Booksteve's Bookstore Plus!

Street Enterprises Benefit Portfolio

2012-03-07T11:16:00.000-05:00

This oversized bound portfolio was originally done up as a fundraiser in the seventies for the folks behind THE MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE and THE COMIC READER.

Just about anyone who was anyone at the time in comic books or strips contributed to it.

Frank Thorne
Wally Wood
Gray Morrow
Don Heck
Berni Wrightson
Walt Simonson
Jim Starlin
Dick Giordano
Sal Buscema
Milton Caniff
and a score more!

The copy seen above is not my copy. It wouldn't fit the scanner so I found another online to show you. Because of it's size, this has been hard to store properly and the copy being offered is a tad rumpled and has what appear to be a couple of ancient, non-invasive cat scratches on the front cover.

It's been offered for upwards of $100.00 online recently in only slightly better condition.

Our copy: $75.00 postpaid!

The Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies

2012-03-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

Here we have another bargain. This little gem of a series was THE best source of information for the budding film buff in the seventies. Each volume discusses in some depth the career of its subject with just enough personal biography to give it perspective. The books are written by some of the best film historians of the day.

I don't have the entire set but, as you can see, I have quite a few, all of which are fun and educational reading. Each volume is heavily illustrated with a full filmography. A few have my initials on the title page and some of the first ones I got have the movies circled that I had seen. Otherwise, these compact little books--about the size of a classic TV GUIDE--are in good, solid shape.

$7.00 each postpaid. Specify which ones you'd like and PayPal to booksteve@aol.com

If you'd like multiples (or all), email me at booksteve@aol.com and I'll make you an even better deal!

Dick Tracy-William Johnston

2012-02-16T05:56:00.000-05:00

Here we have the little seen DICK TRACY novel from 1970 by William Johnston (NOT as is sometimes misreported the prolific William JohnstonE). This is the mass market edition that was reissued in 1990 during the anticipated Tracy-Mania lead-up to Warren Beatty's DICK TRACY movie. Even then, it kind of got lost in the shuffle.

It's a straight detective novel but, as in the strip itself of 1970, there are traces of camp as our hawk-nosed, square-jawed hero takes on the insidious Mr. Computer!

Noticeably weathered pages but otherwise as new.

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

James Bond-The Authorized Biography of 007-by John Pearson

2012-02-15T15:11:00.000-05:00

Similar to the "biographies" of Tarzan and Doc Savage by Philip Jose Farmer from around the same time, here we have a fictional but detailed biography of James Bond. Although cashing in on the popularity of the films, the book itself mainly attempts to reconcile the events of Ian Fleming's novels and short stories to put together a spurious account of the life of the world's greatest secret agent.

Author John Pearson had, at one time, been an assistant to Bond's creator and had written a previous book about him. A later book was an attempt at a similar biography of the British boys' hero pilot, Biggles.

A thick 330 pages, my copy of this 1973 book is a 1975 mass market printing that shows a bit of long ago water damage along the spine in the form of ever so slightly expanded pages and faded spine color.

$8.00 + $3.00 postage

Kids Say the Darndest Things-Art Linkletter-Signed Copy!

2012-02-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

This is a fun book...and it's signed, too...well...sorta. I don't know. Perhaps Linkletter gave it to close friend and thus didn't feel the need to sign his full name. On the inside front cover it just says, "Yours for better learning, Art." When you look up his autograph, this does indeed seem to be authentically his handwriting so I assume it to be legit.

Anyway, this is a collection of Art's interaction with little children from House Party and various other programs over the years. Hilarious and touching, it comes complete with an introduction by Walt Disney and illustrations by Charles Schulz! This particular edition is a 1978 reprint, 5th printing, of the 1957 original and thus also features a brand new foreword by Linkletter!

262 pages, slight wear on the cover and slight aging on the pages.

$8.00 + $3.00 postage

Get this and the previously posted Art Linkletter book PEOPLE ARE FUNNY for just $15.00 including postage by clicking below!

The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe-Robert Slatzer

2012-02-11T11:59:00.000-05:00

Robert Slatzer was a reporter, an author and a no-budget filmmaker. He also claimed to anyone whose ear he could catch that he was married to Marilyn Monroe briefly in 1952. This book, the paperback version of his 1974 bestseller, is where he first went public with that claim as well as laying out the circumstantial evidence that the star had been murdered.

It's a good read and gets a lot of Marilyn's history right...but not all of it. Then it veers into conspiracy theory territory and gets a bit surreal as one loses track of what's fiction and what's fact.

I had just discovered Marilyn a year or so earlier when I bought this 1977 second printing as my first (of many) books on her. Probably wasn't the best place to start but in the big picture, it's a fun, weird book. Clearly Slatzer did actually know MM as there are photos of them together. Beyond that, however, there was never any proof of any of his claims as to his relationship with her.

456 Pages, 100 pages of documents and photographs

Slight spine crease, slight edge weathering and my initials on the title page

$12.00 + $3.00 postage

Groucho Books!

2012-02-10T07:55:00.000-05:00

$10.00 + $3.00

The seventies were a great time to be a Marx fan. Not only were Groucho's witty and fascinating books being re-issued regularly but there he was still--with the help of collaborators and ghosts--writing new ones! Add to that the many books detailing the history of the Marx Brothers as their popularity soared to heights they had never dreamed of in their lifetimes.

Here's a selection of paperbacks by and about Groucho from the seventies, all slightly weathered but in good or better condition otherwise.

$10.00 + $3.00 postage

With my initials.

$10.00 +$3.00

My initials are in it.

$10.00 + $3.00

$10.00 + $3.00 postage

If you haven't read any of these and would like them all, $40.00 + $5.00 postage and the whole lot is yours! This offer only valid until and unless someone buys one separately! Click below for this special offer!

A Haunt of Fears

2012-02-10T07:01:00.000-05:00

Most comic book fans know what happened in the US during the 1950's anti-horror comics crusade but did you realize the story was paralleled in England?

Author Martin Barker offers an illustrated look back at the British equivalents of Dr. Wertham.

Pages slightly yellowed, no markings.

1984
227 Pages

$12.00 + $3.00 postage

MARKED DOWN STACKED DECK

2012-02-08T11:41:00.000-05:00

Here we have one of the nicest looking comic book reprint collections of the 20th Century. When the first Michael Keaton BATMAN film came out in 1989, DC Comics naturally brought out a number of tie-in products including two paperback volumes--THE BEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD and THE BEST JOKER STORIES EVER TOLD.

At the time, I was managing for WALDENBOOKS and our proprietary publishing arm was known as Longmeadow Press. Longmeadow specialized in cheap reprints of formerly released books as well as nice leather-bound collections of classics. Somewhere along the way someone at Longmeadow decided to take a chance on a couple of DC projects and this was one result. On beautiful gilded-edge paper and bound in a thick, appropriately purple bonded leather cover (with a red silken ribbon bookmark bound in), STACKED DECK actually expands on the original trade paperback edition by including several additional stories.

Along with wonderfully reproduced stories from the forties to the eighties, this volume includes full creator biographies, a foreword by seventies Batman editor and author Denny O'Neil, an Introduction by Mike Gold, a piece by then-DC honcho and longtime Bat-inker Dick Giordano and a smart and fun easy by comics writer and historian Mark Waid which is, itself, almost worth the price!

Originally published at $29.95, when proprietary items didn't sell, they were marked consistently lower until they were sold out...or if they didn't sell out at the lowest possible price, they were...(ChOkE!) destroyed and written off. Seriously. I personally had to destroy copies of this beautiful book (as well as FRANK MILLER'S BATMAN).

BUT...that has led to this once plentiful item being rather hard to come by. Copies on Amazon and eBay are offered for and actually selling for over a hundred dollars!

It's no exaggeration when I say this copy is like new. Read once and on a shelf since 1990. The scan doesn't do it justice as the inset edges of the spine look blurred but they're fine. The absolute closest thing to a defect in our copy of STACKED DECK is that the red bookmark ribbon is a tad wrinkled from the book having been shelved on the bottom of it.

2.5 lbs, 352 full color pages, gold flaked page edges, bonded leather cover

Was $60.00, now only $40.00 + $5.00 postage

MARKED DOWNHandbook of Radio Writing

2012-02-08T11:26:00.000-05:00

Okay now THIS is a treasure trove for the old-time radio buff! Author Erik Barnouw subtitles his book, "An Outline of Techniques and Markets In Radio Writing in the United States." Essentially it's a how-to book for a world that no longer exists. Himself a former radio scripter, Barnouw takes us through various types of scripts as well as how to sell them back in the days when there was a place TO sell them. There's even an annotated script for a radio version of MACBETH.

To the casual fan, HANDBOOK OF RADIO WRITING offers insights you simply won't get anywhere else. To the true radio historian, it is literally a textbook of lost knowledge akin to an archaeological find.

The dustjacket is in fair condition and frayed around the edges. The book itself, however, as with many books from that era, is well-preserved and a nice solid copy.

1939, First Printing
306 Pages

WAS $50.00, now only $35.00 Postpaid!

Cybill and Bruce: Moonlighting Magic-by Barbara and Scott Siegel

2012-02-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

MOONLIGHTING doesn't seem to be rerun all that often but, in its day, it was one of the most fun, creative and interesting TV series on the tube. On the surface, it's the story of Maddie Hayes, an aging fashion model who inherits a detective agency along with it's ne'er -do-well chief operator and its ditzy secretary.

That doesn't begin to actually describe what this series is about, however. Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis (in his first major role) star and by all accounts were at each other's throats off and on throughout the series' run. The TV series it most closely resembles would probably be GREEN ACRES. Characters frequently talk to the audience, breaking the 4th wall. There's an episode that is entirely in mock-Shakesperean, a black and white episode with multiple versions of the plot (and Orson Welles' last on-sscreen appearance). By the end of the series, the leads had gotten together as a couple on screen but, behind the scenes, were barely speaking.

This book is, as far as I know, the only book to date on this unique series. It was most definitely the first.

212 pages, 1987, slightly yellowed with age but a solid, complete copy.

$5.00 +3.00 postage

Ladies and Gentlemen, Lenny Bruce!! by Albert Goldman

2012-02-01T20:40:00.000-05:00

This controversial book by Albert Goldman (Did Goldman ever write a book that WASN'T controversial?) was one of many biographies of Lenny, certainly one of the most influential comedians of the 20th Century.

I never found Lenny Bruce to be the least bit amusing but I've always been fascinated by him. His taboo-breaking act paved the way for the likes of George Carlin, Robin Williams, Bill Hicks and the thousands of other, lesser talents who no longer have to watch their mouths in their efforts to reflect the laughter inherent in the human condition.

Goldman's 1971 book, at more than 800 pages, was the first in-depth bio of Bruce who passed in the mid-sixties after numerous arrests and a highly developed drug habit. His death essentially martyred him and he became, in an odd way, the Patron Saint of Stand-Up!

This is a well-used copy with a very worn cover, writing on the (blank) back page and a long-ago used copy price pencilled in on the upper right hand corner of the first page. Otherwise, it's clean and all attached. This copy is a 1975 printing of the 1974 mass market version.

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

Firebolt Space Cannon Plus!

2012-01-28T13:56:00.000-05:00

This is the Firebolt Space Cannon from 1968's MAJOR MATT MASON line of space toys! It's highly collectible in condition but mine is a well-loved and used copy that, quite frankly, I forgot that I still had stuffed in a box down in the basement. It's worn and dirty and may not even work (I don't have the D batteries to check). It's still cool, though!

Also with it I found three of the Cat Traks designed for Major Matt and his buddies. These are solid one piece plastic molded toys that didn't doanything. You sat your men on them and pushed them around in the (moon) dirt and that was it. Excellent condition on all three of these.

$20.00 for the lot + $5.00 postage

Old Time Radio Sets

2012-01-28T10:00:00.001-05:00

Still got your cassette player? If so, here's 45 hours of entertainment! If you're a fan of classic radio, you already know these series. If not, here's what you get:

GUNSMOKE--The classic story of Marshal Matt Dillon in Dodge City. What we have here is an ultra-rare 5 hour radio documentary from 1976 featuring William Conrad, radio's original Dillon! Lots of clips, history and full episodes! Also included are ever rarer audition episodes with other actors!

NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE--The elegant Lon Clark personified this classic pulp detective on the air and here are 17 action-filled whodunits for the mystery fan. I got to appear with Clark in a re-creation of an episode on stage. I played a dog.

FIBBER McGEE and MOLLY--One of the all-time great radio series, this one pioneered a sitcom within its essentially variety show format and arguably had the most memorable characters in all of radio comedy! Included here is the special one hour all-star 15th Anniversary episode form 1949!

THE ALDRICH FAMILY--This series defined the sitcom as we came to know it. Typical teenager Henry Aldrich came from a stage play and also inspired Andy Hardy and even Archie Andrews! I was privileged to appear as sidekick Homer to the original star, Ezra Stone's, Henry on stage in the early nineties.

FRED ALLEN--A collection of sketches and complete episodes from one of THE great wits of the 20th Century, the acerbic Fred Allen, complete with lots of celebrity guest stars and many classic strolls down "Allen's Alley."

Enjoy them in your car or in the privacy of your own home. Or better yet...introduce the younger generation to entertainment like they've never heard before.

Packaged in booklike containers, each housing six audio cassettes, I have to say that at the time these were the most entertaining things in the world to me. They just never got old. But my car's cassette player is long broken and I no longer have time to listen here inside.

$35.00 gets all 5 packages with a total of 35 tapes. That's only a little more than $1.00 per tape for some mighty good listening!

$35.00 + $5.00 postage

A Celebration of Sellers Box Set

2012-01-24T10:55:00.000-05:00

Released in the early nineties, A CELEBRATION OF SELLERS is a hilarious box set featuring the late genius comic actor, Peter Sellers. There are four CD's, each being a presentation of one whole album Peter did for EMI (most tracks produced by the Beatles' George Martin) beginning in the early fifties.

Each CD also contains a number of bonus tracks including singles and unreleased recordings made essentially during the same periods. Here you'll find gems such as various versions of SHE LOVES YOU and other spoof Beatles songs.

One entire album--the best in my opinion--was recorded with legendary Italian actress Sophia Loren, on whom Peter reportedly developed a major crush when the two made the movie, THE MILLIONAIRESS.

Most of the tracks are comedy bits but every now and then theres a funny song and they're all surprisingly good. For Sellers fans, A CELEBRATION OF SELLERS is an absolute treasure trove of rare voices and personalities from one of the original Goons!

$40.00 + $5.00 postage

Kenner See-A-Show Viewer and Slides

2012-01-21T14:09:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun item, especially for Silver Age Marvel Comics fans.

From 1967, this is the Kenner See-A-Show. I had multiples of these things so I'm pretty sure the actual slides of this once-popular low-rent Viewmaster knock-off (dated 1964-1967) come from various sets. Note: There is NO packaging, just the viewer and slides.

There are, however, 28 slides, most in good or better shape, a coupe a little worn and torn. You slide them down through the viewer while holding it toward a light source and you get an ersatz 3-D effect. Here's what you get:

1-Sub-Mariner in CAPSULESNATCHERS (sic)
2-Thor in THE ATTACK OF THE COSMIC CREATURE.
3-Spider-Man in BOTTLE OF DOOM
4-Iron Man in ENERGY CRISIS Part One
5-Iron Man in ENERGY CRISIS Part Two
6-Capt. America (and Bucky) in THE METALLIC MONSTER
7-Daredevil in THE CRANE CABLE CAPER
8-Fantastic Four in METEOR MENACE Part One
9-Fantastic Four in METEOR MENACE Part Two
10-The Hulk in SMASHING DISCOVERY
11-Superman in THE EYES HAVE IT
12-Superman in BRIDGE OUT AHEAD (slight crayon )
13-Superman in FLYING FIREMAN
14-The Three Stooges in BUNGLING BUILDERS
15-Hector Heathcote in DUCKY DECOY (well-worn)
16-King Kong in A WHALE OF A PROBLEM
17-Clyde Crashcup in FLYPAPER CAPER
18-Bozo the Clown in TIGHTROPE TUMBLE
19-Dennis the Menace in LAUNDRY QUANDRY (1 sq. inch tear at bottom left)
20-Snuffy Smith in SKY-HIGH STILL
21-Fury (a horse) in BUCKS A BANDIT (well-worn)
22-Bozo the Clown in THE PAINTING PACHYDERM (well-worn, some crayon and a small tear)
23-Alvin and the Chipmunks in SKI CHUMP (worn)
24-Mister Magoo in TERRIBLE TAXI
27-Mister Magoo in ROCKET RIOT
26-Dick Tracy in A SWITCH IN TIME (worn)
27-Linus (the Lionhearted) and His Friends in SKIN DIVING (worn)
28-Linus (the Lionhearted) and His Friends in FIXING THE ROOF (worn)

As a bonus, you also get my sole surviving slide strip from the competing TRU-VUE set (which fits the SEE-A-SHOW viewer):

Quick Draw McGraw in CHATTANOOGA CHIEF

In packaging but with fewer slides, these can go for quite a bit. We're asking for just about a dollar per slide for a total of $40.00 + $5.00 postage. Remember, you also get the viewer as seen here.

Asterix the Legionary-Mass Market

2012-01-19T10:58:00.000-05:00

This is an oddity--at least in the US. It's a British mass market size black and white paperback reprint of ASTERIX. ASTERIX, of course, is one of the world's most famous comic strips, originally published in French but translated the world over for the past 40+ years. The character has also starred in cartoon features, video games and a number of big-budget live action motion pictures.

Despite the strip's popularity and several major marketing pushes , it never really caught on in the US. All of the tales are collected in large hardbacks and paperbacks but this is a rarely seen small-size UK paperback from 1975.

Cheaply made, the spine glue wore out and the pages are completely loose in clumps. It's all there, though, and an interesting, little-seen novelty in this format.

$3.00 + $3.00 postage

Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own-Erma Bombeck/Bil Keane

2012-01-19T10:46:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun book! Erma Bombeck was a wonderful humorist best known for her long-running newspaper column and her regular appearances on GOOD MORNING AMERICA. She was also an author with a number of bestselling books write up until her death.

This particular one is a book about parenting and kids. Who better to illustrate it than THE FAMILY CIRCUS's Bil Keane? And there are a lot of his illustrations.

This is a well-loved copy, complete and solid but worn and weathered all around. It's a 20th mass market printing dating from 1972.

Funny and knowing, fans of good clean humor will relate and laugh at the same time.

$3.00 + $$3.00 postage

Blue Movie-Terry Southern

2012-01-19T10:03:00.001-05:00

Terry Southern was a major player in the sixties. He wrote the screenplays for the iconic DR. STRANGELOVE, BARBARELLA and THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN. He also wrote THE CINCINNATI KID, CASINO ROYALE, EASY RIDER and CANDY, the controversial novel that was made into one of the biggest budgeted all-star flops of all time.

This book, BLUE MOVIE, has more in common with the latter as it is about a major filmmaker making a hardcore sex film. Written before the "Porno Chic" of the early seventies instigated by the popularity of DEEP THROAT in 1972, this 1970 novel is a dark satire of Hollywood from one who had by that time seen it from the mainstream as well as from the drug-fueled sidelines of the youthful independent films. Southern himself would go on to write the hardcore RANDY, THE ELECTRIC LADY but kept his name off of it!

It's dirty. Know that before you buy! Adults only!

A little wear and tear on the cover, the spine is bent back a bit in the center and the pages slightly yellowed. The cover is actually that deep shade of orange that, for some reason, always comes out pinkish on my scanner. Who knows?

254 Pages, no markings. First mass market edition, 8th printing, 1971

$7.00 + $3.00 postage

1972 Comic Art Convention Program Book

2012-01-10T15:17:00.001-05:00

This is a fun item for comics fans! This TV GUIDE size, thick booklet is the Program Book for Phil Seuling's 1972 New York Comic Art Convention.

Warren Publishing bought the front and back covers (inside and out) but the insides are filled with nostalgia!

Ads from DC and Marvel of course but also Supergraphics, Kitchen Sink, The Monster Times, National Lampoon and other familiar players of the day.

There are articles about the 1971 Guests of Honor, Jim Steranko and Gardner Fox, but also pieces on Bud Sagendorf, Alex Toth and a long tribute to jack Kirby from Denny O'Neil.

Exclusive art, early cosplay, comic strips! Everything that made comic book conventions fun in the seventies is represented here!

I didn't go but I purchased this book months later at Kidd's Bookstore in Cincinnati so the autograph pages are blank.

It's in very good shape but for a little wear and tear on the covers, both of which are attached but ever so slightly looser than they should be. As is often the case with items I purchased in this period, my initials and the date--1973, appear in a circle on page one. 96 pages

$12.00 + $3.00 postage

Red Dwarf Programme Guide--Revsed Edition

2011-12-21T13:23:00.000-05:00

RED DWARF, for the uninitiated, is a sci-fi sitcom from the UK created by Doug Naylor and Rob Grant. Originally just low-brow silliness, the writing and production improved drastically leading to some actually well-done episodes eventually. The basic premise is that you have the last human alive and he's on a giant spaceship where his only companions are a sentient hologram of his least favorite person in the world, a robot, a mentally unstable computer and an evolved, near-human, cat.

This is all portrayed brilliantly through multiple series by a great cast headed by Craig Charles. The book goes up through series VI but the show itself continued beyond that and, in fact, is about to be revived yet again.

This is the first revised edition of the RED DWARF PROGRAMME GUIDE from 1995. (there were at least two later revisions) It features episode guides, behind the scenes info and a long glossary of terms and names connected with RED DWARF.

1995, 286 pages, slight weathering look to the paper.

$7.00 + $3.00 postage

The Citizen Kane Book--Pauline Kael

2011-12-18T16:10:00.000-05:00

Both revered and reviled, controversial film critic Pauline Kael both praised and eviscerated Orson Welles' masterpiece CITIZEN KANE with the publication of this book in the early seventies. She also helped bring the film back to prominence after years of Orson's general downward slide in the eyes of many modern film fans, leading to its more often that not being named the greatest movie ever made.

Along with Kael's long essay, the book also contains the full script and cutting continuity of the film itself.

468 Pages, mass market

The inside cover and first page has a stamp and a price from a long-ago used bookstore, The upper left edge of the cover is torn. Otherwise, the book is in very good shape.

$6.00 + $3.00 postage

I, Robot-Isaac Asimov

2011-12-17T15:21:00.000-05:00

From WIKIPEDIA:

I, Robot is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. The stories are woven together as Dr. Susan Calvin tells them to a reporter (the narrator) in the 21st century. Though the stories can be read separately, they share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots and morality, and when combined they tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics.

The book also contains the short story in which Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics first appear.

This is the book that inspired the Will Smith movie of the same name although it wasn't fully based on any one story.My copy is a nice, solid copy with very slight yellowing. This is a 1970 mass market edition.

$6.00 + $3.99 postage

Robert Mitchum "Baby, I Don't Care" by Lee Server

2011-12-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

Actor Robert Mitchum was never an absolute favorite for me--although his film NIGHT OF THE HUNTER is most definitely in my all-time top ten!

That said, he was an interesting man with an interesting career. Beginning as a heavy in Hopalong Cassidy pictures, he parlayed some personal notoriety (arrested for pot two decades before it was "fashionable.") into a successful smoldering, sleepy-eyed tough guy role in noir films and westerns. To me, his acting actually blossomed as he aged and by the 1970's, his style and the style of the decade's films were pretty evenly matched.

This book was, I believe, the first major biography of the still-popular star.

My copy is a former "bargain" copy with the attendant black line across the bottom of the closed book's pages. Other than that, it is literally like new.

$6.00 + $3.00 postage

Carter Beats the Devil-Advance Reading Copy-Glen David Gold

2011-12-14T21:54:00.000-05:00

When I was in the book business, we got a lot of advance reading copies and this was one of my very favorites. I read this marvelous, pulp-inspired novel with real historical characters and recommended it to everyone for a couple of years but, in spite of great acclaim, it was never a runaway bestseller.

It's been a decade since I read it so I quote here the plot from Wikipedia: This novel is a fictionalised biography of Charles Joseph Carter. The main character, Carter, is followed through his career, from his first encounter with magic to his last performance. Along the way he encounters many historical figures, including fellow magicians Harry Houdini and Howard Thurston, United States President Warren G. Harding, BMW founder Max Friz, the Marx Brothers, business magnate Francis Marion "Borax" Smith, the inventor of electronic television Philo Farnsworth, and San Franciscan madams Tessie Wall and Jessie Hayman.

Most of the novel centres on the mysterious death of President Harding, who dies shortly after taking part in Carter's stage show. President Harding apparently knew of many serious scandals that seemed likely to bring down the establishment and it seems certain that he was assassinated by persons and methods unknown. Much of Carter's past is shown in the form of flashbacks as U.S. Secret Service Agent Griffin investigates the magician as a suspect.

The flashbacks chart Carter's early career including his first encounter with a magic trick, shown to him by "the tallest man alive", Joe Sullivan (also an actual, if obscure, historical figure) in a fairgroundsideshow, his first paid performance for Borax Smith, his rivalry with the magician "Mysterioso", his first meeting with Harry Houdini who bestows the title "Carter the Great" on him, and Carter's marriage to Sarah Anabelle.

Unbeknownst to Agent Griffin, President Harding passed a great secret to Carter: a young inventor named Philo Farnsworth has a new invention called television. Television is wanted by both the radio industry and the military and they are hunting Carter to get it. Carter must draw on all his magic to escape kidnapping and death as he seeks out the inventor. Along the way Carter meets a young blind woman with a mysterious past and encounters a deadly rival.

Finally, in a magic show to end all magic shows, Carter must truly beat the devil if he is to save Farnsworth and his magical invention.

2001, 483 Pages, trade paper, uncorrected proof advance reading copy

$7.00 + $3.00 postage

A Twist of Lennon-Cynthia Lennon

2011-12-12T14:00:00.000-05:00

It was during John's self-imposed exile when John Lennon's first wife Cynthia published this wonderfully titled but bittersweet personal memoir about her life with and without the Chief Beatle. One of the more original books on the Fab Four, it was published in hardcover in 1978 with this mass market paperback version following in January, 1980.

Like most biographies of this sort, there are some picture pages bound in, albeit surprisingly few in this case. A couple of them have a printing defect that has left them wrinkled, also. A series of illustrations also appears throughout.

Normal aging and with a long-ago price pencilled inside the back cover.

There are, of course, plenty of books on the Lads that are better written and perhaps better thought out but for a Beatles or John Lennon fan, Cynthia Lennon's book should be required reading because she was there from the beginning.

$7.00 + $3.00 postage

The True Story of the Beatles--Billy Shepherd--1964

2011-12-10T12:53:00.000-05:00

Via Amazon:

"Even for those of us who are old enough to remember 1963 and the rise of the Beatles, it's not that easy to recreate the feelings and personal apprehension of the culture of that year. Bill Shepherd was obviously a competent professional writer hired to write one of the first (THE first?) cash-in book about the new pop fad, the Beatles. He would have had very limited time in which to research and write this book -- I'm suspecting about 2 months (I'm a professional writer so I have at least some experience on which to base this guess) -- and a small to moderate expense account from a company called BEAT Publications, Ltd."

"The writing is worthy of a professional in any time, by no means true of all exploitation books. Clearly his job was to write a positive book, but also clearly he became personally interested and liked the lads -- I'm not so sure he really liked their music. There are many errors of fact in this book -- most of them concerning things we now know the Beatles and/or Brian Epstein didn't mean to be made public so I'm not faulting him for that. It really wasn't the authors job to check birth certificates, school records, etc. This was a fast and dirty book intended to make the company a whole lot of money. Time was short because absolutely everyone including the Beatles themselves expected the fad to die before long."

"Given these limitations on the writer, he did a very good job. You do get a real feeling of their lives right before and as they became prisoners of their fame. It's not a "great" book and it's not running over with all the lists of facts and corrections that now seem to overburden new books on the fabs. And it's not, thank goodness, a colectors item so you should be able to find it costing less then the postage to mail it! It quite simply lets you step back in time and see the Beatles as they were seen by a sympathetic adult just as the world was gathering at their feet."

This is a very used copy I picked up in the eighties with (presumably) the first owner's name scrawled on the inside front cover. The cover is slightly torn at the bottom left and there is a hint of water damage. It is complete, though, and much fun to read as a first generation Beatlemaniac would have discovered it.

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

The Beatle Book-1964

2011-12-09T12:24:00.000-05:00

This book hit the stands quickly after the Beatles US success in early 1964. There are a few semi-accurate biographical chapters but there really isn't much there. Mainly this is a slim collection of some of the great Dezo Hoffman photographs with which everyone became so familiar.

Capturing the Moptops in their early prime, these pictures show the Beatles pretty much in a real life version of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT.

A little tape, a long-ago scrawled in crayon price and the touted-on-the-cover "autographed" foldout has been long ago torn out. What's left, though, is nostalgic fun to read through while playing your remastered Beatles CD's!

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

The Beatles: Yesterday...Today...Tomorrow-Rochelle Larkin

2011-12-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

This is a light, fannish look at The Beatles from an author better known for her fiction titles for kids, tweens and teens. In fact, this was published by Scholastic and offered through their school book club program where I ordered it in 1974.

My initials are prominent on the front page, the pages are weathered naturally just a bit and the original cheap binding has left some of the pages slightly wrinkled.

That said, a fun read for Beatles fans to gauge where their heroes were in the middle of the seventies, not long before John's pullback and Paul's massive concert success.

$3.00 + $3.00

The Magic Christian-Terry Southern

2011-12-08T16:23:00.000-05:00

Although lacking in any interior photos from the film, this was the movie tie-in edition of author Terry Southern's original novel, THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN. The reason for this is the cover that features small photos of Peter Sellers, Raquel Welch and Ringo Starr, the later of which makes this a Beatles collectible!

Originally published in 1960, the book is profoundly different from the 1969 film, which was partly written by Monty Python's Graham Chapman and John Cleese and is considered quite the savage mockery of British greed. The character played by Ringo doesn't even appear in the original book.

So if you're a fan of he film, this will make for an odd but fascinating comparison as the two share little in common overall.

This is a January, 1970 3rd printing copy, in good shape but for a used bookstore stamp on the inside front cover and the original owner's name (presumably) pencilled in at the very front as well as on the inside back cover.

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

Paperback Writer-Mark Shipper

2011-12-08T14:45:00.001-05:00

This is an hysterical look at an alternative past and future for the Beatles! Published in 1978, the book mixes spurious fact and fiction in the past of the Fab Four, then muscles off into uncharted territory dealing with their eventual reunion and beyond!

Published before John Lennon's death, there had been a dozen seemingly credible rumors of possible Beatles reunions during the late seventies, including one precipitated as a charity concert by the UN Secretary-General. But nothing ever came of it and, after 1980, it was clearly and suddenly impossible.

Author Mark Shipper has fun with the idea and yet there's an underlying darkness in a way--a deeper book than one might expect but, for Beatles fans who will catch so many of the references, a real treat and a fun read.

This is an October 1980 mass market version, 254 pages. There are numerous photos throughout, some, however, as spurious as the text. Aged but solid with no markings.

$10.00 + $3.00 postage

Here Come the Judge-Pigmeat Markham

2011-12-07T19:47:00.000-05:00

Part humor book and part autobiography, this is a fascinating book by a little-remembered but important African-American entertainer.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham (April 18, 1904 – December 13, 1981) was an African-American entertainer. Though best known as a comedian, Markham was also a singer, dancer, and actor.

His boisterous, indecorous "heyeah (here) come da judge" schtick, which made a mockery of formal courtroom etiquette, became his signature routine. Markham would sit at an elevated judge's bench (often in a black graduation cap-and-gown, to look more impressive), and deal with a series of comic miscreants. He would often deliver his "judgments", as well as express frustration with the accused, by leaning over the bench and smacking the accused with an inflated bladder-balloon. He had hit comedy recordings in the 1960s on Chess Records, and saw his routine's entry line become a catchphrase on the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In television show, as did his phrase "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls".

Markham's most famous routine was "discovered" by the general public only after Sammy Davis, Jr. had performed it as a guest on Laugh-In. Due to the years of racial segregation in the entertainment world, he was not widely known by white audiences, and had almost exclusively performed on the "chitlin' circuit" of vaudeville, theatres, and night clubs and appeared in several race films, including William D. Alexander's 1949 revue film Burlesque in Harlem, which documented the chitlin' circuit.

The success of Davis's appearance led to Markham's opportunity to perform his signature Judge character during his one season on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

Thanks to his Heyeah come da judge routine, which originally was accompanied by music with a funky beat, Pigmeat Markham is regarded as a forerunner of rappers. His song "Here Comes The Judge" peaked at number 19 on the Billboard and other charts in 1968. He published an autobiography, Here Come the Judge!, in the wake of his Laugh-In success.

As one can see, this mass market book has seen better days. That said, it's complete and a great read from and about a larger than life man.

Only:

$3.00 + $3.00 postage

The New Hot Dog Cookbook

2011-12-05T08:23:00.000-05:00

Nothing says pop culture more than hot dogs so here we present THE NEW HOT DOG COOKBOOK. This surprisingly popular book has been reissued many times over the years, from different publishers, latterly combined with another volume by the same author to create THE NEW HAMBURGER AND HOT DOG BOOK.

More than 100 fun and simple (and often bizarre) ways to play with your hot dogs so you don't get bored.

This is a 1970 edition of the original 1968 mass market paperback by Mettja C. Roate. It belonged to my late mother-in-law where it resided in a box for about three decades.

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

Silver Beatles 45--OUI Promo

2011-12-03T08:37:00.000-05:00

This is a rare 45 RPM record from the early eighties put out by people who had no idea how to make a 45 RPM record. This record, featuring two then-obscure (and not exactly well-known now) unreleased Beatles songs, LOVE OF THE LOVED and LIKE DREAMERS DO was available only by mail order from OUI Magazine during its PLAYBOY-lite days.

Although both songs--from the legendary Decca auditions-- spotlight Paul McCartney, the single was offered as a tie-in to a lengthy interview with ex-drummer Pete Best in the magazine as he plays on both.

Although credited to "The Silver Beatles," this was not the name they were going under at the time these songs were recorded, having already long since lost the "Silver." Both songs appear on each side of the record exactly the same rather than the logical move of putting one song on each side.

I already had both songs on a bootleg album when I ordered this back in 1982 so I played the record once and then filed it away, complete with its original mailing envelope from OUI to my old address.

$20.00 + $4.00 postage

Dark Shadows--Best of...and Bloopers--VHS

2011-12-01T16:35:00.000-05:00

If you were of a certain age in the late sixties--early seventies, like anywhere between 9 and 16, odds are you were a fan of DARK SHADOWS, the creepy soap opera that found unlikely success with kids and teens. And by success, I don't just mean a little success, I mean phenomenal success! Vampire character Barnabas Collins was on the cover of not just FAMOUS MONSTERS but also SIXTEEN and TIGER BEAT! He appeared on the nationally syndicated kids show, BOZO THE CLOWN, too!

Anyway, the series' legions of now-middle-aged devotees are still loyal and the entire run of episodes with all its werewolves, ghosts, vampires, alternate dimensions, old Gods gothic romance and sideburns is out on DVD.

Here, however, are a couple of VHS samplers. The first is THE BEST OF DARK SHADOWS with, obviously, highlight clips from the series. The second, BLOOPERS, deals with the fact that the series was done on the cheap, often with no retakes, leaving in forgotten lines, missed cues, stray electricians, swaying cardboard headstones, etc.

$6.00 for the pair of VHS tapes +$4.00 postage

Doctor Who--Shada--VHS

2011-11-30T16:11:00.000-05:00

This is the legendary "lost" episode of the BBC's DOCTOR WHO starring Tom Baker and written by Douglas Adams. Well...not exactly. It's the closest you'll ever get, though.

Basically, the story is that Tom Baker, Lalla Ward and a good cast gathered to film what was probably just another episode...which happened to be one of several written by Adams. Then...the BBC went on a long strike and the episode was cancelled and left unfinished. A brief clip was used in THE FIVE DOCTORS anniversary episode which whetted the fans' appetite for more.

Eventually someone at the BBC had the semi-brilliant idea to cash in on the fans desire by editing together the completed footage with new linking narration from Tom Baker. It sort works. Kinda.

If you're a DOCTOR WHO fan, SHADA is necessary viewing. If you aren't, don't start here. Writer Adams took advantage of the strike back then to write THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and never looked back.

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore--VHS

2011-11-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is THE BEST OF...WHAT'S LEFT OF...NOT ONLY...BUT ALSO... starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. The title refers to the fact that the BBC destroyed nearly all episodes of their series NOT ONLY...BUT ALSO... (including the one guest-starring John Lennon as seen on the back cover!) so this compilation consists of only highlights of the few remaining episodes.

It's all great stuff, though, highlighted by a spot-on live-action parody of Gerry Anderson's THUNDERBIRDS puppet series! I'm of the opinion that Mister Cook may well have been the funniest man in the world in his day and his on/off partnership with the multi-talented Moore always brought smiles and laughs. When Dudley inexplicably became one of the biggest film stars in the world whilst Peter ended up in a failed sitcom and as a gameshow contestant, the writing was on the wall and it was all downhill from there.

None of those issues rear their heads on this 90 minute VHS compilation, however. Just some amazingly clever writing and performances from the sixties. Enjoy!

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

Dead Like Me-1st Season

2011-11-29T07:11:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd say this but I no longer watch a lot of television. It seems the more channels there are, the less interesting stuff is on and the harder it is to find! That's why I missed the series DEAD LIKE ME when it was actually aired. A friend insisted I watch a couple episodes she had taped and I became hooked. Had to buy the box set of the first season.

Here' how WIKIPEDIA describes this amazing and odd series: Dead Like Me was an American-Canadian comedy-drama television series starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin as grim reapers who reside and work in Seattle, Washington. Filmed inVancouver, British Columbia, the show was created by Bryan Fuller for the Showtime network, where it ran for two seasons in 2003 and 2004 before cancellation.

Eighteen-year-old Georgia "George" Lass (played by Muth) is the show's protagonist and narrator. George dies early in the pilot episode. She becomes one of the "undead", a "grim reaper". George soon learns that a Reaper's job is to remove the souls of people, preferably just before they die, and escort them until they move on into their afterlife. George's death leaves her mother (Cynthia Stevenson) and the rest of her family behind at a point when her relationships with them were on shaky ground.

The show explores the experiences of a small team of such Reapers, as well as the post-mortem changes in George and her family as they deal with George's death.

This is the box set of the entire first season--14 episodes. All yours for 15.00 + $4.00 postage.

DVD--Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars

2011-11-28T13:08:00.000-05:00

Don't let the packaging fool you. This is not a Jackie Chan film...although Jackie Chan IS in it. TWINKLE, TWINKLE LUCKY STARS is a Sammo Hung picture, Produced, directed, choreographed by and starring the beloved large-size Hong Kong martial artist who somehow failed to catch on in the US in spite of briefly having his own TV series!

Here's a description found online: Sammo Hung and pals Stanley Fung, Eric Tsang, and Richard Ng return for more puerile comedy. They’re assigned to protect Rosamund Kwan because some bad guys are out to get her. Naturally, they spend time trying to grope her and sneak peeks at her in wet lingerie. Meanwhile, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, and Andy Lau fight people. Somehow the two gangs of stars intersect to take on Richard Norton and Yasuki Kurata.

A fun but inconsequential film. Chinese language with English subtitles. Viewed once some years ago and filed away, we're asking only $5.00 + $3.00 postage for this little-seen comedy martial arts movie.

More Adventures of Fat Freddy's Cat-Gilbert Shelton

2011-11-28T10:35:00.000-05:00

Gilbert Shelton created THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS for the underground press in the late sixties and early seventies. Whether or not one is into countercultural drug humor, the series was just plain funny as well as offering some wonderful cartooning. FAT FREDDY'S CAT was a spin-off strip that actually made some mainstream inroads as kind of an anti-GARFIELD.

MORE ADVENTURES OF FAT FREDDY'S CAT is a 1981 book presenting a selection of strips from the mid-'70's up through 1980. Slightly more adult than a typical newspaper strip and yet a far cry from the outrageousness of some of Shelton's other work, this is a strip that will hit home with anyone who has ever owned, loved and hated a cat.

Monty Python's Terry Gilliam and CAT FANCY MAGAZINE both praise the strip!

Has a phone number (Whose? I bought it used) and an old price scrawled inside on the blank back page. Otherwise in quite good shape.

$9.00 + $3.00 postage

Fred Basset

2011-11-28T10:18:00.000-05:00

I love Fred Basset! This wonderful, gentle, funny British newspaper strip dog appeared first in the early sixties and continues to be syndicated throughout the world.

Fred Basset was collected in a long series of books not published in the US but I once ran across these three in a dingy corner of a used bookstore.

We have numbers 8, 17 and 32, all just slightly worn.

$15.00 postpaid gets you all three! If you're a comic strip fan or know one, you'll love FRED BASSET!

Best Television Humor of the Year

2011-11-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

Well...if that year is 1956 at least. Chosen by Irving Settel (who would in 1960 pen the first book about old-time radio even though it wasn't yet quite dead), this is a fun book of scripts and scenes from television episodes and specials of what was still considered the Golden Age.

A few of the shows represented here include: THE GARY MOORE SHOW, THE HALLS OF IVY. THE JACK BENNY SHOW, Steve Allen's TONIGHT, THE LIFE OF RILEY, MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY and THE GOLDBERGS.

Pages are quite yellowed but otherwise in good shape with no markings. A great gift for any classic TV buff!

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

Enter The Dragon Flipbook

2011-11-26T10:38:00.000-05:00

These were given away at some later showings of Bruce Lee's 1973 epic ENTER THE DRAGON and also sold through BLACK BELT magazine. The small, oblong book features the now-iconic film's co-stars Jim Kelly and Bob Wall demonstrating martial arts moves when you flip the pages fast. Turn it over and get a whole other set of moves. These go for quite a bit intact but mine was perhaps flipped a tad too often and thus no longer has its covers. The meat of the booklet is intact and still flips, however. There's my initials next to Mr. Kelly, too.

$4.00+$3.00 postage

GI JOE Marine Manual 1964

2011-11-25T21:16:00.000-05:00

Here we have the Marine Manual that came with my very first GI Joe back in 1965. As much a catalog as it is "instructions," it offers a good look at early suggested ways to play with the Action Marine.

The first page has place for the owner's name, rank and serial number but, since I couldn't yet write...or even print, I left it blank.

Except for the back cover, seen here, it's in very good shape with no markings and only slightly yellowed pages. Goes for around $10.00 to $15.00 regardless of shape. We're asking only:

$7.00 + $3.00 postage

Eureka Almanacco 1970

2011-11-25T20:18:00.000-05:00

EUREKA ALMANACCO 1970 is an Italian language book of comic strip reprints tied to a theme of outer space in order to celebrate the then-recentApollo 11 moon landing.

What we have here is the classic British strip GARTH by Steve Dowling, a couple of the Wally Wood/Will Eisner OUTER SPACE SPIRIT sections, George Tuska’s 1963 version of BUCK ROGERS, BRICK BRADFORD by Paul Norris and DRIFT MARLOW, a neatly drawn 1964 strip by Tom Cooke. There’s even a few MR. MUM strips, another silent strip apparently called PERKINS and an Italian language article on Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11. About all that's missing is JEFF HAWKE and FLASH GORDON! What's here is a great collection, however, that's easy to enjoy in any language.

Definitely NOT something one sees every day! 128 pages, Italian language only but with some rarely reprinted strips with great art!

$16.00 + $4.00 postage

Oh! Calcutta!

2011-11-23T14:01:00.000-05:00

You may have heard of the long-running off-Broadway revue, OH! CALUTTA!. Subtitled, "An Entertainment With Music,"it was "devised" by critic Kenneth Tynan. Less well-known is that the actual sketches were written by an impressive Who's Who that includes John Lennon, Jules Feiffer, Dan Greenburg, Samuel Beckett, Sam Shephard, Pat McCormick and the team of Robert Benton and David Newman.

The play is notorious for having most of its cast be naked throughout much of their time onstage. Much of the sketches are of a sexual nature. In 1969, this was considered shocking and shameful.

This is the book of the play, essentially the script of the entire piece, songs and all, illustrated with scores of images from the original stage production. Two of the actors went on to be recognizable TV faces--Alan Rachins starred on LA LAW and DHARMA AND GREG (as well as doing the voice of Norman Osborn in the most recent SPIDER-MAN cartoon series) and Bill Macy played Bea Arthur's husband on MAUDE before a long character actor career.

NOTE: This book does contain fully frontal nudity. You must be 18 to purchase.

1969, first printing, 192 pages. Covers bend back a bit but pages (on better paper than usual) are white.

A fascinating remnant of the Sexual Revolution, the evolution of the legitimate stage and a surprising footnote in Beatles trivia!

$9.00 + $3.00 postage

The Gospel According to Peanuts--Robert L. Short

2011-11-23T12:59:00.000-05:00

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

The Gospel According to Peanuts is a best-selling 1965 book written by Presbyterian minister Robert L. Short about Charles M. Schulz's popular comic strip, Peanuts. The book is based on Short's use of thePeanuts characters to illustrate his lectures about the Christian Gospel.

The book was a best seller and sold over 10 million copies.

This is the 5th printing of the 1968 mass market version. A little cover damage. Pages look aged. Lots of PEANUTS strip reprints in a unique setting.

$3.00 + $3.00 postage

Clint Eastwood by Stuart Kaminsky

2011-11-22T08:58:00.000-05:00

I had known Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates on RAWHIDE as a kid because my parents were big fans of TV westerns. I remember seeing and enjoying KELLY'S HEROES in the theater but it wasn't until my dad and I went to see a reissue of DIRTY HARRY in 1973 that I really became an Eastwood fan.

It was about a year later when this book came out. This was the first full-length biography of the now-legendary actor. Although it contains a full-length interview with Eastwood, Clint is said to have been a bit embarrassed by the fact that someone would want to read a full book about him as he still had so much to do in his career.

The author is Stuart Kaminsky who I believe was then a professor of film at Northwestern University. Kaminsky went on to be an extremely successful mystery author--my favorite in fact--beginning in the eighties, building his reputation on a series of novels set in 1930's and '40's Hollywood. Later on he would start several other series and win a number of awards. Stuart Kaminsky died in 2009.

1974, 150 pages
16 pages of photos

As with many books from this period in my collection, although otherwise in very good condition, my initials are on the title page. As the years went on, I also added a few more films to the book's filmography...in ink. Yikes! Sorry! Still--first book by Kaminsky and the first biography of Clint!

$9.00 + $3.00 postage

Phillip Marlowe

2011-11-21T16:49:00.000-05:00

You've heard of Raymond Chandler's seminal detective Phillip Marlowe, walking the rainy streets of Los Angeles in a now iconic image of a classic private eye. But have you read any of his books?

Here's your chance. Two Phillip Marlowe novels--two of the BEST Phillip Marlowe novels by Chandler--THE LADY IN THE LAKE and THE BIG SLEEP. The latter has been filmed several times including he classic version with Humphrey Bogart and a later remake with Robert Mitchum. The former saw Robert Montgomery as Marlowe.

You get both Raymond Chandler detective story classics for about the price of a modern paperback...and much more enjoyable reading!

THE LADY IN THE LAKE is a 1976 US edition while THE BIG SLEEP is a 1979 UK reissue. Both are in very good shape all around with only a bit of yellowing in their pages.

$10.00 postpaid gets you both!

Movie Screenplays and Treatments

2011-11-21T16:18:00.001-05:00

For a while I collected movie scripts and treatments for films that ended up being completely revised by the time they came out or that never came out at all. You'd be amazed what ridiculous and/or wonderful things were ALMOST put up there on the big screen. These are three of the last ones I still have and they're all good ones.

STAR TREK III--RETURN TO GENESIS--This is a treatment by Producer Harve Bennett that is almost entirely different than the final film, THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK.

WATCHMEN--A not bad photocopied 1988 script from Sam Hamm who had so successfully adapted BATMAN for the first Michael Keaton picture. This version was completely discarded long before the film finally appeared two decades later.

BATMAN--Speaking of which, the real fun one is Sam Hamm's revised first draft of what would eventually be Tim Burton's BATMAN, this version featuring Robin in a major role for
example! (Rumor at the time was that Marlon Wayans would be cast as the Boy Wonder).

$50.00 postpaid for all three!

NEW! Lower Price! Batman vs the 3 Villains of Doom

2011-11-21T05:28:00.001-05:00

In March of 2010, I reviewed this book as a guest reviewer on the wonderful book site PATTINASE. Here's that review:

I’m known for an interest in old television and comics so I chose for my review a novel that combines the two…literally. Batman Vs. Three Villains of Doom by the pseudonymous “Winston Lyon” was originally published in the year of Batmania, 1966. To the best of my knowledge, it was the very first prose appearance of Batman and Robin and it isn’t at all bad. It is, however, rather an odd bird in and of itself.

Although ostensibly a tie-in to the then-new and phenomenally hot Batman TV series, Batman Vs. Three Villains of Doom is in actuality a bizarre hybrid of parts of that series and the more serious (by comic book hero standards at least) 1950’s DC comics stories of the Dynamic Duo.

The author seems to have been given at least some access to the TV series or perhaps simply early scripts as we have the familiar bust of Shakespeare opening the Batcave entrance, Alfred (who was deceased at that time in the comics!) protecting the characters’ secret identities from Aunt Harriet and over the top scenes such as Bruce Wayne reading and memorizing every story from a score of daily newspapers.

On the other hand, we also have the Batcave entrance being in the Wayne Manor living room as opposed to the private study, the batsignal displayed on the side of the tallest building in Gotham and we are introduced to “Inspector” O’Hara, the Irish cop.

As for this book itself, there’s a natural tendency to presume that it might be the source material for the Batman feature film that was made and released before the end of the year but it was not. There are three of the same four villains from the movie, there’s a yacht and there’s a scene where the Caped Crusader has to get rid of a bomb but the similarities end there. “Lyon” would, himself, go on to also novelize the Batman movie, but that’s another book and another story.

At 128 pages, this is a short novel but nicely laid out. In the beginning we are shown a conference of criminals in which the Joker, the Penguin and the Catwoman are all introduced as competitors for crimedom’s “Tommy Award,” a gold-plated tommy gun, to be presented for killing Batman. Tellingly, the characters are all described as they looked in the old comics instead of their television incarnations, with the Joker being tall and thin (a description that would never have fit Cesar Romero!) and the Catwoman having a “smoothly furred leotard” and a long green cloak.

Batman and Robin have already gotten wind of this confab, however, and arrive to break it up, capturing Catwoman in the process but being themselves bested by the Penguin. We then see Penguin take his shot at winning the award with a long, realistically paced chase scene and a genuinely thrilling blimp crime.

When the Tuxedoed Terror inevitably fails in his ultimate quest, the Joker takes his turn. It is pointed out that this is the truly insane Clown Prince of Crime from the early comics or as he returned in the 1970’s. The Joker is genuinely scary in some of his scenes, both to the other characters and the reader as well.

Finally, just when you think it should be over, an escaped Catwoman returns to the plot with the deadliest trap yet for the Caped Crusaders.

“Deadly” is a good word for the criminals’ intentions here, by the way. On the series, the serious consequences of the villains’ attempts at “getting rid of” Batman and Robin were always downplayed and even sugarcoated. Here, that is most definitely not the case. For example, the Joker tricks Robin into leaping at a dummy and then immediately opens a trap door beneath them so that Robin will fall directly into corrosive acid a mere five feet below him! How he survives that very realistic and scary trap is the biggest stretch of credibility that the reader is asked to buy in the entire novel.

Which brings us to the biggest fault of Batman Vs. Three Villains of Doom—it can’t make up its mind as to how serious it wants to be! The parts of the book that play like a straightforward crime story are the best with the author giving almost noir-ish descriptions of settings and fight scenes. On the other hand, the concept of “camp” as popularized by the TV series seemed to completely throw him and he instead relied on a vague Mad-style (or maybe Cracked-style) parody feel in the book’s few attempts at actually treading that fine line.

“Winston Lyon,” by the way, was the pen name for former comic book writer William Woolfolk. Woolfolk had worked on many comic heroes beginning in the 1940’s including Blackhawk and the original Captain Marvel. He even claimed to have coined the latter’s “Holey Moley!” catchphrase. Two heroes he had not worked on before, though, were Batman and Robin.

By the early 1960’s, Woolfolk won praise as one of the main writers for the long-running television legal drama, the Defenders. He became a successful novelist both as Winston Lyon and under his own name, eventually even hitting the bestseller list, a feat his daughter, Donna Woolfolk Cross, would repeat many years later with her 1996 novel, Pope Joan.

Batman fans all have their own idea of how the character “should” be so this unusual and unique combination of serious and silly versions may not appeal to everyone but taken as a product of its time I found it immensely entertaining and, for the most part, very well written by an author who seemed to have quite a good feel for the characters. I wish he had written more Batman stories!

Batman Vs. Three Villains of Doom, with its Adam West cover, was originally published in April of 1966 and is long out of print.

My copy of BATMAN VS 3 VILLAINS OF DOOM is a well-loved copy that undoubtedly went through several hands before ending with me in the eighties. The front cover has a crease down the middle. The back cover has a small tear that also cuts slightly into the final page. Overall, the book shows its age but is fully together and readable.

Was $10.00 + $3.00 postage

Now only $8.00 + $3.00 postage!

NEW! Lower Price! Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life

2011-11-21T05:28:00.000-05:00

DOC SAVAGE was riding the crest of renewed fame in the seventies when uber-fan and sci-fi author Philip Jose Farmer decided to write an actual biography of Doc. Farmer had previously utilized a thinly veiled version of the Man of Bronze in an Ace double novel backed with his ersatz Tarzan (which hasn't sold yet on this site as I type this so check the archives).

Then the author wrote a bestselling book called TARZAN ALIVE. That book blurred the lines between fiction and reality as it tied the Lord of the Jungle's genealogy to a series of both real and fictional characters. It also became a surprise bestseller.

DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE was the follow-up in which the seminal pulp superman was similarly tied to a host of other important personages, real and unreal...including Tarzan!

That book did not do as well but, to me at least, it's a much better book! It was re-released in paperback around the time of the DOC SAVAGE, THE MAN OF BRONZE and that's what we have here. The paperback is, in fact, described having been, "...expanded and corrected by the author."

Anyone familiar with Farmer's work undoubtedly knows that he took these connections concepts to whole new levels throughout the seventies in various other books and stories and that other authors even picked up on the conceit! Fun stuff!

If you're a Doc Savage fan, seriously, this is essential reading. If you're a Farmer fan, I think it's one of his best. If you're a history buff, it's fascinating and fun.

Purchased at Woolworth's in Covington, KY in 1975, read only once and put on a shelf.

270 pages, very little weathering. Pages are off-white as opposed to yellowed in any way. As usual for the mid-seventies, my initials appear in a circle on the title page but no other markings and the spine has only the barest crease from reading.

Prices vary widely on this volume with ridiculously high peaks being offered at various sites. We're asking:
WAS $25.00, Now only:

$18.00 +$3.00 postage

Robert Wagner--Pieces of My Heart

2011-11-20T18:10:00.000-05:00

Robert Wagner's in the news lately due to the speculation regarding his wife Natalie Wood's death 30 years ago. Here's his autobiography from 2008 where you can read his own thoughts on the matter for the record.

It's a fascinating book but, to me, not for any good reason. I found myself liking Wagner less and less as I read on and by the end, I really wasn't impressed with him at all. Normally one hopes to have a different reaction when reading an autobiography. One looks forward to getting to know the subject a little better and, assuming it's someone you like, liking them all the more for it.

He tells of his upbringing, his entry into show business, his first marriage to Natalie, his second marriage to Natalie, his friendship with David Niven, his films, his TV series, Jill St. John and, of course, quite a bit on Natalie's controversial death

When I finished PIECES OF MY HEART (with its oddly chosen cover photo) I most definitely liked R.J. less. Your reaction may be different.

Hardcover, 2008, 325 pages--Like New. Read once and then shelved.

$8.00 + $4.00 postage

Flintstones Little Golden Book-1961

2011-11-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

Artist Mel Crawford illustrated this FLINTSTONES one that my mother bought me when I was about two years old.

As you can see, this book, which was prepared just PRIOR to the television series debut, features an alternate world version of THE FLINTSTONES--Fred, Wilma, Fred Junior(!!) and their new pet Harvey (although he looks more like Cecil the sea-sick sea sepent on that final page!) with no trace of Barney, Betty, Dino or Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm(still several years away from their conceptions actually).

I'm not certain whether Junior was originally planned for the TV series but if so, he was clearly sacked early on, unwittingly preparing the way for Pebbly-Poo and one of the most anxiously awaited births in TV history. (Certainly, the Welch's people were waiting as I doubt Junior had the marketing appeal that sold all the jelly and grape juice that Pebbles would eventually sell!)

This is a lovely and historically important book in cartoon history. My copy is well-loved and frayed a small bit around the edges but it's whole and intact.

$13.00 + $3.00 postage

They'll Outgrow It...Cartoons For Parents

2011-11-20T16:12:00.000-05:00

This is a fun book. It's an unusual themed anthology of comic strips and panel cartoons particularly pertaining to parents and kids.

Selected comic strips included:

PEANUTS
THE FAMILY CIRCUS
HI AND LOIS
CATHY
FOR BETTER FOR WORSE
CALVIN AND HOBBES
MARVIN
DOONESBURY
HERMAN
SNUFFY SMITH

1986, 106 pages, very good condition

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

Comic Book Collecting For Fun and Profit-Mike Benton

2011-11-20T15:45:00.000-05:00

What was comic book collecting like back in the old days? Well, here we have a good, basic look at what it was like in 1985, courtesy of prolific writer Mike Benton.

Yes, it's mostly outdated at this point but it now gives an interesting historical perspective and there's a marvelous photo section with step-by-step details of how to determine the condition of a comic book.

150 Pages

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

Marvel and DC Showcase and Essentials Lower price

2011-11-20T15:10:00.000-05:00

We still have have about 25 volumes of the Marvel Essential and DC Showcase series left, now all at $8.00 each (+$3.00 postage). Excellent condition on all. Read once each. Please email me at booksteve@aol.com with what you need to fill out your collections and I'll let you know what we still have. Thanks!

And thanks to the three customers who have done so already!

NEW!! LOWER PRICES!!Wally Wood's Weird Sex Fantasies Portfolio

2011-11-20T02:31:00.000-05:00

Seen here is WALLY WOOD'S WEIRD SEX FANTASIES PORTFOLIO published in 1977. Its oversized black and white plates feature some of Woody's best art of the period (aided by his then assistant, A.L. Sirois and artist Mike Zeck) and are more R-rated than X-rated for the most part.

Any serious Wood fans out there who would like a copy? It's a signed and numbered limited edition. Mine is #589/2000. Signed by Wallace Wood. It's in excellent condition with only a slight crinkle in one corner of the sleeve. These have been all over the board in recent years with at least one copy going on eBay for as much as one thousand dollars.

Asking price for this one, originally purchased by me from the publisher during Wood's lifetime, WAS $300.00 plus $15.00 postage and insurance.

NOW ONLY $150.00 + $15.00 postage/insurance

NEW! LOWER PRICE!!Dr. Seuss-Pocket Book of Boners

2011-11-20T02:23:00.000-05:00

Okay, let’s just get right past the fact that the title of this book, THE POCKET BOOK OF BONERS, makes it sound like something you’d get at the Hustler store. This is actually--and they really were counting in those days--the 110th mass market paperback ever published. LOST HORIZON, still in print, rightfully touts itself as first on covers even today. This book is numbered as 110 and an inside checklist of all paperbacks to date (date being 1941) confirms it.

That said, BONERS is really a compilation of 4 books originally published in 1931 and 1932, and compiled in hardback in 1936. The content consists of the usual flubs and fluffs that cartoonist Jerry Robinson later milked for many years as a panel cartoon. The real selling point here is Dr. Seuss-pre Cat, pre-Grinch, pre-Horton, pre-just about anything! A couple dozen or so marvelous, early Seuss illustrations highlight the book!

This copy is complete but just barely in spots as nearly all the sections of pages are very loose and the front cover folds back.

Research shows that a copy in not much better shape sold at auction last year for $120.00. It's a fun book and it's interesting to see Dr Seuss in some atypical--and occasionally politically incorrect--illustrations.

1941, 120 pages, Fair Condition

WAS $25.00 NOW ONLY:
$16.00 + $3.00 postage

NEW! LOWER PRICE!! Everything's Archie

2011-11-20T02:19:00.000-05:00

If you've been paying attention over the past couple of years, there are a LOT of books out related in some way to ARCHIE COMICS. Arguably more successful then ever in the 21st Century, there are, along with the ever-present teenage comics and digests, collections of Bib Montana's newspaper strips, Craig Boldman's newspaper strips, severl "Best of" anthologies, Paul Castiglia's "Decades" volumes, a number of special storyline collections including Archie's wedding, artist editions from IDW and, of course, Craig Yoe's MADHOUSE and ARCHIE hardcovers, both of which I was privileged to actually write parts of myself!

Here, however, "first time in book form," as the book itself claims, is a slim 1969 mass market paperback tying in with the then-current music chart success of The Archies as well as the Filmation cartoon series.

The first story (new for this volume?) has the gang actually meeting their Filmation bosses. The rest of the stories are reprints, most of which involve the various incarnations of The Archies as they had appeared form time to time in the various comics over the preceding years.

Art is recognizably by Dan DeCarlo, Harry Lucey and other anonymous but not as easily detectable veterans.

Some minor damage to the front cover and slight yellowing on the insides but again a good solid book.

1969--The first collection of Archie Comics

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

NEW! LOWER PRICE!!Spirit Bags 1 and 2

2011-11-20T02:16:00.000-05:00

THE SPIRIT by Will Eisner has probably had a more convoluted publishing history than any other comics character. Originating in a special newspaper comic booklet in 1940, his stories were then reprinted in comics from 3 different companies by the end of that decade. The original run ended in the early 1950's but a couple of stray issues of reprints were put out in the early sixties by the notorious IW/Super imprint. Then Harvey Kurtzman's HELP revived our blue-suited crimefighter for one story and an article. Former SPIRIT writer/layout artist Jules Feiffer did the same in his THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES in 1965. Then Eisner himself did an all-new one-off SPIRIT tale for a NYC newspaper.

All of this interest led to Harvey Comics reviving the series in 2 oversized reprint collections with all-new inserts in '66. After that things were quiet for a while but interest in fandom continued to grow. In 1972, Eisner consented (supposedly. There is some controversy apparently) to have the original SPIRIT stories reprinted in order in a series of bags each featuring facsimile black and white photocopies of the original newspaper booklets. I've read where Eisner said these were unauthorized later on but on the back of each booklet are annotations on that particular story said to be by the artisthimself. They read like him and offer insights, growing pains and frustrations that I can't imagine anyone else knowing.

That's what we're offering here. Volumes one and two of THE COLLECTOR'S SPIRIT. Prices tend to run pretty high on these and ours are in very good shape but for the usual circle with my initials on the insert card for each one. Each bag (the original thin plastic bag, btw, taped in the back as they came) contains ten sequential SPIRIT SECTIONS (minus the back-up strips) with commentary. As the character's weird publishing history continued, these would all be reprinted again and again in better quality, especially on DC's wonderful collection of 28 hardcovers in recent years! Still, this was the very first time these early strips had been seen in more than three decades. Very collectible and very fun!

PS--If you're only familiar with Frank Miller's movie of THE SPIRIT, put that out of your mind. The real comic is MUCH more cinematic!

NOTE: Bag # 2 actually contains 11 sections, the extra being an accidentally included second copy of the August 25th, 1940 version.

Both sets are white pages and essentially like new. There are a couple of small tears in the bags and the (original) tape has aged a bit.

WAS $53.00 for both
NOW ONLY $40.00 POSTPAID!

NEW! LOWER PRICE! Bob Dylan- Don't Look Back

2011-11-20T02:11:00.000-05:00

One of a number of great, classic music documentaries made in the 1960's was filmmaker D. A Pennebaker's DON"T LOOK BACK. Released in 1967, it chronicled Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England in a cinema verite' style, warts and all. Dylan was arguably at the height of his worship as a poet/philosopher/singer and is revealed as a very real human after all.

The opening sequence showing Bob with a bunch of giant cards set to the music of his song SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES, was lifted from this to become an early (now classic) music video.

BOB DYLAN- DON'T LOOK BACK is the 1968 book version of that same documentary. I mean...literally. With no real text other than dialogue from the film (other than excerpts from a few reviews in the back) and more than 200 black and white frame shots taken directly from it, this book IS the film book.

If you're a Dylan fan or a sixties music fan, the film is essential. The book is limited in its ability to convey the emotions of the film and, especially, the music of the film, so it works better as a souvenir of the picture rather than on its own.

The inside front cover has some glue showing due to a printing defect but otherwise crisp white pages on a better quality of paper than one usually finds in this type of book.

WAS $15.00 NOW ONLY:

$10.00 + $3.00 postage

A Gift of Laughter-Allan Sherman

2011-11-19T18:59:00.001-05:00

From Wikipedia:

Allan Sherman (November 30, 1924 – November 20, 1973) was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer(1962), became the fastest-selling record album up to that time. His biggest hit single was "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah", a comic novelty in which a boy describes his summer camp experiences to the tune of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours.

At the height of his popularity in 1965, Sherman published an autobiography, A Gift of Laughter, and, for a short period at least, Sherman was culturally ubiquitous.

A little weathered but a solid copy and a most enjoyable read.

$8.00 + $3.00 postage

Superman by George Lowther

2011-11-19T18:47:00.000-05:00

From Wikipedia:

The Adventures of Superman is a novel by George Lowther. It was first published in 1942 with illustrations by Joe Shuster, the co-creator of Superman.

This book is the first novelization of a comic book character, and also the first Superman story credited to someone other than Jerry Siegel. It was Lowther who first provided many now-familiar details of Superman's birth and early life. The first two chapters provided the first detailed description of the planet Krypton, and renamed Kal-El's parents Jor-El and Lara. (Previously, they had been named Jor-L and Lora.) The next three chapters dealt with Clark Kent's childhood on the farm of his adoptive parents, Eben and Sarah Kent. (In the comics, the Kents suffered through many names changes before settling on Jonathan and Martha in 1952.) In the sixth chapter, Clark arrived in Metropolis and got a job with the Daily Planet, while the remaining eleven chapters deal with a mystery involving ghost ships and Nazi spies.

The book is illustrated with four full-page color illustrations, six full-page black-and-white illustrations, and numerous sketches, all examples of Joe Shuster's work.

What we have here is the 1979 trade paperback reprint from Kassel Classics. It's a tad worn but as solid copy and a most enjoyable book for fans of the man of Steel!

$16.00 + $4.00 postage

Buy This Book of Odd Bodkins by Dan O'Neill

2011-11-17T14:53:00.000-05:00

Underground comix as we know them (or DID as the distinction really doesn’t exist anymore) appeared in the late sixties and flourished through the early seventies serving as a showcase for the countercultural artistic/political/psychosexual talents of scores of young illustrators including Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Justin Green, Gilbert Shelton and Bill Griffith. The thing is, though, that Dan O’Neill was there when they got there. In fact, his deceptively simplistic ODD BODKINS strip had been around since the early sixties. The collection seen here is from early 1965!

O'Neill went on to be part of the controversial Air Pirates who were taken to court by Disney. These early ODD BODKINS strips are cute with a little politics and a bit of sixties social issues but mainly just some clever humor and some highly stylized art.

This is the original 1965 edition, with pages only slightly yellowed. There's a long ago "50 cents" price peniclled in on the first page. Prices are 50-60 dollars from some sources. We're asking:

$20.00 + $3.00 postage

Dick Tracy: The Secret Files

2011-11-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

One happy side effect of 1990's DICK TRACY feature film with Warren Beatty was that there was suddenly a market for some nifty Tracy merchandise. One of the best, in my opinion, was this volume, DICK TRACY: THE SECRET FILES.

This is one of those anthologies in which various writers offer up short stories on a certain theme or, as in this case, all featuring the same characters. There are sixteen Dick Tracy stories ranging from serious police procedurals to classic mysteries and nostalgia themed tales.

Max Allan Collins, then the writer of the Tray newspaper strip, co-edited along with well-known anthologist Martin Greenberg. Among the writers with featured short stories are:

Ron Goulart
Rex Miller
Terry Beatty (my Facebook pal. Hi, Terry!) and Wendi Lee
Ed Gorman
Henry Slesar
F. Paul Wilson
and Collins himself

DICK TRACY's longtime artist Dick Locher painted the cover.
310 Pages, Mass Market, 1990
Read once and put away but the cover edge is a bit worn and the pages show some aging. A great read all around, though!

$5.00 + $3.00

Azazel Fantasy Stories by Isaac Asimov

2011-11-15T19:16:00.000-05:00

Far from the usual hard science-fiction that one associates with Dr. Asimov, AZAZEL is a collection of lighthearted (sometimes in a dark way) short stories about a man with his own personal wish-granting mini-demon.

From Wikipedia:

The introduction of this book describes how Dr. Asimov came to create Azazel, with an explanation about how the stories and book came to be published.

"The Two-Centimeter Demon" - Written to introduce this collection, this story describes how the writer and George first met, and supplies information about Azazel. The tale is of George's goddaughter, in love with a mediocre basketball player. Azazel is asked to improve his game.
"One Night of Song" - A man asks revenge on mistress who cruelly dumped him - by giving her one night performing with a perfect voice.
"The Smile That Loses" - A woman asks George to capture her husband's radiantly happy smile in a photograph.
"To the Victor" - A young man is unsuccessful with women, so Azazel boosts his pheromones.
"The Dim Rumble" - A speleologist informs George that he has discovered a sound amplifier underground which, when disturbed, caused rumbles all over the world.
"Saving Humanity" - A man wishes to be cured of being a jinx - but also wants, as compensation, to be able to save humanity.
"A Matter of Principle" - An advertising man wants to write novels, but is unable to get past the first paragraph. George hopes to enrich himself with a share of the man's profit as a novelist.
"The Evil Drink Does" - A beautiful but forceful girl wants to get close to a man but can't overcome her inhibitions, and is extremely sensitive to alcohol.
"Writing Time" - An author is exasperated by the amount of time he must spend waiting everywhere he goes.
"Dashing Through the Snow" - In order to stay at a friend's country retreat during the winter, George arranges for him to be able to fly over snow.
"Logic Is Logic" - An idle rich man loves his snobbish club but makes no friends there, so Azazel gives him the ability to tell jokes.
"He Travels the Fastest" - George's former lover marries a rich man, but he is miserly and will not take her abroad. Azazel gives him the urge to travel.
"The Eye of the Beholder" - Two homely people fall in love and marry each other, but then the girl wishes she could be beautiful for him.
"More Things in Heaven and Earth" - An economist wants to accept a new position, but each person in the post has survived a shorter time period.
"The Mind's Construction" - A young detective believes any story a suspect tells him.
"The Fights of Spring" - An old friend's son at college is actually studying instead of the usual youthful pursuits. George arranges for the 97-pound weakling to beat the college bully.
"Galatea" - A young sculptress is in love with a male statue she has created.
"Flight of Fancy" - A skeptic argues with believers about the Bible, but what he really wants is to fly like an angel.

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

The Complete Danger Mouse

2011-11-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

From Wikipedia: Danger Mouse is a British animated television series which was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Thames Television. It features the eponymous Danger Mouse, an English mouse who works as asuperhero/secret agent. The show is a loose parody of British spy fiction, particularly James Bond and the Danger Man series starring Patrick McGoohan. The show originally ran in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1992. In the English-language version, the titular hero was voiced by David Jason.

DANGER MOUSE was one of my favorite animated series in the 1980's in that it was, unlike most cartoons of the era, genuinely funny in a ROCKY & BULLWINKLE sort of way. Here, on 9 DVD's, you get all 89 episodes of the series along with extras like COUNT DUCKULA and the DM unaired pilot.

All for only $18.00 + $4.00 postage

The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told

2011-11-14T18:05:00.000-05:00

In 1991, the brief success of THE FLASH on television no doubt led to this volume of THE GREATEST FLASH STORIES EVER TOLD. In between four adventures of the Golden Age Flash and one of the Wally West Flash, we get twelve more or less classic Barry Allen tales. Mirror Master, Gorilla Grodd, Captain Boomerang and the Trickster all put in appearances from the most famous rogues gallery this side of Dick Tracy and we also meet Green Lantern, the Elongated man and Kid Flash (in his original mini-me uniform).

All the stories are choice as there were so many good ones to choose from. Carmine Infantino, the artist most associated with the character, provides a brand new wraparound cover, a new foreword and, of course, draws the lions share of the stories within. Other artists represented include Ross Andru, Butch Guice, Joe Kubert and Irv Novick.

All in all, a worthy if somehow unspectacular collection for FLASH fans.

Hardcover. Like new condition. 288 pages, 1991

$20.00 + $4.00 postage

Harlan Ellison-Approcahing Oblivion

2011-11-14T07:31:00.000-05:00

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Approaching Oblivion is a collection of short stories by author Harlan Ellison. The short stories had appeared in various magazines throughout the early 1970s with the exceptions of "Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman" which originally appeared in 1962 and "Ecowareness" which was previously unpublished.

According to the introduction, the book was originally conceived in 1970 as a call to action, that would contain cautionary tales from Ellison's previous books. Over the next four years the book changed to include previously uncollected stories with underlying themes of disillusionment and futility in rebelling. Classic examples along these lines are the dystopian "Knox" and "Silent in Gehenna". Other notable stories include "One Life, Furnished in Early poverty" which depicts a man meeting a younger version of himself as a child and finding himself unable to ease the pains of childhood. The story takes place at Lathrop Grade School in Painesville, Ohio where the author himself attended elementary school and experienced many painful encounters with antisemitic prejudice recounted in the introduction.

The foreword by fiction author Michael Crichton paints a picture of Ellison as an energetic, eclectic, uncompromising, and sometimes obstinate individual. It also describes the resistance and resentment felt by many of the people who have worked with Ellison in the movie business.

[edit]Contents

Forward: Approaching Ellison by Michael Crichton
Introduction: Reaping the Whirlwind
Knox
Cold Friend
Kiss of Fire
Paulie Charmed the Sleeping Woman
I'm Looking for Kadak
Silent in Gehenna
Erotophobia
One Life, Furnished in Early poverty
Ecowareness
Catman
Hindsight:480 Seconds

What we are offering here is a 1974 hardcover Book Club edition, slightly smaller in size than the original release.

$7.00 + $3.00

Groucho Marx--Beds

2011-11-13T18:28:00.001-05:00

Originally published in 1930, this is the 1976 reissue of Groucho Marx's famous treatise on just that...beds. Well...it isn't just a reissue as this new version adds quite a few newly taken photos of the octogenarian Groucho of '76 in bed with various other celebs of the day including Elliot Gould, Valerie Perrine, Burt Reynolds and ALL IN THE FAMILY stars Carroll O'Conner and Sally Struthers...at the same time!

It's amusingly written in a style that was by that point already antiquated and to a Marx fan it's also interesting as some of Groucho's earliest public work as a writer.

Groucho's biographer and former secretary Steve Stoliar informs me that the version offered here is, although not necessarily rare, at least a bit scarce as Erin Fleming ordered all copies with a black and white cover destroyed in favor of the exact same image in color. We have the black and white edition.

1976, 71 pages. The front cover folds back a tad more than it should and both covers are a bit worn. The book is printed on slightly better paper so the pages are still white except along the edges.

$12.00 + $3.00 postage

Sex and Zen and a Bullet in the Head

2011-11-13T09:06:00.000-05:00

Subtitled, THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO HONG KONG'S MIND-BENDING FILMS, this 1996 volume served as an introduction to the amazing movies coming out of Hong Kong at that time. It introduces the auteur directors such as Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark and John Woo and the various cinematic styles other than just martial arts films.

Jackie Chan provides a foreword and is covered inside along with Sammo Hung, Chow Yun-Fat and other stars then making names for themselves in the West.

There's coverage of genres, films, directors, actors, fan movements and Internet outlets for HK films. If you're a fan, it's good background. If you haven't discovered them yet, you may be surprised that they aren't all "chop-socky" flicks anymore.

1996, 272 pages with the black magic marker line characteristic of a "bargain book" along the page bottoms.

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

Tales of the Green Beret

2011-11-11T14:25:00.000-05:00

For Veterans Day we offer Blackthorne's TALES OF THE GREEN BERET Vol 1 from 1985, reprinting a nice selection of the Joe Kubert newspaper comic strip from 1966. The strip was based on author Robin Moore's book of the same name and came out around the same time as SSgt Barry Sadler's phenomenal hit record, BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS. As such, it was briefly very successful until the tide turned against the war in Viet Nam.

The entirety of the strip (which had scripts by Howard Liss) has never been reprinted but this long, sequential reprinting of masterful Joe Kubert art is enjoyable and very much a time capsule of the sixties when every kid at school either had a brother or knew someone who had a brother who was in the service...and we were proud of them.

With an introduction by co-creator Robin Moore, the book runs 72 pages and is in like new condition.

$7.00 + $3.00 postage

Captains Outrageous by Joe R. Lansdale--Rare Advance Copy

2011-11-10T21:03:00.000-05:00

This is an advance trade paperback copy of the original hardback edition of CAPTAINS OUTRAGEOUS, the fifth Hap Collins and Leonard Pine novel from 2001. I first discovered the wonderful team of Hap and Leonard in MUCHO MOJO. Hap is a typical tough guy hero and Leonard is his tough guy pal...who happens to be black...and gay. Lansdale, a longtime horror and western writer (as well as dabbling more than a little in comic books) gives the duo some of the best bantering dialogue ever as they constantly get caught up in improbable situations reminiscent of a dark, dark Road comedy with Bob and Bing. Doubleclick and embiggen the book's back cover for a plot description.

When I managed bookstores we got this sort of thing all the time---usually for unknown books from lesser authors that you didn't want to read in the first place. But every once in a while we got something cool like this one.

This book is available at Amazon for virtually nothing if you just want to read it but if you happen to be a Lansdale fan, you simply aren't going to find this rare advance edition, printed from uncorrected proofs, anywhere.

If you are a Lansdale fan, then you're probably a Hap and Leonard fan. If you know a Lansdale fan, here's your Christmas gift for them.

$20.00 + 4.00 postage

Marilyn Monroe Confidential

2011-11-08T08:00:00.001-05:00

There were a lot of sensationalized biographies published about the late Marilyn Monroe, THE sex symbol of the twentieth century, in the wake of Norman Mailer's self-indulgent bestseller, MARILYN. This one, MARILYN MONROE CONFIDENTIAL, was supposedly written by Marilyn's maid and is one of te biggest offenders.

Long discredited (see here) as being largely made up by the co-author as Ms. Pepitone could barely speak or understand English, it remains a fascinating look at the lengths one will go to to pad one's "brush with greatness." For a Marilyn fan, it's definitely must reading. Just keep in mind it may all be fiction.

This is the mass market version. There is a nice selection of rarely seen black and white photos bound in.

1980, 223 pages, all a bit discolored from time, and what do you know? There's that little circle with my initials on the title page.

$4.00 + $3.00

Plastic Man Archives Vol.2

2011-11-07T14:52:00.003-05:00

One of the absolute best superhero comics not just of the Golden Age but of all time was Jack Cole's PLASTIC MAN. Originally appearing in POLICE COMICS published by Quality, he went on to a long career not just in his own magazine but later revived by DC Comics in various forms to this very day. There were even a few cartoon versions!

When DC started publishing their expensive Archive Editions, there were only a few I really wanted to buy and PLASTIC MAN was at the top of that list. Financial situations meant I was only able to ever get the first two volumes. Now they can be YOURS! NOTE: VOLUME ONE HAS SOLD.
Meet Plas and his sidekick, Woozy Winks as they go through scores of their earliest adventures. See the thousands of different ways Cole exploited his hero's rubbery body!

Jack Cole went on to be the most popular cartoonist of PLAYBOY's early years before fulfilling his lifelong dream of getting a daily newspaper comic strip. Unfortunately, at what one might have thought the height of his success, he committed suicide.

But back to these volumes--pure Golden Age Gold all the way! These were read once and then put away. One in 1999 and the other in 2000.

$30.00 postpaid

ORDER VOLUME TWO:

The Champ-Fotonovel

2011-11-07T13:28:00.000-05:00

This is the last of the Fotonovels that we still have. Fotonovels were mass market-sized paperbacks on good paper that told entire TV episodes or motion pictures in a comic book fumetti format utilizing screen shots from the work itself.

Although many of the books dealt with sci-fi themed shows and films, this one was one of a number that retold new hit movies.

THE CHAMP was a remake of the classic film of the same name but it was not a quick cash-in. It was directed by one of the then-hottest directors, Franco Zefferelli and served as a vehicle for Jon Voight, fresh off his Oscar winning turn in COMING HOME. The real star, however, was little Ricky Schroeder in his very first film.

The reason I hung on to this was because that same year I took an acting class with a woman who was an extra in this picture...and who appears on one page of this Fotonovel.

It's a good movie...but an odd choice for a Fotonovel.

$3.00 + $3.00 postage

Great Western Stars--James Robert Parish

2011-11-06T18:08:00.000-05:00

There are no great revelations in this mass market volume by the prolific film and TV historian James Robert Parish but what is there is pretty cool if you like old western movies. The book consists of 25 basic biographies and filmographies of both A and B western cowboys.

Here's the list with my personal faves marked with *:

Gene Autry
Don "Red" Barry
William Boyd
Johnny Mack Brown
Buster Crabbe
Richard Dix
Clint Eastwood*
Wild Bill Elliott
Hoot Gibson
William S. Hart
Tim Holt*
Allan "Rocky" Lane
Tim McCoy*
Joel McCrea
Guy Madison
Tom Mix
Audie Murphy*
George O'Brien*
Tex Ritter
Roy Rogers*
Randolph Scott*
Charles Starrett
Bob Steele
Lee Van Cleef*
John Wayne*

1976, 256 pages

A nice solid copy with a slightly weathered cover, these start at around 30 dollars and up on eBay and Amazon.

We're asking:

$18.00 + $3.00 postage

Mel Brooks, The Irreverent Funnyman

2011-11-06T17:33:00.000-05:00

MEL BROOKS, THE IRREVERENT FUNNYMAN was put out by Playboy Press in 1976 to cash in on the soaring popularity of the writer/producer/actor/director comic whose BLAZING SADDLES and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN had set new laugh records in then-recent years.

Brooks had been a writer for Sid Caesar, part of a comedy team with Carl Reiner and co-creator of GET SMART but his first feature films, THE PRODUCERS and THE TWELVE CHAIRS didn't really burn up the screen. When his next two did, he was suddenly a hot commodity, a talk show and game show fixture and all eyes were on his next move...which was to be a modern, all-star silent picture.

This is actually a fairly good bio, not the purely quick cash-in it appears to be.

1976, 190 pages
Slightly worn and the front cover folds back just a tad too much but a very solid copy with no markings.

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

The New Avengers 1-3

2011-11-06T08:20:00.000-05:00

Everyone knows THE AVENGERS with superagent John Steed and his various female sidekicks, most notably Mrs. Emma Peel. But where's the love for THE NEW AVENGERS, often relegated to a trivia question if in fact remembered at all?

THE AVENGERS went off the air at the end of the sixties but John Steed returned just a scant few years later with two more seasons of mostly excellent episodes supervised and often written by the series' original creator, Brian Clemens. The difference here was that Steed's female sidekick was joined by a male sidekick, also.

SHE was Purdey, a sexy ballerina but also an experienced agent. HE was Mike Gambit, a fairly standard James Bond-style agent. These two have excellent chemistry and handle most of the action in the early episodes but Steed is always around to supervise.

Purdey was payed by Joanna Lumley, then a Hammer Films veteran. She, of course, went on to fame and presumably fortune with AB-FAB and later onstage but to me this will always be her signature role. The now late Gareth Hunt stoically played Gambit with a sardonic wit. He would later play essentially the same role in THE MAN FROM S*E*X. Patrick Macnee, was, as ever, charming, professional and so veddy, veddy British as Steed.

Here we have three novelizations of series episodes, each quite well done, both capturing and expanding on the unique charms of the series in spite of being written by different authors.

A little worn but in very good, readable shape. If you've never seen the series, these work as just good, clever, witty spy stories. If you're a fan, it's fun to revisit Gambit, Purdey and, of course, the inimitable John Steed.

All three for $15.00 plus $5.00 postage

Richard Goldstein's The Poetry of Rock

2011-11-06T07:03:00.000-05:00

As rock music became more and more adult over the years, there's no question that some rock lyrics were the best written and most accessible poetry of its time. As the author here includes some of the worst possible examples--as if they were the best--I have to question whether he was really the right man for the job. Makes for fun reading now, though.

RICHARD GOLDSTEIN'S THE POETRY OF ROCK, published in 1969, must have been a popular book in its day, though, as this copy is a fifth printing.

Some of the truly great lyrics used here as poetry include:
Brian Wilson's WONDERFUL
Jackson Browne's I AM A CHILD IN THESE HILLS
Grace Slick's WHITE RABBIT
Some Dylan, some Lennon/McCartney, David Crosby, Donovan, some Phil Ochs.

But then you also get YAKETY YAK, GET A JOB and WHO PUT THE BOMP? I don't know...

The book was purchased used many years after the fact and is in a well-used condition with wrinkled covers, a few tears on pages and some writing inside.

Lots of fun to see the combination of obscure and popular songs chosen and some of it really IS good poetry!

$4.00 + $3.00 postage

DC Digests

2011-11-04T18:19:00.001-04:00

Here's another case where we have about forty or so of these DC Digests from the early 1980's. Other than the inherent eyestrain, these were a lot of fun and featured some of THE best reprint collections DC has ever done!

There were occasionally even new stories or framing sequences in the digests!

If you happen to be collecting them, you already know all that. Email me at booksteve@aol.com with a list of what you need to fill your collection and I'll let you know if we have them.

I see on the Web these are being offered at ridiculously high prices. From us, they're $6.00 each plus $3.00 postage. Just let us know which ones you're looking for.

Note: The Superman one seen here has now sold.

Let 'er Rip, Tumbleweeds-Tom K. Ryan

2011-11-03T15:08:00.000-04:00

FromWikipedia: Tumbleweeds was a popular long-run comic strip which offered a skewed perspective on life in the Old West. Writer-artist Tom K. Ryan (1926 - ) (who signed the strip "T.K. Ryan") was very familiar with conventions of the Western genre he satirized. Launched September 1965, the strip was distributed for decades by King Features Syndicate.

Jim Davis, who created Garfield, was Ryan's assistant (from 1969 to 1978) while developing another strip, Gnorm Gnat.

After a 42-year run, Ryan retired and brought Tumbleweeds to a conclusion on December 30, 2007.

LET 'ER RIP, TUMBLEWEEDS is a 1969 mass market collection featuring strips from 1967, a prime period for the strip before it settled into a long essentially dull period.

$3.00 + $3.00 postage

Ray Bradbury-Dinosaur Tales

2011-11-03T14:28:00.001-04:00

Ray Bradbury has written a lot of stories about dinosaurs. In the early eighties Byron Preiss--you may remember him from WEIRD HEROES and NUTS! and other titles we've offered here--came up with the idea of collecting the best of them.

DINOSAUR TALES is the result, similar to WEIRD HEROES in that each and every story offers multiple illustrations by different artists. In this case, those artists include Jim Steranko, Kenneth Smith,
William Stout, Gahan Wilson and Moebius.

A couple of the classic short stories included here are A SOUND OF THUNDER and THE FOGHORN. A popular and critical favorite now for more than six decades, Bradbury remains one of the great writers of our time and arguably THE greatest fantasy writer of them all.

Originally published in trade paperback in 1983, this is the 1984 Mass Market paperback version, slightly weathered around the edges but almost like new otherwise.

144 pages, Introduction by Ray Harryhausen

$8.00 + $3.00 postage

The Robin Williams Scrapbook-1979

2011-11-03T10:27:00.000-04:00

MORK AND MINDY premiered on television in September of 1978. In retrospect, it was avery silly show and became sillier as it went along. As much as I adored the character of Mindy, I'd have to say, looking back, that the show would have been quickly canceled if it had starred anyone else but Robin Williams as Mork.

Robin Williams would most likely be on nearly everyone's list of candidates for the funniest men who ever lived and at that time America wanted nothing but more. THE ROBIN WILLIAMS SCRAPBOOK by Mary Ellen Moore, from 1979, was one of the first results of that desire.

As what we now call an "instant biography," THE ROBIN WILLIAMS SCRAPBOOK really isn't bad. There's at least some substance to it as the author details Robin's background leading him to Mork.

Williams quickly tired of MORK and went on to great success as a performer on stage and on the big screen. Many years later another author would write and publish an entirely different book also entitled THE ROBIN WILLIAMS SCRAPBOOK but this was the first.

The book is 166 pages and there is a section of black and white photos bound in. Condition is very good with very slight discoloring and a tiny crease at the top corner of the back cover.

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

Pat the Politician

2011-11-02T16:14:00.000-04:00

From 2004 comes this ingenious parody of the classic children's book PAT THE BUNNY. Crossing party lines, the book makes fun of Bush (Junior and Senior) but also Reagan, Clinton, Gore, Schwarzenegger and even Nixon!

Used but in surprisingly good shape. Originally $9.95, now only:

$3.00 + $3.00 postage

Fields For President

2011-11-02T15:23:00.000-04:00

W. C. Fields was a unique film and radio comedian whose career peaked in the 1930's, faded strongly in the 1940's and was rediscovered in the late 1960's and early 1970's. He was a fat man with a big nose whose schtick centered almost completely around his vocal delivery, his drinking and his hatred of children. To read that description, you'd wonder what all the fuss was about. By the early 1970's, this once nearly forgotten comedian had become a huge cult figure!

FIELDS FOR PRESIDENT was a 1939 book so it was perhaps inevitable for it to be re-released during the build-up to 1972's Presidential elections.

This is the 1972 paperback edition, tons of photos interspersed throughout.
163 pages, worn but in good, readable, solid shape.

$3.00 + $3.00 postage

Wild Cards 1 & 2

2011-11-02T13:41:00.000-04:00

WILD CARDS came out in late 1986 playing off the theme of WATCHMEN in the first of what would come to be called "mosaic novels." The concept is that one super-powered alien comes to Earth many years ago and and brings along a virus that mutates many humans into "aces" with superhero like powers or "jokers" with either defects, pointless powers or unhinged minds. The rest of the series, written as often interconnected short stories by a long list of sci-fi authors of the day, looks at life through these various characters, some of whom become continuing protagonists.

The brainchild of George R.R. Martin, at the time producer of TV's BEAUTY & THE BEAST and currently the man behind the phenomenally popular GAME OF THRONES, the first volume was quite popular at the bookstore where I was working at the time. I personally thought it was the best book I had read in ages. The second volume was pretty good, also, but I was less impressed with subsequent volumes and dropped it eventually.

I sold all my original copies ages ago but picked up later 1990 printings of these first two favorites a few years ago. Wow!

Just a few of the writers whose work appears here are:
Roger Zelazny
Walter John Williams
Lewis Shiner
Edward Bryant
and of course Martin himself.

Superhero sci-fi at its best!

$10.00 for the pair + $4.00 postage

James Dean: The Mutant King-David Dalton

2011-11-01T09:31:00.000-04:00

One of the most iconic and yet controversial actors of the twentieth century was James Dean. He made less than ten films, only three of which gave him starring roles, and a handful of intense television performances.

There is, of course, n way to know how time would have treated James Dean because he simply wasn't given any. His untimely death after only the first of his starring roles had come out elevated him to a legend.

This book is one of dozens of Dean biographies over the years. It's less exploitative and/or fawning than most and humanized his legend while examining the things that made him different from the pack.

If you only want one GOOD James Dean biography in your collection, this should be it.

1974 mass market, 396 pages

Crease on front cover, a few small pock marks on back cover and a slight water on the spine edges of the pages, more than 100 photos interspersed throughout

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In

2011-11-01T08:15:00.000-04:00

If you weren't there, you can never understand the full impact that the television show ROWAN AND MARTIN"S LAUGH-IN had on pop culture at the time.

It made stars of Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin and Arte Johnson.

It created popular catchphrases like "Sock it to me" and "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnall's" and "You bet your bippy."

It made unhip performers like Tiny Tim, Orson Welles, Jack Benny and John Wayne hip. It even made Richard Nixon hip!

With its reliance on Vaudeville-style blackout sketches, it played into the nostalgia craze of the time but its hippie humor and topical references made it very much of its own day...which, in turn, has made it nostalgic now in and of itself.

This book, like the LAUGH-IN magazine of the period, attempted to capture that elusive style with cast photos, captions, cartoons, etc. It worked with varying degrees of success.

If you were a fan, LAUGH-IN is a lot of fun and a little nostalgia.

$8.00 + $3.00 postage

Jeff Wayne's Musical War of the Worlds

2011-10-31T13:41:00.000-04:00

On Halloween, one's thoughts often turn to THE WAR OF THE WORLDS broadcast of Orson Welles. Well, here's a different version.

Jeff Wayne's musical version of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS came out in 1978 and was looked at at the time as both a novelty thing and a major step forward in rock musicals. It retold the story of HG Wells' classic invasion of Mars with the mellifluous tones of actor Richard Burton narrating as "The Journalist." Burton's voice was so impressive he once appeared on a YOU ASKED FOR IT! television show reading the phone book to great acclaim!

The songs are marvelous and most are clearly tied to the project. The stand-out and stand-alone number is FOREVER AUTUMN by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues. Most Hayward fans consider it one of his absolute best performances and a very lovely, sad song besides. Since most of the music is heavily prog-rock based, this song later fit right in with the Moody Blues repertoire and even appears on at least one Moodies compilation!

Hayward sings but has no other role. A couple that do actually perform are Julie Covington and Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott. I didn't know Julie then (she had been lead singer on GODSPELL's DAY BY DAY) but she's great here. And while Phil isn't the best actor ever, he still is the other standout as far as musical performers.

IT successfully hit the charts for ages--particularly in the UK--and has since been revived as both a live musical, a video game and a proposed animated film.

My copy was purchased new in 1978 in downtown Cincinnati and played twice. It just wasn't the kind of thing you put on then turntable for relaxing music and besides it's 4 LP sides!

Sleeve is also in excellent shape as is the booklet that comes with it, some shots of which are seen here.

This is the original 2 record vinyl set from 1978. The image of the actual album above is from the Internet as I couldn't get a good shot of my copy. But it is in excellent condition. The rest of the photos were taken by me today from my own copy.

$25.00 + $3.00

Looking For a Movie?

2011-10-30T13:35:00.000-04:00

I just had a reader email me looking for a couple of extremely obscure movies...that I happened to have. In fact we have or know people who have tons of obscure public domain, foreign, silent, animated, grindhouse, etc, pictures! What we don't have we're good at tracking down!

At this time, we do NOT, however, have the capability of burning them to actual DVD's playable on most DVD players. We CAN, though, easily burn copies for you that can be watched on computer!

So what films have YOU been searching for for years? Give us a try. Send us a list and we'll do a free search of our inventory and our sources. Obviously we aren't touching anything current or clearly still under copyright nor most major releases of the past 75 years. Hit us up with something really obscure though and we MIGHT be able to help you. No charge for search. If we have or find what you want, only ten dollars per disc plus three dollars each postage.

Everyone has some movie they've searched for for ages! What's yours? Try us!

The Questor Tapes-DC Fontana

2011-10-30T13:02:00.000-04:00

From a 2001 review on Amazon:

One of those stories, like The Princess Bride or Good Omens, that moves into your brain and stays there. An all too human and fallible pair of heroes (even the one who isn't human), a noble villain, and a project that could change the world if any of the participants actually knew what in heck they were doing.

D.C. Fontana took the best bits (some unfilmable on a 1973 television budget) from several different drafts of the original script by Genes Roddenberry and Coon, restructured them, and added much coolness of her own.

THE QUESTOR TAPES by STAR TREK super-fan Dorothy Fontana is the novelization of Gene Roddenberry's most successful TV pilot after the initial run of STAR TREK. According to legend, this one--unlike GENESIS II, PLANET EARTH and SPECTRE-- was actually picked up but the Producer balked when he saw the network wanting to eliminate characters and change the premise too much. Robert Foxworth gives an excellent Data-like performance as the human-looking android who escapes the lab and goes in search of his missing creator, only to be followed by a good scientist and a government bureaucrat who wants the android back...or else.

Book is very good shape.

1974

$5.00 + $3.00 postage

Chastity Pressbook

2011-10-29T15:03:00.000-04:00

Wikipedia defines PRESSBOOK with the following: A pressbook is a piece of promotional material created and distributed by film producers in order to market their films. Prior to 1980, most film companies did their own promotion, and the pressbooks would be given to exhibitors.

Pressbooks generally contained information on the stars of the film, illustrations of film posters or newsapaper advertisements, notes that could be planted in newspaper features or blurbs, ideas forexploitation campagins, and other promotional materials including ready-made film reviews, souvenir-style giveaways and listings of various tie-ins with the film.

And that's exactly what we have here. This is the pressbook for Cher's feature film acting debut (as opposed to William Friedkin's GOOD TIMES where she played a fantasy version of herself with Sonny). Written by Sonny, it isn't a good film. It's all angsty and counter-culturey and actually pretty dull, with Cher's actual acting abilities (as proven many times over in later years) still in hibernation here.

The 12 page, oversized pressbook contains scores of variations on the film's poster and newspper ads as well as background info, exploitation possibilities and suggestions and pre-written newspaper articles where one simply had to plug in the name of one's local theater and have a free, automatic space-filler.

CHASTITY, of course, was soon thereafter to be the name given to the Bono's firstborn, most recently seen until last week as CHAZ on DANCING WITH THE STARS.

For sixties film buffs or Cher fans, this is a fun collectible. A tad wrinkled due to its hard to store size and with one ad cut out by someone long ago, but for $15.00 + $3.00 postage it can be yours.

Space 1999 Year2, 1-3

2011-10-29T13:34:00.002-04:00

Expected at the time (1976) to be the successor to STAR TREK, SPACE 1999 was a syndicated sci-fi series with an international cast produced by the folks who had previously brought us THUNDERBIRDSm FIREBALL XL-5 and other puppet sci fi shows for kids. The main problem was that the first season was pretty dull. The second season picked up quite a bit and added new, more colorful characters and aliens but it wasn't enough to make the show memorable.

The premise was that the Moon explodes sending a large chunk hurtling off into space and on that chunk was an Earth Moonbase with artificial gravity. So in essence, you have a city floating through space.

The stars were future Oscar-winner Martin Landau and multiple Emmy winner Barbara Bain (Mrs. Landau), both of whom had co-starred to great acclaim in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (with Landau's character being ironically replaced by a new role played by Leonard Nimoy). Canadian actor Barry Morse (THE FUGITIVE) co-starred in the first season and Catherine Schell appeared as the alien Maya in Season two.

And it's Season two on which these three books were based.

All three are credited to Michael Butterworth but "based on the dialogue and ideas of" the original scripters.

1977--Each volume has a bound-in section of black and white photos from the series. Obviously read copies but no marks, no tears and no broken spines.

Sold as a set:

15.00 +5.00 postage

Peanuts Double Edition

2011-10-28T08:05:00.000-04:00

This is an odd book. It's one of those volumes where you flip it over and get a whole second book. In this case, though, the first book is THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF PEANUTS and the second is HEY, PEANUTS! Each of those volumes comprises a reprint of half of a book entitled MORE PEANUTS. Thus, in essence, this is simply a gimmicked-up reprinting of MORE PEANUTS!

And in spite of the very seventies cover cartoons (with their miscolorings), MORE PEANUTS was, in fact, one of the very first books to feature Charlie Brown and his friends and thus surreally reprints strips from the early 1950's!

I'm sure I need introduce no one reading this to Charles Schulz's deservedly classic strip. The PEANUTS paperbacks were a staple from Fawcett throughout the sixties and seventies. One could rarely venture into a Woolworth's or a drugstore or a bus station without seeing at least a few. The books came out in several sizes with the mass markets tending to reprint half of one of the larger trades.

This is the only double edition I've seen.

Undated, I'd say it's from around 1974-75. Covers fold back just slightly but a good solid copy with no markings whatsoever and only slightly off-white pages.

These early strips are a lot of fun and show how the characters developed into the icons they became by the mid-sixties.

$5.00 +$3.00 postage

Take a Look Books!

2011-10-27T15:21:00.000-04:00

One of our customers suggested we try something like this. Here we have a number of books we're offering. Take a look and if you see something you like, email us at booksteve@aol.com and make an offer. All fair offers will be considered and you will be notified ASAP if we take you up on yours.

Email also if you have questions or want more details on any particular title.

Just a couple of notes: THE OSCAR PEOPLE is signed by the author. The Eleanor Roosevelt book is illustrated by Gray Morrow. WHY A DUCK has a tear on the back cover...from this morning, damn it! Been in great shape for 35 years and NOW it rips! Sheesh!

booksteve@aol.com

Booksteve's Bookstore Plus!

Street Enterprises Benefit Portfolio

The Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies

Dick Tracy-William Johnston

James Bond-The Authorized Biography of 007-by John Pearson

Kids Say the Darndest Things-Art Linkletter-Signed Copy!

The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe-Robert Slatzer

Groucho Books!

A Haunt of Fears

***MARKED DOWN*** STACKED DECK

***MARKED DOWN***Handbook of Radio Writing

Cybill and Bruce: Moonlighting Magic-by Barbara and Scott Siegel

Ladies and Gentlemen, Lenny Bruce!! by Albert Goldman

Firebolt Space Cannon Plus!

Old Time Radio Sets

A Celebration of Sellers Box Set

Kenner See-A-Show Viewer and Slides

Asterix the Legionary-Mass Market

Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own-Erma Bombeck/Bil Keane

Blue Movie-Terry Southern

1972 Comic Art Convention Program Book

Red Dwarf Programme Guide--Revsed Edition

The Citizen Kane Book--Pauline Kael

I, Robot-Isaac Asimov

Robert Mitchum "Baby, I Don't Care" by Lee Server

Carter Beats the Devil-Advance Reading Copy-Glen David Gold

A Twist of Lennon-Cynthia Lennon

The True Story of the Beatles--Billy Shepherd--1964

The Beatle Book-1964

The Beatles: Yesterday...Today...Tomorrow-Rochelle Larkin

The Magic Christian-Terry Southern

Paperback Writer-Mark Shipper

Here Come the Judge-Pigmeat Markham

The New Hot Dog Cookbook

Silver Beatles 45--OUI Promo

Dark Shadows--Best of...and Bloopers--VHS

Doctor Who--Shada--VHS

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore--VHS

Dead Like Me-1st Season

DVD--Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars

More Adventures of Fat Freddy's Cat-Gilbert Shelton

Fred Basset

Best Television Humor of the Year

Enter The Dragon Flipbook

GI JOE Marine Manual 1964

Eureka Almanacco 1970

Oh! Calcutta!

The Gospel According to Peanuts--Robert L. Short

Clint Eastwood by Stuart Kaminsky

Phillip Marlowe

Movie Screenplays and Treatments

***NEW!*** Lower Price! Batman vs the 3 Villains of Doom

***NEW! Lower Price!*** Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life

Robert Wagner--Pieces of My Heart

Flintstones Little Golden Book-1961

They'll Outgrow It...Cartoons For Parents

Comic Book Collecting For Fun and Profit-Mike Benton

***Marvel and DC Showcase and Essentials*** Lower price

***NEW!! LOWER PRICES!!***Wally Wood's Weird Sex Fantasies Portfolio

***NEW! LOWER PRICE!!***Dr. Seuss-Pocket Book of Boners

***NEW! LOWER PRICE!!*** Everything's Archie

***NEW! LOWER PRICE!!***Spirit Bags 1 and 2

***NEW! LOWER PRICE!*** Bob Dylan- Don't Look Back

A Gift of Laughter-Allan Sherman

Superman by George Lowther

Buy This Book of Odd Bodkins by Dan O'Neill

Dick Tracy: The Secret Files

Azazel Fantasy Stories by Isaac Asimov

The Complete Danger Mouse

The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told

Harlan Ellison-Approcahing Oblivion

[edit]Contents

Groucho Marx--Beds

Sex and Zen and a Bullet in the Head

Tales of the Green Beret

Captains Outrageous by Joe R. Lansdale--Rare Advance Copy

Marilyn Monroe Confidential

Plastic Man Archives Vol.2

The Champ-Fotonovel

Great Western Stars--James Robert Parish

MARKED DOWN STACKED DECK

MARKED DOWNHandbook of Radio Writing

NEW! Lower Price! Batman vs the 3 Villains of Doom

NEW! Lower Price! Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life

Marvel and DC Showcase and Essentials Lower price

NEW!! LOWER PRICES!!Wally Wood's Weird Sex Fantasies Portfolio

NEW! LOWER PRICE!!Dr. Seuss-Pocket Book of Boners

NEW! LOWER PRICE!! Everything's Archie

NEW! LOWER PRICE!!Spirit Bags 1 and 2

NEW! LOWER PRICE! Bob Dylan- Don't Look Back