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Post by dem bones on Jan 10, 2018 19:16:04 GMT
Philip Harbottle - Vultures Of The Void: The Legacy (Cosmos, 2011) David A. Hardy Blurb: An earlier, very much shorter version of this book was published as VULTURES OF THE VOID in 1992 by Borgo Press, along with a companion bibliographic volume, BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION PAPERBACKS AND MAGAZINES 1949-1956. Now the compiler and editor of those books, Philip Harbottle, here presents the result of his further and ongoing researches into British science fiction publishing history. This greatly expanded version includes entirely new coverage of the generic hardcover titles that briefly and paradoxically flourished alongside the indigenous British paperbacks of the early 1950's, spearheaded by an influx of outstanding American science fiction by such authors as Isaac Asimov, Fredric Brown, Edmond Hamilton, Robert Heinlein, Jack Williamson and A. E. van Vogt. VULTURES OF THE VOID: THE LEGACY also deals in fascinating detail with related shaping events both before and after the notorious postwar 'mushroom' decade. In particular it describes how many of the original founders of the pre-war British Interplanetary Society - including fledgling young science fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and Eric Frank Russell - were to become giants and shapers of their field after the war. And how pioneer editors such as Walter Gillings and John Carnell struggled against overwhelming odds to establish British science fiction magazines both before and after the Second World War. In this new book Harbottle also reveals the astonishing latter-day legacy of the turbulent postwar decade for himself and some of the most prolific authors such as John Russell Fearn, E. C. Tubb and others, whose work he has been instrumental in returning to print.A seriously brilliant read: makes for a perfect companion volume to Steve Holland's The Mushroom Jungle which, from the author's scathing remarks on his once collaborator, is hardly surprising. Of particular interest to Vault persons of a certain stripe: plenty about Syd J. Bounds, John Glasby, and, to a lesser, extent, Brian Ball, plus John Russell 'Vargo Statten' Fearn, the evils of Spencer Publications, and an appraisal (very funny, I thought) of Dennis Wheatley's Star Of Ill-Omen.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 10, 2018 20:45:51 GMT
Thanks for the tip. Loved Mushroom Jungle back then.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 11, 2018 9:48:15 GMT
Thanks for the tip. Loved Mushroom Jungle back then. Yeah, it's about time The Mushroom Jungle had a thread to itself, albeit a stub post for time being. Finally landed a copy at the Pulp & Paperback Fair last October, but kept it back as Christmas present to myself. It was quite an experience reading Steve Holland's book and Vultures ... back to back. Phil Harbottle comes over very miffed about how The Mushroom Jungle came into being, but that's their argument ... Of far more interest to this reader, Mr. Harbottle's own adventures in publishing, and his friendships with the raft of very loyal authors who contributed to Vision Of Tomorrow, Fantasy Adventures and the various Cosmos publications. Justin interviewed the author on this very subject way back in Paperback Fanatic #6 (the Peter Haining tribute issue: still among my all-time favourite Fanatics). It's amazing how all this stuff dovetails!
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 12, 2018 22:00:42 GMT
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Post by mcannon on Jan 13, 2018 23:27:08 GMT
I'll have to pick up Vultures of the Void - looks like a must. For some reason I've got a few of those 50s sf paperbacks - actually I know why, you can pick them up for a buck or two, and the covers are great. here's a few, mostly in pretty ordinary nick, some with the Ashwoods sticker that's impossible to remove:>> Nice display there James - the only one of them that I have is that edition of Gernsback's "Ralph ...". Ashwoods price stickers weren't as difficult to remove as those of some of the other nearby Sydney second-hand booksellers; Lawson's ones in particular appeared to be attached with some early form of super-glue. Back in the early 1970s, when I first started visiting inner-city Sydney second-hand book and record shops during school holidays, Ashwoods was one of a number of such shops clustered around one particular section of Pitt Street, a few minutes walk down from Town Hall Station, along with a few others in nearby streets. Ashwood's was possibly the granddaddy of them all; it had been going, in the same location, since at least the 1930s. Quite a few of the regular staff looked as though they'd been there that long as well, but that was pretty common in those shops.... One nice thing about Ashwoods was that, although it had large amounts of stock, it was well laid out and reasonably well organised by subject - you didn't have to search frantically through random heaps of stuff in the faint hope you might find something to your tastes. I shudder - or smile - to think how much paper and vinyl I purchased there over 25 or so years. These days, of course, just about all those shops are long gone. They were all smack in the middle of the Sydney CBD, and much of that area was renovated / rebuilt in the 1980s, and is now pretty much dominated by soulless high-rise office blocks. I imagine that many Vault folk have similar depressing tales..... Some time in the '90s Ashwoods moved to much smaller premises a few streets over and a decade or so (?) vanished entirely; it went online, but I don't know if it still exists in any form. I still have a lot of items bearing those stickers, though, and I see them pop up on eBay quite a bit. Mark
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Post by jamesdoig on Jan 14, 2018 19:54:25 GMT
Back in the early 1970s, when I first started visiting inner-city Sydney second-hand book and record shops during school holidays, Ashwoods was one of a number of such shops clustered around one particular section of Pitt Street, a few minutes walk down from Town Hall Station, along with a few others in nearby streets. Ashwood's was possibly the granddaddy of them all; it had been going, in the same location, since at least the 1930s. Quite a few of the regular staff looked as though they'd been there that long as well, but that was pretty common in those shops.... One nice thing about Ashwoods was that, although it had large amounts of stock, it was well laid out and reasonably well organised by subject - you didn't have to search frantically through random heaps of stuff in the faint hope you might find something to your tastes. I shudder - or smile - to think how much paper and vinyl I purchased there over 25 or so years. These days, of course, just about all those shops are long gone. They were all smack in the middle of the Sydney CBD, and much of that area was renovated / rebuilt in the 1980s, and is now pretty much dominated by soulless high-rise office blocks. I imagine that many Vault folk have similar depressing tales..... Some time in the '90s Ashwoods moved to much smaller premises a few streets over and a decade or so (?) vanished entirely; it went online, but I don't know if it still exists in any form. I still have a lot of items bearing those stickers, though, and I see them pop up on eBay quite a bit. Thanks for the reminiscence, Mark. I only knew Ashwoods when it had moved, and not long before it closed. It was a couple of shops up from Galaxy and Abbeys - it's best days were long over. The 70s and 80s must have been the heyday of Sydney secondhand bookshops - Lawsons, Tyrrells etc, as well as all the book exchanges you used to get.
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