Sock Monkey's Collection

[Sock Monkey]

Congrats on those stunning books! Your SST collection is nearly identical to mine with a few exceptions. I have their edition of The Listener--it's incredible, probably my favorite of that book. I have the graphic novel (illustrated by Serra!!! I'm a sucker for his art as well) of I Tell You It's Love by Lansdale. And Voices of the Damned by Barbie WIlde featuring art by Barker and others. I met Wilde at a convention and got her autograph

And yeah it's awful about Poltergeist Press. I was going to sell Matt Hayward's Thunderstorm Book WHAT DO MONSTERS FEAR on eBay but before I could he was cancelled (and from what I've read, justifiably so! But I'm way too cynical to believe that the truth is something a random stranger can get in its entirely by reading chatter online).

I've eyed SST's edition of THE LISTENER for a while now. I just have a hard time pulling the trigger when I already have the CD edition. I guess I could purchase the SST edition and if I love it more than the CD edition, I could always sell my CD copy. Or I could just have both and not worry about it.

You could probably still get a good price for WHAT DO MONSTERS FEAR as I'm sure there's a Thunderstorm completist out there that's missing the title.

[Sock Monkey]

Beautiful pics of stunning books — congrats on all your new acquisitions...especially SNOW (which is likely my favorite Malfi) and the $20 (!!!!!!) lettered edition of ROT...as a big Brandner fan, I’m awfully jealous.

I don't know what it is about CD's lettered editions that lend them to not hold their value as much as other publishers' lettered editions. The traycases are rather formulaic and standard, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing as they look nice lined up on the shelf. The leather boards are nice and the bindings are solid.

If I had a choice, I'd choose CD's Deluxe Lettered editions versus the Traycased Lettered as they have more bells and whistles on the actual books themselves. I wonder what happened to those editions as it seems that CD went back to offering the Traycased Lettereds on most recent announcements. Maybe I was in the minority in my opinion.

[Splync]

Those Thunderstorm endpapers are always amongst the best. Nice additions!

[jeffingoff]

Congrats on those stunning books! Your SST collection is nearly identical to mine with a few exceptions. I have their edition of The Listener--it's incredible, probably my favorite of that book. I have the graphic novel (illustrated by Serra!!! I'm a sucker for his art as well) of I Tell You It's Love by Lansdale. And Voices of the Damned by Barbie WIlde featuring art by Barker and others. I met Wilde at a convention and got her autograph

And yeah it's awful about Poltergeist Press. I was going to sell Matt Hayward's Thunderstorm Book WHAT DO MONSTERS FEAR on eBay but before I could he was cancelled (and from what I've read, justifiably so! But I'm way too cynical to believe that the truth is something a random stranger can get in its entirely by reading chatter online).

[RonClinton]

Beautiful pics of stunning books — congrats on all your new acquisitions...especially SNOW (which is likely my favorite Malfi) and the $20 (!!!!!!) lettered edition of ROT...as a big Brandner fan, I’m awfully jealous.

[Martin]

Nice additions!

[Brian861]

You been quite busy of late. Congrats!

[Sock Monkey]

Thunderstorm Book #3:

I've never read anything by Todd Keisling, but there's been a lot of buzz around his book DEVIL'S CREEK, so I jumped on the Thunderstorm limited edition, because why not?

thumbnail (9).jpgthumbnail (10).jpgthumbnail (11).jpg

[Sock Monkey]

Thunderstorm Book #2:

I really like Mary SanGiovanni's writing. I've yet to read something of hers that I haven't liked. When I sold my copy of MIA MOJA, I wound up regretting it because it contained her story, "Okiku" , which was my favorite in the book. Why I sold that book, I just don't know. Anyways, when Thunderstorm announced a new collection by Ms. SanGiovanni I was very excited, especially since "Okiku" was included. But then finances got tight and I couldn't find the right time to squeeze the purchase in. Luckily, I finally was able to score a copy at a good price on eBay and now have it in my collection.

thumbnail (16).jpgthumbnail (8).jpgthumbnail (14).jpgthumbnail (15).jpgthumbnail (7).jpg

[Sock Monkey]

I told myself a while back that I would scale back on how many publishers I buy from, limiting myself to just CD, Centipede, SST and some Sub Press. I wasn't trying to go down the Thunderstorm rabbit hole again. Not because their books aren't great editions--because they are--and not because Paul isn't a great guy--because he is--but just mostly because his lines feed so into my collecting OCD that I want them ALL. And I only have so much money. Well, I broke that promise when I picked up the Another Ghost titles. And then I thought, I'll only get LULLABIES FOR SUFFERING. And then, well, here's the first of a couple of new Thunderstorm editions on my shelf:

The first is SNOW by Ronald Malfi. I've wanted a limited of this book for a while and the one that was previously published was rather rare and I'd always miss out on snagging a copy. Lo and behold, Paul decided to do an edition and I couldn't pass it up. Especially not with an awesome Daniele Serra cover...


image0.jpegimage1.jpegimage2.jpegimage3.jpeg

[Sock Monkey]

Another Ghost Book 4 was DEAD DAUGHTERS by Tim Meyer:

image3.jpegimage2.jpegimage1.jpegimage0.jpeg

[Sock Monkey]

Now onto the last two books in the Another Ghost imprint collaboration between Thunderstorm Books and Poltergeist Press. I won't go into the details as to why this imprint is finished after only four titles, but I'll just say that I'm bummed out it went they way that it did. These are some pretty cool books and look great on the shelf. At least I can say that I have a full matching set of PC copies...

Here's BLOOD AND RAIN by Glenn Rolfe:

image7.jpegimage6.jpegimage5.jpegimage4.jpeg

[Sock Monkey]

Next up is a new CD lettered edition. Sometimes I scour eBay and I throw bids on stuff that I'm sure I won't win. I threw what I thought was a low bid on a lettered edition of Gary Brandner's ROT...and wound up winning it at a whopping $20. I've never read any of Brandner's stuff, but I'm looking forward to checking this out.

thumbnail (5).jpgthumbnail (6).jpgthumbnail (4).jpgthumbnail (1).jpgthumbnail.jpg

[Sock Monkey]

Been a while since I updated my collection so I'd figure I'd begin with some new SST editions. I already posted PARADISE SKY over in the SST thread so I won't double up here. So I'll focus on my two new editions of GROWING THINGS by Paul Tremblay and THE SILENCE by Tim Lebbon.

I've been picking up all the Tremblay books that SST has been putting out and they are just fantastic. I love Daniele Serra's art and I'm glad SST has continued to use his art over the Tremblay books as a whole. The art is so evocative and atmospheric. I just think it's fantastic and can't get enough.
thumbnail (17).jpg .

I couldn't get a good picture THE SILENCE due to the mylar cover so I just did a picture of my expanding SST shelf. I agree with Jeff's assessment of THE SILENCE giving off some Centipede Press vibes. It's a solid, well-designed book. SST continues to evolve the look and feel of their books and are becoming one of the most consistent publishers out there. While they aren't on the design level of Suntup or high-end Centipede titles--nor are they trying to be--they are producing books at such a level that I feel like I'm getting a bargain every time I pick one up. Not to mention their line-up is just hitting all my sweet spots. How people feel about Suntup's line up is how I feel about SST's. It's like their just going, "What would that Sock Monkey fellow like?" and then they publish it.

Yup. Lots of SST love in this house!


thumbnail (21).jpgthumbnail (20).jpgthumbnail (19).jpg

[Martin]

I always wonder that as well. Thunderstorm's limitations keep dropping lower with the Black Voltage titles going to 45-52 copies. The price point is usually what slows my purchases from them. I kind of wish that their print runs would go up so maybe the price point could drop a bit. A 100-150 print run would be large for a non-Brian Keene Thunderstorm book, but is so small in comparison to what CD, Subterranean, or Centipede does.

I really tapered off in my Thunderstorm purchases over the last two years, but I'm slowly working my way back in. I can't afford to be a completist as Thunderstorm publishes too much for my wallet to handle in addition to the other publishers I buy from. Right now I'm trying to decide what lines I want to jump back on. What I've always like about Thunderstorm is the uniformity in each one of their lines (okay, everything besides their Elemental line that went through so many permutations) as it speaks to what I really like as a collector.

I only own a few Thunderstorm books but each one is well done.