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Post by Craig Herbertson on May 31, 2011 18:01:28 GMT
I had a vision of the gates of Hell for a second there. And Crossroads would have been waiting just beyond the gate.
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Post by pulphack on May 31, 2011 20:49:36 GMT
oh mr mains, i know dem said i was a man of absolutely no standards but...
... he was right. this looks priceless, and yes, i'm sure a swap of some sort could be arranged.
if indeed the gates of hell hold crossroads on the other side, could you think of better boatman than the suave david hunter? hero of 'the projected man', lest we forget.
(see, you can bring things back on subject if not topic easily enough.)
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Post by noose on May 31, 2011 21:09:10 GMT
Right, I'm going to be at THE MUG HOUSE on Friday 6 - 11pm, or give me your home address and I'll post it. PM me either way.
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sara
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 69
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Post by sara on Jun 17, 2011 22:13:56 GMT
Here’s some more lovely Five Star gothics... A PLACE OF TWISTED EVIL With high hopes, Gaby Stuart arrived at White Hall to teach the mentally deficient son of the Duhauts. Her first night in the gloomy old house convinced her it was a place of twisted evil – where a beautiful red rose was a symbol of death. Would she disappear in the night as had her employer’s wife and the teacher she was succeeding? BRIDE OF DEATH Four generations of Thoinots had lived at the Manse deep in the Louisiana swamp. When June arrived as a young bride, she was determined that her life there woud be perfectly happy. But before a week was up, her husband was tragically dead and the evil ugliness of the house and his family had turned her enthusiasm to fear and hate. THE EMBATTLED SPIRIT Alone in the sinister old Manning house, Alice Hobart wondered what had possessed her to give up the security of teaching to become a mistress of Deepcliff Manor. Being the wife of handsome Charles Manning was cold comfort indeed. And how was she to explain the strange sounds in the night, the scared housekeeper with a grudge, the violent attempt on her life? It was clear that some dreadful secret lay buried behind the grim walls of Deepcliff, but who was so desperately anxious to keep her from uncovering it? (The cover for Deepcliff was also used on Castle Mirage (Unibook 1971) by Alice Brennan. Dorothea Nile was a pseudonym used by Michael Avallone.)
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Post by dem bones on Jun 18, 2011 7:51:35 GMT
very welcome additions, thanks for taking the time to post them, Sara. there's been considerable interest shown in Paperback Library, Five Star and the Gothic Romances by a small but enthusiastic vault contingent of late, and to fans of same, if you've not already done so, i suggest you visit Sara's superb My Love Haunted Heart, and lose yourself in gorgeous artwork and informative reviews (the latter may come as a culture shock). oh mr mains, i know dem said i was a man of absolutely no standards but... an accolade not given lightly, mr hack, coming, as it does, from one who has been unfortunate enough to witness Franklin Marsh, 'Britain's Dark Prince of the Taste Bypass' at the height of his phenomenal powers. i consider it a huge privilege to have watched two masters in action. and thanks also for clarifying the Zenith/ Trojan situation in relation to Five Star/ WDL/ Howard Baker Press. We should do one of those Peter Frame family tree charts - it's the only way to make sense of all the convoluted relationships (or otherwise).
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Post by pulphack on Jun 20, 2011 17:59:41 GMT
in between drawing up a business plan for my new crossroads-themed restaurant (yes, johnny was as good as his word with the cookbook!), i also got a bit busy on amazon as i decided it was about time i took the plunge and did a bit of gothic with petrina crawford...
Seed Of Evil is SO a MacNeilly book, it even has the dramatic switches from melodrama to facts that he used in Dark Ways... and the prologue from the past switching suddenly to present day London that he used in The Darkest Night. a bit of Jane Eyre and Rebecca in there, too. classic MacNeilly, and how the hell they thought they could get away with calling it romance is beyond me. it is a lost gem, though.
Lovers Mist is, i think, probably Martin Thomas. it's a bit better as a romance, but does tend to forget itself and veer off to suspense thriller at times. there's these two birds wot run a fashion business and one of them has dodgy eyes and can't drive, so the other one hires her a chauffeur. (lovers mist is the cover title but the first page is headed 'love in blinkers', which was presumably the original title and is very MT - smacks of horses, his other love, too) of course, they fall for each other but won't talk about it. alas for true love, a bit of industrial espionage intrudes and new designs go missing. suspicion falls on the chauffeur, who gets sacked - but HE thinks it was for embracing and playing tonsil tennis with the boss which she didn't want (she did, she just thought he was a spy at the time). turns out it's the head seamstress, who's knocking off the designs to buy stamps for her crippled husband (eh?). all's well that ends well, though, as the chauffeur turns out to be the son of another fashion chief, and was getting close to her and posing as a driver cos he loved her but was too shy to effect an introduction any other way (eh??), and he sets up the crippled husband as a stamp dealer after shopping the seamstress when she tries to sell to his firm. he then does a nice little deal that sees him get the girl AND her firm which is amalgamated into his. the mayflower edition has a nice badly posed photo cover, and overall it's a nice little read, partly because it tries hard but keeps forgetting itself.
Marion Lang's To Love But Not To Honour is much more the romance ticket: it's in Cornwall again, which makes MacNeilly a likely suspect, and has the kind of detached jobbing style he brought to Corruption. he obviously wasn't that interested but it does do a decent job of being very like the kind of serials they used to have in Woman's Weekly (not that i'd know, of course, i just asked around). a young lady bringing up her brother after their father died is trying to keep her farm afloat. enter artist who is handsome but does bugger all to help and seems to be a coward avoiding conflict - especially when a rival farmer tries to bully her into selling. aforesaid farmer then sets fire to barn - here mr artist shows himself to have courage, saving yoiung brother but then keeling over. turns out he has a bullet lodged in his heart from when he saved a woman in south africa (baker's lads had a thing about that - there's a Blake that uses a south african revenge theme, and under the Ballinger name there was a novel set in rhodesia). the exertion has moved it, and the surgeon who was unwilling to operate before now has his hand forced. well, mr artist now sets about thumping the farmer and extracting a confession from the dying farmhand who was his stooge. he then reveals new work to his agent who gives him enough money to save the farm - except our young heroine won't have it, goes to the wall, and thinks she's lost the farm at auction. has she hell as like - mr artist has bought it under wraps, and only reveals this on the last page after he's married her fair and square.
gawd help me, i actually enjoyed this one. for a moment it threatens to let the criminal subplot take over, but soon remembers its brief. there's a lot of bloody horses, and it's a bit Follyfoot (which makes me wonder if the baker boys had a thing about monica dickens?), but it's a good pro job if not my usual thing.
now to track down julie wellesley....
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Post by killercrab on Jun 20, 2011 18:30:16 GMT
Most fun post of the day. God knows why these books intrigue me but they do!
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sara
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 69
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Post by sara on Jun 23, 2011 12:43:13 GMT
Thanks for posting the five star reviews pulphack! I’m sure I’ve seen a copy of Lovers Mist lurking in the basement of a local bookshop recently – I’ll have to go dig it out for a read. And Seed of Evil is so bizarrely twisted in places as to be bordering on genius. But marketing it as a romance? And with that cover?!
I’ve enjoyed a few Julie Wellsley gothics and I’m always on the lookout for more of 'her' stuff so any additional info on these would be great. Might be a bit traumatic for me to learn her books were written by different people though...
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Post by severance on Jun 23, 2011 18:17:47 GMT
Great reviews Pulps - I've got a Julie Wellsley somewhere, not a Five Star though - "Wine of Vengeance"? No idea when it'll get read though
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ghost
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 14
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Post by ghost on Jun 25, 2011 8:57:55 GMT
MysteriesArthur Berry - Take Death for a Lover Great thread. My copy of Take Death For a Lover (Five Star, 1972) is by W. Howard Baker.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 25, 2011 11:03:52 GMT
hi ghost, thanks for the correction. i took the info from a listing at back of one of the books, so no surprise it's inaccurate. Seed Of Evil is SO a MacNeilly book, it even has the dramatic switches from melodrama to facts that he used in Dark Ways... and the prologue from the past switching suddenly to present day London that he used in The Darkest Night. a bit of Jane Eyre and Rebecca in there, too. classic MacNeilly, and how the hell they thought they could get away with calling it romance is beyond me. it is a lost gem, though. And Seed of Evil is so bizarrely twisted in places as to be bordering on genius. But marketing it as a romance? And with that cover?! 'Petrina Crawford's Seeds Of Evil is a must read. i think the 'Gothic' confusion arose from the Lancer Easy Eye original whose cover artwork features our dear friend, young woman in glamour gown fleeing from sinister dwelling with a portcullis (one light on in the window, obviously). Anyone read Ms. Crawford's Lover's Mist? it can't be another MacNeilly, can it? later pS another doppleganger for you, sev or rather the same one, this time on front of Fred Archer's Crime and the Psychic World (Dell, 1970)! The guy got around a bit, i'll give him that.
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Post by severance on Jun 25, 2011 17:40:08 GMT
It looks like Five Star licensed a load of stuff from the U.S. publisher Gold Medal, mysteries and thrillers of the hardboiled and noir varieties mostly. Here's what I've tallied up so far:
Pat Bannister - Seven Votes for Death Gil Brewer - The Brat Joseph Hilton - That French Girl Richard Himmel - The Rich and the Damned Day Keene - Take a Step to Murder Stephen Marlowe - Trouble is My Name John McPartland - Ripe Fruit Milton K. Ozaki - Wake Up and Scream Richard S. Prather - Bodies in Bedlam Richard S. Prather - Darling It's Death Richard S. Prather - Dig That Crazy Grave Richard S. Prather - The Scrambled Yeggs Richard S. Prather - Strip for Murder Peter Rabe - A House in Naples Peter Rabe - Agreement to Kill Peter Rabe - Benny Muscles In Peter Rabe - The Out is Death
More there than I would've thought, didn't realize they did so many Rabe's - he was a damn good writer.
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Post by pulphack on Jun 28, 2011 6:25:16 GMT
er, dem... i've read Lovers Mist and talk about it above... Martin Thomas is my likely suspect. honestly, those naughty nuns are doing terrible things to your eyesight...
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Post by dem bones on Jun 28, 2011 12:56:18 GMT
er, dem... i've read Lovers Mist and talk about it above... Martin Thomas is my likely suspect. honestly, those naughty nuns are doing terrible things to your eyesight... i do apologise, pulps! jeez, i'm messing up all over the place. much as i'd like to blame the nuns - jezebels! - it most likely has to do with scary recent brush with sobriety. i function so much better when i can barely stand and don't remember my name.
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Post by andydecker on Jul 22, 2011 18:48:25 GMT
how many different editions of this novel are there?
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