Jules Verne (1828 – 1905) was a French writer. His most famous stories are Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872), all classic “science fiction” books. Back then, the term science fiction didn’t exist, but he’s since been hailed as one of the first science fiction writers. I’m not sure if I’ve ever read the orignal books, though I know the stories well. Somehere in my library I do have a copy of A Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Borderlands Press, continuing it’s mission to publish stories from past masters of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, recently published A Little Blue Book of Icy Perils, which collects three of Verne’s stories, plus a (bonus) sonnet. Edited by Tom Connair, and limited to 500 signed and numbered copies, it joins the ever-growing stack of such books in my library. The copyright date states 2024, but I believe it was offered for sale in early 2025. At least, that’s when I saw it offered for sale, and then bought a copy.
I much prefer the rougher cloth bound versions of these books, at least compared to the smooth bindings. The various bindings and sizes means that these books aren’t 100% uniform, but it is what it is. The series continues, at least for now. If I were the editor in charge, I might pick other writers, but the fact that I’m not the editor in charge means that I’m always surprised, and that’s a good thing!
I also learned from the introduction, that there was no balloon ride in Around the World in Eight Days. My perception of this book had been clouded by various movie versions, where balloon rides were de rigeur. It was strange, then, to read in the first paragraph of the first story about balloon rides. C’est la vie. Verne these days, then, is more well known for cinematic interpretations than his actual words. Quelle surprise.
As a long-time fan of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books, when Centipede Press started re-releasing the books in hardcover, I had to have them. Leiber published seven books in the series, starting with Swords and Deviltry and ending with The Knight and Knave of Swords. As Leiber aged, so did his heroes. They endured loss, hardship, delight, love, pain, and injuries along their adventurous lives.
Robin Wayne Bailey, an accomplished writer in his own right, was asked by Leiber to write a book with these two characters. He finished one of three contracted books, but various publishers involved with the books folded, and so there’s only one completed book. Swords Against the Shadowland was published in April 2025 by Centipede Press in a signed an unsigned version. As all my copies are unsigned, as is this one. The book comes with a gorgeous wrap-around cover. After a brief introduction from the author, we dive right into the story. Interestingly, it’s a sequel of sorts to the first book in the series, Swords and Deviltry. The pair are transported back to Lankhmar, a city they vowed never to re-visit after the tragic events they experienced there in the first book.
Centipede Press publishes a wide variety of books. These books are always professionally done. The exterior, the binding, and the interior are carefully crafted. The contents are comprehensive, and illustrated throughout. The books are virtually works of art, more so than a book you’d read. Most of their books sell out quickly, and subsequently fetch a premium on the secondary market. In my case, I bought the first book direct from the publisher back in 2017. Each year since, I’ve plonked down my coin for the next book. I own the first six in Ace paperback editions, and the seventh as a hardcover, but to have these is a crown jewel sort of feeling.
Joe R. Lansdale has written (and continues to write) a ton of books. I buy them as I find them, which these days isn’t often.
Radiant Apples is a novella published by Subterranean Press in 2021. I found this book online, listed for $20 plus tax and shipping. It’s a slim book—in effect, the kind of book you can read in one sitting. The main character is Nat Love, who previously appeared in the novel, Paradise Sky. My copy is number 301 of 1,500 signed and numbered copies, originally published for $40 in 2021.
Nat Love is now in his 50s, a porter on the Pullman railway in north-east Texas. A train robbery and murder sets him on a quest, and he recruits an old friend as he chases these robbers into Oklahoma from Texas. It appears to be set in 1919, but feels like an old Western from the previous century. Lansdale tones down some of his usual banter, but not by much. Overall it’s a good read, and I think it would be cool to see more stories with Nat Love. That might be tough, however, as between Paradise Sky and this book he got married, had kids, and gave up much of his old life. A glance at Lansdale bibliography told me there were some other Nat Love stories, which led me to the next acquisition.
Fishing for Dinosaurs, also published by Subterranean Press (2020), is a collection of five novellas. It includes “Black Hat Jack,” an earlier Nat Love novella. “Black Hat Jack” previously was published as a separate book (just like Radiant Apples) way back in 2014 by Subterranean Press. It’s cannibalized into this collection (along with another Lansdale novella that also came out by Sub Press), which saved me from having to hunt down the older novella.
Each of the stories is introduced by another writer: Robin Hobb for “Black Hat Jack,” plus Poppy Z. Brite, Richard Chizmar, David J. Schow, and Norman Partridge for the other stories. My copy is number 660 out of 2,500 signed and numbered books, also bought for $20 online, as I’m a few years late from the original publication event, and the book is sold out from the publisher. An edition of 2,500 seems like a lot for a “signed, limited edition,” but, as I care more about the stories than the rarity of the book, I don’t mind. However, I do wish I’d known about it sooner, as I feel guilty that Lansdale isn’t getting a cent from my purchase.
In terms of the other stories, “The Ape Man’s Brother” was published as an eBook and hardcover edition by Subterranean Press. “Prisoner 489″ was published by Dark Regions Press as a lettered edition, a limited edition hardcover, and trade paperback. From what I can tell, the other two stories—”Sixty-Eight Barrels on Treasure Lake,” and the title story—are collected here for the first time, though “Fishing for Dinosaurs” first appeared in 2014 in Limbus Inc. Book II. I may be wrong, as although I own 44 Lansdale books, this is but a fraction of his output.
From the introduction by Lansdale, I learned there are some other Nat Love stories floating around somewhere, and maybe they will turn up in a collection, and maybe I’ll eventually read them.
Tom Monteleone and F. Paul Wilson are both noted horror/sf/suspense writers. Between 2013 and 2018 they co-wrote a Young Adult trilogy under the aegis of Nocturnia. These books take place in an alternate reality inhabited by “monsters”—vampires, werewolves, trolls, zombies, and more. In Nocturnia, humans are rare, treated as slaves or food. Into this place are transported two young humans, who get sucked up in an inter-dimensional tornado while looking for their missing older brother. In Nocturnia they meet various monsters (some good and some some decidedly bad), along with other humans, including Amelia Earhart and Ambrose Bierce, both of whom also were transported there from Humania, as our earth is known. Will the siblings make it back to “the real world?” Will they get eaten or killed by the various monsters? You need to read all three books to learn their fate.
I bought the first book some time last year, as part of my ongoing effort to collect of all F. Paul Wilson’s books. This year I went ahead and picked up the second and third books. All three were published as a joint effort by Borderlands Press and Gauntlet Press. The three hardcovers that I have are all signed/limited editions; prices are not listed in the books, but I think I paid a fair price for each one.
Strangely, the three books have different print runs: The first volume was published in 350 copies, the second 300, and the third 500. While my copy of the first volume is #138 of 350, the second and third are both #69 of those respective numbers. Also, while the covers of the second and third books look similar, they diverge wildly from the cover of the first book. Granted, the cover of the first book was somewhat bizarre, almost as if a child had drawn something for a school project. The second and third covers appear somewhat more professional. Family Secrets, the second book in the series, list a final proofreading credit, but this person missed the copyright page, which mentions the first book in the series, Definitely Not Kansas; this was fixed in the third book, The Secret Ones, as it mentions itself (not the only time Borderlands Press has failed in proofreading something, and in one place the writers use “there” instead of “their” which is almost unforgivable). Per a comment in the third book, chapbook was published, called Secret Ingredient. So far I’ve not seen this chapbook listed anywhere. Is it real? I don’t know.
These books are intended as young adult novels, so the protagonists are young kids. To move the plot along, there are side characters who vary in age and act as foils, mentors, antagonists, love interests, etc. Both the first and second books end on cliffhangers, but that’s not unknown for YA series. At times I think I see which writer is at work, but then again, I’ve read a ton of F. Paul Wilson books, and almost nothing by Monteleone, so I have no sense of the latter’s writing voice or style. I do wonder, in this parallel universe, how all the characters speak English, and how the Nocturnians know certain terms than are unique to American culture, and there only are two scientists in the entire culture in this universe that’s almost a parallel version of our own. But, I guess in cases like this one must suspend all disbelief.
Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard was apparently all the rage a few years ago, with his multi-volume series of novels under the aegis of “My Struggle.” To date, six volumes has been published in this series. He’s also written other books, but is best known for the autobiographical series of books under the heading, My Struggle.
Even as a (former) Norwegian, I hesitated buying/reading his books. He’s too contemporary, too fashionable, I thought, each time I came across his name.
Still, someone I know kept asking me every time we met (not very often, but maybe every two years) whether I’d read his books. I guess that, as a Norwegian, it was somehow assumed that I would have read them. Each time, I replied that, “No, I haven’t read any of his books.” It’s not that I haven’t seen his books in bookstores., or been aware of him. The books were there, though not always in the right order, when I I saw them. Still, I hesitated. Maybe I didn’t like his international success (compared to other Norwegian writers that I thought deserved success). Maybe there were other reasons; the book title hewed too closely to another, more infamous, German title, for one.
Recently, however, I came across two of Knausgaard’s books in a used bookstore, and thought, “Why not?” So, I bought them. One of these books was the first volume in his “My Struggle” series. The other, called Winter, was part of another series based around seasons. Knausgaard’s only a couple of years younger than me, yet he’s a prolific and famous author, while I’ve written only some early-draft crime novels. In other words, there is nothing to compare us, unless you contrast success and nothingness. Winter starts with musings on an unknown and future child (he’s apparently not just prolific, but fertile as well). I set this book aside. I might need to find those other season-related books first.
Meanwhile, the first volume of My Struggle begins with Knausgaard musing on death and dead people. This was unexpected, at least to me, as I thought it would start with his own birth. Then again, after talking about dead people and how we treat them. he transitions into a story about himself at the age of eight, having seen a newscast about a Norwegian fishing vessel capsizing, with those on board drowning. He highlights his own reaction to this event, as well as his interactions with his father. That’s as far as I’ve made it at the moment.
The book begins in 1976. Knausgaard was eight years old at that time. In 1976 I was slightly older, about to leave Norway for a second stint in Zambia. I remember this year vividly. At the of age nine in 1976, this might have been was my “starting” moment in terms of memory, more so than at age eight like Knausgaard. So much happened to me in 1976, a major year in my life. Although I also was in Norway at that time, I don’t recall that same shipwreck incident; in my case there were more personal events that I remember (school, location, a first kiss, the apartment, a so-called friend inviting me somewhere and then eating dinner in front of me, as well as many other things that seared into my memory from that year). Maybe, it’s because we didn’t have a TV, maybe it’s because I saw life differently that time. I certainly didn’t think about death then, not for many years. I thought about life, about where I lived, what I did, and what I saw.
Why is the book called “My Struggle?” I don’t know, at least not yet. He seems to to fear his father at that age, something I don’t think I ever experienced. His father seems to come across as strict, almost tyrannical, despite being a teacher. I think my father at that same age was a little distant, but nowhere near the same as Knausgaard’s father. We’re less than two years apart in age (Knausgaard and I), yet so very different. While I bounced between countries and cultures, he existed only in Norway. Having only sampled a few pages, maybe I’m being too judgmental. Again, what’s the struggle? You had a great life, Karl Ove. You didn’t get dragged to a foreign country. You didn’t change your identity. You’re Norwegian, through and through, not someone split between cultures and continents.
Anyway, I guess I need to read more in that book now, to gain a better insight into why he’s famous. Then again, there are five more volumes to dredge through, if I want to know more. I still don’t get it.
I recently missed out on a bid for a set of nearly a dozen of Charles de Lint’s Subterranean Press books. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing, since I already owned five out of the books in that lot. Still, I’ll admit that it was somewhat disappointing, as the rest were ones that I really wanted.
I always have a hard limit on auctions, which means that I lose out on quite a few of them. I guess that now I need to acquire those books one by one instead. However, looking at de Lint’s bibliography, I doubt that I’ll ever be able to acquire all his books, so I’ll take them as I find them. Then again, I did find a pair recently at decent prices, so here goes…
First up, The Onion Girl. Published in 2009 by Subterranean Press, and limited to 500 signed/numbered copies plus 26 lettered copies. It’s a hefty book, clocking in at just over 500 pages. The cover is gorgeous, yet the story hits at darkness. I recently read another book that featured the same main character, so at some point I know I’ll be drawn into this book.
Next, Seven Sisters Wild. Another Subterranean Press book, this one published in 2002. This is the signed hardcover edition, with signatures from both de Lint and illustrator, Charles Vess. It’s a novella, only 152 pages long, and beautifully illustrated by Vess.
All in all, this still leaves at least 20 of de Lint’s books that I don’t have, compared to the 32 that I have. That first number’s probably fuzzy, based on an old bibliography. Still, 20 seems like a massive number. Many of these books are hard to find, or when listed somewhere, fetch premium prices. A few of the so-called “missing” books I have in beat up paperback editions. I do want better copies, though. Others, I don’t have, and want to read.
Sometimes, though, I think you have to be in the right mindset, or the right age or the right timeframe, to read certain books. I recently re-read Moonheart and liked it, but when I tried to read Eyes Like Leaves, written around the same time as Moonheart, I struggled and gave up—at least, for now. Maybe Eyes was too similar to Moonheart. Maybe it jumped around too much for me to fasten onto the plot and characters. Maybe I’m just a different person from back when this book was published Still, I hope de Lint keep writing fiction, despite his recent personal tragedies. Then again, maybe he’s said all that he wants to say, at least when it comes to fiction. It won’t be the first time that’s happened to an author.
By chance (per my normal book buying methods) I saw a listing in early March, 2025 advertising for sale a new James P. Blaylock book. This book was The Invisible Woman, published by PS Publishing in December 2024. With no wallet on hand, I decided to return to that site the following day. The original listing that spurred my interest had by then vanished, so likely another Blaylock fan swooped in and got that book.
I immediately went to the web site of PS Publishing and placed my order, fretting that I’d again waited too long. Blaylock is one of those writers (along with Jack Vance, Tim Powers, Michael Shea, F. Paul Wilson, and Charles de Lint) whose books I won’t hesitate to buy. Vance and Shea now have passed beyond the veil, and Wilson’s stroke means no more new fiction. There are still a few de Lint books that I don’t own, and I hope Blaylock (and Powers) continue to write and publish fiction.
The hardcover edition of The Invisible Woman is limited to 200 copies. A trade paperback edition also exists, for those not fortunate enough to grab one of the hardcovers. I still cannot fathom why Blaylock doesn’t garner more mainstream publications – he used to publish books with Ace, and then Subterranean Press. Has the market for Blaylock’s fiction shrunk so much that a hardcover edition of a new novel now comes down to just 200 copies by a UK publisher? What has happened to the US fantasy market for this to happen? Has the market changed that much, or the fans just up and vanished? I remember reading a comment from another fantasy writer, Charles de Lint, about the changing modern fantasy market a few years ago, so maybe that’s what’s happening here. Their loss, my gain.
I ordered The Invisible Woman on March 5th. Joseph Stalin died on March 5th, something all sane people can celebrate. Other than that date, there is no correlation between Stalin’s death and Blaylock’s book. I received it on March 23rd. The Invisible Woman features the same two main characters from Pennies from Heaven (PS Publishing, 2022), Jane and Jerry Larkin. Jane runs a co-op in Southern California. Jerry now is busy fixing up an inn, having restored their own house. I’m still in the middle of reading the book, savoring every moment. Will this turn into a trilogy, or remain as two books? Not sure. Don’t care. I’ll keep buying anything Blaylock puts out there.
Recently I was in Houston, where among other things I visited a couple of bookstores. The first was in The Woodlands, a used bookstore in a converted house. This store is called Good Books in the Woods, https://www.goodbooksinthewoods.com – it appears to have been converted from an old residence into a bookstore with walls and walls of books. The SF section is small. Prices appeared to have no rhyme or reason; some paperbacks were cheap, others expensive. Some hardcovers were close to $100, others under $20.
Although I already had a couple of editions of Jack Vance’s The Eyes of the Overworld, I found a nice paperback edition that I didn’t have. The $8 cost made me hesitate, but these days finding any Vance book in decent shape is next to impossible.
As far as books that I didn’t already have, I came across a 1975 collection of short stories by William Hope Hodgson, Out of the Storm, published by Donald M. Grant. Grant would later publish three more Hodgson collections: The Dream of X, which I don’t have, plus The Haunted Pampero (1991) and Terrors of the Sea (1996) which I already owned.
Out of the Storm contains seven short stories, as well as quite a long biographical introduction from Sam Moskowitz, and is illustrated by Stephen Fabian. The price when published in 1975 was $10. I paid $25. I think was I surprised to see that book there, and not in the glass-enclosed “rare book” section, where books apparently cost $100 and more. Still, I was happy to find the book, as I like Hodgson’s sea stories.
Grant is perhaps better known as a publisher of Robert E. Howard and Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. They seem to have tapered off recently in the number of books published, so likely will become a defunct publisher at some point, if that hasn’t already happened.
It’s unusual to see a hardcover edition limited to just 200 copies. However, that seems to be normal for PS Publishing out of the UK; they even publish books limited to just 26 copies at times.
In October 2022, they published Pennies From Heaven, a new novel from James P. Blaylock. Since I’m not tuned into all small press releases, I almost missed this book. The moment I saw it mentioned somewhere, I quickly placed an order via the PS Publishing web site. I expected it to be sold out, but a few weeks later received my signed and numbered (#13) copy of the book. There’s also a trade paperback edition, but I went for the hardcover.
Sadly, Blaylock now seems to have a niche audience. I thought mainstream publishers, or even Subterranean Press might be the place to find Blaylock books. Subterranean Press has published quite a few Blaylock books over the years, mostly in the Langdon St. Ives series. Sometimes these are signed, limited editions, sometimes a mix of signed and trade editions.
I’m not sure why this happens, but sometimes Subterranean Press seems to drop authors who they’ve carried for many years. Maybe someone more attuned to the small press market knows more about this. It’s not the first time I’ve seen an author having multiple Subterranean Press books and then suddenly switch to a different publisher. I suppose I need to get on PS Publishing’s mailing list now, in case more Blaylock books are on their schedule.
In Pennies from Heaven, we’re introduced to Jane and Jerry Larkin. The former works at a local co-op, while the latter is restoring their old house. Jerry comes across an old gold coin in the aftermath of an earthquake, which sets in motion a series of events. It seems that many years ago in their town a bank heist took place, and Jerry might have found some hidden treasure. They both come up against a battle-axe of a local woman, who turns out to be far more than she appears. It’s a quintessential Blaylock tale; no hint of the supernatural in this one, mostly weird hijinks and odd characters. The hardcover is sold out by now, but Blaylock fans can still get the trade edition from PS Publishing, or both online from the odd dealer or two.
While in Austin Feb. 15 and 16 to run the Austin Half Marathon, I stopped by a few bookstores.
Jor R. Lansdale, Sugar on the Bones (2024). I paid full price for this book, at Book People on Sixth and Lamar. None of the local bookstores in San Antonio had a copy, but Book People still had signed copies from when Lansdale stopped by some time last year to promote his book. I managed to read the Lansdale book in one day. It follows similar plots to previous books in the Hap and Leonard series. Perhaps the next book in the series will be called Long in the Tooth, as those two chaps are getting close to retirement age. This is only a slight dig at the books; since the main characters age with each book, at some point they will need to stop. At this point they’re in their fifties, and it gets tougher to fight and recover at that age.
Dennis Etchison, Red Dreams (1984). A collection of short stories, published by Scream Press. The book is inscribed by Etchison, as well as illustrator J. K. Potter, and signed by Karl Edward Wagner, who wrote the introduction. I wonder what happened to “Joe,” the recipient of the inscriptions when Etchison and Potter signed it in 1985, for this book to end up at Half Price Books forty years later… Red Dreams is the first book by Scream Press that I own. There’s no price listed on this book, though it did come with a slipcase. This small press released some other great books in the 1980s, but I’ve never come across any until now. There’s a note at the front of the book that this is the “Boxed First Edition,” limited to 250 copies. Scream Press, like a few other small press publishers from the 1980s/1990s, lasted just a decade or so before it folded.
Lewis Shiner, The Edges of Things (1991). This book was published by Washington Science Fiction Association in Baltimore as a limited edition. My copy is number 346 of 600, signed by Shiner, illustrator Alicia Austin, as well as editor Mark L. Van Name. It was originally priced at $45 when published in 1991. According to the U.S. Inflation Calculator, this converts to $104.27 in today’s dollars. That’s quite a pricy book. HPB had priced the book at $20, which seemed like an great price to me. I like Shiner’s stories and style, and it was a book long on my watch list. WSFA published a book in honor of the guest of honor at Disclave, a Washington, D.C. area science fiction convention, from 1989 to 1992. Last year I bought the first book they published, Lucius Shepard’s Father of Stones. The book in between these two is by Mike Resnick. I’m not sure if anything was published in 1992, when Pat Cadigan was the guest of honor. [Edit: apparently there was a book published in honor of GoH Cadigan in 1992, the last in this series.]
