Eating apples in Sienna. Now that was a vacation.
We're going out to look at a few used bookstores this afternoon. I only have about 500 used books waiting to be read. But there are two new stores so we'll give them a whirl.
What book would you most like to see on a used bookshelf? What's the one you're always hoping to find. For me, it's that Marlowe one-NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH.
FRANK LOOSE HAS FOUND ME A COPY FOR $15 on Biblio. Thanks so much to him and to all of you who checked into it.
36 comments:
I was at Aunt Agatha's Bookshop in Ann Arbor in July and they had the Black Lizard trade paperback version of it. Maybe they still have it.
Cameron
Oh, thanks so much. I'll get right on it.
All three issues of P.S. magazine. (Not the military maintennance magazine, which apparently had notable illos by Will Eisner.)
Until recently # 1 on my list would have been Don Carpenter's first novel, "Hard Rain Falling", but NYRB is reprinting it next month, so I'll have to find another one. As a bonus the reprint has an intro by George Pelecanos.
Cows by Matthew Stokoe
Anything by Gil Brewer (GM editions)
My list is several miles long. At the top is three "Matthew S. Hart" books ghosted by Bill Crider: Eagle Pass, The Prisoners, and Comanche Code. Also, Avalanch Run, which Crider wrote under the "William Grant" house name. Then there's The Mystery Scene Reader, edited by Ed Gorman. Last Light and Love Letters to Caitlin by August Derleth (the last was withdrawn from publication so very few copies exist). There's an anthology by Isaac Asimov and Martin Greenberg that I have read about but have not been able to find: Quests, #13 in the Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Fantasy series. Adventures of a Jounalist by Herbert Cadett. The second volume of the collected Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer The Comic Strip, Dark City and Other Stories. Foul Play Suspected by John Benyon. Any number of the early pseudonymous "adult" paperbacks by Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, Dean Koontz, Robert Silverberg, or Evan Hunter.
Ask me ten minutes from now and I'll have a completely different list.
Yikes, Jerry. You do have an eye for the obscure. What is PS Magazine?
Yes HARD RAIN FALLING -waiting for that one.
I have never seen a Gil Brewer book anywhere. I think the Internet had deprived us from stumbling on these in bookstores.
You'll never find the one I'm looking for. Capture The Saint by Burl Barer. There were only about 850 copies in two editions printed. But snatch it up if you should find one reasonably priced. On the used book sites they run about $80 to $100.
Given that these bookstores are in suburban Detroit, I'd be surprised.
Jerry House,
Do you already have RED MOON'S RAID, the other Cody's Law novel that Bill worked on? If not, you should add it to your list. COMANCHE CODE is a sequel to it. Also, I think THE AVALANCHE RUN is the Faraday novel that was written but never published, or if it was printed it was never distributed because Lynx Books collapsed right then. So if you ever do find a copy, you'll have a real rarity. I've heard rumors that there was another unpublished Faraday novel, possibly by Chet Cunningham, but I don't know if that's true. I have a few of those "wrote it, turned it in, got paid for it, but it was never published" books in my past. Not to mention a couple of "wrote it, turned it in, never got paid for it" books.
Patti,
THE NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH is a wonderful book, one of my all-time favorites. The follow-up, ONE ENDLESS HOUR, is almost as good.
PS was published in the mid-'60s by Mercury Press, a magazine about pop culture and nostalgia...each of the issues had an essay by Avram Davidson, if I'm not mistaken, which has not been reprinted, as well as similar material by Ron Goulart, Gahan Wilson and others. Philip "William Tenn" Klass published an historical essay there that was picked up for a proto BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS volume, the only volume for what was clearly meant to be a series (BEST MAGAZINE STORIES OF 1966 or something like that).
Naturally they didn't have the Marlowe book and I couldn't find it on Aunt Agatha's website but I'll be up there on Sept. 18th and will look. But it was fantastic bookstore and I got three early James Sallis books, a Pete Dexter (TRAIN) and a Laura Wilson. Nothing unusual but if I were better prepared I would have done better.Next time I take a list. My mind goes blank.
James, thanks for the reminder. I have read Red Moon's Raid and enjoyed it very much, as I have many of the other pseudonymous books that Bill Crider wrote or had a part in.
Todd, PS was a fantastic magazine. It also had some great articles by Charles Beaumont which were reprinted in his book Remember? Remember? Unfortunately, I got rid of my copies years ago; otherwise I would send them on to you.
Patti, I may a copy of the Dan Marlowe in one of the many boxes in my shed. If so, I'll send it on to you.
Late to the discussion as usual, but I'd like to find a copy of THE RAT BEGAN TO GNAW THE ROPE which I believe is by Sue Grafton's father. Anyone feel free to educate me on this one.
Wow. It won't be me. Never heard of it.
Jerry-I will gladly pay for the shipment should you find it and mail it back.
I came across a copy of Hard Rain Falling earlier this summer and bought it even though I'm positive I have another copy in a box in my garage. If I find it, the latest one is yours, Patti. As for Gil Brewer, I just left a copy of one about teenage killers on the shelf in Value Village. It was an Israeli reprint (Priority??) for 99cents. I'm also looking for The Name of the Game is Murder, but I do hope to find copies of Road Game by Mark Burch, Chester Stubbs by Craig Miles Miller, Finnie Walsh by Stephen Galloway and The Rail by Howard Owen in a used bookstore.
I would very much like to find first editions of Flannery O'Connor's books; perhaps some unsuspecting merchant in a flea market or thrift shop will leave some of those available for me someday. But, I don't believe in miracles.
Thanks for the good thought, Jerry, and for the further reminder (I knew Beaumont had published there, but hadn't realized the contributions were collected...wonder if REMEMBER? REMEMBER? also includes his PLAYBOY essay "The Bloody Pulps"). I've yet to see the third issue at all.
Ed Ferman: "We were going to call it NOSTALGIA, but that seemed too simple, somehow."
Rick, RAT is by Grafton's father, a lawyer who wrote two or three pretty good mysteries. I've got a copy of the Perrenial paperback signed by Sue Grafton (gloat, gloat).
Some of those from my childhood -- The Black Stallion books or Black Beauty - even though I have copies, I love the original ones...Grimms Fairy Tales...etc :)
the hardback to The Incredible Journey
Wow, Patti, I hadn't realized THE NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH is a $100 book on AMAZON. I'll have to keep an eye out for used copies. I used to see that book everywhere back in the 1980s. James Reasoner is right about ONE ENDLESS HOUR being almost as good. I wish Stark House or one of the other fine mystery presses would reprint Marlowe's novels. I'd be looking for James Sallis' DIFFICULT LIVES.
I kept a lot of book from my childhood--all ruined due to my penchant of writing Patti's Library Number Ten and so on in them. I thik I have Black Stallion.
I can't find any Black Lizard version of the Marlowe book. All of them seem to be high. It can be my quest.
Is it important to read those first five Sallis books in order? I have 2,3 and 5.
I think you can read the Sallis books in any order, Patti. If I find a copy of THE NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH, I'll send it to you. My copies are at SUNY at Buffalo.
When you come to Toronto, there's a slew of used bookstores on Yonge Street one subway stop south of Bloor. One in particular is on the east side of Yonge Street north of the intersection, about a block up.
Another one on Yonge Street is just north of Eglinton Avenue past Kitchen Stuff across from Eglinton Centre.
I like to look for Edgar Cayce books, preferably the ones he wrote.
Thanks, Barbara. I remember reading that one years ago.
George-I can probably find it in a library. It's just too rare to buy. Wonder why some publisher doesn't reprint it?
In battle for peace, by W. E. B. Dubois. I was half through a copy of that book once when it was stolen.
Cameron, I was at Aunt Agatha's last fall (which is saying a lot because I live in S. California!) and I found a blue-cover Nancy Drew!
Oh, I also meant to mention that for a while my sister was on the lookout for Cherry Ames' books. Which meant I was the lookout for Cherry Ames too!
I am always on the lookout for Maud Hart Lovelace books-the Betsy-Tacy series for my daughter. Never have once seen one in a bookstore.
Obscure? Whadaya mean, obscure? Those books James and I worked on are classics. Except maybe for THE AVALANCHE RUN. I'd love to see a copy of that one. Jerry, even more obscurely, the editors thought maybe that book could be rewritten as a YA novel, and I did a lengthy proposal for them. Nothing ever came of it, however.
Congrats on getting that copy, Patti.
Regarding The Rat Began to Chew the Rope, I finally wised up and did a search. For a brief review, here's a link: sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~jmcd/book/revs2/rbgr.html
I found a lot of cheap copies on ABE, and bought one.
Oops, that should be The Rat Began to GNAW the rope. What a great title!
The title alone is intriguing, Richard.
Patti: I don't know if you're the only to read this, but I'll write it down nevertheless.
You know Elias Canetti, the Nobel-winning Italian author? He has this autobiographical trilogy which is translated in full in Finnish. I have the first two, but the third one is for some reason really rare. I keep looking for it everytime I visit a used book store. So far no luck, not even for a good price.
I've seen the book once (well, I think one of my friends has it, since he has just about everything). It was in the shelves of a young Finnish poet whom I once interviewed - about a very low subject: he was doing research on old porn magazines at the university library and we were doing a piece on obscenities. This was a student paper I worked on. And the minute I walked into this guy's apartment I saw all this blood. It was on the floor, on the furniture. The guy said: "I cut my thumb." Okay, I go, and ask him a few questions. Leaving the aparment I notice the Canetti book.
Two or three weeks later: the guy commits suicide.
He published one collection of poetry and I think some scattered around in small magazines and such. I think he had been at it when I came to do my interview. Innocent as I was, I didn't suspect anything.
As for Canetti, I haven't seen the book since.
It's the ones that get away that kill you. I'll keep my eyes open but I doubt it will be in Finnish. Today I saw so many great westerns at an antique store we were in, I just wished I had a list of book people wanted. A few months ago, I passed up a Horace McCoy. James Reasoner sent me one though so sometimes good things happen.
It's the ones that get away that kill you. I'll keep my eyes open but I doubt it will be in Finnish. Today I saw so many great westerns at an antique store we were in, I just wished I had a list of book people wanted. A few months ago, I passed up a Horace McCoy. James Reasoner sent me one though so sometimes good things happen.
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