|
Post by helrunar on Aug 18, 2019 21:36:24 GMT
Thanks for the notes, Kev. I spotted some interesting titles (on that Instagram page) in one of the snaps that showed a closeup of a table of books. But nothing really f/sf/horror.
The most intriguing item, shown in another photo, is Weird Walk issue one, dated Beltane 2019. I'd have bought that if they still had it in stock.
cheers, Steve
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Aug 18, 2019 22:31:11 GMT
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 19, 2019 8:11:52 GMT
Sounds like a nice trip. I guess it will be difficult to find pre-millenial books in the future. As the little of horror which was still published outside the small press got incorporated into mainstream lines, it takes effort to single it out. I would be surprised if the second hand business will except in some places survive the e-book in the long view. Thanks for the notes, Kev. I spotted some interesting titles (on that Instagram page) in one of the snaps that showed a closeup of a table of books. But nothing really f/sf/horror. The most intriguing item, shown in another photo, is Weird Walk issue one, dated Beltane 2019. I'd have bought that if they still had it in stock. cheers, Steve Should have a better idea of current stock tomorrow. Sadly, sharing Andy's gloomy prognosis for the industry, I'm not too fussed by any lack of horror/ sf/ fantasy. The fact 'Books' exists at all is cause for celebration. Have some business on South coast at end of next month. If time and stuff permits, I'm planning a return to my favourite book-junkshop-waspsnest of all: Westbourne's Comics Posters Books DVDs & Co..
|
|
|
Post by cromagnonman on Aug 19, 2019 8:55:04 GMT
Thanks for the notes, Kev. I spotted some interesting titles (on that Instagram page) in one of the snaps that showed a closeup of a table of books. But nothing really f/sf/horror. The most intriguing item, shown in another photo, is Weird Walk issue one, dated Beltane 2019. I'd have bought that if they still had it in stock. cheers, Steve Sharp spot there Steve; I didn't see it. Sort of thing I would probably pick up myself for my sister who likes to walk the road less travelled. Stone circles are her thing and once in the midst of exploring and photographing one she and her husband got mistaken for Janet & Colin Bord. They aren't by the way but I sometimes think that they might as well be. Interesting discovery Dem; place I'm just going to have to check out myself.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 19, 2019 13:43:12 GMT
Thanks for the notes, Kev. I spotted some interesting titles (on that Instagram page) in one of the snaps that showed a closeup of a table of books. But nothing really f/sf/horror. The most intriguing item, shown in another photo, is Weird Walk issue one, dated Beltane 2019. I'd have bought that if they still had it in stock. cheers, Steve Sharp spot there Steve; I didn't see it. Sort of thing I would probably pick up myself for my sister who likes to walk the road less travelled. Stone circles are her thing and once in the midst of exploring and photographing one she and her husband got mistaken for Janet & Colin Bord. They aren't by the way but I sometimes think that they might as well be. Interesting discovery Dem; place I'm just going to have to check out myself. Hi Crom, the proprietor, Peter, says that he posts the forthcoming week's opening times on the bookspeckham account every Monday (he's not done so yet, but have been informed that this week it's 11 am - 7pm on Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday). Even so, best to double check with him before you set out. email is: books ATbooks-peckham.com (replace AT with @ ) Spotted another potential suspect from 42 bus window en route to Dulwich a few weeks back. Hoping to return on Sept. 3rd, so will try get an address. PS. First job after I quit school was at a family wedding photographers. Mr. & Mrs. Bord were two of the Saturday freelancers. Operating the darkroom, Rob 'House' Yeatman, the man who invented the air guitar (Iron Maiden even took him on tour with them).
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Aug 19, 2019 20:02:54 GMT
Love to do a walking tour of maybe the Rollrights and nearby sites sometime (if I ever make it over to the UK again in this incarnation) with your sister. She sounds very cool. I did not know the names Janet and Colin Bord but I found this article and I've seen the books mentioned frequently, especially Mysterious Britain. www.artcornwall.org/interviews/Janet_Bord_Colin_Bord_Mysterious_Britain.htmcheers, Steve
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 20, 2019 17:46:10 GMT
That was fun. The photo's don't lie, Books Peckham really is that magnificently ramshackle, tables and box loads of paperbacks & hardcovers crawling from the shop and along the alley. Pleasant young proprietor, prices very reasonable - all those I checked were in the £1-3 range - and I'm guessing there's a fast turnover of stock. Especially recommended to paperback dependents! Jere Cunningham - The Legacy (Sphere, 1980: originally Fawcett, 1977) SOMEWHERE IN THE DARKNESS IT IS WATCHING AND WAITING - FOR YOU Chester Rawlings is the first victim - he blows his brains out to escape a living death. Then old Sam is discovered lying beside his master's grave, dead of an unnatural heart attack- two corpse-like fingers clutched in his hand. Now a child watches as her parents struggle in the grip of an unspeakable horror: only the child knows the awful truth - it is already too late to save them from THE LEGACYKingsley Amis - The Green Man (Panther, 1973: originally Jonathan Cape, 1969). Eric Pendragon [ Michel Parry] [ed.] - Savage Heroes (Star, 1977) Cover painting: Les Edwards: Interior illustrations Jim PittsEric Pendragon - Introduction
C. L. Moore - Jirel Meets Magic Henry Kuttner - The Spawn of Dagon Clark Ashton Smith - Necromancy in Naat Clifford Ball - The Thief of Forthe Ramsey Campbell - The Song at the Hub of the Garden Daphne Castell - Alma Mater Karl Edward Wagner - In the Lair of Yslsl David Drake - The Barrow Troll Robert E. Howard - The Temple of AbominationBlurb: A World Where Magic Works . . . is a brilliant realm of the Imagination, full of thrills, menace and action where monsters lurk, where demons dwell, where maidens cry out to he rescued and where young men, mighty warriors all, are happy to oblige them HENRY KUTTNER CLARK ASHTON SMITH RAMSEY CAMPBELL KARL EDWARD WAGNER ROBERT E. HOWARD are among lhe magical masters included in this collection, all of whom can conjure up this world of swords and sorcery at will. A world that will bewitch you and hold you spellbound until the last page!Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Bantam, 1956: Trans. Lowell Bair) Here is Victor Hugo's world-famous novel of fifteenth century Paris - the turbulent story of the great city in an age of magnificent pagentry.
Set against the towering splendor of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, this is a novel vibrant with life and people - the evil arch-deacon Claude Frollo: Esmerelda, the innocently beautiful gypsy dancer, the deaf, deformed bellringer, Quasimodo - THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAMELance Peters - Carry on Emmannuelle (Arrow, 1978) Blurb: For Emmannuelle, wife of Emile Prevert, the puny, weight-lifting French Ambassador to London, sex is like an English cup of tea — to be enjoyed twenty-four hours a day. Aided and abetted by her faithful Embassy staff —Loins the Butler, Leyland the Chauffeur and Mrs Dangle the only sexagenarian sexpot - Emmannuelle seeks to spread warmth and lust throughout the British establishment . . . Nelson's column takes on a new look . . .The Guards forget their duty. . .Wimbledon is treated to some expert ‘ball control'. . . and for the first time in soccer history the entire Manchester team score, again and again . . .Jimmy Greaves & Norman Giller - The Final (Coronet, 1980: originally Arthur Baker, 1979) Blurb: JACKIE GROVES Meet football's greatest superstar, United's big hope to win both league and Anglo-American cup
JACKIE GROVES Soccer's Casanova, the striker who's as deadly between the bed posts as the goal posts
JACKIE GROVES Loner, boozer, troublemaker, who receives an anonymous death-threat on the eve of his greatest match ...
JACKIE GROVES The star of a stunning new football series from the authors who know the game as it really is.Rennie Jones - The Secret Life of the Secretaries (Pan, 1975) Blurb: These are the Secretaries, four "girls in the office," substituting dreams for reality and passion for love .... SHELLEY Her philosophy was simple, and she lived by it: if you like a man well enough to go out with, you like him well enough to sleep with; NANCY As wealthy as she was elegant, she was still consumed by a need for money, and acquired it the easiest way she knew how — on her back; JANICE Popular, sensible, bright — she loved men but was terrified of sex; LESLIE As good-natured as she was overweight, she never learned how to say "no" - to anyone, for anything; And then there is LENORE, the boss-lady, who long ago traded her emotions for a career, and suddenly fell head over heels in love —with a man ten years her junior . . .
|
|
|
Post by cromagnonman on Aug 23, 2019 10:20:54 GMT
Sharp spot there Steve; I didn't see it. Sort of thing I would probably pick up myself for my sister who likes to walk the road less travelled. Stone circles are her thing and once in the midst of exploring and photographing one she and her husband got mistaken for Janet & Colin Bord. They aren't by the way but I sometimes think that they might as well be. Interesting discovery Dem; place I'm just going to have to check out myself. Hi Crom, the proprietor, Peter, says that he posts the forthcoming week's opening times on the bookspeckham account every Monday (he's not done so yet, but have been informed that this week it's 11 am - 7pm on Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday). Even so, best to double check with him before you set out. email is: books ATbooks-peckham.com (replace AT with @ ) Spotted another potential suspect from 42 bus window en route to Dulwich a few weeks back. Hoping to return on Sept. 3rd, so will try get an address. PS. First job after I quit school was at a family wedding photographers. Mr. & Mrs. Bord were two of the Saturday freelancers. Operating the darkroom, Rob 'House' Yeatman, the man who invented the air guitar (Iron Maiden even took him on tour with them). Can add little to Kev's glowing endorsement of the Peckham book shack except to reiterate what a wonder it is. The sort of singular and ramshackle endeavour that one can but applaud (and help to keep going by patronising it as often as one can). A nice mix of vintage and contemporary stuff with no evidence that any of it has been run through the Abe price checker first: (how else to explain a 1st Blue Peter annual with full spine being sold for a quid). Picked up a nice copy of Herbert's THE FOG with its original green design to replace the severed head version which I've never warmed to. And a copy of Stanley Weinbaum's A MARTIAN ODYSSEY also. Definitely a place to add to the roster of regular haunts. And I just love the fact that the charming proprietor advertises his opening hours as "weird times". Thanks for the heads up on this one Kev. Next time you're there you might want to hop a train from Peckham Rye to West Norwood and check out The Book & Record Bar at 20 Norwood High Street. No bargains to be found here unfortunately (strictly book fair prices) but the venue of a converted pub is interesting and the mix of vintage paperbacks and vintage vinyl (which the owner plays at full volume) is irresistable. Nearby is the added attraction of West Norwood cemetary, one of the magnificent seven of Victorian necropolises and the final resting place of Mrs Beeton and Hiram Maxim amongst 200,000 others.
|
|
|
Post by cromagnonman on Aug 23, 2019 16:47:23 GMT
Love to do a walking tour of maybe the Rollrights and nearby sites sometime (if I ever make it over to the UK again in this incarnation) with your sister. She sounds very cool. I did not know the names Janet and Colin Bord but I found this article and I've seen the books mentioned frequently, especially Mysterious Britain. www.artcornwall.org/interviews/Janet_Bord_Colin_Bord_Mysterious_Britain.htmcheers, Steve I'm sure she'd be delighted to show you round Steve. Bring your hiking boots as she sure does love to walk. Don't think my sister's feminist sensibilities would be too offended if I described her as the chicest rock chick I know. The rocks being monoliths and megaliths prinicipally (with some trilithons thrown in for good measure). She's visited them all from Carnac to Callanish and all points inbetween. And Kev; I love the anecdote about the Bords being wedding photographers. Wonder if all their group shots came with requisite spooky photobombers or a background Sasquatch.
|
|
peedeel
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 61
|
Post by peedeel on Aug 23, 2019 17:18:50 GMT
|
|
peedeel
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 61
|
Post by peedeel on Aug 23, 2019 17:27:14 GMT
The Green Man - Kingsley Amis
One of the side effects of his early success for Mr Amis was that he went frequently to London to see publisher, agent, etc. Such trips in turn meant sex, and as much of it as he could get. In fact Mr Amis “simply, compulsively tried to seduce almost every woman he met.”
He also liked to drink. He commented: “Now and then I become conscious of having the reputation of being one of the great drinkers, if not one of the great drunks, of our time?” Heavy drinking took its toll on him; affected his judgment. But not his sexual performance, according to those in the know! “A few days into a weekend party with friends, he was compelled to be especially attentive to every woman at breakfast, as he had been drunk the night before and couldn’t remember which lady he’d shagged…”
On a trip to the USA he wrote in a letter home: “All very jolly here, settling in fine, with the smell of bourbon and King-size Chesterfields over all: cirrhosis and lung-cancer have moved into an altogether more proximate position relative to me.” And not only was the booze plentiful, the women were too; especially female students and faculty wives at Princeton where he was teaching creative writing. He wrote Philip Larkin that he was “boozing and fucking harder” than at any other time in his life.
So, with the above in mind, we’d be forgiven for seeing much of Mr Amis’ character in his creation of fifty-three-year-old Maurice Allington, proprietor of a haunted inn called The Green Man.
This business is booming. People come from far and wide to experience the culinary delights of Maurice’s establishment, and to hear his tales of the ghost – Dr Underhill. Because the Green Man, whatever else it might be, is a ghost story.
In an interview with Clive James, Amis claimed the novel was inspired by the question, “What happens when the man who sees ghosts is an alcoholic?” The answer as provided by Mr A, is the ghosts are hardly scary at all; far more horrifying is dear old Maurice, a neurotic drunk teetering on the edge of alcoholic collapse or nervous breakdown. His marriage (his second) is an abysmal failure; he’s unable to relate to his thirteen-year-old daughter, Amy who spends all her time in front of a TV screen. While he is prone (because of all the drink) to “jactitation” and “hypnagogic” hallucinations!
Could things get any worse?
Yes, they could. For despite all the above, Maurice is determined to arrange a threesome with his wife, Joyce and his new lover, Diana.
At the novel’s commencement Maurice seems hardly to care about the possibility of spectres in his establishment. We, as readers, cannot tell if her believes in them or not. But this all changes, once Maurice’s father dies. Now, he becomes a believer, and searches for clues with increased determination – which at times seems to border on the pathological.
In an interview with Michael Barber, Amis suggested the following:
“The Green Man, for example, in its modest way, was a kind of experiment. I mean, can a ghost story be combined with a reasonably serious study of human relations, in this case the problem of selfishness? The alcoholism is part of that, but the central figure there, Allington, finds himself becoming more and more insecure because he doesn’t really take any notice of other people. And the result is that by undergoing these harrowing experiences he at last notices his young daughter, and talks to her in a way that he hasn’t done before. So at the price of losing his wife and making an utter fool of himself, he’s at last made contact with another person, so one feels in that sense hopeful about his future.”
In his twofold pursuit of the spectre of Dr. Thomas Underhill and his three-in-a-bed orgy, Maurice is finally confronted by God. But not the God of the old testament – no; Amis’ God is a man “about twenty-eight years old, with a squarish, clean-shaven, humorous, not very trustworthy face, unabundant eyebrows and eyelashes, and good teeth.” Maurice, who’s a little the worse for tippling, offers God a drink. God is thankful of this, says in explanation: “I was going to warn you against making the mistake of supposing that I come from inside your mind.”
Ever the rationalist Maurice replies: “I suppose I couldn’t get into the passage because all molecular motion outside this room has stopped…”
And so their conversation continues with rational technical explanations for the mechanics of divine manifestation. Here, Amis’ version of God, acknowledges the reality of an afterlife, but what he can’t promise Maurice is that the afterlife itself is eternal. “The answer is that I don’t know,” he claims. “I’ll have to see. I mean that. Do you know, it’s about the only absolutely fascinating, first-class, full-sized problem I’ve never started to go into?”
Thus the appearance of God – a truly existential God – provides the true terror at the core of Amis’ vision. No matter what ghosts or spirits walk, nor what horrid conjurations lurk at the periphery of vision, the novel’s main concern is with the inevitability of death, and the impossibility of guarding reality against annihilation. If God exists, Amis argues, “even He might be destructible.”
There is a subtle seam of humour running throughout the novel, and some very keen observations on the human condition. The Green Man, an experiment in genre fiction by Mr Amis, easily transcends the genre, and is undoubtedly one of his best works of fiction.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 23, 2019 23:29:06 GMT
I'm sure she'd be delighted to show you round Steve. Bring your hiking boots as she sure does love to walk. Don't think my sister's feminist sensibilities would be too offended if I described her as the chicest rock chick I know. The rocks being monoliths and megaliths prinicipally (with some trilithons thrown in for good measure). She's visited them all from Carnac to Callanish and all points inbetween. And Kev; I love the anecdote about the Bords being wedding photographers. Wonder if all their group shots came with requisite spooky photobombers or a background Sasquatch. From what I remember of the Bords, they were a real pleasant couple. I had no idea who they were to begin with, but my best friend was into archaeology. We'd do this thing where I'd drag him along to a Wealdstone game (he hated football), he'd retaliate by dragging me along to Foyles in Charing X Road (I hated books). So one time he pulls down some boring old hardcover he's after, and there's a photo of the author on the inner dustjacket. "Hey, I know that guy!" "Sure you do!" "No, really. I work with him Saturdays!" House was a good guy, too. One Christmas Eve the boss made the appalling mistake of putting we two on shop window decoration duties ... I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit to Books! It's a real throwback, ain't it? Spotted that copy of The Fog on Tuesday though not the Blue Peter. Depending on those "weird opening times," I'm hoping to return late afternoon on Tuesday 3rd Sept or thereabouts. Certainly planning on making it a regular haunt. And thanks for the Norwood recommendation.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 27, 2019 15:00:14 GMT
Books Peckham. This week's weird opening times: From instagram: " ..... see u THURSDAY FRIDAY and SUNDAY down the alley and on SATURDAY come through to @freedombookshop for a zine fair & workshops from 11-7 - loads of rad tables and stuff to get involved with it’ll be a banger!!!!!"
|
|
|
Post by johnnymains on Aug 27, 2019 18:53:12 GMT
He's an instant legend, really.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Jan 21, 2020 13:15:29 GMT
I mentioned this store located in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood of Boston (it's one of the major shopping districts) in a thread with Richard, and I noticed that their site has a video that shows the owner and people who work in the shop talking about it and showing off some of the books and shelves. Some shots show their outdoor section which of course is only out there on days when the weather is behaving itself. We have very changeable weather here. www.brattlebookshop.com/cheers, Helrunar
|
|