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Oh boy, the Urantia Book. I once spent a happy half-an-hour in a New Age bookshop and I don't remember much of what I browsed by name, but the Urantia Book was something special. I have a copy on my Kindle. Every page is gold. Wikipedia informs me that Martin Gardner said its "cosmology outrivals in fantasy the cosmology of any science-fiction work known to me." Apparently Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Garcia were fans.
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Feb 2, 2020 01:08
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Jordan7hm posted:I don't remember the particular Helen Oxenbury books that I had growing up, but I absolutely remember reading Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes dozens of times to my son when he was a baby. Her art is wonderful; grounded but whimsical. Sparse on backgrounds, with slightly chubby characters who just look kind of angelic. In 1999 she put out an illustrated edition of Alice in Wonderland, and though I own at least two other versions of this book, I had to pick this up when I found it. Pretty sure I have this edition too. I collect various versions of Alice, and my favorite by far is an early edition of The Annotated Alice. There've been new editions published since then with more annotations added, but at the time the first Annotated volume came out, it was the most comprehensive book of Alice information available. The edition I really want is one that my college had, which they used for display only and never loaned out. Because it was on display in a glass case, opened to a page somewhere in the middle, I never did get a chance to see the cover and find out what that edition was called, but it was a version of Alice printed in Lewis Carroll's handwriting and using his original illustrations. I also have a few of these. I kept mine in the shrinkwrap, but since they're newer editions they're not worth a whole lot. At the moment I'm not even sure where they are, to be honest. Probably still in a box somewhere from when I moved.
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Feb 2, 2020 02:13
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Zamboni Rodeo posted:Pretty sure I have this edition too. I collect various versions of Alice, and my favorite by far is an early edition of The Annotated Alice. There've been new editions published since then with more annotations added, but at the time the first Annotated volume came out, it was the most comprehensive book of Alice information available. I just picked up a copy of this a few days ago -- per the copyright page, it's the ninth printing of the first edition, printed in 1970. It's a paperback and a bit worn, and I may want a more current edition eventually, but I love Martin Gardner's work and am excited to dig into Alice-iana.
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Feb 2, 2020 05:06
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I finally found the other two books in this trilogy I was missing. This is ridiculous sci fi Texas fan fiction from the cold war era. I only had the 3rd one until today. The premise is that Texas seceded from the US because they were wimps in the face of Soviet aggression. The Soviets have all but won the cold war until Texas steps in. Here's a taste of how amazing these are from the 3rd book: The Soviets invade Texas with a massive amount of tanks. Hundreds of Soviet tanks are crossing a huge field when they begin to struggle in muddy conditions. Coming to a stop, the tank commander gets out and notices something strange about the mud. Suddenly he realizes that the mud is not caused by water, but pure Texas crude oil. As he looks up in shock a figure on horseback dressed as the lone ranger appears on a nearby hill. As they make eye contact the lone ranger pulls out a bow and arrow before lighting the arrow on fire and shooting it into the field. The Soviet tanks go up in a giant conflaguration as he rides off into the sunset. There is also a space battle with Texonauts vs Cosmonauts. I really should do a Let's Read of the series, but I just don't have the time. I'll try to come back and post some of the more ridiculous things when I get around to reading them.
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Feb 3, 2020 03:16
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Wow!! Those sound hilarious! I'll have to look for those. Reminds me of that Texas-Israeli War:1999 book posted on the first page of this thread, but even more promising!
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Feb 3, 2020 07:26
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I have a few odd ones I picked up during my time at university. Every time an office or library was cleaned out they put out a box of any obsolete books, free for the taking. I have a special fondness for very niche zoology books. If I ever decide to become a supervillian:    And if I ever decide to follow my dreams and become a primate dentist:  
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Feb 3, 2020 12:27
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I really wanna look through both of those, especially the primate dentist one.
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Feb 4, 2020 04:38
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I saw this book at the Jamestown, Virginia gift shop when I was there last September and thought it looked interesting:  A newly revised book by everyone's favorite Luddite mail-bomber:   I still need to do a write up on these when I can find the time:  
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Feb 6, 2020 18:18
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Gutter Phoenix posted:I still need to do a write up on these when I can find the time: You have no idea how giddy it makes me to know that George Kennedy wrote these books, especially self-insert at that. I imagine him thinking he could option them into one of those 1970's TV-movie-of-the-week type things.
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Feb 7, 2020 02:09
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Not my book, not my scan, but I love this cover: Richard Belzer wrote (well, co-wrote, you know how it is) two novels with himself as the main character:   I love this conceit, but I feel like it's something only character actors could really pull off. Even with the help of a ghostwriter, it's a lot more honest than those thrillers written by powerful people with thinly-veiled stand-ins for themselves being hyper-competent:  
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Feb 7, 2020 13:49
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The haul from today:   
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Feb 11, 2020 02:03
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Pastry of the Year posted:Not my book, not my scan, but I love this cover: I've seen a couple episodes of SVU and Belzer trying to intimidate people by being tough physically is legit hilarious, I burst out laughing multiple times.
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Feb 11, 2020 02:51
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Pastry of the Year posted:Not my book, not my scan, but I love this cover: 'Seed', indeed...that illustrator had a grin on his face the whole time.
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Feb 12, 2020 18:30
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Pastry of the Year posted:Even with the help of a ghostwriter, it's a lot more honest than those thrillers written by powerful people with thinly-veiled stand-ins for themselves being hyper-competent: I Don't Even Own A Television did a great takedown of this book -- it's one of their earlier episodes and it's pretty hilarious. I think they did one for the Bill Clinton book too, but I haven't heard that ep. So what I'm saying is, track down the Bill O'Reilly review if nothing else.
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Feb 12, 2020 19:41
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Zamboni Rodeo posted:I Don't Even Own A Television did a great takedown of this book -- it's one of their earlier episodes and it's pretty hilarious. I think they did one for the Bill Clinton book too, but I haven't heard that ep. So what I'm saying is, track down the Bill O'Reilly review if nothing else. I've heard a few episodes of that podcast, and they were funny. The one on Ready Player One had me laughing out loud and has kept me from ever actually opening that book (my fiance has a copy). I might have to do a Let's Read style thread for those George Kennedy books. There's just too much good stuff to not share. I wish I had more free time!! I assume those Richard Belzar books are tongue-in-cheek since he is/ was a comedian, but I don't watch that show (even though I am a huge Ice-T fan), so I don't know. I guarantee those Bill O Reilly books are not tongue-in-cheek, because that man is very dumb and has no sense of humor.
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Feb 12, 2020 19:54
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The Bill O'Reilly book reminds me of the Ben Shapiro book where the hero nukes NYC and that's seen as a good thing.
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Feb 12, 2020 21:19
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Picked up a nice signed copy of Neuromancer for only $40  
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Feb 13, 2020 01:27
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 Holy poo poo that’s great.
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Feb 13, 2020 02:11
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I love Easton Press. Their stuff is gorgeous.
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Feb 13, 2020 04:36
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Feb 13, 2020 22:40
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I don't have a picture of it at the moment (I'd have taken a photo of the cover but it is completely blank and unremarkable), but I received in the mail yesterday my copy of Poison Gas, a 1928 science fiction play that takes place in the far-off, doomed future of A.D. 1950. Here's a summary I found: Having been born when and where I was, I tend to associate apocalyptic fiction with nuclear weapons and/or biological warfare, so discovering the existence of this play - published all of once and seemingly extremely obscure - was something special. I'd like to scan it in its entirety to a PDF to upload to (e.g.) archive.org to be preserved forever - something I've never done before! This is going to be a busy weekend but I intend to post highlights when I get around to reading it.
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Feb 14, 2020 13:15
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Westlake's Bank Shot was published in Finnish with a much more apt title "Ottakaa pankki kiinni!" ("Catch that Bank!")  He's one of my favourite authors.
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Feb 14, 2020 13:41
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Gas attacks, or villains threatening to use some sort of gas (real or fictional) was a thing in the 30s and 40s, in part due to the Mad Gasser of Mattoon and similar incidents. I wonder if Jess Nevins knows about this play? He’s a librarian and archivist best-known for annotating The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but has written extensively on Victorian and Pulp literature. May be worth sending a tweet or email to him.
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Feb 14, 2020 16:49
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Pastry of the Year posted:I don't have a picture of it at the moment (I'd have taken a photo of the cover but it is completely blank and unremarkable), but I received in the mail yesterday my copy of Poison Gas, a 1928 science fiction play that takes place in the far-off, doomed future of A.D. 1950. Here's a summary I found: I want to type a bunch of stuff about this, but am super busy at work so I can't right now. Two things are too important to wait though: 1) Harber Mansleeve is a top-notch name 2) If you do figure out how to upload to archive.org, please share the process here and/ or in the magazine thread if you can. Thanks!! Gutter Phoenix fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Feb 14, 2020 |
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Feb 14, 2020 17:47
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Jerry Cotton posted:Westlake's Bank Shot was published in Finnish with a much more apt title "Ottakaa pankki kiinni!" ("Catch that Bank!") LOL! Westlake was one of the best. I've read at least 100 of his books, and the only ones I haven't read are the ones I haven't been able to find at a store, or U.S. library willing to do inter-library loans (mostly the pseudonymous ones from the 60's). More to say, but no time today...
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Feb 14, 2020 17:52
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 This is one of my most well-worn books. I've had it since my dad got stuck in Space Quest V a bit after it came out. I would take that book everywhere when I was a kid. Space Quest III was one of the first games I ever played, and the series imprinted on me. Looking back, the Space quest games, like a lot of the other Sierra Quest games, just aren't that great. But somehow I still have a soft spot for Space Quest in all its generic goofy sci-fi glory. Love the cover image. You can see a few more sample pages of the short story adaptation of Space Quests 1-5, the walkthroughs, maps, and the Points of Interest chart for each game. https://imgur.com/a/P9DwKDX
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Feb 17, 2020 04:41
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 Definitely more on the "weird" end than the "wonderful." This is the only picture I thought to take of it but I think it speaks for itself
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Feb 17, 2020 08:51
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Zamboni Rodeo posted:Pretty sure I have this edition too. I collect various versions of Alice, and my favorite by far is an early edition of The Annotated Alice. There've been new editions published since then with more annotations added, but at the time the first Annotated volume came out, it was the most comprehensive book of Alice information available. Just catching up with this thread, and yeah, I've got a couple of copies of The Annotated Alice - an old hardback with a brown dust jacket, and a modern large-format red hardback. Zamboni Rodeo posted:
I think you're looking for Alice's Adventures Underground - this is the edition I have. Might be out of print, but you should be able to find a copy. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alices-Adv...81926065&sr=8-3
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Feb 17, 2020 08:57
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Pastry of the Year posted:I don't have a picture of it at the moment (I'd have taken a photo of the cover but it is completely blank and unremarkable), but I received in the mail yesterday my copy of Poison Gas, a 1928 science fiction play that takes place in the far-off, doomed future of A.D. 1950. Here's a summary I found: Speaking of which, I have in my possession this:   Probably not super-rare or anything, it's a 1992 paperback reissue of a 1939 novel describing an apocalyptic next war involving terror bombing and horrible technological advances in weaponry, most significant of which are replicating, indiscriminately lethal artificial life forms. And industrial-grade racism, hoo boy.
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Feb 17, 2020 09:49
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Gutter Phoenix posted:2) If you do figure out how to upload to archive.org, please share the process here and/ or in the magazine thread if you can. Thanks!! ... magazine thread, you say?
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Feb 17, 2020 11:50
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Resident Idiot posted:... magazine thread, you say? Here. Almost 100 pages of densely-packed posts of scans from all kinds of magazines, comics, and ephemeral publications. It's great.
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Feb 17, 2020 12:10
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I found Obama/Biden fan fiction 
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Feb 17, 2020 16:28
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Teach posted:I think you're looking for Alice's Adventures Underground - this is the edition I have. Might be out of print, but you should be able to find a copy. Holy poo poo, I think this is the one! I didn’t think I’d ever have a chance in hell of finding this. Thank you SO much!
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Feb 17, 2020 17:28
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I bought a copy of Prisoners of the Good Fight from thriftbooks a while back. Its an excellent well researched book about captured Anarchists during the Spanish Civil war.  And Its written by a survivor of the Lincoln battalion!  ...And he seems to have signed this copy 
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Feb 18, 2020 00:45
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thedangergroove posted:
at one point or another, I had the King's Quest and LSL versions of this book. the King's Quest one in particular I remember being enamored with as a 9th grader.
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Feb 18, 2020 01:10
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Pastry of the Year posted:I don't have a picture of it at the moment (I'd have taken a photo of the cover but it is completely blank and unremarkable), but I received in the mail yesterday my copy of Poison Gas, a 1928 science fiction play that takes place in the far-off, doomed future of A.D. 1950. Here's a summary I found: I want to read this, and hope you are able to get it successfully uploaded somewhere. If all else fails, feel free to post it here or in the magazine thread! Poison gas is some scary poo poo, and I know it was a common topic for sci-fi/ war/ pulp stories/ novels between the world wars. Groke posted:Speaking of which, I have in my possession this: On that note, this looks pretty interesting. I've never heard of this, but would like to read it. Heath posted:
This is certainly both weird and wonderful, albeit in a horrible, I'm-losing-my-faith-in-humanity sort of way. I love idiotic, anti-intellectual psuedo-scientific/ conspiracy nonsense stuff like this!! Nasty Old Randy posted:I bought a copy of Prisoners of the Good Fight from thriftbooks a while back. This is rad!! D-Pad posted:I found Obama/Biden fan fiction 
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Feb 18, 2020 16:59
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Hope Rides Again is a sequel:
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Feb 18, 2020 18:54
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I'll see about going into work and using the scanner on Poison Gas this weekend. (there's a brand-new English sentence) Had a hair up my rear end for some quiet reading the past couple night so I dug into this little bit of cultural studies:  It's a pretty breezy read despite being by and for academics and I think people in this and the Vantasm thread might find some stuff of interest in here.
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Feb 20, 2020 01:49
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Pastry of the Year posted:Here. Thanks! As it happens, I had that one bookmarked as well, although I'm shamefully behind on it.
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Feb 20, 2020 06:56
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Gutter Phoenix posted:On that note, this looks pretty interesting. I've never heard of this, but would like to read it. I bought and read it way back in the 90s, just found it again recently. As far as I can remember it was in fact quite readable. Really loving racist, though (and written in such a way that the author obviously took it as a given that all his readers would be just as racist as himself).
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Feb 21, 2020 11:04
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