I'm in the middle of "Episodes of the Argo", the title story of
Episodes of the Argo right now. I'll look into
The Back Door of History next.
The stories in
The Back Door of History are:
Phoenic
Six Leagues From Lop
Rainy Day in Halicarnasses
Assault on Fat Mountain
Calamities of Last Pauper
Rogue Raft
None of which I know. Andrew Ferguson had an excellent essay on "Phoenic" on Continued on Next Rock some weeks back, and Daniel Petersen gave us some quotes from "Assault on Fat Mountain" on The Ants of God are Queer Fish some months back that led to a discussion of the term "Buffalopunk" as a label for some of Lafferty's Native American pastiche stories.
I'll post a blog entry after I read
The Back Door of History.
The way I found these copies was by periodically checking Amazon. I do that once or twice a week. Occasionally someone posts affordable copies. These were listed at their original cover prices. It just means scrolling through a few pages of Lafferty listings with an eye to the prices. I should look and see if there's a way to filter my results by used/collectible prices.
I'm afraid I don't have "Cranky Old Man."
Thanks!