March 2020 – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

News March 27, 2020

News Digest March 27, 2020

Digest and Book Reviews
Gamma Science Fiction Feb. 1965 reviewed by Mx. Kris Vyas-Myall at Galactic Journey.

Borderline by Lawrence Block reviewed by Jeff Vorzimmer on Goodreads.

Black Coal by Chris McGinley reviewed by Rusty Barnes at Tough Crime.

Fantastic April 1965 reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf at Galactic Journey.

Digest Blogs
Fate magazine is offering lots of back issues: 5 for $22.95; 10 for $34.95; and 20 for $55.95

Dare Segun Falowo on his story “Kikelomo Ultrasheen” at Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Steven Torres on his story “The Care of Widows and Orphans” at Trace Evidence.

Sean Monaghan Q&A at The Astounding Analog Companion.

Preston Lang lists the “Top Eight Jazz Pianists in Film Noir” at Something is Going to Happen.

Pulp Literature is offering 25% off anything in their online shop.

Readin’ and Writin’
Michael Bracken provides background for his short stories for a number of Josh Pachter’s anthologies at SleuthSayers.

And speaking of Michael Bracken, I finished reading his series (co-edited with Trey R. Barker), Tacos + Guns Season One episodes four to six. Published by Down & Out Books, the stories were originally released as ebooks to subscribers. When the season ended the stories were collected into a two-volume set in print. (Subscribers received a bonus story in Vol. 2 “Platanos Con Lechera and a Snub-Nosed .38” by Mr. Bracken.) The original ebooks and print books (sans bonus) are available from Down & Out and elsewheres. Highly recommended.

Volume One: Gary Phillips, Michael Bracken, and Frank Zafiro.
Volume Two: Trey R. Barker, William Dylan Powell, and James A. Hearn.

On the publishing side of things, I completed the initial story layouts for Pulp Modern Vol. 2 No. 5 this week. Now, illustrator Ran Scott is busy creating story illustrations. so we need to be patient and give him the time and space he needs to complete his part.

Steve Carper wrote a fascinating article about Photoplay Digests, and sent along an excellent collection of cover images for the next issue of The Digest Enthusiast. These are old magazines, so the images require quite a bit of retouch, which I spent several hours working on this week, work that will spill over into next week as well.

Vintage Crime Digest
Verdict Vol. 1 No. 3 August 1953
Despite his name on the cover, there isn’t a story by Frank Kane inside this issue.

Contents Page
Raymond Chandler “Bay City Blues”
Cornell Woolrich “You Take Ballistics”
Damon Runyon “Big Boy Blues” art by Rus Anderson
Anthony Boucher “QL 696. C9” (Nick Noble)
Rex Stout “Fer-De-Lance” (Part 3 of 5)(Nero Wolfe)
William Lindsay Gresham “A Heart Condition” art by Tom O’Sullivan
Bruno Fischer “No Escape!” art by Tom O’Sullivan
Craig Rice “The Dead Mr. Duck” (John J. Malone)
Leonard S. Grey “What’s Your Verdict? No. 2”

Verdict Vol. 1 No. 3 Verdict 1953
Published monthly by Flying Eagle Publications, Inc.
Editor: John McCloud
Managing Editor: E.A. Tulman
Art Director: Chas. W. Adams
Editorial Assistant: Hal Walker
Business Magager: R.E. Decker
5.5” x 7.75” 144 pages 35¢

News March 20, 2020

News Digest March 20, 2020

March Releases
Fantasy & Science Fiction Mar/Apr 2020
Contents Pages
Dare Segun Falowo “Kikelomo Ultrasheen”
SL Huang “The Million-Mile Sniper”
Matthew Hughes “The Last Legend”
Charles de Lint’s Books to Look For
–Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
–A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker
–I Know What I Saw by Linda S. Godfrey
–In the Heart of the Fire by Dean Koontz
–Photographing the Dead by Dean Koontz
–The Praying Mantis Bride by Dean Koontz
–Red Rain by Dean Koontz
–The Mercy of Snake by Dean Koontz
–Memories of Tomorrow by Dean Koontz
–Women of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television by Karen A. Romanko
–Mingus Fingers by Jacob Weisman
Elizabeth Hand’s Books
–Ormeshadow by Priya Sharma
–The Muders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson
–The Survival of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson
–A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney
Ian Tregillis “Come the Revolution”
John Possidente “Red Sword of the Celiac”
Lauren McBride “To My Shipmates at Journey’s End” (verse)
Amman Sabet “Say You’re Sorry”
Gregor Hartmann “A Solitary Crane Circles Cold Mountain”
Deborah L. Davitt “4 Vesta” (verse)
Amanda Hollander “A Feast of Butterflies”
David J. Skal’s Films: Wet Screams
Jerry Oltion’s Science: Natural Disasters in Utopia
William Ledbetter “Hungry Is the Earth”
Elizabeth Bear “Hacksilver”
Brian Trent “Death on the Nefertem Express”
James Patrick Kelly “The Man I Love”
Coming Attractions
F&SF Market Place
Graham Andrews’ Curiosities: Public Faces by Harold Nicolson (1932)

Fantasy & Science Fiction Vol. 138 No. 3 and 4, No. 748, Mar/Apr 2020
Publisher: Gordon Van Gelder
Editor: C.C. Finlay
Assistant Publishers: Barbara J. Norton, Keith Kahla
Assistant Editors: Robin O’Connor, Stephen L. Mazur, Lisa Rogers
Contests Editor: Carol Pinchefsky
Cover: Mondolithic Studios
Cartoons: Arthur Masear, Kendra Allenby, Mark Heath, Nick Downes
258 pages, $8.99 on newsstands until May 4, 2020
Fantasy & Science Fiction website

Hard Case Crime released Are Snakes Necessary? by Brian De Palma and Susan Lehman on March 17, 2020. Hardcover $22.99 Kindle $7.99 from amazon.

Digest and Book Reviews
Repo Shark by Cody Goodfellow reviewed by J.D. Graves at EconoClash Review.

The premise of “single paragraph book reviews” seems apt for this age of browsing. The March 15th review at Mostly Old Books and Rust features Thunder Wagon by James Reasoner and L.J. Washburn.

Worlds of Tomorrow May 1965 reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf at Galactic Journey.

Hell Chose Me by Angel Luis Colon reviewed by Matthew X. Gomez at EconoClash Review.

Fantasy & Science Fiction April 1965 reviewed by Gideon Marcus on Galactic Journey.

Digest Blogs
Beth Dawkins’ Q&A at The Astounding Analog Companion.

Paul Charles on “Jumping Off a Diving Board” at EQMM’s Something is Going to Happen.

John Possidente on “Red Sword of the Celiac” at Fantasty & Science Fiction.

Interviews
Art Taylor at Washington Independent Review of Books.

Free Online Fiction
“The Man Who Wouldn’t” by Joseph S. Walker on ToughCrime.

Free Newsletter
The American Bystander is standing by at home with too much time on their hands, so they’ve created Bystander’s Quarantine Cavalcade. Subscribe here.

Readin’ and Writin’
Alec Cizak added several of the earliest issues of Pulp Modern to Magzter this week. Of course, all of our joint issues from Volume Two are there as well.

And speaking of Pulp Modern, all the stories have been selected for the next issue. I’ll be working on layouts for the final three this weekend.

Finished reading and made notes on the second issue of Fotocrime for my article for the next issue of The Digest Enthusiast. Part of my research included reading True Crime, True North, full review here. Since the book’s focus is Canadian true crime magazines, it’s not directly relevant to Fotocrime, but seeing how the authors approached their topic was useful. Also exchanged a series of emails with John Shirley about Weirdbook No. 42, to provide readers with the backstory on the issue.

Also read Guns + Tacos Volume One, but I write more about that next week.

Vintage Crime Digest
Verdict Vol. 1 No. 2 July 1953
Contents Page
Cornell Woolrich “All at Once, No Alice” art by Tom O’Sullivan
H.H. Holmes “The Stripper” art by R. Cossette
Dorothy B. Hughes “Homecoming”
Henry Kane “Kudos for the Kid” art by Tom O’Sullivan
Francis Lewis “Has Anybody Here Slain Kely?”
Samuel Blas “Revenge”
Rex Stout “Fer-De-Lance” (Part 2 of 5)
Bruno Fischer “The Man Who Lost His Head”
Frank Kane “Suicide”
Leonard S. Grey “What’s Your Verdict?”

Verdict Vol. 1 No. 1 June 1953
Published monthly by Flying Eagle Publications, Inc.
Editor: John McCloud
Managing Editor: E.A. Tulman
Art Director: Chas. W. Adams
Business Magager: R.E. Decker
5.5” x 7.75” 144 pages 35¢

Reviews March 18, 2020

True Crime, True North

True Crime, True North by Carolyn Strange and Tina Loo
The authors use the term “pulp magazine” throughout the text, and even on the cover, but this volume focuses exclusively on true crime stories, not pulp fiction. Although I’m unable to verify the size of the magazines included, they appear to be full size periodicals, not the traditional pulp-size standard on newsstands below the border. Those points aside, Strange and Loo provide a useful overview of the Canadian true crime magazines of the mid-1940s through the mid-1950s, when Canadian publishers rose to fill the void when Canadian importation of non-essential goods began in 1940, including magazines.

Strange and Loo devote their attention to the magazines’ content, its sources (newspapers and police files), advertisements, and the portrayal of the law (moral, righteous, exemplary) and the lawless (greedy, ruthless, unfaithful). “The 1940s was a transitional period: It was a time when brazenly sexual cover imagery promised more than it delivered. In fact, stories about ‘perverted’ sexual violence were rare and sketchy. Those few stories published in the Canadian pulps . . . adhered to the industry’s unwritten code of propriety, steering clear of frank and lurid accounts of sexual violence that dominate in today’s true crime writing. Canadian writers wanting to explore ‘the sex perversion angle’ had to seek out U.S. publishers, such as Ace and Dell.”

From this book, I gather that Canadian true crime writers were typically given credit for their stories, whereas down south, it seems the more sensational of the American true crime magazines usually left their stories anonymous. The design of True Crime, True North is excellent and takes great advantage of the sexy, sensationalistic covers of the magazines, most often displaying them in color. The volume closes with a bibliography of references. Overall it’s a fine history of a subject rarely covered.

Suggestions for future editions:
More information on publishers.
A list of titles, including publication dates, number of issues, and magazine sizes.
Audience: who bought and read these magazines?
Add a few interior spreads from the magazines. To what extent did the publishers use police file photos or reenactments with models?

News March 13, 2020

News Digest March 13, 2020

The Beat of Black Wings editor: Josh Pachter

The Beat of Black Wings, an anthology of crime fiction stories inspired by the music of Joni Mitchell, launches on April 7, 2020. Many of Mitchell’s classics are represented: “Both Sides, Now” by Art Taylor and Tara Laskowski, “Big Yellow Taxi” by Kathryn O’Sullivan, “River” by Stacy Woodson, “Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire” by Donna Andrews, “The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines” by Amber Sparks, “Ray’s Dad’s Cadillac” by Michael Bracken, etc. The collection was edited by Josh Pachter. The book will be released on April 7, 2020. Preorders are available in Hardcover $29.75, Softcover $19.55, and Kindle $5.99.

Steve Davidson reviews the premier episode of the new Amazing Stories series on AppleTV+ on, what else, the Amazing Stories blog.

Gideon Marcus examines Galaxy April 1965 at Galactic Journey.

John Boston does likewise for Amazing April 1965 also at Galactic Journey.

Tough Crime: “Walker’s Hollow” by John Floyd.

Q&A with Derek Kunsken at The Astounding Analog Companion.

Ian Tregillis on “Come the Revolution” (F&SF Mar/Apr 2020) at Fantasy & Science Fiction blog.

Jack Bunker writes about his debut with “Active Shooter” in the Mar/Apr 2020 issue of EQMM at Something is Going to Happen.

Read J.D. (EconoClash Review) Graves’ latest Flash Fiction “Trojan H” at Shotgun Honey.

March 2020 Digests
Nostalgia Digest Spring 2020
Contents
Steve Darnall “Hello, Out There in Radioland!”
A Few Moments with . . . Chuck Schaden
Chuck Schaden “Those Were the (Early) Days” (cover story)
“Those Were the Dates” Ten pivotal moments from the 50-year history of Those Were the Days.
Necrology for 2019
Laura Milbraith Stewart “All in the Families” (Tina Cole)
Dan McGuire “At This Theatre Next Week” Chapter Two
Stone Wallace “Everybody Loves Raymond” (Raymond Burr)
Greg Kreinberg “The Daly News”
Wayne Klatt “A Free Soul” (Jean Arthur)
Mail Call

Plus, the Radio Program Guide for Those Were the Days and WGN Radio Theatre

Nostalgia Digest Book 46 Chapter 2 Spring 2020
Editor: Steve Darnall
5.5” x 8.5” 64 pages, b&w interior
$4.50 on newsstands
Four-issue subscription $17
Eight-issue subscription $30
Nostalgia Digest website

Readin’ and Writin’
Finished the audio book of The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells. First published in 1896, Moreau is a science fiction classic. Its concept isn’t as revolutionary in 2020 as 1896, but for its era it must have been horrific and shocking. Even today, the prose is terrific, my favorite parts were Wells’ fastidious descriptions of his animal hybrids.

Also immensely enjoyed the print edition of Weirdbook No. 42, a special all John Shirley issue, edited by Doug Draa. A triumphant collection of short stories and poetry capped by a sword and sorcery epic that wraps the volume with an enthralling finale.

I completed reading and making notes on the first issue of Fotocrime this week. Still lots to do but it feels good to get this article for TDE12 started.

Rick McCollum sent the cover art for the next issue of Pulp Modern which should see release sometime this Spring. I loved Rick’s artwork for the last PM and the current TDE, but I gotta say, I think this is the best one yet. It’s based on a story called “Ghost Town.”

PM editor, Alec Cizak, has selected another two stories for the issue, so I’ll be working on layout for those over the next few days.

Vintage Crime Digest
Verdict Vol. 1 No. 1 June 1953
Contents Page
Rex Stout “Fer-De-Lance” (Part 1 of 5)
Craig Rice “His Heart Could Break” (John J. Malone) art by R. Cossette
Dan Stoup’s Tricks of the Trade: Fingerprints
Henry Kane “A Glass of Milk”
Steve Fisher “Goodbye Hannah”
Chester B. Himes “Marihuana and a Pistol” art by R. Cossette
Fredric Brown “Don’t Look Behind You”
Edward Clark’s Crime Firsts: The La Rosa Case
Raymond Chandler “Trouble Is My Business”

News March 6, 2020

News Digest March 6, 2020

Gideon Marcus reviews Analog March 1965 at Galactic Journey.

Essa Hansen answers a few questions about her story “Save, Salve, Shelter” (F&SF J/F 2020) on the Fantasy & Science Fiction blog.

J.M. Landels, Managing Editor of Pulp Literature shares a draft of “The Queen of Swords” via Google Docs.

Hats off to Steve Alcorn of Writing Academy for his 5-Star review of The Digest Enthusiast No. 11 on amazon. He notes the upgrade to full color and the timeline of Leo Margulies’ digests, which I had fun putting together. The visual helps understand when each title appeared in relationship to each other. Turns out Steve was a big fan of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Matthew X. Gomez reviews Rusty Barnes’ Kraj the Enforcer. Scotch Rutherford describes it: “Kraj is a human wrecking ball, hiding a tactical mindset, along with his sense of humor.” The collection of fourteen stories is detailed on the EconoClash Review blog.

Fiction Market Window April 15–25
“Submissions for Switchblade reopen on tax day, for a 10 day window. April 15–25. Crime/Noir short Fiction (2k-4.5k), Flash (up to 1k), and Noir poetry (3 pages max). This will be the only submissions call this year for regular issues. We’ll be filling Issues 12 and 13. (issue 12 will be out in June, 13 will arrive in October) Please see our guidelines at switchblademag.com.

“Remember that Switchblade is a no limit gutter noir mag. We publish the stuff no one else will. Not the best of the best. Switchblade is the lowest of the low. (wouldn’t have it any other way) You don’t see “lit” in the title, do you? Right. And you won’t find our authors listing their literary agents in their bios. If you’re working on your Rizzoli&Isles style commercial novel for the NY5, but would like to slum with us, remember this: gutter noir will always get preference. Vulgarity (something other mags despise), words you’re not supposed to use, amoral protagonists–these are tools you can utilize to forge outlaw fiction. Ten days is a big submissions window for us. There will be a lot of competition. Good storytelling about dark corners, bad people, and worse situations to the front.”

C.C. Finlay announces the March/April edition of Fantasy & Science Fiction and hightlights its contents on the F&SF blog.

Likewise, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine announces their March/April lineup on Trace Evidence.

Tony Gleeson will be signing books and artwork at the upcoming Vintage Paperback Collectors’ Show in Glendale, CA on Sunday, March 8, 2020.

Mystery Weekly Magazine No. 55 March 2020 is now available, with stories by Scott Forbes Crawford, Denise Robbins, E.R. Brown, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, L.A. Wilson, Jr., Andrew McAleer, and a You-Solve-It by Eric B. Ruark. MWM is published by Chuck Carter, and edited by Kerry Carter. Cover by Robin Grenville-Evans. Kindle $2.99 (Print edition coming soon)

“The Big Ticket” by Stefen Styrsky was published online this week at Tough Crime.

Amman Sabet’s “Say You’re Sorry” is a story about the power that apologies hold over us. For more about it, see the Fantasy & Science Fiction blog.

Weirdbook No. 42, the special John Shirley issue is now available. The issue includes a novel, five short stories, and five poems by John Shirley. Editor Doug Draa introduces the issue with resounding praise for the author’s work, “Mr. Shirley has such sights to show you!” Supporting imagery by Allen Koszowski and John Betancourt—plus a wraparound cover by Fotolia. Print $12.00

David Levinson takes the April 1965 issue of Worlds of If on a Galactic Journey.

Brenda Kalt talks about her story “Lemonade Stand” in the March/April issue of Analog on the The Astounding Analog Companion.

Edith Maxwell stars a hyperpolyglot in her story “One Too Many” (EQMM Mar/Apr 2020). Read more on Something is Going to Happen.

Matthew Hughes gives insights into “The Last Legend” in the Mar/Apr 2020 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Readin’ and Writin’
Best of the Small Magazines: John O’Neill provides a detailed overview of The Digest Enthusiast No. 11, Pulp Modern: Tech Noir, and Weird Fiction Review No. 9 on Black Gate.

Mike Chomko Books and Modern Age Books are both stocked with copies of the full color print edition of The Digest Enthusiast No. 11.

Read The Living End by Frank Kane (Black Gat Books No. 22) this week. One of Kane’s standalone novels. It details the rise and roil of sociopath Eddie Marlon as he corrupts his way to success in the music business of the late 1950s. A roadmap for an insecure egomaniac whose inflated sense of entitlement and grievance grants him license to destroy any challenger or lackey who fails to kowtow. He strikes back tenfold to the few who defy his commands, doing his best worst to destroy their careers and lives. But this is fiction, so comeuppance is more easily dealt on the page than its real life reflection.

Started work on an article about Fotocrime, a pocket-size true crime magazine from 1954/55. The last time I wrote about a true crime book was for the debut issue of TDE, on The Big Story.

From the Vault
I believe this is the final issue of this digest’s remarkable twelve-issue run. Several times I’ve been surprised by the writers who show up in its pages. This final issue is no exception with Fredric C. Wertham, M.D.

True Crime Detective Vol. 3 No. 4 Fall 1953
Contents Page
Kevin Wallace “The Great Screwball Bank Robbery”
Frank Mullady “The Red Circle Murders”
Monster of Monsters:
I The Question: The Kidnapping of Grace Budd by Capt. John Ayers & Carol Bird
II The Answer: The Sanity of Albert Fish by Fredric C. Wertham, M.D.
Stuart Palmer “The Ministering Angel”
Forbes Parkhill “The Strange World of Alex Miller”
Verdict of Two: a book review department by The Editors
Edgar Lustgarten “Small H, Mr. Pigott!”
Irwin Ross “Boom in Counterfeiting”
Robert Tallant “I’m Fit as a Fiddle and Ready to Hang”

Publisher: Lawrence E. Spivak
Editors: Anthony Boucher, J. Francis McComas
General Manager: Joseph W. Ferman
Managing Editor: Robert P. Mills
Advisory Editor: Charles Angoff
Art Director: George Salter
Cover: Uncredited, but likely Dirone Photography from “I’m Fit as a Fiddle and Ready to Hang”
5.5” x 7.75” 128 pages 35¢