Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: ecstatic
  • Music: Children of Eden, 'In Whatever Time We Have.'

A trip back in time.

So there's a used record store near me that will occasionally get estate sale lots of paperback books. I go hunting there for crumbling manuscripts that chimera_fancies can use in her jewelry. This evening, I wandered over and discovered that they had apparently become The Land of Amazingly Old Science-Fiction and Fantasy.

For serious.

Below is a list of all the books I bought, along with the publication years of the specific editions. All of them were in mint to very good condition, and in a lot of cases, the degradation seems to be more 'age' than actual wear and tear.

***

Andre Norton

The Stars Are Ours (1954)
Sargasso of Space (1955)
Star Born (1957)
Sea Siege (1957)
Star Gate (1958)
The Time Traders (1958)
Shadow Hawk (1960)
Lord of Thunder (1962)
Judgment on Janus (1963)
Night of Masks (1964)
Key Out of Time (1963)
Quest Crosstime (1965)
Three Against the Witch World (1965)
Operation Time Search (1967)
Sorceress of the Witch World (1968)
Lavender-Green Magic (1974)
Spell of the Witch World (1974)
Knave of Dreams (1975)
No Night Without Stars (1975)
Red Hart Magic (1976)
Lore of the Witch World (1980)
High Sorcery (1970)

Marion Zimmer Bradley

Stormqueen! (1978)
Sword of Chaos (1982)

Anne McCaffrey

Get Off the Unicorn (1977)
Dragonsong (1977)
Dragonsinger (1978)
Dragondrums (1980)

Jack Vance

Big Planet (1957)

James Blish

Anywhen (1971)

Tanith Lee

The Birthgrave (1975)

Diane Duane

The Door Into Fire (1979)
The Door Into Shadow (1984)

Cordwainer Smith

Norstrilia (1975)

Alida Van Gores

Mermaid's Song (1989)

David R. Palmer

Emergence (1984)

P.C. Hodgell

Dark of the Moon (1987)

Brian Aldiss

Moreau's Other Island (1985)

Evangeline Walton

Prince of Annwn (1974)
The Children of Llyr (1975)

Will Shetterly

Cats Have No Lord (1985)
Witch Blood (1986)

John Christopher

When the Tripods Came (1988)

E.L. Konigsburg

The View From Saturday (1996)

Peter David

Imzadi (1992)

Anton Strout

Dead to Me (2008)

Tom Glazer

A New Treasury of Folk Songs (1961)

***

Now that you've viewed the list, care to guess how much I paid for this amazing trove? Well, counting the CD I bought, and the four books for my housemate...

...$42.12.

I win at life. Also, I have just purchased your childhood.
Tags: good things, reading things, shopping
  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 74 comments

coppervale

December 14 2008, 04:55:16 UTC 8 years ago

The Norton list alone is awesome!

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 04:59:14 UTC 8 years ago

What's vaguely tragic is that the Norton and the Bradley aren't so much 'for me' as they are 'they deserved better than sitting on that shelf, and I can find them new homes with people who really go OMG I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THAT SINCE I WAS FIVE' and make little grabby hands.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

Deleted comment

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

miintikwa

December 14 2008, 04:58:36 UTC 8 years ago

Dragonsong (1977)
Dragonsinger (1978)
Dragondrums (1980)

Are those the ones with the pretty covers? I have two of them, and I'm always on the search for the third! Insane, man, insane!

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 05:00:42 UTC 8 years ago

Those are, in fact, the ones with the pretty covers. They're also the versions that I grew up with, so I'm ecstatic.

Which one are you missing? There's always a chance that my cavernous house will have an extra.

miintikwa

8 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

miintikwa

8 years ago

  • New comment

pentaclemoon

8 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

elucreh

December 14 2008, 05:06:27 UTC 8 years ago

Look at all that Norton!!

I once tried to read Norton because Pat Wrede wrote a story for a Witch World anthology that I had fallen in love with, and I couldn't find any. I am terribly jealous of you right now!

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 07:48:03 UTC 8 years ago

Sadly, I'm not a giant Norton fan. I just needed to get those books to where they could be safely stored and re-homed!

elucreh

8 years ago

  • New comment

paul_carlson

December 14 2008, 05:16:23 UTC 8 years ago

Give, give! Fess up!

Where is this treasure trove? (I promise to show up later, after you're done looting the place.)

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 07:48:49 UTC 8 years ago

The Concord/Pleasant Hill Rasputin Records. They fairly regularly get neat lots of estate sale books, although this one was impressive for its sheer scope.

paul_carlson

8 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

bayushi

December 14 2008, 05:18:35 UTC 8 years ago

I envy you the Diane Duane! I keep forgetting to look for them!

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 07:49:32 UTC 8 years ago

I snagged them for Maya, during my massive rounds of calling EVERYONE I KNOW and had a number for to go 'I am in a used bookstore in 1988, what do you need me to look for?'

paul_carlson

December 14 2008, 05:23:45 UTC 8 years ago

PS: You're lucky to find Emergence. Following the buzz about Palmer's sequel Tracking, copies were going for almost a hundred bucks on Amazon!

Lesseee, I also have Big Planet, but none of the others.

hms42

December 14 2008, 06:01:28 UTC 8 years ago

Thanks for reminding me about that.... (I just located the digital versions of the sequel via fictionwise.com. Had to purchase all 3 magazines, but its worth it.)

gorgeousgary

8 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

enchantedskies

December 14 2008, 05:30:11 UTC 8 years ago

Holy crap. i'm jealous.. Seriously. :-P

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 07:50:33 UTC 8 years ago

I had vast and undeniable fun looting the place, really I did.

dormouse_in_tea

December 14 2008, 06:44:43 UTC 8 years ago

Norstrilia!!!

Nice find!

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 17:21:12 UTC 8 years ago

Happy blonde is happy.

tikiera

December 14 2008, 06:46:25 UTC 8 years ago

Emergence!!! Wow... and wow, and I haven't seen a spread like that since I was in high school hunting flea markets.

I gots lots of cheap 1st editions that way. I might start needing to go to estate sales now.

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 17:22:34 UTC 8 years ago

I just love the thrill of the hunt. Also, the looting.

lisa_marli

December 14 2008, 06:52:45 UTC 8 years ago

Fantastic! Have loads of fun with them.
Probably belonged to a reader like Harold. He insists upon buying all his books, reading them once and then filing them, never to read them again, as he virtually memorizes them the first time through. His books are usually in perfect condition.

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 17:22:49 UTC 8 years ago

...wow. That is just so alien to me.

lisa_marli

8 years ago

  • New comment

beable

December 14 2008, 07:17:00 UTC 8 years ago


Before they got re-printed, I had a blast at a convention once (World Fantasy, the year it was in Minneapolis) walking up to Pamela Dean with not one but TWO full sets of the Secret Country Trilogy. Both sets came into existance as really lucky, inexpensive, used book store finds (though in fairness, one of the sets came completely from one store in Vancouver).

The look of surprise on Pamela's face was awesome. Getting both sets inscribed (the 2nd got sent to Merav) was even more awesome.

At the time the people selling used coies on abebooks were mostly charging prices completely insane for "paperback, not mint" - prices in excess of $30.



seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 17:22:59 UTC 8 years ago

That RULES.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

December 14 2008, 17:23:12 UTC 8 years ago

I'd never even heard of the Shetterly before.

filkferengi

8 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

filkferengi

8 years ago

  • New comment

lovefromgirl

December 14 2008, 08:06:45 UTC 8 years ago

Mmmmm, Tripods.

Used books are love.

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:32:04 UTC 8 years ago

Absolutely so.

geojlc

December 14 2008, 08:52:13 UTC 8 years ago

I was lucky enough to snag several cool books from the late 70's/early 80's when the Jr. High I was working at decided to clean out the old SF/Fantasy section. That was when I discovered H.M. Hoover as an author I really liked. :-)

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:32:45 UTC 8 years ago

I love the random finds that we get when we're looting used bookstores. I think that's one of the saddest parts of the average price moving out of 'impulse buy' and into 'give serious thought' even in the used places.

djonn

December 14 2008, 10:28:54 UTC 8 years ago

Good gravy; that's a major score -- a few of those are probably Seriously Collectible. [I'm trying to remember if the 1979 Door Into Fire is the Dell mass market or the Bluejay edition....]

If I were trolling a collection of that vintage, there are a slew of books I'd scoop up without a moment's hesitation even though I already own copies, just because they've never been reprinted (or at least not widely reprinted) and deserve wider notice than they got at the time. Herewith a short and by no means complete list; years given are dates of first publication, usually but not always in mass market editions. Given this particular audience, many of these titles may already be known to some -- or even most -- of you, but if not, they're all well worth tracking down and acquiring:

"Katherine Blake" (aka Dorothy J. Heydt)
The Interior Life (1990)

Mildred Downey (aka "Bubbles") Broxon
Too Long A Sacrifice (1981)

M. Lucie Chin
The Fairy of Ku-She (1988)

Linda Haldeman
The Lastborn of Elvinwood (1978)
Star of the Sea (1978)
Esbae: A Winter's Tale (1981)

Megan Lindholm (aka "Robin Hobb")
Wizard of the Pigeons (1986)

E. Hoffman Price
The Devil Wives of Li Fong (1979)
The Jade Enchantress (1982)

Just so it's clear, I'm not offering to buy up any copies of these that may be among the presently-described estate collection -- I merely point out that if any of the above titles are available therein, they're scarce enough and good enough that the copies offered are likely to be really, really good bargains for any even marginally interested reader.

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:33:04 UTC 8 years ago

Oh, understood. And thanks for the suggestions!

tibicina

December 14 2008, 10:39:58 UTC 8 years ago

The Norton list reminds me of my grandmother's bookshelves. Actually, most of that reminds me of my grandmother's bookshelves. Though I think Lavender-Green Magic was one of the few Norton books that I kept. (The sci-fi books of hers we were not keeping and fifty or so years of back issues of SF&F, Azimov's and similar magazines all went to Darkstar at UCSD.)

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:33:16 UTC 8 years ago

That's awesome.

markbernstein

December 14 2008, 13:02:59 UTC 8 years ago

* sigh * You've just proven that even when I was young, there was too much new SF and fantasy being published for me to keep up with. Out of that entire list, the only book that I know for certain I've read is Norstrilia (which is very, very good). Other than that, well, a loooong time ago, I read one Norton, and didn't care for it, but I don't remember which one. Oh, and I read a few Darkover novels once upon an age, but don't recall the titles.

Excellent bargain hunting. If you ever stumble on a copy of Janet Kagan's Mirabile, please let me know. (Aside from hearing that it's excellent, I want it because I bought Rick Sternbach's cover painting at this year's Worldcon.)

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:34:03 UTC 8 years ago

Wow. You need to read Emergence and Mermaid's Song, absolutely. And define 'stumble upon.' I keep three copies in my possession at all times, because I'd be heartbroken if I ever didn't have one.

markbernstein

8 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

wyvernfriend

December 14 2008, 14:44:45 UTC 8 years ago

Oh that collection of Andre Norton is interesting. I have about half of them I would love to get my hands on some of the rest.

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:34:24 UTC 8 years ago

I'd never even heard of some of them before. I really just picked them up for rescue purposes.

gorgeousgary

December 14 2008, 15:48:48 UTC 8 years ago

Interestingly, I think I've only read two of the books on that list: Imzadi and When The Tripods Came.

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:34:33 UTC 8 years ago

Wow.

wcg

December 14 2008, 16:24:58 UTC 8 years ago

I have just purchased your childhood.

Yep, at least some of it. Also some of my early adulthood.

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:34:48 UTC 8 years ago

On the plus side, it was a quality childhood.

batyatoon

December 14 2008, 20:05:49 UTC 8 years ago

... Oh wow. *SHINYEYES*

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:34:56 UTC 8 years ago

I have a pleased.

scholarinexile

December 14 2008, 21:29:03 UTC 8 years ago

...wow.

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:35:04 UTC 8 years ago

I know, right?!

scholarinexile

8 years ago

  • New comment

talithakalago

December 15 2008, 01:12:03 UTC 8 years ago

Whoa.

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:35:16 UTC 8 years ago

So very many books. Behold the fearsome.

talithakalago

8 years ago

  • New comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

  • New comment

aiglet

December 15 2008, 05:05:48 UTC 8 years ago

This is where I crassly suggest that we research selling one or two of the more valuable ones and using that money to buy go-to-meeting clothes, right? ;)

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:35:45 UTC 8 years ago

Yes, it is. Although you can't have Emergence or Mermaid's Song.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

December 17 2008, 01:35:55 UTC 8 years ago

Noted!