I have pondered on this one long enough now and have decided to commit. This evening, Anthony Horowitz and his revamp/rehash of the Sherlock Holmes pantheon, came into the Ninth Gate stable. A splendid signed first edition makes three future classics in the hole - actually, four if we're counting The Owl Killers that Eleanor bought for me last year, but I'm not sure if I want to sell that.

It's not much, but it sure has the makings of a store that I would want to browse in. Lest we forget, this was started up as a retirement business. Where it will go from here, I don't know but until I have a good 50 or 60 books boxed up, I shall not be trading. Just collecting. There is method to that madness as they all need some time to get a bit older and rarer.

Anyway, The House of Silk could go one of two ways once it goes mass market. It could die a miserable death and take Horowitz and his career with it or it could sky-rocket in light of people who aren't too fussy snapping up whatever Sherlock Holmes paraphernalia they can get their hands on. I wouldn't put a whole lot of money on either but the fact that it's the first officially sanctioned Holmes book makes it a reasonably wise investment.

Head on over to the Ninth Gate Books tab if you're interested in what else I've been collecting. It will grow at a rate of at least one a month.

Whilst I was doing some research for Turn The Lamp Down Low (which for long-time readers of this blog, I should mention has taken something of a 180 turn in the road), I found this cover art for Angels and Demons. I've never seen it before but if ever a book cover said exactly what was going on inside the pages, it has to be this one. Why it wasn't used internationally on the hardback or for the movie, I'll never know. Some people just don't know a good thing when they see it. I can't find out much else about it - it's certainly not the first edition cover of any country that I can find.

I also read wherever I found this that Mr Brown had planned another twelve books in the series. Twelve! He'd best get a move on. So far, we've had three Langdon books in about ten years - and I would had thought that this was the easy period, when your enthusiasm is high and your stock is worth something. Maybe he'll take the whole idea somewhere else. Is Dan Brown the one man who could walk away from publishing and do it all for himself?

Imagine the scenario. You're a layout dude making ends meet working on a magazine. Dan Brown calls you up and tells you that he needs a wingman because he's going it alone. Great covers, solid typography, the ability to reposition the books for the kindle etc and the job is yours if you want it.

What would happen? That would be a chain of events I would love to witness. Is it so far away? Not necessarily with Dan Brown obviously. Somebody will break the mould one day up at the top end. Stephen King? Jo Rowling? Anne Rice? It can be done. Preferably by somebody with big steel balls and nothing to lose - even though they might actually have everything to lose.

Talking of Stephen King, I also found this which I have never seen before. What a great cover. Most versions of IT are loosely based around the movie - and when it comes to book covers, that's not always a good thing.