I was in Los Angeles for a long weekend, just arrived back in Portland today. On Thursday I went to
Iliad Bookshop. This was my second trip there; my first visit was back in 2010 and it was a doozy! So was this one. What I love about the place is that they still stock vintage genre mass market paperbacks, and their horror section is quite large (so is their mystery and science fiction). I probably coulda bought more—lots of Dell/Abyss titles in stock—but I knew I was gonna have to lug these books home. I chatted about horror fiction, Michael McDowell in particular, with two of the folks working there. Today I found out one of them was author/editor (and Horror Writers' Association president)
Lisa Morton! Funny coincidence. And of course their film section is top-notch as well. Check out these pix! This is truly one of the greatest, if not
the greatest, used bookstore I've ever shopped in. If you're ever in Hollywood, you simply
must go.
Somebody stuck a pic of the original cover inside!
Bukowski, of course
Love all the newspaper clippings taped up
Real paperbacks!
Film bios out the wazoo. An entire book on Jon Cryer?!
Bookshop kitty, check
Dig those "books"
Yrs truly hard at work
11 comments:
Love the pics! Thanks for sharing
This place looks amazing. Next time I'm in Hollywood, I'm totally going to be paying a visit! Though maybe I should wait a while so they can restock their horror section after your visit . . .
Wow, very envious!
Nice haul. I'm sure you're already aware, but CHILDGRAVE by Ken Greenhall is by the same author of BAXTER / HELL HOUND, Jessica Hamilton (pseudonym) that you wrote about some time back (and were spot on about...loved that book...oh, and Centipede Press has HELL HOUND scheduled for a HC reprint soon). I picked up CHILDGRAVE a short while ago, but haven't yet read it.
SHADOW PLAY, the UK Beaumont, is a nice find, too! Gotta love those used bookstores that still offer horror pbs with pride.
BLOODSTONE and NIGHT WINDS....vintage 'Kane' tales from Karl Edward Wagner....!
.......truly some rare finds, and a rewarding shopping trip !
Ah, I miss living in LA just for the bookstores! The Iliad is definitely one of the eat, but if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend Bookfellows in Glendale (aka Mystery and Imagination). They have a dedicated horror paperback section plus a killer hardcover section of rare finds like signed Skipp and Spector editions and oodles of stuff you my old boss, Clive Barker. Add to that the biggest SF paperback section Ive ever seen and a fantastic set of shelves focusing on specific authors (including Lovecraft), it's easily my favorite bookstore anywhere.
(Excuse the autocorrect typos, por favor)
Zebra's dolls and skeletons approach to cover art made me expect their books to be cheesy, but "Smoke" by Ruby Jean Jensen is pretty good.
I would rate it above some books by more respected authors, including "Julia" by Peter Straub.
I didn't love JULIA necessarily but better than SMOKE? Uh... no. Check my latest review!
I'm not fond of "Julia." It's short, but it's still too long.
It has some good parts, but it's overwritten. It's a bad sign when a book has such huge paragraphs. Many times a single paragraph will fill an entire page.
I do like quite a few Straub books, particularly "In the Night Room" and "Ghost Story", but at times his work can be a chore.
The movie of Julia is a downer but worth a watch. It's variously called either "The Haunting of Julia" or "Full Circle."
Great post! Great store! I visited Iliad all the way from Australia in 2014 and wanted to move in! And Lisa? I'm proud to call her my friend!
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