I went to a moving sale yesterday and found a kindred spirit. Sort of.

These two women were selling an entire household of stuff (including the house) that belonged to their mother, who is now in a nursing home. The ladies had placed an ad in the paper, part of which read "hundreds of books," so of course, I was there.

The ad was wrong. There were thousands.

I got there early as the ladies were setting up some things outside. I mentioned that I was interested in the books, and as soon as the B-word came out of my mouth, they each grabbed an arm and led me inside.

"What category would you like?" they said, their eyes lit up.

"Science fiction, fantasy, horror...but I'll look at anything."

They led me to a room, three sides of which were filled from floor to ceiling with books, at least half of them sf/f/h. As you might imagine, it was all older stuff, several book club editions, but still some good stuff. I didn't really find much collectible stuff (other than a first edition of Watership Down), but still some nice reading:

Best Ghost Stories of J.S. LeFanu
Collected Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions
Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural – Algernon Blackwood
Tales of the Mysterious and Macabre – Algernon Blackwood
Lilith – George MacDonald
Over the Hills and Far Away – Lord Dunsany
Poseidonis – Tales of Lost Atlantis – Clark Ashton Smith
Gather, Darkness! – Fritz Leiber
The Best of Cordwainer Smith
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream – Harlan Ellison

and much more, including some books on sf criticism.

I picked up a few more books, mostly non-fiction. This woman had any category you could name: history, classics, theology, science, anthropology, women's studies, language, reference, costume, theater, music, crafts, archaeology...it just went on and on.

The ladies told me that what I'd seen was about a third of what their mother had. The rest would be appraised and sold at their next sale in six months. I gave them my card and told them to please give me a call and they said they would.

I drove away thinking that this woman, now in a nursing home, must be a pretty amazing person. I instantly regretted not having met her. I'll bet she's got some amazing stories herself.

Now Playing = Beatles 65
Listening to in the Car = The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1) – Jonathan Stroud
Today's Short Story = "Speir-Bhan" – Tanith Lee from The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 18