CHILDHOOD'S BOOK END

This is the cover of my Pan edition of Childhood's End as mentioned in tonight's radio SWORDcast.

Have you read it readers?

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Let us know what you think!

LIKE TALKING ABOUT VINTAGE TOYS AND SCI-FI?

8PM UK TIME

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KEVIN'S NEW CORGI THUNDERBIRDS 1 AND 3 TOYS

Hi,

Just picked up the new Corgi die cast TB1 and 3. To be honest, I only got them to keep my Corgi Anderson collection complete. 

These are not very good, they are not much bigger than the Matchbox ones and nowhere near as good a profile (1 is better than 3). 

Pretty unimpressive I fear.

Take care,

Kevin

STRANGER THINGS ON NETFLIX

I've just finished watching Childhood's End on TV, which I really enjoyed. Did anyone else see this mini-series based on Arthur C. Clarke's epic story?

I've also heard many great things about a recent series on Netflix called Stranger Things, so I've joined the channel for a free month to check it out.

Have you seen Stranger Things readers? What did you think?

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WHAT IS PEDIGREE'S JOE 90 DOLL ALL ABOUT?

I've often wondered if Pedigree's small strange round-faced Joe 90 doll from 1968 used an earlier doll as its basis.

I often think they were based on the Dolls of the World, which were popular in the late Fifties and Sixties, like this vintage Rozetta Dutch Boy. Certainly the big buttons are the same!

The use of PVC for Joe's suit made him very mod indeed and Pedigree had done the same for their star girl Sindy a few years earlier in the cool Shopping on the Rain outfit from 1963.

Fairylite added some PVC for their Lady Penelope doll range in 1966 in this black and white Mary Quantesque raincoat.

But why did Pedigree put Joe 90 in a PVC suit?

What do you think readers?

SCREAM GEMS 1977

Being a horror book collector somewhat long in the tooth I'm always pleasantly surprised when a book new to me crawls out of the shadows!

On a trip to the beautiful Yorkshire coast this week I came across such a one, a softback reference book called Scream Gems.

By Mark Baraket and dated 1977 its quite a vintage thing and an interesting read. I've only just started going through it but its already talked about my favourite horror film format, the Seventies portmanteaus like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror, which weren't that old when this was written.

Does anyone else collect horror film books or like those classic horror portmanteau films by Amicus and the like?