jean merrill
a miraculous children’s book - one of those books that goes to great lengths to convince you of its historical veracity - as an adult, the book turns into one of those perfect alternate histories of the world, perfectly imagined and, to borrow from woody allen, ‘unbearably wonderful’ - science fiction of the highest order, concerning stenography, truck driving, unionization, and cut flowers - and set, to top in all off, in one of the great new yorks
“the pushcart war”
tempo 1966. 1st thus. 12mo. 187pp. fair. a well worn copy, but still very readable, with a strong spine.
$10
/SOLD
barry hughart
presenting the complete output of the greatest american fantasist - that his “chronicles of master li and number ten ox” are two/thirds out of print stands as, in this bookseller’s opinion, a great stinking bibliographic tragedy - princess bride set in ancient china - the greatest word-prozac since wodehouse died - works of such complete and delightful imagination they seem not so much invented as transcribed - recommended with the highest assurance - you will love these books
“bridge of birds”
del ray 1991. 7th. 12mo. 278pp. near fine.
$5
“the story of the stone”
bantam spectra 1989. 1st pb. 12mo. 289pp. vg. very slight tear on upper back cover. front cover weakening against first page. op and very hard to find.
$15
“eight skilled gentlemen”
bantam spectra 1992. 1st pb. 12mo. 255pp. g+. very pronounced crease on front cover. thrift store sticker on spine and marker line through title on spine. interior very clean, spine strong. op and very hard to find.
$10
harry harrison
that great writer of ’60s hard sci-fi with a strong golden age influence and a lovely sense of humor - his books are reliable old friends on the shelf - action and character wrapped in a natural aversion to authority that has no doubt shaped many a young reader - presenting here one of his sharpest, a satire of the old school, a bizarro companion to starship troopers if there ever was one - belongs on the shelf right between mr. heller and mr. vonnegut
“bill, the galactic hero”
berkley medallion 1966. 1st pb. 12mo. 143pp. g+. small 1 inch by 1.5 inch chip missing from top of back cover. spine worn but strong. pages clean. fantastic richard powers cover.
$10
kem grimwood
one of the great unsung fantasies of our time - by a writer of meager output and extraordinary imagination - don’t be put off by the book’s slow start - this man made magic out of the quotidian like no other - for anyone who loved groundhog day and daydreams of tesseracts - for anyone who fantasizes about second chances - for anyone who doesn’t take elves with their tea and for anyone who appreciates that magical gift that the best writers of imaginative fiction have of taking an outrageous idea far out the twisting paths of possibility with grace and a sure hand. one of gorp’s very favorite books, highly recommended - don’t be put off by the paperback’s cover - there’s magic within
“replay”
ace 1992. 12mo. 313pp. vg. appears unread. some slight damage to far upper right of back cover.
$5
j.g. ballard
the great fetishist - true champion of flowers, buildings, businessmen - not quite as depraved as you’ve thought - one of the great fabulists of our modern boredom - more rigorous and more dangerous than most - an original and extraordinary writer - here presented his first post-apocalypse and a beat-up collection of stories from the third god (with dick and gibson) of the 20th century condition
“the drowned world”
penguin 1976. 12mo. 171pp. g+. cover shows substantial wear, pages and spine clean. cover by david pelham.
$10
/SOLD
“the best short stories of j.g. ballad”
washington square 1985. 12mo. 358pp. poor. a reading copy - spine falling apart, a few center pages loosening, a few lines highlighted in the anthony burgess introduction - rest of text unmarked. 19 stories from a collection dating to 1978.
$3
stanislaw lem
the polish cosmonaut - kafka with a sense of humor - a shiny surfaced communist sort of science fiction - directly descended from voltaire - hyper lingual, political, imaginative - one of the great writers of false prefaces and introductions - highly recommended, and not just for ‘solaris’ - from the bureaucratic satires of vaclev havel to the psychological murking of heinlein’s juveniles, his darker myths and his comic dystopias make for excellent company -
“solaris”
berkley 1980. 7th thus. 12mo. 223pp. g++. cover worn, marked, chipped, and inside cover stamped, but copy otherwise clean and tight, spine strong. trans. by joanna kilmartin and steve cox. afterward by darko suvin.
$10
“memoirs found in a bathtub”
avon 1976. 1st. 12mo. 192pp. vg-. spine worn, otherwise very clean. trans. by michael kandel and christine rose. cover by stanislaw fernandez.
$15
/SOLD
“tales of pirx the pilot”
avon/bard 1981. 1st bard. 12mo. 206pp. g++. cover worn, spine worn, interior clean. trans. by louis iribarne.
$10
“the star diaries”
avon 1977. 1st. 12mo. 321pp. vg. very nice copy. cover unusually clean. trans. by michael kandel. line drawings by the author. cover by stanislaw fernandez.
$15
robertson davies
the canadian prince of letters - one of the great slipstream works of paperback lit - if borges’s mazes were in ontario instead of buenos aires - written with a twinkly eye for everyday enchantment - certainly not sci-fi but eminently concerned with the elastic real
“the deptford trilogy” in slipcase
penguin 1980. 12mo. 266pp, 281pp, 316pp. vg+, vg+, vg+. books show minimal cover wear, very tight, square, clean copies. slipcase, while lovely, is in only fair shape.
$25
mervyn peake
the great mysterious author of the great un-lord of the rings - his masterwork - that gothic high fantasy - containing no magic - firmly rooted in consonants and stone - dense as a brick and secretive and miraculous - difficult but never fussy - highly recommended and a great influence to many - for all students of architecture and the weird - one of the great works of pure and private imagination
“the gormenghast trilogy” in slipcase
penguin modern classics 1975. 12mo. 506pp, 511pp, 262pp. g++, vg-, vg-. very clean interiors with tight spines and varying degrees of wear to the covers. illustrated by the author. introduction by anthony burgess.
$30
/SOLD
john christopher
the very best of the nearly forgotten - wrote book after book about the end of the world - here presented is his masterpiece - his young adult trilogy about fear, bravery, and green aliens - for lovers of ‘a wrinkle in time’ and ‘the dark is rising’ and every other book that knocked you out when you were young - the sorts of book that cry out to be reread once a year on a rainy day - that these are so hard to find truly boggles the mind
“the tripods trilogy” in slipcase
“the white mountains”, “the city of gold and lead”, “the pool of fire”
collier 1988. 12mo. 214pp, 218pp, 218pp. all three copies vg. “pool of fire” has crease on front cover. very tight reading copies in worn but sturdy slipcase.
$25
john christopher
the very best of the nearly forgotten - wrote book after book about the end of the world - his young adult ranks among the best ever written - his many novels of the post-apocalypse as matter-of-fact as you please, at once hyper modern and rooted in the 1950’s and early 1960’s - here presented for you are three of his strange post-apocalypses - death by plague, death by comet, death by ice age - and the first in the second of his masterful post-apoc-young-adult trilogies - the unusually dark ‘sword in the spirits’ trilogy - with an unusually fine cover
“no blade of grass”
avon 1967. 1st thus. 12mo. 190pp. vg. very clean copy, tight spine, slight foxing, some wear on back cover. hector garrido cover.
$15
“planet in peril”
avon 1959. 1st thus. 12mo. 159pp. g+. clean interior, some wear on covers, faint grease pencil marking on front cover, chipped spine. lovely ed emshwiller cover.
$15
“the long winter”
fawcett gold medal 1968. 12mo. 208pp. g. clean interior, some foxing, worn cover, severely abraded back cover, stamped from used bookstore on inside front and back covers. suspected paul lehr cover.
$10
“the prince in waiting”
collier 1974. 1st thus. 12mo. 218pp. vg. nice copy. some minor wear to back cover by spine. very op.
$20
