Halloween Horror: Scottish Oil Rig Horror Game

October 15th, 2024

As I may have mentioned before, I don’t tend to play horror video games, despite reading horror, because I don’t care for some tropes of the genre that appear in almost every game (path dependency and jump scares being two), but I do enjoy watching Daz Games play them, since he freaks out enjoyably at some scenes.

This time around he’s playing Still Wakes The Deep, a horror game set on a Scottish oil rig in the North Sea that manages to dredge up something horrifically eldritch. Though the path dependency is there, the game has two big things going for it: Superb voice acting for well-realized characters and a really detailed, immersive setting of a working oil rig that provides a lot of other dangers in addition to the monster.

Library Addition: Signed First of Ray Bradbury’s That Son of Richard III

October 14th, 2024

Another signed Bradbury first:

Bradbury, Ray. That Son of Richard III: A Birth Announcement. Roy A. Squires, 1974. First edition chapbook original, #LXIII of 85 the signed “Autograph Edition,” a Fine- copy with just a trace of wear at tips, in a Near Fine+ original Autograph Edition publisher’s envelope with slight age darkening at edges and slight bumping at tips. Chalker/Owings, page 589. Bought for $50 (marked down from $80) on eBay.

Unnoted in Chalker/Owings is the fact that two of my three copies have a “PZ” glyph inscribed on the lower right side of the introduction page, just barely visible in the scan.

This is my third copy of this Bradbury chapbook, following an association copy inscribed to Lord John press founder Herb Yellin and an unsigned copy of the “ordinary” edition. The ordinary copy has this, but the one inscribed to Yellin doesn’t. Bit of a mystery…

Edited to add: Mystery solved! I checked with fellow bookseller (and Old Earth Books publisher) Mike Walsh to see if he could solve the glyph mystery, and he directed me to bookseller Terrance McVicker of Bats Over Books, who had the answer:

The “PZ” you note in your query is actually “ZN,” printed on top of each other, if you turn it sideways. It stands for “Zerkall Nideggen.” Nideggen is a Japanese paper, but Zerkall was the German manufacturer. I think what Zerkall did was buy the pulp paper from Nideggen, then process it in their factory.

What your seeing is the Zerkall Nideggen watermark. The sheet before cutting, measured 24″ X 36″ and there was a watermark in the lower right-hand corner of the full sheet. Which meant that, when the sheet was cut to quarto size, only one out of eight pages would have the watermark. Printers usually try to get one watermarked page per book/booklet, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

Thanks for the info!

Halloween Horrors: A Giant Animatronic Prop Collection

October 10th, 2024

In a follow-up to yesterday’s Transworld trade show post, here’s a guy that has a collection of over 150 Halloween animatronic props.

His animatronic collection may or may not have been more expensive than my book collection to acquire, but I’m pretty sure it’s significantly more expensive to store…

Halloween Horrors: 2024 Transworld Trade Show

October 9th, 2024

Time for a walk through of this year’s Transworld Halloween trade show. These are always a lot of fun.

Bigger-than-life animatronic figures seem to be a continuing theme (and Sam’s has had one or two such for sale the last few years), including a number of oversized werewolves, and my neighborhood has several Gashadokuro this year. There was also a number of high quality giant spiders on display.

Halloween Horror: Horrific Mining Disasters

October 8th, 2024

Time for some real-life horror. How about disturbing mining disasters?

As difficult and dangerous as working in an underground mine is now, it was a lot worse in the 19th century. At the Snaefell zinc mine on the Isle of Man, a government inspector had passed the mine’s ventilation just two days before some 36 miners descended into the mine on May 9, 1897. 19 would never return, overcome by carbon monoxide.

Much closer to the present day, the Val Reef’s gold mine in South Africa is one of the deepest in the world. On May 10, 1995, an underground locomotive used to haul gold and other things raced out of control and plunged into an elevator shaft hauling 104 miners up to the surface after their shift, The elevator plunged more than 1,500 feet to the bottom of the shaft…where the recirculating pumps pulled in and redistributed a fine mist of the slain miner’s blood all over the mine.

That video ends with a look at another fascinating but horrifying disaster: The Great Boston Molasses Flood.

Halloween Horrors: Vanlife Guy Moves Into Offgrid Tower In The Woods To Play Horror Video Game About Vanlife Guy Who Goes To Offgrid Tower In The Woods

October 3rd, 2024

Remember a few years ago when I posted the video of the vanlife gamer guy playing a horror video game at night, alone, in a cave?

Well now he has a video of him in an off-grid tower in the woods, where he plays a horror video game about a vanlife guy in an off-grid tower in the woods.

Enjoy the horrifying inception!

Halloween Horrors: If Ouija Were Invented Today

October 2nd, 2024

It’s that time of the year again, when I present Halloween content!

First up: Ryan George imagines what a Ouija board would be like if invented today.

“Only the first question is free! You need to subscribe to Oujia+!”

Shoegazer Sunday: Roy Montgomery’s “Slow Heroes”

September 29th, 2024

Roy Montgomery is Christchurch, New Zealand guitarist, and “Slow Heroes” is a beautiful, steady-state sort of instrumental shoegaze with a repeated musical motif.

Library Additions: Three Paperbacks

September 18th, 2024

Three more very cheap purchases from that storage locker sale:

  • Anderson, Poul. The Last Viking Book 3: The Sign of the Raven. Zebra Books, 1980. First edition paperback original (no other date or printing, as per ISFDB), a Near Fine- copy with one spine crease, one crease along front spine join, small bend to top front corner, and mild edgewear. Bought for 50¢.

  • Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Perennial, 2006. Trade paperback reprint, a Very Good copy with writing to heel and general wear. Just a reading copy of a book I’ve long heard good things about. Lots of academic essays at the back I think I’ll feel free to skip. Bought for 50¢.
  • Frances Leonard and Ramona Cearley, editors. Conversations With Texas Writers. University of Texas Press, 2005. First edition trade paperback original (simultaneous with the hardback edition), a Near Fine copy with phantom crease to rear cover and slight wear to tips. Interviews with and essays on Texas writers, including Joe R. Lansdale, Bruce Sterling and Robert E. Howard. Bought for 50¢.
  • Not a bad haul for $1.50…

    Library Additions: Three Firsts (Asimov, King, Ruff)

    September 17th, 2024

    Three used books, two of which were bought extremely cheaply.

  • Asimov, Isaac. Foundation’s Edge. Doubleday, 1982. First edition hardback (“First Edition” stated and gutter code of M36 on page 365), a Very Good copy with bumping at head and heel, slight creasing to spine, a few tiny nicks to bottom boards, in a Very Good dust jacket with several tackhead-sized abrasion spots to bottom front panel, bumping at head and heel, and shallow loss of points. Hugo Award winner. Replaces a Book Club edition bought and read before I started collecting first editions, and supplements a copy of the Whispers Press signed/limited edition. Usually this would not qualify as a sufficiently attractive to pick up, but it was literally $1 at a garage sale from a storage unit.
  • King, Stephen. Storm of the Century. Book-of-the-Month Club, 1999. First hardback edition, being a trade paperback original, a Fine-/Fine- copy with slight bumping at head and heel and just a trace of wear at dj points. The BOMC is the first hardback, but I’m not sure there are any points to determine first vs. later printings. Collings, Horror Plum’d: An International Stephen King Bibliography and Guide, A64.b. Bought for $1.

  • Ruff, Matt. Lovecraft Country. Harper, 2016. First edition hardback, a Near Fine+ copy with bump at heel, sans dust jacket, as issued. Basis of the HBO TV series. Bought for $13.49 from Half Price Books.