W. Howard Baker - The Guardians

[severance]

Dem posted this at the old place on 12th August 2007 :

demonik said:

This is a title that's long intrigued me since I found it included as a legit Guardians title in Neil Barron's Horror Literature (Garland, 1990). Could there be one of Anne Ashby and friends' adventures we'd all overlooked? Alas not, if this description on Abebooks is to be believed.

The Guardians an Espionage Thriller (AKA The Dirty Game)
W Howard Baker

Zenith Publications, Great Britain. Soft Cover. Buchzustand: Very Good. First Edition. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. no date probally 70's This is the story of humans caught in the web of inhuman international intrigue; the story of a nude woman who held the secrets of a nation. Remainder mark to bottom edge.

and Pulphack responded with;

pulphack said:

well, it probably comes as no surprise to anyone that i've read this. i think it actually predates the Guardians series, and the title struck Baker as a good one - those familair with the Blake/Press Ed/Guardians saga will know that Bill Baker was never one to let a good title, story, mss or anything go to waste when it could be used again!

this is very much in the vein of The Dead And The Damned, and is one of the Richard Quinatin titles where he's a spy with a hardboiled edge, rather than a PI operating in the city. Taut and quite well paced, it has the requisite hints of sex and torture, and seeks to fit in with the spy-dominated thriller culture of the time.

there were several later Blakes that were also in this vein, and i have the suspicion (with some foundation in discussions with george mann years back) that the Quintain series was partly devised as a way of using new mss that were Blake stories that couldn't be used, either because the Blake 5th series was full, or Baker couldn't get the copyright after the last series ended. he did publish some hardbck Blake originals after the Mayflower paperbacks, but they were few, and i suspect IPC were 'difficult' about licensing (ie they expected Baker to give them money, and he didn't want to!). incidentally, several Quintains were re-written Blakes, and the Dead And The Damned has a couple of typos where Quintain is called Blake! so it was also a good way to rework press ed material that had only seen service once (as a one-run Blake), and so get more mileage out of it in other markets.

it has little for the Guardians series fan unless you also happen to like tacky sixties spy stories. which i do, and so do quite a lot of you, i think...

and a very nice cover on the Mayflower edition (the later Zenith one was a crap painting, as i recall).

I read this a couple of years ago, but barely remember a thing about it so as an apology here's a couple of cover scans:


W. Howard Baker - The Guardians par severance_23, on ipernity


W. Howard Baker - The Dirty Game par severance_23, on ipernity

The Guardians - Mayflower-Dell paperback, 1967.
The Dirty Game - Howard Baker hardback, 1968.

[marksamuels]

We need more classy shots of navels and panties like those here on Vault.

To wit... ye infamous "Dirty Den". Gone but not forgotten.

Mark S.

[andydecker]

The Mayflower model tries too hard You can virtually hear the photgraphers shout: "Tuck in that tummy, more, more!" And the towel above right kills any fantasy, tz.




And Mark is right!

[andydecker]

No time like the present, or? ;D

Okay, technically this is a skirt, but ...