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Post by footeater on Oct 29, 2008 23:44:49 GMT
Hello, everyone. I'm newly registered but have been reading the threads for about six months and have been a Pan Horror fanatic since I was about eight, thirty years ago.
For me the books and stories have been about atmosphere more than anything else. I used to hunt down manky old paperback copies in dusty secondhand bookshops and always associated the stories with the places I found the books. (This might be why, though I've tracked down many of them through Amazon in the last few years, I've not been greatly impressed by the ones I've read more recently.)
Here's an example of what I mean. Nearly fifteen years ago I was living and working in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was a Monday morning, I'd finished a week of nights, and I had a week off. Although I was going on holiday the next day and was dog-tired, I wanted to force myself to stay awake until evening so that my sleep pattern could get into synch. So I took a trip to the beautiful city of Durham, twenty minutes away by train. On the way I stopped in at a secondhand book shop and picked up Pan Horror Volume 14 (for 40 pence, as it happens). By noon I was sitting in a cafe at the base of Durham's magnificent cathedral, snug and well-fed with the snow heavy on the ground outside and the river that snakes its way around the cathedral iced over, and reading two of the most horrifying stories I'd ever come across: Alex White's The Clinic and Conrad Hill's The Man and the Boy (which has a deeply disturbing ending, predictable though it might be). Like Proust with his madeleine (to get a little pretentious), I can't look at the cover of that book to this day without seeing and smelling and feeling the sensations of that Durham cafe.
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Post by carolinec on Oct 29, 2008 23:53:13 GMT
Hi and welcome, Footeater - what a name!  Ah, your post above has made me go all nostalgic for the good old days - when there used to be so many second-hand bookshops around. Sadly, they seem to be disappearing fast around this area anyway. Those were the days ... plenty of choice bookshops to browse, the smell of musty old paper, the thrill of never knowing just what treasure trove you might stumble across ...  You're right - Amazon, eBay, etc are great for finding things quickly and easily, but they just don't give book-buying the same atmosphere.  |
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Post by David A. Riley on Oct 30, 2008 9:11:19 GMT
Hi Footeater, and welcome to the Vault, a nicer place you couldn't be.
I loved your description of that book-buyng expedition andof reading that Pan Book of Horror in Durham. I could visualise it all, though it is many years since I last visited Durham and it wasn't winter then, but autumn.
There are some books I have that excite nostalgia in me too when I look at them, reminding me of either where I got them or first started reading them. It's an amazing experience, often far transcending the book itself.
David
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Oct 30, 2008 12:18:53 GMT
Yes, I could identify with every word;although the bookshop might be different and the town another town, it expressed exactly the feeling. And David is right - this is the place
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Post by dem on Oct 30, 2008 17:27:04 GMT
Welcome, footeater, and thanks so much for posting on your book-buying experiences.
In total agreement with you over the pleasure to be derived from "dusty secondhand bookshops". But for the very occasional small press offering, i've not bought a book online yet and plan to keep it that way. There's nothing wrong with Amazon & co - well, other than the fact that they've probably had a bigger hand than most in killing off our most treasured bookshops! - but surely much of the thrill is derived from hitting on a charity outlet/ church bazaar/ car boot sale, etc., and wondering what, if anything, is gonna turn up? The online ordering process just seems so sterile in comparison.
Thanks for joining, and I hope you'll share some of your thoughts on the Pan Horrors with us. Any man who can slip a mention of The Clinic into their first post is clearly the kind of person we need!
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Post by footeater on Oct 30, 2008 22:31:30 GMT
Many thanks for the kind welcome, everyone. Demonik, I doff my cap to you for your strength of character - I've given up resisting buying books online. I suppose there can be a kind of charm in receiving a package in the post from a small independent bookseller, perhaps with a personalised bookmark replete with Gothic gargoyles tucked inside the cover; but it's nothing like unearthing a lost treasure manually. I've found North Yorkshire to be studded with wonderful little dungeon-like troves. Most of my Pan collection has come from Scarborough, Whitby and Saffron Walden in Essex.
Oh, and Carolinec: great to meet a kindred Tull worshipper...
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Post by carolinec on Oct 30, 2008 23:54:00 GMT
I've found North Yorkshire to be studded with wonderful little dungeon-like troves. Most of my Pan collection has come from Scarborough, Whitby .... Ooo, sounds like I might need to venture a little further north than my West Yorkshire hiding place then. Oh, and Carolinec: great to meet a kindred Tull worshipper... Footeater, I reckon you and I are going to get on like a house on fire! |
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