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Post by dem bones on Mar 19, 2015 7:37:06 GMT
Another two-pronged attack from the house of Fanatic! Am so looking forward to sinking my fangs into these, but first the covers, contents & Co. Justin Marriott (ed.) - Paperback Fanatic #31: SF Tie-ins & Ballantine Books (March 2015) Editorial: Fanatical Thoughts Fanatical Mails: Graham Andrews, Andy Boot, Colin Clyes, David Southall, Sarah Morgan, Darrin Venticinque, Holger Hasse, Tom Tesarek, Roy Bayfield, Chris Eckhoff, Nigel Taylor, Winston Whitmarsh Justin Marriott & Tom Tesarek - Artists Assemble #3 Justin Marriott - Dr. Newton And Mr. Howitt.: Celebrating the terrifying artwork of the shudder pulp legend. Tom Tesarek - The Shocking History of Ballantine Non-fiction Justin Marriott - The Misfits: Memoires of a Sword Swallower Justin Marriott - Ballantine's Chamber Of Horrors: As illustrated by Richard Powers Darrin Venticinque - Paperbacks From The Black Lagoon: SF movie tie-ins. Graham Andrews - Fit To Be Tied: London's Burning: The Day The Earth Caught Fire Nigel Taylor - Harryhausen Novelised Publications You Need! Justin Marriott (ed.) - Paperback Fanatic #32 (March 2015) Dedication to Graeme Flanagan Justin Marriott - Michel Parry: The great man remembered. Justin Marriott - Leave A Light On For Me: Gothic Romance! Justin Marriott & Bill Thom - The Shadow Knows: The shrouded crimebuster in paperback. Graeme Flanagan & James Doig - Phantom Books: The Australian Series: Aus pulp! Lynn Monroe - Shell Scott Versus Sleaze; The man in white's toughest day in court tackling a case of wholesale plagiarism. Lynn Monroe & Justin Marriott - Further Plagiarism at CamerartsFamous Collectors of Paperbackland: James Doig interviews Graeme Flanagan. As ever, for subscription details etc, contact the Fanatic Megastore. Thanks, Justin!
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Post by dem bones on Mar 19, 2015 16:36:57 GMT
Initial thoughts on issue 31. Will begin with the piece on John Newton Howitt, whose macabre artwork first turned me on to the joys of the shudder pulps. The Gothic heroine in peril never had such a terrible time of it as when Howitt took to his easel. The story titles may have been (in the main) a huge come on, but you'd not know that from his paintings. Howitt specialised in bogus Satan worshippers, slobbering sex maniacs, and murder-crazed bridegrooms - usually after they'd been spiked with "the virus of idiocy" or some-such medicinal miracle - tormenting the girl in the red dress with whichever sharp instrument came to hand. Justin suspects that Howitt was ashamed of his work for the Red Circle mags which might be the case although he wasn't so disgusted as to deny his creations a signature of sorts (the letter 'H'). It seems Howitt only moved from the slicks to the lurid pulps out of financial necessity which likely explains why, in the late 'thirties, he abandoned the scene the minute the Saturday Evening Post and advertising commissions picked up (although, admittedly, just like his girlie's, Horror Stories, Terror Tales & Co. were by then already facing the chop). Also, according to David Saunders at Field Guide To Wild American Pulp Artists, Howitt's wife Bertha, was no fan of the 'Sex & Sadism' titles, so his torture-laden canvases for same must have really cheered her up. Sobering thought, but, had it not been for the depression, perhaps JNH would not have wasted a lick of paint on such nightmare visions! Thoroughly enjoyed the Ballantine content, in particular the thoughtful review of Daniel P. Maddix's autobiographical Memoirs Of A Sword Swallower (a new one on me) and the guided tour of the Chamber Of Horrors series, showcasing the surreal cover artwork of Richard Powers. Editor Justin tackles all of the books, some, admittedly, in more depth than others, with the great John Keir Cross's truncated The Other Passenger, Don Congdon's erotic selection Tales Of Love And Horror, Zacherley's Vulture Stew and the (imo) very patchy Things With Claws among those awarded gold bonking stars. Really, its only Calvin T. Beck's uninspired selection of cobweb-strewn classics, The Frankenstein Reader, gets a real drubbing, although, even if it's not among his consistently great collections, I still reckon there's much to recommend H. R. Wakefield's The Clock Strikes Twelve. Having struggled through the over-generous twenty-five story Faber version of Basil Davenport's Deals With The Devil, I think those who settled for the slimline (twelve story) Ballantine got the better end of the deal. Justin & Darrin Venticinque's Paperbacks From The Black Lagoon - Sci-fi tie-ns is this issue's personal "not really my thing." As with previous "not really my things," on flicking through the gallery I realised that, not only are a number of these books familiar to me (albeit in their UK editions), I've read - and enjoyed - a number of 'em, including Queen Kong, Piranha, The Medusa Touch, The Thing, The Incredible Melting Man, and The Omega Man (in it's familiar I Am Legend incarnation). Fuck me, the final humiliation. I'm turning saucerhead! Later ... Still with #31, and very pleased to see the return of Graham Andrews' 'Fit to be tied' column (it doesn't mean what you think it means), this one celebrating the mysterious Barry Wells's novelisation of early 'sixties "it could happen - soon!" global catastrophe flick, The Day The Earth Caught Fire. And just when you think your impossible wants list can't take another pounding, up pops Nigel Taylor alerting us to the joys of Steve Hart's The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad .... it's the curse of the paperback dependent that if the subject matter doesn't get you, the cover art sure will, but just to make sure, some helpful soul has to pen a review that makes it all sound so interesting, you wonder how you survived this long without it. The magnificently preposterous melting astronaut on the front, an E.S. ' Boys Will Be Boys' Turner relative obscurity on the back, and still the fanatical mailbag to trawl through. But all I can think of right now is Sinbad, bloody Sinbad. Let's jump to #32 .....
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droogie
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 100
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Post by droogie on Mar 20, 2015 11:56:52 GMT
Hello,
If anybody out there has a copy of Spiderweb they are willing to sell (the Phantom edition featured on the cover of Issue #32), I am highly interested in buying it. Please contact me. Top dollar (or Quid) paid! Thanks.
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Post by jamesdoig on Mar 20, 2015 21:06:37 GMT
Justin Marriott (ed.) - Paperback Fanatic #32 (March 2015) Dedication to Graeme Flanagan Justin Marriott - Michel Parry: The great man remembered. Justin Marriott - Leave A Light On For Me: Gothic Romance! Justin Marriott & Bill Thom - The Shadow Knows: The shrouded crimebuster in paperback. Graeme Flanagan & James Doig - Phantom Books: The Australian Series: Aus pulp! Lynn Monroe - Shell Scott Versus Sleaze; The man in white's toughest day in court tackling a case of wholesale plagiarism. Lynn Monroe & Justin Marriott - Further Plagiarism at CamerartsFamous Collectors of Paperbackland: James Doig interviews Graeme Flanagan. I should say Justin is a fine bloke and did his usual brilliant job putting this issue together - I know Graeme was pleased with it and had the proofs printed out in colour.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 21, 2015 19:25:59 GMT
I should say Justin is a fine bloke and did his usual brilliant job putting this issue together - I know Graeme was pleased with it and had the proofs printed out in colour. It's good to hear that Graeme got to see the results of his labours as the substantial Flanagan-Doig contribution is the pick of another superb issue. Am still working on my trademark rubbish commentary (don't wait up), but here's another Howitt snippet. John Newton Howitt Sometime in the 'nineties, 21st Century Archives published a set of weird fiction trading cards including this one. On back is a short piece on JNH which concludes: Although Howitt has been acclaimed the greatest artist in depicting the horrors of modern urban life, he hated his own artwork. He fled the magazine as soon as he was able and later burned all of his acclaimed paintings."
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Post by pulphack on Mar 21, 2015 19:30:50 GMT
Completely unexpected double issue, and tremendously varied stuff. Having an interview with Graeme Flanagan and the Phantom checklist was a fine tribute to the time and work he put into cataloguing and loving the paperback. He'll be missed, even by those who never met him. The checklist and the scans were wonderful stuff, as were the scans for Playtime, even though I'd never read one of those. The article on plagarism was, however, fascinating. An interesting sidelight was the idea that some writers probably self-plagarise when they are as prolific as the adult p/b hacks. I was reading Edgar Wallace's 'The Missing Million' last week, and although it's a decent prime period EW (1923), it really is very similar in parts to some of his other books from this decade. Beyond formula, and a bit like Richard Allen in his Skinhead books, you find the same sentences and paragraphs recurring as the speeding writer pulls something out of the back brain without realising its there because he'd already written it a few books back...
Anyway, I surprised my self by liking the article of gothics, although I wouldn't generally read them. I have read some in the past, and the good ones are worth mentioning for their atmospheric qualities: also, at the risk of giving Dem a conniption fit, they really are the forerunner of the paranormal romance... For better or worse...
Excellent Steranko galleries, but I have to say although the NEL Shadows were muddy by comparison, I have a soft spot for them as the first three I ever read were the first three NEL reissues, which I picked up quite close together at the end of the 80's. I was surprised to find they were relatively hard to get as I saw many copies floating about at that point! Should have bought them and waited for ebay to be invented...
Little to add to the Michel Parry piece except to say that it was a really nice tribute to a man I only met twice, but who did actually make an impression on me.
As I've been going about this arse about face, now to 31! Graham Andrew's piece on The Day The Earth Caught Fire was excellent: I love the film, and he also points out that a good novelisation can add to the movie if it has scenes that were later cut - an appposite example of this is a scene at the start of John Burke's 'Dad's Army' film tie-in that adds so much to the characterisation and lifts the book above being a quick cash-in. The same writer kind of proves Graham's supposition about writers working on early draft scripts as his novelisation of the ITC series The Adventurer has a character named Parminter have distinctly different physical and personal characteristics from the way he was played by Barry Morse in the series.
The sf tie-ins were a trip back into nostalgia as I read loads of these back in the day, and stirred me to want to revisit even though it must be nearly twenty years since I pursued them. Which kind of links to the Harryhausen/Sinbad piece, as it was interesting even though it's years since I saw the movies and would in all likelihood pass up any books I saw.
Ballantine horrors, Mr Newton Howitt and the artistrs assemble pieces had some great scans, but the real meat for me was the piece on Ballantine non-fiction and then the piece about Daniel P Mannix. Mannix is a fascinating figure, and thank you Justin for maybe turning more people on to him, as he gets somewhat sidelined even though his oeuvre (ooh!) is pretty much unique. The Ballantines had great graphic covers that would certainly have hooked me then and now, but then I've always been a sucker for that kind of non-fiction. Like Dem, ES Turner's Boys Will Be Boys has been a touchstone tome for me, and I have also read The Shocking History Of Advertising, which is a splendid and fascinating book. I didn't know he'd written one about medics and medicine, which I note from the scans, and will now be looking out for.
Two great and varied issues, and it still tickles me to think that the dusty old Punch writer Turner was promoted as something slightly shocking and salacious by his American publisher!
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Post by mcannon on Mar 25, 2015 9:13:39 GMT
Justin Marriott (ed.) - Paperback Fanatic #32 (March 2015) Dedication to Graeme Flanagan Justin Marriott - Michel Parry: The great man remembered. Justin Marriott - Leave A Light On For Me: Gothic Romance! Justin Marriott & Bill Thom - The Shadow Knows: The shrouded crimebuster in paperback. Graeme Flanagan & James Doig - Phantom Books: The Australian Series: Aus pulp! Lynn Monroe - Shell Scott Versus Sleaze; The man in white's toughest day in court tackling a case of wholesale plagiarism. Lynn Monroe & Justin Marriott - Further Plagiarism at CamerartsFamous Collectors of Paperbackland: James Doig interviews Graeme Flanagan. I should say Justin is a fine bloke and did his usual brilliant job putting this issue together - I know Graeme was pleased with it and had the proofs printed out in colour. Lovely to hear that, James. I'm currently out of the country (on a cruise boat on the Rhine - it's a tough life) , but I'm assuming that my copy will have arrived at home by now. Looking forward to reading it when I arrive home in a fortnight! Mark
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Post by dem bones on Mar 29, 2015 17:16:56 GMT
So much to commend #32, most notably Justin and James' respective tributes to Michel Parry and Graeme Flanagan. When Mr. Fanatic first suggested a 'Famous Collectors of Paperbackland' column I was set against it, wary that it could and eventually would turn into an "I've got more books than you" pissing contest but the interview with Graeme ain't like that at all. I find it incredible that he managed to compile his Australian Vintage Paperback Guide pre-internet (which probably explains the relative lack of mistakes). The exhaustive Phantom Books biblio/ cover gallery must surely be the most epic single article ever to appear in PF outside of the Nel and Bruce Pennington special booklets. Finally an article on Gothic Romance. I hope those horror fans who dismiss this stuff as purely for girls and softies feel suitably chastised! Mr. Fanatic rightly highlights several Weird Tales legends whose work was improbably repackaged or even written specifically for the Gothic Romance market and other gems that come readily to mind include David Case's Fengriffen, J. U. Nicolson's Fingers Of Fear, Petrina Crawford's Seeds Of Evil and Sidney Horler's beyond lunatic The Curse Of Doone). It's redundant to add that the article comes accompanied by a gorgeous mini-gallery (this is Paperback Fanatic: what else would we expect?). Can only endorse Justin's recommendation that those who may have had their curiosity aroused consult the terrific My Love Haunted-Heart blog. Lynn Monroe's article on the mass plagiarism of Richard L. Prather's 'Shell Scott' novels is astonishing in that it continued for so long - and on such an industrial scale - without his being alerted to it earlier. It's the sort of wholesale pirating I'd assumed went out with the least salubrious publishers of the penny dreadfuls!
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Post by dem bones on Apr 1, 2015 21:03:32 GMT
Like Dem, ES Turner's Boys Will Be Boys has been a touchstone tome for me, and I have also read The Shocking History Of Advertising, which is a splendid and fascinating book. I didn't know he'd written one about medics and medicine, which I note from the scans, and will now be looking out for. Two great and varied issues, and it still tickles me to think that the dusty old Punch writer Turner was promoted as something slightly shocking and salacious by his American publisher! A few E. S. Turner titbits. Boys Will Be Boys. Amazingly, you can download a pdf of the 1948 original in its entirety from the devilishly addictive Friardale Boys Comics site. Here's the direct link (you've Chrissie to thank for finding it!) Boys Will Be Boys. pdfRe: The Shocking History of Ballantine Non-fiction. I'm afraid Ballatine didn't "sex up" the title of Turner's A History Of Courting (originally Michael Joseph, 1954). It was always known under that name!
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Post by Michael Connolly on Aug 5, 2017 13:19:51 GMT
Like Dem, ES Turner's Boys Will Be Boys has been a touchstone tome for me, and I have also read The Shocking History Of Advertising, which is a splendid and fascinating book. I didn't know he'd written one about medics and medicine, which I note from the scans, and will now be looking out for. Two great and varied issues, and it still tickles me to think that the dusty old Punch writer Turner was promoted as something slightly shocking and salacious by his American publisher! A few E. S. Turner titbits. Boys Will Be Boys. Amazingly, you can download a pdf of the 1948 original in its entirety from the devilishly addictive Friardale Boys Comics site. Here's the direct link (you've Chrissie to thank for finding it!) Boys Will Be Boys. pdfRe: The Shocking History of Ballantine Non-fiction. I'm afraid Ballatine didn't "sex up" the title of Turner's A History Of Courting (originally Michael Joseph, 1954). It was always known under that name! On p.132 of Boys Will Be Boys, Sexton Blake's housekeeper Mrs Bardell refers to Emmeline Pankhurst as "the great Mrs. Spankhard"! Hmmmm.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 7, 2017 7:32:49 GMT
On p.132 of Boys Will Be Boys, Sexton Blake's housekeeper Mrs Bardell refers to Emmeline Pankhurst as "the great Mrs. Spankhard"! Hmmmm. Have been trying to identify that story for years - anyone know? If only EST had provided us with a title! That particular entry Mrs Bardell's brush with the Suffragettes - and Blake's uncompromiising response - provided the inspiration for .... this, but Mr. Turner wasn't to know and you can't hang a man for it. Of possible relevance to Crom's Dark They Were And Golden Eyed thread, hardback edition (sans jacket) of Boys Will Be Boys was among the very first books I bought. A junkshop opened on Mellish Street, Isle of Dogs. Proprietor, another Dave, had converted it from an off licence and he acquired hundreds of books as a job lot - his former living room was stacked deep with them. One day I realised that at his prices - 10p a go - it was cheaper to buy a book each day than the daily newspaper. First visit, I came away with Boys Will Be Boys, Elsa Lee's novelisation of The Masque Of The Red Death and a Penguin edition of M. R. J.'s Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary. When Dave retired, his premises received a makeover courtesy of Channel 4 who reinvented it as a chip shop in 1986 TV drama Prospects. Boys Will Be Boys proved as influential a book as I ever read. Opening chapter made Gothic lit sound so exciting but where could you get hold of this stuff? A trip to Books etc on Fenchurch Street turned up an OUP edition of The Monk (The Sphere, Elak and Wordsworth editions may have the more sensational covers, but, trust me, this is the version to read). Two Jays provided copies of Peter Haining's Great British Tales Of Terror and Ann Radcliffe's Udolpho, and dear Dave chipped in again with treasured Alan Hull Walton Corgi edition of Justine. The tiny Cubitt Town Libary - which I came to haunt - had Peter Haining's Terror! (triggering enduring fascination with the shudder pulps) Up and running! So, in a round about way, I'm wondering what were the game changers for you? What book(s) transformed you from - I guess - casual reader to obsessive compulsive bookaholic?
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