Paperback Fanatic 9

[dem bones]

Man, this is so hot through the letterbox, I haven't even managed to extract it from the envelope!

Justin Marriott (ed.) - Paperback Fanatic #9 (February 2009)

A quick flick through before i settle down to actually read the thing, and what immediately catches the eye? Plenty! There's a lengthy feature on The Man From O.R.G.Y. and his fellow international men of mystery as "The Fanatic dives into the world of sexy spies and double-d double agents.' Curt Purcell of the incomparable Beyond The Groovy Age Of Horror investigates The Twilight World Of Eli Podgram, star of Nel's six-part 'Specialist' series from the early 'seventies. There's an interview with and overview of Peter Tremayne's career as a horror, fantasy and Crime author and John Mains' interrogates Chris Lowder about his Mills & Boon Blood Of Dracula outing as Jack Hamilton Teed. Bootboys and Bovver girls are as well catered for as man or woman can ever be with Skinhead Revival: Richard Allen and his delinquent spawn unleashed across seven pages, one of which is commandeered by a certain Franklin 'Suedehead' Marsh! As you maybe guessed from the cover, the featured classic artist of the issue is Nel/ Mayflower serial offender Richard Clifton-Day and, of course, there is Fanatical Thoughts, the unmissable letters department, and a right old fiends reunited affair it is with loads of names familiar from this board offering their support and encouragement. Fanatical Thoughts is my absolute favourite department of any publication you care to mention.

As you're no doubt aware, Justin is currently being kept very occupied by baby Sophie (wish you well, little one) so "No chance to update the PF site, but maybe you could mention £5.25 inc postage by paypal to my e-mail address and to pm me if they don't know it."

The email address is justinATjustincultprint.free-online.co.uk (replace the AT with @, obviously. Anti-spam precaution)

Thank you Justin!

[franklinmarsh]

I'd just got around to ordering 8 and received 9 as well. Cheers Justin! Bit of a cheek really as that (cough) review seems mostly quotes now, but to be associated with that cover....Two great issues. Harknett,Allen, Tremayne, Clifton-Dey - fantastic stuff. It's the photos of the NEL staff that continue to fascinate.

[dem bones]

Small bleedin' world. I just realised that a contributor to this issue's Fanatical Thoughts is an ex-work colleague from some grim hole in Bow!

Justin, something i'd love to pursue is the use of relevant press clippings to compliment the text, as in the Richard Allen feature. They add yet another dimension, although i appreciate they might be difficult to locate.

Love the Peter Tremayne feature-interview, particularly the anecdote about Wheatley and the Sphere 'Library Of The Occult' series (is there no author or editor of the day who wasn't involved in selecting the titles?).

[lobolover]

Feb 25, 2009 22:44:33 GMT dem bones said:

(is there no author or editor of the day who wasn't involved in selecting the titles?).

My guess is Wheatley .

[pulphack]

another excellent issue. the clifton-dey piece was in mnay ways the most educational for me, as i know nothing about artists, really - the covers are nice, but it ws always the blurbs that sold me in the end. typical - it had to be the words. mind you, give me a stupid photo-cover... but back to the point... i never realised how prolific clifton-dey was, and how many of those covers would bring back memories of long-forgotten books! the role of the artist in paperbacking can't be under-estimated, and i should know because i did!

man from ORGY piece was great - those sort of p/b's i remember seeing in newsagents as a kid, but no way would my mum let me buy them at 10! only now, 35 years later, can i catch up (and yet still feel a bit guilty?!).

the Peter Tremayne interview was another information packed gem, and adds to the jigsaw that justin is building of the publishing game in the seventies and early eighties. LJ once told me that the amount of people involved in the p/b boom was actually very small, and the cross-fetilisation of writers and editors these interviews are revealing only brings that home. also very nice to include johnny's jack adrian interview in the middle of the Tremayne piece - i'd love to see a crossover between Allthingshorror and PF as between you, you're covering quite a large slice of genre publishing in the UK between say 1960 and 1985.

Curt's piece on Wilfred MacNeilly's Specialist series was first rate. it was particularly noteworthy for the information supplied by MacNeily's son and grandaughter. excellent piece of work, particularlyo n the problem of attributing house and pseudonyms when it comes to Press Ed - a small area and concern, but one that seems to be growing amongst certain afficianadoes.

if you look at the desmond reid, peter saxon and wa ballinger names, it seems that the reid was always for bill baker's 're-write' scam. the saxon seems to have come from the need to have an additional name when baker was writing most of the SBL fourth series while building a new stable. and the Ballinger serves a similar purpose. but then, as the stable of writers grew with the likes of MacNeilly and Martin Thomas, it was necessary to expand the number of writers using the names. this was practical, but also (it seems) allowed bill baker to bamboozle his writers into what was being used where. i'd always assumed that the ballinger name was used solely by baker until the late sixties, but it looks like there's more digging to do. it's difficult when the protagonists are long gone, but research like Curt's makes it easier.

concerning Dark Ways To Death. i'd assumed it was a Baker purely on the strength of the year it was published, and also because it seemed to have a similar subject to The Voodoo Drum, a SBL4 title from 1958 by Peter saxon (who was still Baker at this time). Curt made me dig out both and compare. certainly, they share a location, but the Saxon is a very straight-forward thriller, whereas Drums is certainly more in line with the style of MacNeilly - particuarly when i compared the opening to quotes Curt reproduced - taken in isolation, it becomes starkly obvious! i think it's safe to say that this is a MacNeilly.

i'd also like to reiterate my view that The Darkest Night is a dry-run for The Specialist. not just the Indian location, but the fact that it's set in a previous century all the way through - most Saxon horrors that hark back mix this with a contemporary-to-writing narrative. MacNeilly was the only one to set a whole story in a retro era. and the revelations about his experiences in India explain a lot about the difference between Darkest Night and Tigerman.

great stuff Curt, and great stuff Justin!

[timothymayer]

I really do need to order one of these things. PulpMania was a hoot! Loved the British take on the Gor novels.

[killercrab]

Swiftly reacting to a post here last week - I now have issues 8 and 9 - phew! Naturally they're beyond brilliant - lots to read now.

KC