Monsters

From the depths of the sea…

From the secret places of the universe

MONSTERS

A HOST OF HIDEOUS THINGS – writhing… crawling…some scaled, some slimy, some finned… fashioned from the darkest places of man’s imagination…shaped grotesquely in nightmare forms… and some so horrifying they have no shape at all…

MONSTERS

Corgi Books 1970.

Deformed..

Evil…

Bent on horror and destruction…

Rearing up on horny, gleaming legs…

Growing from the floor in a bulbous, slobbering mass…

Grimacing from a tiger shark’s face…

MONSTERS – Eight tales of terror by A.E Van Vogt.

What amazing artwork – I can only wish my aura is as spectacularly colourful as this cover model’s.

Safer Dead

The editor of a monthly crime and detective magazine assigns to two of his staff writers, Sladen and Low, the investigation of the strange disappearance of an unknown showgirl. The disappearance was reported fourteen months earlier, but the trail is cold. The police, with nothing to work on, have lost interest. The assignment doesn’t look hopeful.

However, the investigators start asking questions and almost immediately things begin to happen. Witnesses are murdered, an attempt is made to do away with the investigators. The police once more open the case. The disappearance of the showgirl is found to be only a minor part of a ruthless plot.

Safer Dead has the authentic James Hadley Chase touch, which has deservedly earned him the title ‘Master of the Art of Deception’. It moves with the pace and power of forked lightening.

Robert Hale Ltd. Made and printed in Great Britain by John Gardner (Printers) Ltd. First published 1954. This edition reprinted December 1956.

Another gorgeous James Hadley Chase paperback to compliment  I’ll Bury My Dead, included in an earlier post. This cover is illustrated by James Pollack who did the cover on Harley Street Hypnotist, below. 

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Harley Street Hypnotist

Harley Street Hypnotist

How do you hypnotize a patient? How are mental and emotional problems solved by hypnosis?

This quite remarkable and dramatic book debunks the myths attached to the science – for instance that people can be hypnotized against their will, or if hypnotized can be made to perform actions inconsistent with their character.

It tells of the remarkable use of hypnosis in relieving pain during childbirth, so that now the Ministry of Health has ruled that doctors using hypnosis on such occasions may receive the same fee as an anaesthetist…

This one’s for all you budding Peter Powers out there – I must say, I love the cover art on this one.

Titan’s Daughter

The tetraploids, giant men and women created by genetic experiment, only wanted to live their lives in peace, but they had to live in a world of the jealous ‘normals’ who gathered in screaming mobs with murder in their hearts.

Sena, the heroine of this remarkable science-fiction novel, is a tetraploid giantess whose youth would last more than a century, who looked with wonder at the toy bridges and houses of normal men and women who regarded her with fear and revulsion. Beautiful, defenceless Sena was the first of a new race, but would she be allowed to live…?

Previously published in the USA by the Berkley Publishing Corporation in 1961. First Foure Square Edition 1963.

Not sure how a nine-foot giantess can be that defenceless in a world of ‘normals’ but from the cover, I’m guessing she must have been vastly outnumbered or something…

Frighten Brighton

We’re dusting down our unholy grimoires and wormy tomes in preparation for 2012’s first FRIGHTEN BRIGHTON at the Rock Inn this February.

Last year’s Frighten Brighton was a great success and this one promises to be another fun-filled, horror fuelled event – with more films, quizzes, giveaways, book signings and even a ghost story in the haunted basement.

Brighton’s very own Macabre Market will be onsite, featuring loads of stalls selling a variety of horror-themed loveliness, so please pop by to our very own House of Secrets stall to say hi! And of course, we promise to bring lots of great classic horror books for your delight and delectation!

The event starts at 12pm Saturday 25^th February. Tickets are £6 for the double bill starting at 5pm – everything else, including the 2pm screening of Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell – is free!

Facebook event page – http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/207184382708517/

Facebook Brighton Horror Posse Page – http://www.facebook.com/#!/BrightonHorrorPosse

Frighten Brighton Website – http://frightenbrighton.wordpress.com/

Happy Birthday Poe

This superb selection from an unrivalled classic brilliantly reflects the two-sided genius of…

Edgar Allan Poe.

The nightmare terror of
The Pit and the Pendulum

The gruesome horror of
The Fall of the House of Usher

The devilish logic of
The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The fiendish mystery of
The Purloined Letter etc.

These Flawless stories are the work of a master who has chilled the spines of readers for over a century.

First published 1960 by Pan Books Ltd. Tenth printing 1965.

Sunday December 18th

It’s your Last Chance to check out some of our lovely book bargains before the New Year!

Dracula and Alice in Wonderland have been the runaway seasonal bestsellers on our stall so far, but there’s still time to change all that as tomorrow is the final day the Yard Vintage and Makers Market will be open for trading before it closes its doors until next March 2012.

We will be at the market from 12pm -4pm so if you’re coming by for some books, please stop by between then. Mince pies or chocolates will be especially welcome! (I know, I know I’m being a bit cheeky now..)

Merry Christmas! And remember, if it all goes horribly wrong this year, just find a quiet corner to lose yourself in with your favourite book and pretend none of your family ever existed!

Me, I’m looking forward to catching up on some Dickens…

The Chimes, Routledge Pocket Library 1886

The Haploids

The Haploids..

It began in Union City when they brought in the man who screamed before he died, his flesh a mottled gray. Then it spread. The disease hit South Bend. Then Chicago. Men dying. Their skin a lead gray, their lips browned, and screams tearing their way up through throats that leaked blood. Always men. Never women.

And then it was all so fantastically clear. Men were being exterminated, and a master race of haploid women were going to rule the world. And nobody could stop them.

Copyright 1952 Jerry Sohl. First Lion Edition January 1953.

Dedicated to Dr Wayne Wantland, who created the first Haploid.

And nobody could stop them…. Well, my money’s on Travis, the hardbitten news-man laid up in Union City hospital the night they brought the first haploid victim in. Maybe it was the horrible death he just witnessed or the oh-so peachy blonde with a syringe seen skulking around the dead guy’s room, but his curiosity has been aroused and he’s not letting go.

I started reading this on Sunday and I must say, I’m enjoying the ride! I haven’t quite found out who or what Haploids are yet, though there are some useful pointers on the inside cover –

You have been warned!!!

Frankenstein

“It proved a wet, ungenial summer, and incessant rain often confined us for days to the house… In the evenings we crowded around a blazing wood fire, and occasionally amused ourselves with some German stories of ghosts, which happened to fall into our hands. These tales excited in us a playful desire of imitation… ‘We will each write a ghost story,’ said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to.”

Collier Books 1961

At this challenge Mary Shelley began work on the “ghost story” that was to  evolve into the most celebrated horror novel in literary history. Frankenstein was published the next year and became the rage of London. In generations since, the story of Victor Frankenstein and the monster he created has been read by millions all over the world. It inspired hundreds of imitations, but it has never been equalled for its masterful manipulation of the elements of horror and suspense.

You’ve read the book (haven’t you?!) now watch the film! Tomorrow, 3rd December, those lovely people behind the Classic Horror Campaign are holding an all day horror fest at the Rock Inn, Brighton, with book signings, stalls, loads of giveaways and of course some great films! We are going to be there with a few nice books so stop by and say Hi. More details below and over at: Frighten Brighton.

Pan Books 1979

The Birds

Pan Books 1977.

Daphne du Maurier has a rare gift for dragging up those irrational fears that lurk just behind the smooth plaster of existence. In ‘The Birds’ she somehow lends probability to an impossibility which is nearly too fearful to imagine. United by mad hatred the birds – the gulls, finches, crows and tits – have combined to wipe out humanity. This strange haunting fantasy has been chosen by Alfred Hitchcock for the making of a horror film.

I’m posting this because I got bitten by  a seagull today (don’t ask – it’s a long and bloody story, though not as long or as bloody as this one).

Below is the Penquin 1963 edition with cover art by Virgil Burnett.