Horror Aficionados discussion

After someone here mentioned it, I went looking for a copy of Dead Sea and was dismayed to see that the most affordable copy out there was something like $795. Library time!

Wondering if anyone here is like me and likes old, rare and obscure.

There's quite a number of the pulp or 80s horror paperbacks that have become rare and continue to become more increasingly rare as the years go by. I've somewhat become addicted to collecting not just books but manga/comics that I love and know are getting older and harder to find. I think so far my proudest find was Rage of Aquarius Rage of Aquarius by Carol Ellis from the Zodiac Chillers series (a teen horror series that is extremely hard to find) and I managed to get it in beautiful condition used for only 12 dollars! Amazon wanted like 25 without shipping but I found my copy from Alibris.

The rockabilly werewolf from Mars wrote: "I've been boycotting anyone who asks for ridiculous prices on vintage horror paperbacks; I figure if enough people do this they'll be forced to bring the prices down to what people can actually afford. I'm rarely wiling to spend more than 10 dollars on a used book. "

Not a bad idea. I just wish sellers would actually realize that their prices are ridiculous. One of those Zodiac Chiller books I saw for sell on Amazon for like 700+ dollars, which is bonkers??? I'm not paying that price for a little ole book.

I personally try not to go over 10 either. Sometimes I'll make an exception and go up to 15 but it really depends on the book, and most of the time that exception is just for manga because the older ones are way more hard to find than paperback novels. But I wouldn't go over 15 for a used book. Especially if a new copy is close to the same price. :/

Besides that, I'm getting ready to somewhat preserve/protect all of mine and my husband's older paperbacks that I know we're going to read but not get rid of. Because like hell am I gonna try and track down some of the stuff we've got again lol.

When you see $700, $900, $1200 on Amazon, most of the time it's because the sellers use some software whose algorithm finds scarcity on the site so the program jacks the price right up and the human components pay little attention to the prices. If you message the seller they "may" look into it and lower it, which is in their interest cause odds are nobody is gonna shell that kind of money for a used, beat up, trashy old horror book.

I am willing to pay more -- up to a point -- if the book has really solid reviews, or if I know I am going to like it because it is by an author I want to read more of. Especially if I know it will probably never be in print again. I think I paid $75 for my pristine copy of The Summer is Ended and We Are Not Yet Saved. I'm glad I did. The price skyrocketed to over $200 per copy until they vanished completely from any sales site. I might be able to find a dusty, beaten-up copy at King's but now I don't have to look.