Ike! Checked Arkham and it’s not in print, but I found 21 reasonably priced copies on http://www.abe.com – joy joy joy joy.
Someone on an e-group recently asked everyone to describe the most disturbing short story they’d ever read, and what one guy said about “The Hands” made it sound pretty special. So I’m excited.
Not quite as excited as Divemaster, but excited.
(Wonder if he needs someone to help guard his books while he’s gone.) <insert evil smiley>
divemaster - You are going to post the text of each book as you read it, aren’t you? Surely you can type and read at the same time.
I have really enjoyed The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft and More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft. I hope they do another one.
Ok, you don’t have to tell us, but I am sure we would like to know- just how much DID the set “set you back”?
My freind (who was working there) found a set of original Arkam house books that some lady donated to the Santa Monica Public Library, after her husband died- she likely had no idea of how much they were worth. Altho the Library did not put them on the shelves, some idiot had 'stamped" them all in, and with the Libraries embossed seal & all that= lowering their value some 90%. The Library could have sold them and taken care of all their (not so) petty cash problems for a while.
That’s true about library copies, but I’ve spent almost-big bucks on library copies if that’s all I can find. Stamps and card pockets, cracked bindings, etc., doesn’t matter.
But I’m more of a reader than a collector, I guess.
The only ex-library Arkham I have is Manly Wade Wellman’s WHO FEARS THE DEVIL? (1963), which I got for fifteen bucks about ten years ago.
It had a short print-run, just around 2,000 copies, and is pretty scarce now…decent copies run $250 and up.
I really wanted it as a reading copy; it’s a collection of the “John the Balladeer” stories, about a guy who wanders around Appalachia with a silver-strung guitar, encountering ghoulies and ghosties from American folklore. “The Desrick on Yandro” is one of the best of them.
It also has a way-cool piece of jacket art by Lee Brown Coye, who I consider the greatest of all the old WEIRD TALES illustrators.
I love Silver John. I have three from the Doubleday Science Fiction book club, 1980 – just book club stuff, but they’re treasures anyway. I’ve heard someone is going to be reprinting some of these, and a nice Fritz Lieber collection as well.
I think now’s a good time to be reading horror, SF, noir and dark fantasy. Well, if you can afford it.
Are you another one of those folks who buys every copy of CONJURE WIFE s/he comes across? I know I am.
If this thread ends up being just you and me and divemaster, I’m bringing a pinochle deck next time.
Incidentally, what did you think of Joe R. Lansdale’s THE BOTTOMS, and BLOOD DANCE?
Ha! (Nickel a point?)
I haven’t finished either of them. I’m a bit miffed about “The Bottoms” – if I’d paid attention, I would have known that it’s a fleshed-out version of a short story that I just read a few months ago. So I’m waiting until the memory of “Mad Dog Summer” isn’t so fresh.
I’m saving “Blood Dance” – don’t know what for. Just don’t want to think that there’s no more Joe on the shelves.
What did you think? I’ve heard some disappointed comments from Lansdale readers, on “The Bottoms.”
Right now I’m reading “King Rat” by China Mieville and next up is Dan Simmons’ “Darwin’s Blade”, or “Tigana”.
I’ve heard really good things about THE BOTTOMS…reviewers are calling it Joe’s breakout book. About damn time, I’d say. I liked it a LOT, but I’d never read “Mad Dog Summer.”
Subterranean Press just brought out a gorgeous edition of his novella THE BIG BLOW, about Negro boxing champ Jack Johnson, the Great White Hope, and the Galveston Hurricane of 1900; be careful, I understand that was short story first, too.
Im currently reading the book on the Irish Rebellion the Dublin Dopers sent me; the new bio of Aleister Crowley from St. Martin’s; and THE MONSTER MAKER AND OTHER STORIES by W.C. Morrow, a nifty little small-print volume from Midnight House of Seattle.
Oh, and I was lying about knowing how to play pinochle. But I’ll take you on at cribbage.
Let’s hope so – the guy deserves more attention. Your current reading sounds intriguing. Haven’t heard of W.C. Morrow.
Yep, “The Big Blow” was Joe’s contribution to Doug Winter’s “Revelations” collection. An excellent story. Maybe even better than “Mad Dog Summer.” Tighter.
I’m starting to develop a real bias in favor of short stories, in genre fiction anyway. I thought “Mad Dog Summer” was perfect, as it was.
James Sallis said (sort of) in the latest Fantasy & Science Fiction that that genre writers are at their most creative when writing short stories. And he said great things about a collection of stories from Neal Barrett, Jr., one of Joe’s buddies.
I haven’t read any Barrett, not even “The Hereafter Gang.” Sallis said something like “if Barrett’s ever written a bad line, he hasn’t seen it.”
I suppose you’ve read Barrett?
Morrow was a protege of Ambrose Bierce, doing his writing in San Francisco in the late 19th century. His one collection during his lifetime was THE APE, THE IDIOT, AND OTHERS (1896). It’s considered a famous “lost book” of horror short fiction.
You may have encountered some of his short stories in anthologies…“Over an Absinthe Bottle” is his most famous.
I have a couple of Barrett’s books, but I haven’t read them yet. THE HEREAFTER GANG is supposed to be terrific.
Ok, I’m back in town, and am resurrecting this thread to wrap up a couple of points and thank all parties for a very interesting discussion.
from lesa
“It was a dark and stormy night”…oh, wait, wrong book 
from DitWD
The set cost me $1300, wich included insured priority air from Australia. I think the box was about 75 pounds! Since 58 of the 66 books were hardbacks, I would break even if I could sell each one for about $22.
In compiling a inventory for insurance purposes, I found most of these books selling for considerably more than that. At the very least, $35 for some; $75-$100 for many others; and a few for over $150-$200. And since I already sold the King book for $425, my investment is even better!
Given that, the value of these books to me is in the enjoyment of being able to hold in my hand wondrous words from authors; and from publishers who produce these works as a labor of love (as well as some profit). It’s hard to describe to a non book-lover, but knowing that these editions carry with them a sense of specialness makes reading them all that more enjoyable. I can’t really explain it, but reading the same story from a mass-market Bantam paperback just isn’t the same.
from Ukelele Ike
I read this for the first time last year! I’m a big Lieber fan from what little I’ve read. I have several Lieber SF anthologies, and have come across some of his work in other collections. Was Gather, Darkness any good? It looked like it was in the same theme as Conjure Wife. That reminds me, one of the other books in my new collection is Bazaar of the Bizarre. I’ve yet to look through it.
I finished half of one of the Campbell collections this week. My journey has just begun!