The Hobbit Vinyl Sing-a-Long Book.. Thing.

 
     Found this last Saturday at the last yard sale of the day for a buck. Goes for around $35 on ebay! I'll drink to that! Being that it is not a book, I will consider selling this one on ebay ASAP.

     Of course you can click to enlarge, or enter slideshow mode. It comes with a cool concept art/read-a-long book that is around 10 pages. Everything was in really good condition. The woman who sold it to me said she had the other records to go with it to make a trilogy, but someone bought them before me. Why did they not buy this one? Beats me.

Jared Executioner/Mac Bolan Update

     So Jared found these out in his travels of the countryside in Vermont. Six months out of the year there, it snows, so you really cant enjoy the year round garage sales and flea markets like here. Shame!

  
     I found these for Jared out at the Flea Market on Sunday, as mentioned in the Sunday mega post. I'll mail them as soon as I get the time. Going to be a busy week!

     By the way Jared, if you are reading this, I saw these books at the Flea Market on Sunday and I tried to call you standing in front of them. I'll be back next week, so get your phone working sir and get a me a list of the books you need from these shelves!

Forgotten Realms.. Realms? Also, it's my friggin birthday.

     You heard me right. At the end of most series, within the Forgotten Realms series itself (sigh), they cap off the trilogy or quintet with a "Realms" novel. A collection of short stories by different authors based in the universe of that series, within the series, of Forgotten Realms. Get all that?

     I'm missing Realms of Magic, Arcana, Mystery, The Dead, and one other that is slipping my mind right now. I will say something great about these books: They are a great epilogue if you don't want the series to end. Often times the author will kind of prequel/sequel a small short story in another realms book to keep you interested. Yeah you, R.A. Salvator, I'm talking to you.

     Oh, and happy birthday to me. Yeah, I'm 32 today. I don't feel my age, which is good I guess. This blog in particular is getting more attention that I thought it would get by this time, so I will consider that a birthday present of sorts. Thanks loyal readers, you guys are great.

Garage Sales, Yard Sales & Flea Markets.. Oh My.

     As a family we hit quite a few yard sales and garage sales on Saturday morning. We had a lot planned for the afternoon, so we tried to be quick at the sales we stopped at. As a whole everything was looking good. Jen had found some books she wanted, software for my son, and some key finder thing from Sharper Image. My boy found some toys that he could not live without, so we got those too. Nothing for me until the last yard sale.. pictured above.

 Analogs! Fantasy & Science Fiction! (Something else under it, that I will save for a rainy update.)

 

 On the left, an early Future Makers and a Daw sci-fi original. Honorable mention, a text book from 1873.

Later that night, we went bowling and had sushi with some friends and had a blast. I woke up this morning with a total headache, but I knew I better get out there or someone else will. (I keep telling myself that, even though I seem to be the only one out here buying this stuff)

 

     The flea market was a ghost town. We stopped and got something to eat before meeting up with my buddy the book seller who said they had something nice for me. We split a Cuban and some of the deep fried ghetto chips. The boy had pizza that looked good enough for any cafeteria on the east coast. Belly's full, time to see what's doing.

 

 Yes, they sell used cars inside, as well as a shelf of Dreamcast and PS1 games.

 Shitty 90's comics!

 Star Log mags (that I have already) and New Kids stuff in the same stall.

 Star Trek books anyone? Star Blazers.. what anime is this? Serious I don't know.



    
   Again I came back around to the book seller's row, where it's almost all books, VHS, DVD, and really just media in all shapes and types.

     Chris saw me right away and told me not to go anywhere, he had a box of books that he forgot he had pulled out for me a long time ago.. like more than a year ago. I checked things out in the meantime and found a couple things that I wanted.

     By the time he got back and dumped a whole box of vintage books on me, I had picked out another dozen or so hard cover books that escaped me before, being the wrong spot under a table. We negotiated, I paid. What treasures did I pick up? Behold!

 The huge box on the table, mysteries unknown.  Good mix of Sci-Fi, and fantasy.

 It just keeps on giving! Daw classics, and early first editions.

 A few Forgotten Realms books I did not have, some I did, Spelljammer (meh.) and a rouge Piers Anthony. The hard backs just kicked me in the nuts when I saw them, and I know what that feels like. All first edition hard covers from the 60's and 70's in great shape. All valued in the $20 range, and some at more than that.

     Found a few other hard backs around the corner from my buddy's stall for pennies, along with a few Executioner books for my brother who collects them. More on that later!

 

 

     All in all, a pretty good day. I spend $23.00 in total the whole weekend on books. My ten dollar budget was whacked by three bucks, but I blame my brother for that. Damn Executioner books... Cool covers though. I found some other things over the weekend, and took some pictures of some interesting shit I'll share with you guys in the middle of the week as time permits.

This Weekend's Updates, May Posts, Q&A

     It's no secret I have not been going book hunting lately. I have read your emails and comments on facebook. I have every intention of going out hunting this weekend and getting some really great shit.

Saturday: Garage Sales if it does not rain. If it does, Ill hit some book stores in the area.
Sunday: It's always Flea Market on Sunday. I'll see if I cant get a good post together with some great finds.

     I have got a few cool things on Amazon, like the Dune first edition paperback for $4.00 and a Neuromancer first edition for the same price. Two great finds, but shipping sucks and takes forever to get to your house. I'll try to brush up more on those things later.

     As far as updates for May, I'm going to try and stick to this mobil app on the surface tablet and do more updates from the phone and tablet on the road. I think it will keep me interested and have more to write about. I can only take so many pictures of books laying around my house and write intesting articles about them. I do have some more "in house" articles lined up for the weekdays, but you know I just want to get out there and hunt down some great first editions.

     I like to try and answer everyone's comments and emails as quickly as I can, and I hope I'm doing a good job. Ill answer a few quick common questions I get in these emails below.

How many books do you own?
Thousands. I don't have a real count, but from the ones in my catalog its over 2700.

What camera do you use?
An iPhone, and sometimes a Kodak easy share camera that is pretty old.

Can I buy things from you I see in your posts?
No, unless I post them on ebay with the link to the auction.

What do you do for a living?
I design beer placements and sets for a national beer distributor.

Are you rich or something?
I don't know why, But I have heard this a few times. No, not by a long shot, but I do alright. My job pays me good, has great benefits, and allows me freedom and travel expenses to have that freedom.

Best beer ever?
Hopslam by Bells. Hands down, no one has made a better beer.

Wayland Drew & Dragonslayer, now with more Vasectomy

     I'm forced to do another small update from my Microsoft Surface tablet downstairs, as my wife is playing Guildwars 2 upstairs on my computer. It has the better video card.. and well everything better so I don't really blame her. I have been banished to the coffee table in the living room until further notice. If you had not seen the title of the post already, you could assume by the picture that I really enjoy the movie Dragonslayer.

     I kind of picked what I wanted to take pictures of at random last night sitting at the dinner table with Kyle (of $200 beer coaster fame). The movie was on TV, AMC I believe, and got the gears turning. Once upon a time I made a website and custom D&D rules based on this book and movie, and really had a small online following going on. As with most of what I do, I never looked at the website after I made it in the 90's, so it got stuck in some kind of fan-page limbo.

  The first picture at the top of the page is the first edition paperbacks, first and second printings. The picture directly above is the hard cover first edition which is not all that bigger than the paperbacks. The value on any of the books hovers right around $10.00. Not really easy to find, but not really sought after in any way. these books are stuck in rarity hell. Written by Wayland Drew, who has since deceased, who also wrote Corvette Summer, Willow, and some other movie adaptations that did pretty well for him. Of course in the paperback there are some color pictures...

     The book added a lot to the movie, based on the script and not actually the movie itself. Comic books of the time added to the mythos, which I have ordered on eBay right now for the super high value cost of $1.49. Side Note: Get use to seeing my thumb, I'm not going to start using the scanner again anytime soon. People don't take enough of their own pictures anymore, and by leaving imperfections in the ones I take, the less likely people will rip them from Google images. Willow anyone?

     Big fan of the movie as a youngster, and yes, this is my book from around middle school. It's missing pages and I wrote in it on occasion. I had a thing for Sorcia (spelling?) before she was married to Val Kilmer, the best swordsman who ever lived. This book was reprinted a ton of times, and eventually, sequels were made. Written by George Lucas and some no name writer that escapes me, and yes I own them, but I'm too lazy and sore to get off the couch and look. I thought they were okay, and they followed Allora Dannon around, her mis-adventures and so on. Not to change the subject so dramatically, but I have to share something with you guys because it's nagging at me in a bad way, much like a bad dinner from P.F. Changs.

     I had a vasectomy on Monday night, because, well, I don't want to have any more kids and I'm at that age where recovery will still be quick. A vasectomy is where you get your balls split open and they burn the tubes in there that make the sperm. Then you sit around the house with black and blue nuts for a week wishing you never did it to begin with. As I write this, I have a bag of frozen corn between my legs. I would not recommend it for anyone unless you just can't afford condoms and your insurance will pick up the cost. What does this little rant have to do with Wayland Drew? Nothing, but it's my blog, and my testicles are sore, so there.

R.I.P. Wayland Drew (and my manhood)