05/31/05 TUE:
---Back in stock from Arkham House:

Cannon, Peter (ed) LOVECRAFT REMEMBERED, Arkham House '98, 1st edn, (invaluable trove of first-hand information on literary hero), new in dj 32.95
Lovecraft, H.P. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, Arkham House, corrected 9th, (2nd in 3-vol. set of definitive Lovecraft; James Turner intro), new in dj 27.95
---DAGON and Other Macabre Tales, Arkham House, corrected 9th printing, (third in 3-vol. set of definitive Lovecraft; Joshi [ed]), T.E.D. Klein intro), new / dj 27.95
---THE DUNWICH HORROR and Others, Arkham House, corrected 11th printing, (definitive texts; S.T. Joshi [ed]; Bloch intro; #1 of 3 vol. set), new in dj 27.95
---THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM and Other Revisions, Arkham House, Corrected Fifth Printing, (supplementary collection; Joshi [ed]), new in dj 27.95
---MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS, Arkham House ('95), 1st edn, new in dj 34.95

---Don’t see anything new on the horizon from them. I think

Thomas, Milt CAVE OF A THOUSAND TALES: The Life & Times of Hugh B. Cave, Arkham House '04, 1st edn, (biography; photos, bibliography), new / dj 33.95

was the latest (received here in July of 2004).

05/30/05 MON:
---I’ve been spending my Memorial Day and too many of the preceding dredging up memories of my own in the form of books from the cellar that had not seen daylight for years--some of them predating when I even began in bookselling more than two decades ago. Part of the blame goes to my digital camera which makes it so easy and inexpensive to make covershots of books to burn on CD-Rs. It gets a little habit-forming, especially when I discover a couple of the shelves cracking and sagging deeply, needing to be unburdened. But it has been fun, even if it has directed me away from things I should more be doing. Now that I have accrued over a thousand images and placed them in folders somewhat corresponding to the new boxes I am re-interring them in, I hope to now at least be able to have an idea of what all there is down there--and you can too. Not all of it is all that great, but some things have been fun to look at. Everything--good, bad and ugly--is on the CD-R now available for the asking: covershots 1. It will also sport a “directory” file with the complete list of titles and which folders they can be found in. These are yet uncatalogued books--if not uncataloguable--titles only, mainly offered for entertainment at this point, although I’m sure you could persuade me to dig any of them back up again, if something happens to strike an acquisitive nerve.

05/27/05 FRI:
---It took me a while longer to get through these than I would have liked, because there was a lot to browse around with. All are all bedsheet size (8.5 x 11 inches):

ASIMOV'S SF ADVENTURE MAGAZINE #1 to #4, four-issue run, vg+ the set, 25.00
COSMOS #1 to #4, four-issue run, 5/77 to 11/77, (edited by David G. Hartwell), bedsheet size, vg the four, $18
EMPIRE FOR THE SF WRITER, set of 11 issues, #7 to #25 (missing several), 6/76 to fall/81, generally vg the set, $20
EVENT HORIZON #1 TO #3, run of three issues, ? to sum/81, vg or better the set, $8
GALILEO, set of 13 issues, #1 to #15 (missing only #12; including a double issue), '76 to 11/79, bedsheet size magazine, generally vg the set, 40.00
NESFA HYMNAL: 2nd Edition, ('79), (ultimate filksong book), comb binding, g 5.00
NEW PATHWAYS, 10-issue set, #3 & #6 to #14, 7/86 to 5/89, generally vg or better 35.00
RIGEL SCIENCE FICTION #1 to #8, eight straight issues, sum/81 to sum/83, (wondrous, entertaining, somewhat mind-bending), bedsheet size magazine, generally vg the set, 25.00
STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL, Ballantine, 11/75, 1st, stiff plastic, g-vg 8.00
Trimble, Bjo STAR TREK CONCORDANCE, Ballantine, 10/76, 1st edn, g 8.00
VERTEX, 4/73 to 2/75, first 12 issues, bedsheet size magazine, generally vg the set, 50.00
VERTEX, 4/73, (first issue) • ---2/74, (Russ article, PKD interview), vg each, 4.50
WESTERFILK COLLECTION, Jordin Kare, 6/80, comb binding, g-vg 4.00

---Covershots of all these are in my current Catalog Data CD-R.

05/26/05 THU:
---Wouldn’t have known that Godzilla Vs. the Robot Monsters, a fairly recent paperback from Random House, was worth upwards of $20 if I hadn’t listed it on half.com, where I was the lowballer at that price--and promptly sold it.

05/25/05 WED:
---A batch of paperbacks catalogued for next package insert sheet:

Baen 72113 Anthony, Piers & Robert Kornwise THROUGH THE ICE, 4/92, (fantasy), vg+ 2.50
Berkley F1243 Ballard, J.G. THE VOICES OF TIME, 2nd(5/66), (stories), vg 5.00
Avon Eos 02021 Baxter, Stephen ICEBONES, 6/02, (daughter of Silverhair), new 6.99
Baen 72070 Blish, James CITIES IN FLIGHT Vol. 2, 7/91, (Earthman, Come Home & The Triumph of Time), vg 2.50
Tor 56476 Clarkson, John NEW LOTS, 10/00, (prime-time crime), vg-f 3.00
AvoNova 77483 Deitz, Tom ABOVE THE LOWER SKY, 2/96, (new age fantasy), vg 2.50
Warner Aspect 60633 Duane, Diane THE BOOK OF NIGHT WITH MOON, 3/99, (purr-fect novel), vg+ 3.00
Signet T3861 Farmer, Philip José FLESH, 5/69, (stud-god to a million adoring females), g-vg 3.50
Roc 45821 Giambastiani, Kurt R.A. THE YEAR THE CLOUD FELL, 3/01, (alternate history), vg-f 2.50
Avon Eos 80351 Goonan, Kathleen Ann LIGHT MUSIC, 7/03, (Nanotech Cycle #4), new 7.99
Avon Eos 52180 Hartwell & Cramer (eds) YEAR'S BEST FANTASY 3, 7/03, new 7.99
Avon Eos 52182 Hartwell & Cramer (eds) YEAR'S BEST FANTASY 4, 7/04, new 7.99
Avon Eos 06453 Hartwell, David G. & Kathryn Cramer (ed) YEAR'S BEST SF 8, 2nd, (2002 stories), new 7.99
Avon Eos 57559 Hartwell, David G. & Kathryn Cramer (ed) YEAR'S BEST SF 9, 3rd, (2003 stories), new 7.99
DAW 1178 Huff, Tanya THE SECOND HOMECOMING, 3/01, (Keeper's Chronicles #2), PR laid in, vg-f 3.00
Roc 45645 Johnson, Oliver THE LAST STAR AT DAWN, 4/01, (Lightbringer #3), vg-f 3.00
Ace F- 294 Kline, Otis Adelbert THE PORT OF PERIL, nd, (Grandon of Venus), vg-f 5.00
Baen 72125 Lackey, Mercedes & Josepha Sherman CASTLE OF DECEPTION, 7/92, (Bard's Tale fantasy), vg+ 2.00
Berkley X1596 Laumer, Keith ASSIGNMENT IN NOWHERE, 8/68, vg 3.50
Bal U 2216 Leiber, Fritz A PAIL OF AIR, ('64), (orig; stories), g-vg 3.50
Pocket Star 86809 Lustbader, Eric Van FLOATING CITY, 5/95, (A Nicholas Linnear Novel; far-east villainy), g-vg 1.50
Perma M3027 M'Instoch, J.T. WORLD OUT OF MIND, 11/55, (man created without emotions to master-mind the conquest of Earth), vg 5.00
Avon Eos 02006 McDevitt, Jack DEEPSIX, 3rd, (apocalypse for a doomed enigma), new 7.99
NEL 01126 Moorcock, Michael THE SLEEPING SORCERESS, 4/72, (Elric), vg+ 5.00
Ace pb 87319 Norton, Andre WARLOCK OF THE WITCH WORLD, nd, vg 2.00
Bal U 2174 Pohl, Frederik A PLAGUE OF PYTHONS, 9/65, (orig), g-vg 3.00
Bal 439K Pohl, Frederik DRUNKARD'S WALK, ('60), (orig; sharply satirical SF), vg 4.00
Bal F685 Pohl, Frederik THE ABOMINABLE EARTHMAN, ('63), (orig; stories), vg 3.50
Bal 206 Pohl, Frederik THE CASE AGAINST TOMORROW, nd, (orig; stories), review slip, vg+ 6.00
Bal 397K Pohl, Frederik THE MAN WHO ATE THE WORLD, ('60). (orig; stories), g-vg $3; vg 5.00
Del Rey 37197 Pohl, Frederik THE WORLD AT THE END OF TIME, 5th(6/93), g-vg 2.00
Baen 72027 Pournelle, Jerry (creator) WAR WORLD Vol II: Death's Head Rebelliion, 12/90, VG 2.00
Baen 72158 Pournelle, Jerry & S.M. Stirling PRINCE OF SPARTA, 3/93, (Falkenberg's Legion), vg 2.00
HarperTorch 79836 Powers, Tim DECLARE, 2nd, (spy fiction blend with otherworldly), new 7.99
HarperTorch 05690 Pratchett, Terry INTERESTING TIMES, 14th, (Discworld novel), new 6.99
HarperTorch 02063 Pratchett, Terry MOVING PICTURES, 6th, (A Novel of Discworld®), new 6.99
HarperTorch 81819 Pratchett, Terry THE TRUTH, 7th, (A Novel of Discworld®), new 6.99
DAW 1145 Radford, Irene GUARDIAN OF THE TRUST, 4/01, (Merlin's Descendants #2; Arthurian legend), vg-f 3.00
Tor 51672 Roessner, Michaela VANISHING POINT, 11/94, (dazzling speculation), vg 3.00
HarperTorch 79227 Russell, Sean THE ONE KINGDOM, 4th, (Swans' War #1), new 7.99
Tor 52577 Saberhagen, Fred A QUESTION OF TIME, 1/93, (dracula novel), vg 2.00
Lancer 74556 Santesson, Hans Stefan (ed) THE MIGHTY BARBARIANS, '69< (orig; Great Sword and Sorcery Heroes), g-vg 3.50
Avn V 2414 Shaw, Bob GROUND ZERO MAN, 9/71, (orig; doomsday device), vg $3; vg+ 4.00
Ace sp 62938 Shaw, Bob ONE MILLION TOMORROWS, ('70), (orig; the price of eternal life), vg+ 5.00
Ace sp 65050 Shaw, Bob THE PALACE OF ETERNITY, ('69), (orig; man's farthest future), g-vg 3.50
Ace sp H 79 Shaw, Bob THE TWO-TIMERS, ('68), (orig; parallel worlds), g-vg $3; vg-f 5.00
Lancer 72697 Shaw, Larry T. (ed) GREAT SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURES, '63, g-vg $3; vg+ 5.00
Dell pb 1940 Sheckley, Robert DIMENSION OF MIRACLES, 6/68, (orig; Earth Hunt), vg $3; vg-f 5.00
Bantam A2003 Sheckley, Robert NOTIONS: UNLIMITED, 6/60, (orig; stories), g-vg 3.50
Bantam A1672 Sheckley, Robert PILGRIMAGE TO EARTH, 10/57, (orig; stories), g $2; g-vg 3.00
Bantam J2443 Sheckley, Robert SHARDS OF SPACE, 7/62, (orig; stories), g-vg $3; vg+ 5.00
Ball 01815 Sherred, T.L. ALIEN ISLAND, 1/70, (orig), g-vg $2; vg 3.00
Lancer 74573 Siegel, Martin AGENT OF ENTROPY, '69, (orig; GAG=Gestalt And Grok), vg+ 4.00
Ball 01601 Silverberg, Robert DIMENSION THIRTEEN, 5/69, (orig; stories), g-vg $3; vg 5.00
Belmont 591 Silverberg, Robert GODLING, GO HOME!, 6/64, (orig; stories), vg 5.00
Macfadden 165 Simak, Clifford D. ALL THE TRAPS OF EARTH, '63, (stories), vg+ 4.00
Perma Star 264 Simak, Clifford D. CITY, 12/53, (The year was 1990...), g-vg 4.00
Berkley G71 Simak, Clifford D. STRANGERS IN THE UNIVERSE, nd, (stories), vg+ 4.00
Belmont 584 Simak, Clifford D. WORLDS WITHOUT END, 4/64, (orig; three stories), vg+ 5.00
Bal 58 Siodmak, Curt RIDERS TO THE STARS, ('53), (orig; novel by Robert Smith based on Siodmak screenplay), g-vg $4; vg 7.00
Laurel 3160 Smith, Cordelia Titcomb (ed) GREAT SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, 2/64, (orig), vg-f 4.00
Monarch 464 Smith, George H. THE UNENDING NIGHT, 11/64, (orig; Runaway Mars), g-vg 4.00
Avon Eos 80783 Smith, Kristine CODE OF CONDUCT, 3rd, (fascinating alien culture), new 6.99
Pyramid G544 Sturgeon, Theodore VENUS PLUS X, 9/60, (orig; outrageous), g-vg 4.00
Avon Eos 54169 Traviss, Karen CITY OF PEARL, 3/04, (orig; vivid assortment of alien races; a stellar debut), new 6.99
Ace F- 293 Tubb, E.C. MOON BASE, ('64), (±Window On the Moon), vg-f 5.00
Del Rey 36076 Turtledove, Harry A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE, 5/90, (orig; first contact), g-vg 2.00
Spectra 56892 Zahn, Timothy CONQUERORS' PRIDE, 9/94, (Conquerors #1), vg 3.00
Tor 55877 Zelazny, Roger & Fred Saberhagen COILS, 3rd, (Ron Miller illus), vg-f 3.00

05/24/05 TUE:
---Yesterday’s blogmail I sent out with mainly just news about the few new books that had come in over the week. I don’t feel these emailings should contain too many of my vapid or insipid cogitations, as might a blog itself. That said, in this case I did have a few postings ready that I waited until the blogmail had been sent to add to the blog. Other times maybe I might delete them from the blogmail if they seem unlikely to be of a whole lot of interest--or if they go on for a too much length. At any rate, I will try to feel freer to toss stuff into the blog inself, as it occurs, even at risk of feeling a fool. But it won’t necessarily be in the blogmail.

05/23/05 MON:
---Here today from TTA:

INTERZONE #198, 5-6/05, (latest issue of slick UK magazine with brand new fiction, reviews, interviews, art, etc.), new 6.00

---Described by publisher:

Interzone 198 (May/June) has now been mailed out. This has more great front
cover art by Kenn Brown, with illustrations by John G. Williams, Chris Nurse,
Douglas Sirois, Glitchwerk, Stefan Olsen; fantastic new stories by Chris
Beckett, Dominic Green, Matthew Hughes, Christopher East, John Aegard, with Steve
Aylett on a highlight in the incredible career of cult author Jeff Lint; Rick
Kleffel interviews Kazuo Ishiguro; lots of book reviews including the return of
John Clute with a new regular column; Nick Lowe on films; Dave Langford's
Ansible Link; Mike O'Driscoll's comment column Night's Plutonian Shore, this time
on The Review Wars; and much more.

---From Tartarus:

WORMWOOD #4, spr/05, Tartarus, (Literature of the fantastic, supernatural and decadent; on Oates, Kubin, Margaret Irwin, Shiel, etc.), new 15.00

---And Golden Gryphon was kind enough to send a small supply of the freebies they add to direct purchasers of their books, so I can offer the same (to at least a few):

1. An audio CD of James Patrick Kelly narrating his Hugo-nominated story,
"Bernardo's House." I give this away with any Kelly book.
2. "A Backwards Glance," a 20-page booklet of John Kessel interviewing Gregory
Frost. The first 75 were signed by Frost and the artist Jason Van Hollander (I'm
almost out of the signed booklets, but I have plenty of unsigned). I give this away
with the Frost collection, ATTACK OF THE JAZZ GIANTS.
3. Bookplates for BUDAYEEN NIGHTS, signed by Barbara Hambly.

---I pulled one of the Frost booklets out of its envelope and it is of the unsigned variety, as I expect they all might be. If you want the signed, better check with Golden Gryphon themselves right away.

05/22/05 SUN:
---Getting a little ahead of my ability to get catalogued all the books that I have digital covershots for. The ongoing and neverending project of getting the cellar (with its vintage books like vintage wine awaiting its time for uncorking) under some modicum of control continues. Some of this entails reboxing books acquired at long-ago book sales, into more standardized and stronger boxes. For books that people have sent for me to sell on consignment that I have unconscionable sat on for way too long (although I do warn of that prospect), I better not rebox them--where they might not see the light of day again for another decade or three. So these sit around wanting me to catalog them (and my wife to get them out of the upstairs) and find them new homes, but meanwhile I have whipped them through the digital camera-tripod setup. Way too many of these are already in a new “covershots” folder than will fit on my regular Catalog Data CD-R--so for now it looks like I might have a CD-R of uncatalogued book cover JPEG snapshots that I could send out to people interested in seeing them--and perhaps goading me to break out from storage if they see something they want. These include non-SF vintage paperbacks, non-SF books, not-yet-catalogued books, magazine runs and sets, everything that comes out of the boxes I bring up--some common, some less so; some desirable, some maybe less so--just about all of them more fun to look at than I ought to keep to myself. If I were more ambitious I would have the images up on some website or another, but so far my ambitions have not reached that point. For now, being able to burn them on a CD-R, which I would think most people with computers--or even DVD players that can show JPEGs--could easily access. Probably not everyone (or anyone) will be interested--but if you are, let me know.

05/21/05 SAT:
---I hate it when booksellers are over-zealous in thinking up new schemes for how to sell their books. I try to keep myself from being that way too--but I can’t help it sometimes. I’ve figured out that I should make my discounts available to everyone that orders from me directly, instead of adhere to the fee-based Membership Discount Plan that has been a fixture with me for years. Now I am dickering with how to give people more of a say in what publishers I order from and when. At my present admittedly less ambitious bookselling pace (than when I was issuing regular printed-peper catalogs). it can be a long haul between orders to the many different publishers where I have accounts. I always think it won’t--or might not--be too long before I can send an order to any given publisher, but sometimes--or lots of the time--my thinking is wrong. A few people have given me the idea that if they have a credit amount in account I can try harder to get the books they have ordered. Basically my discount plan applies to books I have in stock--by no means a complete inventory of what I ought to have in stock (being more complete, perhaps, in what I ought not to have); but I don’t want to discourage special-orderers, because I like to know what people want, and because when I send orders to publishers it is nice to know that I have some of the books already spoken for. Anyway, without coming up with some actual scheme, I might mention that anyone with a credit in account--achieved by overpaying for books (which is maybe anathema)--will have more say-so in what books I can actually get (and in more timely fashion). This does not mean that someone who orders six books from six different publishers and prepays for them will necessarily get me to order from all six in a much timelier manner, but it will make me look at which order I can send out to a publisher will make the biggest dent in (or overwhelm) that credit. My computer has been doing a pretty good job, I think, of keeping track of peoples’ credits, so even if I’m slow and prone to lapses in memory myself, there shouldn’t be too much risk that in the long run you won’t get something for your money--and a pretty good deal too. This isn’t really a scheme to try to suck extra money, but to enable me to be more efficient in ordering from publishers. Well anyway, that is something I have been thinking about.

05/20/05 FRI:
---Here today from Hippocampus:

Lovecraft, H.P.LETTERS TO RHEINHART KLEINER, Hippocampus ('05), 1st edn, (one of HPL’s earliest correspondents; meticulously edited by S.T. Joshi & David E. Schultz; continue’s publisher’s series of unabridged Lovecraft letters, with detailed notes and commentary), new 20.00

---Fun to see Gary Brown (billed as Garrett M. Brown in the credits), my eighth-grade classmate at Middlesex Junior High School, on last night’s The O.C. I don’t know if rehab doctor can become a recurring character on the show. Gary was a regular on a couple other shows I noticed--Sisters and What a Country (with Yatzov Smirnoff, or whoever, as the star). I first noticed Gary in a movie at the theater when he played a bit part as Woody Allen’s goy alter in Zelig. Since then it has been fun seeing him crop up in commercials and on various TV shows--most appearances I know I missed, because I don’t catch many shows. (The only regular ones I watch now are West Wing and The O.C. I checked out The O.C starting with episode one because I saw it had Peter Gallagher, who I thought was pretty good in a couple other things I saw him in, like an episode of the later Outer Limits--noticable and rememberable maybe on account of those eyebrows.) Back to Gary, I even noticed, checking the IMDB that he has been a camera operator (Alan Alda’s Four Seasons) as well as producer (Tom Hanks’ You’ve Got Mail).
In eighth grade Gary was easily the most popular kid in the class, a very affable and good-natured guy, more mature than the rest of us and somewhat bigger and taller. I most remember him in English class where we all sat in a big square with desks side by side. He was beside the teacher, across from me. The most harrowing time for me was every Friday when we had to in turns get up in front of the class and recite an at least twelve-line poem from memory, like: “Lars Porcena of Cluseum, by the nine gods he swore, that the great House of Tarquin, should suffer wrong no more; By the nine gods he swore it and named a trysting day, and bade his messengers ride forth, east and west and south and north, to summon his array.” Or: “Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall, we stopped by a mountain pasture to say, ‘Who’s colt?’ A little morgan had one forefoot on the wall and the other curled at his breast. He dipped his head and snorted at us, and then he had to bolt. We heard the miniature thunder when he fled, and saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and gray, like a shadow against the curtain of falling flakes”; stuff like that--only those and a couple others still present even now in my forebrain; not to say that is where they were when I was standing up there in class with the pressure on. I’m sure Gary had no such trouble, perhaps why he became an actor, discovering there and then that he had the facility to remember lines and deliver them with authority. I might have noticed it if I wasn’t so self-preoccupied.
And I thought Gary did quite well with the few lines in his small part on The O.C. last night, although he’s looking a little grayer and softer around the edges--but aren’t we all? On the show maybe he can befriend Kirsten at the rehab center--fill the void left by her undear departed father--and become a show fixture. Less likely things have happened, especially there!

05/18/05 WED:
---Here today from Golden Gryphon:

Frost, Gregory ATTACK OF THE JAZZ GIANTS and Other Stories, Golden Gryphon '05, 1st edn, (Karen Joy Fowler foreword; John Kessel afterword; publisher’s book #40), new in dj 25.95

---As described by publisher:

The New York Times Book Review calls Gregory Frost "merciless and artful." You'll see why in his collection of masterful conjurations.

The Nebula, Hugo, Tiptree, International Horror Guild, and World Fantasy Award finalist takes you on a journey of wonders and nightmares. It's a midnight odyssey to a shadowland where vehicles feast on vagrants . . . where Poe's final days are revealed . . . where factory workers are exploited by an apparition of the Virgin Mary . . . and where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart pinwheels through the corridors of Time.

On this pilgrimage we discover the apocalyptic entity that hides in a Ukrainian village. We're taken to a crossroads where the Castle of Otranto bleeds into the Depression-Era South accompanied by the rollicking music of Kid Ory and Bix Beiderbecke. Frost's fourteen excursions include an account of the horror that dwells in Jack the Ripper's pocket watch, and features a brand new novella—a slam-bang interplanetary "Road" picture peppered with Hope & Crosby japery and more than a dash of Flash Gordon.

New York Times bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler provides the Introduction and John Kessel the Afterword. Notes by the author are included to take you behind the stories, each of them as compelling and lucid as a cracked-open dream.

Each story is accompanied by one or more illustrations by award- winning artist Jason Van Hollander

05/17/05 TUE:
---Had an inquiry about a book from Red Jacket Press, which looks like it might be doing some interesting, if retrospective, things. I’ve added these to my order file (for future order):

JUDGMENT NIGHT / Moore
DRAGON LENSMAN / Kyle
LENSMAN FROM RIGEL / Kyle
Z-LENSMAN / Kyle 15.95
ROADS / Quinn
CHILDREN OF THE ATOM / Shiras

---These look to all be trade paperbacks (for $15.95), but the Kyle set is available as a boxed hardcover for $150.

05/16/05 MON:
---Am checking out the publishers in Consortium (including Story Line, Serpent’s Tail, Soho, Seven Stories, Headpress, Mercury House, City Lights, Coffee House, Copper Canyon, Methuen, Marsilio, Capra, Feminist, Exact Change, and some 50 others) for an order I need to send out soon. My discount break is at 25 books, so any help would be appreciated. I don’t think I would have much trouble if I browsed around a bit, but so far I have just set up the links to the publishers I already had in my datafile. Of course there are the books I had in the order file already too, which so far number sixteen titles.
---Discount I can give on these will be 30%.

05/14/05 SAT:
---Added a bunch of JPEG images of book-cover snapshots to “burnstuff” folder for CD-Rs of Catalog Data. They include the couple batches of “nominally-used” books listed here recently as well as the new books that have come in from IPG and elsewhere. Also, a box of old paperbacks I brought up from the cellar, which maybe I will catalog and maybe I will re-box and put back into storage in a more standardized box. It is fun to have a look at them, anyway. Check them out for yourself when you see my CD-R in your book shipment.
---This digital picture-taking of book covers can be habit-forming. It sure is a lot of fun--and the results are amazing.

05/13/05 FRI:
---Looks like I might well be getting an order out to PenguinPutnam here now pretty soon. In fact there are a number of publishers I need to get orders out to.

05/12/05 THU:
---Some more nominally-used books catalogued:

Baxter, Stephen MANIFOLD: SPACE, Del Rey, 2/01, 1st edn, (Reid Malenfant #2), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj $10
Beagle, Peter S. TAMSIN, Roc, 10/99, 1st, (The Long-Awaited New Novel; a beautiful modern-day ghost story), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj $9
Borchardt, Alice THE WOLF KING, Del Rey, 3/01, 1st edn, (Wolf #3; combines dark European mythology, sweeping military drama, and sensuous romantic adventure in a tale that is epic in scope and imagination), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 7.00
Carcaterra, Lorenzo GANGSTER, Ballantine. 2/01, 1st edn, (crime; an epic tale of murder, forgiveness, love, violence , and destiny), PR laid in, vg-f in dj 5.00
David, Peter STAR TREK NEW FRONTIER EXCALIBUR: Restoration, Pocket, 11/00, 1st hc, (TV tie-in; third in thrilling trilogy), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 6.00
Douglass, Sara THE WAYFARER REDEMPTION Book One: Battleaxe, Tor, 3/01, 1st US edn, (story of an ancient prophecy, two brothers bound by blood and divided by hate, and the grand and heroic struggle of one woman’s seach for the truth about the history of her people, by Australia’s most successful author), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 8.00
Kurtz, Katherine ST. PATRICK'S GARGOYLE, Ace, 2/01, 1st edn, PR laid in, vg-f in dj 8.00
Leiber, Fritz THE BIG TIME, Tor, 4/00, 1st edn (thus), (Hugo winner), PR, f in dj 10.00
MacLeod, Ken THE STONE CANAL, Tor, 1/00, 1st US edn, (novel of the wars and revolutions to come; winner of American Prometheus Award for Best Libertarian Fiction), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 10.00
Perry, Thomas DEATH BENEFITS, Random House '01, 1st edn, (clever mystery set in the high-stakes insurance world; by Edgar Award winner), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj $6
Sheckley, Robert GODSHOME, Tor, 1/99, 1st edn, (fast-paced, witty fantasy in the Unknown Worlds tradition about a bumbling professor who acquires key to the realm of the gods),publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj $8
Slonczewski, Joan A DOOR INTO OCEAN, Arbor House '86, 1st, PR release laid in, vg-f in dj 12.00
Slonczewski, Joan DAUGHTER OF ELYSIUM, AvoNova, 8/93, 1st, (return to the ocean world of Shora of A Door Into Ocean), review slip laid in, vg-f in dj 12.00
Stewart, Sean GALVESTON, Ace, 3/00, 1st edn, (set on island uprooted by magic), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 8.00
Tarr, Judith & Harry Turtledove HOUSEHOLD GODS, Tor, 9/99, 1st edn, (A Novel of the Depths of Time and the Human Heart), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 8.00
Turtledove, Harry COLONIZATION: AFTERSHOCKS, Del Rey, 2/01, 1st edn, (#3 in series; alternate history fantasy), PR laid in, vg-f in dj 8.00
Turtledove, Harry DARKNESS DESCENDING, Tor, 4/00, 1st edn, (a novel of world war--and magic; moving sequel to Into the Darkness), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj $8
Vornholt, John STAR TREK: The Next Generation: The Genesis Wave, Book Two, Pocket, 4/01, 1st, (mutagenic promatter persists in posing a cataclysmic menace to life as we know it), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj $6
Zettel, Sarah THE QUIET INVASION, Warner Aspect, 2/00, 1st, PR release laid in, vg-f in dj 10.00

05/11/05 WED:
---Reply to question “Please let me know if there are any publishers that you’ve stopped ordering from, e.g. Midnight House & Darkside; Fedogan & Bremer, etc.”:

Only publishers I have stopped ordering from that come to mind are Cemetery Dance and Subterranean--those because they offered better (or as good) discounts to direct customers than to booksellers. Others it might seem like I have stopped, but there can be long delays getting my orders out. Or publishers might have long delays in their publishing schedules.

---Although I guess Subterranean’s not keeping track of my pre-orders on a consistent basis and non-responsiveness to my emails may have had something to do with it too. (But then, who am I to complain?)

05/09/05 MON:
---Here today from Gryphon Books:

HARDBOILED #33, 3/05, Gryphon, (original hard-hitting fiction), new 10.00

--This crossed in the mail with my purchase order for all the things that have come out but seem to have eluded my standing order. Only the magazines now for me automatically, I guess.

---Word from Gauntlet:

Dear Dealer,

We have been deluged with orders for the 9th Repairman Jack novel, INFERNAL by F. Paul Wilson. We are writing ONLY to those who ordered the Repairman Jack novels in the past as right now we can't guarantee orders. Please let us know how many copies of the NUMBERED edition you are interested in. The website price is $50.

We should be able to let you know by the end of May if we can fill all orders. The book should be available in late-June/early-July. Because of problems with our slipcase binder we cannot offer slipcases at this time, just the book.

---I ought to get an order out to Gauntlet--it has been a while.

05/07/05 SAT:
---Looks like I need to get an order out to Earthling for some of their publications. (Prepaid order from a customer for one of their titles.)

05/06/05 FRI:
---Some nominally-used books catalogued:
hardcovers:

Carr, Caleb KILLING TIME, Random House '00, 1st edn, (A Novel of the Future by historian and best-selling novelist; set in the year 2023, an all-too-near future where technology can perilously undo the past), publicity release laid in, f in dj 6.00
Cassutt, Michael RED MOON, Forge, 2/01, 1st edn, (space-program thriller), PR laid in, vg-f in dj 9.00
Dalkey, Kara GENPEI, Tor, 1/01, 1st edn, (historical fantasy; love, war and legendry in 12th-century Japan), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 12.00
Lackey, Mercedes SERPENT'S SHADOW, DAW, 3/01, 1st, (inspired by Snow White and the Seven Dwarves; first in three-book historical fantasy series inspired by classic fairy tales), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 7.00
Reaves, Michael DARTH MAUL: SHADOW HUNTER, Del Rey, 2/01, 1st edn, (Star Wars novel set before the events of The Phantom Menace; adventure of dark mystery and deadly lightsaber action), publicity release laid in, vg-f in dj 6.50

misc. softcovers:

Anthony, Mark THE DARK REMAINS, Spectra, 3/01, 1st, (Last Rune #3; epic fantasy saga), publicity release laid in, vg-f 5.00
Deitz, Tom SUMMERBLOOD, Spectra, 4/01, 1st, (Eron #3; new king must strive to heal a war-torn land, master a world-altering magic, and defeat a fanatical religious sect that will stop at nothing to gain total power), publicity release laid in, vg-f $6
Kay, Guy Gavriel THE SUMMER TREE, Roc, 4/01, (Finavar Taperstry #1; the essence of high fantasy), publicity release laid in, vg-f 6.00
Marillier, Juliet DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST, Tor, 3/01, (Sevenwaters Trilogy #1; recreates the classic Celtic myth of the swan brothers and the sister left behind who must save them), publicity release laid in, f 5.00
Miéville, China PERDIDO STREET STATION, Del Rey, 3/01, 1st US edn, (phantasmagoric masterpiece; 710 pages), publicity release laid in, f $12
Pearce, Q.L. STRANGE SCIENCE: OUTER SPACE, Tor, 8/99, 1st, (discover a universe so strange it has to be real; illustrated by Bernice Mascher), vg-f 3.00
Roberts, Keith PAVANE, Del Rey Impact,3/01, (acknowledged classic of alternate history), publicity release laid in, vg-f $8
Sherwin, Jill THE DEFINITIVE STAR TREK TRIVIA BOOK: Vol II, Pocket, 4/01, 1st, (treasure trove of memory testers, brainteaser and mind-bending minutiae), publicity release laid in, f 7.00
Shinn, Sharon SUMMERS AT CASTLE AUBURN, Ace, 4/01, 1st, (fantasy; tale of drama set in the midst of a clan of royalty and deception), publicity release laid in, vg-f $8
Stover, Matthew BLADE OF TYSHALLE, Del Rey. 4/01, 1st edn, (There are no rules of war...; sequel to author’s first Otherworld novel, Heroes Die; 725 pages), publicity release laid in, vg-f 7.00

05/05/05 THU:
---Word from Hippocampus:

Dear Bookseller,
Hippocampus Press has resumed activity following the loss of our computer hard drive, and released our first book of the year, H. P. Lovecraft's LETTERS TO RHEINHART KLEINER. At 300 pages and a retail price of just $20.00, it is sure to be a popular title for your customers. It is also a perfect companion to last year's LETTERS TO ALFRED GALPIN.

Best regards,
Derrick Hussey

Hippocampus Press

H. P. LOVECRAFT: LETTERS TO RHEINHART KLEINER
Edited by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz
April 2005: ISBN 0974878952: Paperback: $20.00

Rheinhart Kleiner (1892-1949) was one of H. P. Lovecraft’s earliest correspondents. The recipient of the first issue of Lovecraft’s amateur paper, the Conservative, in 1915, Kleiner challenged Lovecraft to reconsider his dogmatic views on race, literature, and society. A poet of exquisite skill and sensitivity, Kleiner inspired Lovecraft to write a number of poems directly addressed to him or inspired by his own poems. This volume prints, for the first time, the complete surviving letters of Lovecraft to Kleiner, showing how Lovecraft gradually transformed himself from an eighteenth-century fossil to a participant in the society and culture of his time. The letters address such wide-ranging subjects as erotic love, racial prejudice, the art of poetry, Lovecraft’s boyhood and upbringing, and much else. Also included are the three surviving letters of the Kleicomolo, the round-robin correspondence group whose members included Kleiner, Lovecraft, Ira A. Cole, and Maurice W. Moe. Richly philosophical, these letters display the fundamentals of Lovecraft’s distinctive cosmic vision. In an extensive appendix are found all of Lovecraft’s and Kleiner’s poems addressed to each other, along with Kleiner’s several provocative essays on Lovecraft.

Meticulously edited and annotated by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi, this volume continues Hippocampus Press’s series of unabridged Lovecraft letters, with detailed notes and commentary.

05/04/05 WED:
---Here today from IPG:

Charnas, Suzy McKee STAGESTRUCK VAMPIRES & Other Phantasms, Tachyon '04, 1st edn, (restrospective collection of lush stories; Di Filippo intro), new in dj 24.95

Effinger, George Alec LIVE! FROM PLANET EARTH, Golden Gryphon '05, 1st edn, (stories, with commentaries by Gaiman, Resnick, Bishop, Hambly, Waldrop, etc.), new / dj 25.95

Emshwiller, Carol I LIVE WITH YOU, Tachyon '05, 1st edn, (recent stories; Eileen Gunn intro), new 14.95

Fowler, Karen Joy, Pat Murpy, Debbie Notkin & Jeffrey D. Smith (eds) THE JAMES TIPTREE AWARD ANTHOLOGY I, Tachyon ('05), (honors fiction that explores and expands genre; Charnas, Le Guin & Russ essays), new 15.95

Gunn, Eileen STABLE STRATEGIES and Others, Tachyon '04, 1st edn, (foreword by William Gibson; afterword by Howard Waldrop), new 14.95

Lansdale, Joe R. BUMPER CROP, Golden Gryphon ‘05, {hc in dj still avail. @ 24.95}, (if not the very best, they are among the best of author’s stories), new 15.95

Lupoff, Pat & Dick Lupoff THE BEST OF XERO, Tachyon, 7/04, 1st edn, (Selections from the Hugo Award Winning Magazine; Rober Ebert intro), new in dj 29.95

Nolan, William F. WILD GALAXY, Golden Gryphon '05, 1st edn, (stories; author's best from fifty years), new / dj 25.95

Tiptree, James, Jr. HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER, Tachyon '04, 1st edn thus, (stories; updated edn contains revisions from author’s notes), new 15.95

What, Leslie OLYMPIC GAMES, Tachyon, 8/04, 1st edn, (author’s first novel; expansion of “The Goddess Is Alive and Well, Living In New York City”), new 14.95

---Back in stock:

Landis, Geoffrey A. IMPACT PARAMETER and Other Quantum Realities, Golden Gryphon '01, 1st edn, (hard SF from a cutting edge scientst), new in dj 24.95

Lupoff, Richard A. CLAREMONT TALES II, Golden Gryphon '02, 1st edn, new in dj 23.95

Sargent, Pamela THUMBPRINTS, Golden Gryphon '04, 1st edn, (stories), new in dj 25.95

Swanwick, Michael FIELD GUIDE TO THE MESOZOIC MEGAFAUNA, Tachyon, 2/04, 1st edn, (fifteen short-short stories on dinosaur themes; 32-page booklet), new 8.95

---Broke out a box of F&SF’s to connect a couple runs that were prevoiusly catalogued, making:

FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, THE MAGAZINE OF…, collection of 176 issues, sum/50, 10/51, 12/51, 4 to 8/52, 10/52 to 3/53, 5/53, 7/53, 9/53, 10/53, 12/53, 2 to 5/54, 7/54, 10/54 to 4/55, 7/55 to 7/57, 9/57, 11/57, 1/58 to 12/67 (missing 5/64), generally g or (mostly) better the set, 450.00

---These present issues--68 running from 9/57 to 6/63--I have made JPEG snapshots of their covers to include in the catalog-data CD-R’s I am sending out now, if you want to get an idea what they look like.

---Added to New Arrivals list:
Drumm, Chris (compiler) CD COMP 141 (and previous), (CD-R music compilation available free for the asking; randomized picks from my personal listening, lately perhaps a bit too hiphoppy for some but looking jazzy next), new 0.00

05/03/05 TUE:
---Here today from Ash-Tree:

Le Fanu, Sheridan MR JUSTICE HARBOTTLE and Others: Ghost Stories 1870-73, Ash-Tree '05, 1st, (third and final volume in series), new in dj 47.50

---Word from PS Publishing:

We're about to take delivery of two new titles -- Ian Cameron Esslemont's NIGHT OF KNIVES (set in Steve Erikson's Malazan milieu) and Michael Bishop's colossal collection of essays, criticisms and reviews, A REVERIE FOR MISTER RAY. Both books are available as trade hardcovers (priced £30 or US$50) and slipcased hardcovers (£60 or $90). Please let us know if you require any copies.

Coming soon: POSTSCRIPTS # 3, Graham Joyce's TWOC and Eric Brown's THE EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE OF JULES VERNE.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

05/02/05 MON:
---Received a Gryphon Books catalog in the mail today and notice that I am missing a lot of his titles, particularly ones in the Golden Amazon series. I have dashed out a purchase order to redress the deficiency and will mail it out tomorrow.

---New month as well as a new week, so I need to update my Catalog Data for my CD-R as well send out the BlogMail. Fortunately it seems I might have (barely) enough books-catalogued data so I won’t have to resort scribbling out a travelogue to have material to send this week. Or are travelogues more the stuff of blogs anyway? I would have more books to list if my Golden Gryphon/Tachyon shipment had arrived. It will probably show up tomorrow.