The Return of Wagner's Kane (for real)

Not a tease, this time.

Chatting on Fb about Karl Edward Wagner, and the question came up about Kane being out-of-print again, and wondering when the Centipede editions might start to appear (if they are still happening,)
I poked my head in at Amazon.

Boy, was I surprised.

What you're seeing are the ebooks covers I pulled from Barnes & Noble, actually.  Amazon has the books listed, but they have incorrect covers. (and I mean incorrect - wrong book, wrong author.)

Not every Kane tale, of course, but it's great to see something available (or will be available tomorrow!)

Priced at $3.99 each, it's finally a chance for those who haven't experienced Kane to get in the door cheap!

More loot

I received a pile of loot that I had ordered from Amazon.

Scouring Amazon for various Mammoth titles, I came across The Mammoth Book of Sword and Honor. It occurred to me that aside from Ambrose Bierce's (American) Civil War Stories, I don't think I've really read historical/historical-military fiction in the short form. I was intrigued. I was extra intrigued because The Mammoth Book of Sword and Honor was in the Amazon Bargain Books, and they claimed to only have a few copies left.

So, we came blame most of this on that. ;) I didn't want to pay double the price just to ship it, so I piled on the other stuff to get free shipping.

At first, I wasn't sure about The Mammoth Book of Dracula. I have other vampire anthologies and Mammoth books and wasn't sure about an entire Mammoth book of stories directly related to Dracula. But, the authors in the table-of-contents finally swayed me to put the book on my wishlist. Amazon were down to their last copy, so I added it to my order.

Psycho Mania is a new book and according to the copyright page, not a reissue. But, for all intents & purposes, it is a Mammoth book.  It is edited by Stephen Jones and the layout is the same as a Mammoth tome.  If it had been published ten years ago or earlier, it would have been titled, The Mammoth Book of Psychos.

As a matter of personal taste, I am not one for slasher/demented-murderer horror. There is too much of that in the real world. I prefer my horror to have some supernatural element. But, the cover claims some of these tales do have a supernatural element. It contains the Bloch classic, "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" which I have never read and I have wanted to read for a long time. That is the main reason I bought the book.

Charles Rutledge was kind enough to send me some wilder, early 1960s Sexton Blake stories. (which I sheepishly admit I still need to read.) I thought I should educate myself on some classic Sexton Blake tales. I was surprised how thick this book is! Most of the other Wordsworth Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural are half this thick.

Finally, I wanted to complete my mini Tarzan movie collection with Tarzan the Magnificent. It features Gordon Scott's last outing as the Lord of the Jungle, and his second outing as an articulate, modern Tarzan. Looking forward to watching it soon.

Going Mammoth

Yeahhhh...

Writing that Karl Edward Wagner post probably wasn't the best idea for me. I'm hankering to acquire more Mammoth books, now.  Heck, not hankering - have been.

I also wanted to try some noir/pulp in the short form, and The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction caught my eye. It's my first used purchase from Amazon (I usually go with eBay or ABEBooks) but I was able to use Amazon credit and get it free.

That started the ball rolling, all right.

The Zombies! book is really The Mammoth Book of Zombies reissued.

I also grabbed a digital version of The Mammoth Book of Vampires (with the class action lawsuit credit that Amazon issued a few weeks ago.)

But, I've also been reevaluating which books I want digital (because, it's really a lease, not a purchase) and which ones I want physically. After a long time, I'm swinging back toward the print side of the needle for more titles - not all certainly, but more than before.

So, eventually I might end up with a print copy of The Mammoth Book of Vampires.

Like Zombies!, some of the Mammoth books have under gone name changes. In addition to the above, I already owned The Mammoth Book of Monsters, The Mammoth Book of Wolfmen(/The Mammoth Book of Werewolves,) The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein, The Mammoth Book of Vampires Stories by Women, and - branching out from horror - The Mammoth Book of Sorcerers Tales(/The Mammoth Book of Dark Magic.)

And yeah - I have more on order as we speak. I'll share when I get my hands on them!

I'm really in the mood for short stories lately - both as a reader, and as a writer with a few ideas bubbling for upcoming anthologies.  I'm getting motivated, being entertained and analyzing what makes a story work.

Lumley on the cheap

Subterranean Press' The Compleat Crow by Brian Lumley has been on my wishlist since I made this post last year.

 It finally came out today - and at Amazon, it has already gone out of stock.

However, there was no delay for the Kindle edition, it is available for a mere $3!

Also, I missed this one at the end of last year.

No Sharks in the Meds and Other Stories, which completes a trio of collections - The Taint and Other Novellas being one and Haggopian and Other Stories being the other. (also only $3 each)

There are other Lumley ebooks on the cheap, too, but I am focusing on the Mythos stuff, not the Necroscope series.

Now, if the Primal Lands ebooks would go on sale, I'd be sitting pretty!

Book haul and things that change

If you "friended" me on Facebook, then you know I was blabbing about going book shopping for the past few days. I took a vacation day today and did just that. (I also attended some family matters in the afternoon - so it wasn't all about me and it was a productive business and pleasure day.)

I thought I would ramble a bit on the subject, because I need a post anyway.

First, the store. I went to The New England Mobile Book Fair. It is neither mobile, nor a fair. It is a warehouse-sized bookstore and they are open year-round. It's not far from me but I only go a few times a year or I'd be out of money and out of space. It's a great store, in fact, it pretty much is a warehouse. It is not a used book store. These books are new. Over the years I've come home with a lot - even out-of-print stuff. When I find those gems, they're diamonds. Imagine finding a book in mint condition at the used book store. Well, here, it's truly mint if you find one. My best find?  Conan of Aquilonia, ACE 1977 edition. I bought it around 1997. It had been sitting on the shelf (or, in back and then brought out) 20 years. Maybe just for me, eh? ;)

Now, there used to be one trick to navigating the store. They used to keep everything by publisher and title. Not by genre (with a few end-cap like exceptions) and not by author. It took some getting used to. But, if you came prepared with a list of books upon which you had noted the various publishers, there were great finds to be had.

Not to mention just browsing the hell out of the place.

But things change, yes they do...-

The Hypothetical Mammoth Book of Karl Edward Wagner

No, sorry there isn't actually a book named The Mammoth Book of Karl Edward Wagner, though there should be!

Recently, I started poking around my handful of Mammoth anthologies. I have mostly horror tomes edited by Stephen Jones.

I love those things, though I tended to grab them for a single story. Going back over the tables-of-content, I am noticing authors who I am now aware of that I wasn't aware of when I bought the books - Manly Wade Wellman, David J. Schow, Hugh B. Cave, et al.  (Which is why I should find more reading time.)

Some of these Mammoth anthologies have even found their way to ebook versions.

Sooo... - long story long, I thought I'd put together a list of Mammoth appearances of Karl Edward Wagner. For those who are interested in reading him but find acquiring the Wagner collections and novels difficult, maybe these can help. Some of the ebooks are pricey but there are lots of good stories alongside Wagner's tales. If not available as ebook, some can be found cheaply enough used.

The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein (Kindle)

“Undertow” (A Kane tale)

The Mammoth Book of Wolfmen (out-of-print)

(a reprint of The Mammoth Book of Werewolves (out-of-print))

“One Paris Night” (A Becker tale)

The Mammoth Book of Vampires (Kindle - yes, you can preview it, just click where the cover image would be)

“Beyond Any Measure”

The Mammoth Book of Monsters (out-of-print)

“.220 Swift”

The Mammoth Book of Zombies (Kindle)

“Sticks”

The Mammoth Book of Terror (out-of-print)
"The River of Night's Dreaming"

The Mammoth Book of New Terror (Kindle)
"The Fourth Seal"

Best New Horror 2 (Kindle) (technically, not Mammoth but edited by Jones and came up in my search)
"Cedar Lane"

In fact, there are also a large number of Best New Horror Stories. Wagner's name is on many of the covers, but I can't see the contents of the out-of-print ones. E.g.; number 4. (update; available for Kindle; number 3 and number 5)

Oh, of course, I just found this. I knew about it, but forget about it, too. Well, it doesn't have the Centipede collections or the ebooks or later Mammoth books, so my efforts aren't completely in vain.

Karl Edward Wagner Bibliography.

Also, according to that list, he had two stories in The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories. (out-of-print)

Happy hunting!

Acting My Face by Anthony James

If, like me, you are a child of 1970s television and film, then you know the face, if not the name.

My wife has gotten very involved in our town's cable access television station. It turns out one of her compatriots is a very good friend of Anthony James. In fact, in the afterword her friend is mentioned as one of the main driving forces that convinced James' his memoir was worth writing and his personal story worth getting out to the public.

So, the above is a personally autographed copy to my wife.

I was wondering how a guy here in Massachusetts made an in-road of friendship with a L.A. Hollywood guy.

Well, a quick glance at the book told me.

Since 1994, Anthony James has been living here in Massachusetts, pursing the life of a retired actor turned artist. He retired from acting and moved across the country. In fact, he and I lived in the same town for an overlap of about five years! You'd think I'd have picked up on him at a grocery store or something! Then again, if I saw him, I would probably have done a double-take and then shook my head and thought, "He sure looks like that guy from Hollywood."

You never know - it is a small world.

I look forward to reading it!