Monday, October 7, 2013

Ace Doubles D-471

Serial Number: D-471

Published: 1960, Ace Books.

List Price: 35 cents

Condition: Readable. Very good cover condition, pages are very tight to spine. No visible creases may never have been read


The Secret Martians - Jack Sharkey

Cover Art: Ed Valigursky









Sanctuary in the Sky - John Brunner

Cover Art: Basil Gogot




Sunday, October 6, 2013

Ace Doubles D-491

Serial Number: D-491

Published: 1961, Ace Books.

List Price: 35 cents

Condition: Readable. Very good cover condition, pages are very tight to spine.


The Big Time - Fritz Leiber
Magazine version copyright 1958 by Galaxy Publishing Inc.

Cover Art: Emsh (Ed Emshwiller)

Appeared in two parts in Galaxy Science Fiction, March and April 1958





The Mind Spider and Other Stories - Fritz Leiber

Cover Art: Emsh (Ed Emshwiller)







The Mind Spider contains the following short stories by the same author:

  1. The Haunted Future - Copyright 1959 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. (Magazine title: Tranquility or Else! - Fantastic Science Fiction, November 1959)
  2. Damnation Morning -  Copyright 1959 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co.
  3. The Oldest Soldier - Copyright 1960 by Mercury Press Inc.
  4. Try and Change the Past -Copyright 1958 by Street & Smith Publications Inc.
  5. The Number of the Beast - Copyright 1959 by Galaxy Publishing Inc.
  6. The Mind Spider -  Copyright 1959 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co, appeared in Fantastic Science Fiction, November 1959
Notes: Fantastic Science Fiction November 1959 was a special Fritz Leiber edition



Thursday, October 3, 2013

Ace Doubles D-431

Serial Number: D-431

Published: 1960, Ace Books.

List Price: 35 cents

Condition: Readable. Good cover condition, pages are tight to spine.



Lost In Space - George O. Smith
Copyright 1959 by George O. Smith
Copyright 1954 by Better Publications Inc.
By arrangement with Thomas Bouregy & Co.
Cover Art: Ed Valigursky





Earth's Last Fortress - A.E. Van Vogt
Copyright 1960 by Ace Books Inc.
Magazine version entitled Recruiting Station appeared in Astounding Science Fiction and is copyright 1942 by Stuart and Smith Publications Inc.
Cover Art: Emsh (Ed Emshwiller)





Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Ace Doubles D-375

Serial Number: D-375

Published: 1959, Ace Books.

List Price: 35 cents

Condition: Readable. Fire in the Heavens ok. Masters of Evolution has pages falling out. Covers are in good shape.


Fire in the Heavens - George O. Smith
Copyright 1958 by Thomas Bouregy & Co.








Masters of Evolution - Damon Knight
Copyright 1958 by Thomas Bouregy & Co.
Cover Art: Emsh (Ed Emshwiller)







Monday, September 30, 2013

Ace Double D-249

Serial Number: D-249

Published: 1957, AA Wyn Inc.

List Price: 35 cents

Condition: Unreadable. Poor, pages falling out. Covers are in good shape however with slight creasing.

The  Cosmic Puppets - Philip K Dick
First published by Satellite Science-Fiction magazine 1956, Renown Publications Inc.
Cover Art: Ed Valigursky







Sargasso of Space - Andrew North (Andre Norton, Alice Mary Norton)
Copyright 1955 by arrangement of Gnome Press Inc.
Cover Art: Emsh. Note: The artists name has been incorporated into the control panel on or over the astronaut's left shoulder.













Thursday, October 25, 2012

Hike to Cutbank Falls

On the weekend I took a little hike with the Junior Forest Wardens club to Cutbank Falls. The trailhead is located about 45 minutes south of Grande Prairie, just after you cross the Cutbank River. We parked out vehicles in the rather large area off the highway.This is a pretty easy jaunt through the trees that follows ATV trails. The trails are pretty rutted due to the heavy use of off road vehicles. There is a rather long hill about halfway to deal with but apart from that the trail is pretty straight forward and we had and number of small children that were able to make the whole trip with no major issues.
Once at the river you are treated to a nice view as the Cutbank River splits into two separate waterfalls. On the day we went it was pretty cool with some flakes of snow blowing about in the air. In the summer I believe people come down here and go swimming in the river below the falls.
On the return trip we picked up a few bags of garbage and beer cans. I can see why quadders aren't too keen on helmet laws. Probably makes it too hard to drink while tearing through the bush.
As I said above. It was a pretty easy trek with a daypack and some sandwiches. It would be interesting to go at different times of the year to see the river in its various forms as the seasons pass.

Monday, October 8, 2012

The Foulest of Murders



The Foulest of Murders: The Story of Grande Prairie's 1918 Unsolved Murder of 6 by Wallace Lloyd Tansem

Picked up this book at the Grande Prairie Farmer's Market a few weeks ago. I am always interested in local history so when I saw this and discovered there was an unsolved murder from the early part of the 20th century I just had to read it.

The book was published after the death of the author who had been researching this topic for a number of years. It is not so much a story as a collection of facts and transcripts of legal documents, police reports and newspaper articles revolving around the murders. At the time of the murders in 1918 it was big news as it involved two incidents. The first near Clairmont in which a man and his nephew were killed and their cabin burned to the ground in an apparent attempt to hide evidence. The second incident occurred three or four miles north-west and involved the death of four trappers who were in the process of moving out of the area to seek fortunes further south.