The core of my book collecting is Horror fiction. Though I collect (not to much extent other than to read) science, science fiction, and history I do not search for fine editions of those books. Horror became the core of my collection by being the one genre, other than science fiction, that I really enjoy to read. Since I was 14 I was reading Stephen King. The first time I read Dracula I was in 7th grade and I did a book report on it. My teacher thought i was crazy to tackle Dracula at that age because of its length and themes and such but I did it. And now I find myself looking for books to fill my collection based on the sensation of being frightened.

My collection of horror fiction started out more as an accumulation of books but over the course of the past two years I began to narrow down and focus my buying for my collection. There are really two components to my collection that define it. First is a complete run of all of Cemetery Dance Publications’ books and second is a collection of first editions based on country of origin of the authors I want to be in my collection.

Collecting Authors

When it comes to authors my decision making can get muddled by the new book out by a friend or a new limited edition that has everyone buzzing. Should I purchase it? Should I ignore it? Is it worth purchasing? Can I get it on the secondary market later if I need to? It is a tough set of questions I go through which usually ends up keeping me from making a purchase. Which at times is a good thing. Most of the new stuff coming out by “that new and up -and-coming writer” ends up being a flash in the pan or just plain crap.

Authors like Peter Straub, Stephen King, and F Paul Wilson are pretty sure bets when purchasing their work. Some middle tier authors like Jack Ketchum are pretty sure bets too. The up and comers like Tim Lebbon I include as a sure bet as well. There are a few more that I try to get a complete catalogue of their work and those are the easy ones. The hard ones are the new guys that have yet to establish themselves or just starting to establish themselves. Those take more care in deciding which to chase and which to let go.

Now how I collect changed last year. I still purchase books as they come out if they will fit into my collection. But I also included building up a back catalogue of previously published first editions of authors. Basically I picked an author and started locating his books. I chose Peter Straub first. Why? Well Straub is one of those established authors that stands at the core of my collection. And he is really undiscovered in the collecting realm so his first editions are readily available and affordable. I have purchased many of his first US editions and a few first UK editions as well as ARCs and a few limited editions that are available.

When I complete my Straub collection I’ll more on to another author. More than likely Simon Clark since I have a nice core start of his first UK editions. And it will go from there to the next author.

The only author I am not doing this for is Stephen King. I will eventually have all of his first editions but since his first editions are more pricey I will end up cherry picking as I go through my other searches as books of his show up on my radar.

A Quick Note on More Authors

Since I am also a reader as well as a collector I find at times that a single author may cross over into horror territory with a few books. Charles Stross comes to mind and he is a good example. These authors in my collection are peculiar. They do most of their work in another field like SF for Stross but they have published excellent work in horror. With these authors I make a slight exception to the “buying outside the genre to collect” rule. With these single authors I pick up their first editions outside the horror genre mostly because I don’t like not having their full bibliography but also because you can see how an author like Stross can seamlessly cross over.

Now Onto Cemetery Dance

I might piss a few people off with this one sentence but here it goes. I think Cemetery Dance is the best small to medium press for horror. They are the standard that all other presses should be compared. With that being said I can make exceptions for house like Arkham House, Charnel House, and maybe a few others. So why don’t I want complete runs of Arkham House or Charnel House? Well I would love complete runs of Arkham House, who wouldn’t? As for Charnel House I’m not a Koontz fan not to mention I don’t collect him. I’ll explain that one in another entry later on.

Cemetery Dance is also a publisher that introduced me to the limited and lettered editions of a number of authors so my decision to include a full run of their books rest purely on my feelings toward the publisher. Which is always a part of collecting. If you have some connection to the collected then it makes that collection that much more special.

So far my CD back log is sparse but I am slowly finding their older titles at reasonable prices. Their new titles coming out are locked in for me so I don’t have to worry about keeping up on their announcements of new books.

A Quick Note on Other Publishers

I do collect other publishers as well. I have limited and lettered editions from Borderlands, Delirium, and a few other presses. But I think only one other publisher (barring the ability to afford an Arkham House run) that I will be trying to collect a complete run for is Hill House Publishers. This house makes some fine books and their stable of authors is inspiring. I picked up my first Hill House book last year and I am currently trying to find their back catalogue.

Finally

I hope these past three parts about collection and accumulating gave you a little more insight into how I as a collector work. In the future I will comment more on collecting of course but I think this serves as a good primer of sorts.