If there's any kind of universal force
among bloggers it's that each of us has a recurring feature we write
more for ourselves than any attempt at gaining fans. In all
seriousness if one were to look at the site statistics there's a
noticeable dip every time the annual fall book sale pieces pop up.
Metrics be damned says I! The local library book sale has been a
fixture of my Halloween celebrations for around a decade as it
provides the perfect chance to seek out old horror novels and there's
no way I'm gonna stop sharing it now. Besides my overall stubbornness
this particular sale was a total oddball worthy of posting. Preamble
out of the way let's dive into this years experience.
The usual process for visiting this
event involves making a small party of family members before heading
over in the late-afternoon or early-evening. This time was much
different with only two of us and our abnormal sleep-schedules
planning on staying awake and heading in as soon as the doors opened
at nine in the morning. Upon arriving I witnessed a sight I'd never
before encountered in life... a line, a line outside my local
library! Some of these folks were hardcore book bugs but a handful
were that most dreaded of shopper by which I mean resellers. I failed
to notice them initially though my companion encountered a couple of
them riffling through books at lightspeed while scanning each for
their online value. Combined with how some of the major readers also
had their own systems for quickly searching through books and loading
anything of interest into their bags, yes they brought their own
bags, and the atmosphere was hectic to say the least.
In those early morning hours space is
a luxury few can afford which changes the act of browsing into some
kind of four-headed tango with different shoppers artfully switching
places all while keeping their eyes focused and scanning for
treasures. At one point I felt sympathy for a mother who had to
juggle caring for her toddler at the same time. Still; emotions for
others have little breathing room when the threat of being trampled
by the elderly is at its peak. The whole thing felt like a fever
dream granting the passage of time a totally ethereal quality. Our
usual browsing speed at night is close to an hour yet we found our
our trip only took twenty-minutes despite feeling like only a few
moments and an eternity. Before this week I never believed shopping
for books could be an adrenaline sport.
Given the madhouse vibe of the morning
I took a shot at returning to the library in the evening and was a
bit perturbed at how much the inventory had shrunk, much more so than
in past years. Even with how hectic things had been I was still able
to notice individual titles that were missing and major chunks that
had been shrunk down by half or more, and this event has to hold on
till Saturday. As if to add insult one of the resellers was back as
well, cross-checking items using three cellphones. I know times are
tough and selling off stuff on ebay and the like can be a nifty way
to stay afloat but there's a point when you cross the line into being
a pest. Even so this second trip allowed me to view a few sections
that were inaccessible earlier which let me bring back two more
items.
So how about the bounty itself?
Honestly the first haul wasn't half-bad on its own. Not the greatest
in my history with this event but far from the worst and the revisit
gave it a nice extra bit of gravy. The first title to pop out at me
was Night of the Moonbow by
Thomas Tryon. He may not be a household name these days but this
former actor obtained a decent level of success in the 70s when he
authored thrillers like The Other and
Harvest Home. His main
style was period-piece Americana thrillers often featuring people in
small towns encountering hidden terrors. This particular book
apparently focuses on an outbreak of violence at a christian boys
summer camp in the 1930s. Probably not the sort of thing to read in
October proper but when the need for camp themed thrills inevitably
returns during the winter months I'll be glad to have this around.
Not
certain if The 6 Messiahs totally
qualifies as horror though it definitely has the look of it and hails
from Twin Peaks co-creator,
Mark Frost. Guess this one's a sequel to a previous work where Arthur
Conan Doyle teams up with another character who's something of a
real-life Sherlock Holmes so the pair can deal with doomsday
prophecies and other outlandish threats.
The
Curse by John Tigges stands out
as likely the most stereotypical horror novel of the whole endeavor
with a standard set-up. Stressed-out family moves to the country,
awakens something evil, pure comfort food. This is the sort of book
that keeps me coming back to these sales with the tacky cover art and
statements about unrelenting terror.
Reliquary
is a sequal to a book I've never
read. The trick however is I've seen the movie of part one, The
Relic more than a few times.
Since Hollywood never saw fit to bring this second installment to the
screen this gives me a shot to dream one up. On the downside I recall
my brothers complaining about this one sucking big time back when it
was new.
The Revelation
is the first novel from author, Bentley Little. Never bothered
with his work before but the overall promise of an Arizona town
besieged by dark forces is enough to draw me in. The last horror find
came during the second visit with Haunted America, a
collection of short stories with one for each state in the union.
It's
not all scary stuff though as evidence by a blu-ray of Kubo
and the Two Strings. Been
meaning to see this for years with a recent burst of extra interest
as I wanted to seek out more decent animated fare after a relative
clumsily accused me of disliking animation due to my seething hatred
towards Pixar films. Unfortunately a good deal of the good looking
animated films out there are difficult to find on streaming services
while some seem to be going out of print which made this a great
score. Bookwise I also nabbed First King of Shannara.
Only ever read a few installments from the larger franchise, some I
adored while others took a big shit on all the good that came before
them. Clearly I'm hoping this standalone outing will be on the better
side of the series.
Lastly we have an
outstanding find from the second trip, The Kelloggs Cookbook.
Hailing from the late 70s this book consists of mostly normal, though
very outdated, recopies until the addition of cereals comes into
play. There's some freaky shit in here like one I believe was called
Corn Custard Surprise. Then there are those that seem like they
should be ok, Tiger Cookies for instance utilize crushed up Frosted
Flakes. Expect a couple of cooking posts coming in the next few
months thanks to this baby.
Much of the day
went along fairly normal with leftovers for dinner and a gleeful
viewing of Godzilla: Final Wars, god is that ever a silly
film. Nighttime arrived and was so perfectly autumnal even Washington
Irving himself would have struggled to imagine it. Everything from
temperature, light, and wind was exactly what a person could want
from October. Thus I went out on a moped ride cruising for other
Halloween displays in town which was a good-enough time until I came
upon a peculiar sight. A house had some decorations oddly close to
the road, and upon closer inspection one of them was hanging off of
public property. After looping the block I found this to be a classic
case of curbside freebies alongside the likes of fishing rods and
coolers. Surely I didn't have the room to properly transport
medium-sized ghouls on my bike but a car was unavailable, so I
returned home to get some bags to make it easier. 15 minutes later
I'm in the road wearing my helmet and a reflective vest waving at a
passing truck as I struggle to pack up free, and dirty, seasonal
décor. Finding the bags weren't up to the task I ended up
transporting the items between my legs like a pregnant woman all the
way home.
All in all it was
a fine day in October though it's not something I mean to rub in your
face. No instead I'd prefer it stand as a further example of how this
season can make otherwise normal activities into something special.
So hope online and find yourselves some goofy local event or maybe go
for a walk in a different neighborhood. We're twenty days for the
main event which means there's still plenty of time to make the
season unique.
No comments:
Post a Comment