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Post by dem bones on Mar 15, 2016 9:59:26 GMT
Just received from the House of Fanatic. Another 150 page orgy for the eyeball. Insane ravings to follow (may contain superlatives). Justin Marriott (ed.) - Paperback Fanatic 34 (March, 2016) Justin Marriott - Fanatical Thoughts. Editorial. Fanatical Mail/ Fanatical Feedback: Readers Letters. Andy Boot, Colin Clynes, Tom Tesarek, Graham Andrews, Neil Pettigrew, Nigel Taylor, Andrew Byers, Clive Davies, Norman Burns, Jason Ladell, Paul Ansell, Peter Wrobel, Glenn Connell, Mike Bliss. Peter D. Wrobel - Vintage Paperback Collectors Show & Sale, Glendale, California, March 2015 Artists Assemble #4 featuring a selection of cover paintings by Kenneth Smith, Michael Whelan, and Ron Turner. Nigel Taylor - A Fistful Of Folk Songs: Manly Wade Wellman's 'Silver John' stories. Graham Andrews - A for Adromeda; The paperback tie-ins. James Doig & Graeme Flanagan - Richard Wilkes-Hunter: Master of Gothic Romance Justin Marriott - Cult-movie Tie-ins Justin Marriott - Can You Dig It?: Sol Yurick's The Warriors Tom Tesarek - The Author Out Of Arizona. Charles G. Finney's The Circus Of Dr Lao . Nigel Taylor - The Small Worlds of Daniel F. Galouye: Graham Andrews - Burbling Blurbs; Margaret St. Clair's Sign Of The Labrys. Graham Andrews - Boldly Going: The 'Classic' Star Trek adaptations by James Blish. Jim O'Brien - Of Circles, Skulls & Swastikas: The Book cover art of Mike Heslop Justin Marriott - A Visual Guide To Monarch BooksAlso arrived in same package, sister publication Pulp Horror #2, a sci-horror special. You can be sure that will be receiving own thread just as soon as I've typed out the gel. Order now via the Paperback Fanatic Megastore.
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Post by severance on Mar 15, 2016 10:17:40 GMT
No sign of my bloody postman yet - grrr.
edit: just heard from the fanatic - the mags haven't been posted yet! It would seem that Dem gets preferential treatment, which is probably justified in all honesty. Personally I'm looking forward to the Monarch Books cover gallery, judging by the few in my possession, their cover artists were top notch - Harry Barton, Rafael DeSoto, Ray Johnson, Robert Maguire, Harry Schaare, to name but a few.
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Post by jamesdoig on Mar 15, 2016 20:23:01 GMT
James Doig & Graeme Flanagan - Richard Wilkes-Hunter: Master of Gothic RomanceThat's the last co-written article I did with Graeme. Looks like another great issue.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 16, 2016 9:24:44 GMT
James Doig & Graeme Flanagan - Richard Wilkes-Hunter: Master of Gothic RomanceThat's the last co-written article I did with Graeme. Looks like another great issue. It certainly is, James, and your co-authored piece with Graeme is among the highlights of highlights. Who said Gothic Romance and PF don't mix! It would seem that Dem gets preferential treatment, It's a one-off, Sev. Had I realised this copy had been posted independent of the rest, would have held fire.
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Post by pulphack on Mar 21, 2016 8:56:11 GMT
To be honest, I approached #34 with some trepidation, as it seemed at first glance to be a bit sleaze and SF heavy for my tastes. I was proved wrong by some excellent writing: Tom Tesarek's piece on Charles Finlay being a case in point. I've never read him, and was put off years ago by the movie, which I didn't like at all, but I may not give him a go. I was particularly taken by his memoir of being in China, which sounds fascinating. Indeed, by all accounts a life fascinating which really fuelled his work. Which, I suppose, is in contrast to Daniel Galouye. As with his companion piece on Manley Wade Wellman (someone I have only a passing acquaintance with), Nigel Taylor took me beyond the work and gave me an insight into the ideas and influences behind it. I really enjoy the way Nigel looks beyond just the story, and also looks at the way in which it is told. Two great pieces. Incidentally, his musing on location being important to success echoed the way I feel about timing - it's everything. If Galouye had been born elsewhere... if it had been ten years earlier, or later... this affects all of us who put pen to paper (or any other form of creative activity) and it's slightly scary and exhilarating to consider this factor that is beyond our control.
The Monarch piece was revelatory - I might be one of the few people who actually remembers Charlton Comics fondly, having read loads from a stall down Walthamstow Market (next to the bloke with a wind-up gramophone and a union jack suit who played the spoons) back in the early-mid 70's. I had no idea of their history, and to find that they were associated with Monarch, that there was more to that publisher than sleaze, and their connection to writers who may care to leave some of those titles off their resumes was fascinating. I remember reading Robert Silverberg in a book of interviews with SF writers talking about early days cranking out the wordage, and a commentator remarking that all these writers who claimed to write so much must have been lying as they only published one or two books in a year, so where did the rest go? I think we know, now... And Mob involvement in comics and cheap paperbacks? Surely not (cough). Gerard Jones' 'Men Of Tomorrow' about the early comics industry is well worth a read on this point!
I liked the movie version of The Wanderers but had never read the book - not sure I want to having read about it, but that was a good study of how a story can change from page to screen. It was also taken as a name by a short-lived version of Sham 69 that had Stiv Bators replacing Jimmy Pursey. A decent album, but then Dave Parsons buggered off, the god-like Brian James hooked up, and they became Lords Of The New Church... just to prove I do listen to things other than prog! (Lords were better than The Wanderers by the way, as Brian James is the great lost rock'n'roll god of the late 70's/early 80's)
Messrs Doig and Flanagan are again to be congratulated for their work in uncovering Aus pulp history. The Richard Wilkes-Hunter piece was probably my favourite article, as this is still all completely new to me. The kinds of contracts writers like Wilkes-Hunter had to work under for Horwitz remind me more of the kind of contracts that staff writers on pulps and the Amalgamated Press story papers (Union Jack, Magnet, etc) - and those of other publishers like Ward Lock and Pearsons, come to that - had to work under. I wonder how much, if any, residuals they saw from those overseas rights sales? Great stuff, and sadly the last thing Graeme worked on with James, I believe.
Loved the movie tie-ins as I always used to pick these up when I saw them - I had the 'If' paperback, and unusually it wasn't a novelisation, but just a print of the script. Odd. There were some great graphics on display there, too. Similarly, Jim O'Brien's piece on Mike Heslop was a display of wonderful art. I remember some of those covers, but had no idea who Mike was until now. That's what I like about PF! One thing I would add - Jim reckons Savoy probably put out the Treece books as they were cashing in on the fantasy boom? Hmm... I think messrs Britton and Butterworth looked at Treece in the same way they did Ken Reid - someone they loved who needed to be back in print. The idea that they'd ever think in commercial terms, if you've ever met or had dealings with them, is amusing. It's not that they were averse to making money, or that they willfully wouldn't play by the rules - I just think that, like Jack Trevor Story (who they published), and later writers like Mark Timlin, they just didn't get that there were rules!
Graham Andrews' blurb and tie-in pieces were good, as I loved the Andromeda books when I found them about 25 years back (when you could only dream of actually seeing any of the original TV work at all) and I remember fondly having the third Star Trek collection as The Trouble With Tribbles was my fave episode as a kid (I loved Trek when I was about seven or eight, but the whole Trek thing is a mystery to me now). I would take issue with something he said at the start of that piece, though. That bit about novelisations being farmed out to hungry hacks who take a low flat fee and all the peanuts they can eat: maybe he didn't mean it as it looks in cold print, but most of those hacks take the money to pay the bills and get credits on their resumes that get them in the door with their own projects. Only a hack can call another hack that without it being an insult, and as such it seemed oddly out of place in a publication where hackery is what feeds the obsession. All the peanuts they can eat? Come back and say that when you've been there, Graham.
Anyway, that notwithstanding, I was also intrigued by some of the comments about the binding on PF being ripped on delivery even though the packaging was intact. I've never had this problem, so don't know what it looks like, but it makes me wonder if this is something in the printing process and the odd damaged issue sneaks through? If there is a weakness in the binding, does the act of actually packing it catch that flaw? Strange.
But enough of that. A really enjoyable issue overall, and a pleasing surprise for a non-SF and sleaze reader.
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Post by ropardoe on Mar 21, 2016 9:17:03 GMT
As with his companion piece on Manley Wade Wellman (someone I have only a passing acquaintance with), Nigel Taylor took me beyond the work and gave me an insight into the ideas and influences behind it. I had occasion to write a piece on Wellman recently for the next mailing of the Everlasting Club (probably also to appear in Ghosts & Scholars eventually). He's an interesting writer and I would go so far as to say he's one of my favourites and least favourites! His plots are quite basic and predictable, but when he sets his tales in the Appalachians, suddenly they come to life. His John the Balladeer stories are quite wonderful. The sense of place is glorious and his knowledge of folklore (and/or ability to make it up and make it look authentic!) is as good as M.R. James's. On another section of this board a day or two ago I named one of my ten all-time favourite genre stories - another is Wellman's "Desrick on Yandro". Wellman's Who Fears the Devil is a book I married into: that, and MRJ's Collected Ghost Stories, accompanied my husband!
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Post by jamesdoig on Mar 21, 2016 9:19:04 GMT
Messrs Doig and Flanagan are again to be congratulated for their work in uncovering Aus pulp history....The kinds of contracts writers like Wilkes-Hunter had to work under for Horwitz remind me more of the kind of contracts that staff writers on pulps and the Amalgamated Press story papers (Union Jack, Magnet, etc) - and those of other publishers like Ward Lock and Pearsons, come to that - had to work under. I wonder how much, if any, residuals they saw from those overseas rights sales? Thanks Mr Hack! Here's a page of the Horwitz archive that Graeme put together with dates for printing, release, reprint and cover price:
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Post by dem bones on Mar 21, 2016 11:25:34 GMT
Marvellous post that, Mr. Hack! That's the lead letter in PF #34 sorted, if I'm any judge. Have held back on commenting as am still not done reacting to Pulp Horror #2 (currently engrossed in a Damon Knight antho, for crying out loud!), but think we can safely say that #34 is the most eclectic issue of Paperback Fanatic since ... #33. With much of the horror & supernatural content now farmed out to the extraordinary sister publication, it seems Justin is stepping up his quest for new genres to conquer, a pretty tough ask I'd guess, considering we've already had Mafia, Kung-Fu and Trucker fiction overviews. (I still reckon sport-horror crossovers are ripe for the PF treatment, and has anybody yet explored the delights or otherwise to be had from disco-related pulp?) One slip. The Can You Dig It article focuses on The Warriors, a movie I remain in love with (far more-so than The Wanderers although that, too, had it's moments, mainly when the shadowy Ducky Boys were on screen) after which, Sol Yurick's source novel, when I finally caught up with it, came as a crushing disappointment. In this instance, the most generic novelization would have been preferable - or that's the way I saw it as a teen. There was a tie-in Warriors poster-mag (long lost mine, though still have a Sex Pistols one, possibly from same publisher, if only I could remember where the dem rock memorabilia is festering). The biggest compliment I can pay Nigel Taylor's A Fistful Of Folk Songs is that it had me scampering through the shelves of shame to locate John The Balladeer and revisit Nobody Ever Goes There. Prior to Nigel's article, I'd never have made the connection with Robert Bloch's A Toy For Juliette - which, incidentally, I rate way, way above the OK but nothing special Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper (or "Thomas Burkes infinitely superior The Hands Of Mr Ottermole with a supernatural makeover" as its known round these parts). Doubt I'd have the staying power for a Silver John novel, but the shorts are wonderful. Compared to Manly's pulpier horror efforts - The Horror Undying, Kelpie, Dhoh, etc. - Nobody Ever Goes There is impossibly sweet, a fitting way for the gnarly old guitar-slinger to slope off back into the mountains for the last time. Nigel, incidently, is currently working on premier issue of a horror/SF/fantasy fiction magazine, working title Worlds of Strangeness, and he could use some contributions! MTF ...
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Post by pulphack on Mar 21, 2016 12:07:54 GMT
Arse! That's what you get for relying on scribbled notes and not having the magazine beside you! Have I actually seen The Warriors? I'm not sure, as even when I was reading the article I think I was probably getting them mixed up in my mind. I stand by what I said about Brian James, though!
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Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 21, 2016 12:38:32 GMT
I had occasion to write a piece on Wellman recently for the next mailing of the Everlasting Club (probably also to appear in Ghosts & Scholars eventually). He's an interesting writer and I would go so far as to say he's one of my favourites and least favourites! His plots are quite basic and predictable, but when he sets his tales in the Appalachians, suddenly they come to life. His John the Balladeer stories are quite wonderful. The sense of place is glorious and his knowledge of folklore (and/or ability to make it up and make it look authentic!) is as good as M.R. James's. I have to agree with your views on Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories, which I recently finished re-reading in John the Balladeer (Baen Books, 1988). It is an expanded version of Who Fears the Devil. Even though Wellman also has a very black and white view of good and evil, the best John stories are very suspenseful in that you wonder exactly how he is going to defeat the supernatural threat. I hope you do include your piece in Ghost & Scholars as Wellman was a big fan of MRJ.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 24, 2016 9:47:49 GMT
"The lack of prices is a deliberate omission as I've typically wanted to promote the appeal of paperbacks for reasons other than value." Thank you so much for pursuing that admirable policy, Mr. Marriott! As has been invariably the case since Fanatical Mails was unveiled, the bulk of the letters are bonus articles in themselves, rich in snippets and asides, too. Cases in point, Andy Boot's ongoing history of obscure moog syth & loon pants combos, and Tom Tesarek's appreciation of The Visual Guide To Corgi ("without it I would never have made the connection between Kate Bush's costume in the Babooshka video and the Raven covers."). Richard Wilkes-Hunter: Master of Gothic Romance. It's so sad that we've now seen the last of the Graeme Flanagan-James Doig collaborations. Gathered together with James' solo offerings they make for an excellent introduction to the wonderfully strange world of Australian pulp. This piece - on a sometime horse-breaker and professional boxer turned best-selling women running away from houses novelist 'Caroline Farr' - is a typically informative celebration of a supremely versatile career pulp hack (medical drama's, gladiatorial combat, trench terror, deliciously wicked women in history, etc). Cal Cameron has fast become my favourite Aus cover artist after Frank Bernier, and it's unlikely I'd have heard of either had it not been for Messers Flanagan & Doig. The Cult Movie Tie-ins kick off with a subtle full page reproduction of the Let Me Die A Woman cover art, but that's just to lull us into a false sense of security as the going gets pretty depraved from there on in. Somewhere on here I kicked off a bad taste thread with Abduction, but, truth be told, it's relatively benign in this company. Who could resist Chuck Kelly's novelization of Supercock, "a 1975 rip-off of Cockfighter made in the Philippines and marketed as a family comedy. With cock jokes. And animals fighting to death."? Probably says much about what a saintly guy I am but, of those featured, the only one's I've had dealings with are The Man Who Haunted Himself, Seconds, Duel and, years ago in it's Girly incarnation, Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly. F***ing lightweight. Artists Assemble #4. Spoiled for choice really, but my pick of the talents showcased in this issue's gallery is Ron Turner. His painting for the Pedigree edition of Christina Hole's A Mirror Of Witchcraft is an especially gorgeous dayglo delight, and he gives good astronaut.
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Post by ropardoe on Mar 24, 2016 10:21:52 GMT
I have to agree with your views on Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories, which I recently finished re-reading in John the Balladeer (Baen Books, 1988). It is an expanded version of Who Fears the Devil. Even though Wellman also has a very black and white view of good and evil, the best John stories are very suspenseful in that you wonder exactly how he is going to defeat the supernatural threat. I hope you do include your piece in Ghost & Scholars as Wellman was a big fan of MRJ. Yes, he was. My little essay concentrates particularly on Wellman's story "Chorazin" which refers (of course) to "Count Magnus"; and also on the John the Balladeer story which was a revamp of it. Wellman in his fiction did indeed have a black and white view of good and evil, but interestingly, when it comes to the use of the cross as a symbol, he notes in at least one story that in the context of his tales, this is not specifically a Christian symbol but predates Christianity. One of my favourite MRJ stories is "Canon Alberic" but (speaking as a good pagan!) the (unique in MRJ's tales) use of the cross in that rankles with me slightly.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 24, 2016 13:36:37 GMT
I have to agree with your views on Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories, which I recently finished re-reading in John the Balladeer (Baen Books, 1988). It is an expanded version of Who Fears the Devil. Even though Wellman also has a very black and white view of good and evil, the best John stories are very suspenseful in that you wonder exactly how he is going to defeat the supernatural threat. I hope you do include your piece in Ghost & Scholars as Wellman was a big fan of MRJ. Yes, he was. My little essay concentrates particularly on Wellman's story "Chorazin" which refers (of course) to "Count Magnus"; and also on the John the Balladeer story which was a revamp of it. Wellman in his fiction did indeed have a black and white view of good and evil, but interestingly, when it comes to the use of the cross as a symbol, he notes in at least one story that in the context of his tales, this is not specifically a Christian symbol but predates Christianity. One of my favourite MRJ stories is "Canon Alberic" but (speaking as a good pagan!) the (unique in MRJ's tales) use of the cross in that rankles with me slightly. Rosemary, while I have definitely read "Chorazin" (it was in the copy of Whispers #11-12 that I sent you years ago), I can't remember anything about it. Which John the Balladeer story did it it inspire? As for Wellman's use of Christianity, as a good agnostic myself, I find his use of Jesus as a character in one of the John Stories ("On the Hills and Everywhere") more than a bit twee.
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Post by ropardoe on Mar 24, 2016 16:06:05 GMT
Rosemary, while I have definitely read "Chorazin" (it was in the copy of Whispers #11-12 that I sent you years ago), I can't remember anything about it. Which John the Balladeer story did it it inspire? As for Wellman's use of Christianity, as a good agnostic myself, I find his use of Jesus as a character in one of the John Stories ("On the Hills and Everywhere") more than a bit twee. It's "Owls Hoot in the Daytime". The basic plot is exactly the same as "Chorazin" and some lines (especially to do with the illusory jewels) are very similar. It embarrasses me (again, as a good pagan!) to admit but the Jesus story you refer to, "On the Hills and Everywhere", actually makes me cry every time! But then, a lot of things in books, TV and film do that.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 24, 2016 18:08:59 GMT
Rosemary, while I have definitely read "Chorazin" (it was in the copy of Whispers #11-12 that I sent you years ago), I can't remember anything about it. Which John the Balladeer story did it it inspire? As for Wellman's use of Christianity, as a good agnostic myself, I find his use of Jesus as a character in one of the John Stories ("On the Hills and Everywhere") more than a bit twee. It's "Owls Hoot in the Daytime". The basic plot is exactly the same as "Chorazin" and some lines (especially to do with the illusory jewels) are very similar. It embarrasses me (again, as a good pagan!) to admit but the Jesus story you refer to, "On the Hills and Everywhere", actually makes me cry every time! But then, a lot of things in books, TV and film do that. "An extraordinary moment, in retrospect - Jesus speaking approvingly of Norse mythology! We are a long way from the 'jealous God' of the Old Testament. This pantheism or syncretism is a key concept in the series." From Nigel Taylor's splendid A Fistful Of Folk Songs in the current PF #34. Nigel singles out On The Hills And Everywhere as "one of the key stories in the sequence." With Boldly Going, Graham Andrews achieves the nigh on impossible in holding my attention throughout an article on early Star Trek novelizations ... sorry, "storyisations." James Blish has emerged from his twin trials by Paperback Fanatic and Pulp Horror with reputation enhanced if anything. Another informative article but I can't help thinking that Graham has picked the wrong publication to snipe at hired hacks. No disrespect, but who does he suppose PF have been celebrating this past decade? Can only agree with Graham on this point though. "The section on Michel Parry's work for Corgi was a fitting tribute to a true 'man of letters' who deserves to get all, and not just some of the credit he so richly deserves."
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