Anders Monsen

Lost worlds and ports of call

Category: books (Page 1 of 25)

Jack Dann: Masters of Science Fiction

March 5, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Centipede Press has published a ton of great books over the years. From individual novels, collections, anthologies, non-fiction such as studies of horror movies, author series by writers like Gene Wolfe, R. A. Lafferty, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, Michael Shea, and more, plus various themed series. They cover multiple genres, such as fantasy, SF, crime, and horror. Their themed series include the massive Library of Weird Fiction books, collecting fiction by noted writers from yesteryear: H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Ambrose Bierse, Edgar Allan Poe, and more. Then, there’s their Masters of Science Fiction.

Starting with James Patrick Kelley and Fritz Leiber in 2016, followed by Richard Wilson in 2018, then the two-volume set by Kate Wilhelm in 2020, with over 1,500 pages of stories. Next, Robert Sheckley and Jack Dann in 2022, followed by Pamela Sargent in 2025, and then Howard Waldrop in 2026, with even more authors on tap. If you were lucky enough to buy the books upon publication, good for you. In my case, although I’ve bought a few Centipede Press books over the years, I really didn’t pay attention to this series until I bought the one by Pamela Sargent in 2025. Then, as a Waldrop fan, I had to get that book the moment it was announced in early 2026. Then, I checked availability for the other books. When I saw them listed on the second hand market for well over $300, I said, “No way.” All too often with Centipede Press books, if you don’t act fast, you pay a premium. I wasn’t prepared to pay that much.

Still, recently I was able to find a decent copy of the Jack Dann book. It wasn’t available at the publication price, but then it wasn’t listed for $300 or more like the others. With over 700 pages of fiction and close to 30 stories, it’s a massive collection. From before, I already owned one of Dann’s novels, The Man Who Melted (Bluejay Books hardcover from 1984). I’d also read his collection from Golden Gryphon: The Fiction Factory, which gathered a bunch of stories where Dann collaborated with other writers. Plus, I have a signed edition of Slow Dancing Through Time, an anthology of stories edited by the late Gardner Dozois, which included fiction by Dann. Still, there are many early Dann books that I don’t have, as they’re next to impossible to find. All that aside, the Centipede Press edition is without equal.

These books likely take years to assemble, with time added for publication. For these are not shabby productions, and they’re worth the wait, for sure. Up next in the series is Alfred Bester (a two volume set), and then likely even more great writers to follow.

Move quickly, if you want any of these, or be prepared to shell out significant amounts of money, if you’re can even find any of those books listed anywhere now. Why? Each edition appears to be limited to 500 copies, and there likely are that many (or more) eager Centipede Press collectors out there, almost all unwilling to surrender their copies. My Dann edition was edited by John Pelan; maybe he died before he could sign the book, as my copy is signed by Dann, George Zebrowski (who wrote the introduction), and the artists: Jim & Ruth Keegan.

More Connie Willis books

March 2, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Many years ago I bought my first Connie Willis book, To Say Nothing of the Dog. Time passed, and I came across a novella of hers called All Seated on the Ground. It was a quick read, but a funny and brilliant story. Since then, I’ve been on the lookout for books by Connie Willis. This weekend I was in Austin, and found a couple of her novels that I didn’t have; well, there was a third, but I am too picky, and as the cover had a long scratch, I reluctantly put it back on the shelf. To be honest, I’ve mainly been looking for Blackout and Doomsday Book. Along the way I’ve come across several unexpected titles, and none have disappointed me so far.

The Road to Roswell (Del Rey, 2023) I started reading this book on the way back from Austin. It’s a funny alien abduction story, starting in the town of Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell is known as a site of an supposedly alien ship crash landing in 1947. I’ve been to Roswell a couple of times on the way to other places, and they do sell their alien landing story as a major part of the town. In this book, which takes place during a wedding at a Roswell alien festival, there’s a real alien kidnapping. I read this book in a couple of sittings. For the most part, I enjoyed it, though I found the ending too abrupt. A note in the book states that Willis is working on another time-travel novel, so that’s some good news.

Crosstalk (Del Rey, 2016) I’d never heard of this book, but it seems to be a take on the burgeoning world of social media. The novel was published in 2016, back when facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. were all the rage, and the rise of influencers dominated media. As such, it’s maybe an attempt to tap into the pulse of the current state of society, and extrapolate this in ways on SF writers are able. So, if I dive into the book, it will be interesting to compare it to the present, a decade after it was published. The world has changed many times since then, but social media and influencers sadly remain a part of it. I found a nice copy of the hardcover edition on my recent Austin trip. Not high on my “To Read” stack, since I don’t care much about social media, though looking back a decade will be strange, given the rise of social media since that time.

All About Emily (Subterranean Press, 2011). A novella, so in essence, a short novel. Illustrated by J. K. Potter. One of a handful of books I recently bought from Lawrence Person’s Lame Excuse Books. This book was limited to 400 signed and numbered copies, plus an unknown number of unsigned copies. My book is signed by Willis, and numbered 176 out of 400. Subterranean Press has published a fair number of Willis’s books, and they always do a bang-up job with each edition.

Dan Simmons, RIP

March 1, 2026 / / 0 Comments

This weekend, while traveling, I learned that writer Dan Simmons died on February 21. Vita, brevis; ars, longa – life is short, art is long.

The first Simmons book I read was his debut novel Song of Kali, the first edition of which I found in 1989 in a used book store in Austin for $5.95. He could have kept writing horror, but in 1989 he published his landmark science fiction novel, Hyperion. I missed out on the hardcover edition, but with The Fall of Hyperion and onward, I bought all his books, in hardcover if I could find them, in paperback on a couple of occasions: Carrion Comfort I read as a paperback book (only decades later was I finally able to buy the oversized Dark Harvest hardcover edition); Phases of Gravity also came out first in paperback, and when I found a copy of the UK hardcover edition, I bought that book with no hesitation. (I even had to buy Ilium and Olympus twice. I foolishly lent my first copies to some friends, with whom I lost contact with a year or two later. So, when I came across another pair I bought those as well. Twenty years later I still don’t have the first books that I bought, and I doubt I’ll ever see those copies again.)

I met Dan Simmons just twice, in 1990 and 2000. The first time was at an SF convention, where he signed my Song of Kali copy. Then, a decade later he was on a book tour for The Crook Factory. He happened to stop at Adventures in Crime and Space, genre bookstore in Austin, Texas. I spent several minutes talking to him at this book store. He was gracious enough to sign a stack of my books at that occasion, as I brought along all of his books I’d bought since 1990. On both occasions, he came across as the kind of guy you want to sit across the dinner table. Listening to him talk was just as captivating as his fiction.

For many years, news about a new Simmons books virtually disappeared. His last novel, Omega Canyon, has been announced for publication several times, but nothing has materialized. A few years ago he suffered a head injury, which may have affected his meticulous approach to research and writing. What a shame.

His over 30 books stand as superb entries in such varied genres as horror, science fiction, historical/parallel fiction, and mystery/crime fiction. Song of Kali, published by Bluejay Books in 1985. It bore a blurb from F. Paul Wilson on the back cover, and that was enough for me. Plus, when I found the book on a shelf in 1989, I’d already heard rumblings that Simmons was an up-and-coming writer. For a poor college student working a part-time minumum wage job, who then usually only bought cheap paperbacks, spending $6 for a book was a big deal back then, but I think I read the book in one sitting. Thanks to my brother-in-law, at that time a book dealer, I was able to get a great price on another hardcover book, the Dark Harvest horror anthology, Night Visions 5. This book contained stories by Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, and Simmons. When Hyperion was published, I could not get a hardcover copy, so I bought and read the paperback book. Little did I know then that the hardcover would later prove next to impossible to buy, unless you were willing to shell out hundreds of dollars. From then on, I bought every Simmons book I could find (and afford). In some cases, this meant haunting used books stores. In other cases, buying them the moment I found a new copy.

A shelf of books by Dan Simmons (Not pictured as they’re on another shelf: Prayers to Broken Stones, Flashback, The Abominable, Black Hills, The Fifth Heart, Night Visions 5, the Lord John Press edition of “Entropy’s Bed at Midnight” and Summer Sketches)

In terms of science fiction, he has writing such standout novels as Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Iluim, Olympos, Phases of Gravity. For horror, there’s Carrion Comfort, A Winter Haunting, Summer of Night, Children of the Night, and Fires of Eden. He wrote three hardboiled mystery/suspense novels: Hardcase, Hard Freeze, and Hard as Nails. Meanwhile, Darwin’s Blade is a pure suspense novel, as is The Hollow Man. He could have stuck to writing books in any genre, but Simmons was never one to be limited by success or genres.

His stort stories were collected in Lovedeath, Prayers to Broken Stones, and Worlds Enough & Time. One of his short stories appears in The Last Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison and J. Michael Straczynski. His novella, Muse of Fire, is an SF classic. He wrote a Jack Vance appreciation story, “The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderōz,” which first appeared in a collection of new fiction in the style of Vance, and later as a novella from Subterranean Press. Several of his short fiction remains uncollected, as do many of his non-fiction essays. See here for a bibliography.

He even wrote several books with a theme of parallel history, books that drew in real-live people with a twist of fiction. The Crook Factory featured Ernest Hemingway during his Cuba years; Simmons went mountain climbing on Everest with The Abominable, ventured into the icy wilderness with Franklin’s failed Northwest Passage expedition in The Terror, shadowed Charles Dickens last and unfinished novel with Drood, then delved into the history of Mount Rushmore with Black Hills. Lastly, he gave us a mix of fiction and metafiction with The Fifth Heart, possibly the last book published in his lifetime, back in 2015. For years after than book came out, I kept looking for new fiction from Simmons, but to no avail. Now, one more of the great genre writers has fallen silent.

Tempus edax rerum – time, the devourer of all things. Another giant in my golden age of SF (and other fiction) has fallen silent. Rest in peace, Dan Simmons.

The third early Repairman Jack novel

February 26, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Back in mid-2025 I bought the limited editions of the first two books in F. Paul Wilson’s early Jack series, Secret Histories and Secret Circles, both published by Gauntlet Press.

Though I already had the mass market editions from Tor (published between 2008 and 2011), having these signed books felt almost necessary, since they went with the many Gauntlet Press FPW books that I owned. The third Gauntlet Press book, Secret Vengeance, isn’t as easy to find as the others. Still, I was able to obtain a copy, and now have all but the last two novels that Wilson published, The Uprising and Lexie. Time will tell if I try to obtain those books; I already have the trade paperback editions, but if I do come across the GP books, maybe it will be too hard to resist.

I enjoyed all the three YA Repairman Jack books, despite Wilson shoehorning in some characters into young Jack’s life that appear in later stories. There’s a ton more of stories to mine in Jack’s life, which Wilson did with the three-volume “city” years. Alas, he’s no longer able to write fiction.

Still, when it comes to the Tor editions, I wish the marketing department had been more consistent. Maybe they thought the first book didn’t sell well, but with the second and third they drastically changed the design of the dust jacket, and they just don’t match.

Then again, Gauntlet tweaked their covers as wel. Strangely enough, they didn’t just change the font on the dust jacket, but also adding a color block on the spine the third book. They didn’t stop there. The first two books were numbered 1-500, while the third, Secret Vengeance, only ran to 475 copies. This might be why it was so hard to find at near-cover price. Only the publishers can explain why they have a different number of books published for the last of the trilogy. This means that 25 people trying to collect the entire set are simply out of luck. With Tor, they went in a different design direction after the first book, while Gauntlet changed the spine design and cover text placement on the third book. Go figure.

Jack London’s Little White Book

February 24, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The 67th book in Borderlands Press long-running series of short (in size) and slim (number of pages) books is entitled A Little White Book of the Wild. This, of course, is nod to London’s perhaps most famous novel, The Call of the Wild. Aside from the title, the “white” in the Borderlands Press book also alludes to London’s adventures in the icy north of Alaska.

Edited by SF well-known writer, John DeChancie, this book collects five of London’s short stories, including one of most famous pieces, “To Build a Fire.” I read this story and The Call of the Wild many, many years ago. As to the other four stories between the covers of this book, I do not recall having read a single one of them. Also collected here is “A Thousand Deaths,” one of his earliest professional sales. This was a science fiction story sold to the pulp magazine, Black Cat. London (1876-1916) died young. His legacy is somewhat marred by accusations of not just racism, but also plagiarism and eugenics. He was a firm believer in socialism, writing the 1908 dystopian political novel, The Iron Heel. His feeling about socialism did wane near the end of his life. Perhaps current socialist poster-boy (er, poster-geriatric?), Bernie Sanders, drew his crusade against “oligarchy” from this novel? London also cared deeply about animals. All that aside, London will forever be associated with the Alaska gold rush.

At some point recently, Borderlands Press changed their usual print run from 500 to 350 copies of a book (there have been exceptions, but usually the number went above 500, not below). This, of course, means that anyone trying to collect the entire set of books will need to act quickly, or face the issue of buying from specialist book-dealers who buy multiple copies and then charge more than cover price.

As book #67 in the series, there are three more authors to round up this group of five. I wonder, of the writers in that era, who will be next…

Robert Silverberg’s Legends

February 19, 2026 /

Many years ago (maybe even 25 years ago) I bought a paperback edition of Legends, an anthology edited by Robert Silverberg. This book contained four novellas from noted writers: Stephen King, Robert Silverberg, Orson Scott Card, and Raymond E. Feist. By chance I looked through this book a week or two ago, and saw it was listed as Volume I. The cover is tan-colored, almost golden. Maybe when I bought it I saw the Volume I (though it only appears inside the book, not on the cover), but I never looked for another volume. Or, maybe not, as at the time I think I read maybe one of those four stories. But, I kept the book…

When I hit up some bookstores this weekend, I checked out the SF paperback anthology section. Usually there’s just Star Trek novels or other tie-in books. On the other hand, I’m only on the lookout for older anthologies, especially DAW editions of SF, fantasy, horror. However, in this one instance I came across a green cover with the word “Legends,” and it turned out to be Volume 2 of that series. There were actually two copies, and one was in great shape. When I picked up this book, I thought to myself, “Aha, now I have them both!” That was not the case… I do find it funny that the “New Novels” text has the word, “short” in tiny font, almost tricking the reading into buying the books.

In a funny twist of fate, at the next bookstore I found a hardcover copy of Legends, which contained even more stories, so my two copies were’t the full set. I debated whether or not to try to wait for what I thought would be a paperback copy of volume 3, but bought the hardback anyway. Strangely enough, the next day I came across a battered copy of Volume 3, this one in all black, which I held off buying. Both my two paperback volumes were published in late 1999, so finding a pristine paperback copy of the third edition might be like winning a small lottery, as until this weekend I don’t think I’ve come across any copies anywhere.

The hardback collects 11 novellas: the paperback splits these among three books. At over 700 pages, the hardback is a massive tome, but then the authors all are major names in the field: Terry Pratchett, King, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, and many others. Each story takes place in familiar fantastical world, unique to the author. What a treasure!

Legends originally appeared in 1998. Martin’s contribution is the first in a series of stories (I think), that now has been made into an HBO series, featuring a pair of characters with the strange names, Dunk and Egg. The story takes place in his Game of Thrones world (aka the novel that started with, A Song of Fire and Ice). I’ve never ready any of those novels, but Game of Thrones has taken on a life of its own since Martin first wrote about that world many years ago. King’s novella takes place in his Dark Tower world, Pratchett’s in Discworld, Le Guin’s in Earthsea, and so on. These writers all truly are “legends” when it comes to fantasy fiction, and I’m thrilled to finally have all the stories in one volume. The question now, is what to do with those two paperback books…?

A Pair of Noir Anthologies

February 18, 2026 /

Just when I don’t need another series on my radar, I stumble upon two books in a massive themed series. While browsing a mystery section, I picked up a book entitled Copenhagen Noir. Thinking this was a neat find, as I like Scandinavian crime fiction, I immediately added it to my stack of to-buy-books at that store. Later in the day, while in Austin, Texas of all places, I found a book called Austin Noir. Too much of a coincidence, I thought, and checked the front pages. Yep, there I found a long list of books, almost all with a city in the title, followed by “Noir.” I’d found another series…

According to the end page, the series was started in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book has a collection of all-original stories, set in a different and distinct neighborhood in that city. While I’ve been to Copenhagen a couple of times, I know next to nothing about that city. Austin, on the other hand, is a place I know well, having lived there for several years. It will be interesting to read this one and see if I still recognize those areas, since I left there 25 years ago.

So much fun, with all these cities. What a great concept. As a bonus, there’s even a story from my favorite Norwegian author, Gunnar Staalesen, in the Copenhagen Noir book. I guess there are too few writers for a Bergen Noir book…Then again, Staalesen’s Bergen detective, Varg Veum, has been to Copenhagen a few times in his investigations.

Tim Powers’ Bible Repairman collection

February 10, 2026 /

In 2005 Subterranean Press released a chapbook with Tim Powers’ short story, “The Bible Repairman.” At only 26 pages, it also includes interior illustrations by Powers. I have the second printing, which is marked “Signed second printing.”

A few years later (2011) Tachyon Publications released a trade paperback collection of Powers’ stories, under the aegis of The Bible Repairman and Other Stories.

It collects six stories, plus an introduction by Powers. So, that’s enough, right? Maybe not, for last year I learned that Subterranean Press also published an edition of the same set of stories, also in 2011. This was a hardcover signed and limited edition, published with only 500 numbered and 26 lettered copies. I bought a copy of this edition recently, for $35, not knowing that the book originally was listed for $75.

As I own a handful of Subterranean Press editions of Tim Powers books (but by no means all of them), I was thrilled to have a hardcover replace the trade paperback edition.

George R. R. Martin’s Children

February 10, 2026 /

There’s a special circle in cell for people who stamp their ownership in books, and then don’t destroy those books before passing them on…

In February, 2026 I acquired a copy of the trade edition of George R. R Martin’s 1987 collection, Portraits of His Children. The book was in pristine condition, but on the first page inside the book some had stamped their name in a way that never can be undone: “Library of [name removed] M.D.” How nice of you, Dr. X, to have your own personal stamp to mar the books that you own. Has Dr. X now shuffled off his mortal coil, and his book then passed to some dealer/seller to push the book along? Possibly so. I’m almost tempted to tear out that page. Instead, I may look for another copy without such a stamp, then foist this book off to someone less finicky.

All grumbling aside, this book collects 11 stories from Martin’s early years as a writer, when he wrote SF stories, and before he ventured into fantasy with the Game of Thrones series of books and TV shows. These were stories published in Analog and Asimov, as well as anthologies. The introduction is from Roger Zelazny, an SF/fantasy writer. The publisher: Dark Harvest—whose first book was by Martin, a book apparently only published in a limited edition (no additional trade edition), and it’s quite expensive on the current used book market. I used to own a couple of Martin novels years ago, and gave them away. I never got into Game of Thrones, so I only have this book because I’m trying to collect all books published by Dark Harvest, a small publisher that existed between 1983 and 1993. Martin’s novella, “The Skin Trade,” is one of the best stories in the Night Vision anthologies.

More Dark Harvests: Brin and Tessier

February 10, 2026 /

One of my current goals is to try and complete my collection of books from Dark Harvest. This was a small press publisher active from 1983 through 1993. During that time they published just over 50 books. I still lack a handful of hard to find Dark Harvest books, and was able to add a pair of these recently.

David Brin, The River of Time (1986). Back around 1990 or so, I bought a British paperback edition of this book. Then I bought a bunch more Brin paperbacks, although for some reason I stopped keeping up with his fiction after a while.

The British paperback edition sports a neat cover, but the Dark Harvest book came out one year prior to the paperback edition, and is the true “first edition.” The River of Time collects 11 short stories, grouped under four headings: Destiny, Recollection, Speculation, and Propagation. This Dark Harvest book is the trade edition, not signed by Brin. Still, it’s in great condition, which matters more to me than a signature.

Thomas Tessier, Secret Strangers (1992). I’ve never read anything by Tessier. Last year, while at a bookstore in Mesa, Arizona, I considered buying a copy of this book. Back then I was deterred by the price as I considered it priced a little high. This copy is one of the signed & limited books, #19 of 250 such copies.

Reviews don’t appear to be kind to the book, citing the main character. I’ve just started reading Secret Strangers, and while the main character isn’t very likable, nor seemingly intelligent, she won’t be the first such person in fiction.

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