Anders Monsen

Lost worlds and ports of call

Month: December 2024

Book added: David Silva’s Little White Lies

December 31, 2024 / / 0 Comments

David B. Silva’s entry in the Borderlands Press little books series, A Little White Book of Lies, was until recently one of seven books in that series that I lacked (now down to six!). Originally published in 2005, this slim book is quite hard to find (I think I’ve seen it listed only once or twice in the past three years). Then again, that’s the fate for almost all the early Borderlands Press little books, ie. those published before 2006.

I found a copy online many months ago, but at that time considered it outside my budget. However, with a recently acquired gift card in hand, I secured the book for around $6 of my own money. Cheapskate? Opportunist? Maybe a bit of both. In my defense, I do buy the most recent ones direct from the publisher, and so they actually get my money, vs. dealers and resellers who bump up the prices to whatever the market can bear.

Silva’s books contains five stories, each centered around a lie, plus a brief introduction. Four of the stories have been published elsewhere, and one seems original to this collection.

This is first time (I think—correction: see below) that I’ve read anything by Silva. [Edited 1/2/2025: apparently I have read some of his stories before, as I found three anthologies in my book shelves with Silva stories: Night Visions 10 (Subterranean Press) with five stories, and one story each in Cold Blood (Ziesing) and Obsessions (Dark Harvest) and possible there are others.] From what I can tell, there is no Wikipedia entry on Silva, but Locus Magazine has an obituary, listing his death in 2013—eleven years (!) ago as I write this brief entry. According to that brief obituary, Silva died at the relatively young age of 62. Perhaps best known as the editor of The Horror Show (1982-1991), he also wrote a few novels and short stories.

Now, only six books in the series remain out of my grasp, and all are of the “insanely pricy” variety: Thomas Ligotti and Neil Gaiman I can understand; Joe Hill, maybe a rarity by association, although he’s been making a name for himself as well; Brian Keene and Josh Malerman, not sure why, but maybe I missed that bus; Douglas Winter, on the low end of the scale, yet still a worthy editor/writer. Prices for these books when they appear for sale (which is rare) range from $70 to $700. Quite a range there. Then again, I recently saw a copy of F. Paul Wilson’s book listed online for nearly $800. If ever there was a spit-take moment, that would be the time for one, as I bought it for a fraction of that price when it first was published. Still, with only 500 copies (for the most part) of these little books, and each numbered and signed, they’ll only get rarer. Unless I get lucky, this might be as fast as I go in the past, which is annoying, but acceptable.

Books added: F. Paul Wilson’s Sims novellas

December 29, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Many years ago F. Paul Wilson wrote five novellas in the Sims “saga.” These novellas were published by Cemetery Dance between 2000 to 2010,. In between those dates, they were released as a novel by Tor Books in 2003. While the former novellas were limited, the novel from Tor was a mass market publication.

Why it took Cemetery Dance seven years after the novel was published to round out the five volumes remains a mystery to me. Each novella from Cemetery Dance was limited to 750 numbered copies, and signed by Wilson. As a Wilson fan, currently looking to fill in missing gaps of books published over the past few years, I never felt compelled to seek out these novellas, as I already had the collected set of novellas gathered in the book from Tor (inscribed to me by Wilson at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, TX, in 2006, I think). However, when I found them listed this year from various sellers at prices well below the original listed price of $35 per book, I thought, “Why not?”

As I write this in 2024, I vaguely remember the plot of Sims, the novel. I know that I read it back then, and voted for it when it was nominated for the Prometheus Award. Over 20 years had passed since I last thought about this story. When I picked up the five individual novellas this year, I re-read them in that format. I was surprised at how little I remembered, yet also at some of the details that remained stuck in my memory.

The first book, La Causa, sets the stage. The world of Sims, much like the five-book world of the LaNague Federation, is independent of Wilson’s Secret History saga. Here, genetically enhanced chimpanzees are cheap labor (more like slaves; not to dissimilar from the clones in Dydeetown World), even acting as caddies on golf courses (or worse, as we’ll see). A young lawyer, Patrick Sullivan, gets asked by some of the sims to represent them to form a labor union, and takes the case. This puts him in opposition to SimGen, the company that created and owns the sims. Their attempts to intimidate him only makes him dig in his heels harder, and he ends up embracing their cause. Meanwhile, another character, Romy Cadman, works for the government investigating research risks, while at the same time moonlights for a shadowy person trying to bring down SimGen. Her handler in this group goes by Zero, wears a mask to hide his features, and seems to have insider knowledge into the plans and workings of SimGen. At once we have multiple, yet intersecting, conflicts with many potentials.

The second installment, The Portero Method, brings Sullivan closer together with Romy. Portero is the security head of SimGen, but also seems to be working for another group, one that occupies the shadows. The Portero method is harsh, brutal, and throws a major wrench in Sullivan’s unionizing attempts. It also drives into the same group as Romy and Zero, now even more determined to bring down SimGen.

The third, Meerm, introduces a new character, and a new element to the story, one that will bring everything to a crashing climax. Meerm is another sim, on the run from a low-budget gene-lab, yet one with the potential to bring down SimGen, and the race is on to find this sim. Three groups are trying to find her: Portero’s two employers, as well as Zero’s cell.

The fourth, Zero, focuses on the person behind the mask. As the prime mover against SimGen, Zero has hired both Patrick Sullivan and Romy Cadman, hiding behind a mask the entire time. We learn of his ties to SimGen, giving him inside information. The hunt for Meerm ratchets up, with multiple groups trying to find this pregnant sim.

The fifth and final entry, Thy Brother’s Keeper, ties it all together. Everything erupts when we learn of Zero’s identity, and the ending is both heroic and tragic. Meerm’s baby seals the fate of SimGen, although the true origin of the sims remains a secret the public will never know. Lives are shattered, and it’s not just a happy ending for everyone. Wilson truly keeps everyone on their toes.

With this stack of books in hand, signed and numbered, each limited to 750 copies, I wonder if owning them is any different from owning the Tor edition of Sims? My Tor edition of Sims is inscribed to me by Wilson, and although all the five novellas are signed, does this equate to talking to Wilson, handing him a book and getting it returned as inscribed? On one level, it doesn’t. And yet, the Tor book was printed in thousands of copies, while the Cemetery Dance books had a much lower print run. They also contain illustrations that the Tor book edition did not. I sometimes struggle between the idea of a collector and a fan. I’m a fan of FPW, but as a collector, I’m more random and haphazard in my actions. Yet, for some weird reason, owning these five books gives me a thrill that the Tor Books edition never gave me. Why is that? Is that some innate human behavior, or just a focused aspect of some obsessive compulsive disorder?

Books added: F. Paul Wilson’s The Hidden

December 28, 2024 / / 0 Comments

The Upwelling, Book I of The Hidden (2024). Written a few years before Wilson’s recent stroke, this is the first in a two book series, but just published this year. Given that he vowed to not write any Repairman Jack books after Nightworld (although he filled in a few earlier gaps with a pair of trilogies), this series might be seen as Wilson’s attempt to break away from Repairman Jack, yet still remain within his Secret History world. (Double Dose and Double Threat also fall into that category). It’s likely also Wilson’s last work of fiction. (That’s a sad sentence to write….)

Initially published as a trade paperback under the imprint of Crossroad Press Publishing (whatever that means), it now looks like Gauntlet Press will publish the book in a limited hardcover edition. Per their website, only the 26 lettered editions will bear Wilson’s signature, which is to be expected given his recent stroke.

I don’t think I was aware of either of these books until recently this year, when I saw some online review. In this novel, our protagonist, Chan Liao awakens to find a missing chunk of his memory. Along with three friends he spends a weekend at Atlantic City. In the span of a few hours the entire Atlantic City area was essentially vaporized, and he has no recollection of the events. Over 25,000 people died, and he has no idea where he was or what happened. One of those three friends, Danielle “Danni” Boudreau, an FBI agent, is in the same situation—no memory of what happened. This is an intriguing premise. Wilson quickly moves the location to the familiar New Jersey Pine Barrens. In the course of events he introduces a group of people with strangely enhanced abilities: two dead people refuse to burn, others claim to be thousands of years old. Chan and Boudreau trace events and actors to a mountain in upstate New York. Hints of the Ally and the Otherness, well-known players from the Repairman Jack series, make themselves known, along with a new entity, name the Squatter. Events come to a head, which lead into the sequel.

Lexie, Book II of The Hidden (2024). Picking up right after the events of The Hidden, Lexie brings various humans related to the Ally and the Otherness to the fore. These are well-known to Repairman Jack readers: the Septimus Order, and (perhaps less so) the Yeniçeri. Lexie also introduces “the Troika” three individuals who are aware of the Secret History: the two main players behind the scenes, and certain people linked to another of Wilson’s novels, Signalz (but, strangely, not Jack himself).

The namesake of the second book is an enhanced (super-intelligent?) seven year old, the offspring of a Squatter-enhanced and a normal human. This person, Lexie, can walk between parallel worlds, as well as possessing other powers. She’s highly intelligent, and conversely has zero emotions and empathy (think Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory). Along with Chao and Danni, she is needed to try to save the world, at least this one, given the multi-verse aspect of these novels. Although Jack is alluded to at one point as “the Defender” (or is that Glaeken?), we’re never sure if this is the same world as Repairman Jack, given the multi-verse aspect of the books.

I admit that I read the books quickly, as happens to be the case when I read FPW books. I have a few quibbles here and there with choices and actions, but overall I enjoyed the two books. There are many unanswered questions at the end. Perhqps, if FPW wasn’t burdened by his stroke, he might have rewritten certain scenes, or worked in a third book. The ending just seems unsatisfactory. Chan harbors a great love for Boudreau, and while she considers him a friend, she’s stated multiple times her lesbian leanings. This situation just never seemed like it reached a resolution, though Liao had other options given to him. Wilson also cheats multiple times by writing Liao as a “Bruce Lee” look-alike, which gives him zero character as an individual. Perhaps I’m just annoyed that the events appear to be part of his Secret History and yet avoid all mention of Repairman Jack. I guess that’s just my feelings at play.

More thoughts on Haruki Murakami

December 26, 2024 /

I can’t remember the first novel of Haruki Murakami that I read. Many years ago, during the time when I ran marathons (2010-2013), my brother gave me a copy of Murakami’s slim non-fiction book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. This book, published in 2007, is one that I have read many times. Back then, I thought of Murakami as a fellow runner, even though he’s run major marathons like Boston and New York, and I will never sniff either one of those events. I knew next to nothing about his fiction career.

However, a year or so after reading his book around running, I bought one of Murakami’s novels (I don’t remember which one, maybe Norwegian Wood, maybe not). I liked it well enough that I bought another, and then another. At some point Murkami became one my favorite writers of all time, and I sought out and read all of his books. I even named a fiction detective in a one of my own attempts of writing fiction after Murakami. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, and 1Q84 remain my favorites. Including the two books mentioned below, I now own 24 of Murakami’s books. When a writer speaks to you in a language (and style) that you understand, it’s amazing how one book becomes 24.

For Christmas 2025 I was given two relatively new Murakami books. One is a collection of essays, Novelist as a Vocation. The other is his most recent novel, The City and Its Uncertain Walls. Most of his books I’ve bought in the trade paperback editions. The three exceptions are The City (2024), Killing Commendatore (2018 – which I bought in Norway a couple of years ago), and a fun version of the novella, The Strange Library (2014).

Novelist as a Vocation is a collection of eleven essays on the craft of writing, at least how Murakami sees it. In the course of reading his other books I’ve gleaned a sentence or paragraph that might find a home in one of these essays. Still, I look forward to reading about them in more detail.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls is Murakami’s latest work of fiction. Despite trying to avoid reviews and spoilers, I’ve encountered one or two while coming across his name online in mentions about this book. What I know before I read the book is this: it started a while ago as an idea, a fragment, and Murakami didn’t like where it went at the time. Then, at some moment, it made sense to him as a story. Some reviewers aren’t too keen on the book, or part of the book. I’ll reserve my own judgment until I read the book. Murakami’s style and pace isn’t for everyone, but for some reason both speak directly to my soul.

Every year Murakami is mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature. Every year his name is passed over. It’s quite likely that he’ll never get this award. Instead, some obscure writer’s name will appear, and so it goes each year. Meanwhile, like the maverick writer that he is, he’ll write whatever’s important to him, critics and awards be damned. Arigatou gozaimasu, Murakami-sama!

Book added: F. Paul Wilson’s Ephemerata

December 26, 2024 /

I’m still working on my “collect all F. Paul Wilson books” effort. The endgame approaches, with just a handful remaining.

First of the final books is Ephemerata, The Odds and Ends of a Writing Life (2024). At some point, Wilson started collecting his “non-fiction” and selling it to interested readers as an eBook. The first “edition” was published in March, 2017. The benefit of eBooks, as Wilson stated, was that as he added more material, he could push out an update. As if by magic, the readers would just need to refresh or update something, and suddenly have more material on their devices. In 2024 he released this collection in print. That’s a benefit to me, as I don’t (and won’t) read eBooks. On the other hand, it’s unfortunate, as the stroke he suffered a couple of years ago has robbed readers and fans of Wilson’s fiction and non-fiction in any future stories.

Weighing in at nearly 600 pages, the hardcopy publication of Ephemerata appears to be a “print-on-demand” book. Wilson split his non-fiction into the following sections: Forewords, Intros, and Afterwords; Appreciations; Memoirs; Puffery; The Byte Columns; Fictions; Reviews; and Opinion (here I use semi-colons between each section, as the first section has commas, so otherwise would appear to be three different sections). Rounding out the book, there’s a timeline of the Secret History, and a bibliography. It’s not the “ridiculously detailed bibliography,” which appeared in the third volume of The Compendium of F, but more a listing of books.

With almost 600 pages of material, one could spend hours trying to read each item. In my case, I jumped back and forth, sampling a bit here, then going elsewhere for something entirely different. Prepended to each item is a snippet of text that establishes the context of the piece in question. As a huge F. Paul Wilson fan since back in 1986, this is a book I will long enjoy. As a print-on-demand book, it’s not a “collector’s item,” but rather an insight into a writer’s life, going back all the way to the beginning. Any fan of Wilson would enjoy this book, I think. Then again, maybe most of his fans just want to read the fiction. In my case, there’s far more out there than just the fiction. Maybe I just want to know what makes a writer a writer. To read only a brief diary of his writing life was worth the price of admission. Wilson is dedicated to his craft. Even with a full-time job as a doctor whose saw scores of patients daily, he kept writing. That’s both impressive and humbling.

Book added: Lansdale’s By Bizarre Hands

December 22, 2024 /

I first bought Joe R. Lansdale’s collection, By Bizarre Hands, in its paperback edition way back in 1989 or 1990. My Avon Books paperback copy now shows, 35 years later, the inevitable signs of aging in the faded pages; when I read paperback books I am careful not to break the spine, so otherwise it’s in pristine condition.

Over the years I picked up other Lansdale books, some in paperback, but mostly in hardback when I could find them. I think I have a love/hate relationship with Lansdale’s writing. His plots and characters are interesting, his dialog is — to me at least — painful to read; all the characters speak in the same snide voice.

At current count I own 41 Lansdale books. This is but a fraction of his total output. Sometimes I find copies in bookstores that sell new books, sometimes in bookstores that sell used books; I do wish I could buy them all as new books, vs. stumbling upon them now and then. I guess I could look online, but I much prefer seeing the condition of the books before I buy them. In the 1990s I bought a few books at SF conventions. I met Lansdale once (or maybe more) at ArmadilloCons in Austin in the 1990s, and I think he signed a few of my books then. I stopped attending these conventions when I moved from Austin in 2001. When I check the guest list these days for ArmadilloCon, there are very few authors listed I care about, so I feel no urge to drive the two hours there to attend that convention. It’s not like back in the day when James P. Blaylock, Tim Powers, Bruce Sterling, Lewis Shiner, William Gibson, and a host of great writers attended that convention. These days I don’t even recognize the names.

In December, 2024, I came across the hardback edition of By Bizarre Hands, listed for $25. A seller discount to $20 prompted me to buy the book. Published by Mark V. Ziesing in 1989, apparently the same year as the Avon Books paperback edition, this book has the added bonus of being signed by Lansdale. It’s not the limited edition, but that’s never the deciding factor when I buy books. This is Lansdale’s first short story collection. It gathers together 16 stories, along with the author’s preface and an introduction by fellow Texas writer Lewis Shiner.

I don’t think I’ve read these stories since I first bought the book. I read a couple of them right off the bat once I received the hardcover edition, and I was, to put it mildly, a little shocked. How it it possible in 2024 to be shocked by stories first written 35 years ago, if not more? These stories are not for the faint of heart. Some of his later novels have toned down the violence, but the stories in By Bizarre Hands are raw, in your face, and sometimes quite disturbing.

The hardcover edition was published by Mark V. Ziesing. His imprint published books mostly in the late 1980s through the late 1990s, many of them classics in the genre. These include Tim Powers’s Anubis Gates, Richard Chizmar’s collection Cold Blood, Neal Barrett, Jr.’s The Hereafter Gang, Howard Waldrop’s Night of the Cooters, a Bruce Sterling collection, and many more.

The hardcover edition was published by Mark V. Ziesing. His imprint published books mostly in the late 1980s through the late 1990s, some of them classics in the genre. These include Tim Powers’s Anubis Gates, Richard Chizmar’s collection Cold Blood, Neal Barrett, Jr.’s The Hereafter Gang, Howard Waldrop’s Night of the Cooters, and many more. One of the tragedies of the small press market of the 1990s is that so many great publishers simply faded away after a run of putting out great books.

As I check my library, I see that own 16 Ziesing books. In this case, it was pure happenstance that I across this book. I’ve bought a few other Ziesing books recently — a limited Waldrop book, a limited anthology edited by Gardner Dozois, and a John Shirley book. There are several other Ziesing that I don’t own, including Shirley’s Wet Bones, Kim Stanley Robinson’s A Short Sharp Shock, a Gene Wolfe book, David Schow’s Black Leather Required, A. A. Attanasio’s Beast Marks, and others. Ziesing lives on as a book seller/dealer, with a superb catalog of books on hand. Well worth the visit and the money.

Book added: The final Matthew Corbett novel

December 9, 2024 /

Leviathan (Lividian Publications, 2024) was published in November 2024, by Lividian Press.

This is the 10th and last book in Robert R. McCammon’s series about the “problem solver”, Matthew Corbett. Several publishers have been involved with these books, from Lividian Publications, to Cemetery Dance, to Subterranean Press, to River City, which published the first book in the series: Speaks the Nightbird.

I read a bunch on McCammon books in the 1990s — They Thirst, Night Boat, Stinger, The Wolf’s Hour, Swan Song. Then, after 1992 there was a gap where McCammon appeared to have published no new fiction, until Speaks the Nightbird was published in 2002. This book was a change from the horror fiction for which he was known, and a switch from mass market hardcover editions to a smaller, specialized publisher. (I guess, in the minds of major publishers back then, the horror market was mostly limited to Stephen King and Dean Koontz.)

By chance, (sixteen years after it was initially published!) I found a copy of Speaks the Nightbird in a used bookstore in 2018. I almost left it there. I was used to a different McCammon, a more modern setting for his stories. This book was set in America around the year 1700, and seemed the opposite of the Robert McCammon that I knew. But, I bought the book, read it and enjoyed it. I didn’t see any other McCammon books for several years, until in 2022 I discovered that the sequels to Speaks the Nightbird had been published, starting way back in 2007. These books were all published in limited editions, and all long since sold out from the publisher. Only by chance did I see some of them listed online, usually well above the publication price, even the trade editions.

2022 was around the time I started to relax about buying books online, vs. buying books in person of from booksellers with traditional print catalogs (or, if online, direct from publishers). I’d left Austin by 2006, a city which had one SF bookstore (RIP, Adventures in Crime and Space) and an independent store like Book People where you could occasionally find interesting books. By then, I’d also stopped attending science fiction conventions, where dealers who carried books from specialized publishers sold unique and out of print books. In other words, I lived in a book desert when it came to specialized publishers.

In terms of the online options such as ABE Books and eBay, I was late to the game. But, when at last I discovered them, I tried to figure it out. In some cases, I was lucky. In other cases, I made mistakes. Sometimes it worked. At times, I paid premium prices for crappy books or ended up with beat up copies at what I thought were acceptable prices. Still, I was able to get most of McCammon’s books that I lacked, and all but one of the Corbett books in hardcover editions. Published first by Subterranean Press, then Cemetery Dance, then Lividian Publications, the series continued. McCammon stated that Leviathan would be his last and final book in the Corbett series. In early November 2024, I ordered my copy online from Alabama Booksellers, and received the signed copy on December 2nd.

Many years ago, my brother-in-law went to a SF or horror convention in Alabama. He brought me back an inscribed copy of the Dark Harvest edition of McCammon’s Swan Song. This book remains one of my most treasured books. I have a few other signed McCammon books—Subterranean Press editions of Blue World and The Border, the Dark Harvest edition of They Thirst, a handful others—yet that Dark Harvest edition of Swan Song is one that will always among my most treasured possessions. I’ve never met McCammon, and probably never will, but seeing that inscription made out to me is beyond thrilling.

The Matthew Corbett books have been a mix of exciting and annoying. Corbett doesn’t seem very smart. He often falls into situations, and ends up being lucky when he makes it through at the end. He’s more a survivor than a hero. Still, each setting is unique, the characters fascinating. That events take place around the turn of the 17th century, from the end of the 1600s to the start of the 1700s, make it even more thrilling.

With the Corbett Saga done, it will be interesting to see what McCammon writes next.

Book added: The final ICE novel

December 7, 2024 /

For several years I only owned the first novel in F. Paul Wilson’s ICE trilogy, Panacea, in the TOR mass market hardcover edition. Then, earlier this year I bought the other two books in the series, The God Gene, and, The Void Protocol, also in the TOR hardcover editions. A few months later, I found copies of the first and second book in the series in the limited edition states from small press publisher, Gauntlet Press, both of them online for reasonable prices. However, the third book, The Void Protocol, eluded me at the time.

Then, a couple of months after I bought The God Gene, a Gauntlet Press edition of The Void Protocol appeared online for $15. Bidding drove up the price to $39 (plus taxes and shipping…ugh), and I ended up with a copy. Published by Gauntlet Press and limited to 500 signed and numbered copies (plus some lettered copies), this edition now joins its brethren on my bookshelves. My copy is #35, whereas my copy of The God Gene is the lettered edition “M,” and Panacea is #70. Not that I’ve ever cared about getting the same exact numbers (or letters).

The compulsion to acquire the Gauntlet Press editions is a strange one. I own all the Repairman Jack novels in Gauntlet Press editions. I bought these books for cover prices the moment they were announced, months before the TOR books came out, starting with Conspiracies, back in 1999. I was a fan of the Repairman Jack books, and getting numbered & signed copies of back then was something new to me. While I owned some signed books, or books that I managed to get signed in person, the idea of numbered copies was something I discovered through an FPW forum (now fairly quiet or defunct). Once you have a few of such books in a series, like Repairman Jack, you almost want to collect them all.

Meanwhile, The ICE trilogy, as well as two other FPW trilogies, were books that I initially bought as mass market hardcovers. Thus, I was somewhat reluctant to shell out more money for the Gauntlet Price books, though once I learned of their existence I wanted them. Now, I have a set of two of those three trilogies. Does this make me want the third and last one? Yes, but still I hesitate. Maybe I’ll find copies online at my prices, maybe not. I currently have 25 of the FPW Gauntlet Press books. I only lack three solo GP books, plus two that were published in collaboration with Borderlands Press.

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