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Post by dem bones on Nov 10, 2009 8:12:45 GMT
pulphack on the Martin Thomas weird Sexton BlakesFirst appeared on Vault Mk1 on Jul 27th, 2007 and long overdue a revival. There are cover scans (huge!) of all the above and reviews of many at: Blakiana - dempulphack wrote: so, with a few moments to spare, a little more on the mayflower mind of martin thomas... of the 45 paperbacks published in the sexton blake library fifth series by mayflower, mr t was responsible for a half dozen. a bit of a mixed bag, but at least two that are worth blagging when seen... no3. Laird Of Evil (1965). Satanism and paganism get a bit confused in this one, as the laird of an ancient castle starts up some very dubious practices involving ritual and orgy in an old highland castle. lots of chasing across the glens from grim-jawed Blake, hints of nasty sexual deviancy followed by the obligatory dot,dot,dot... has a very good atmosphere to it, though, and so really gets the imagination filling in the blanks. no.9 The Mind Killers (1965) 'The Haven' is anything but; the lair of Dr Dominic Galt, who specialises in mind control drugs and who captures a hapless Blake when the private eye is on his trail. Blake is then subjected to prolonged bouts of drug therapy, mental and physical torture, and fails to escape until rescued by his faithful staff. ladies, of course, have a little more than torture on their agenda. however, this is subjugated to an incredibly brooding and intense atmosphere which makes this the most 'down' of all mr t's books i've read (and that's saying something). no.18 Such Men Are Dangerous (1965) is THE one to find. beginning with secret experiments by red scientists to ready and acclimatise men for space travel, creating deranged monsters as a result, we then shockingly find this is going on in the west country when one escapes and kills a bunny girl! i know there was no playboy club near bristol, but this IS pulp, remember. the murderer is found dead as his lungs have been genetically altered (in 65?) and so Blake is on the trail, hired by the secret govt organisation he is sometime allied to. great stuff - lots of atmospheric writing, some clunking swinging sixties stuff, barmy superscience, and Blake being grim throughout while his assistant Tinker chases sixties bunny girl pussy. well done, mr t! no.27 Sorcerers Of Set (1966) is like a full on Tigon movie in print. also highly recommended. the ruthless degenerates of the Temple Of Set (according to the back of the book) are wreaking havoc in London, murdering and kidnapping for their desires. who is the masked priest? a nice whodunnit edge to this, along with the requisite swinging London references, some drug argy bargy, and the unflappable Blake at his rational best. not much plot, more a series of set pieces, but none the worse for that. no.35 An Event Called Murder (1967) is the other side of mr t. a carefully plotted and mcguffin filled whodunnit about a murdered showjumper, perhaps of little interest to the people on this board as such, it's still a nice little book and shows off the other obsession of mr t. no.42 Brainwashed (1968) is a reds-under-the-bed book about a reporter captured by the Vietcong, released as a rabid anti-communist (too much so, in fact) and then chasing an anti-missile defence system with mayhem on the way. Blake is all that stands between this one-man-army and red china. very much of its time (i've just worked my way through the champions boxed set over the last couple of months, and the anti-china sentiments are obviously of that time, as it was made in 67, broadcast 68) . a taut thriller, and extremely good, but like the last entry only for those who are interested further in mr t, as there's no supernatural or super science shenanigans. so there you have it. in the fourth series, published by fleetway, mr t also contributed a number of stories centred around super science and the supernatural, but those are for another day. i'd recommend all the above mentioned horror-oriented tales if you an find them. because (wait for it)... i pity the foll who doesn't like mr t.... (no, it wasn't worth it...)
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Post by severance on Apr 5, 2010 19:45:12 GMT
I may be way off base here, and Pulps might have more of a clue (much to my chagrin I don't have a copy of The Paperback Fanatic that included Andy's piece on Peter Saxon)- but I'm wondering if a couple of Martin Thomas' Sexton Blakes might've been the catalyst, or germ of inspiration, for the later creation of The Guardians team. In March 1960, Issue 448 of the Sexton Blake Library was a tale called Bred to Kill, in which the character of Gideon Ashley is introduced, a mysterious and charismatic financier with hypnotic powers. Also introduced are a clairvoyant and a psychic investigator. At the end Blake and Ashley part as friends.
Ashley reappeared in one of the stories mentioned above - The Sorcerers of Set in 1966 - in which Ashley saves the life of Tinker using esoteric means.
This is still two years before the first of The Guardians novels appear. The mysterious leader of The Guardians is named Gideon, and has unidentified powers, as shown in The Killing Bone, while the other member of the team with powers is Anne Ashby.
This may all be complete bollocks on my part, but no harm in throwing it out as harmless conjecture...
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Post by pulphack on Apr 6, 2010 6:43:35 GMT
That's an interesting one, Sev - certainly, George Mann never said anything about that when I spoke to him many years back, but to be honest we were talking more about the mechanics of Pres Ed than anything else.
Given Martin Thomas' predelictions, the fact that the Guardians was always a MacNeilly-slanted series was odd. However, Bakewr was a convivial man, and so was MacNeilly. Thomas, by all accounts, was not. Hence he may always have been one to metaphorically sneak in and out of the office.
Looking at the way Baker mixed and matched ideas, plots and characters throughout the Press Ed canon (SBL and otherwise), it's a more than reasonable assumption that he and Mann, in cobbling together an outline, would look back for names and ideas to plunder. You could have stumbled on to something there, and considering I've read both those titles ('Bred To Kill' a good few years back, and lord do I remember it as being Thomas at his grimmest!) I'm a little jealous that you've made the link and I missed it!
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Post by dem bones on Oct 25, 2016 7:13:22 GMT
no.9 The Mind Killers (1965) 'The Haven' is anything but; the lair of Dr Dominic Galt, who specialises in mind control drugs and who captures a hapless Blake when the private eye is on his trail. Blake is then subjected to prolonged bouts of drug therapy, mental and physical torture, and fails to escape until rescued by his faithful staff. ladies, of course, have a little more than torture on their agenda. however, this is subjugated to an incredibly brooding and intense atmosphere which makes this the most 'down' of all mr t's books i've read (and that's saying something). [5th Series: Sexton Blake Library #9] (Mayflower, June, 1965) Blurb: Into this enclosed nightmare world ventured Sexton Blake, private investigator. And it was his fate to suffer ‘the treatment’ at the hands of the coldly ruthless Dr. Dominic Galt and his vicious underlings. Dr. James Hembrough, whose own mind was suspect. Male nurse Brenner, the brute. Nurse Rumbold, who claimed to be a woman but disproved it in her own dark way. Flack, the one who turned dangerous . . .
The private mental home was called, ironically, ‘The Haven’. It was a haven to its vicious staff, but not to its patients. For every inmate imprisoned here, someone outside profited . . . in money or safety. Some patients had been driven insane by ‘the treatment’. For attractive female patients there were additional ordeals. "The most 'down' of all mr t's books i've read" swung it for me and FINALLY turned up a copy from friend Mark Defoe's stall at Spitalfield Mkt., Sunday gone. Further incentive to knuckle down to rest of Seabury Quinn's The Devil's Bride so I can get started. |
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Post by helrunar on Oct 25, 2016 15:12:07 GMT
"Nurse Rumbold, who claimed to be a woman but disproved it in her own dark way..." EGADS!
Sounds quite kinky for 1965...
H.
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Post by ripper on Oct 26, 2016 12:48:27 GMT
The single Martin Thomas Sexton Blake novel I have is 'Brainwashed'. It is okay as a thriller, but there is nothing in particular to recommend it, and disappointingly is lacking some of the wackier elements that seem to be present in Thomas's other SBs.
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Post by pulphack on Dec 11, 2016 18:44:01 GMT
Hello Rip, sorry I missed this before - Brainwashed is not a good place to start with either Martin Thomas or the SBL 5th series - it comes right near the end, and apart from Down Among The Ad Men, I'd say that the last eight are pretty poor by comparison with the earlier and mid-series titles for the simple reason that sales were down (hence the frequency of the series getting less) and I would guess that Bill Baker was directing the troops to try and be more mainstream thriller in their plotting - which, frankly, was not when the likes of Thomas and MacNeilly were at their best. In a quiet corner, left to their own devices - that's more their hammer... So don't be too put off, and give another one a go if you see it.
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Post by ripper on Dec 20, 2016 20:10:36 GMT
Hello Rip, sorry I missed this before - Brainwashed is not a good place to start with either Martin Thomas or the SBL 5th series - it comes right near the end, and apart from Down Among The Ad Men, I'd say that the last eight are pretty poor by comparison with the earlier and mid-series titles for the simple reason that sales were down (hence the frequency of the series getting less) and I would guess that Bill Baker was directing the troops to try and be more mainstream thriller in their plotting - which, frankly, was not when the likes of Thomas and MacNeilly were at their best. In a quiet corner, left to their own devices - that's more their hammer... So don't be too put off, and give another one a go if you see it. Hi Pulphack, I have around 5 of the SBLs, but Brainwashed is the only one that is a standard paperback, the rest being from the early 60s or possibly a little earlier if memory serves. I think I bought Brainwashed as I wanted to see what they were like towards the end and to be honest because it was going cheap. I would like to build up my collection but prices for many seem to be on the rise, so I keep an eye out on ABE/Ebay etc for reasonably priced examples. Sometimes on Ebay there are multi-item lots that are good value, so I hope to strike it lucky with a few of those to boost my meagre collection a bit.  |
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Post by cromagnonman on Dec 8, 2017 0:47:25 GMT
If its of any use or interest to anyone to know: the Quinto basement in Charing Cross Road has just completed its monthly stock changeover. I was in there today and noticed quite a bit of Sexton Blake material on the shelf; most strikingly a number of the Howard Baker omnibus editions in dust jackets and single novel hardcovers too.
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Post by ripper on Dec 14, 2017 10:17:26 GMT
If its of any use or interest to anyone to know: the Quinto basement in Charing Cross Road has just completed its monthly stock changeover. I was in there today and noticed quite a bit of Sexton Blake material on the shelf; most strikingly a number of the Howard Baker omnibus editions in dust jackets and single novel hardcovers too. Thanks for the heads-up. I must admit I get a bit envious when I hear about the bookshops in London. There's simply nowhere around here to compare. All we have are charity shops and chains like W.H. Smith. Come to think of it, W.H. Smith is our only bookshop chain. There used to be 4 or 5 independent second hand bookshops not too far away but they are all now long gone. |
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