It’s been a couple of months, so time I checked in here. Last time out I mentioned that I had a bit more energy. That’s continued, though I’m still not where I want to be. Better, though. You never realise how sick you are until you start to get healthy, and in retrospect this was something of a tough winter — if not as bad as last winter. Honestly, it’s been a pretty rough two or three years (relatively speaking, at least). Anyway. It is a strange thing to me how differences in my energy levels are linked to differences in how I use language, and especially written language. That is, how easy or how difficult it is to string together words in a meaningful way, with the shades of meaning that I want. We’ll see how that plays out over spring and summer, and whether I can continue to get healthier and cobble together language in an increasingly coherent fashion.
At any rate, this past weekend was pretty neat, as I got to go to different book sales three days straight — culminating with a science fiction book sale. A list of purchases follows.
Friday (Centre Greene book sale)
What Life Was Like: Amid Splendor and Intrigue (Byzantine Empire AD 330-1453) [Editors of Time-Life Books]
Bell, Bowyer J. / Assassin!: The Theory and Practice of Political Violence
Clarke, Helen, and Björn Ambrosiani / Towns in the Viking Age
Clements, Jonathan / A Brief History of the Vikings
Duby, Georges (trans. by Cynthia Postan) / The Chivalrous Society
Ellis, Peter Berresford / A Brief History of the Celts
Ellis, Peter Berresford / A Brief History of the Druids
Jones, Wilbur Devereux Jones / Venus and Sothis: How the Ancient Near East Was Rediscovered
Labarge, Margaret Wade / Women in Medieval Life
Lenman, Bruce / The Jacobite Risings in Britain 1689-1746
Lorenz, Albert, with Joy Schleh / Metropolis: Ten Cities — Ten Centuries
McEvedy, Colin / The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History
Somerset, Anne / Unnatural Murder: Poison at the Court of James I
Tierney, Brian / The Crisis of Church & State 1050-1300
Weightman, Gavin / The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World, 1776-1914
Saturday (Friends of the Westmount Library Book Sale)
Bellairs, John / The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull
Burgess, Anthony / The End of the World News
Carter, Angela / Nights at the Circus
Chesterton, G.K. / St. Thomas Aquinas
Christiansen, Rupert / Romantic Affinities
Danielewski, Mark Z. / Only Revolutions
Dillon, Myles & Nora Chadwick / The Celtic Realms
Heal, Ambrose / London Tradesmen’s Cards of the XVIII Century: An Account of Their Origin and Use
Hearn, Lian / Heaven’s Net is Wide: The First Tale of the Otori
Hodge, Harry and James H. Hodge (selected by John Mortimer) / Famous Trials
Holman, Sheri / Witches on the Road Tonight
Knight, Michael Muhammad / Osama Van Halen
Knox, Elizabeth / Dreamhunter
Lowes, John Livingston / Geoffrey Chaucer
McBrien, Richard P. / Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs From St. Peter to John Paul II
McGarry, Terry / Illumination
McKillip, Patricia A. / The Tower at Stony Wood
Pernoud, Régine (trans. by Henry Noel) / Blanche of Castile
Sackville-West, Vita / The Easter Party
Shelley, Mary / Maurice, or The Fisher’s Cot
Strugatsky, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (trans. by Olena Bormashenko) / Roadside Picnic
Trease, Geoffrey / The Condottieri: Soldiers of Fortune
(Plus an assortment of comics from the late 70s, mostly Adventure comics with Steve Ditko’s work on “Starman,” plus a couple of DC Comics Presents issues that I hoped would have work by Jim Starlin — one did — and a couple J.M. DeMatteis issues of Defenders.)
Sunday (MonSFFA SF book sale)
Asprin, Robert Lynn (editor) / Sanctuary [Thieves’ World books 1-3]
Asprin, Robert Lynn and Lynn Abbey (editors) / Cross-Currents [Thieves’ World books 4-6]
Asprin, Robert Lynn and Lynn Abbey (editors) / Soul of the City [Thieves’ World book 8
Asprin, Robert Lynn and Lynn Abbey (editors) / The Price of Victory [Thieves’ World books 10-12]
Ballard, J.G. / The Best Science Fiction of J.G. Ballard
Ballard, J.G. / Billenium
Ballard, J.G. / The Drowned World
Ballard, J.G. / The Drought
Ballard, J.G. / Empire of the Sun
Ballard, J.G. / The Impossible Man
Ballard, J.G. / Passport to Eternity
Ballard, J.G. / The Terminal Beach
Ballard, J.G. / The Voices of Time
Ballard, J.G. / The Wind From Nowhere
Bauer, Steven / Satyrday
Bester, Alfred / The Deceivers
Blaylock, James P. / The Elfin Ship
Brackett, Leigh (edited and introduced by Edmond Hamilton) / The Best of Leigh Brackett
Čapek, Karel / War With the Newts
Chant, Joy / The Grey Mane of Morning
Davidson, Avram / The Enemy of My Enemy
Davidson, Avram / Rork!
de Chancie, John / Castle War!
de Larrabeiti, Michael / The Borribles
de Larrabeiti, Michael / The Borribles Go For Broke
Delany, Samuel R. / Distant Stars
Delany, Samuel R. / Equinox
Delany, Samuel R. / Flight From Nèverÿon
Delany, Samuel R. / Nova
Dick, Philip K. (edited and introduced by John Brunner) / The Best of Philip K. Dick
Dick, Philip K. / The Golden Man
Dick, Philip K. / The 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Dick, Philip K. / The Unteleported Man
Dick, Philip K. / The Variable Man and Other Stories
Ellison, Harlan (editor) / Medea: Harlan’s World
Ford, John M. / The Princes of the Air
Gentle, Mary / Rats and Gargoyles
Haggard, H. Rider / Wisdom’s Daughter
Howard, Robert E. / Heroes of Bear Creek
Howard, Robert E. / The Iron Man
Lafferty, R.A. / Space Chantey and Hill, Ernest / Pity About Earth (Ace Double)
Lee, Tanith / Dark Castle, White Horse
Lem, Stanislaw (trans. by Michael Kandel) / The Star Diaries
Lewis, C.S. / The Abolition of Man
Lindholm, Megan / Cloven Hooves (Uncorrected proof)
Martin, George R.R. / Tuf Voyaging
Mason, Lisa / Summer of Love
Merritt, A. / The Face in the Abyss
Moorcock, Michael / The Cornelius Chronicles
Moorcock, Michael / The Golden Barge
Moore, C.L. / Doomsday Morning
Morgan, Richard K. / Altered Carbon
Morris, William / The Water of the Wondrous Isles
Park, Paul / The White Tyger
Park, Paul / The Hidden World
Preiss, Byron (editor) / Weird Heroes: Vol. 1
Preiss, Byron (editor) / Weird Heroes: Vol. 2
Preiss, Byron (editor) / Weird Heroes Vol. 3: Quest of the Gypsy
Preiss, Byron (editor) / Weird Heroes Vol. 4: Nightshade
Preiss, Byron (editor) / Weird Heroes Vol. 5: Doc Phoenix
Preiss, Byron (editor) / Weird Heroes Vol. 6
Preiss, Byron (editor) / Weird Heroes Vol. 7: Eye of the Vulture
Preiss, Byron (editor) / Weird Heroes Vol. 8
Quinn, Seabury (edited by Robert Weinburg) / The Hellfire Files of Jules de Grandin
Quinn, Seabury (edited by Robert Weinburg) / The Skeleton Closet of Jules de Grandin
Shepard, Lucius / The Jaguar Hunter
Tyler, J.E.A. / The New Tolkien Companion
Vance, Jack / Galactic Effectuator
Vance, Jack / Planet of Adventure [books 1-4]
Wagner, Karl Edward / Bloodstone
Wagner, Karl Edward / Dark Crusade
Wagner, Karl Edward / Darkness Weaves
Wagner, Karl Edward / Death Angel’s Shadow
Wagner, Karl Edward /Night Winds
Zelazny, Roger / Isle of the Dead
Zelazny, Roger / My Name is Legion
Zelazny, Roger and Fred Saberhagen / Coils
All told, by my count that’s 15 books from the first sale (plus a C.J. Cherryh omnibus I bought for Grace and 8 books for my two nieces), 22 books at the second, and a whopping 77 at the third, for a total of 114 books. Which even for me does seem like a lot. And yet … there’s no denying it, I’m wildly happy with the weekend’s finds.
