Monday, October 24, 2016

Twilight and Dark Forces Teen Horror Series

I learned about two sets of vintage teen horror series from the 1980s that I had never read: Twilight Where Darkness Begins and Dark Forces.  I seem to recall in junior high seeing other students reading the Dark Forces books, but I never read one.  I have no memory of ever seeing the Twilight books.

I looked up the series and was intrigued to discover that both sets of books are from the early 1980s.  I have a particular affinity for books published during the 1980s.  The reading that caused me to collect series books occurred from the summer of 1979 up through 1991.  I began collecting series books in 1991.  Consider that 10 of those 13 years were the 1980s.  That decade and my love for reading are closely intertwined.

I am familiar with the teen horror genre.  I loved reading Christopher Pike's teen horror books from 1988 into the early 1990s, so I suspected that I might like the Twilight books.  I went to Thriftbooks.com and purchased seven of the Twilight books in late May.  I chose the books that I could get at the minimum price of around $4.00 each so that if I didn't like the books, I could get my money back.

I read two of the Twilight books in late August in order to decide whether to complete the set.  I did not like the first book I read, but the second one was excellent.  Since the author of the first book did not write any of the other titles, I concluded that I would most likely enjoy reading the set.

I spent one Saturday evening building the set of Twilight books.  I find it a fun challenge to try to build a complete set of vintage books all at once by purchasing the books individually from different sellers.  Since I want to read the books and want to get the set assembled quickly, I must find every title immediately.  I greatly enjoy the process of finding and purchasing the books.

Since the Twilight series unfortunately has the same name as the very popular modern teen series about Edward and Bella, a search for "Twilight" cannot be used to find these vintage books.  One must search individually by title and author.  I also used "Twilight Dell" and "Twilight Darkness" in some of the searches to see what would show up.

I was able to find all of the Twilight books in individual listings on eBay, Etsy, Amazon, and AbeBooks.  I was able to get some books very inexpensively while I had to pay higher prices for other titles.  For all titles, I went with the very cheapest copy I could find online.

The Twilight set consists of the following books.

 1. Deadly Sleep, Dale Cowan, 1982
 2. The Power, Betsy Haynes, 1982
 3. The Initiation, Robert Brunn, 1982
 4. Fatal Attraction, Imogen Howe, 1982
 5. Blink of the Mind, Dorothy Brenner Francis, 1982
 6. Voices in the Dark, James Haynes, 1982
 7. Play to Live, Charles Veley, 1982
 8. Blood Red Roses, Sarah Armstrong, 1982
 9. Demon Tree, Colin Daniel, 1983
10. The Avenging Spirit, E. Stevenson, 1983
11. Nightmare Lake, Carl Laymon, 1983
12. The Twisted Room, Janet Patton Smith, 1983
13. Vicious Circle, Imogen Howe, 1983
14. Footprints of the Dead, Jay Callahan, 1983
15. Spirits and Spells, Bruce Coville, 1983
16. Drawing the Dead, Neil R. Selden, 1983
17. Storm Child, Susan Netter, 1983
18. Watery Grave, Joseph Trainor, 1983
19. Dance of Death, Lou Kassem, 1984
20. Family Crypt, Joseph Trainor, 1984
21. Evil on the Bayou, Richie Tankersley Cusick, 1984
22. The Haunted Dollhouse, Susan Blake, 1984
23. The Warning, Amanda Byron, 1985. ISBN
24. Amulet of Doom, Bruce Coville, 1985
25. A Deadly Rhyme, Gloria Gonzalez, 1986
26. Scavenger's Hunt, Arthur Bicknell, 1987

Here are my books.



After I purchased all of the Twilight books that evening, I thought about the Dark Forces series.  The cover art is creepier, and I was less interested in trying them.  I decided to go ahead and build a set anyway.  Late that Saturday night, I found all of the Dark Forces books on the same sites that I used to purchase the Twilight books.

The Dark Forces set consists of the following books.

 1.  The Game, Les Logan, 1983
 2.  Magic Show, Laurie Bridges and Paul Alexander, 1983
 3.  The Doll, Rex Sparger, 1983
 4.  Devil Wind, Laurie Bridges and Paul Alexander, 1983
 5.  The Bargain, Rex Sparger, 1983
 6.  Swamp Witch, Laurie Bridges and Paul Alexander, 1983
 7.  Unnatural Talent, Les Logan, 1983
 8.  The Companion, Scott Siegel, 1983
 9.  Eyes of the Tarot, Bruce Coville, 1983
10.  Beat the Devil, Scott Siegel, 1984
11.  Waiting Spirits, Bruce Coville, 1984
12.  The Ashton Horror, Laurie Bridges, 1984
13.  The Curse, Larry Weinberg, 1984
14.  Blood Sport, R. C. Scott, 1984
15.  The Charming, Jane Polcovar, 1984

Here are my books.


Reviews of individual titles in both series will follow.

13 comments:

ErinPaperbackstash said...

Very interesting! I don't think I actually had any of these. A shame and almost a crime. I can at least learn about them and eye their covers with greed now. I always liked Dell.

Mayura said...

This is great. I read the Twilight series in the 80s and used to have them all. I wanted to purchase them but was having trouble locating all the titles. This is a tremendous help. Thanks!

Mayura said...

This is great. I read the Twilight series in the 80s and used to have them all. I wanted to purchase them but was having trouble locating all the titles. This is a tremendous help. Thanks!

JGR said...

Where did you find these!

Jennifer White said...

I ran searches by title and author on Bookfinder.com. That site aggregates the listings from most sites and sorts by lowest price first. I purchased the cheapest listing when it was within what I willing to pay. It is also worth checking Thriftbooks.com and Etsy.com. The listings on those sites do not show in Bookfinder.

somewhere23 said...

I read these books as an adolescent. I purchased some that were available at my local Coles bookstore but had to borrow many from my public library. The ones that I purchased I have kept all this time. I have Dark Forces #1-4, 9 & 13. I also have Twilight #1, 3,4,7, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26!

Anonymous said...

I have the entire Dark Forces series, but only one of the Twilight: WDB series. I enjoyed the lone book I have, so I really want to get the whole series. Dark Forces is good -- some better than others -- but I'm such a completist that not having all the Twilight books is bothering me, LOL :)

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing the Dark Forces series back in the 80s at a bookstore but never had the money to buy any of them. I was only 10! It took me decades to recall the series name; I can only remember the cover art of the very first one, which was a Ouija Board. Thanks so much for posting the list, let alone the book covers and I want to hunt most of them and travel back in time to the totally awesome 80s. I'm certain the setting would be at a mall or something. Any chance the cover artist is credited? They remind me so much of V.C. Andrews book covers. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Both series are great! I read some of them when I was a kid in the 80s and recently decided to go through them all. You're lucky you got yours so long ago. 2016 may not seem like that far back, but some of the titles are getting really hard to find. So far I have 21 of the Twilight books and 12 of the Dark Forces book. My hunt for the others (at less than $50 a pop) continues. . .

Anonymous said...

I am so jealous! Loved the Dark Forces books as a kid. I’ve not heard of the other series but now I am intrigued. Hope you complete your set!

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU! I read several of the books from the Dark Forces and Twilight series as a teen, but I could never remember the series name nor could I find them through internet searches...until now!!

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh I’ve been trying to remember the name of these series of books- thank you! And where can we purchase the set like you got

Jennifer White said...

It won't be easy. I suggest using www.bookfinder.com. Type in the author and title. The results will be sorted by lowest price first. The books are fairly scarce, and sellers tend to price the books high.