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Saturday, October 29, 2011

Added Today: Philip Wylie, Leigh Brackett, Samuel R. Delaney, Larry Niven, Ron Goulart & more...

More great vintage-ish SF added to the site today - including this copy of Dell's Binary Star #3 - Dell's version of an Ace Double....

Binary Star #3: Dr. Scofflaw / Outerworld  by Ron Goulart and Isidore Haiblum - Two complete novels in one volume:

Dr. Scofflaw by Ron Goulart: The master criminal was spread all over the place--an arm here, a leg there--and Silvera was obsessed with reassembling Scofflaw. After all, a scattered collection of spare parts can't pay off a ten-grand debt!

Outerworld by Isidore Haiblum: They framed Dunjer as professionally as if he'd been a Picasso original--the dead gang boss, the looted safe--and the evidence that could clear him was long gone, into the enemy-states of the Outerworld.

Flash Gordon by Arthur Byron Cover - MING THE MERCILESS! He rules the planet Mongo with cold terror--and if he has his Imperial way, will conquer the entire universe! But first the King of Mongo must destroy Flash Gordon, the fair-haired earthling and Superbowl Star, destined to challenge his sinister mental forces... Together with Doctor Zarkov and the beautiful Dale Arden, Flash is sent hurtling through interstellar space to the Towers of Mingo City, the heartless armies of the all-seeing secret police, and the deadly creatures and half-human beings lurking in Ming's domains.   There, the space hero has a triple task: survive Ming's onslaught, free his own friends, and save--billions of light-years away--the planet Earth!

When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer - A runaway planet hurtles toward the earth. As it draws near, massive tidal waves, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions wrack our planet, devastating continents, drowning cities, and wiping out millions. In central North America, a team of scientists race to build a spacecraft powerful enough to escape the doomed earth. Their greatest threat, they soon discover, comes not from the skies but from other humans. A crackling plot and sizzling, cataclysmic vision have made When Worlds Collide one of the most popular and influential end-of-the-world novels of all time.

Khi to Freedom by Ardath Mayhar - For Hale Enbo, servitude promised freedom!  He loved his life as planetary scout, indentured to the alien Ginli, traveling throughout the universe, finding and befriending the myriads of intelligent life forms.  Until he discovered what his masters were really after.  Until he found one of his new friends staked out on the Ginli's vivisection table...

The Light Bearer by Sam Nicholson - Harems and treasure palaces, pirate hordes and gilded barges...the splendors of Mus-al-ram were typical of a Bronze Age world, with one slight difference: a spaceship hovered above its clouds, observing, planning...   Prince Zeid, whose subjects called him Light-Bearer, lusted after the Space Givers'knowledge. Prince Rustard lusted after the moonship's jewels and gold. And then there was the pirate girl, Coral Bud, who lusted after the Light-Bearer himself!

The Practice Effect by David Brin - Dennis Nuel is a physicist who, during his research, develops a machine that allows him to explore alternate realities, each of which sport some very strange scientific properties.

The Neutral Stars by Dan Morgan and John Kippax - United Earth Government couldn't get past the vast appropriations needed to commandeer an entire planet-necessary to experiment with the titanic forces that would be unleashed while doing research on a warp-drive. And meanwhile, Venturer Twelve and her sister ships continued to protect Earth Sector as best they could, knowing aliens must already have the drive. But their worst enemy was right here on Earth.

The Hounds of Skath by Leigh Brackett - Leigh Brackett's unforgettable science-fantasy hero of The Secret of Sinharat and The Ginger Star cuts a red swath across the brutal planet Skaith Having killed the king-dog Flay in his quest to save an old friend and mentor, Stark now wanders the Worldheart in the company of nine ferocious canines that respond to his every command. Ruling the hounds of Skaith means tapping into the savagery of Stark's own mysterious past, and even a moment's hesitation could turn the pack against him!

The Descent of Anansi by Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes - It's the American Revolution all over again. But this time it's a ragtag band of space colonists vs. the United States. And the fate of the world hangs by a thread--200 miles above the earth.

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delaney - The story of a truly galactic civilization with over 6,000 inhabited worlds.

Face of the Enemy by Richard Fawkes - The Interstellar Defense League is claiming rights to a string of rich colonies, and the Pan-Stellar Combine and the Mercantile Union are squabbling over wormhole transit routes. Remor is bent on eradicating all trace of humankind from space. In a pitched galaxy-wide battle for survival, the crucial conflict may come on an out-of-the-way jungle planet called Chugen.

Flameweaver by Margaret Ball - After her expulsion from the priesthood, Tamai is sent to obtain fabled rifles for her people and comes under the protection of a British Officer's Lady. Becoming friends, Tamai and Louisa Westbrook head to Tamai's homeland, Gandhara, where Louisa becomes a full-fledged priestess gifted with occult powers unseen in Gandhara since the glory days.

PLUS: Just cataloged a beautiful copy of the Special Illustrated Edition of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - The murder of an elderly curator at the Louvre soon entangles Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon in a race against time to decipher a labyrinthine puzzle before an ancient secret--and an explosive historical truth--are lost forever.

Special illustrated edition is packed with over 160 images of artwork, symbols, architecture and historic locations associated with the text.

Friday, October 28, 2011

First Trailer released for Dr. Seuss's THE LORAX

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/thelorax/

Incredible animation, great cast, and what seems to be a creatively fleshed-out back-story to bring it up to movie length.

I'm definitely eager to see this.  The Lorax has always been one of my favorite Seuss stories.

Cast includes:

Danny DeVito
Betty White
Zac Efron
Taylor Swift
Willow Smith
Ed Helms

Thursday, October 27, 2011

And the bestselling Science Fiction series of all time? .....

Perry Rhodan!

In the most part due to the German pulp magazine Perry Rhodans, this series has sold more than 1 Billion copies worldwide.  The weekly serial began in 1961 and is still issuing weekly today in Germany.

Ace Books and Forest J. Ackerman published some 117 translated issues in novel format during the 1970s but, primarily due to marketing difficulties, the series has never been as popular here as it is overseas.

Several years ago kept most all of the series in stock at all times, letting that stock lapse without replacement about 8 years ago.  Those copies I had have since sold out and I hadn't seen any for some time - until excavating a box of vintage SF&F from one of our storage areas this morning.  Inside, among some other gems of 60s and 70s SF&F, was 1 1/2 dozen or so Perry Rhodans.

Unfortunately, many of them had some damage - likely why I never shelved them for sale years ago.  Several are moisture-stained - a flaw that will typically consign a book to my woodstove during the winter. The scarcity of the long out-of-print Rhodans has saved these few though.  Most of these are reading copies.. not for display - and are priced accordingly.

Perry Rhodans available today:

#13: The Immortal Unknown
#28: The Plague of Oblivion
#50: Attack From The Unseen
#57: A Touch of Eternity
#59: Interlude on Siliko 5
#70 Thora's Sacrifice
#73: Spaceship of Ancestors
#79: The Sleepers
#96: Horn: Green
#101: Blockade: Lepso

More vintage SF&F added today....

Second batch today of vintage science fiction and fantasy.. including a couple scarce titles.

Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - The first novel in C.S. Lewis's classic sci-fi trilogy which tells the adventure of Dr Ransom who was kidnapped and transported to another planet. Dr Ransom is a Cambridge academic who is captured whilst on a walking tour and forced into a spaceship by two men. With them he flies to Malacandra (Mars) . There he escapes his captors and discovers an amazing range of rational creatures on the planet, and in addition, spiritual creatures. Through the story of the Malacandrans, spiritual truths concerning the planet Earth are uncovered. Lewis tells the tale with a wealth of imagination and sense of adventure, drawing out the realities of good and evil, God and the devil from the fantasy.

Tide by Zach Hughes - An experiment in radiation treatment of fish produces mutations in the microscopic dino-flagellates the fish feed on. The result in the fish is horrifyingly abnormal aggressiveness - toward other fish and even against man.

Mindmix by Leo P. Kelley - A strange virus was creeping slowly over the earth like a monster, wiping out millions of lives. The finest scientific minds. The greatest geniuses of art and literature. The rich. The poor. All were doomed.

The Towers of Melnon [Richard Blade #15] by Jeffrey Lord - After fourteen successive trips to Dimension X, Blade is still the most nearly perfect physical and mental specimen on planet Earth.  But on this, his fifteenth journey, all his faculties as both a warrior and a man are stretched to their outermost limits.

Other Richard Blade titles in stock:
#6: Monster of the Maze
#7: Pearl of Patmos
#10: The Ice Dragon
#13: The Golden Steed
#17: The Mountains of Brega
#24: The Dragons of Englor

The Nets of Space by Emil Petaja - The Centaur expedition to the far stars had vanished - no trace, no clue.  But, back on Earth, Centaur project worker Don Quick, under an overdose of time-space gas, had strange dreams - dreams of a monstrous race of beings that spread their nets across the galactic wastes, and lovingly prepared and ate their catch!

It was too terrible to believe - but then one weak signal came through from space: "The Nets - The Nets!"

Seven Trips Through Time and Space edited by Groff Conklin - an awesome anthology of SF from the masters containing: "Flatlander" by Larry Niven; "The Crime and Glory of Commander Suzdal" by Cordwainer Smith; "Overproof" by Jonathan Blake Mackenzie; "Poor Planet" by J. T. McIntosh; "Shamar's War" by Kris Neville; "The Tactful Saboteur" by Frank Herbert; and "Ministry of Disturbance" by H. Beam Piper.

Beachhead Planet by Robert Moore Williams - From a far galaxy the Narks had come, hungering for the tempting green planet called Earth. First they invaded the mind of the world's greatest scientist, Erasmus Brockner. Then they had him build them an impregnable fortress deep in the Nevada mountains. From this lair went out their human slaves, fanning out like a contagion across the globe. The Narks were ready for the final step in their monstrous design, when a man named Valthor stumbled onto the truth-and swore to defeat them or die...

Ability Quotient by Mack Reynolds - When the Asian Wars were over Major Bert Alshuler had few prospects, until Mid-West University asked him to take part in an "educational experiment" that would test the effect of certain drugs on his I.Q.

The project was top secret, but it looked like an easy way to make money and get an education, so Bert saw no reason to worry - until his girlfriend was kidnapped...and someone tried to kill him.

And then he discovered just what the drugs were doing to him - he was more than an educational experiment...HE WAS THE FIRST MAN OF THE NEW HUMAN RACE.

The Journey of Joenes by Robert Sheckley - Joenes set out on his great Journey, venturing to the legendary land of America.  There he encountered mysteries of yore, beings of legend: for he saw New York, the great city of the walking dead; he stood before the dreaded warlocks of the Congressional Committee and was given justice by the computer priests of the Sperry Oracle; he even witnessed the High Security measures of the Octagon, until at last he discovered the secret at the center of its forbidden maze.

Robert Sheckley has always been one of my favorite old-school SF authors.  Spider Robinson said once "I don't know of anyone else in SF who has written so many really classic stories... wittier than Pohl, blacker than Lenny Bruce, subtler and more bent than the Firesigns and Monty Python put together."

This particular title has been out of print for some time and is rather scarce in any condition.  This copy is in good condition but priced low... grab it before it's gone!

Acquisitions: Vintage Science Fiction & Fantasy Paperbacks

For every book we have listed for sale on our website, we have 10 more still waiting to be cataloged. Usually my methodology is to grab the next box at hand and start cataloging them, whatever they may be.  Once in a while, though, I get the urge to find something specific - so this morning, I dug around in one of the storage areas until I found a case of vintage SF&F.

The Island Snatchers by George H. Smith - DAW Collector's #298; Flying machines had not yet been invented on Earth's dimensional twin, Annwn.  So Dylan McBride thought it would be a good idea, even if a bit on the crackpot side from the viewpoint of that world's somewhat backward Victorian viewpoint.  But when Dylan and his witch wife Clarinda tried out the machine by flying to Hibernia to attend a wild Irish wedding, they came a-cropper.  For the Emerald Isle was not where it was supposed to be.  Instead, it was drifting rapidly westward under some strange power.

The Star-Crowned Kings by Robert Chilson - DAW Collector's #161.  Race Warden was his name and he was a human being trying to live peacefully in his allotted niche on the colony world Mavia...until the day he moved a stone slab by mental projection. Until that moment, he had regarded himself as a simple pawn on the vast social board. But it raised him to a higher status at once - possibly a castle or bishop or knight. The kings of the board, they who ruled the human cosmos, had the telkinetic-telepathic power. They had crowned themselves with the stars and all the rest of humanity were theirs to move or sacrifice as they wished.

But a maverick mentalist - even one like Race who did not even know the rules of their games nor the extent of his place - was not to be tolerated. He had to be removed from the board before he broke up their cozy zodiac.

Rod Serling's Other Worlds - An anthology edited by Rod Serling and containing: They by Robert A. Heinlein; Fifteen Miles by Ben Bova; Dolphin's Way by Gordon R. Dickson; The Royal Opera House by Carl Jacobi; Special Aptitude by Theodore Sturgeon; The Underdweller by William F. Nolan; I'm in Marsport without Hilda by Isaac Asimov; A Nice Shady Place by Dennis Etchison; Construction Shack by Clifford D. Simak; A Little Journey by Ray Bradbury; The Visible Man by Gardner R. Dozois; Mister Magister by Thomas F. Monteleone; What Johnny Did on His Summer Vacation by Joe Haldeman and Robert Thurston; and Little Old Mis Macbeth by Fritz Leiber.

King of the World's Edge by H. Warner Munn - They were a lonely half-starved band of adventurers who had been cast out of their homeland by hordes of invading marauders - and they came to an unknown world as strange, as fantastic, as wonder-packed as the legendary Atlantis.

Berserker Worlds by Fred Saberhagen - A promotional book printed for Waldenbook's Otherworlds Club members.

Contains the short stories: Masque of the Red Shift; In the Temple of Mars; Brother Berserker; Smasher.

The Book of Lost Tales by J. R. R. Tolkien - The Book of Lost Tales stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor, for the Tales were the first form of the myths and legends that came to be called The Simarillion. Complete with commentary and notes.

Tain by Gregory Frost - TAIN and its sequel, REMSCELA, comprise the retelling of the Irish epic Tain Bo Cuailnge--the stories of Cu Chulainn, the hero of Ulster who at the age of 18 single-handedly defended his people against the invading army of the sorcerous queen Maeve.

The Outer Space Connection by Alan & Sally Landsburg - Actually, non-fiction, not science fiction.  This book on UFOs presents evidence and makes predictions - including the prediction that aliens will return to the Earth on December 24th, 2011.

many more on tap for later today - Vintage SF from Mack Reynolds, Robert Sheckley, Emil Petaja, Jeffrey Lord, C. S. Lewis, Leo P. Kelley and more including a large batch of Perry Rhodan paperbacks....

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Barnes & Noble pulls DC Graphics Novels over Kindle Fire deal

Amazon.com's recent launch of the Kindle Fire put them back in the ball game for tablet devices.  While the Android-powered Fire isn't in the same league with the iPad in terms of design and power, it's rock-solid integration with Amazon's Kindle platform gives it a strong leg up in the ereader market - at a price-point that beats Barnes & Noble's Nook device.

Amazon, like B&N before them, has been pushing the benefits of a full-color reader over a b&w e-ink display - and selling the device at a loss to pull in those customers.  To sweeten the pot, Amazon recently announced an exclusive deal with DC Comics for large backlist of digital graphic novels to be available only on the Kindle.  While the LA Times reports that the deal is more of a "Kindle First" 4-month exclusive, the move was more than enough to invite retribution from Barnes & Noble.

B&N's response was to order their brick-and-mortar stores to pull the physical copies from their stores.  B&N has maintained a strong position in the wake of previous Amazon or Walmart-exclusive deals to protest the move.  If a publisher intends to do any type of business with Barnes & Noble, they are told that if they want B&N to carry their titles, the publisher must make all formats available to B&N that are available anywhere else.  Thus, publishers pushing Kindle-only digital versions won't find a home on B&N shelves for their print copies.

Even Amazon has previously buckled on this issue - promising that titles from their own publishing imprints will be available in Nook format as well as Kindle in order to get those titles carried in B&N stores.  DC either wasn't paying attention or thought the deal to sweet to pass up but B&N refused to look the other way.

Amanda Hocking inks deal for Hollowland graphic novels

Amanda Hocking has inked a deal (for an undisclosed amount) with Dynamite Entertainment to produce a graphic novel adaptation of her popular Hollowland series.

Hocking - well known among YA readers and self-publishing advocates for her astounding climb to success with her self-published Kindle YA novels and subsequent $2mil deal with St. Martin's Press - reported that she loves the idea - and the work that Dynamite is producing, saying "They do the kind of things and have the kind of image I like."

Dynamite produces a range of quality graphic novels - both original and licensed - including a beautiful adaptation of Burroughs' Barsoom series, adaptations of Jordan's The Wheel of Time, SyFy Channel's Warehouse 13, and more.

Amazon launches Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Imprint

Amazon.com has launched another imprint - this time for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.  The new imprint is called 47North and will be publishing both new SF&F and reprinting out-of-print titles from core genre authors as well.

Signed on initially to the imprint are notables such as Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Dave Duncan, Chris Roberson, and B. V. Larson.

The move touches off another outcry from publishers and indie booksellers alike at Amazon's approach to profiting from both sides of the book sale but, with millions behind them, Amazon can offer larger advances and has the dominate market position to push the sales numbers high enough to justify it.  Some authors have been hesitant about getting in bed with the retail giant but often the bottom line of better sales and higher royalties are making the decision for them.. they can't afford to say no.

On the flip side, Amazon does distribute the book through standard trade channels and distributors - at standard discounts - allowing indies and brick & mortar chains alike to stock and sell the book as if it were published by any traditional publisher.

With indies struggling against Amazon's dominant market position though, it hurts to deliberately put more money in their pockets - even when the sale benefits the B&M store.  Amazon's marketing force is arranging book signings and author tours like any other publisher as well.  Kayleighbug, like hundreds of indies before us, will now virtually be forced to stock Amazon's 47North titles - or risk sending even more business to Amazon if we don't carry the books in our specialty.