Fantastic Literature is UK's largest online supplier of out of print, rare and used books in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, crime, thrillers, ghost stories, weird tales and the macabre. Currently, their store has over 19,000 titles for sale in paperback, hardcover, and magazine formats. Through their Ebay shop, signed limited editions of hard-to-find books are available, perfect for gifts or the collector. The bookstore is run by the husband-wife team Simon & Laraine Gosden. Visit their website for the latest news on the horror literature scene and consider signing up for their newsletter. In this interview, Simon talks about their store, the horror market, and some of his favorite books and authors.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Simon. Tell us a bit about your online bookstore, Fantastic Literature. How did it get started?
We started when I began reading horror, SF and fantasy as a schoolboy, used to go the library and pick out the latest yellow jacketed Gollancz titles and devoured them, as well as mythological books and adventure stories. I was one of those kids who took a book and a torch to bed to read through the night when I could. When I graduated and started work I began to see that there were some titles that you 
couldn't get hold of and put an advert in Exchange and Mart, a weekly paper, and started printing booklists. Eventually we were sending booklists out five or six times a year to 700-800 clients, very expensive! Then along came the internet and we had a boom but now things have levelled off. We produce lists every month but the numbers who receive them by mail has dropped to less than 100, and the others can see them posted at our website. It's different but still great fun.
Do you think the horror book market is declining, thriving, or at a plateau?
There is always a market for quality horror, at the moment we seem to be going through a lull, if you simply look at our sales on e-bay for example then Fantasy and SF come above Horror. I have to say though I am looking forward to the Harry Potter generation discovering adult fantasy and horror - I think the market will pick up again
What type of horror seems to be most popular with your customers?
Vampire horror is always good, and there are some strong writers around, the classic authors like King never lose their appeal. New horror writes like Simon Clark and Joe Donnely impacted on the scene strongly and have now faded a tad.
What genre sells better at your store - Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Horror?
Put simply it's Fantasy, SF and then Horror but there's an awful lot of crime fiction which is really horror and sells extremely well.
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