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Post by dem bones on Jul 15, 2010 6:08:11 GMT
exciting news from my dear friend Milan at Interzone books. Shop is open now (Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays), pretty much all day as we are trying to work out opening hours. We have opened coffee shop and book shop, and the rest will be open when ready. Pop in and see us when you have a minute, the address is 138 Bethnal Green Road,
London
E2 6DG.Hope to see you soon, All the best, Milan The "rest" Milan refers to is, i believe, a second hand vinyl section meaning that if it is anything like the set up he had at the Tea Rooms on Brick Lane (great while it lasted), you get to browse the pulp gold to a soundtrack of T. Rex or Ziggy Stardust or Dexy's Midnight Runners Searching For The Young Soul Rebels! Hope to visit either today or tomorrow so expect on the spot news update. If you're passing through East London, be sure to check this place out. We COULD have a new Fantasy Centre on our hands - just more pulp (in all its guises) orientated. Click on the image and you'll see what i mean! |
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Post by Calenture on Jul 15, 2010 11:45:02 GMT
This one looks tempting, with three stories that I don't think I have.  The Black Gondolier
Midnight in the Mirror World
I’m Looking for “Jeff”
The Casket-Demon
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Post by cw67q on Jul 16, 2010 13:19:30 GMT
Hi Calenture, "the Black Gondolier" was recntly discussed in the pages of the Wall Street Journal  (no really :  . The article credits leiber with a certain prescience regarding oil related recent events in the Gulf of Mexico. It can be read here: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703964104575335074084796494.htmlunder the titel "He Tackled the Oil Spill First". Needless to say I've pirated this information from another discussion page, I didn't find it myself. I didn't make it far into tBG on a first reading, but when I retackled it a few years back i thought it one of Leiber's best tales. It was the titular piece for the first Midnight House Leiber volume, thus far the only MH book to subsequently come out as a POD edition deails her: www.amazon.com/Black-Gondolier-Fritz-Leiber/dp/0759252793). Midnight in the Mirror World and I'm Looking for Jeff are two good short stories (tGB above is a novella), the later combining hard bioled(ish) and supernatural elements. I have a vague memory of the Casket Daemon as being a more SF or Fanatasy oriented horror, lighter in tone than the others you mention, ok but less of a favourite. - Chris |
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Post by dem bones on Jul 22, 2010 10:34:15 GMT
my visit to interzone books' new home took longer than anticipated due to it's close proximity to an off licence, but here, one week later a proper update.
The shop is TYPE - as distinguished by sign of the twin typewriters - and along with the wall of pulp there is a coffee bar and a space devoted to one-off pieces of furniture and lighting (the vintage vinyl aspect has been ditched). It is situated at
interzone books @ Type
138 Bethnal Green Road,
London
E2 6DG.
Open every Thursday to Sunday inclusive, hours of business 7.30-18.00.
interzone books is now only selling at Type and our website.
if you pop in (or buy anything via the site), please mention you are from Vault. it is one of the few instances i can think of where this will not be held against you. will you get a discount? no, i doubt it. but i might so who cares?
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Post by dem bones on Jul 29, 2010 12:28:21 GMT
It came as something of a culture shock after the stalls at Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane but i'm fast warming to interzone books' new premises. Type is flanked by an Off licence on one side, a a lingerie shop ( Playful Promises) the other so certainly no lack of that essential Vault factor, and having been granted a mini guided tour outback it's safe to say Milan won't be short of stock any time soon. Hope to have some photo's SOON (preferably of one of the hefty typewriters falling from the sign onto a passer-by's head). For all the vintage horror/ SF/ crime/ biker fiction on sale, ironically my prize find today was the relatively recent Mammoth Book Of Zombies which i've been after for bloody ages. Also snapped up a copy of the Panther Dagon with the snazzy psychedelic cover artwork and a 1967 something called Devil Take The Blue-Tail Fly by John Franklin Bardin from McFadden, the outlet who may or may not have been "bought out" by the fearsome Manor "Mob links" Books. After Sodcon and countless other disasters, i'm loathe to get involved in "organising" ANYTHING, least of all a Vault get-together, but if you're in the vicinity of Bethnal Green, drop me a PM and we will see what we will see. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 29, 2010 13:03:59 GMT
snapped up a copy of the Panther Dagon with the snazzy psychedelic cover artwork and a 1967 something called Devil Take The Blue-Tail Fly by John Franklin Bardin I picked up a copy of the Panther "Dagon" myself a few days ago - partly because it appeared to be mint (never even opened I'd say), partly because of the cover (which really isn't like me at all), but mainly because it has HPL's "Supernatural in Fiction" essay in it. I sat down to read it over a cup of coffee - and was mildly embarassed to find so many of my recently expressed opinions (on Machen, Blackwood, MRJ, etc.) there looking back at me. [LATER EDIT: I knew I'd read it before - but I didn't know I had absorbed so many of HPL's views so completely!] Bardin is weird. Not horror, but definitely weird. I've got an omnibus edition with 3 stories - "The Deadly Percheron", "The Last of Philip Banter" & "Devil Take The Blue-Tail Fly". I thought the first of those was the best, but they are all definitely worth reading. And all very weird. |
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Post by dem bones on Jul 29, 2010 13:49:28 GMT
I picked up a copy of the Panther "Dagon" myself a few days ago .... mainly because it has HPL's "Supernatural in Fiction" essay in it. Now there's an item that deserves a thread to itself, and i might even get around to it later unless you prefer to? At some point during the mid-'nineties, The Gothic Society published a stand-alone A4 edition of Supernatural in Fiction and the magazine format suited it a treat. i've since returned to it whenever i've needed to refresh on some point or other. Thanks for that, Dr. Strange. It won't come as much surprise that it was a combination of the cover and the McFadden imprint that drew my attention to Devil Take The Blue-Tail Fly which i first took to be a Black Magic novel .  The blurb suggests something from the Dominique/ The Legacy/ Let's Scare Jessica To Death school which i'm quite partial to so i thought i'd give it a go. Of course, it's probably nothing of the sort but "all very weird" will do just fine. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jul 29, 2010 17:01:04 GMT
snapped up a copy of the Panther Dagon with the snazzy psychedelic cover artwork and a 1967 something called Devil Take The Blue-Tail Fly by John Franklin Bardin I picked up a copy of the Panther "Dagon" myself a few days ago - partly because it appeared to be mint (never even opened I'd say), partly because of the cover (which really isn't like me at all), but mainly because it has HPL's "Supernatural in Fiction" essay in it. I sat down to read it over a cup of coffee - and was mildly embarassed to find so many of my recently expressed opinions (on Machen, Blackwood, MRJ, etc.) there looking back at me. Bardin is weird. Not horror, but definitely weird. I've got an omnibus edition with 3 stories - "The Deadly Percheron", "The Last of Philip Banter" & "Devil Take The Blue-Tail Fly". I thought the first of those was the best, but they are all definitely worth reading. And all very weird. One of my brother's favourite books. Certainly very enjoyable and very strange - dwarves horses. has everythign really. |
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Post by dem bones on Jul 29, 2010 20:43:08 GMT
Some photo's! Thanks to Milan for sending them on.  interzone @ Type: 138 Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 6DG.  Books! |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 30, 2010 8:47:52 GMT
Bardin is weird. Not horror, but definitely weird. I've got an omnibus edition with 3 stories - "The Deadly Percheron", "The Last of Philip Banter" & "Devil Take The Blue-Tail Fly". One of my brother's favourite books. Certainly very enjoyable and very strange - dwarves, horses. has everythign really. That's the one. He often gets compared to David Lynch these days. I think I am going to have to read "Blue-Tail Fly" again, as general consensus seems to be that it's Bardin's "masterpiece". Really looking forward to hearing what you make of it, Dem. And don't be put off by my saying it's "not horror" - I suspect that a lot of people would disagree with that. |
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Post by dem bones on Jul 30, 2010 9:31:32 GMT
And don't be put off by my saying it's "not horror" - I suspect that a lot of people would disagree with that. Have no fear, Dr. S. Four years ago it might have done but a combination of this place and Paperback Fanatic has widened my horizons, and for that i'm truly, pathetically grateful. It's not through any lack of enthusiasm, but Devil Take The Blue-Tail Fly may have to wait a few weeks as i've too many novels on the go at once. But it's got me curious. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 30, 2010 10:47:58 GMT
I can see why that cover grabbed your attention. This is the one I've got - tinyurl.com/2dqxnawI also bought it purely on the basis of the cover and blurb, never having heard of Bardin and not really being a fan of "crime" fiction. It didn't disappoint at all - definitely one of my better punts. |
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Post by dem bones on Jul 30, 2010 17:55:57 GMT
i've bumped Bardin further up the to read pile on the strength of your positive comments and the blurb for the Omnibus: "Brings together three crime novels written between 1946 and 1948 that originated from nightmare experiences and are noted for their hallucinatory intensity of feeling and treatment of morbid psychology."definitely one of my better punts. i like to do that when i can. pick up two or three books i'm fairly confident i'll get along with and round it off with a wild-card. admittedly in my case, the wild card isn't always that wild, like as not it will be a horror/ supernatural by an author i've never heard of, but just sometimes it will turn out to be the one with the biggest kick. Cases in point: Peter Leslie's The Fakers (crime novel, bought for it's cover/ NEL imprint before i knew anything about him) and Petrina Crawford's deliciously creepy horror Seeds Of Evil: crap cover, packaged as a Five Star Gothic Romance and still one of my most rewarding lucky dips since we started. |
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Post by justin on Jul 30, 2010 20:32:41 GMT
Dropped in on Interzone Books today, and this paperback fanatic was mightily impressed. Located in a really interesting part of London, which was also well worth exploring.
The shop is part art exhibit and pulp museum as well as top-quality used book store. Light and airy, something of a shock to those of us used to rooting around in badly-lit and dusty book-shop basements,
Curator Milan is a cool guy- all tatoos, trendy polo shirt, old skool trainers, but very welcoming and enthusiastic.
The stock is great- hand-selected, well-presented and in nice condition. Prices are slightly higher than your typical used book store (which are dying out, full of crud and loads of scruffy tosh) but cheaper than internet book-dealers, partic when you add in postage charges so typical of the latter. Prices are fair, reflective of the books relative rarity and condition. You're not going to pick up Werewolf by Moonlight for £2.25, but you are guaranteed to be looking through a top-quality stock with lots of interesting titles.
Had a tantalising glimpse of the stock room- unfortunately all boxed up, so who knows what else was lurking in those boxes.
A brave move to open this type of shop and I so hope it succeeds- I'll definitely revisit as often as I can. Please support it or in a years time we'll be on this forum moaning about the lack of a used book store specialising in weird pulp.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 30, 2010 21:51:55 GMT
Thanks Justin because you just captured it so much better than i could. I know Milan wants to change it around all the time (he already has since it opened). "Part art installation" is spot on - the first time i walked straight past it because i was expecting a bookshop bookshop - and there are the little things like the recently added seats out front where you can sit and enjoy a fag or a coffee - very Brick Lane. The market, sadly, isn't what it was a decade back - we've wretched renovations and an influx of trendy retro shops to thank for that - but Sunday is still the best to see the area at its most "interesting", even if the few remaining bookstalls are hit and miss. Milan is playing a blinder: i'm sure pulphack will tell you just how good the stall in the market was and, from what i get from speaking to him, he'd prefer word of mouth over heavy advertising. A kindred spirit in other words. To give you some idea of the prices : i spotted a tidy copy of Birkin's My Name Is Death for £3.75 (sorry kids, i was skint) and a hardback of Peter Haining's The Satanists at a reasonable tenner. Not dirt cheap, but nowhere near extortionate. So now, if you have any dealings with interzone, mention you're from Paperback Fanatic and Vault so he knows you're way better than merely well connected.  |
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(no really :
. The article credits leiber with a certain prescience regarding oil related recent events in the Gulf of Mexico. It can be read here:
The blurb suggests something from the Dominique/ The Legacy/ Let's Scare Jessica To Death school which i'm quite partial to so i thought i'd give it a go. Of course, it's probably nothing of the sort but "all very weird" will do just fine.
