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Post by andydecker on Jan 17, 2009 16:40:27 GMT
This looks like a nice edition, the Leasor novels. Is this spy stuff?
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Post by dem bones on Jun 14, 2009 17:45:27 GMT
Sundays. Not exactly very sizzling, are they? Let's try liven things up some. This should do. Dr. Colin Douglas's The Houseman's Tale (Fontana, 1980), variously described as a 'black comedy' and a 'drama set in an Edinburgh Hospital', not that it's of any concern to us. That "terrifyingly believable" is opportune. "Yes, dear. The cover is an awful shame, but I had to buy it in case it was the sequel to Coma ...."
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Post by andydecker on Jun 15, 2009 8:22:06 GMT
This has to be a classic "terrifyingly believable" indeed. Still, those nurses uniforms of yesterday were kind of nice
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Post by dem bones on Jun 15, 2009 9:33:06 GMT
Still, those nurses uniforms of yesterday were kind of nice I'll say! This one and the above were snagged offline and i wish i knew where 'cause whoever posted it had an amazing collection and i'd love to give him or her a credit!
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Post by pulphack on Jun 16, 2009 19:15:12 GMT
only six months late in answering andy, but yes the james leasor books are spy stories centring around a vintage car dealer, and a bit dull if you're not into cars, but probably great if you are (i'm not, and preferred his Jason Love novels).
that simon raven cover is rather good, and suitable - this was a man who (Doctors Wear Scarlet aside) was most noteable for spending the last twenty years of his life living in a nursing home on the south coast even though he wasn't that old or that infirm, and spicing up the week with a regular train trip up to the fleshpots of soho.
bit of a vault hero, then...
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Post by dem bones on Jun 16, 2009 20:23:50 GMT
Always found Doctor's Wear Scarlet a struggle myself, pulps, even the chapter that's often been extracted as a stand alone vampire story (the strangely strange film ( Incense Of The Damned ?) is another matter), and wasn't much fussed with chasing up more of his stuff. But yes, he sounds a Vault kind of chap. Hardly seems worth mentioning as Colin Douglas has toned down the "terror" for this one, but The Houseman's Tale spawned at least one sequel, The Greatest Breakthrough Since Lunchtime (Fontana, 1978).
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Post by andydecker on Jun 17, 2009 7:43:48 GMT
sounds ... intriguing Thanks for the Leasor info though. I think I´ll pass.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 17, 2009 7:45:53 GMT
Must have been a nice photoshoot for those covers
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Post by andydecker on Jun 18, 2009 9:54:15 GMT
Thanks to a shopping spree prompted after reading the new PF (thanks Justin, as if I hadn´t enough books already ) I ordered a few John Harvey books which I knew nothing about. Imagine my surprise when the supposed crime novel of the "Double" series was one of those ... hm, it´s actually kind of hard to describe. Erotic comedy? Carry On as a novel? [td] [/td] But the copy was fun, and as absolutly ridiculous this story from 1978 is, Harevy seemed to have had some fun writing this. Clever double entendres (as far as I can see this with my limited language knowledge) and some digs at everything. Here is a nice excerpt from page 1 I thought kind of funny: "Barrie! Barrie Patch" A firm hand clapped down on his shoulder and he jerked backwards, almost unseating the nubile young thing who was using him for a cushion. Albeit a bumpy one. "Glad you could make it! I see you´ ve met Stephenie." Stephenie was his secretary. He was Nigel Taylor-Jones. Managing editor of Rocket Books. One of the most promising men of his generation, was Nigel. Whichever generation that was. One thing, though, it had been the generation that all went to Cambridge. Now they all were in publishing.Taking one another out to lunch to boost their expense accounts. Outbidding each other for the rights to the latest film about the Devil manifesting himself on the bosom of the upper middle class American familiy - or the biggest and best plantation romance between a muscular slave aware of his roots and the soft and virginal daughter of the local gentry. Firsts in Eng.Lit., every one of them. Apart from Stephenie. She hadn´t been to Cambridge. She had other assets. If Barrie played his cards right he might get them stripped. "Glad you could make it. Talk to you later. Must dash." Nigel Taylor-Jones disappeared." I wonder who Nigel Taylor-Jones was in reality
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Post by justin on Jun 18, 2009 16:45:12 GMT
On the subject of the 'Double' books I've just received a mail from John Harvey saying Laurence James wrote 75% of them and that he really doesn't consider it part of his body of work.
I asked him if he had written all four of the Wasteworld books as during a recent interview with Nick Austin who as the editor at Granada commissioned them was sure they were mainly the work of Angus Wells. John has confirmed the only one he produced was Angels and the other three were by Angus.
Nick Austin also knew Gerald Suster- watch out for the letters page in Fanatic 11!
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Post by andydecker on Jun 19, 2009 9:00:14 GMT
Now that is interesting. Thanks for the info, Justin! When did James sleep? It is astonishing how many words he wrote a year.
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Jul 22, 2009 16:09:20 GMT
Probably a bit tame for this thread, but I picked this up today for 20p. A Mayflower from '68:
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Post by dem bones on Nov 18, 2009 16:24:43 GMT
Polly Larkin - Diary Of An Usherette (NEL, 1977) Blurb: Polly Larkin's diary is a side-splitting, sex-soaked saga of work - and play - in the stalls and balcony of a local cinema. In that cavern of celluloid and seduction, a quiet evening at the movies seems to be the last THING on people's minds! Polly finds her usherette's torch illuminating the most amazing goings-on; orgies at the pensioners' matinee, bizarre tales in the projection room and teenage romps in the back rows. But Polly's ambitions could well lead her into more serious trouble, especially since blackmail lurks just around the corner, only five minutes from this cinema ....Happy Birthday, Sev!
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Post by andydecker on Nov 19, 2009 9:46:49 GMT
Is this fine profession still valid? A great and sleazy cover I guess today the guy would land in jail.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 19, 2009 10:15:22 GMT
My granny was an usherette...
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