THE RAMBLE HOUSE RAMBLER #46
June 6, 2006
The headlines:
The headlines:
~ New Titles at Ramble House
~ Confusing Prices
~ Great Time in Sacramento
And now, the details:
~ New Titles at Ramble House. Thanks mainly to Gavin O'Keefe we have several new books listed on the home page of the Ramble House web site: www.ramblehouse.com
(1) THE DEVIL'S MISTRESS by J.W. Brodie-Innes. A contemporary of Bram Stoker, Brodie-Innes dedicated this novel of 19th Century witchcraft and deviltry to him. Very hard to find -- until now.
(2) THE LORD OF TERROR by Marcel Allain. A 1925 novel of the hero/villain Fantomas who supposedly has been dead for ten years, along with the detective and newspaperman (Juve and Fandor) who will stop at nothing to catch him.
(3) GEES' FIRST CASE by Jack Mann (E. Charles Vivian). The start of a seven-book series about Gees, an amateur detective turned pro, and his battles against seemingly supernatural foes. In this 1936 book, it's Communists and Anarchists.
(4) NIGHTMARE FARM by Jack Mann. Gees' second novel moves on to ghosts and a farm with a horrible curse on it. 1937.
(5) THE LADY OF THE TERRACES by E. Charles Vivian. A 1925 adventure novel of Ecuador by the author who introduced Harry Stephen Keeler to British audiences in the early 20s.
(6) OWL OF DARKNESS by Max Afford. This is a very hard to find mystery from 1942 by Australian Afford about a supervillain who dresses up like an owl to do his dirty work.
(7) DON DIABLO by Paul Landres, J. Benton Cheney (no relation we hope!) and Francis M. Nevins. An unusual two-volume book (one in B&W and one in color) about a Zorro-like film made in 1952 but lost to history. Nevins provides a detailed introduction and Landres explains his ingenious techniques for filming this action-packed film. This is a one-of-a-kind treasure for old film buffs, and especially western fans.
(8) THE SKULL IN THE BOX by Harry Stephen Keeler. Brand new. I got on a weird kick one day and edited the four Keeler novels that make up the Skull in the Box series into one, huge, two-columned trade paperback (or hardback). It's one of HSK's more stupefying plots concerning a man standing on a corner with a red hatbox holding the skull of one Wah Lee. Harry was forced by the publishers back in the 30s to split the story into four regular-sized novels but now they're back in one big volume. One of the damnedest stories ever told. The two-column print makes it much more readable than most big books. It costs $30, but for the four separate RH volumes it would be $72, and if you were to buy the four novels from ABEBOOKS.com in the original editions, it would cost you more than $210 (even in the cheapest, ex-library copies).
~ The best prices for Ramble House books are probably on eBay when they have a seller's sale and I put up a couple of dozen RH books at $2 off the regular price. Next are the standard prices on the Ramble House web site, where most books are $18, except for the big, many-paged titles like THE BOX FROM JAPAN or THE ANTHONY BOUCHER CHRONICLES, which are $20 - $25.
So far no one has bought any RH books through lulu.com where I have about 30 books in the "store" (more to come). The prices are the same as on the RH web site. I'm curious to see how that works out, since all of the production and shipping are handled by LULUPRESS without any input by me. You pay Lulu and they make and ship you the book. Their site supports a shopping cart, unlike the Ramble House site.
You can also find RH books at ABEBOOKS.com sold through a local bookstore (D & B Russell's) and by master bookseller Nelson Freck. However, because of the middle-men involved (ABEBooks, Amazon, etc.) they are more expensive.
~ Judi and I had a wonderful time in Sacramento CA visiting my daughter Naomi, her husband Chris, and the gleam of my pate, little 2-year-old Kyle. While in the area we also visited Bill Pronzini and his wife, Marcia Muller, and Richard Lupoff and his wife, Pat, at the Pronzini's magnificently book-filled house. Friendly, down-to-earth people who happen to be able to write like angels. We also visited Cedric Clute and his wife, Jan, in their book-filled mountain retreat. Ced used to manage a magician's night club in San Francisco frequented by the great SF writers of the 60s like Philip K. Dick and Richard Lupoff. We came back with some wonderful stories and we can't wait to visit again.
And here the Ramble House Rambler mercifully ends.