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Post by captainfantastic on Nov 11, 2010 8:48:24 GMT
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Post by dem bones on Nov 11, 2010 10:47:39 GMT
Speak of the devil ... Justin Marriott (ed.) - A Visual Guide To New English Library: Volume One (Nov. 2010) Blurb: British Publisher New English Library are a legend amongst vintage paperback fans and collectors throughout the world.
Their cult output is celebrated in the first of an ongoing series of visual guides from the producers of The Paperback Fanatic magazine.
Volume one is crammed with full colour reproductions of rare covers. The glorious visuals are accompanied by insightful commentary and full bibliographical detail, including previously unrecorded information on pseudonyms. It's only arrived within the last half hour and so far, all i've managed to read is Justin's informative - and ultimately, touching - introduction, but with only the briefest scan of the bibliographical content it's clear that the title and blurb are deadly accurate. My first thought: just how many volumes would it take to do NEL's amazingly prolific and varied output justice? Among the full colour cover reproductions Justin has included examples of everything from horror fiction, fantasy, SF, Black Magic exposes and 'true' ghost stories, to Slavers, Nazisploitation, Youth Cults, Hooliganism, Erotica, Diary Of A ... smut, Mafia Mob violence, even a biography of Mary Whitehouse. second thought: either my addled memory is in a worse mess than feared, but how come i've not read of any NEL titles being impounded by the vice squad when it happened at least twice to poor Michel Parry? more once i've had a good delve!
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Post by lemming13 on Nov 11, 2010 12:08:21 GMT
I wouldn't mind a delve myself - sigh...
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Post by captainfantastic on Nov 11, 2010 17:45:49 GMT
It's the old joke
Do you like Dickens?
I don't know I've never tried it
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Post by dem bones on Nov 11, 2010 18:34:20 GMT
delve over , back to the stunning Visual Guide ..., and to answer my own stupid question, i really should have remembered that NEL ran into trouble with the CPS over David Gurney's deliberately provocative The Necrophiles though, as i understand it, the case was dropped just as it was about to reach Court? Be that as it may, to those who haunt our various NEL sections hoping for something new, this is eighty pages of 'must have'. "Although deliberately eclectic in my choice of genres ..." writes Justin, "broadly speaking they cover the period from the late 1960's through to the mid 1970's, the years during which I believe NEL and the British publishing industry was at its most interesting." The beautiful/ bizarre/ scandalous/ terrible cover reproductions aside, the minimalist commentary throws up intriguing snippets about the likes of Hugh Miller (anyone know the name of the horror novel he allegedly wrote for NEL?), Christopher Priest, Anthony The Second Coming Lopez and, of course, Jim Moffatt and Laurence James. And my bastard wants list has just got longer to the tune of twenty titles.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 12, 2010 9:40:11 GMT
one of several titles in the Visual Guide to NEL to get my juices flowing is Alexander Peter's The Devil In The Suburbs (April 1972), "A frightening expose of the fastest growing cult in Britain today" which, Mr. Marriott reveals, is the work of Peter Haining. Could this possibly be a continuation of his co-authored masterpiece Devil Worship In Britain?!! A lesser 'Peter Haining' curio found its way into my clutches on my way to the Pulp Fair. Peter Haining - The Hero (Nel, Nov. 1978: originally Nel, 1975) David McAllister Blurb: The place and the threat is China. The weapon is nuclear and deadly!
In the secret organizations that operate behind every government the fear is - how to eliminate the weapon without shattering the balance of power between East and West.
Richard Soulgrove is the man chosen for the mission. Aged 31, shy, anonymous, undistinguished in any field except that he can speak Chinese. He is taken from his peaceful existence as a civil servant and thrust into a long and dangerous assignment. An assignment where he has to learn to play the Hero. To develop the capacity for killing, and to learn how to live with the shadow of constant fear and imminent death. As famously not written by Peter Haining at all but Terry Harknett. The original and only edition i've seen prior to this has a cover photo depicting a bandaged ninja.
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Post by pulphack on Nov 15, 2010 7:10:23 GMT
actually managing to get right off the point before i've even started, i love The Hero! must have first read it when i was about 10 0r 11, and even though it's not THAT great, it had a real impression on me at that age that a wider reading experience could not diminish. AND it was the bandaged man cover, which really sticks in the head.
which kind of brings me back on point. at that time, i used to haunt the book racks at woolies and the co-op in tottenham high road. the co-op was a bit more upmarket in its stocking policy, but woolies was NEL heaven, and seeing these amazing covers got me into the idea of following publishers as much as writers very early on. it was always a question of how much i could blow on the great painted sf covers, and how i was going to get the saucy ones and sneak them past my mum. a couple of years later, it was about NEL's being slim and therefore perfect to balance between desk and knee while you were supposed to be doing latin or religious studies.
this book brought it all back. it reminded me of books i'd seen but never bought, books i'd read but almost forgotten, and some i still have lurking on shelves. moreover, it made me start a wants list for the first time in nearly twenty years (having weaned myself away from that kind of behaviour).
a magnificent little book, and can we have another one please?
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Post by severance on Nov 20, 2010 15:11:08 GMT
Not got mine yet
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