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Post by dem bones on Jun 3, 2009 11:04:22 GMT
Justin Marriott (ed.) - Paperback Fanatic #10 (June, 2009) John Holmes From nowhere to a genuine rush of enthusiasm in the time it took for me to retrieve this from the letterbox and slice the envelope open. Thank you, Mr. Marriott: your timing is impeccable. Where to start? I've narrowed it down and it looks like Stephen Sennitt on serious occultist turned top pulp author Gerald Suster is gonna win out over even Andreas on the German editions of Donald Glut's ace New Adventures Of Frankenstein and Justin's feature on NEL's "Sex Manuals", such is my regard for the great man's work. Elsewhere: roving reporter John Mains interviews cover artist John "The Fontana Horror 'Melting Heads' man" Holmes. Justin on Barry Sadler, the man responsible for not only the Casca the Mercenary pulps (which i'd never heard of) but also the rabid pro-'Nam US smash hit single The Ballad Of The Green Beret - that should make for a fun read. Roy Bayfield's At The Sign Of The Unicorn's Head, a potentially steamy exploration of Ballantine's Adult Fantasy paperbacks. Another interview, this time with prolific and versatile man of many pseudonyms John Harvey whose credits include the Herne The Hunter series and a collaboration with Laurence James on the elusive snuff exploitation job Cut. Four pages of Fanatical Thoughts and a tribute to Richard Gordon round off what looks like another classic .... Fanatic before i even settle down to read it. Seems to me the best way to order a copy is via the Paperback Fanatic site, but any queries and i'm sure Mr. Marriott won't mind you slipping him a PM. Give it a few weeks, and I'm thinking of offering a prize of the most uninspired paperback i can find in the charity shop this afternoon to the person who can correctly identify which three covers reproduced in this issue i'll be pestering Justin for scans of.
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Post by allthingshorror on Jun 3, 2009 13:25:17 GMT
Dem, trying to get into your mind is like entering a many petticoated lady - but would the scans you are after be:
Angel Alone (11) Neon Madman (15) French Party Games (39)
Justin, another cracking issue - love the John Harvey interview and the sex books. And cheers for running with the Holmes interview - a beautiful layout!!
Johnny
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Post by dem bones on Jun 5, 2009 8:14:49 GMT
Random mumblings on some of it, just stops short of spoilers, more to follow (i'm on the John Holmes interview) .... There were two instances where Stephen Sennitt's appraisal of the mighty Gerald Suster genuinely shocked me, though one turned out to be a false alarm: when i copped the scan of La Vey's The Satanic Bible incorporated in the first page my immediate reaction was Dear God! He didn't ghost that, did he?!!!! which, as it turns out is not the case, but it gave me quite a turn. The second is Mr. Sennitt - and, it seems, Suster's own - verdict on The Handyman! Andreas, you are not alone in your admiration of Donald Glut's New Adventures Of Frankenstein series which provided us with one of our most cheerful threads on Vault MK. 1, Donald F Glut: The more modern Prometheus. Franklin even managed to winkle a few words out of the great man. I particularly like that your article serves as both an endorsement for Glut and the VHR paperbacks as well as a tribute to C. A. M . Thole. Do you want to tell us some more about him? As a teen, i was fascinated by tramps and dirty old men in raincoats (small wonder how i turned out) and, God help me, one of the first items of clothing i treated myself to out of my paper-round money was this long, off-white raincoat, colour chosen on the grounds that it would get filthy quicker. So, you'd think i'd at least have a working knowledge of NEL's 'Sex Manuals' but nope, nary a one, not even French Party Games which is surely as required reading as Eat Them Alive and The Hand Of Dracula for the Vault globeswatch element. London Unexpurgated sounds tidy, too. I remember Curt getting very excited about it on Groovy Age (another excellent review, Mr. Purcell) and any book that includes a glossary of hippie slang cuts it with me. P. S. Vault on Wordpress usually trundles blindly along on 150-200 hits a day (unless Peter Haining dies, whereupon it goes stratospheric) but yesterday this shot up into the 650's and the item that got the most hits was Paperback Fanatic 10 ( PF #8 put in a good showing, too)! I dearly hope at least some of these translate into sales. It's almost too trite to type this but Keep up the good work, Mr. Marriott! Dem, trying to get into your mind is like entering a many petticoated lady - but would the scans you are after be: Angel Alone (11) Neon Madman (15) French Party Games (39) Johnny All very astute choices but only 1/3. i'm gonna throw in a bonus point though, as you listed one i'd definitely have gone for if i didn't already have a decent scan.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 7, 2009 17:47:21 GMT
As if it matters, neither the Ballantine Adult Fantasies or mercenary novels are really my thing, but, and this is what i like about PF, both articles make for a bloody interesting read. After taking in the Barry Sadler retrospective, I still can't see Ballad Of The Green Berets making my desert island discs but i'd certainly give a Casca novel a go. What a fascinating character and further confirmation that the real thing ain't pretty. You'd have to be carved from granite not to feel some sympathy for Sadler's plight, though he'd probably have put a crossbow bolt through your eyes if you'd been stupid enough to express it in his company.
John Holmes. As with the Peter Tremayne interview in #8, it's the anecdotal stuff that adds that extra bit of added spice - who wouldn't want to hang out in a Soho cafe with black coffins for furniture? - and his story is inspiring. I admire his courage and dedication that even after his serious illness he continues to paint for himself. A good local boy, too. If someone had told me, i'd have recognised his genius earlier.
Justin, bearing in mind their very different political persuasions, one question you might like to put to John Harvey in future is how did he get along with James Moffat as i'm guessing their paths would have crossed given the time-line?
Oh, and one other thing:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !
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Post by jamesdoig on Jun 18, 2009 5:37:00 GMT
Just today received issues 8,9, and 10 of Paperback Fanatic - what a brilliant magazine! Larger than I expected too - A4 size. Cracking articles and lots of cover images. Wish I'd known about this earlier...
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 18, 2009 10:18:04 GMT
Okay I have to bite the bullet. Is there still a PF with the Edgar Rice Burroughs feature left. I just have to have it.
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Post by justin on Jun 18, 2009 16:46:56 GMT
There are only 3 copies of PF 9 left, so pull your finger out Craig!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 18, 2009 16:53:58 GMT
Singed copy possible? Can I pay by paypal? Thank goodness I am not too late. Rent money had to come first
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Post by carolinec on Jun 18, 2009 21:38:52 GMT
I'm sure Justin's wondering whether you really want it singed or just signed, Craig! (sorry, couldn't resist saying that when I saw it - I always have to think carefully before typing the g and the n the wrong way round in that word too! )
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 18, 2009 22:11:14 GMT
It's a loser for me every time that damn word. When I was kid I mixed up 'signal' and 'single' much to my brothers amusement. Dyslexic torture at an early age,
You did remind once that in an occult phase I was buying up all sorts of heavy tomes of nasty stuff and one ancient book on witchcraft which I got for a 'song' was all charred and singed. Made me stop and think...
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Post by bushwick on Jun 22, 2009 16:05:34 GMT
Mine showed up this morning. Have had a good read.
Excellent as always - the John Holmes cover is very impressive, and the proofreading and design are much improved, it looks better than ever.
Barry Sadler - Christ, what a guy. A film of his life would be essential viewing.
And the John Harvey interview was very interesting. Seems like a nice guy, and there's a lot of his books there that I didn't know about. Neither did I realise Herne The Hunter was his concept. I do enjoy a bit of crime, so I must get round to trying the Resnick books. I know he's probably not short of a few quid, but do you reckon if we all chipped in we could get him to write another Western? Caleb Thorn 6 maybe? Go on John!
edit: also reassuring for us post-30s with creative aspirations that John Holmes didn't start creating art till he was 32!
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jul 17, 2009 10:04:55 GMT
Really good issue, Justin. Thoroughly enjoyed this one, even with the disturbing Mr Mains popping up everywhere. Terribly sad about " Alex (R) Stuart" as well. The Bikers was/is one of my favourite NELs. He never matched that.
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Post by vaughan on Jul 17, 2009 13:40:47 GMT
Sorry to go a bit off-topic, but this isn't the La Vey who made the three "Death" movies, is it?
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Post by allthingshorror on Jul 17, 2009 18:45:36 GMT
Really good issue, Justin. Thoroughly enjoyed this one, even with the disturbing Mr Mains popping up everywhere. Better than the disturbed Mr Mains, I suppose...
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Post by Steve on Jul 19, 2009 15:12:14 GMT
Sorry to go a bit off-topic, but this isn't the La Vey who made the three "Death" movies, is it? Don't believe I'm familiar with these "Death" movies you mention, Vaughan, are they good? The LaVey in question here is Anton LaVey, keyboard wizard and founder of the Church of Satan - top man to have known if you'd have been having a party, clearly. Terribly sad about " Alex (R) Stuart" as well. The Bikers was/is one of my favourite NELs. He never matched that. I was also saddened to hear about the recent death of Richard Gordon. The Alex R. Stuart books are among my favourites as well. Hadn't previously known anything about his later life and was interested to learn that he'd taught English in Poland at around the same time I was over there in the same game. Shame I never ran into him, I'd love to have met him. Another great loss.
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