Only Forward

The first MMS novel released in paperback in 1994 by HarperCollins, in a black cover with a liquid blob logo and raised up lumps on the cover.  My original copy of this sadly vanished after I lent it to someone to read, but I managed to get myself another copy on E-bay for about £8 without too much trouble.

In 1998 the second paperback edition was released by HarperCollins again, to match the current Spares and One of Us paperbacks.  This actually seems harder to find than the original paperback at the moment.

In 2002 I treated myself to the first world hardcover edition of Only Forward, released by Subterranean Press in the USA as a limited edition.  I opted for the cheaper numbered edition for $40 ($250 was a bit too much for the lettered edition!) and it really is a very nicely produced book, well worth buying. 

Original Paperback

Re-release Paperback

Hardback (Signed 

Limited Edition)

Spares

 

Original Hardback

Original Paperback

Hardback (Signed 

Limited Edition)

Re-release Paperback

One Of Us

Original Hardback

Original Paperback

What You Make It

A collection of MMS short stories was released in 1999 in hardback and 2000 in paperback under the name 'What You Make It'.  MMS writes quite a lot of short stories, and it's a mission of mine to eventually have a copy of all of the published ones, so What You Make It helped greatly of course!

I was quite annoyed not to manage to get a copy of the free promotional 4 story book that was given away in WHSmith before What You Make It was released called 'When God Lived In Kentish Town' as it's the only MMS book that I don't have (if you exclude special editions and proofs etc).  I got excited when a copy appeared on E-bay in summer 2002, but unfortunately it was bought straight away by someone who offered the seller a couple of hundred pounds for it... too much I think for one book, however rare it may be.  I'm holding out for a cheaper copy in a second hand shop I think.

Original Hardback

Original Paperback

When God Lived In Kentish Town 

(sadly I don't own this one!)

The Straw Men

When MMS 4th novel was published I was in New York, so bought myself the USA paperback edition of the book, released in 2002 under the name of 'Michael Marshall' to avoid confusion with a book called 'Straw Men' by Martin J Smith.  Using the gift of E-bay however, I also managed to get my hands on a proof copy of The Straw Men before it was released, which includes a lock of brown hair (pictured above).  What was a bit scary however was that when I bought the proof copy I didn't know about the hair, and after I received the book from the seller, a week later I got a plain envelope with just the lock of hair in it, and an email saying 'I have also found this hair and though you might like it'!

The Proof copy is a thick paperback, with the title cut out of the white cover, and a picture of a brown-haired head on the first page (so that brown hair can be seen through the cut out letters).  The Proof also came with a spare dust jacket for the hardback UK release produced BEFORE it was decided to release the book under the name Michael Marshall... hence I have the very rare proof dust cover bearing the name 'Michael Marshall Smith' (see above).

The hardback edition of The Straw Men was released in the UK for a discount price of £10 with a wrap around advert.  It was also rumoured that free copies of the first chapter would be available from WHSmith and London tube stations, but this seems not to have happened (or if they were, they were snapped up very quickly).  The UK paperback edition has also been released and I also have this edition (of course!).

Proof copy

Original Hardback

The Lonely Dead

Following on from The Straw Men the story of Ward, Nina and John continues to unfold. Now I can't wait for the third book to tie up all the lose ends!

 

 

Hardback edition

 

More Tomorrow And Other Stories

Finally released in November 2003 by Earthling Publications This is a fine collection of 30 of Michaels short stories, 60% of which I have in other books (particularly What You Make It of course), but worth it anyway for the new ones. Again, I went for the cheaper ($40) numbered edition rather than the people-with-too-much-money option of the lettered edition. I have copy number 59.

 

 

Signed limited edition hardback

 

Other MMS books

A number of other MMS books are also in my collection.  Cat Stories is a nice booklet style mini-collection of three of MMS short stories to do with cats, including a previously unpublished one, 'Not Waving'.  This is a signed, limited edition, but again I went for the numbered rather than the expensive lettered edition!

The Vaccinator is a very good novella by MMS (i.e. half way between a short story and a full novel).  I don't have the very rare original edition of this yet (although am keeping an eye out), but do have the edition published back-to-back with Kim Newman's 'Andy Warhol's Dracula'.  The Vaccinator is well worth buying if you haven't yet read it.

Quetzalcon is a small booklet designed by MMS produced for a Sci-Fi convention, it's quite entertaining, was cheap to buy (£5 I think) and is numbered and signed by MMS, Kim Newman and Stephen Jones (the publisher).

Dark Voices 2 is included in my collection simply because it was where MMS had his first story published - 'The Man Who Drew Cats'.  I picked it up very recently for a bargain £1.50 from a discount bookshop.

Dark Voices 2

The Vaccinator Dos-a-Dos

Cat Stories (Signed 

Limited Edition)