Yesterday, I drove four hours south to Niantic, Connecticut. A small touristy town on the Long Island Sound. Besides having some great pizza and a view across the Sound of the Montauk tip of Long Island, Niantic had something else that drew me–The Book Barn.

The Book Barn is a sprawling book store that takes up several small barns and sheds on the property and also encompasses a separate store a mile further downtown. They have close to half a million books and tons of new stock coming in daily. For a book lover like me, it was a blast.

Even still, I’ve got my book browsing to the point where I spent only three hours to ravage their entire stock.

Among my finds:

“The Complete and Unaltered Totem”, David Morrell‘s horror novel from 1979. For the three of you that don’t know, Morrell brought the world John Rambo.

“Hard As Nails”, one of the three mysteries that Dan Simmons has published. Notable because he normally writes horror, sci-fi, or historical suspense.

A first edition of William Peter Blatty‘s “The Ninth Configuration”. For the one guy living under a rock in West Lesotho, Blatty wrote “The Exorcist” in 1971.

A perfect copy of Clive Barker‘s “Weaveworld” and also “The Inhuman Condition” (AKA “Books of Blood Volume IV”). Barker is perhaps most famous for the “Hellraiser” films, although he only directed the first.

A perfect copy of J. Micheal Straczynski‘s first horror novel, “Demon Night”. This would be the man that brought us “Babylon 5”, the Angelina Jolie picture “Changeling”, and who also wrote Spider-Man comics for about eight years before moving on to the Fantastic Four, Thor, Wonder Woman, and Superman.

Eight Bentley Little hardcovers and a handful of other books from horror authors I haven’t read yet, like Ramsey Campbell and Robert R. McCammon.

Overall, a great haul for me. Each book in great condition and each book a hardcover–I buy very few paperbacks, and even then reluctantly. Oh yeah. And the price? These books were each $4.

I plan to return to Niantic again next summer to see what else they might have for me.

-Kane
15 August, 2010