'Men of Violence Books' on Kindle

[ripper]

While browsing Amazon I came upon 3 Kindle titles published by 'Men of Violence Books.' They were:

Trigger Man 4: Brains for Brunch by Bruno Scarpetta
Super Cop Joe Blitz: The Psycho Killers by Nelson T. Novak
John Falcon Infiltrator 7: Hollow Earth by Edward Paulsen

Each is copyrighted 2014 or 2015, but has an original copyright date of 1974 or 1975. I know that Justin published a number of 'Men of Violence' magazines and I was wondering if anyone knew if these 3 Kindle books were connected to him in some way.

[andydecker]

A peek into the novels reveal that this is (maybe) a Marksman/Sharpshooter, a Ryker and a John Eagle Expeditor. Names are changed. I only have the Expeditor. Will look into it tomorrow, but this doesn't sounds like the original #7. Afaik no writer worked for all three series, and they are quite well documented who wrote what.

Someone wrote three pastiches? Found unpublished manuscripts but couldn't get the copyright? A baffling discovery, ripper.

[ripper]

Thanks, Andy. I will be interested to see what you think. I just couldn't make up my mind about them. I presume, then, that Justin has no connection to these titles on Kindle.

[andydecker]

I checked the Expeditor books. Infiltrator #7 is not Expeditor #7, at least not the first two chapters, and None of the others. But the setting is definetly a Expeditor. Instead of Mr. Merlin, the mastermind in the wheelchair living in Hawaii, and his secretary Polly Perkins, you have Mr. Magus and Molly Merkin (insert groan).

The other book is obviously the Sharpshooter/Marksman. There is a lot of material about these two series, the newest the excellent checklist by Lynn Monroe. Not to mention the great article in one of Justins PF. Basically this was a Executioner rip-off done by Peter McCurtin and some other guys for Belmont Tower and Leisure, which is interesting because McCurtin just changed the name of the hero in some novels to have something to publish. Only that some names got overlooked, so the name of the hero changes from page to page. I am not familiar with this series, but it is a safe bet that "Johnny Larock" is none other then Philip Magellan/Johnny Rock.

The third has the be a novel of the Supercop Joe Blaze series, here as Super Cop Joe Blitz. Which has a similar convoluted history with the series Ryker.

The writer even kind of spoofs the house-writer names. Paul Edwards becomes Edward Paulsen, Frank Scarpetta and Bruno Rossi becomes Bruno Scarpetta, and Robert Novak becomes Nelson T. Novak. (Nelson because the first Blaze/Ryker were done by Nelson DeMille.)

Maybe I buy these to see if these are pastiches or parodys. Or maybe these are really unpublished books in the series? But I don't think so. Wouldn't somebody write something about this in the usal blogs? At least they sound like fun.

[the paperback fanatic]

Not guilty! 

Based on a quick glance at Amazon these are pastiches, but I will compare the Super Cop Joe Blaze openings (there are four-ish to check out rather than the 40-odd Marksman/Sharpshooters).  I'm just about to e-mail Joe Kenney of Glorious Trash blog to ask him about the three.  I have no idea if it is the work of Joe but.....

I know Joe is a huge fan of authors Len Levinson and Rob Lory, who contributed to/wrote the Marksman/Sharpshooter and John Eagle Expeditor series.  Joe wrote about the Marksman/Sharpshooter for The Fanatic.  He is fascinated by the whole confusing Nelson De Mille bibliography around Ryker/Keller/Super Cop Joe Blaze.  He is also a fan of the Gannon series, and Brains for Brunch is a play on the Gannon book title Blood for Breakfast.  

If it's not Joe, they have definitely been written by someone who knows their stuff.  

[ripper]

Thank you, Andy. Excellent work, my friend. I have only one Sharpshooter novel and none from the other two series. I suspect you are right to think the three books may well be pastiches or parodies. What threw me was the inclusion of the 'original' publication dates of 1974/1975, which made me think at first that they were reprints. I am also tempted to buy one and check it out to see what it is like. I also really ought to buy a few original series books from the mid-1970s. I have one 'Bronson Street Vigilante' book by 'Philip Rawls' and have been trying to get the other two in the series, particularly 'Blind Rage,' which I have read is outrageous, but so far no luck.

Hi Justin. It will be interesting to see what Joe makes of these. Thanks for confirming that you were not connected to them. As I said, I really should try to pick up more of these mid-70s series novels as my collection is woeful at the moment and they do seem to be a lot of un-PC fun.