goobergunch: (tardis)
In which Hugo finalists are announced, I hit up a bunch of bookstores, and I am too lazy to post them until now:
Five books )
So I've got first editions of four of this year's six Best Novel finalists. Piranesi will be a bit tricky for this American since the first edition is British, and all of the copies I've seen of Black Sun so far have been later printings. It's been generally a bit challenging to pick up used 2020 novels since a lot of the usual suspects haven't been accepting sales/donations—or have greatly limited their intake—due to COVID. Hopefully that eases soon, and I'm not just saying that because I have a couple bags of books I'd like to offload.

goobergunch: (tardis)
On Saturday I drove down to Bakersfield to hit up their mass-vaccination center. I did not really stop on the way there or on the way back (except for fuel / quick rest stops) as I don't really trust Kern County to be taking due COVID precautions (there's a reason that said vaccination site is taking walk-ins) and I wanted to get back home before the J&J aftereffects kicked in. I did, then felt pretty miserable for the next day and a half. So I didn't pick up any books in Bakersfield. I did, however, get the following eBay purchase in the mail today:

Leiber, Fritz. The Wanderer. New York: Ballantine Books, [1964]. First edition mass-market paperback original. Hugo Award for Best Novel. A classic disaster story, where a rogue planet shows up, eats the moon, and the (many and varied) human characters react to this. Yeah, not really in the top tier of Hugo-winning (or Leiber, for that matter) novels. Described by the seller as a Near Fine copy and that seems about right to me. Acquired off eBay for $3.99 (plus $3.99 shipping).
goobergunch: (tardis)
In which I fell horribly behind on posting and have to do a month-long update all at once....

Cut for length )

Lime Ridge

Feb. 8th, 2021 12:16 pm
goobergunch: (Default)
Yesterday, I drove up to the Concord / Walnut Creek area to get in a bit of hiking on Super Bowl Sunday. I wanted something easy after about twenty-two miles of walking to collect a few CHLs on Saturday, and the objective ended up being the unranked Lime Ridge (1001'), which I tackled from the "back door" of Crystyl Ranch. It was mostly pretty quiet (and I saw three coyotes on the way up), but unfortunately I got to the summit at the same time as two different groups of people, so I didn't get to do much more on top than quickly tag the benchmark and retreat. I waited about twelve minutes in the hope that they'd leave, but no such luck. (1:42, 3.8mi, +848'. YTD: 6.3mi, +1,775'.)

I then drove over to the Half Price Books in Concord, but before hitting up the store I walked over to California Historical Marker No. 515: Don Salvio Pacheco Adobe. This looks to now be a set of apartments, with no public access (due to a locked gate) to the front door, and only a private plaque by the door noting the landmark.

Despite timing it for the Super Bowl, the HPB was a bit crowded for my liking, and apparently the concept of "one-way aisles" is still too difficult for people, so I scanned the SF/F aisle very quickly and then got on my way. I had thought there was a hardcover Trail of Lightning here (I have still only seen the softcover state in the wild) but apparently this intelligence was outdated. I did, however, grab this:
 
MacLeod, Ian R. Song of Time. [Hornsea, England]: PS Publishing, 2008. First edition hardcover; this is the trade edition (of 500 unnumbered and unsigned copies), without dust jacket as issued. Arthur C. Clarke and Campbell Memorial Awards. Purchased for $14.99.
goobergunch: (tardis)
With COVID-19 cases dropping a bit, I thought it would be a good time to drop by Recycle Bookstore to grab a couple books I had my eye on for a little while. I stopped by right at opening, so I'd have the SF/F aisles to my self, and bought:

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Talents. New York / Toronto: Seven Stories Press, [1998]. First edition hardcover. Nebula Award. Sequel to Parable of the Sower. Butler's look at religious fundamentalism and survival in the face of the same. Highly recommended. AbeBooks description of this Very Good copy: Book has light smudges and stains to textblocks, light rubbing to covers, a couple of light smudges to back endpage and endpaper. otherwise in great condition, tight binding, clean and unmarked pages; an overall sturdy, attractive copy. Dust jacket has moderate rubbing to front and back, light wear to top and bottom edges, a small chip to outer top corner of front side. in very good condition, now in archival cover. Purchased for $29.94, which is a good $40 cheaper than anything online with the first edition tag.

McKillip, Patricia A. Ombria in Shadow. New York: Ace Books, [2002]. First edition hardcover. World Fantasy and Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards; Fantasy Masterworks (Orion) #58. I didn't linger in the store for too long but I did do a quick skim of the shelves and this caught my eye. Purchased for $7.99.

Resnick, Mike, & Joe Siclari (eds.). Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches. Deerfield[, IL]: ISFiC Press, 2006. First edition hardcover. Hugo finalist for Best Related Work. AbeBooks description of this Near Fine copy: Book has a touch of smudging to the top text block, otherwise in near new condition. The dust jacket has minor rubbing to covers with light wear to the edges and corners, leaving it in great condition. Crisp, holds color well, and is now enclosed in an archival cover. At $28, this wasn't much cheaper than the $30 list price—but it's also signed by Mike Resnick (on the title page) and Vernor Vinge (on page 247).

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