12/21/06 THU:
---Here today from Earthling:

Braunbeck, Gary A. HOME BEFORE DARK: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories, Volume 2, Earthling, 9/05, 1st edn, one of 515 SIGNED copies, new in dj 45.00

Hirshberg, Glen AMERICAN MORONS: Stories, Earthling, 10/06, 1st edn, (dazzling and haunting tales of the uncanny; horror as it should be writ), new indj 24.00

Knight, Brian KING OF SOULS, Earthling, 3/06, 1st edn, one of 300 SIGNED copies, (chilling story; dark and foreboding and extremely well done; Tim Waggoner intro; 55 pages), new 14.00

Simmons, Dan SONG OF KALI: 20th Anniversary Edition, Earthling, 11/05, one of 415 SIGNED copies, BOXED, (adds new introduction by author), new in dj 75.00

Strand, Jeff PRESSURE, Earthling, 8/06, 1st edn, (thriller; well-written coming-of-age tale; you do not want to miss this book under any circumstances; foreword by Michael Prescott), new in dj $25

Tomblin, Erik RIVERSIDE BLUES, Earthling, 8/05, 1st edn, one of 315 SIGNED copies, (an original novella of dark fiction; James Newman intro; 112 pages), new 14.00

Williams, Conrad THE UNBLEMISHED, Earthling, Halloween/06, 1st edn, one of 515 SIGNED copies, (an apocalyptic nightmare narrated with great vigour, clarity and stylishness; steel yourself for some higeous sadism; VanderMeer intro; afterword by author), new in dj 45.00

---Back in stock:

Braunbeck, Gary A. GRAVEYARD PEOPLE: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories, Volume 1, Earthling, 6/03, one of 776 SIGNED copies, new in dj 40.00

12/20/06 WED:
---Better get blogmail sent out. I think I will delete some material, such as publisher’s emails announcing books I don’t have yet. To see this stuff and maybe other things, blogmail recipients might try visiting the blog itself. There are links there too. Recently the blog got a bit of a facelift, when it was migrated over to a new version of Blogger. I think it now looks better and has better functionality, although I still strive for the austere look. The search feature seemed to work when I tried it, and having the archives reconfigured and at the bottom of the page I think is much better.

12/18/06 MON:
---Back in stock from Arkham House:

Cannon, Peter (ed) LOVECRAFT REMEMBERED, Arkham House '98, 1st edn, (all the major shorter memoirs, together with some rare contemporary glimpses from the amateru press before the master fantasist made his mark in Weird Tales, including early criticism; an invaluable trove of first-hand information on literary hero), new in dj 32.95

Joshi, S.T. (compiler) SIXTY YEARS OF ARKHAM HOUSE: A History and Bibliography, Arkham House '99, (essential reference tool; exhaustive updating of 30 Years of Arkham House), new in dj 25.95

Lovecraft, H.P. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, Arkham House, corrected 9th, (second in three-volume set of definitive Lovecraft; James Turner intro), new in dj 27.95
---DAGON and Other Macabre Tales, Arkham House, corrected 9th printing, (third in three-volume set of definitive Lovecraft; supercedes all previous edtitions; S.T. Joshi [ed]; T.E.D. Klein intro), new in dj 27.95
---THE DUNWICH HORROR and Others, Arkham House, corrected 11th printing, (first in three-volume set of definitive Lovecraft; authoritative texts; S.T. Joshi [ed]; Bloch intro), new in dj 27.95
---THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM and Other Revisions, Arkham House, Corrected Fifth Printing, (supplementary collection to the three-volume critical edition; includes all known revisions and collaborations undertaken by Lovecraft on behalf of his friends and clients; S.T. Joshi [ed]), new in dj 27.95
---MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS, Arkham House ('95), 1st edn, (literary criticism, philosophical speculation, political jeremiads and inimitably eccentric travelogues, etc.), new in dj 34.95

Ruber, Peter (ed) ARKHAM'S MASTERS OF HORROR: A 60th Anniversary Anthology Retrospective of the First 30 Years of Arkham House, Arkham House '00, 1st edn, (with historical notes; required reading for every collector of horror fiction), new in dj 32.95

12/16/06 SAT:
---Here today from PS Publishing:

Heidel, R. Andrew DESPERATE MOON: Three Collections, PS, 9/06, 1st edn, one of 700 total SIGNED copies, (collection of prose and poetry that defies categorization; includes Beyond the Wall of Sleep, previously published as a chapbook in 1998; Harlan Ellison introduction), new in dj 45.00

MacLeod, Ian R. PAST MAGIC, PS, 10/06, 1st edn, one of 700 total SIGNED copies, (author’s third story collection, his strongest yet; Jack Dann introduction), new in dj 45.00

---There are 200-copy deluxe slipcased editions of the above. If you want me to try to get you these, let me know.

---And from Stark House:

Rabe, Peter MY LOVELY EXECUTIONER / AGREEMENT TO KILL, Stark House Noir Classics, 11/06, 1st thus, (Two Complete Thrillers; reprints Fawcett Gold Medal paperback originals from 1957 & 1960; adds A Personal Recollection by Max Gartenberg, Noir and Gestalt: The Life of Peter Rabe by George Tuttle [1990], and Peter Rabe by Donald E. Westlake [1999]; ISBN: 1933586117), new 19.95

12/15/06 FRI:
---Word from PS Publishing:

Hi everyone!

One week to Christmas and things are not slowing down.

Nicky and I were in London last week at the British Fantasy Society's annual pre-Christmas drinks gig – we had a wonderful time, not least because Steve Jones presented me with our International Horror Guild Award, which POSTSCRIPTS received for Best Periodical. Fantastic! Thanks to Steve for picking up the Award on our behalf.

Now, on to business. Just in are: Ian MacLeod's PAST MAGIC, Chris Roberson's THE VOYAGE OF NIGHT SHINING WHITE, Robert Reed's FLAVORS OF MY GENIUS and Robert Charles Wilson's JULIAN. Expected today (Friday 15 December) is the paperback edition of POSTSCRIPTS #9 and Steven Utley's WHERE OR WHEN, while, next Wednesday, the paperback edition of Liz Hand's ILLYRIA (this year's Christmas special - free to all subscribers of POSTSCRIPTS!) should be landing. Alas, because of postal delays with the signing sheets, the hardcovers of ILLYRIA and POSTSCRIPTS will not be available until the first week in January – sorry about any disappointment.

Also coming in January – but near the end of the month and possibly even into February – are THE MERMAIDS by Robert Edric, PROMISED LAND by Jack Dann, TWELVE COLLECTIONS & THE TEASHOP by Zoran Živković, THE SCALDING ROOMS by Conrad Williams and HEREAFTER, AND AFTER by Richard Parks.

We're well on the way in putting together POSTSCRIPTS #10, too. This will be a big bumper issue -- around 120,000 words instead of the usual 60,000, with eight pieces from Mike Marshall Smith (around 30,000 words) and stories from Ramsey Campbell, Rick Hautala, Nancy Kilpatrick, Tim Lebbon, Lucius Shepard, Tom Tessier, Steven Erikson, Connie Willis and several more.

This issue will have a higher price-tag than usual - £12/$20 for the unsigned trade hardcover copy and the usual £25/$50 for the signed one (not unreasonably, I reckon) - but it'll be sent to existing subscribers for the usual price (ie. £6/$10 for the unsigned and £25/$50 for the signed). We're also planning a 100-copy slipcased hardcover edition to be signed additionally by all the artists involved – that's John Picacio, Jim Hannah, Dave Kendall, Randy Broecker and Wayne Blackhurst.

I can also now formally announce THE LEES OF LAUGHTER'S END, the third in Steve Erikson's 'Korbal Broach and Bauchelain' novella series. The book will be introduced by James Barclay and will be available in three states: an unsigned trade hardcover (1,000 copies @ £12/$20); a signed dust-jacketed hardcover (500 copies @ £25/$45); and a signed and slipcased dust-jacketed hardcover additionally featuring BLOOD FOLLOWS and THE HEALTHY DEAD (100 copies @ £75/$135). This title will go very quickly indeed – in ALL states! -- so make sure of your copy by pre-ordering immediately.

The new novella takes place immediately following the events of BLOOD FOLLOWS so the slipcased edition's running order will be BLOOD then LAUGHTER then HEALTHY. The books will be available at the World Horror Convention in Toronto.

Nick Gevers and I have been sorting through the POSTSCRIPTS inventory (around 290,000 words not counting the big World Horror issue) and allocating stories to issues. Thus we've pretty much finalised the line-ups for the summer and autumn 2007 issues. We've also placed stories against the winter 2007 and spring 2008 issues (we're aiming to do another bumper issue to tie in with that year's WorldCon, summer 2008 and, the following year, yet another one to tie in with World Fantasy Convention 2009 – keep checking the website for more details as and when).

And finally, one small piece of last-minute news: just yesterday we head back from Ian MacLeod's agent that we're going to be publishing Ian's new novel, THE SONG OF TIME – it'll be scheduled for summer 2008. Yay!

And that's about it. All that's left is to wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas holiday period and a fantastic new year. May every one of you get every single thing you feel you deserve... and then some! From all of us here at PS, many thanks for your continuing and hugely valued support – you're the best in the world!

Look after each other... and happy reading!

Pete

---It’s hard to keep track of what all I have pre-ordered from PS Publishing and what I need to actually order that I haven’t already. I have ordered what people pre- and special-ordered from me, but for other titles, if you want them from me better let me know.

---Couldn’t even find ads or listings in the NY Times for the new movie The Prestige. I did see Michael Caine on Tavis Smiley touting the flick--and it sure sounds good. What I wanted to find out was if it was based on the Christopher Priest novel as I suspected. Indeed it is. If I’d read the book, as I have wanted to, I would have already known.
---Later: finally saw a listing in the Des Moines Register's Datebook. The movie is showing at "Billy Joe's Pitcher Show", the local last-run place. Sir Michael was probably pushing the DVD release. Preview I saw was probably on a DVD from Netflix--not necessarily a new release. Somehow I missed the buzz for this movie when it first came out.

12/14/06 THU:
---Spent today (part of it) re-doing Grasshoppers & Wild Honey: Chapters 1 & 2 to the same size as the other Lafferty booklets I have produced. The old format (half letter size) would have required me to make a trip to my old printer for stapling and trimming. Since he is never open on Saturdays and I am without an automobile during the week, I was seeking an alternative. I am pleased with how it turned out. It brought back old times: making a little dummy booklet, finding a glue stick, trying to keep from laying pages upside down, standing at the copier (drowned out by Sonic Youth--now as then), cutting open pages with my trusty letter opener, etc. In fact, I am almost psyched enough to want to get going again with further booklets in the series. I realize that part of what brought me up short back then may have been the change in format size. I really like the smaller booklets, shoddy as they may be (according to Gardner Dozois). They fit in the hand and open nicely, lending themselves to actual reading, rather than fear of damaging an investment. And finding well-wrought writing in such a DIY setting I found to be quite appealing.
---Maybe I went to the larger size because about that time text for me was getting blurry and small print was getting hard to read. I thought it was because of staring at the computer screen, because after sessions at the monitor was when the blurriness seemed (temporarily) to occur. At bit later, of course, a pair of reading glasses brought pages back into focus and I could read again. How wonderful that was! But meanwhile I had moved on from publishing booklets. With bookselling and everything else, I didn’t feel I could produce product that passed muster and give authors the promotion they (felt they or should feel they) deserved. Before, it was just like a cheapo stunt I did to get a little free advertising when I could get my publications mentioned or reviewed someplace. When I started being taken somewhat for legit I felt like I had to either actually be legit or move on. I moved.
---Now I kind of feel like doing a bit of it again. Still not quite legit, though. Mine was the original print-on-demand technology. My saddle stapler still works, having survived a couple eight-foot drops to the floor. The copier I have seems to be able to handle two-sided legal size paper--at least when humidity levels are low. But I’m not even sure I still have the rights to keep publishing the In a Green Tree novels. I need to try to find out about that. Until then, maybe I can fit a few text inputting sessions into my schedule.
---Now that I've reduced the size of the G&WH 1&2 booklet, price is dropped to $3.50 from $4.50.

12/13/06 WED:
---Here today from Arkham House:

Smith, James Robert & Stephen Mark Rainey (eds) EVERMORE: An Anthology, Arkham House '06, 1st edn, (Poe and his legacy comes to life in new and unprecedented ways), new in dj 34.95

12/11/06 MON:
---Word from Aio:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Zoran Zivkovic's 'Seven Touches of Music' Wins Design Award
Aio Publishing Takes Top Design Honors for its Second Consecutive Year

Charleston, SC – Aio Publishing Company’s book design for its hardcover edition of World Fantasy Award-winning Zoran Zivkovic’s mosaic novel Seven Touches of Music took top honors in its category at the 55th Annual Chicago Book Clinic Book and Media Show on November 9th.

The design won the Award of Excellence in the General Trade Category. The Book and Media Show honors excellence in the planning, supervision, and execution of the physical and visual aspects of publishing in all genres across fourteen U.S. states. The General Trade Category heads the list of thirteen award categories.

Prior to winning the award, the author and publisher both won kudos from reviewers and readers. “The finished version of Seven Touches of Music is a masterpiece of understated style and elegance... the whole product oozes quality," wrote reviewer and founder Cheryl Morgan of Emerald City in a review of the novel. "This book, Aio is saying, is not just a collection of stories; it is a work of art." Editor Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column wrote, “Aio has managed to create a package every bit as striking as the writer's work, no small feat when it comes to a writer as distinguished and talented as Zivkovic."

Book printer McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., which prints more than 6,000 titles per year and manufactured Seven Touches of Music as well as Aio author Ian R. MacLeod's novel The Summer Isles, which took top honors in the general trade category at the 2005 Chicago Book Clinic Book and Media Show, nominated the book for the award. The book retails for $23.95.

The design was produced in-house by Aio publisher Tiffany Jonas and art director Patrick Jonas. It was the company’s second book design. Incorporating a supple European-styled, premium-grade Skivertex cover in a deep charcoal color custom-mixed for this book, foil embossing in black and green, and ridged black end sheets as well as black-edged interior paper, like other books at the publishing house the novel was produced using animal-friendly materials and recycled, acid-neutral paper.

“Cheryl Morgan has it exactly right—at Aio we strive to present fine works of speculative fiction to readers in designs befitting the high quality of the stories themselves," said Tiffany Jonas. "We're enormously gratified to think we may have succeeded with Zoran's novel. It was very a tall order indeed to develop a design that would do justice to his very innovative work."

"Zoran has been called one of the world's greatest living fantastists," agreed Patrick Jonas. "He's often compared with the masters of not only speculative fiction but literary fiction and fiction as a whole: Stanislew Lem, Italo Calvino, Franz Kafka. To be considered to have framed his work in a design worthy of it is a tremendous compliment."

Seven Touches of Music is the first in a three-book series bringing Zoran's work to a wider readership in the United States and Canada, where his books have not previously been widely available. Mosaic novels Impossible Encounters and Steps Through the Mist will round out this particular selection. The design of the two books will be similar to that of Seven Touches of Music to allow a closely matched set for Zivkovic collectors and readers.
__________________________________________________________________________________

About The Chicago Book Clinic The Chicago Book Clinic was founded in 1936 to encourage excellence in publishing by providing a platform for educational, social and professional interaction of its members. Its members are professionals in book and media publishing, printing, editorial, design, and all business aspects of the publishing industry. For more information, see www.chicagobookclinic.org or call (773) 561-4150.

About Aio Publishing Co., LLC Aio Publishing Company was founded in January 2004 in Charleston, South Carolina. Dedicated to broadening speculative fiction bookshelves by adding works of a literary and sociological strain, the company seeks to publish complex, satisfying fiction in a high-quality format encompassing visually striking covers, quality paper, graceful typesetting, and innovative design. Its flagship novel, a limited edition of World Fantasy Award winner Ian R. MacLeod’s The Summer Isles was followed by novel Nocturne by first novelist Jus Neuce in 2005, and 2006 saw the publication of Canadian author/artist Dana Copithorne's debut novel The Steam Magnate and World Fantasy Award-winning author Zoran Zivkovic’s mosaic novel Seven Touches of Music. The company has received top honors for book design at the Chicago Book and Media Show each year it has published books. For details about the company and its books and authors, see www.aiopublishing.com.

---Another book to put on my list of things to get! I believe it was published in September but somehow I missed learning about it until now.

---Comment rec’d:

I like the design of that AIO book you blurb in your blog. And this
guy sounds like someone I should try. I think I'd like to start with
the PS collection, though: IMPOSSIBLE STORIES

http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/cat/is.asp

The entire contents of the AIO collection is contained in this
omnibus (admittedly without the exquisite packaging) along with a lot
more material, so the PS $45 hardcover edition just sounds like a better deal to me.

12/08/06 FRI:
---Word from Gauntlet:

Gauntlet Press will release in trade paperback a forthcoming RAY BRADBURY title THE DRAGON WHO ATE HIS TAIL. This chapbook will be given to customers who purchase MATCH TO FLAME: The Fictional Path to Fahrenheit 451, available in the Spring. The trade paperback, however, will be available in November. Unlike the chapbooks we normally offer, this is a 6 x 9 trade paperback, perfect bound with a full-color cover. It will be available in January with a cover price of $14.95. The 72-page book contains:

The previously unpublished short story, "The Dragon Who Ate His Tail" "…To the Future", which appeared just once in Collier's in 1950, and has never appeared in a Bradbury collection

Screenplay pages from "Fox and The Forest" (Bradbury's original title for "To The
Future" "Sometime Before Dawn" (an earlier version than the one that appeared in "Cat's Pajamas"): Typeset "Sometime Before Dawn": Facsimile Original Bradbury drawings appear throughout the book

There will be just 1000 copies printed, with 750 earmarked for those who purchase MATCH TO FLAME.

If you're interested in THE DRAGON WHO ATE HIS TAIL... Let us know how many copies you want

---I certainly ought to get an order out to Gauntlet, but first...

12/02/06 SAT:
---I have been having trouble with my creditcard processing terminal, so I’ve been trying to get people who usually use MC/Visa to pay by Paypal or send money someplace where I owe money instead of to me, as a stopgap until I figure out what course of action to take to get my processing back up. I sure don’t want to have to buy an new terminal...

12/01/06 FRI:
---I think I forgot to mention last week that I have filled up Covershots 8 folder, so now can offer that in CD-R. It comprises some 1175 JPEG images or books both not-yet-catalogued and listed on half.com.

11/30/06 THU:
---Finally figured out that I had to "replenish" the template when I migrated my blog to the new beta version that integrates with Google. So now the archives seem to be working. I tried a new template, but somehow the old "Simple" one was the look I like. Now it is in "Simple II", with the archives at the bottom, and I can add permanent text to the bottom too, which I will be doing soon, to improve on what I already threw up there. Maybe I can add some of the posts I never got around to actually posting, now that everything is replenished. All in all, now that I think I've figured things out a little bit, it looks like there might be some improvements looking forward.

11/29/06 WED:
---Here today from Tartarus:

Wells, H.G. THE MAN WHO COULD WORK MIRACLES: The Supernatural Tales of..., Tartarus '06, one of 300 copies, (Stableford intro), new in dj 65.00

11/27/06 MON:
---Here today from Sarob:

Rainey, Stephen Mark THE NIGHTMARE FRONTIER, Sarob '06, 1st edn, (this is the Good, Real Stuff; this novel never releases its grip on the reader's nerves, brains and heart), new in dj 50.00

Thomas, Lee DAMAGE, Sarob '06, 1st edn, (another triumphant novel of terror by the Bram Stoker-wiining author of Stained), new in dj $50

---And another title here today from Night Shade:

Hughes, Matthew MAJESTRUM: A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn, Night Shade ('06), 1st edn, (explosive novel; Sherlock Holmes meets Jack Vance's Dying Earth), {125-copy SIGNED ltd edn with “Sweet Trap” added available @ $49}, new in dj 24.95

---Noticed that archives link on blog is still broken. Shouldn’t have clicked on button to migrate blog to my google account. I haven’t been able to post date my entries either. Taking a gander at the known issues reported, some have lost access to their blogs entirely, so it looks like there are a few kinks that need to be worked out. I hope they will be!

11/25/06 SAT:
---Archives don’t seem to be showing up on this Blog. It was converted to their new beta version and merged with my Google account. Hopefully I can republish and get the whole thing back working...

11/21/06 TUE:
---Here today from Night Shade:

Baker, Kage DARK MONDAYS, Night Shade ('06), 1st edn, (stories; features five never-before-published, including a 41,000-word pirate novel), {175-copy SIGNED ltd edn avail. @ $49}, new in dj 26.95

Banks, Iain M. THE ALGEBRAIST, Night Shade ('06), (new space opera; Hugo nominee), {250-copy SIGNED ltd edn still avail. @ $49}, new 14.95

Cook, Glen A CRUEL WIND: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire, Night Shade ('06), 1st edn thus, (omnibus; collects A Shadow of All Night Falling, October's Baby and All Darkness Me [sic]; 582 pages; VanderMeer intro), {250-copy SIGNED ltd edn available @ $60}, new in dj 35.00
---SUNG IN BLOOD, Night Shade ('06), 1st edn thus, (long out of print and impossible to find; a breathtaking and fantastic adventure; orig: 1990), {125-copy SIGNED ltd edn avail. @ $49}, new in dj 23.95

Haldeman, Joe WAR STORIES, Night Shade ('05), 1st edn, (collects novels War Year and 1968; plus stories and introductions), {175-copy SIGNED ltd edn still avail. @ $49}, new in dj 29.00

Irvine, Alexander C. PICTURES FROM AN EXHIBITION, Night Shade ('06), 1st edn, (astonishing collection of fantasy and SF stories; genre-bending), new 14.95

Manzarek, Ray SNAKE MOON, Night Shade ('06), 1st edn, (novel by Doors cofounder and keyboardist; based on an original screenplay; a bewitching and ghostly Civil War-era parable of Eden), {250-copy SIGNED ltd edn available @ $49}, new in dj 23.95

Reynolds, Alastair ZIMA BLUE and Other Stories, Night Shade ('06), 1st edn, (author's first short story collection; story notes; McAuley intro), {150-copy SIGNED ltd edn avail. @ $49}, new in dj 26.95

Williams, Liz THE DEMON AND THE CITY, Night Shade ('06), 1st edn, (occult thriller; another Inspector Chen novel that further explores the near-future city of Singapore Three), {125-copy SIGNED ltd edn--adding “No Logo”--available @ $49}, new in dj 24.95

---Discount on all new Night Shade books from me is 25%, as usual.

11/20/06 MON:
---Here today from Mythos Books:

DeBill, Walter C., Jr. THE BLACK SUTRA, Mythos '06, 1st edn, (nineteen tales of terror fs from prehistory encroaching on the modern day; long-overdue collection from a rough beast whose time has come at last; Robert M. Price [ed & intro]), new 20.00

---Back in stock:

Lovecraft, H.P. & C.J. Henderson THE TALES OF INSPECTOR LEGRASSE, Mythos '05, 1st edn, (further adventures inspired by Lovecraft's seminal tale 'The Call of Cthulhu'; Robert M. Price intro), new 20.00

Sargent, Stanley C. THE TAINT OF LOVECRAFT, Mythos '02, 1st edn, (the resolution to mysteries that have long haunted the devotees of H.P. Lovecraft; Robert M. Price [ed]), new 20.00

Szumskyj, Ben (ed) ROBERT E. HOWARD: The Power of the Writing Mind, Mythos '03, 1st edn, (pieces by and about REH, including Glenn Lord interview, autobiographical sketches, obscure stories, etc.; 8.5x11"; illustrated), new 15.00

11/11/06 SAT:
---Word from Henry Wessells:

Chris Drumm,
The latest from Temporary Culture is now available:

When They Came by Don Webb
http://www.avramdavidson.org/whentheycame.html

Retail price $22.50.

One copy of the deluxe binding available, net $400 incl. postage.
http://www.avramdavidson.org/bindings.html

Great review by John Clute appearing in the December Interzone (below).

I hope you'll order a few copies. If you do so now, I can supply copies
signed by the author at WFC.

Henry Wessells

from Scores, John Clute's review column, Interzone, December 2007
And here’s Don Webb. When They Came contains twenty-three stories,
which should not be read together. Some of them are better than the
Lovecraft PLC stuff they take off from, which does not necessarily save
them for posterity. Several of the others are genuinely brilliant. But
most of them are Attempted Rescue stories and, squashed between two
covers, seem sameish, a bit anvil chorusy.

The Attempted Rescues that fill the stories of Don Webb are the
fortysomethings that begin so many of them: men whose adult existences
have been laid down as structures to keep alive within; men whose adult
personalities are spoiled childhoods carried on by other means to no
certain end (except the one certain end), whose lives are bad art. Bad
art does indeed fill when they came: bad god art, bad human art, bad
artifacts, bad covens, bad juju. (The title of Robert Aickman’s 1966
volume of memoirs is Attempted Rescue: I’ve used the term often to
refer to adulthood as we know it: that is, adulthood as a failure to
rescue the Golden Age from self-murder: Attempted Rescue is what we do
to our own lives with our own hands.) The miracle of When They Came is
its exuberance, even in those stories so adherent to the implications
of the Attempted Rescue that you’d think there were no page available
for smiling, like for instance ‘The Agony Man’ (1995 Forbidden Acts),
whose protagonist admits, who through inaction has scummed his world
over, that he cannot deal with the darkness inside, so he sleeps lots.

In many of the stories assembled here, evil can be seen as a succumbing
of the Attempted-Rescue self to a kind of OCD surrender to the mantras
of temptation: sexual, mystical, empowering: all lies in the end. The
three ‘Yellow Flower’ stories – ‘The Yellow Flower’ (new here), ‘Pig’
(2001 Horror Garage) and ‘The Fourth Man’ (new here) – all circle
around the effects of a mysterious (or maybe non-existent) self-help
book, whose effect on those who encounter it is precisely obsession: a
draining out of the world so that nothing remains but the husk of
self-iterations, each repetition of one’s self being simpler, more
deadly to any Golden Age within.

This does get to be a tad oppressive, of course. And when Webb enters
Lovecraft territory, or Clark Ashton Smith country, he tends to snort
fustian a little too readily. But there are some stories – like ‘The
Flower Man’ (new here) or ‘The Collector’ (new here) and ‘When They
Came’ (new here) – which do the reverse of narrowing into one deadly
act of the self utterly thinned. ‘The Flower Man’ carries its female
protagonist, a healer with magic powers, is drained by her family and
others, until she escapes through extraordinary trials into a triune
dance with a male figure who is arousing in every possible sense. In
‘The Collector’, a failed artist, who teaches women how to do
landscapes in semi-rural Texas, falls in love with a woman who turns
out to be an utterly horrid monster: except that she is not a monster
but an enabler, a collector, an alien from another sphere who “will
travel less as time seems to go on, eventually become a statue. I can
only tell people what they need to hear. I don’t know it otherwise.”
And she burns “a little hole in his brain.” And she tells him enough
for him to paint three paintings that would be bought: that would be
treasured in the eyes of the world. And in ‘When They Came’, a story
good enough to justify purchase of the entire book, the world turns
into another story of the world. Griffins haunt the skies, the woman
the protagonist loves and has hunted obsessively is found fucking a
griffin until her cunt steams. Afterwards, the man and the woman
discover that it may be possible for her to share her Golden Age with
him. Tentatively, they see one another: darkly, but light begins to
shine, griffins scream, the world is different. As the story ends they
begin to attempt their rescue.

John Clute

____end___

11/09/06 THU:
---Here today from Independent Press Group:

Beagle, Peter S. THE LINE BETWEEN, Tachyon, 2nd, (stories; captivating blend of traditional and contemporary fantasy; contains The Last Unicorn sequel “Two Hearts”; a collection you will return to again and again, and treasure forever), new 14.95

Stross, Charles THE JENNIFER MORGUE, Golden Gryphon '06, 1st edn, (highly anticipated new “Bob Howard” adventure; in addition to the novel -length title piece, this volume also contains an added Bob Howard bonus story and an afterword entitled “The Golden Age of Spying”), new in dj 25.95

---And from PS Publishing:

POSTSCRIPTS #8, aut/06, PS, (The A to Z of Fantastic Fiction; “The Bordello in Faerie” by Michael Swanwick, Robert Edric, Matthew Hughes, K.W. Jeter, Gene Wolfe and others), as new 10.00

---This email from Night Shade came in:

Hey all,

We are putting in our final order for the Dunsany slipcases, so we need all final orders by Friday, November 10th. Subscribers are covered under their subscription. Anyone else who wants them, they will be $20 per slipcase. You can order the slipcase via the link on the homepage of the website.

At the same time, we'll finally be getting the slipcases for the Manly Wade Wellman Giants from Eternity/Strangers on the Heights limited edition. It looks like we'll have color inserts on both sides, so this is going to be worth the wait.

We've seen the samples, and these will be by far the nicest slipcases we've ever done.

Remember, get your order in by Friday, as we're only doing as many as we have orders for.

Jason Williams
Night Shade Books
www.nightshadebooks.com

---Don’t know if there is any trade discount on this, so to play it safe maybe anyone wanting this should get it direct from Night Shade--unless you want me to put in for one and possibly have to tack on a bit of a premium. Since the deadline is tomorrow, I recommend haste. Also, I do have an order in for Night Shade books. These will be here eventually, I’m sure.

11/08/06 WED:
---Word from Golden Gryphon:

Greetings from the Gryphon:

THE JENNIFER MORGUE, by Charles Stross, is now available!

When he's not trying to save the world from unearthly horrors, Bob
Howard-an agent for the British supersecret organization known as The
Laundry-has time sheets to complete and field liaison meetings to attend. In The
Jennifer Morgue, Lovecraft meets Ian Fleming in this new "Bob Howard" adventure
from Charles Stross, author of the 2005 Hugo Award-winning novella "The Concrete
Jungle."
In 1975, the CIA made an ill-fated attempt to raise a sunken Soviet ballistic
missile submarine from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. The team salvaged a
device, codenamed "Gravedust," that permitted communication with the dead-the
very long dead. Enter Ellis Billington, glamorous software billionaire, who has
acquired Gravedust by devious means. Billington plans to raise an eldritch horror,
codenamed "Jennifer Morgue," from the vast deeps, and communicate with this
dead warrior for the purpose of ruling the world. Bob Howard, horribly miscast in the
"Bond, James Bond" role, must inveigle his way aboard Billington's yacht, figure out
what the villain is up to, and stop him.
In addition to the novel-length The Jennifer Morgue, this volume also
includes an added bonus story, "Pimpf," featuring agent Bob Howard in the world of
virtual gaming, along with a thought-provoking Afterword entitled "The Golden Age
of Spying."

Golden Gryphon Press

---I do have a pre-order in on this, hopefully for enough copies to instigate an automatic shipment.

11/07/06 TUE:
---Catalogued today:

NOT ONE OF US #36, 11/06, John Benson, (twentieth-anniversary party issue; stories and poems outside the norm), new 4.50

11/06/06 MON:
---Here today from Tartarus:

de Bernières, Louis A WALBERSWICK GOODNIGHT STORY, Tartarus '06, one of 200 SIGNED copies, (12-page poem by author of Corelli's Mandolin), as new 50.00

WORMWOOD #7, aut/06, Tartarus,(Literature of the fantastic, supernatural and decadent; articles on Chesterton, Beckford, Sarban, Simànek, Leppin, Kuttner, as well as “The Decadent World-View” by Brian Stableford and “Late Reviews” by Douglas A. Anderson), new 19.00

---There’s also a reprint of The Hill of Dreams by Arthur Machen ($55), which I guess won’t be shipped here automatically (like the above), but which I would be happy to special order.

11/04/06 SAT:
---Here today from Darkside:

Simak, Clifford D. PHYSICIAN TO THE UNIVERSE: The Collected Stories of…, Volume 2, Darkside ('06), one of 520 numbered copies, (second in projected twelve-volume series; Malzberg intro; Stephensen-Payne story notes), new in dj 45.00

11/03/06 FRI:
---Here today from Ash-Tree:

Daubeny, Ulric THE ELEMENTAL: Tales of the Supernormal and the Inexplicable, Ash-Tree '06, (orig: 1919; this edition adds an additional story; intro by Douglas A. Anderson), new in dj 46.00

Fox, Marion APE'S FACE, Ash-Tree '06, (not a novel for the slasher generation; first republication since 1914; Jack Adrian intro), new in dj 46.00

---Back in stock:

Kerruish, Jessie Douglas THE UNDYING MONSTER, Ash-Tree '06, one of 500 copies, (orig: 1922; thrilling tale of mystery, adventure, and horror, which provided the archetype for the Hollywood werewolf movie; Jack Adrian intro), new in dj 47.50

Adrian, Jack (ed) (ed) ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2005: Haven't I Read This Before?, Ash-Tree '06, 1st, (looks at a number of writers whose work appears to have been influenced by, or been an influence upon, the work of others), new in dj $45

10/30/06 MON:
---Here today from Spectre Library:

Rousseau, Victor THE SURGEON OF SOULS, Spectre Library '06, one of 200 numbered copies, (complete series of stories featuring Ivan Brodsky, the Surgeon of Souls, eleven of which ran in Weird Tales in 1926 and 1927; one of the pioneering works of the psychic detective; scholarly Mike Ashley intro; 170 pages), new in dj 40.00

---Can’t find a website for Spectre Library yet, but for listings from a couple other bookseller sites you can check out Shocklines or Clarkesworld--a couple places with a lot slicker operations and more comprehensive selections than me, but whose prices I probably beat.

10/29/06 SUN:
---Email rec’d (that I got a kick out of):

Dear Chris Drumm:
Prepare To Be Mortified!
The following titles are doing quite nicely along all retailor websites, including Ingram and Baker & Taylor!!
DEAD RECKONING!
REICH'S WOLF!
BLACK GENESIS!

All of my novles have religious overtones, and I like to convey my unorthodox beliefs through my characters.
This writer is convinced that each of the aforementioned will terrify even the most stout-of-heart!
The target-market is well established thanks to authors such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Ann Rice. There exists a voracious fanbase in the realm of paranormal phenomenon and I wish to cater exclusively to them.
Concerning competition, the many successful works, both past and present, from Hitchcock to King, assures that my book will dovetail nicely with market demands.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am a forty-two-year-old American novelist from Indianapolis, Indiana. My previously published works (DEAD RECKONING, BLACK GENESIS, REICH'S WOLF and VOYAGE INTO RECOVERY) are available at on-line venues around the world; my publishers (iUniverse and Publish America) are not of a "traditional" standing, but I think you'll note the quality and marketability of my work.
I am well versed in Ancient History, Egyptology, the Sun Signs, and I am a technology maven.
Although fame and fortune would be lovely, I write for the pure joy of the experience.
These works are saved on Adobe and available upon your request.
I retain the rights to all of my books.
Please visit my website for this list of published works.
Thank you for your time and consideration, Chris Drumm Books.

Very sincerely,
D.A. (David Alan) Dickens
www.DADickens.com

10/27/06 FRI:
---Here today from Hippocampus:

Connors, Scott (ed) THE FREEDOM OF FANTASTIC THINGS: Selected Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith, Hippocampus ('06), (represents the most substantial volume of criticism of Smith’s work ever published, and includes both original and previously unpublished work by leading scholars on Smith), {hc avail. @ $49.95}, new 20.00

Kirk, Mara & S.T. Joshi (eds) LOVECRAFT'S NEW YORK CIRCLE: The Kalem Club, 1924-1927, Hippocampus ('06), 1st edn, (largely unpublished letters from bookseller George Kirk to his fiancée and letters by other members of circle, including Rheinhart Kleiner, Samuel Loveman, James F. Morton, Everett McNeil, Frank Belknap Long, and, of course, H.P. Lovecraft brings the Kalem Club alive as never before; Cannon preface), new 15.00

Pugmire, W.H. THE FUNGAL STAIN and Other Dreams, Hippocampus ('06), 1st edn, (many and multiform pleasures for Lovecraftians, including a hotly anticipated novelette set in author’s trademark locality, Sesqua Valley),new 15.00

---Here today from Stark House:

Brewer, Gil WILD TO POSSESS / A TASTE FOR SIN, Stark House Noir Classics, 10/06, 1st thus, ('59 & '61 pb originals; Gregory Shepard & Verlaine Brewer intros; Pronzini postscript reprinted from 1989 Mystery Scene), new 19.95

10/23/06 MON:
---It has been a while since I have posted any blog entries--falling too much out of the habit, I guess. The dearth of new things coming in and my not getting done any cataloguing of used books might have a bit to do with it. Orders from my listings on half.com and biblio keep trickling in, making me still feel like I might be in business. But sometimes I wonder. Even so, I might soon be getting orders ready to send to PenguinPutnam and maybe Random House (and all their imprints). Maybe that will liven things just a bit. Discount I give on both these publishing conglomerates is 30%, so if you know of anything you want from them this might be a time to slip me your order.
---Meanwhile, I do have an order for recent publications from Hippocampus. Most recently:

Dear Bookseller,
We have just released the following two paperback books. The first is new fiction in the Cthulhu Mythos vein, the other a collection of new essays on "Conan" creator Robert E. Howard. Full blurbs and pricing information is below. Please advise quantities desired, and thanks!

Best,
Derrick Hussey
Hippocampus Press
-------------------------------
THE FUNGAL STAIN AND OTHER DREAMS
by W. H Pugmire
2006: ISBN 0977173437: Paperback: $15.00

The theme of the book, as the author explains it, are “Lovecraftian dreams as thresholds to alien emotion, dimension, salvation, damnation.” Cross the threshold with one of the very few practitioners of Mythos fiction to win accolades from S. T. Joshi. Many and multiform are the pleasures this volume offers to Lovecraftians, including a hotly anticipated novelette set in Pugmire’s trademark locality, Sesqua Valley; a lengthy prose poem sequence; decadent, dreamlike vignettes in the style of Oscar Wilde, and much other new material. His first book since Sesqua Valley and Other Haunts, a limited edition now difficult to obtain, The Fungal Stain and Other Dreams is sure to be the Mythos title of the year. Robert H. Knox provides cover art and interior illustrations.

TWO-GUN BOB: A Centennial Study of Robert E. Howard
Edited by Benjamin Szumskyj

Foreword by Michael Moorcock
2006: ISBN 0977173453: Paperback: $15

Robert E. Howard is enjoying a Renaissance of interest in his centennial year, and rightly so. Of the triumvirate of Weird Tales authors, only Howard has been so long misunderstood, and his works so thoroughly adulterated, as to permit of little serious study. Towards this end we have commissioned a critical study of his entire body of work.

“Benjamin Szumskyj is at the cutting edge of Robert E. Howard scholars and aficionados. Through his diligence and enthusiasm, the work of Robert E. Howard will continue to be remembered and discussed, and the sword-and-sorcery genre will be revived and renewed.”
--Charles R. Saunders, Author of Imaro

“A lot of people who've shaped the landscape of American culture have died young, but Howard is unique in having left behind such a great body of work in his short stint. It's a rare genius that can produce so much, so quickly, which so deeply connects with the readership. Each story comes out of a greater context than the novice Howard reader can imagine. Let Two-Gun Bob: A Centennial Study of Robert E. Howard bring you into his world."
--Scott Allie, Editor of Dark Horses’ Conan

---Two-Gun Bob won’t really be out for “a few weeks”, but I think I will soon have The Fungal Stain as well as others I have missed getting recently:

FREEDOM OF FANTASTIC THINGS: Selected Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith, Edited by Scott Connors, pb & hc
Lovecraft's New York Circle: The Kalem Club, 1924-1927, $15.00
Exchange Of Souls by Barry Pain AND Lazarus by Henri Béraud

10/16/06 MON:
---Received this from Aio regarding a promotion for an upcoming fantasy novel they are publishing:

Hi, Chris,

I don’t know if this is the sort of thing you share with your customers, but just in case you do… we’re running a fun little contest for readers of one of our two autumn books, The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne.

In the story an unnamed nightclub plays a key and recurring role, and in the contest readers will have a chance to name the nightclub. Prizes include an autographed congratulatory copy of The Steam Magnate, two hand-painted wine glasses from the Nina Liu Art Gallery in Charleston’s French Quarter (along the lines of the nightclub theme and the artistic nature of the book, which the author also illustrated), and immortality… at least for the name! The winning name will be featured in sequels where the nightclub appears.

Readers can submit their names at www.aiopublishing.com/nightclub.htm up until November 18th. The winner will be announced November 22nd. (And they can rest assured that their name and email address will be used exclusively for this contest, nothing else, and that we do not give out names or email addresses to any third party.)

I’ve attached a flyer in PDF format if you’d like to use that, too.

If this isn’t something you usually do, feel free to ignore this, but if you do want to use it and there is anything else we can provide, just let me know!

Hope all is well!

Tiffany Jonas
Publisher
Aio Publishing Co, LLC
A new breed of science fiction…
www.aiopublishing.com

---I can forward the PDF to anyone interested.

10/05/06 THU:
---Here today from TTA:

INTERZONE #206, 10/06, (Britain’s longest running science fiction magazine; original SF & fantasy stories by Chris Beckett, Will McINtosh, Jamie Barras, Jae Brim, Tim Akers and others; Sf news & gossip by David Langford; book reviews by John Clute; reviews of the latest books, radio, manga & anime, plus film criticism; James Patterson interviewed; books: Philip K. Dick rotoscoped!, etc.), new 7.00

10/02/06 MON:
---Here today from Necro (“The Publisher of Hardcore Horror”):

Houarner, Gerard & GAK (eds) DEAD CATS TRAVELING CIRCUS OF WONDERS AND MIRACLE MEDICINE SHOW, Bedlam '06, one of 350 copies SIGNED by 16 participants, (AN ANTHOLOGY
OF BRAND NEW TALES ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE DEAD CAT!; very strange collection; featuring Tim Lebbon, Gary A. Braunbeck, Brian Hodge, Jeffrey Thomas, Linda D. Addison, Gerard Houarner, Trey R. Barker, Jack Haringa, Michael T. Huyck, Jr., Wrath James White, Garrett Peck, P.D. Cacek, Michelle Scalise, Robert Rhine, Mark McLaughlin, Aaron Worley; art from GAK, Alan M. Clark, Erik Wilson & Chad Savage), new in dj 45.00

Jacob, Charlee GEEK POEMS, Necro, 7/06, 1st edn, one of 400 SIGNED copies, (An all new collection from the reigning queen of disturbing, beautifully brutal, literary horror. Multiple Bram Stoker Award finalist, Charlee Jacob, delivers a book packed with some of her finiest short story and novella work; 2003 title novella and seven new stories), new 19.95

Lee, Edward CREEKERS, Necro, 1/06, 1st hc edn, one of 400 SIGNED copies, (first published in 1994), new in dj 45.00
---SLITHER, Necro, 2/06, 1st hc edn, one of 400 SIGNED copies, (BRAND NEW NOVEL FOR THE MASTER OF HARDCORE HORROR!), new in dj 45.00

Lestewka, Patrick THE PRESERVE, Necro, 2nd edn(7/06), (orig: 2004), new 19.95

Savory, Brett Alexander THE DISTANCE TRAVELED, Necro, 3/06, 1st hc edn, one of 100 SIGNED copies, (horror novel; ergot-spawned argot of a novel that nabs its readers for a ride Charlie Starkweather’d be too chicken to take; un-Divine Comedy...slapstick, surreal, and definitely scorching; A completely unique take on life in hell. Snappy dialog and a bizarre backdrop set this adventure tale apart from the pack), {300-copy SIGNED trade pb available @ 19.95}, new in dj 45.00

Thomas, Jeffrey & Scott Thomas PUNKTOWN: Shades of Grey, Bedlam '05, one of 300 SIGNED copies, (stories, separately written; set in Jeffrey’s futuristic uban hell which is equal parts H.P. Lovecraft’s Arkham and Blade Runner’s dark metropolis), new in dj 45.00

---And also the new issue of CD Publications:

CEMETERY DANCE #56, '06, (Glen Hirshberg Special; Peter Atkins, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Scott Nicholson, Stephen Mark Rainey, etc.), new 5.00

10/01/06 SUN:
---Now that I’ve been ordering so seldomly from the larger publishing consortiums, and on-line places like Amazon have been doing so much better a job of satisfying most book needs, I have lately found myself recommending Amazon over myself for quite a few books. Indeed, I have been buying books for myself from Amazon. Their free-shipping deals and discounts--and specially priced books sometimes--have been great. Plus their speedy service! So, since if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, I have become an “Amazon Associate”. Now if I send someone to Amazon for their book, I get a bit back, if you follow my link. I’m not sure how it will all end up working out, but we’ll see what I can do.
---One book that someone wanted me to get, a new Meisha Merlin book, To Ride A Rathorn by P.C. Hodgell, I can’t get at discount without buying $250-worth of mainly comic books/graphic novels from their current distributor. So I sent him to Amazon as the better way to get the book than from me. If I’d sent a link instead, all the trouble I took looking up the book on Amazon to see if they had it--yeah, lots!--might have paid off. They did have it, and at discount too.

09/27/06 WED:
---Here are the few mmpbs that arrived Friday from HarperCollins:

Avon Eos 06453 Hartwell, David G. & Kathryn Cramer (eds) YEAR'S BEST SF 8, 2nd, (2002 stories; a collection of luminous visions that shines more brightly than a newborn sun), new 7.99
Avon Eos 57561 Hartwell, David G. & Kathryn Cramer (eds) YEAR'S BEST SF 10, 2nd, (2004 stories), new 7.99
Avon Eos 87341 Hartwell, David G. & Kathryn Cramer (eds) YEAR'S BEST SF 11, 6/06, (2005 stories), new 7.99
Avon Eos 74715 Nix, Garth ACROSS THE WALL: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories, nd (1st Eos pb edn), (novella set in world of trilogy), new 7.99
Avon Eos 57474 Bujold, Lois McMaster THE HALLOWED HUNT, 6/06, (a magnificent epic tale of devotion, possession, obsession, and strange destiny), new 7.99
Avon Eos 81793 Simmons, Dan OLYMPOS, 8/06, (extraordinary and magnificent epic conclusion to Ilium), new 7.99
Avon Eos 54172 Traviss, Karen THE WORLD BEFORE, 11/05, (orig; sequel to City of Pearl and Crossing the Line), new 7.50

09/22/06 FRI:
---A few here today from HarperCollins (all 30% discount). I checked the Locus Recommended 2005 list to add a few, but not too many from this publishing hydra, possibly thankfully:

Bujold, Lois McMaster THE CURSE OF CHALION, Eos '06, (first published in 2000; nicely detailed and wittily accented fantasy), new 13.95

Crowley, John LORD BYRON 'S NOVEL: The Evening Land, Morrow, 2nd('05), (imagines the novel the great, haunted, and enigmatic Romantic poet Lord Byron never penned...but very well might have), new in dj 25.95

Ford, Jeffrey THE GIRL IN THE GLASS, Harper, 3rd('06), (Edgar Allan Poe Award winner for best paperback original; at once a hypnotically compelling mystery and a stunningly evocative portrait of Depression-era New York; a masterly literary achievement from a writer of exemplary vision and skill), new 13.95

Hardinge, Frances FLY BY NIGHT, HarperCollins '06, 1st US edn, (imagine a world in which all books have been BANNED!; astonishingly original, a grand feat of the imagination from a masterful new storyteller), new in dj 16.99

Lanagan, Margo BLACK JUICE, Eos, 2nd, (stories; Printz Award winner), new in dj 15.99

Morrow, James THE LAST WITCHFINDER, Morrow, 3rd('06), (novel of history, adventure, science, sex, satire, absurdity, and philosophy; abrim with picaresque adventures), new in dj 25.95

Pratchett, Terry THUD!, HarperCollins '05, 1st edn, (A Novel of Discworld®), new in dj 24.95

---Back in stock:

Pratchett, Terry MONSTROUS REGIMENT, HarperCollins '03, 1st edn, (Discworld), new in dj 24.95

---The mass-market paperbacks I will catalog shortly.

09/21/06 THU:
---Here today from Independent Press Group:

Bailey, Dale & Jack Slay, Jr. SLEEPING POLICEMEN, Golden Gryphon '06, 1st edn, (dark-fantasy thriller; gut-wrenching horror), new in dj 24.95
---Golden Gryphon book #46.

Brown, Eric THRESHOLD SHIFT, Golden Gryphon '06, 1st edn, (accomplished and affecting stories set in author’s Kéthani universe; SF infused with a cosmopolitan and literary sensibility; foreword by Stephen Baxter), new in dj 24.95
---Golden Gryphon book #47.

Kelly, James Patrick & John Kessel (eds) FEELING VERY STRANGE: The Slipstream Anthology, Tachyon '06, 1st edn, (ambitious stories of visionary strangeness that defy the conventions of science fiction), new 14.95

Lansdale, Joe MAD DOG SUMMER and Other Stories, Golden Gryphon '06, 1st pb edn, (first published in a hc ltd edn by Subterranean in 2004), new 14.95

---Not in shipment, but maybe backordered is the new one from Tachyon by Peter S. Beagle. The ltd hc I had earlier is out of stock. Maybe I should try to see if I could get more of those, and see if the trade pb edn is still to be had.

09/15/06 FRI:
---Finally got ‘round to faxing orders to HarperCollins and Independent Press Group (Golden Gryphon, Tachyon).

---Fifty-seven years old today.

09/14/06 THU:
---Caught the big Planned Parenthood Book Sale opening day. Not much to brag about finding but found some things that looked interesting--to me anyway. As always much more than I could ever get to read, but wish I could. I’ll be throwing some of the up on half.com--the ones with ISBNs (mid-70s on). Also, will put their covershots in a folder in Covershots 8 (in progress).

09/13/06 WED:
---Another one here today from Stark House:

Millar, Margaret AN AIR THAT KILLS / DO EVIL IN RETURN, Stark House Mystery Classics, 8/06, 1st thus, (two mysteries, both representative of author's well-regarded work of the 1950s; new intro by Tom Nolan), new 19.95

09/05/06 TUE:
---Here today:

TALEBONES: Science Fiction and Dark Fantasy #33, sum/06, (Van Pelt, Mark Rich, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, D'Ammassa; more), new 7.00

08/28/06 MON:
---Here today from Midnight House:

Russell, Eric Frank DARKER TIDES: The Weird Tales of…, Midnight House '06, one of 500 numbered copies, (contains all of the elusive tales in the fabulously rare Dark Tides and doubles their number with a selection of similar stories from sources such as Weird Tales, Fantastic, Strange Stories, and Science Fantasy; Pelan & Stephensen-Payne [eds]; Pelan & EFR intros), new in dj 45.00

---Here today from TOTU Ink:

TALES OF THE UNANTICIPATED: The Anthology of TOTU Ink #27, aut/06, (Monsters Issue; Twentieth Anniversary!), new 8.50

---Here today from PS Publishing:

Kilworth, Garry MOBY JACK and Other Tall Tales, PS, 7/06, 1st edn, one of 700 SIGNED copies, (if you like weird stories, dark comedy and stories where characters get into impossible situations and only occasionally extract themselves, then you’ll probably enjoy this volume; Holdstock intro), new in dj 45.00

---A $90 slipcased edition, also signed by Holdstock, is available, by special order.

08/24/06 THU:
---Books here now from PGW:

Di Filippo, Paul THE EMPEROR OF GONDWANALAND and Other Stories, Thunder's Mouth ('05), 1st, (more than just a pyrotechnics show, these stories offer profound, often biting insights; each story introduced by the author), new 16.95
---SHUTEYE FOR THE TIMEBROKER: Stories, Thunder's Mouth, 5/06, 1st, (a caffeinated collection to jolt your senses), new 15.95

Fenner, Cathy & Arnie Fenner (eds) SPECTRUM 11, Underwood '04, 1st, (The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art; moves to slightly larger fromat to better showcase the artists), {hc in dj available @ $39}, new 29.00
--- & ---(eds) SPECTRUM 12, Underwood '05, 1st, {hc in dj availalbe @ 39.95}, new 29.95

Jones, Stephen (ed) THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR: Volume 16, Carroll & Graf '05, 1st US, (the world’s premier horror anthology series; also contains comprehensive overview of the year), new 12.95

Kotzwinkle, William THE AMPHORA PROJECT, Grove Press '05, 1st edn, (wildly inventive rip-roaring ride through the future of the universe; transcends the boundaries of both science fiction and fantasy), as new in dj with small ding in back spinefold corner 15.00

Shepard, Lucius ETERNITY and Other Stories, Thunder's Mouth ('05), 1st, (seven globe-spanning tales that defy reality; 442 pages), new 15.95

Sterling, Bruce VISIONARY IN RESIDENCE: Stories, Thunder's Mouth, 2nd, (13 new stories from the leather-jacketed high druid of cyberpunk; published 1999-2005), new 15.95

---Back in stock:

Frazetta, Frank ICON, Underwood, 10/03, 1st thus, (art book; completely revised & updated with more art; retrospective of artist’s work; edited by the Fenners), new 29.95
---TESTAMENT: The Life & Art of…, Underwood, 10/01, 1st trade edn, (features all the remaining major oils not in the first two volumes of this trilogy [Icon and Legacy]), new in dj $35
---I do have Legacy still in stock as well.

Hirshberg, Glen THE TWO SAMS: Ghost Stories, Carroll & Graf '03, (an International Horror Guild Award winner; Ramsey Campbell intro), new 14.00

Sturgeon, Theodore AND NOW THE NEWS…: Volume IX: The Complete Stories of…, North Atlantic '03, 1st, (Foreword by David G. Hartwell), new in dj 35.00

Wilson, Gahan THE BEST OF…, Underwood, 10/04, 1st, (cartoons; frighteningly funny collection of artist’s best work; features numerous anecdotes and observations), new 15.00

---Once again, these are all discounted 30%, whether or not your “membership” in the Discount Plan is current or not.

08/21/06 MON:
---Here today from PS Publishing:

POSTSCRIPTS #7, sum/06, (The A to Z of Fantastic Fiction; Jack Dann, Lucius Shepard, Howard Waldrop, T.M. Wright and Others), as new $10

08/16/06 WED:
---Word from Golden Gryphon:

Greetings from the Gryphon:

MAD DOG SUMMER, by Joe R. Lansdale, is now available!

Originally published by Subterranean Press as a hardcover
edition (now out of print), this short story collection represent the third
in the series (with High Cotton and Bumper Crop) of Lansdale
collections of his best short work. Mad Dog Summer showcases
Lansdale’s more recent stories, such as the title story which won the
1999 Bram Stoker Award for Long Fiction, about a serial killer in ’30
Texas, as seen from the point of view of a boy that finds one of the
victims. Weirdness and horror abound in “The Steam Man of the
Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down,” set in a world that resembles
our Old West. A colorful group of lawmen tracks a vampire in a forty-
foot tall, steam-powered robot, with nods to Jules Verne, Tom Swift,
Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H. G. Wells. “Veils Visit” is a courtroom
drama featuring Lansdale’s popular series characters Hap Collins
and Leonard Pine, written in collaboration with Andrew Vachss. The
original novella form of “The Big Blow” is a riveting account of Jack
Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion set during the
1900 flood of Galveston, Texas. “The Mule Rustlers” and “Screwup”
are classic Lansdale, where the incompetent perpetrators are their
own worst enemies. In the original 20,000 word novella, “Way Down
There,” a trio of superheros must descend into Hell in their ’57 Chevy
to confront Beelzebub. In “O’Reta, Snapshot Memories,” Lansdale
reminisces about his mother in a touching story. Each story has its
own introduction, in which Lansdale relates the background for the
idea of the story.
The collection was nominated for the Best Collection Award by
the World Fantasy Association.

Golden Gryphon Press

MAD DOG SUMMER, by Joe R. Lansdale
Cover art by J.K. Potter
ISBN 1-930846-42-8 / $14.95 (Trade softcover)
261 pages

08/14/06 MON:
---Stark House keeps cranking them out. Here today:

Whittington, Harry A NIGHT FOR SCREAMING / ANY WOMAN HE WANTED, Stark House Noir Classics, 7/06, 1st thus, (two thrillers from 1960-1; David Laurence Wilson intro), new 19.95

08/12/06 SAT:
---Word from Golden Gryphon:

Greetings from the Gryphon:

THRESHOLD SHIFT, by Eric Brown, is now available!

Threshold Shift is a collection of science fiction stories about people in
fantastic situations, focusing on the effect of science, technology, and change on
the lives of ordinary individuals.
The collection features two stories which won the British Science Fiction
Award, “The Children of Winter” and “Hunting the Slarque.” The first is a moving
tale of a hopeless love affair between alien kinds on a remote ice-bound world in the
far future. In the second, Hunter is resurrected from death by the owner of an
extraterrestrial zoo and sent off to the dying world of Tartarus in search of the
vicious beast that killed him, the Slarque.
Three stories are set in Brown’s Kéthani universe. The Kéthani are aliens
who arrive on present-day Earth and offer immortality, creating moral and ethical
dilemmas for the humans who chose to accept—or reject—the alien gift. Particularly
touching is “Thursday’s Child,” the story of parents whose daughter is dying; one
wants the Kéthani to ‘save’ their daughter, while the other is convinced that such
restoration is wrong.
These stories confirm Brown’s reputation as a writer of quiet, thoughtful stories
which, in the words of Bob Shaw: “. . . are the essence of modern science fiction
and yet show a passionate concern for the human predicament and human values.”

Golden Gryphon Press

Literary and non-scientist SF is a necessity for any library; move over, Tom Swift
and Roamers, make room for the Kéthani.

THRESHOLD SHIFT, by Eric Brown
Cover art by Bob Eggleton
ISBN 1-930846-43-6 / $24.95 (Trade hardcover)
218 pages

08/11/06 FRI:
---Here today from Ash-Tree:

Scrymsour, Ella SHEILA CRERAR, PSYCHIC INVESTIGATOR, Ash-Tree '06, 1st, (Occult Detectives Library #6; stories first appeared in The Blue Magazine in 1920; Jack Adrian [ed & intro]), new in dj 44.00

08/08/06 TUE:
---Cataloguing the few things that came in while I was away last week. From Stark House:

McCarthy, Kevin & Ed Gorman (eds) INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: A Tribute, Stark House Film Classic, 6/06, 1st, (essays by King, Koontz, Breen, etc.), new 17.95

---From Tachyon:

Beagle, Peter S. THE LINE BETWEEN, Tachyon '06, 1st ltd hc edn, one of 250 SIGNED copies, new in dj 45.00
---I don’t have the $14.95 trade paperback edition here yet, but I hope to soon.

---From Wheatland Press:

Aguirre, Forrest & Deborah Layne (eds) THE NINE MUSES, Wheatland ('05), (features original stories by fourteen women writers who are breaking new literary ground in speculative and experimental fiction; with an essay by Elizabeth Hand), new 19.95

Lake, Jay (ed) TEL: Stories, Wheatland ('05), (elegant, erudite and strange; dedicated to the notion that great style makes great literature; a book for you to enjoy or hurl across the room as you see fit), new 17.50

POLYPHONY #5, ('05), (fifth volume in critically acclaimed cross-genre series; 418 pp), new 18.95

Rogers, Bruce Holland THE KEYHOLE OPERA, Wheatland ('05), (email subscription stories), new 19.95

08/07/06 MON:
---Received Earthling Newsletter 08/07/06:

Jeff Strand's new novel PRESSURE was published last week and has started shipping! Yes, this is the novel that has been getting the tremendous amount of advance buzz, the latest being from Insidious Reflections Magazine: 'An outstanding novel of nail-biting tension. 5 out of 5 stars. Strand's debut in the genre of suspense is about as top notch as it gets.' There has already been interest from Hollywood, and you will read many more wonderful things about this book on message boards and in reviews over the next several months as word continues to spread. The signed numbered and lettered editions are almost gone, but there are plenty of unsigned trade hardcovers. And a SPECIAL OFFER only for current Earthling Newsletter subscribers: if you buy a copy of the trade hardcover and don't feel it's a helluva good read, you may send it back to me for a full refund. How's that for fair?
Glen Hirshberg's AMERICAN MORONS will be going to the printer this week, and the finishing touches are being put on THE UNBLEMISHED by Conrad Williams. I'll be starting preorders for three titles in our next newsletter, including two titles that are not yet announced.
That's it for now. I hope everyone enjoys PRESSURE!
Thanks and all best,
Paul Miller, Earthling Publications

08/05/06 SAT:
---Made it back from camping trip in Northern Minnesota, with the only negative the usual sore back from lugging the cooler in and out of the car and sleeping on hard ground, etc. etc. The ten-hour car ride probably didn’t help much either. At least it is cooler here now than when we left, and although north of Duluth was hardly better off than anywhere else during the Big Heat Wave, by the time we got there temps had ameliorated somewhat and the only rain was a storm during our first night that obligingly held off until our tent was safely up and we were in it. I dreaded the prospect of all the rigamarole associated with a camping trip, trying in vain to wriggle out of it. But when we were finally ensconced there it was sort of okay. Now back, though, I have to figure out where to start getting to work again.

08/04/06 FRI:
---Picked up big pile of mail at post office, including packages from Stark House, Wheatland, and Tachyon, which I will catalog ASAP. But still nothing from PGW. I guess I will have to check on the status on that one.

---Word from Hippocampus:

Dear Bookseller,
The first ever full-scale critical anthology on Clark Ashton Smith is now available in hardcover and paperback from Hippocampus Press! A blurb is below; please advise quantities desired. Now is also a good time to stock up on our backlist titles by Smith, THE BLACK DIAMONDS, THE SWORD OF ZAGAN and THE LAST OBLIVION.

Thank you for your interest in Hippocampus Press!

Best regards,
Derrick Hussey
---------------------------------------------------------------

THE FREEDOM OF FANTASTIC THINGS
Selected Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith
Edited by Scott Connors
July 2006
376 pages
Hardcover : ISBN 0976159244: $49.95
Paperback: ISBN 0976159252: $20.00

As poet, fiction writer, and artist, Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) has left an indelible mark on the fields of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. But criticism of his bountiful and varied work has been surprisingly scanty, and oftentimes ill-informed. The Freedom of Fantastic Things represents the most substantial volume of criticism of Smith’s work ever published, and includes both original and previously published work by the leading scholars on Smith.

Among the notable contributions are Donald Sidney-Fryer’s exhaustive discussion of Smith’s relations with his early mentor, George Sterling; Brian Stableford’s brilliant analysis of Smith’s cosmicism; Fred Chappell’s sensitive treatment of Smith’s fantastic poetry; S. T. Joshi’s essays on The Hashish-Eater and on Smith’s prose-poetry; Scott Connors’s penetrating study of Smith’s relations to literary Modernism; Lauric Guillaud’s rumination on fantasy and decadence in Smith’s work; and other essays by Carl Jay Buchanan, Charles K. Wolfe, Steve Behrends, Stefan Dziemianowicz, Ronald S. Hilger, and other leading authorities.

At the conclusion of the volume is Steve Behrends’s exhaustive chronology of Smith’s work and a comprehensive primary and secondary bibliography. All in all, a feast for devotees of the necromancer from Auburn!

Scott Connors is the coeditor of Smith’s Red World of Polaris and of a forthcoming five-volume edition of Smith’s fiction. He is also working on a full-scale biography of Smith.

Table of Contents:

Introduction by Scott Connors
“The Centaur” by Clark Ashton Smith
Klarkash-Ton and “Greek” by Donald Sidney-Fryer
Contemporary Reviews of Clark Ashton Smith
Eblis in Bakelite by James Blish
James Blish versus Clark Ashton Smith; to Wit, the Young Turk Syndrome by Donald Sidney-Fryer
The Last Romantic by S J Sackett
Communicable Mysteries: The Last True Symbolist by Fred Chappell
What Happens in The Hashish-Eater? by S T Joshi
The Babel of Visions: The Structuration of Clark Ashton Smith’s The Hashish-Eater by Dan Clore
Clark Ashton Smith’s “Nero” by Carl Jay Buchanan
Satan Speaks: A Reading of “Satan Unrepentant” by Phillip A Ellis
Lands Forgotten or Unfound: The Prose Poetry of Clark Ashton Smith by S T Joshi
Out the Human Aquarium: The Fantastic Imagination of Clark Ashton Smith by Brian Stableford
Gesturing Toward the Infinite by Scott Connors
Clark Ashton Smith: A Note on the Aesthetics of Fantasy by Charles K Wolfe
Fantasy and Decadence in the Work of Clark Ashton Smith by Laurie Guillaud
Humor in Hyperspace: Smith’s Uses of Satire by John Kipling Hitz
The Song of the Necromancer: “Loss” in Clark Ashton Smith’s Fiction by Steve Behrends
Brave World Old and New: The Atlantis Theme in the Poetry and Fiction of Clark Ashton Smith by Donald Sidney-Fryer
Coming in from the Cold: Incursons of “Outsideness” in Hyperborea by Steven Tompkins
As Shadows Wait Upon the Sun: Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique by Jim Rockhill
Into the Woods: The Human Geography of Averoigne by Stefan Dziemianowicz
Sorcerous Style: Clark Ashton Smith's The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies by Peter H Goodrich
Loss and Recuperation: A Model for Reading Clark Ashton Smith’s “Xeethra” by Dan Clore
“Life, Love, and the Clemency of Death”: A Reexamination of Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Isle of the Torturers” by Scott Connors
An Annotated Chronology of the Fiction of Clark Ashton Smith by Steve Behrends
Bibliography
Contributors
Index

07/30/06 SUN:
---Getting an order ready to send to HarperCollins. Am still waiting for PGW--another order to a larger publisher/distributor. It is always fun to get these books, but it can become a little tedious compiling the orders and dealing with mishaps. Anyway, I’m trying not to stop doing them completely. But as well, I don’t want to get carried away sending them out.
---Leaving tomorrow for a few days, so won’t be too in touch. But what else is new? Things still laying around here for me to do that I should have done before leaving will have to wait for me to get back, hopefully with renewed energy and a revitalized sense of purpose.
---Even though enough material has probably trickled in since last time, a blogmail hasn’t been sent in too long now. But I don’t want to send one now, because I will have to hold off on responding to any garnered emails until my return.

07/28/06 FRI:
---Here today from PS Publishing:

Aylett, Steve FAIN THE SORCERER, PS, 6/06, one of 800 (total) SIGNED copies, (short comic fantasy novel; Alan Moore intro), new 18.00

Bowes, Richard STREETCAR DREAMS and Other Midnight Fancies, PS, 4/06, 1st edn, one of 700 (total) SIGNED copies, (author’s ‘stand alones’: stories that didn’t get incorporated into novels; Jeffrey Ford intro), new in dj 45.00

Watson, Ian THE BUTTERFLIES OF MEMORY, PS, 6/06, 1st edn, one of 700 (total) SIGNED copies, (stories, with specially written new prefaces; Paul McAuley intro; 438 pages), new in dj 45.00

---Deluxe slipcased hardcovers of the two hcs above are also available @ $90 and a hc of the trade pb for $45, by special request. It looks like I didn’t order enough copies to be able to have them for listing here now.

07/26/06 WED:
---Here today from CD Publications:

CEMETERY DANCE #55, '06, (Ed Gorman, Tim Lebbon, Thomas F. Monteleone, Tony Richards, etc.), new 5.00

07/24/06 MON:
---Here today from TTA:

INTERZONE #205, 8/06, (Britain’s longest-running science fiction magazine; stories, films, books, news, interviews, art; Steven Erikson, Sean McMullen, Rudy Rucker, Terry Bisson, Steve Erickson, Paul di Filippo, etc.), new 7.00

07/17/06 MON:
---Word from Necro:

-AVAILABLE ONCE AGAIN-
It sold out a year ago after numerous glowing reviews and is now avaiable again in a SIGNED unlimited trade paperback.
"...if you dig weird war stories, zombies, vampires, werewolves, and sheer balls-to-the-wall horror/adventure, then this is a book YOU MUST NOT MISS. It's not for everyone. This is literary red meat, rather than literary bean sprouts; a heady mix of Edward Lee, Skipp & Spector, and Garth Ennis, a novel that combines black humor, crisp prose, buckets of gore, and has at its center, a very human heart.

" Highly recommended.

" I absolutely LOVED it!"
--Brian Keene reviewing for HELLNOTES
Bram Stoker Award winning author of THE RISING and TERMINAL

AND DON'T FORGET THESE CLASSIC EDWARD LEE TITLES
NOW AVAILABLE IN SIGNED TRADE PAPERBACK

Incubi
Edward Lee
[Signed Trade Paperback]
Unlimited edition. Signed
$19.95

Succubi
Edward Lee
[Signed Trade Paperback]
Unlimited edition. Signed
$19.95

Coven
Edward Lee
[Signed Trade Paperback]
Unlimited edition. Signed
$19.95

Portrait
Edward Lee
[Signed Trade Paperback]
Unlimited edition. Signed
$19.95
Necro Publications and Bedlam Press
www.necropublications.com

07/09/06 SUN:
---Have been listing quite of few $1 paperbacks on half.com. The competing price from other sellers for most of them is 75¢, but buying any individually for that price would probably add two or three dollars in postage--apparently how these sellers make their money. You can buy these from me through Half, or from me direct, with probably less in postage costs. I can download an “Inventory Snapshot” and forward it, if desired. Also, these books--and others I couldn’t list because they don’t have ISBNs or the ISBNs they have are not in the half.com database--can be seen in the Covershots 7 folder on my Covershots DVD-R or individually on CD-R, also by request. Eventually I hope to have them catalogued in my normal fashion, but for now there are still other books I need to deal with first.

07/06/06 THU:
---Performed monthly update of catalog data for burning on CD-Rs.

07/04/06 TUE:
---Ran in Urbandale Fourth of July 5K race. A bit faster but still mighty slow.

07/03/06 MON:
---Here today from Small Beer:

LADY CHURCHILL'S ROSEBUD WRISTLET 18, 6/06, Small Beer, (The Ethereal Issue; ever lively zine from Gavin Grant, Kelly Link and company; contains fifteen pieces of fiction, four nonfiction not including “Article Withdrawn” by “Name Withheld”, and five poems; 64 crammed pages), new 5.00

06/28/06 WED:
---Word from Don Webb:

Dear Friends,

As some of you know I have a new book coming out in the Fall. This is a
limited edition of horror and dark fantasy including many of my Lovecraftian
tales, some published here for the first time. The collection will sell out
fast, so pre-orders are recommended. Please pass this e-mail along to
anyone you think may be interested.

http://www.avramdavidson.org/whentheycame.html

Best Wishes,

Don

06/27/06 TUE:
---Word from Stark House:

Hello Booksellers:
Normally, Stark House Press reprints mystery books from the 50's and 60's. But the next book is a bit different. It's a reprint and a complete revisement of a book that was published originally by Berkley Boulevard Books in 1999 as "THEY'RE HERE..." INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: A TRIBUTE, edited by Kevin McCarthy & Ed Gorman.
This new edition from Stark House, simply titled INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: A TRIBUTE, removes a few of the redundant essays, includes a new interview with Kevin McCarthy, star of the original 1956 version of the movie; and features many b&w stills from Kevin's personal collection.
Still included from the original edition is an introduction by Dean Koontz, essays by Stephen King, Jon L. Breen (on author Jack Finney) and Tom Piccirilli; and interviews with Dana Wynter (co-star of the 1956 classic), Philip Kaufman (dir of the 1978 remake), Robert H. Solo (the producer), W. D. Richter (screenwriter of the 1978 version), Abel Ferrara (dir of the 1997 remake) and Stuart Gordon (original screenwriter of the 1997 version).
The Berkley edition was not available for very long, as Boulevard folded soon after the book was published. The Stark House edition will be priced at $17.95, isbn 1-933586-07-9, and will be available in about three weeks.
Many of you have standing orders for new Stark House books. If you would like this new edition to ship as your usual standing order, you don't need to respond to this email. But if you'd like to cancel the standing order, or change it in any way, please let me know.
Cheers,
Greg Shepard
Stark House Press

06/25/06 SUN:
---Word from Small Beer:

Chris,

LCRW 18 are shipping and I wondered if you needed anything else?

Newest title: http://www.lcrw.net/deniro

Cheers,

Gavin

--
Naomi Mitchison, TRAVEL LIGHT
Kate Wilhelm, STORYTELLER
Sean Stewart, MOCKINGBIRD
Kelly Link, MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS
Maureen F. McHugh, MOTHERS & OTHER MONSTERS

Small Beer Press
http://www.lcrw.net

06/24/06 SAT:
---Here today from Ash-Tree:

Adrian, Jack (ed) (ed) ASH-TREE PRESS ANNUAL MACABRE 2005: Haven't I Read This Before?, Ash-Tree '06, 1st, (looks at a number of writers whose work appears to have been influenced by, or been an influence upon, the work of others), new in dj $45

Oldknow, Antony THE PASSION PLAY and Other Ghost Stories, Ash-Tree '06, 1st, (inspired by M.R. James; author's first full-length collection of supernatural fiction), new in dj 46.00

06/23/06 FRI:
---Here today from Tartarus:

James, Henry THE SENSE OF THE PAST: The Ghostly Stories of..., Tartarus '06, (includes unfinished novel; Glen Cavaliero intro; 657 pages), new in dj 65.00

06/22/06 THU:
---I keep saying I am ordering from different places, but somehow end up putting it off. Latest I’m getting ready to go for, hopefully for real, is Wheatland Press. Including these 2005 TITLES:

Polyphony 5:
Deborah Layne and Jay Lake, Editors.
The fifth volume in the critically acclaimed slipstream/cross-genre series will feature stories from Jay Caselberg, Ray Vukcevich, Jeff VanderMeer, Theodora Goss, Leslie What and Nick Mamatas.

The Nine Muses:
Forrest Aquirre and Deborah Layne, Editors.
Original anthology featuring some of he top women writers in science fiction, fantasy and experimental fiction, including Kit Reed, Ursula Pflug, Jai Clare, Jessica Treat, and Ruth Nestvold. With an introductory essay by Elizabeth Hand.

TEL: Stories:
Jay Lake, Editor.
An anthology of experimental fiction featuring Greer Gilman, Jeff VanderMeer, Tim Pratt, and Brendan Connell.

The Keyhole Opera:
Bruce Holland Rogers.
A collection of short-short stories by the master of the form. Includes the World Fantasy Award-winning story “Don Ysidro” from Polyphony 4.

06/21/06 WED:
---Email rec’d:

Hi there,

I've just published a collection of short stories by AFTERLIFE and
GHOSTWATCH and Hollywood screenwriter (Gothic, Octant, The Kiss, The
Guardian) Stephen Volk called DARK CORNERS: would your store be interested
in stocking copies? It retails at £8.50.
Check out the beautiful cover and contents (including a sequel to the
notorious GHOSTWATCH) here:
http://www.grayfriarpress.com/catalogue/dcorners.html

Best -

Gary Fry
Gray Friar Press