Henry Bemis' Books of the Day: Possible Worlds- Some Good, Some Less So, All Safely Reached By Book

In honor of the birthday of scifi legend Robert A. Heinlein, Henry Bemis Books posts its current offerings in the field:

Acevedo, Mario, Four Felix Gomez novels (EOS/Rayo/Harper Collins). Felix Gomez returned from Iraq a vampire, and in these four novels from Mario Acevedo’s Gomez private investigation series we get a character not unlike Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden- dealing with all manner of species and types- but with a remarkable, gourmet taste for hemoglobin, too. All softcover, trade size, good condition: The Nymphos of Rocky Flats (Rayo, 1st ed., 1st printing, 2006, ISBN  10-0-06-08336-2); X-Rated Blood Suckers (Rayo, 1st ed., 1st printing, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-083327-5);  The Undead Kama Sutra (EOS, 1st ed, 1st printing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-06-083328-2); Jailbait Zombies (EOS, 1st ed., 1st printing, 2009, ISBN 978-0-06-156714-8). HBB price: $30 

the set; $7.50 ea.

Adams, Douglas, The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide: Five Complete Novels and One Short Story (Gramercy Books, 1st ed. 1st printing, 2005). ISBN 0-517-22695-2. Leather bound with gilt titling, the last word in the misadventures of Arthur Dent. Very good condition. HBB price: $85.

Atwood, Margaret, The Handmaid’s Tale (Houghton Mifflin, 1st ed, 1st printing, 1986). Famed tale of the United States’ evolution into a monotheocracy whose people made the Puritans seem like an average night at Studio 54. A dystopian favorite! Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $79.95.

H.R. Giger (1940-2014) was a member of the special effects team given the Oscar for the 1979 film, Alien. His ornate yet austere surrealist art, combining fantastic creatures and technology (he was a friend of both Dali and Timothy Leary), published in 1977 as Necronomicon, caught the eye of director Ridley Scott, and launched a thousand drooling, indestructible creatures into movie houses for the next 35 years. Alien made Giger rich and famous; his post-Oscar ventures included a series of Giger-themed bars in Switzerland and Japan. His Swiss chateau is now a museum of his work.

In 1994 Morpheus International published H.R. Giger's Necronomicon as an oversized art book, with a new foreword by Clive Barker and, added to the 1977 text, material from Giger's work for Alien. We have a good copy, sans dust jacket and a little worn at the top and bottom of the spine, but in fine condition otherwise. H.R. Giger, H.R. Giger's Necronomicon, Morpheus International, 1991, 3rd printing, 1994, ISBN 0-9623447-2-9), 12" x 16 3/4" hardcover, no dust jacket, some wear to top and bottom of spine, otherwise quite good. Your price: US $29.

James, P.D., The Children of Men (Alfred A. Knopf, 1st American edition, 1993). ISBN 0-679-41873-3. Best known for her Adam Dalgliesh detective novels, James surprised and delighted readers when, at 73, she produced a dystopian sci fi novel in which all the men of England became infertile in 1995. in 2021 things were rapidly unraveling socially, and Oxford don Theodore Faron found himself drawn into the thick of the coming fray. Made into a 2006 film with Clive Owen. Hardcover, unclipped dustjacket, as new. 241 pp. HBB price: $100.

George MacDonald, The Golden Key (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1967; 2d ed., 1996; illustrations by Maurice Sendak, afterword by W. H. Auden. 85 pp. hardcover with unclipped dust jacket, Library of Congress catalog card number 67-10391. Small octavo, very good condition). Your price: US $75.

Maguire, Gregory, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (Regan Books/HarperCollins, 1st ed, 1st printing, 1999). ISBN 0-06-039282-7. The author of Wicked tells the Cinderella story. Hardcover, dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $60.

Moorcock, Michael, Corum: The Coming of Chaos (White Wolf, 1st hardcover edition, 1st hardcover ed., Feb., 1997). ISBN 1-56504-182-8. Rare reissue of one of Moorcock’s series characters in the Eternal Champion series. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. HBB price: $50.

Murakami, Haruki, 1Q84 (Vintage International, 1st ed., 1st printing, May 2012). ISBN 978-0-345-80293-4. This deluxe three-volume paperback boxed set--gorgeously designed editions in a see-through case, with a removeable sticker on the shrink wrap packaging--is a collector's item in the making. It beautifully showcases Haruki Murakami's most ambitious novel yet, "1Q84"--a love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a dystopia to rival George Orwell's. The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo. A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver's enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84--"Q is for 'question mark.' A world that bears a question." Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled. As Aomame's and Tengo's narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector. An instant bestseller around the world, "1Q84" is a tremendous feat of imagination from one of the world’s most celebrated contemporary writers. Fine condition, HBB price: $40.

Pynchon, Thomas, Against the Day (The Penguin Press, 1st ed., 1st printing, 2006). ISBN 1-59420-120-X. Sprawling historical fantasy set in the United States between the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 and the end of World War I. Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. A real doorstop of a novel: 1084 pp. HBB price: $65.

Tolkien, J.R.R., The Hobbit, Or There And Back Again (Abrams, 1st ed., 1977). ISBN 0-8109-1060-8. Illustrations from the 1977 animated feature film of the same name.Over 230 color pictures in a scene by scene accompaniment to the Tolkien text. Striking clear acetate dust jacket bearing the dragon Smaug’s likeness for a 3-D effect. Several illustrations fold out three panels wide. Very good condition. Hardcover, 12” x 11”. HBB price: $195.

Tolkien, J.R.R., Unfinished Tales (Houghton Mifflin, 1st American ed., 1st printing, 1980). Hardcover, unclipped dust jacket, very good condition. One inch tear in dust jacket at top of cover. HBB price: $95.

Tolkien, J.R.R. Smith of Wootton Major (Houghton Mifflin, 1st ed., 4th printing, 1967). ISBN 0-395-08259-5. This is a tale about the Feast of Good Children, held in the village of Wootton Major every 24 years, and what happened when the village cook went away on on a trip and came back with a mysterious apprentice called Alf. Hardcover, 4.5” x 6.75”, clipped dust jacket with two small tears at the front top right. Good condition. HBB price: $20.

Henry Bemis Books is one man’s attempt to bring more diversity and quality to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg market of devoted readers starved for choices. For more information about any listed book, or more photos, please contact Lindsay at henrybemisbookseller@gmail.com. Henry Bemis Books is also happy to entertain reasonable offers on items in inventory. Shipping is always free; local buyers are welcome to drop by and pick up their purchases at our location off Peachtree Road in Northwest Charlotte if they like. #RareBooks #HenryBemisBooks #Fantasy #SciFi #Atwood #Acevedo #DouglasAdams #Giger #PDJames #Moorcock #1Q84 #Pynchon