04), 1st edn, {SIGNED ltd. edn avail. @ $45}, new in dj 27.00

Zivkovic, Zoran THE FOURTH CIRCLE, Ministry of Whimsy/Night Shade '04, one of 100 SIGNED copies, (a novell by World Fantasy Award winner), {trade edn still avail. @ $27}, new 45.00

---Also:
CEMETERY DANCE #50, '04, (special 50th all-star issue; Ray Bradbury, etc.), new $5

11/05/04 FRI:
---Here today from John Benson:
NOT ONE OF US #32, (‘04), John Benson, (Dislocation issue), new 4.50

---Once again having trouble with the downstairs (business) computer (a Mac G3). It does not sound its starting-up intonation but does emit little popping noises that I have learned signify no good. It will seem to start up okay but before long will freeze. This morning I got it to work long enough to copy all my data onto a zip disk again, before the computer went down, and got everything onto the upstairs (family) computer, using the old balky external zip drive. This computer (an eMac) does not have a built in zip-drive.
---So now I am working on the upstairs computer. Trouble with that is I will have to do a lot of running up and down for things, and changes I make on files up here I might not be able to use down there--if I can get that computer to behave itself again. It has done lots good work over the years, so it might be high time to replace it--if I could afford to. A few months ago it started to mess up like this too. Then I tried to get thecase open so I could squirt it with dust spray, thinking maybe something was causing a microcircuit to short out or something. Maybe a dust spray blow would be the fix. I was not able to get the lid off, but I did manage to break something in there and get it halfway off. After that I couldn’t get it to close up all the way again, but it did go back to working okay.
---Now, after several months, it has gone back to that popping and freezing, same as before. I have unplugged the cords and brought it upstairs for a little voodoo maintenance. Maybe just moving it around a bit and replugging the cords (which I made sure weren’t loose to begin with) will get it back to working again. It would be fun having a new computer, but a hassle getting it to do the work and learning how to use it. For what I use it for down there, I do not need a lot of fancy features. This eMac does do some cool things--more than I know how--but mainly they just cause me to waste time.
---Anyway, I’ll try to do a little work up here. Maybe if we have to buy a new computer this one will go down to the basment anyway. Always something!

11/04/04 THU:
---I have been fiddling around with the CDR recording capabilities of our eMac. Hitherto it has all been using iTunes to burn music CDRs, but I thought I might try using it to back up my data too. The total from the two folders I have my built-up data in came to 55.1 MB, so I think I might have it all on the CD in good order. Presently I don’t have the capabilty of running my Database files on this computer. For that I would need FileMaker Pro up here--my paperbacks, mailing list and book order files. Of course I could copy it all into the WP and get at it okay that way, if I can get the zip drive to work again up here. That external zip drive has seen better days and I have forgotten the tricks I had to employ to make it work when I used to use it more often. But I did manage to fiddle with it enough the other day to at least get all the data from the downstars G3 copied onto this eMac. How much of it was corrupted I wonder, but everything I have opened seems to be working fine, even if it did have to convert to the newer version of Appleworks on this computer to open it (thus doing funny things with the fonts, but that was the least of my concerns when it is the basic data backup capability and the ability to survive a meltdown of one computer or the other that I wanted).
---Anyway, I have now figured out how to burn data on a CD, so if anyone wants to have me make them one with all my catalog data, I can easily do it. If you want me to “Save As” and copy in a format (i.e. text or RTF) other than this Appleworks form I am presently employing, I think I could do that without much difficulty. Or I could even send them as attached files by email. I know I am belying my computer illiteracy by finding such simple procedures to be a new thing. When it comes to computers I am as incurious as George W. Bush, I guess. I know there are all these features and capabilities I have not used or tried to use, but I continue to be satisfied with the things I can do, which are pretty cool too--for someone who grew up using a manual typewritter and postage stamps (albeit cheap ones)--and local radio (albeit near NYC).
---Heck, the first time I can remembered being disappointed by the outcome of an election was when Adlai Stevenson got beat by Ike--again. Since then there have been more disappointments than not. At the time it seemed like Ike was the president forever--all the time I was growing up. Now two terms seem to go by in no time. There are people who must have had a similar experience growing up while Reagan or Clinton were in office. Now, unfortunately, it is Bush. This time it might seem like forever again. If this term of office keeps going the way the last was headed, I guess the moral majority will get that Rapture they pray for. Nice for them, being in heaven, but we will all be dead. Lehane trumps Philip Roth in this new world order.
---Am experimenting with posting a transcription from my fountainpen journal. Was re-reading from Apr/2001 and was kind of charmed by the triviality of it all. Although posting it today with minimal editing (although a lot of it was sloppily written at best), I can’t imagine it would be much of interest, but since there might be the occasional hit among the misses, I will see about continuing to post this stuff from back in the days of innocence and some from less so. I was looking for a blank notebook to write in now and found a dozen or so or more that had been filled to the gills, not necessarily with anything worthwile, but that might be fun to have slither out into the light of day, for whatever interest it might be.
---Am experimenting with posting a transcription from my fountainpen journal. Was re-reading from Apr/2001 and was kind of charmed by the triviality of it all. Although posting it today with minimal editing (although a lot of it was sloppily written at best), I can’t imagine it would be much of interest, but since there might be the occasional hit among the misses, I will see about continuing to post this stuff from back in the days of innocence and some from less so. I was looking for a blank notebook to write in now and found a dozen or so or more that had been filled to the gills, not necessarily with anything worthwile, but that might be fun to have slither out into the light of day, for whatever interest it might be. Stay tuned?

11/01/04 MON:
---Here today from Gryphon Books (as opposed to Golden Gryphon):
HARDBOILED #32, 11/04, (cutting-edge crime fiction), new 10.00

Meskil, Paul S. SIN PIT, Gryphon Crime Classic #1, 10/04, (orig: Lion '54), new 16.00

Schoenfeld, Howard TRUE AND ALMOST TRUE STORIES, Gryphon, 11/04, 1st edn, (a classic author's collection; intro by Michael Kurland), new 16.00

10/27/04 WED:
---Three new ones here today from the UK: DARKER AGES by Peter Finch (twin ‘dark age’ novellas from this award-winning British author: $45) and HOWLING HOUNDS: The Haunting Tales of Phil Locascio ( a ‘first’ collection from a superb American author: $45) from Sarob Press and MY DEATH by Lisa Tuttle from PS Publishing ($16)

10/25/04 MON:
---Here today from Ash-Tree: THE NEBULY COAT by John Meade Falkner ($46).

---And here too today: VIATOR by Lucius Shepard from Night Shade in the ltd. edn. ($45), which I see is out of print from the publisher. I should have had an order in for the trade ($25) edition as well, but I need to make sure about that, because all I have so far are these ltds.

10/22/04 FRI:
---Big box from Night Shade here at last, including:
Baker, Kage MOTHER AEGYPT and Other Stories, Night Shade ('04), 1st edn, (shows why she is one of most talked-about writers in SF), new in dj 27.00

Dunsany, Lord THE COLLECTED JORKENS: Volume Two, Night Shade ('04), 1st edn, new 35.00

Harrison, M. John THE COURSE OF THE HEART, Night Shade ('04), 1st edn thus, (orig: 1992; estraordinary genre-bending novel; 184 pages), new in dj 25.00
---another copy of the preceding, one of 150 SIGNED copies, new in dj 45.00

Zivkovic, Zoran THE FOURTH CIRCLE, Ministry of Whimsy '04, (a novel), new 27.00

---Back in stock:
Cady, Jack GHOSTS OF YESTERDAY: Stories, Night Shade ('03), 1st edn, {tpb still available @ $15}, (new and uncollected fiction; a nonfiction piece), new in dj 27.00

Dunsany, Lord THE COLLECTED JORKENS: Volume One, Night Shade ('04), 1st edn, (Arthur C. Clarke foreword; Joshi intro), new no dj as issued 35.00

Joyce, Graham THE STORMWATCHER, Night Shade ('03), 1st edn, one of 1000 SIGNED copies, (one clearly supernatural event; everything else is up for grabs), new in dj $40

VanderMeer, Jeff & Mark Roberts (eds) THE THACKERY T. LAMBSHEAD POCKET GUIDE TO ECCENTRIC & DISCREDITED DISEASES, Night Shade '03, 1st edn, (the outlandish, the sublime, and the hysterically funny), new in dj 24.00

10/21/04 THU:
---Word from Sarob Press:

Scheduled for Winter 2004
FALLING INTO HEAVEN by L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims
Introduced by William P. Simmons. Cover Art by Gerald Gaubert.
Len Maynard & Mick Sims have written and edited more than 40 books in the supernatural genre, as well as having numerous stories published in a variety of anthologies and magazines. Active Horror Writers Association members, their collections, Shadows At Midnight, 1979 and 1999 (published by Sarob Press in a revised and enlarged version), and Echoes Of Darkness, 2000 (Sarob Press), were followed in 2002 by their third collection, Incantations, and two retrospective collections of their stories, essays and interviews, The Secret Geography Of Nightmare and Selling Dark Miracles, one introduced by Hugh Lamb and the other by Stephen Jones. This latest collection, Falling Into Heaven (introduced by William P. Simmons), contains their most recent stories, most of which are original to this collection. Novellas, Moths, The Hidden Language Of Demons and The Seminar, were published in 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively. They worked as editors on Darkness Rising, and as editors/publishers they ran Enigmatic Press in the UK, which produced Enigmatic Tales, and its sister titles. They have in the past written essays, and reviews, but currently they are concentrating on writing horror, young adult and thriller novels, as well as a few short stories.
Contents: Images/Dead Men’s Shoes/A Victorian Pot Dresser/Sand Castles/Calling Down The Lightning/Soaking Wet Without a Boat/Salvation/Shortcuts/Caviso Gamo/October Cries/Dancers/Flour White and Spindle Thin/Glimpses/Sliding Down the Slippery Slip
Both editions issued without dustjacket. Pictorial Boards. Munken bookwove, sewn signatures, head/tailbands. Deluxe adds signature page with extra art signed by authors, introducer and cover artist, marbled endpapers, bound-in bookmark and hand-made slipcase.
Standard Limited Edition Sewn Hardcover ; US $45

Very best wishes, Robert.

Robert Morgan, SAROB PRESS

10/20/04 WED:
---Here today from Tartarus:
WORMWOOD #3, aut/04, (on Peake, Woolrich, Wyndham, etc.), new 15.00

---Used books catalogued:
Batchelor, John Calvin THE BIRTH OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF ANTARCTICA, Dial, pre-5/83, ADVANCE READING COPY, fr-g 5.00
Knight, Damon IN SEARCH OF WONDER: Critical Essays on Science Fiction, Advent '67, 2nd edn, Revised & Enlarged, (nf), vg $10

10/15/04 FRI:
---Just added blog listings for a few books (and one CD) that have come in lately, dating back to Sept 27. Find them listed on their respective days of arrival, if it is not too much trouble.

---Spent morning re-arranging bookshelves again--always an ongoing project. It would never be completed unless I took a couple weeks off and dedicated myself to it. Already I take that much time off from needed undertakings--every time I do something there are several others I should be doing that I am not. Indeed, I noticed when I was cataloguing some paperbacks last night that I hadn't added any in several months. I had almost forgotten the protocols.

---Had an inquiry about my gmail email address. It is Cdrummbks@gmail.com. This does not replace my aol address yet. It is just a place where it is more convenient to receive things like daily news updates from newspapers and Cemetery Dance Weekly that I sometimes prefer to let sit in my inbox. Gmail allows me to do that. Anyone sending me an email to gmail (which you can do for back up if you wish), if you want me to click on the "invite this sender" to join gmail, I see no reason why not to do it.

10/14/04 THU:
---Here today from Stark House:
Sanderson, Douglas PURE SWEET HELL/ CATCH A FALLEN STARLET: Two Complete Mystery Thrillers, Stark House, 9/04, 1st thus, (orig: 1957 & '60), new 19.95

---Checked out the article link in today’s Doonesbury cartoon. Turns out to be a piece entitled LOCAL VIEW: Going to war in Iraq was a mistake
BY REP. DOUG BEREUTER in the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal-Star.

10/13/04 WED:
---Stock reply: Between wearing all hats from shipping clerk on down and developing some bone-lazy habits, I have been letting too many important things disappear into the mists of time. I am endeavoring to rectify the situation even now.

10/12/04 TUE:
---Here today from Thunder’s Mouth:
Shepard, Lucius A HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN PRAYER: A Novel, Thunder's Mouth ('04), 1st (US), (about love triangle of celebrity , spriituality and money), new in dj 22.00

---and from Four Walls Eight Windows:
Doctorow, Cory A PLACE SO FOREIGN and Eight More: Stories, Four Walls Eight Windows, 2nd, (intro by Bruce Sterling; JWC Award winner), new 13.95

10/08/04 FRI:
---Here today from Roger Lasley, always a welcome sight:
Lasley, Roger ANOTHER FALL, Lasley ('04), (more great acoustic guitar), compact disc, new 15.00
---Contains “Under the Rug with It” (RL liner comment: “One way of dealing with life’s little problems is to ignore them and play music.”)--might well have been inspired by me.

10/06/04 WED:
---Ordered a Zamp Compact Stereo Amplifier - Demo from Audio Advisor.

10/05/04 TUE:
---Here today from Haffner Press:
Williamson, Jack SEVENTY-FIVE: The Diamond Anniversary of a Science Fiction Pioneer, Haffner '04, 1st edn, (massive; features too numerous to mention; Connie Willis foreword; Arthur C. Clarke intro, 604 oversize pages), new in dj 50.00
---weighs in at 4.5 lbs!

---Back in stock:
Brackett, Leigh MARTIAN QUEST: The Early…, Haffner '02, 1st edn, new in dj 40.00

Williamson, Jack THE METAL MAN and Others: The Collected Stories of..., Volume One, Haffner '99, 1st trade edn, (1928-31 stories; foreword by Hal Clement), new in dj $32

10/03/04 SUN:
---Word from Golden Gryphon:

Greetings from the Gryphon:

Due to popular demand for a less-expensive edition, and the fact that the number of
hardcovers is dwindling, we now have available a softcover edition of BLACK
PROJECTS, WHITE KNIGHTS.


BLACK PROJECTS, WHITE KNIGHTS, by Kage Baker.
Is it possible to interfere with History in a moral way, especially
if profit is the primary motivation for doing so? In fact, is it possible to sustain
any ethical standards at all when handed what amounts to unlimited power?
These and other shadowy questions are raised in Black Projects, White
Knights, Kage Baker's Unofficial History of Dr. Zeus, Inc. — known to its
employees simply as the Company. This collection brings together the
early Company stories in one volume for the first time. Also included
here are new stories, three of which are previously unpublished — and one
of these, "The Queen in Yellow," written exclusively for this book.
Follow the secret activities of the Company's field agents — once
Human, now centuries-old time-traveling immortal cyborgs: Botanist
Mendoza's search for the rare hallucinogenic Black Elysium grape in 1844
Spanish-held Santa Barbara, California ("Noble Mold"); Facilitator
Joseph's dreamlike solicitation of the ill-of-health Robert Louis
Stevenson in 1879 ("The Literary Agent"); and Literature Preservationist
Lewis's retrieval of priceless literary artifacts, in 1914 Egypt, from the
mummy case of Princess Sit-Hathor-Yunet ("The Queen in Yellow"). This
collection also includes the first four Alec Checkerfield stories — and
the alert reader should be able to piece together the mystery of Alec's
life: Who created this little superman, and to what purpose?

Golden Gryphon Press

Black Projects, White Knights
by Kage Baker
cover art by J. K. Potter
ISBN 1-930846-30-4 / $15.95 (Trade hardcover)
288 pages

09/30/04 THU:
---Word from Wildside:

Available after 10/5/2004.

THE SPIDER STRAIN (And Other Tales from the Pulps)
by Johnston McCulley
Trade paperback, $15.95

In "The Spider Strain," the supervillain's right-hand man, John Warwick,
must steal a priceless necklace. This is his last assignment, for if he can
finally satisfy the Spider, he will free himself from the criminal forever.
With a rival gang after the necklace and the Spider's fate hanging in the
balance, this may be Warwick's most dangerous assignment yet. A beautiful
woman, a decades-old secret, and thieves running rampant at a high society
party make for a brisk caper-story . . . and the culmination of the
long-running Spider series! This volume also features a fine selection of
other mystery tales from the pulps by Johnston McCulley, who remains most
famous as the creator of Zorro.

---And:

Currently at printer. Available after 10/10/2004.

Pulp Classics: Tales of Magic and Mystery
Series Editor: John Gregory Betancourt
Trade paperback, $19.95

Tales of Magic and Mystery, which published five issues between December
1927 and April 1928 under the (anonymous) editorship of Walter B. Gibson,
remains one of the rarest and most sought after of the early fantasy pulp
magazines. The third issue, featuring an uncredited cover believed to be by
Earle Bergey according to Peter Haining’s excellent reference book Monthly
Terrors, also features contributions from Arthur Neale, Archie Binns,
Howard Thurston, Carl M. Rosenquist, Ludwig Haupt, Walter B. Gibson, and
Peter Chance.

NOTE: Due to the short length of this magazine, the editor has added three
additional stories from other pulp magazines: “The Red Witch,” by Farnham
Bishop & Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur; “For Wounding — Retaliation,” by Nictzin
Dyalhis; and “Blood Ritual,” by Theodore Roscoe.

09/28/04 TUE:
---Just uploaded a new batch to my listings on biblio.com taking me through Russell in the alphabet (starting at Mic...). Seems as I approach Tor pbs I get slower and slower. I ought to just take them on by themselves next time. It would not do to have a whole regular batch of hardcovers and trade paperbacks along with all those paperback titles. To think when I first started issuing catalogs I had maybe three Tor books, and I believe they were an imprint of Pinnacle Books.

09/27/04 MON:
---Here today from TTA:

INTERZONE #194, 9-10/04, (Jay Lake, Karen Fishler, Steve Mohn, etc.), new 6.00

THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE #39, aut/04, (Nina Allen, Joe Hill, Susan Fry, etc.), new $7

---looks like I never got #38 or I forgot to catalog it.

---Heard from half.com a few days ago:

In our last announcement earlier this summer, we said that half.com would be closing on October 14, 2004. We have decided not to go forward with this plan and will keep half.com open indefinitely.

---A few weeks ago I did try to transfer a listing of a book onto eBay, but it seemed like too much trouble for what I was doing. Maybe for that special book here and there that might be in big demand, but a pile of books like the one beside me now, of books I picked up at a book sale yesterday, that may or may not be appropriate for my regular catalog, would work better at half.com or biblio.com. Once I get my whole catalog up on biblio.com, then I can start adding things from the full storage boxes here in plenty. Right now these books are headed for a box, but they might as well be listed on half.com. At this annual book sale I usually get a whole scad of SF paperbacks, but my heart wasn’t in it for those particular books this time, nor was there quite the selection as there is sometimes. It was depressing to see all those Star Trek novelizations by erstwhile hot authors, along with all the books I knew I already had multiple copies of. But in the Modern Classics and Novels sections of the book sale I found lots of things that looked interesting: some for my personal Western Canon bookshelves, and some that I thought looked like they would be good to read. I would like to hoard them all for myself, but I don’t have the open shelfspace and I know I can’t read as many as I would like. I haven’t been to my listings at half.com to add titles in a long while, because I thought they were going to close it down. But now that they say it will be kept open indefinitely, I will try adding some listings. I do like being able to key in the ISBNs for multiple books and have the info about them and even a cover scan show up.

---Later: have now added fifteen books to my half.com listings. It seemed to go smoothly enough. Three books did not have their ISBNs in their system, so I will list them elsewhere, if I get the chance.

09/25/04 SAT:
---An experimentation with a better way to indicate quotes of blocks of text:
---Email rec’d:

Hi Chris!
Great to hear from you. Looks as if there'll be some excellent reading coming my way; big collections of Doyle and Shepard make me happy. I hope you'll be able to get that second, mythical issue of the slipcased ARGOSY sometime soon.
I hope that you are "not doing a very good job of keeping up" because business is good, and not because of any family or health reasons. Really, who can keep up these days? You obviously survey many newspapers and magazines online, probably the best way to do so since that way you can avoid huge piles of print cluttering your home, but there are so many sources available now that one feels perpetually behind. And that's just in the area of periodical reading. Each duty we tend to, three others clamor for our attention.
I'd better go do some of them right now. Take care, Chris.

---My reply:

I should be able to get your shipment out this morning. Wanted to give you a chance to make any emendments if desired before sending.
I don't read that many papers online, but I do have a lot of them bookmarked and I have signed up to get a few daily news emails that are pretty cool how they have links to the articles. I do get NY TIMES in its print edition, and that pile does grow large quickly. I prefer reading off the printed page, and being able to have various sections folded back, but it creates bigtime clutter, especially the Sunday edition.
But I shouldn't let all these distractions keep me from getting my own work done. Speaking of which, I have about an hour to get a few packages packed up right now, so I better get on it.

Yours,
Chris

09/23/04 THU:
---Re-affirmed my order with Haffner Press for his new book (See Sept 19 entry). Since I always do pretty well with his books, I am bumping up the quantity a bit for a slightly better discount, which I hope to pass along to Discount Planners: 25% instead of the 20% of before. I will give this for Haffner backlist I have in stock too.

---Word from Night Shade about my non-shipped orders (but apprised weeks ago to have been “en route”):
Chris,
Let me figure out what's going on with this.
Jason

---Email rec’d:
Haven't gotten anything from you in quite a while, so
I hope you're still in business!
If you are, here are a couple of more books to add to my order(s):

Wolfe, Gene INNOCENTS ABROAD (TOR hc) $25.95
Vance, Jack THE LANGUAGES OF PAO (Ibooks tpb) $11.95

Thought I'd seen reference to another James H. Schmitz
reprint, but have misplaced my notes again. Anyway, all other titles
on my previous unfulfilled orders still stand, as I've gotten none of
them elsewhere yet.

Do you need more deposit money ? Will you be issuing
refunds ? What's going on ?
Hope you're okay !

---My reply:
Sorry to have neglected you. I haven't had a chance to order from bigger publishers lately. I notice you have some four Tor and three Simon & Schuster (iBooks) on your list. I should go ahead and get orders out to at least those two. I have other people waiting on me for action too, so it would certainly behoove me!

Yours,
Chris