Just after sunset
Just after sunset
It was a little painful...but in the good way.Originally Posted by Dan
I started collecting in 93 picking a couple of King books up off the remainder table at the campus bookstore. a few weeks later I went to Books-A-Million and asked if Stephen King had any upcoming books they told me come back tomorrow. I came back and picked up Nightmares & Dreamscapes, haven't missed one since. Shit it's been 20 years, doesn't seem that long!
For me it was DIFFERENT SEASONS in 1982. I wasn't much of a hardback buyer prior to that but I had picked up copies of THE DEAD ZONE, FIRESTARTER & CUJO at used bookstores earlier. Went to the Waldenbooks in the Tacoma Mall on the day of release and couldn't believe my luck......discounted 30%!
The Shining. Was living in Colorado Springs at the time and some friends and I hitchhiked to the bookstore. I wasnt a collector yet, just an avid reader and after reading Carrie and Salems Lot I put King at the top of my Buy More list (he replaced Dean Koontz). If I remember right later that same year I read Coma and put Robin Cook on the list, too.
reality continues to ruin my life
My mom got me a Stephen King book club subscription so it was quite a while before I realized that these were in fact not the same as trade copies although I would receive them on publication day. When I had my own money I started buying them when they came out but I don't remember what book that might have been.
Wanted: Human skin edition of The Book of the Dead. Will accept PC copy.
<-----------------can't help but think of the thread title as "Your first release..."
My answer would be "in my sleep".
I think Skeleton Crew was the first I bought if not on the release day within a day or so of it.
Ah we are very alike my friend. My first release day purchase, too, was Cujo; and my first HB overall was Firestarter, but I lucked into a First Edition! Actually, my then gf (and now wife of over 30 years) bought the Firestarter for me within a month of release date! I had been complaining to her that it took way too long to go from publication to paperback in general; remember I was a poor college student back then! :-)
Also note that my first "any type" Stephen King purchase (not on pub day) was a paperback The Stand - and the rest was / is History! :-)
DT Spoiler - Enter at your own risk!
Spoiler:
first release day book for me was Needful things. Loved it and still do. I had read tons of King before that but that was the first day out had to have it book.
too old and cant remember. I do remember the big hoopla when it was revealed that Thinner was a SK book and i bought it and didnt save the band around the book.
always bought my books at Sams for the discounted price the first week.
my biggest first release that i did not buy was the gunslinger it was $20 at the bookstore and i put it back on the shelf it cost too much.
I remember going into Waldenbooks back when the original Stand came out and seeing stacks and stacks of copies, but it was just too expensive for me to get then. Boy, do I regret that now!
John
Roseannebar-----I had the same experience! I was in college and saw Gunslinger and thought "Gee, 20 bucks, and it looks like a western"
20 bucks was a whole lot of money then! I liked King and already had a hardback of Night Shift and Shining but there was no way I was
buying Gunslinger at that price........and 30 years later I'd be happy to!
Mine was Blockade Billy, cos I heard of this small publisher in America that was releasing it and I could pre order online. Well the rest is history and I blame CD for every dollar I've dropped on a King gift or signed limited as I'd never even heard of them before the release of Blockade.
Considering my mom ran a book store a good chunk of my life she brought me home many books as they were released...Wizard and Glass, Desperation, Regulators, Dreamcatcher, Hearts In Atlantis may not have been release day but pretty darn close. As for me actually buying one it would be Dark Tower Seven, which I also finished the same day. Pretty sure I bought Cell first day as well soon after.
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My personal first release acquisition was The Stand ( 1978 ) - which, being Australian, meant the the HC copy I originally purchased was the equivalent of a UK 1st/1st. Given that my transmogrification from avid reader of anything to a collector of everything was still 20 or so years in my future, the first thing I did was disposed of that pesky dust jacket, read the book to tatters (I used the "folded page bookmark" principle back then) then lent it to a fellow workmate that never returned it
We all float down here!
Ah, terrible story! Fortunately, I'm sure you repented for this mortal sin.My personal first release acquisition was The Stand ( 1978 ) - which, being Australian, meant the the HC copy I originally purchased was the equivalent of a UK 1st/1st. Given that my transmogrification from avid reader of anything to a collector of everything was still 20 or so years in my future, the first thing I did was disposed of that pesky dust jacket, read the book to tatters (I used the "folded page bookmark" principle back then) then lent it to a fellow workmate that never returned it
sigh ... every day mate, every day ...
We all float down here!
In 1967 I bought a magazine off the rack.
Spoiler:
DREAMCATCHER was my first upon release purchase of a King book. My boss at the time had been collecting King for many years and when we heard Mr King was doing a book signing in Naples FL he encouraged a number of his staff to join him for the event.
The event at Dunn & Dunn bookstore gave the opportunity to get a copy of Dreamcatcher signed as well as a second book. Kerry enlisted a number of us to help him get his collection signed. I had the foresight to suggest we take a a long lunch & ride down to Naples prior to the day of the event so we would know where the store was and get our copy of Dreamcatcher in advance. Thank God we did. We arrived at the store to find Mr. King had dropped into the store shortly before we arrived and went around the store signing numerous books. THIS WAS THE START OF MY SERIOUSLY COLLECTING KING as I walked out of the store that day with 7 different flat-signed books, Bag of Bones (1st), Hearts in Atlantis (1st), The Green Mile (1st HB),The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1st), Different Seasons, Night Shift (Holdoff edition), The Shining (Holdoff). Two days later I added an Inscribed Dreamcatcher and a Flat-signed/dated Dreamcatcher to my new collection. I've been adding to the collection ever since.
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