We didn’t really pick up too much in August, so I skipped it last month and added the couple books onto September’s haul.
(Want to watch instead of read? There is a video at the end of this post)
First up comes one of the best days in book buying that we’ve ever had. We swung by Bell Book and Comic to see if they had restocked their paperback room. As we are pulling in, my wife said, “hey, what’s that?”
They were having a warehouse sale and we just happened to stumble across it. Holy shit. Everything pictured in this section cost $1 a piece… are you ready??
Let’s start with maybe the best find of the day. A UK first printing of Isobel. Unbelievable. Also, a spooky looking gothic based off of the Zodiac.
Two E Hoffman Price Asian Fantasy books.
John Jakes- Hybrid and sci-fi comedy, The Platypus of Doom
Gore Vidal, Messiah. Where is the Bird of Fire? Thomas Burnett Swan. Old world legend fantasy.
John Creasey’s Dr Palfrey. “If you like Doc Savage, you’ll love Dr Palfrey.” I don’t really care about Doc Savage so I don’t know how I’ll feel about Dr. Palfrey but I absolutely love that cover art. Speaking of cover art, I’ve decided I’m going to try and get as many as these Monarch Books as possible. A reader of the blog has commented before that Monarch was the book imprint of Charlton Comics which I also absolutely love. Every Monarch I have found so far reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode.
We got a little pirate action going on with Doctor Syn and then a survival book on The Mountain.
We always go for Ancient Egyptian settings and that cover of She brought it. And just look at that description on Black is the Color. Jazz clubs, sex clubs and voodoo clubs!
Of course, there were a ton of Laser books. I grabbed some of the ones I was missing.
I don’t usually get the Hard Case Crime books cause who the hell wants a new re-issue?! Oh yeah, lots of people but I’m not into it. I don’t know. Anyway, this was a new MAC story written for Hard Case Crime so this is the only way to get it. More hard-boiled goodness with a compilation collection of Stories from the Black Mask pulp mag.
Andre Norton’s are always everywhere. If there are used books for sale there is guaranteed to be one of her books. If it’s cheap I’ll get it. If it has a cat on it, we’re definitely getting it. And to add to my growing war novel collection, Bombs in Orbit.
Bander Snatch is a cover grabber that just so happens to have a very enticing premise. Manly Wade Wellman is a name grabber. If I see a book with his name on it, it’s coming home with me. Looks like some manly sci-fi adventure.
Couple of DAWS? Why not. Loving that cover of Ghosthunt. Va va voom.
More sci-fi. Bell Book and Comic always has an abundance of sci-fi. Maybe it’s the comic book overlap? I’m pretty picky with sci-fi but when everything is a dollar, I go with horrific, alternate dimension action sci-fi. And sexy sci-fi. Monster sci-fi… It makes sense in my head.
I like the Keith Laumer, Night of Delusions because the cover art reminded me of the comic Dead World. Darkworld Detective seems like it would have been a short story in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Hard-boiled detective sci-fi crossover. Looked fun.
L. Sprague De Camp 70’s sleeziness. Some spy action with Copperhead.
Green Rain is one I’ve seen a million times and almost bought. But make it a dollar and home it goes. Another John Jakes fantasy sword and sorcery.
Anarchaos. How was this not an 80’s anarcho crust punk band name? Nightmare inducing cover on The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and then the comparison with Tolkien. What?
A grip of Alistair MacLeans. Another author I only grab if it’s cheap cause you see so much of it.
A UK Alistair MacLean. That’s cool. Also, a different edition of the second part of Vikings. I love this series and though I think the other covers are better, I couldn’t pass this up. I believe it’s a UK edition but I’m not digging it back out.
Gardner F Fox writing kick ass Lady Buccaneer stories. And a Fawcett Gold Medal Fu Manchu.
Two ERBs.
Two more Gardner F Fox including the first Kyrik. Nice! I reviewed another on the blog if you are interested.
Got a bunch of these excellent looking Raymond Chandler books.
Couldn’t pass up this copy of A Wrinkle in Time. I don’t remember if I actually read it in school (though I know I was supposed to) but like everyone else, I was mesmerized by the cover. Another of my favorite settings is the Middle East and this Marrakesh looks to be a lot of fun.
Luana is a novelization of the movie, which I hadn’t even heard of. And then Corissa the Vestal Virgin. I mean…
Witch Queen of Lochlann I picked up because it had a shark on the cover but then was pleasantly surprised while reading the latest issue of Paperback Fanatic and seen Roy Nugen’s article on a sleezy occult private eye series and he hypothesizes that this is a secret final entry. Oh, and also a John Jakes time travel book with a black militant and a white supremacist. Ha!
Speaking of MANLY Wade Wellman just LOOK at this UK cover for Who Fears the Devil! Silver John. The traveling balladeer fighter of evil. The guy on the cover looks like a vampire Pete Townsend. And then hell yes, False Idols. Possession and exorcism Fawcett.
Classic Invisible Man pocketbook and a paranoid near future sci-fi disaster called Year of Consent
Outlaw of Gor number 2 and UK Raven number 1. “Throw a titty on it”- the publishers.
Two Blades. Naked time traveling spy.
A couple Men’s Adventure. Forced Landing looks to be a hijacking mixed with Die Hard vibes. Always glad to add another Doomsday Warrior. Speaking of warriors, the Paperback Warrior podcast has an episode about the author “Ryder Stacy” that was most interesting. You should check it out if you haven’t heard it.
Poster edition of Solomon Kane and the 2nd Fantasy Reader. Did it just get more manly in here?
A collection of stories all based on Tarot cards for all you seers out there. The Blue Star looks to be LSD influenced sci-fi. Taking drugs to write books to take drugs to. (That’s a Spacemen 3 reference. If you need some trip music- look it up)
Hey hey the very first Casca! By the singing sergeant Barry Sadler. The Long Nightmare almost looks like one of the parody covers. Like Al Bundy wrote it.
Just in time for the Halloween season we got 13 Horrors of Halloween. A collection of spooky stories from people who usually don’t write spooky stories. Very cool. For the wife a non-fiction Power Through Witchcraft paperback. It’s on AbeBooks for $149. I don’t know about all that but still a good find.
Some very intriguing rarities in the fantasy genre. The Ax of Atlantis is a female spy novel where she goes up against Minotaur’s?? Ok that’s just the cover and as we all know the ol bait and switch is a popular game in the world of paperback publishing but still I pray to the book Gods…please let this be the actual premise. And then we got this Ralph Bakshi looking Tower of Despair from a publisher called Carousel that I am not familiar with.
Normally I would have skipped this one but it’s Fawcett Gold Medal and it’s Gardner F Fox. It looks like those 1940’s Robin Hood type movies that are completely unappealing to me. On the other hand, this other Gardner F Fox book, Warrior of LLarn is very appealing. What is he riding a Dos-acorn?
I picked up an upgraded copy of The Altered Ego which ironically, I had purchased the beat up copy from Bell Book and Comic last month in their regular store for three dollars and here it was in there warehouse in much better shape for a dollar.
We’re not strictly paperback around here so we grabbed two hardcovers. Horror at that! Ramsey Cambell’s Dark Companions and The Entity.
Next is our local Half Priced Books. We’ve picked the meat off the bones so we should probably skip it for a while and let them restock. But you never know with HPB, they get so much trade in. It blows my mind because they give you pennies on the dollar for trade.
I’m still on a baseball centered story kick and my wife found this cool looking baseball horror book called Child’s Play, “Three strikes and you’re out…forever!” Also, got a 90’s looking Max Allan Collins Tor.
Some spy action with a UK Panther edition of The Man with the Golden Gun and a Fawcett Gold Medal, Route of the Red Gold.
After reading (and reviewing- go check it out) Robert Van Gulik’s Judge Dee character I was interested in reading more so we got Phantom of the Temple. And then how about a cheesy nurse romance for .50? Sure, why not.
We took a road trip up to Cleveland for the wife and I’s collective birthdays. We went to the Buckland Witchcraft Museum, the Cleveland Art and history Museum- which…wow, that is the best museum I’ve ever seen, a bunch of vegan restaurants and of course as many book stores as we could pack in. I’m going to write up some bookstore spotlights with more detail of the stores but for now here is just the hauls.
The first book buying expedition wasn’t at a used bookstore at all but at the Buckland Witchcraft Museum. They just happened to be having a used book sidewalk sale that day and had not only non-fiction occult rarities but odds and ends like these James Bond books.
Picked up this 60’s looking The Ms. Squad #2. Maybe a comedy crime series? Not sure but it looked fun. The wife added some magick paperbacks to the collection including this Magic and Power of Symbols. What luck does that Unicorn symbol on the cover bring you? I don’t know, gotta read it.
Unless you have ESP then maybe the universe has already told you what that unicorn symbol means. Two books on the mysterious magical powers of hidden human abilities.
And man oh man! The first in the series of the Dungeons & Dragons Endless Quest series. Very stoked on this one. They have some of the other series at my local HPB but they want $50. Fuck. That. Don’t overpay for books my friends. This one cost a fiver.
The first actual bookstore we went to was Paper Peddlers. It’s a wacky little store and I am looking forward to doing the spotlight on this one.
They don’t have a lot of paperbacks. In fact, I don’t remember any actually, but they did have a bunch of cool looking hardcover mysteries.
First up is this prison break noir called The Last Escape.
I probably wouldn’t have gotten this one had it not been a Donald Westlake. The artwork reminds me of School House Rock.
As a screen printer I absolutely love this two-color mystery cover artwork. It really shows what you can do with just two colors.
Another noirish book wherein a women is held at gunpoint to help rob a bank.
Found this cool Hammond Innes boat adventure book.
My favorite artwork of the Paper Peddler haul is this copy of the Wake of the Red Witch. Looking at all that manly adventure going on. Fighting with the natives, flower girls, naked ladies, boats, stabbings and that dude with his shirt all busted open, chest hairs prominently displayed. You can almost smell the ball sweat.
Added even more to my Maigret hardcover collection. When I saw that all they had was hardcovers and every book was at least fifty years old I KNEW there was going to be some Maigrets in here and I was not disappointed.
Even though I have a paperback version of The Day of the Triffids it is nowhere near as cool as this Doubleday hardcover.
There’s only One Way Out baby and I just can’t go out that door cause there is a man down there, might be your man, I don’t know. This is also a noir wherein a man is forced to do some international espionage action.
Next on the Cleveland book tour was The Book Brothers. It is a modest size two room shop located in the cool part of town right down the street from Cleveland Vegan. The books seem to be curated and of the collector variety. No John Grisham here baby.
Also, not a lot of paperbacks. In fact, every store we went to was mostly hardcovers. What up with that Cleveland?? BUT I did find some creepy horror books, The Hand of Cain and A Feast of Blood.
Lots of Lovecraft in the Book Brothers. Including Arkham House hardcovers but those were a little pricey, not over-priced mind you, just a little more than I wanted to spend on just one book. I’m a quantity fella, you know. We did get this Horror in the Museum which we were missing from this series and an excellent HP biography written by L Sprague De Camp.
Panther UK Lovecraft of Horrors in the Museum. Yeah that’s right, we buy different editions of the same book at the same store. You wanna fight?! And oh snap The Hand of Kane. The “sequel” to Moon of Skulls. I’ve never seen this one before. Very excited.
I instantly fell in love with this cover of the Cement Garden. It has one of those covers that brings your imagination to life with all the possible stories the book could be. I actually just finished it and let me tell you, it’s not what you think it is. Ha! A Pale Criminal is Philip Kerr’s detective series about a P.I. in Nazi Germany.
There was another bookstore a block down from Book Brothers but it was pretty terrible. It was like a tiny 2nd and Charles. We went, pet the cat, looked through the shop for five minutes and left.
The last shop in Cleveland we stopped at was recommended to us by the Paper Peddler store and that is Mac’s Books. They had the most paperbacks of any store we stopped at, but it still wasn’t a ton. Also, this was the only bookstore we stopped at that had new releases also. They seem to be into independent publishers and are all about community. That’s commendable.
All the of the pulpy goodness is upstairs on a little loft above the main shop. Started by grabbing two Gothics. As always, great covers.
Some sci-fi with the Torture Machine and McBain 87th Precinct novel.
Gothic horror compilation put out by Fawcett. And look how 80’s erotic thriller this Shadow Stalker looks. I can almost hear the sleezy saxophone.
Finally got the third and final installment in the (generically named) War of the Wizards triliogy. This one was actually on my wantlist. So check that shit. Upgraded my copy of Lord of Blood to a less annihilated copy.
And that’s it for the Cleveland shops. We only had one day so I’m sure we missed some cool spots. If you have any suggestions for next time put them in the comments please!
Back in Dayton or Fairborn to be more precise we stopped by the Bookery to grab some more Fawcett Gold Medals. I know I’ve said it before but this is what I love the Bookery for. They always have a ton of them. Start with two blondies on the covers. Are they out to get us or need protection or both? Probably both.
Got a cool crooked cop Bantam called Big Shot and then some sleeeezy sleeze with The Hustler. I love how Alan Laddish that guy looks on the cover.
Some more sleeze but of the Asian variety with the Love Pagoda and a spooky gothic called Ravenkill. I'm not sure if the character actually is a black woman but on the cover she does appear to be, right? That's cool.
Finally, this Wade Miller, Devil May Care. I would never trust that guy with MY WOMAN.
That’s pretty much it for this go around. I did pick up one more though. I got it from the Antique Village. It’s an antique mall with booths of different vendors. Usually over-priced goods, though every once in a while you’ll find someone who didn’t get their pricing from Ebay. This one actually had a whole giant section of books, but they were all shit. Luckily some of the other vendors had some books but eh. All I picked up was this Shadow. I have others in the series so I couldn’t pass it up.
October has been too busy with my business to go to any shops but hopefully we can fit some in. I have a bunch of reviews to type up also. It’s a bummer but it would be more of a bummer to not be making any money. Can’t buy books without the money but can’t read the books cause of work. We all know the drill. By the way, I own a screenprint business. If you are ever in the need for shirts, hit me up. Free shipping within reason. Streetlightprinting.com
Thanks for reading! Sorry I said "manly" like 50 times.
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