The Collectible Richard Laymon

[jonahwriter]

Didn't see a thread on Laymon. I've recently gotten into collecting him. I have a few titles on the way but my first one arrived today and I'm pretty proud of it and psyched. Laymon may not be the most collectible author on the planet but some of his signed inscriptions are pretty cool.

"Blood Games" is one of my favourite Laymons and the UK cover art for this one with the totems and the lodge is my favourite Laymon cover next to "Dark Mountain" so I was pretty psyched to buy this from the Zeisings. Not only is it in great condition but it's signed and inscribed on Friday the 13th and Laymon wrote an original little poem. I love collecting unusual inscriptions or funny inscriptions (Koontz does a great job with these too) so I'm really happy with this book.

Does anyone else collect Laymon?

[idlewarnings]

Nice book, jonah. I read a couple of his Beast House books but they were a little over the top for my taste. I've been meaning to give him another shot outside of that series.

[jonahwriter]

Thanks! Laymon - like Koontz - is a mixed bag. He's very OTT and tends to dwell on male teenage sexual deviation a lot - with over-used words like "gal" and "ass" and lurid descriptions of female anatomy and splatterpunk, at times it can feel like reading 14-year-old fantasy or something, it's weird - but he can write and writes well outside of this tendency - so he's definitely an acquired taste, but overall I like him. My two favourites by him are "Blood Games" and "Dark Mountain" but "Savage" is pretty cool as well. He's hit and miss. "Island" is good too.

[Dan]

I've got 20 or so Laymon books, mostly paperbacks. I have a couple S/L's that I will post when I get a chance. My favorite is Body a Rides, which is way over the top. Island is pretty good. I've liked nearly everything of his I've read so far.

[jonahwriter]

Oh yes! "Body Rides" - thanks for the nostalgia trip, just remember reading that now as a teen - the one with the bracelet and the vivid descriptions of driving around LA and seeing out of another's eyes.

I also picked up a signed "Savage" and a signed "Dark Mountain" (with additional Steve Crisp artist signature on the DJ) but they haven't arrived yet!

[RC65]

I have just about all his books and chapbooks. His prose is deceptively simple, and belies the skill that it takes to create such compelling stories. His is a talent that is sorely missed.

[Dan]

Here are a couple S/Ls that I have. I also have his signature on Dark Dreamers S/L and Under the Fang S/L.

[jonahwriter]

Nice items Dan!

[jonahwriter]

Dark Mountain first UK hardback edition (1993) - signed by Laymon, dustjacket signed by artist Steve Crisp




Savage US 1st - signed and inscribed

[Dan]

Those are two I haven't read yet, but it have the paperbacks. I will read them soon.

[jonahwriter]

"Dark Mountain" is one of my favourites, if not my favourite. "Savage" is pretty awesome too. Enjoy - and let me know what you think!

[Ms Rose]

Richard Laymon is one of my most favourite horror authors, throughout my teenage years and into my twenties. I'm curious to know what others thought of his novel Quake. I know this is going back a few years but I was most underwhelmed by this novel, the only one I was pretty disappointed with and I wondered if anyone felt the same.

[RC65]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, I have just about everything he's written, and, yes, QUAKE is not among my favorites. It's not a bad work and there are other works of his that I would say I rate lower, but it's not one of his best, no. It's too bad, too, as that plot/setting is one that really could worked out to be one of his best.

[Ben Mears]

Richard Laymon is definitely an acquired taste. I really enjoyed his short story collection A Good Secret Place.
If anyone is inclined I would like to sell limited edition #315 of The Cellar, The Beast House, and Midnight Tour as well as unsigned copy of Friday Night In The Beast House and a signed copy of Once Upon A Halloween. All in excellent condition. PM if you are interested.

[Cordial Jim]

Cemetary Dance limited edition (not signed), $20. So excited to have this one!

[NeedfulKings]

I've been a pretty big fan for about 10 years. Laymon is definitely an acquired taste, but I really enjoy his craft. I've got a LOT of his stuff - hardcovers, both US and UK, Limited Editions, Chapbooks, Fastbacks, Ellery Queens, and more. Reading Laymon turned me onto some other masters such as Brian Keane, Jack Ketchum, Steve Gerlach, and more. Great stuff!



In Laymon's Terms signed edition



My only Lettered Edition (so far)



I've probably got about 30 paperbacks as well. My reading copies!!!

[RC65]

I have two-and-a-half shelves of Laymon's work -- he's been a favorite of mine for a very long time.

I'm excited that Dark Regions will finally be publishing THE NIGHT SHOW in hardcover...that's the only one of Laymon's novels (under his own name) that never saw a HC release.

[Cordial Jim]

This has to be one of the strangest things I've ever come across in my book hunting expeditions.... A signed limited edition Richard Laymon Come Out Tonight EX-LIBRARY copy! How in the world does something like this wind up in a public library? And what kind of sick librarian would do this to a signed limited?? Where was the Library Policeman when this went down? (hehe) Luckily the plastic dust jacket cover isn't taped or glued on, but the ink stamps will never come off. Can't complain too much though... $1.50 at a Friends of the Library store. Crazy!

[RC65]

I've seen a number of signed/limited Cemetery Dance HCs come out of libraries' stock as ex-library copies. A few Subterranean Press S/L HCs as well, but most often it's CD. Not sure how they get into the library's inventory...I suppose they just place an order like booksellers based on expected demand. Since it would be too difficult and expensive for CD, et al to produce a limited run of unsigned HCs for such a presumably small order base, the libraries get a signed edition.

[RC65]

Hanging here inside my office/library, above the french doors:

[herbertwest]

DIdnt know that there is something called "french doors"...

[RC65]

DIdnt know that there is something called "french doors"...

Very common term in the States for doors that look like this:

[Ben Mears]

Bumped for anyone interested:

Richard Laymon is definitely an acquired taste. I really enjoyed his short story collection A Good Secret Place.
If anyone is inclined I would like to sell limited edition #315 of The Cellar, The Beast House, and Midnight Tour as well as unsigned copy of Friday Night In The Beast House and a signed copy of Once Upon A Halloween. All in excellent condition. PM if you are interested.

[Cordial Jim]

I've seen a number of signed/limited Cemetery Dance HCs come out of libraries' stock as ex-library copies. A few Subterranean Press S/L HCs as well, but most often it's CD. Not sure how they get into the library's inventory...I suppose they just place an order like booksellers based on expected demand. Since it would be too difficult and expensive for CD, et al to produce a limited run of unsigned HCs for such a presumably small order base, the libraries get a signed edition.

Hi, RC. Sorry, I didn't see your reply until now. That's very interesting. Thanks for the info. I thought maybe it was just a Maryland thing (with CD being outside of Baltimore and all), but I see that you are in the Northwest! Anyway, I found another Laymon/CD signed limited, ex-library copy at one of my local Friends of the Library today....Once Upon a Halloween (2000). $2! Same store, same county library system (Montgomery County), but this one comes from a different library branch. It still amazes me that my local library system apparently carries (or once did carry) Richard Laymon signed limiteds! I can live with the library stamp on the back page (I'm a thrifty collector after all), but the stamp on the top page edges has to go. Time to break out the sandpaper I guess.

[TheOutsider83]

Hey guys! Nice to finally meet some fellow Laymonites!
Does anyone have or is willing to part with, is more the question, a copy of Richard Laymon's A Writer's Tale published by Deadline Press, signed and numbered edition? I live in Australia and hopefully someone would be willing to post internationally.
If so how much and any photos would be much appreciated