My Very Own Needful Things

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HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
74,320
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Heart of the South
I'm still looking for a 1st edition of The Shining. I know I could just order one online but I keep hoping I'll stumble over one some day at a flea market or in a used book bin.
Exactly - it's all about the quest! We have a fabulous antique mall in our town and there's always ancient books on the shelves for $5. Of course, if I run across that I'll want it for myself, but I'll tell you all about finding it!
 

EMTP513

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2012
503
1,923
When I was a kid, my favorite TV show was The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which ran from 1964 to 1968 (an historical fact which means that at least 50% of those reading this have never heard of the TV series). The show, along with a good many others, came via the popularity of the original James Bond (Sean Connery, of course. The only real James Bond) movie series. Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, was very cool, as "secret agents" always are, and I worshipped him. But, I worshipped his gun more. I actually tried to make out of wood my own copy of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. gun. The reason I couldn't finish it was that I got hung up in details, such as needing for the magazine to be detachable and fit into the pistol grip, as do all semi-auto magazines.

Anyway, apparently I wasn't the only obsessed fan…

HOME | The U.N.C.L.E. Gun

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Our family friend is a Vietnam Veteran and he said guns that have lots of bullets in them, like the one he "used in Nam makes you have to wear gloves or you'll burn sh*t out of your hands and have boils and be a prime target for the enemy."
We were playing an imagination game of question and answer to get to know our personalities, and one of the questions was "What's your weapon of choice?" My answer was "a flamethrower." He looks at me and goes "I hope you're planning on wearing protective hand gear."
"Why?" I asked and he told me about the heat from firing rifles like M60's, M16's and others and added that all weapons heat up with continued use. I guess a flamethrower is included in that. How would I know anyway. I've never held a flamethrower in my life.
His answer for his weapon of choice is positively frightening. He chose his hands.
He's a former Army Ranger and paratrooper, trained in hand-to-hand combat. But you'd never know he was unless you happened to be the guy who had a major attack of road rage, because we beeped at him once after he did something dangerous and illegal, who decided to pull a gun on us.
My friend disarmed him when the guy was still outside arm's reach and disabled the guy just by using his hands to do it. He didn't even use the gun to knock the guy out. He used one hand.
That's why I said his choice of weapon is scary.
 

Machine's Way

“Go then, there are other worlds than these.”
Jul 13, 2009
671
2,877
44
Baltimore
I'm still looking for a 1st edition of The Shining. I know I could just order one online but I keep hoping I'll stumble over one some day at a flea market or in a used book bin.

Found mine in a used bookstore in GA along with 1st edition of Thinner by the Richard Bachman fellow. Both in great condition, dust jacket on The Shining was flawless, jacket on thinner a little worn but what a great find. All for about $10 for both!! That was a good bookstore day for me!!
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
Found mine in a used bookstore in GA along with 1st edition of Thinner by the Richard Bachman fellow. Both in great condition, dust jacket on The Shining was flawless, jacket on thinner a little worn but what a great find. All for about $10 for both!! That was a good bookstore day for me!!
GREAT bookstore day! The Shining is one of two I'd like to replace--I have book club editions of both and would like standard copies. I keep looking, because SOMEDAY... :) It definitely is the thrill of the hunt for me. I know I could find both online, but it's more fun to look in thrift stores :)
 

Machine's Way

“Go then, there are other worlds than these.”
Jul 13, 2009
671
2,877
44
Baltimore
GREAT bookstore day! The Shining is one of two I'd like to replace--I have book club editions of both and would like standard copies. I keep looking, because SOMEDAY... :) It definitely is the thrill of the hunt for me. I know I could find both online, but it's more fun to look in thrift stores :)

I agree, the hunt is fun indeed. The problem these days with thrift stores, garage sales etc. Is everyone has the internet and a smartphone and can look up the value of items in a sec. I used to love going to garage sales looking for old collectable toys, comics, art, books, etc. but rarely do you find it anymore. The days of parents putting their grown-up kids star wars collection out on the lawn in a bin for $5 are long gone. Deals and finds are still out there of course, but much harder to find.

But I do hope you find what you are looking for!!
 

morgan

Well-Known Member
Jul 11, 2010
29,353
104,579
North Dakota
I agree, the hunt is fun indeed. The problem these days with thrift stores, garage sales etc. Is everyone has the internet and a smartphone and can look up the value of items in a sec. I used to love going to garage sales looking for old collectable toys, comics, art, books, etc. but rarely do you find it anymore. The days of parents putting their grown-up kids star wars collection out on the lawn in a bin for $5 are long gone. Deals and finds are still out there of course, but much harder to find.

But I do hope you find what you are looking for!!
I did some work at a thrift store a few years ago and they had an assistant manager whose only job was to research the value of the donated items.
 
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HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
74,320
54
Heart of the South
Funny this thread popped back up. A couple of other Needful Things for me recently.

Back in scary November, I found Closer to Fine by the Indigo Girls at our Goodwill thrift store for $2.99. There are two songs on there that I played to death back when I had the cassette tape of this, and I so wanted to hear them - in the car, everyday. So Bingo! There it was, right when I needed it - on CD. The songs are Prince of Darkness and Secure Yourself - I was in a dark place then.

Then in recovery January, I found the most gorgeous framed painting of the Blessed Mother and Baby Jesus - it's my very first Mary find in a thrift store.

It's uncanny.
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
17,221
82,822
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United States
Man, Alan Pangborn had a rough time of it when coming to The Rock. The living nightmare of George Stark, the loss of his wife and son, and then the devil comes to town...talk about a bad decade. Someone here told me that the he married Polly and they moved to New Hampshire (sheesh, I am talking like they're real) and I wonder if King ever wonders about them. It'd be fun to see them pop up in their old age. I can see Alan doing magic shows for the kids and Polly still sewing despite her arthritis. What if Alan had some unfinished business in Castle Rock? I guess it's hard to say goodbye to great characters like that. Stephen King rarely misses the mark when it comes to this, especially New Englanders.
 

muskrat

Dis-Member
Nov 8, 2010
4,518
19,564
Under your bed
I used to have one. Not a store, just an old house (with accompanying garage and shed) packed wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with the best of 20th century American pop culture relics--mainly, blessed comics! The house was owned by a weird looking old duck named Karl Melton. He looked a little like Cain from DC's The House of Mystery; bushy, pointed eyebrows, Van Dyke beard, childlike twinkle in his otherwise ancient eyes. He wore loud Hawaiian shirts and lots of rhinestone jewelry. A real character, ya understand, who had obviously never married, for he hoarded books, comics, toys, records, cars...you name it. I guess he used to work for a magazine distribution company for years, and always kept two copies of every comic he ever moved--thus, the incredible collection.

He had everything. Since the time I was 13 (or so) till my early 30s, I often swung by his house (he always had a 'garage sale' sign on his lawn) to plunge into his piles of comics and purchase some treasures. Man, he had boxes upon boxes of the stuff--you had to dig and dig though walls and seas of long boxes, flipping through so many stacks yer head would swim. You'd come out of his garage reeking of aged newsprint (is there a better smell on earth? No.) with a handful of awesome books--Tomb of Dracula, House of Mystery, Creepy, The Witching Hour, Brother Voodoo, Thongor of Lost Lemuria, Turok, Son of Stone, Satanna, Red Sonja, etc., lots of great late sixties, early seventies stuff like that, two fer a buck. Inside the house proper you'd find pre-code horror (a bit more expensive), original hard-back Burroughs Mars books, dozens of sleazy 50s Ace paperbacks, original Elvis Sun Records 45s...just too many awesome things to mention. And if I couldn't afford the more expensive stuff, why, ol Karl had no problem lending certain items out (to me, at least).

American Pickers woulda had a field day with this place.

Alas, Karl is no longer with us. The house still stands, but that mammoth treasure trove has long since been sold off. It's a shame, because you just don't find places like that anymore. I'm currently writing a nostalgic horror novel based on old Karl and his 'house of mystery', and plan on dedicating it to him. I miss the old goat.
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
17,221
82,822
47
United States
I used to have one. Not a store, just an old house (with accompanying garage and shed) packed wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with the best of 20th century American pop culture relics--mainly, blessed comics! The house was owned by a weird looking old duck named Karl Melton. He looked a little like Cain from DC's The House of Mystery; bushy, pointed eyebrows, Van Dyke beard, childlike twinkle in his otherwise ancient eyes. He wore loud Hawaiian shirts and lots of rhinestone jewelry. A real character, ya understand, who had obviously never married, for he hoarded books, comics, toys, records, cars...you name it. I guess he used to work for a magazine distribution company for years, and always kept two copies of every comic he ever moved--thus, the incredible collection.

He had everything. Since the time I was 13 (or so) till my early 30s, I often swung by his house (he always had a 'garage sale' sign on his lawn) to plunge into his piles of comics and purchase some treasures. Man, he had boxes upon boxes of the stuff--you had to dig and dig though walls and seas of long boxes, flipping through so many stacks yer head would swim. You'd come out of his garage reeking of aged newsprint (is there a better smell on earth? No.) with a handful of awesome books--Tomb of Dracula, House of Mystery, Creepy, The Witching Hour, Brother Voodoo, Thongor of Lost Lemuria, Turok, Son of Stone, Satanna, Red Sonja, etc., lots of great late sixties, early seventies stuff like that, two fer a buck. Inside the house proper you'd find pre-code horror (a bit more expensive), original hard-back Burroughs Mars books, dozens of sleazy 50s Ace paperbacks, original Elvis Sun Records 45s...just too many awesome things to mention. And if I couldn't afford the more expensive stuff, why, ol Karl had no problem lending certain items out (to me, at least).

American Pickers woulda had a field day with this place.

Alas, Karl is no longer with us. The house still stands, but that mammoth treasure trove has long since been sold off. It's a shame, because you just don't find places like that anymore. I'm currently writing a nostalgic horror novel based on old Karl and his 'house of mystery', and plan on dedicating it to him. I miss the old goat.
I'd love to read that book when you're finished. Are you working on more than one project?