Finding Penguin Weird Fiction (or not...) Bookhunt Frustration

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

PLEASE READ: As I'm 'not feeling it' at the moment in terms of the whole reading thing, I thought it was time to post an honest video about the reality of habitual book hunting- it's often fruitless, frustrating and leaves one with a Beckett-like mood of 'What does it all mean?' Maybe we should question more the amount of time we bibliophiles devote in our lives to- and depend upon the habit of - books. Hope you enjoy it anyway-Steve

[@joemountains1539]

Been there, many times.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@joemountains1539 I think we all have at times, but at least you and I are admitting it. Thanks for that!

[@CliveSnowden-fx8fp]

I have days like this. All part of the journey, I guess. Makes the good times even better.

[@salty-walt]

Oh, the emptiness and ennui ,folded together with the disheartening realization that all we have loved and seek is "diminishing and going into the recycling," (as it were.) I started saying more, but went back & deleted. I don't want to complain at you. Not unless I can be witty or funny, or at least insightful. Be Well Stephen.

[@paulcampbell6003]

When I am in the West End of Glasgow it's for the relaxation, quiet pint, and if I come across a nice second hand book or two in the few such shops now left I consider it a bonus. In other words, I never specifically go out 'book hunting'. For instance I picked up a gorgeous coffee table book, _The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines_ (2000) by Peter Haining and was utterly delighted, precisely because I wasn't looking for anything. Sitting down to a pub lunch shortly after, browsing through it... aah, bliss. 😌🤗 Maybe, also, because I am a reader first and foremost, and not a collector in the sense that I feel compelled to buy hardback first editions. Or signed limited editions.

[@rickkearn7100]

Can't wait for the promised Grumpy Old Men episode! Love that feature, OB. Thanks for your efforts, old chap. Really enjoyed this and, "an empty bookcase" must surely be like a day without sunshine, eh? Cheers!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks Rick! Graham and I will be meeting late next week for our first on-screen for ages and there may well be a bonus 'Grouch Session' in the Club Room- if I can get him to be grumpy long enough (I know I will be LOL).

[@rickkearn7100]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yikes, I've got to check out the Club Room, have not had a chance yet. But I will now that you've mentioned it. Godspeed sir.

[@JavierGonzalez-xg2tq]

LOVED this episode! Beautiful videography. Thank you for taking us along. I was transported. Fabulous!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thank you very much. Hope you've enjoyed some of the other exterior shoots I've done.

[@leakybootpress9699]

A nice walkabout, Steve, even if there was no book harvesting to be done. The noisy leather coat provided a weird descant to the soundtrack.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Deft use of the term 'descant' there old chum...

[@leakybootpress9699]

Hahaha! It's my job to be deft... or should that be daft?

[@waltera13]

Thank You! I didn't realize that those cool looking Penguins were new; I just assumed an old pressing I hadn't heard about. I must chase some down, especially the Bennett. (Who IS GBB?) I VERY much empathize about returning to fished out pools. Still your "Overfished Pond" has a few exotics for me! I could use all three of those Lloyd Biggles - if they're worth reading though, I don't know. I would LOVE to see that much Moorcock in *any* store I visited, especially some choice omnibuses! And I never see that much Aldiss, although, "Galactic Empires, Vol 2" in the Book Club edition IS near ubiquitous here. Never seen Vol 1 though. I completely understand. It was a few years of fruitless compulsive book hunting that stopped me all together until booktubers got me to look again. Of course continuing snobbery and indifference makes the SF hunt heart breaking.

[@dipanjanbiswas6580]

Greatly enjoyed the video especially the last bit (Stalker) 👍

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks- and the sequel has just been launched here a couple of hours ago for your viewing pleasure!

[@TheMmfam]

I can say this without reservation. The experience of shopping for books in Dallas, Texas is entirely lacking in old-world aesthetics and charm when compared to book store shopping in Frome Somerset. Thank you for letting me tag along virtually with you as you go book hunting. What a beautiful place. New to your channel and now subscribe!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

You're very kind. Delve into my backlist of over 500 videos and you will see numerous bookbuying trips to similar places, such as Hay-On-Wye in Wales (the World's First Secondhand Book Town), Puddletown in Dorset and also numerous book dealer visits, showing their warehouses which are off limits to the general public...

[@LiminalSpaces03]

Genesis Live album was super cool as well!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I'm not a massive Genesis fan - though actually, i think I have everything from 'Trespass' up until '...And then there were three' inclusive...so maybe I am....."Watcher of the Skies" is a cracker, though my favourite moment by the band is the Blakeian triumvirate of "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight", "I Know What I Like" and "Firth of Fifth" from 'Selling England By The Pound'.

[@DLReach]

Something strangely appealing about the cover of The House on the Borderlands looking like a children’s book.

[@LiminalSpaces03]

Love that crossing with train tunnel! So different from the desert I live in!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

At the moment, my friend, I'd swap!

[@RealEstateNovelist]

It's like a short film. Absolutely love this! ❤ Definitely subscribing because you touched some of the titles I love. ❤❤

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks! You'll find a MASSIVE backlist here to wade through of similar material.

[@JulesBurt]

Great stuff Steve, some good looking books in Frome.

[@CliveSnowden-fx8fp]

Dreary weather, admittedly, but I loved this all the same. Good to see you out and about again, Steve. Cheers!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Cheers Clive.

[@keithreynolds]

Now here’s a man who knows how to put a book on a shelf.

[@adammolnar2239]

subtle deft touch with the books and the video overall.... it has to be said!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks!

[@SlowDazzle11]

I had a stimulating bookhunt yesterday. I got some Ballard, Moorcock, Chris Beckett, Adam Roberts, a few Mick Herrons and a Houellebecq. I suspect bookhauls can be frustrating if you've got nearly everything!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Good haul! Well, there's not much I want now, it must be said....

[@SimonD-xv1tp]

Brilliant video, love Frome! Sometimes go when the market is on, first Sunday of the month, it’s huge! Not a successful day book hunting but great to get out and seeing the sights. I agree on the Stalker reference. Definitely interested in checking out the new Penguin series, thanks for the heads up.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I like Frome a lot, we go fairly regularly. The bookshop I shot in the anteroom of is good, though I've rarely bought anything there. What I really love in the town is Raves From The Grave, brilliant old school range heavy record shop, tons of new yet deleted CDs and vinyl, I imagine you know it.

[@martinkirsch5969]

Very interesting video, thank you. I agree with your pinned comment and what you say towards the end of the video about buying books one doesn't need (10:58); I've also had similar experiences to this, like most collectors I bet. I'd love to get some of those Grafton/Panther PKDs, they're almost impossible to find in France (they're basically only available on EBay and with the shipping fees they end up being quite expensive, which is frustrating... it's only worth it for lots but I don't see interesting ones that often). Those Penguin Weird Fiction look great!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Those PKDs are now pretty scarce in the UK in good condition as people tend to hang onto them. Even in the 1990s in Hay-On-Wye certain authors like PKD and Ellison were uncommon in the wild. Agree about postage costs, they're insane now.

[@martinkirsch5969]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal That's what I thought. Even vintage French editions are starting to get scarce now; I'm glad I got a few of those for cheap, some of the covers are quite nice.

[@williambentley2802]

I just finished reading the Hunters by James Salter on your recommendation. It was the best book I've read in a long time, incredible.

[@themojocorpse1290]

I read the hunters recently also beautifully written and one of my favourite books this year.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes- it really is very special indeed, pleased you relished it.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@themojocorpse1290 hear hear

[@annakonda6727]

Gawd, how I miss bookshops!! Even if I did not read exclusively ebooks, there's been a scarcity of desert proportions in Greece at least as far as SF-Fantasy is concerned. I am envious!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Great dedicated second hand bookshops in the Uk are now far scarcer than they were, but being a longterm collector, I do get to the best places within my local travel readius. But I am jaded, really, as I've now been in the industry for 40 years and ready to let go really- though I do sympathise with anyone who isn't lucky enough to have bookshops near them.

[@danieldelvalle5004]

Frustrating, but a marvelous quest nonetheless, a wonderful, bibliophilic walkabout. Love the grumpiness since I can relate to. Keep on truck'in.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks Dan. I think my mood is being reflected in the weather and circumstances currently- which says to me 'There is something real in what you're feeling'. Take care, my friend.

[@LiminalSpaces03]

Those Blackwater books are incredible! I can't find any McDowell out here.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Those are recent Penguin UK reissues- I was taken aback by their coming when they appeared at my workplace: he was only ever a small cult over here, new lease of life now...

[@TheRetroEngine]

The first second hand bookshop, I loved those puffin picture books. And loads of PKD. I went through a phase around 2000 of picking up all PKD I could find in second hand bookshops. Now... not a chance, even second hand bookshops are rarer than rare books. They spelled Philip wrong on the bookshelf. Tut.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

PKD was hard to find 2nd hand even 25 years ago, when you were looking - of course, most of his work has been in print since his death so there is little real need to buy second hand (other than for superior cover designs, the classic A Format and better liveries). Yeah. those Puffins were great- Jules Burt does some great Puffin stuff on his channel.

[@miljenkoskreblin165]

I liked your comment about Michael Mcdowell. Good to see him getting more attention. Since new Beetlejuice movie came out, it would be good if his name is mentioned more, seeing he wrote the first one. I read his Amulet and Elementals, and, even though I wasn't completely satisfied with them, they were still pretty good, even brilliant at times. S.T. Joshi very highly praised his Cold Moon Over Bablyon, and that is saying a lot, considering that Joshi pretty much looks down on everything not written by Campbell, Kiernan, Ligotti, and especially Lovecraft. P.S. Love the leather Coat. Very Matrixesque.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Thanks. Yes, Joshi is a stern critics! I will respectfully point out that the purchase of my coat predates 'The Matrix', not a film I've ever personally acknowledged as an influence on me in any way!

[@SeanF_retrospectivereads]

An empty bookshelf; no indeed!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Sinful, right? But then that is a really sh*t pub, won't be going there again!

[@niriop]

Thin pickings? I must bookshop in real shitholes because those look like some of the best SF shelves I’ve ever seen. I particularly liked the look of that copy of Zelazny’s Roadmarks. I guess it’s a question, as always, of relative experience…

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yep, it was thin pickings for me, but not an unusual schlepp around UK second hand and new outlets. Of course, as I work in a bookshop, I get most of my new books while at work with a discount, though I have to get most non-UK distributed US titles from other sources. I've also been buying for a very long time, so my most common response is 'Been there, done that'. But as you will have noticed, I was very praiseworthy of the PKD paperbacks, which are very uncommon in that condition- or at all- but if you watch more of my bookshopping videos (especially hauls, dealer visits to Zardoz/Allyouneedisbooks and Dorset Bob aka MrBook451) you'll see some really exciting stuff....

[@markkavanagh7377]

Due to a house move I'm considering selling off my library, all 10 book cases of history, art and novels in chronological order! I love it but also I get to start again, and that is enticing too, but either way I will keep collecting books, half the incentive to read a book is to put it on the shelf!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Best of luck- my biggest cull ever was a house move in 1996, when I let go of a third of my then library.

[@markkavanagh7377]

Did you ever even try a kindle? I've never held one even! 😉

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

@@markkavanagh7377 We briefly sold e-readers (including the 'proper' e-ink ones and Amazon Kindle) where I work around 12 years ago, so I was trained on and tested them. But they're not for me, I like the real thing. But they have their place for those with impaired vision, but only the e-ink ones. A kindle has an LCD screen, which will tire the eyes.

[@rokyfo]

Walking around in the rain in your leather coat perhaps you were feeling less like the Outlaw Bookseller and more like the Giallo Bookseller.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Imagine what Argento would do with 'Giallo Bookseller' as a film title! I think I should make it as my next project.....

[@silex9837]

Refreshing excursion.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Cheers!

[@strelnikoff1632]

Very nice. I felt a bit sad for you, the atmosphere seemed so down beat. Cheers Stephen.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

The truth is, I have been really down of late, especially this week. The weather has not helped. It's brighter here today, which may lift things. Thanks, my friend.

[@stefangieck2914]

Smuggled the Weird Fiction anthology into the bookshop, which is risky as I'm not in charge of the english section anymore. Have to check, if anyone has bought it yet...

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

You too are clearly an 'Outlaw' Bookseller!

[@solasta]

Apple doughnuts in the Bake House in Frome. Unmissable... He's retiring at the end of the year, don't miss out!

[@salty-walt]

Few places for good apple donuts here, but one remembers

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

We have been warned!

[@carltaylor6452]

There was much moaning about the new Penguin Weird Fiction collection in one of the literary FB groups I belong to. There were some justified comments, I believe. 1) The covers are pretty terrible/inappropriate, especially for WHH's 'House on the Borderland', more suited to a series of Jeeves & Wooster, perhaps, 2) Aside from Gertrude Barrows/Francis Stevens' 'Claimed!', which I will certainly buy, they are all fairly regularly-published classics (even the anthology they are publishing contains many often-anthologised stories; how many more Monkey's Paws or Oh Whistles or Cthulhu's do we really need?), 3) They are all fairly easy to acquire in other editions (WHH has recently been published in the British Library's Tales of the Weird series, which this seems to be copying); Blackwood's Ancient Sorceries, for example, is still available in a nice Pushkin Press edition, as is 'The King in Yellow'); even those out of print are easily purchased second-hand. Obviously, these are the grumblings of old gits like myself, who already have numerous copies of these novels and stories (barring the Barrows, which is very welcome) and Penguin may be aiming to sell to new readers of weird fiction, but it really is, on the whole, unimaginative stuff, despite Penguin claiming that these books are a 'visionary blend'. What do you think? Is the moaning unjustified?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Overall I agree. Fundamentally, it's an example of Penguin just thinking 'What can we do to tie in with Halloween that will get people buying the set,' and as you say, it's almost all totally obvious stuff, out of copyright so anyone can issue them and so on. I will say, however, that aside from the Pushkin hardcovers- which I have all of apart from the Blackwood, which I felt was quite ugly (so I'll be getting that one in Penguin)- these are books which could do with editions of high production value, which some other publishers' versions are not. ...and the contents of the anthology are as you say, nothing special to almost any serious reader of Horror fiction over 25. They remind me to a point of those dreadful 'Cyberpunk' anthologies published recently in hardcover -which of course are about 95% not Cyberpunk- and don't start me on their dreadful virtue signalling introductions.... So overall, it's another example of a publisher seeing a sales opportunity in the obsession many readers seem to have today with subgenres that don't really stand up to close analysis (- just think of how many came along with '-punk' asd a suffix that had no relevance to the spirit of Punk). You can't blame them for that and these books will reach new audiences because of the packaging, which is good for reading, but for those of us longer in experience, only the Gertrude leaps out....

[@disconnected22]

Even I could see the Stanislaw Lem book you went past, hopefully because you already own it...

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yeah, of course, in the library for a long time. It has to be said that when filming, however, you miss stuff- for example, in the Frome bookshop, there was a paprback of M K Joseph's 'The Hole in the Zero' (which I've owned for years in hardcover)- an uncommon book per se!

[@SciFiScavenger]

Full leather overcoat, as befits your Outlaw status. Herr Andrews of ze Gestapo! No-one likes a disappointing book hunting trip. I've come up dry, more or less, from recent forays. Hoping for better later this month. Chin up!

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yeah, that old protector comes out in super-wet weather, it's rough around the edges now be has done 28 years service (!). 'Nil Scores' is a common experience, of course, so we can only keep being diligent and the rewards will come our way! Onwards!

[@michaeldaly1495]

This oddly reminded me of a Benny Hill sketch where he wears a very loud leather suit, literally, tries to seduce a girl and you can't hear a word of his dialogue. I don't think of Benny Hill often, but it's nice when I do, thanks.

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

I'm kind of honoured by that. The first 7" single I bought with my own money was a Benny Hill one.

[@terrystewart1973]

Frome looked nice

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Yes, it's a great little town.

[@isoundinfo]

Any thoughts on the Judy-Lynn Del Rey mini doc on the American Masters PBS YT channel?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Not watched it, I'm afraid, so can't comment- will have a look though, thanks.

[@thekeywitness]

“What is it about this country?” Try being an American! 😂😢

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

Perhaps we share common dislikes LOL.

[@salty-walt]

I'm aware the holiday has its origins in Ireland, but such Pumpkin colored Halloween displays in the UK are disorienting. I thought they were as American as. . . well, American Cheese Food Singles. Has your country come to embrace the Pumpkin Spice addiction as well?

[@outlawbookselleroriginal]

In short, yes. When I was a child Halloween was generally a big nothing in the UK- ironically, since we're the home of Folk Horror- we had 'apple bobbing' and other apple based games but it wasn't much of a thing- the three existing Tv channels then didn't even bother to broadcast horror films on 31st October. I found this deeply disappointing. Then, as I grew up, the eighties came along, marketing became a bigger thing and US Halloween iconography such as trick or treat (unknown in the UK until the late 80s), pumpkins (yeah, they were a Halloween sy,bol here too before the 80s, but you never saw them) came on board as a way of making money through parents making it a thing for the kiddies. Now of course, Halloween, like every 'traditional' holiday except Christmas and New Years Day is comfortably moved to 'more convenient' dates at weekends to make it 'easier', thus completely destroying their original traditional meanings. So if the 31st happens to be on a tuesday, a 'Halloween Dance' will be on the preceding weekend of course. Even more irritatingly, this happens with what we used to call 'Bonfire Night' or 'Guy Fawkes Night', which was ALWAYS commemorated on 5th November with the creation of an effigy of Guy Fawkes (unsurprisingly known as a 'Guy') which we kiddies would display in the street to passers by who would then donate small coin, which we would spend on fireworks (which were unused in Britain except on 5th November). On said date, a pre-prepard bonfire would be lit, the 'Guy' burned in effigy and the domestic pyrotechnics unleashed. All to celebrate a failed plot by Catholic terrorists to blow up the houses of parliament. Now of course, it's just an excuse for pyrotechnics, with everyone and their sister setting them off for a week or so around the date and of course, should the date fall on an inconvenient weeknight, any bonfire or large firework display will be moved to a friday or saturday 'for convenience'. What was tradition is now all about making money. It sucks. Children in Britain now have no idea why we have a 'bonfire night'....

[@salty-walt]

@@outlawbookselleroriginal Sadly, we seem to be living a more "Modern Life" than the modernists! Separating people from their history and their traditions is not only an old authoritarian trick, it is also a capitalist trick of marketing: Always get them to focus on the new - don't give them anything of their own to hold on to. This does seem to be the world we are living in. My understanding is the Big Orange pumpkins are a North American crop that moved to England for the purpose of marketing something exotic earlier in the 20th century. Don't forget how marketing creep keeps moving the symbols of celebration earlier and earlier to get the "jump" on competitors. Which is why although pumpkins were traditionally eaten between Halloween and Thanksgiving, "pumpkin spice season" has already moved its way up to the end of August beginning of September! Christmas decorations are already going up. . . My dad used to say "penny for the guy." There was even an unusually authentic British pub near me that would hold a Guy Fawkes bonfire night every 5th of November. I don't think they do for a while. Californians don't quite know why it was going on. I guess it was forgot.😅

[@salty-walt]

I could have sworn I replied to this​@@outlawbookselleroriginal