This mesmerising collection from World Fantasy Award-winner James P. Blaylock offers seven brilliant excursions into one of the most idiosyncratic imaginations of our time. Highlighted by the acclaimed novella, "The Trismegistus Club" - a brilliant riff on the antiquarian ghost story - In for a Penny goes from strength to strength, taking us deep into the heart of a quirky, deeply engaging fictional world that no one but Blaylock could have created.Other high points include "Home Before Dark," which chronicles one man's first few hours in the afterlife. Its thematic companion, "Small Houses," recounts an aging widower's last few hours on earth. Both stories constitute deeply felt, lovingly detailed farewells to the things and places of this world.In "The other Side," a minor precognitive episode leads the hero to an obsessive fascination with the hidden mysteries of the universe. In "His Own Back Yard," a story worthy of the great Jack Finney, a middle-aged man finds himself stranded in the haunted territory of his childhood. The blackly funny "War of the Worlds" uses a bowling ball and the imminent end of Life As We Know It to illuminate the fault lines in a modern marriage. Finally, in the wonderfully imagined title story, the single-minded pursuit of treasure - of something for nothing - leads Blaylock's protagonist to a harrowing confrontation with his own worst self.Startling, funny, eccentric, and often unexpectedly moving, the Blaylockian worldview shines forth with undiminished vigor in this marvellous collection, which shows us ourselves - and the world around us - from a wholly unique perspective.
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Simply, almost artlessly written, the six fantasy stories in this slim collection from Blaylock (Thirteen Phantasms), set in the gentle, loving territory of his personal California world, verge on the sentimental but never slip into the banal. In the brief "Home Before Dark," the tale's hero gets an unusual glimpse of heaven. In the nostalgic "His Own Back Yard," Alan revisits his old childhood home ("The abandoned house was boarded up, its chimney fallen, the white paint on the clapboards weathered to the color of an old ghost") and has the satisfaction of meeting a vision of his young father and discussing the past. "Small Houses" is a poignant reverie on age and shared love in which Johnson builds his own burial casket, to his wife's dismay. "The War of the Worlds" focuses on some suburbanites who believe that a flying saucer has landed in their midst, but the real war is the unexpressed one between husband and wife. In the humorous "The Other Side," the premonition-prone protagonist winds up in a support group for the paranormally inclined. In the title story, a tale with a moral and the best of the lot, George Mason buys a worn purse at a garage sale with a penny he finds in the purse, with unexpected consequences. The dignified, understated jacket art of an old man in a library nicely suggests the mood of the stories.
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Seller: Old Fox Books, Annapolis, MD, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Used - Good. Signed limited edtion, sadly this one does not have a dj and there are tape 'shadows' where it seemed the dj had been taped as in a library, stamped December 2003 on top of closed textblock , otherwise no stamps [signed]. Seller Inventory # 20956
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Seller: Ziesings, Shingletown, CA, U.S.A.
Burton: Subterranean Press:, 2003. First edition, Hardcover, SIGNED, Limited, Fine in Fine dust jacket, 182 pp. This edition limited to 750 numbered copies signed by the author. First edition, Hardcover, SIGNED, Limited, Fine in Fine dust jacket, Seller Inventory # 64811
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Seller: Kathmandu Books, Winter Park, FL, U.S.A.
1st edition. HC in dust jacket, 1/750 signed & numbered copies. 1st Printing. Collects 7 stories, one of which, "The Tresmegistus Club" is published here for the first time, plus an introduction by the author. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 16661
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Seller: Tall Stories Book & Print Gallery, ROCK HILL, SC, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Near fine hardcover with near fine unclipped dust jacket. Straight secure spine with tight hinges and clean interior. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # ABE-1722955219558
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Seller: The Book Bin, Salem, OR, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. 2003, first edition. #470 of 750 signed, numbered, limited edition copies. Signed by author James P. Blaylock at the limitation page. 182 pages. Brown cloth hardcover with bronze spine titles, cloth fine. Spine square. Binding sound. Dust jacket fine in Mylar. Pages clean and bright, unmarked. Signed. Seller Inventory # BBS-2009910
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Seller: Fahrenheit's Books, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+. 1st Edition, Signed, Limited. First edition, hardcover, signed by Blaylock and marked as PC/750 on the limitation page, the book has a tiny skew to the binding, mild bumps to the spine ends, and a touch of shallow bowing to the covers. Otherwise, this is a solid, tight, clean Very Good+ copy in a like dust jacket, which has a hint of wear to the spine ends and corners, and a very thin, scored vertical line extending a few inches from the head of the front cover near the fore edge. The jacket is wrapped in Mylar. Seller Inventory # 107523
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Seller: Twinwillow Books, Los Alamitos, CA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Signed by author on special edition limitations page in black pen, signature only. Also signed by author in person on Title page in black pen, signature only. Signing event on 3/19/23 at the Glendale Paperback Show. This copy is unnumbered unlettered of the 750 numbered and 52 lettered copies. First edition stated. 5 1/2 x 8 3/4 Book; soil speck to fore edge with faint soiling to bottom edge else fine, as new, unread. Dust jacket ($40.00) fine, as new. Under archival quality mylar cover. Photos upon request. Packed well and shipped in a sturdy box. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 111415AELE1e
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hardcover. Condition: New. 0.8500. Seller Inventory # VIB1931081824
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Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks502398
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hardcover. Condition: New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!. Seller Inventory # Q-1931081824
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