My love of #BookCollecting started aged 10 with @PointHorror.

By 12, I had a huge collection that managed to travel with me from Australia to the UK, but somehow got discarded by the time I was a teenager.

Recently I began collecting them again... THREAD

@PointHorrorPod

Trying to track down old copies with the original covers I used to own has been tricky, but important.

Finding these particular copies (often in poor condition) is so evocative of that early reading experience for me.

One of the things I loved about them was the story the cover told, and their tactile qualities. Quite often they had embossed titles and dramatic protagonist POV scenes like this one.

This story is basically a kids version of Rear Window set during a ski trip, and I loved it.

It was very much a case of judging the book by the cover for pre-teen me, and the publishers clearly knew it.

I'd decide what to read next and look out for new stories based on the forthcoming cover art printed inside the front covers.

Another thing I love about re-collecting these old childhood books, is finding the names of other kids scrawled on the inside covers or front page.

All my old #PointHorror books also have my own name written in them, and it makes me wonder whose bookshelf they're on now...

Some of the more popular authors (Diane Hoh, Richie Tankersley Cusick, Caroline B. Cooney, R. L. Stine) went through multiple cover versions, but tracking down some of the titles by lesser known/less prolific writers in the series has been the most fun...

Prom Dress by Lael Litke, for example. This is the first print cover, but not the one I originally owned (this book belonged to Ariel Meier, wherever you are).

This is a bizarre and twisted Cinderella story about a vengenful twin and a cursed, yet irresistible, dress.

On the second edition cover that I owned, the image was the same, but the #PointHorror branding was updated, and the dimensions of book itself were larger.

The truly inexplicable design of that glowing dress was baffling even in the 90s.

The first #PointHorror I ever read was Funhouse.

It started with a Final Destination-style murder-by-rollercoaster-derailment.

The 17-year-old protagonist also lived alone, which was highly relatable to my 10-year-old ambitions.

Plus it has the dumbest tagline ever.

Another few outliers I've managed to pick up are these gems by D. E. Athkins, A. Bates, and Sinclair Smith...

Richie Tankersley Cusick was my favourite #PointHorror author.

Re-reading her books now, I find they still manage to generate atmosphere, and take me back to that totally immersive childhood reading experience.

This book in particular made baby me want to be a horror writer.

She also had one of the most iconic covers for The Lifeguard, and managed to corner the holiday-themed horror story market.

#PointHorror #90sNostalgia

R. L. Stine was another classic. Hit and Run was my first, and just handling this cover brings back all kinds of fleetingly evocative first-reading impressions.

I'm still looking for first edition copies of Beach House and The Hitchhiker.

I stopped reading #PointHorror at around 12, moving on to Chris Pike and Stephen King.

But for the sake of completion, I've added a few "non-canonical" titles to my collection that I never read as a kid.

These two were published in 1992, after my Point Horror heyday...

Unsurprisingly, the reading experience with these is not the same.

The Mall is a frankly gross story about an obsessive older man stalking a teenage girl and holding her captive for some twisted marriage ceremony. In a mall.

With non-canonical books, I'm more concerned with their physical condition.

They don't have the same personal resonance and connection to my own childhood as the others do.

Re-collecting those books, on the other hand, signs of wear and previous ownership are all important.

The absolutely most influential of all of the Point books I read were Caroline B. Cooney's trilogy The Fog, The Snow & The Fire.

These books were truly dark and psychologically complex. I loved the protagonist, Christina's, defiance of authority and sadistic power.

I've re-read them multiple times as a teenager and an adult, and they still stand up.

I have yet to find these copies of the original covers for my collection, though..!