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Post by pulphack on Aug 27, 2013 5:38:44 GMT
Wow, thanks for this. It's not too clear if the blogger means that all six Balhams were by White, or just that one, but I'm reading it as they were and that was the only title he could remember. It would explain why Balham was referred to as a known crime writer, and also why he wasn't bothered about the pseudonym, seeing as his crime name of James Fraser was also a pseudonym (I've never read a Fraser, but do remember the name on the crime shelf in Tottenham library as being ever-present - one of those you meant to try, never did, and haven't seen since, which would account for the Public Lending Rate success he mentions - maybe he wrote mostly for one of those hardback houses like Severn House or Hale who supplied libraries as their business model back then).
Not read The Long Days Dying, but saw the film many years back (I used to love Brit war movies of any type when I was a kid, being an indiscriminate watcher). I don't know about experimental, but I do remember it as quite dour and serious compared to the kind of b&w war movies I lapped up. Like Oh What A Lovely War in the sense that I could tell it was making a point, but to a kid whose idea of a wr movie was In Which We Serve, baffling and confusing if thought provoking. Not a musical though, so definitely not in that sense...
This could be another little mystery solved. Again, thanks for posting that link.
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ltd
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 15
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Post by ltd on Aug 28, 2013 7:43:19 GMT
Glad to be of help. I also took it that the blogger was referring to all six Balham novels being by White. It's not exactly solid corroboration but I did find a crime fiction bibliography which if you scroll down to the Joe Balham entry lists it solely as a pseudonym of Alan White. From reading about The Long Day's Dying I got the impression it was a moody, experimental piece with a lot of internal monologues - something like The Thin Red Line, Beach Red or Overlord. I've probably got the wrong idea entirely but I'd still be interested to see it, just on the strength of the cast alone. Wow, thanks for this. It's not too clear if the blogger means that all six Balhams were by White, or just that one, but I'm reading it as they were and that was the only title he could remember. It would explain why Balham was referred to as a known crime writer, and also why he wasn't bothered about the pseudonym, seeing as his crime name of James Fraser was also a pseudonym (I've never read a Fraser, but do remember the name on the crime shelf in Tottenham library as being ever-present - one of those you meant to try, never did, and haven't seen since, which would account for the Public Lending Rate success he mentions - maybe he wrote mostly for one of those hardback houses like Severn House or Hale who supplied libraries as their business model back then). Not read The Long Days Dying, but saw the film many years back (I used to love Brit war movies of any type when I was a kid, being an indiscriminate watcher). I don't know about experimental, but I do remember it as quite dour and serious compared to the kind of b&w war movies I lapped up. Like Oh What A Lovely War in the sense that I could tell it was making a point, but to a kid whose idea of a wr movie was In Which We Serve, baffling and confusing if thought provoking. Not a musical though, so definitely not in that sense... This could be another little mystery solved. Again, thanks for posting that link.
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Post by ripper on Aug 29, 2013 17:04:34 GMT
Hi ltd, Thanks very much for the information. I have managed to get a copy of Regan and the Lebanese Shipment (a Joe Balham) and there's a copyright to Ian Kennedy Martin inside, though that could be referring to characters rather than inferring authorship, I suppose. I did find it odd that if IKM wrote the "Joe Balham" books why would he try to hide it by using a pen-name but still have a copyright notice to IKM inside? Perhaps Alan White did write the "Joe Balham" books, or at least the one pointed out in the blog entry.
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Post by pulphack on Aug 31, 2013 7:11:08 GMT
Mr Ltd - I don't remember Long Day's Dying as being like that, but then it is a hell of a long time and the memory plays tricks - I probably found it a bit boring as a kid, hence the impression of serious and dour. You've made me want to see it, though!
Rip - I wonder if we've just been wrongfooted by the copyright credit to IKM in a Balham book? It seems fairly reasonable to assume that White was the writer of all the Balhams, and as you say the styles are so different to IKM. It could be a copyright thing, but given the number of cheap paperbacks I've seen with incorrect editing on the copyright page (the Mayflower Sexton Blakes spring immediately to mind), it's possible it was just a misprint. Futura may have become part of MacDonald and so part of a big publisher later on, but it did start as a 70's equivalent of a mushroom house, with just a few disgruntled ex-big boys staffers setting up on their own. Feasible, but is it possible to put this to bed after so long?
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Post by ripper on Aug 31, 2013 13:39:19 GMT
It could well be that, Pulphack. To me, it just doesn't make sense for IKM to have used the Joe Balham pen-name and then been credited as himself, so a simple error could well be the solution.
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ltd
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 15
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Post by ltd on Sept 1, 2013 17:49:00 GMT
I remember reading an interview with IKM in which he said that he retained a lot of the intellectual property rights in The Sweeney and its characters. Even though he left the series fairly early on he'd always made decent money out of it and was able to use the characters in novel spin offs. I'd hazard a guess that he granted a license to the publishers of the Balham novels and they were acknowledging his moral right of attribution i.e. to be identified as the original creator of the series. Of course it could just as easily be a mistake as Pulphack says.
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Post by ripper on Sept 1, 2013 19:06:42 GMT
I've read the occasional book where there has been a credit to the effect of 'based on characters created by...' It's a pity that the publisher couldn't have been a bit more specific at the time, instead of leaving us with this little mystery :-).
Just as an aside, I was rather surprised after reading Regan and the Lebanese Shipment as to just how few words were devoted to Carter. I think that Regan was originally envisaged as the focus of the TV series, but, of course, it developed into the double-act of Regan and Carter. Yet in the Joe Balham book I read, the author had stuck to the original concept of Regan as focus (with Carter and Regan being almost hostile to each other), rather than follow the double-act as seen on TV.
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Post by pulphack on Sept 2, 2013 6:30:47 GMT
The matter of the intellectual rights and IKM making a fair bit off them were something that came up in a documentary on ITV4 about The Sweeney a while back, and mentioned somewhere else on here. One of Euston's prime movers made a few sardonic comments about IKM moaning about his vision but still doing alright despite walking out. And why not? His baby, they paid him to not rock the boat, as it were.
Tell you how we could know for sure whether or not the rights attribution to the Balhams was down to misprint or contract - if any of us actually had a copy of more than one Balham and could compare the copyrights in each. I have none. What do you have? Or anyone out there - Franklin, maybe? Perhaps we could settle this, then - it's a minor thing, but one of those small matters that can bug you!
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