Thrillers Anonymous 001: Pocketful of Sci-Fi
[ Article released via Medium February 13th,2025 – Revised July 28th, 2026] Dondre: Today we are excited to introduce a new segment from Good Thrill Huntin’ called Thrillers Anonymous, where we introduce you to some of the collectors and collections we have come across in our journey. Today we are starting with our brother in thrills, @ps_jake, and his vintage sci-fi books. Dondre: Who are you? Jake: My name is Jake, I’m from Boston, and I am a collector, an artist, a designer, and an entrepreneur. D: What do you collect? J: I collect far too many different things, but today I am here to share some of my collection of vintage sci-fi books. These are some of my favorites—I really look for early vintage paperback pocket sized sci-fi, and some of my favorite authors from this era are Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, and George Orwell. I look for them and many others, including a lot of more contemporary stuff not shown here. I also like to get the early monthly magazine versions where many of these books or stories were first seen and which introduced many of these authors to more readers through cheap, widely printed periodicals sold at newsstands to the mass market. In the time since, many of these stories have inspired other artists or taken on new forms in film or television. D: Why do you collect? J: I think collecting is a way to attach to an idea or world. I love collecting old sci-fi books for many reasons. The stories are often quite good, even if sometimes cringingly dated. I like the quote that “artists use lies to tell the truth” and think sci-fi is a wonderful example where you can read truly fantastical stories that are also keenly accurate and sometimes even predictive. You can see any number of titles or ideas in this pile that have since been adapted into movies or TV or other media, and I think these stories definitely inspired generations of creatives who brought sci-fi from a fringe genre not taken seriously to the global cultural power it is now. I love the artwork and design of these books as well. The cover art, meant to grab your attention in an environment where there was heavy competition for your 75 cents, is stunning. To think most of these covers were produced as paintings and then physically composited with typography is super impressive to someone who grew up doing things on a computer. The artwork is so varied, from highly stylized to fantastical realism or surrealism to bold, simple graphics; there is an energy and forward thinking to these covers. The typography is often a time capsule of what the future looked like at a certain point in history expressed through funky geometric letters and bold modern compositions. The edges of the pages on many of the older ones were coated in a colorful seal of red, yellow, or blue to make them last longer and give them a decorative element that makes even that subtlest part aesthetically pleasing. For me, these artifacts are beautiful, functional, and inspiring, and to think you could get some of them brand new for 35 cents. Some of these books are not strictly sci-fi, and not nearly all of my sci-fi collection comes from this time period or in this format, but these are some of the gems of the pocket paperback that I have been able to get my hands on. D: Where do you find your thrills? J: For me, a big part of the thrill is the thrill of the hunt, so I like to find all my books in person and for the best deal. I have gotten some books locally at places like Deep Thoughts Records when they were located in JP and Brookline Booksmith’s used Book Basement or Boomerangs when they were still open. I really like to get books and the other things I collect when I am traveling, even if it’s to another town in MA. It gives me something to look for everywhere I go and is a way to learn about the area you are visiting or in. Some of these books, like the Foundation trilogy by Assimov were found at Cawmans Antique Mall, which is a stop on each of our family’s annual trips to my mother Esther’s hometown of Salem, NJ. I just got a bunch recently from a trip to Florence, MA, at Electric Eye Records and Bookends, two of many funky local shops I had the pleasure of visiting out there. I’ve gotten some off the street or out of little free libraries and others as gifts from friends and family. D: When did you start your collection? J: I think around middle school and high school is when I really started paying more attention to some of the earlier authors out there and trying to find more of their work. D: How do you feel this collection reflects who you are or what you are passionate about? J: I know I collect many different things because it gives me tangible ways to connect to the things that interest me. As a kid who grew up on sci-fi, much of what I love was created by people who were inspired by these books, by this time of the book and printing industry, by this era of art and design and typography, by these ideas. I like these stories because they inherently grapple with science, which is our way of interrogating our experience, of understanding and making sense of our reality, and of finding truth and understanding we can share with each other. They also are works of fiction that focus on drama, the drama of human life, human curiosity and fear, love, deception, progress, and control—the other lens of reality we can’t escape. As wild and creative as some of the characters or settings or technology may be, there are
