Bruce Sterling First Editions

• Involution Ocean — 1977 · Jove/HBJMass-market paperback original; copyright page reads 'First Jove/HBJ edition published January 1977.' Number 4 in the Harlan Ellison Discovery Series, with an introduction by Harlan Ellison. Sterling's debut novel. The US Jove/HBJ paperback original (January 1977) is the true first; there was no prior hardcover. Paperback original; no book-club issue.
• The Artificial Kid — 1980 · Harper & RowHarper & Row, New York, 1980. Octavo in cloth-backed boards, 245 pages, with 'First edition' stated on the copyright page accompanied by a complete descending number line ending in 1. Sterling's second book, following Involution Ocean (1977). Priced dust jacket present on first-issue copies (printed price on the flap). The US Harper & Row hardcover is the true first. A Pocket Books paperback appeared later as a reprint, not a simultaneous co-first. None notable; the first printing is identified by the stated 'First edition' with the full number line ending in 1 on the copyright page.
• Schismatrix — 1985 · Arbor HouseArbor House hardcover, New York 1985. The copyright page carries a full number line whose lowest numeral is 1, marking the first printing, with no statement of a later impression. The book is in illustrated boards issued with a priced dust jacket (the printed price present and unclipped on an unaltered jacket). The US Arbor House hardcover is the true first edition. Foundational Shaper/Mechanist novel; a Nebula nominee. A Science Fiction Book Club edition exists, identifiable by the blind gutter code on the rear board and the absence of a printed jacket price; the club printing lacks the Arbor House number line.
• Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology — 1986 · Arbor HouseAnthology edited and introduced by Sterling. Arbor House hardcover, first printing identified by the full number line '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1' ending in 1 on the copyright page. Bound in gray boards with a black spine and silver lettering, in a priced dust jacket; the printed price should be present on the jacket flap. The US Arbor House hardcover, issued late 1986, is the true first; the Ace paperback did not appear until 1988 and the Paladin UK edition followed. Defining cyberpunk anthology. A book club issue exists and is distinguished from the trade first by the blind gutter code on the rear board, the absence of the full number line, and a jacket without a printed price.
• Islands in the Net — 1988 · Arbor House/William MorrowArbor House / William Morrow hardcover (New York, 1988) with the words First Edition stated on the copyright page together with a complete number line descending to 1. Bound in white cloth spine over blue paper-covered boards with gilt spine lettering, a tall octavo. The first-issue dust jacket bears the printed price to the front flap and should be present and unclipped on a first-state copy; interior maps and…. The US Arbor House hardcover is the true first; the Legend (London) UK edition followed. A book club edition exists, identifiable by a blind gutter code on a rear leaf and the absence of a printed price on the jacket flap; club copies are not firsts.
• Crystal Express — 1989 · Arkham HouseFirst story collection. Arkham House hardcover in black cloth with gilt-stamped spine; jacket and interior illustrations by Rick Lieder. Single print run of roughly 4,231 copies with no later printing. The US Arkham House hardcover is the true first and the only collectible first; Arkham printed a single run. A Legend UK trade paperback followed. No book club edition.
• Globalhead — 1992 · Mark V. ZiesingSterling's second story collection, gathering thirteen stories including collaborations with Rudy Rucker and with John Kessel. Published by Mark V. Ziesing, Shingletown, California, 1992. Ziesing issued a trade hardcover (ISBN 0-929480-69-4) in cloth with a dust jacket bearing art by William Latham, alongside a signed limited edition of 375 numbered copies (ISBN 0-929480-70-8) housed in a slipcase and signed by…. The US Ziesing hardcover is the true first (1992); the signed limited of 375 numbered copies is the deluxe state. A Bantam trade paperback followed. No book club edition; Ziesing issued a single printing.
• The Hacker Crackdown — 1992 · BantamNonfiction, subtitled 'Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier.' The Bantam Books (New York) first hardcover has a number line on the copyright page descending to 1. It is bound in publisher's half cloth: an orange cloth spine over lime-green paper-covered boards. The pictorial dust jacket should retain its printed price and carries a design credited to Kirschner Caroff. The first printing was issued in…. The US Bantam hardcover of November 1992 is the true first edition and precedes the simultaneous Bantam trade paperback. Sterling famously released the full text free electronically in 1994, but that release does not affect the printed first-edition priority. Issued as a trade hardcover and a trade paperback; no book-club edition is typically encountered. On the hardcover, confirm the copyright-page number line descending to 1 to distinguish the first printing from later Bantam impressions.
• Heavy Weather — 1994 · Bantam SpectraBantam Spectra hardcover (New York, 1994) in cloth-backed boards, with a full number line reading down to 1 on the copyright page for the first printing. ISBN 0-553-09393-2. The first-issue jacket carries the printed price on the front flap. The US Bantam Spectra hardcover is the true first; the Millennium/Orion UK edition (ISBN 1-85798-193-6) followed. An Easton Press signed limited collector's edition (leather, gilt edges) appeared near the same time and is a distinct issue, not the trade first. No book-club state is the priority issue point here.
• Holy Fire — 1996 · Bantam SpectraBantam Spectra hardcover, first printing with the copyright-page statement reading 'A Bantam Spectra Book' followed by 'October 1996', and a number line ending in 1. ISBN 0-553-09958-2. Bound with a black paper spine over burgundy paper-covered boards. The first-issue dust jacket should carry the printed price on the front flap. US Bantam Spectra hardcover (October 1996) is the true first; the Millennium UK edition followed. Issued in trade hardcover; no book-club issue is the identifying first.
• Distraction — 1998 · Bantam SpectraUS Bantam Spectra hardcover, December 1998; ISBN 0553104845; black paper boards, dust jacket printed with the price on the front flap. Identify the first printing by a complete number line whose lowest digit is 1. The US Bantam Spectra hardcover of 1998 is the true first; the UK edition followed. The novel won the 2000 Arthur C. Clarke Award and was a 1999 Hugo nominee. A Science Fiction Book Club hardcover exists (typically blind-stamped on the rear board and lacking a printed jacket price); it is a book-club edition, not the true first. Later printings are reprints.
• A Good Old-Fashioned Future — 1999 · Bantam SpectraStory collection of seven pieces. Bantam Spectra mass-market paperback original, New York, June 1999, running 279 pages, with the number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. ISBN 0-553-57642-9 (9780553576429). The US Bantam Spectra paperback original is the true first; no US hardcover was issued. The UK Millennium/Gollancz edition (ISBN 1857987101) is a later reprint dated 2001 rather than a precedent, so it does not displace the 1999 Bantam printing as the first appearance in book form. None.
• Zeitgeist — 2000 · Bantam SpectraUS Bantam Spectra hardcover first edition (ISBN 0-553-10493-4), with the number line ending in 1 on the copyright page. Bound in black cloth over blue boards, stamped in red; 293 pages, octavo. First-issue dust jacket designed by Jamie S. Warren Youll, with the publisher's printed price present on the front flap (present on an unclipped first-issue jacket). US Bantam Spectra hardcover (2000) is the true first. Subtitled 'A Novel of Metamorphosis'. Issued as a trade hardcover; the identifying first is the Bantam Spectra hardcover with the number line ending in 1. A later mass-market paperback exists but is not the first edition.
• The Zenith Angle — 2004 · Del Rey/BallantineDel Rey (Ballantine) hardcover, ISBN 0-345-46061-8 (9780345460615), published April 2004; the copyright page carries the Del Rey-style 'First Edition' statement together with a number line descending to 1. Issued in a printed, unclipped first-state dust jacket. The US Del Rey/Ballantine hardcover is the true first edition. The later Del Rey trade paperback (ISBN 0-345-46865-1 / 9780345468659) is a separate, subsequent issue, not the first; first-edition points do not apply to it.
• Visionary in Residence — 2006 · Thunder's Mouth PressStory collection of thirteen stories, 294 pp.; Thunder's Mouth Press trade paperback original with no hardcover edition, first printing indicated on the copyright page. ISBN 1-56025-841-1, published 8 February 2006. Notable as the first appearance of 'Message Found in a Bottle' (written for Nature); the balance had appeared previously in periodicals and anthologies. US Thunder's Mouth Press trade paperback original; there is no hardcover first, so the paperback is the true first. None.
• The Caryatids — 2009 · Del Rey / BallantineDel Rey hardcover stating First Edition on the copyright page with a complete number line ending in 1. The US Del Rey hardcover (February 2009) is the true first edition. Issued in trade hardcover; no book-club issue noted.
• Gothic High-Tech — 2011 · Subterranean PressStory collection issued in two simultaneous first-edition states: a fully cloth-bound trade hardcover and a deluxe signed limited of 200 numbered copies bound in leather, both with a dust jacket and First Edition stated on the copyright page. The Subterranean Press first edition is the true first. It appeared in two issues at once, a trade hardcover and a numbered signed limited; the signed limited is the deluxe issue, not a separate or earlier edition. No book-club edition; no mass-market printing.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Budd Schulberg, Carson McCullers, Celeste Ng, Charles Dickens, Charles Kingsley, Charles W. Chesnutt.

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