Adding new books in this series from Borderlands Press now has become a slow process of trying to hunt down rarities. Recently, I acquired one new and one old book at the same time. Also, based on the latest two books in the series, it looks like Borderlands Press has dropped the number of copies per book from 500 to 350, so anyone looking to collect all the books may have a hard time going forward, even with some of the more obscure authors.
Josh Malerman, A Little Red Book of Requests (2019). I did not expect to acquire this book. Whenever I’ve seen it listed for sale it’s been for $100 or more, and as high as $250. An opportunity arose, however, and I took a chance, ending up with a lucky find. There was a nervous moment when I received an email confirmation that the package had been delivered, but no package was on the porch. Then, an hour later, the package showed up. The slim book collects three of Malerman’s short stories, plus a brief one-page introduction from the author.
Richard Middleton, A Little Green Book of Ghastly Tales (2025). The latest book in the series, at least for now. This collection of 19 stories is edited by Nicholas A. Psaltos. I’ve never heard of Middleton, which is neat, as discovering writers from bygone times is always an interesting venture. Middleton committed suicide quite young, at age 29. He never achieved any fame in his lifetime (nor much so thereafter) aside from a story or two, but made a great impression on other writers.
With these two books, I’m now down to five in this series that I don’t have. Those five include three of the hardest and most expensive ones out there: books by Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, and Thomas Ligotti. The other two (Brian Keene and Douglas Winter) aren’t quite as expensive, but also show up only infrequently on the second-hand market.
