June 2021 – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

TDE Update June 18, 2021

Vanguard Science Fiction June 1958

Vince Nowell, Sr. delves into Vanguard Science Fiction, a one-shot digest from 1958 in the current issue (No. 14) of The Digest Enthusiast. Here’s a preview:

“Vanguard kicked off with two interplanetary novelettes, one by A. Bertram Chandler (“SOS: Planet Unknown”), and the other by Cyril Kornbluth (“Reap the Dark Tide”). Chandler (b. 1912 in England. d. 1984 in Australia) was a merchant-marine officer who traveled worldwide until he decided to become a (prolific) writer of science fiction. He is a good representative, like Blish, of the carryover of authors from the pulp era.”

Vince’s eight-page article includes an overview of the issue, a healthy serving of background information on its contributors, and a bibliography of its editor, James Blish.

News June 17, 2021

Guilty Crime Story Magazine No. 1

It’s always wonderful to see the debut of a new crime digest—and this one looks very promising. Love the title nod to 1950’s digest Guilty Detective Story Magazine that alternated with Trapped Detective Story Magazine.

Guilty Crime Story Magazine [#1 Summer 2021] ed. Brandon Barrows (Full Speed Publishing, $7.99 print, $3.99 Kindle, 106pp, digest, cover by Jon Grell)
1 • Contents
2 • Midnight at the Oasis • Robb T. White • ss
26 • French Twist • Joe Giordano • ss
34 • Unprincipaled • Stephen Sottong • ss
53 • Give Me a Reason • Brandon Barrows • ss
73 • Bridal Wreath • Jill Hand • ss
81 • Cymbaline • Alec Cizak • ss
95 • Chasing 61 • Bruce Harris • ss
102 • The Famous Last Words of Mickey Spillane • Mike McHone • ar

Guilty Crime Story Magazine website

Contents formatted for inclusion in Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website.
FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.

News June 14, 2021

After That! No. 62

Micah Liesenfeld has released After That! No. 62 featuring an interview with Delaine Derry Green of My Small Diary and Not My Small Diary fame. The conversation is a compilation of an interview with Micah and an earlier exchange with M. Jacob Alvarez. The piece is illustrated with a sampling of Green’s comics and artwork. And after that, several All Art! pages with the participation of M. Jacob Alvarez, Danny Houk, Mike Hill, Bob X, Adam Yeater, Peter Bangs, and Billy McKay.

For your copy contact Micah via pfminimart.com/blog/

TDE Update June 13, 2021

Ed McBain’s Mystery Book No. 3

Jack Seabrook takes a close look at Ed McBain’s Mystery Book No. 3 in the current issue (No. 14) of The Digest Enthusiast. Here’s a preview:

“Ed McBain’s Mystery Magazine is a standard-sized digest (5-1/4” x 7-5/8”), with color front and back covers and black and white interiors. It was published by Pocket Books in New York and ran only three issues. The first two are dated 1960, while the third is dated 1961. The information in issue number three says it was published bi-monthly, so perhaps the first two issues came out in late 1960 and the third in early 1961. Issue three runs 148 pages, including covers. Ed McBain is listed as the editor and Robert Goodney is listed as the managing editor, so it may be the case that McBain was a figurehead and Goodney put the magazine together.”

Jack’s piece is loaded with background information and a complete synopsis of the issue. Artwork includes cover images as well as several interior illustrations from the digest.

News June 12, 2021

Paperback Parade No. 111

Paperback Parade [#111 April 2021](Gryphon Books, $15.00, 100pp, digest)
1 • Contents
2 • Paperback Talk • Gary Lovisi • cl
18 • After Hours Books • Chris Eckhoff • ia
24 • After Hours Books Checklist • Chris Eckhoff • illustrated list
44 • So You Want to Write a Sex Novel? • Jackson Mitchell • ia (Candid Magazine Special Edition #1, 1969)
50 • Lumen Books “Reading For Eternity” • Gary Lovisi • ia
56 • Matchless Paperbacks • Richard Greene • cl
58 • Fritz Leiber Jr. • Jon D. Swartz • ia
68 • Chariot Books: An Interesting Short-Run British Series • Gary Lovisi • ia
74 • Collection Petit Format; or A French Canadian Paperback Series • Jim Fitzpatrick • ia
86 • Boy’s Ace Library • Gary Lovisi • ia
94 • R.I.P. ~ George Segal: Star of Screen & Paperback Covers • Richard Greene • ia

Gryphon Books website

Contents formatted in the style of Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website.
FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.

TDE Update June 11, 2021

Terror Detective Story Magazine

“Terror Detective was the brain-child of uber-publisher Everett “Busy” Arnold, the man responsible for syndicating Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” and launching one of the first comic book publishers, Quality Comics, home of such classics as Plastic Man and Blackhawk.”

For more background and a symopsis of every story that appeared over Terror Detective Story Magazine’s four-issue run, see Peter Enfantino’s analysis in The Digest Enthusiast No. 14, now on sale.
14C (fullcolor print) $20.00 from Lulu.com and Amazon.com
14BW (b&w print) $12 from Amazon.com
14 (full color digital) $4.99 from Amazon.com and Magzter.com

News June 10, 2021

F&SF May/Jun 2021

This second issue with editor Sheree Renée Thomas. The issue must’ve been delayed somewhere in production, an adhesive label was carefully applied to the cover over the original bar code. The update moves the display instructions from what looks like June 20 to June 29.

Fantasy & Science Fiction [v140 #5 & 6, whole #755] ed. Sheree Renée Thomas, assistant eds. Robin O’Connor, Lisa Rogers (Spilogale, Inc., $9.99, 258pp, digest) Cover by David A. Hardy
2 • Content Pages
5 • Letter from the Editor: All That You Touch • Sheree Renée Thomas • ed
9 • A Father’s Hand • Stephanie Kraner • ss
27 • Dontay’s Bones • Danian Darrell Jerry • ss
39 • Goodwill Objects • Nina Kiriki Hoffman • ss
47 • Death’s Coachman • Alan Dean Foster • pm
50 • The World, A Carcass • Rich Larson • nv
85 • Books to Look For • Charles De Lint • rc
_86 • Tooth and Nail, Domino Finn, Blood & Treasure, $9.99, tp * br
_88 • Graves’ Anatomy, Jace Anderson & Adam Gierasch, Nobody Loves an Albatross, $12.99, tp • br
_89 • Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells, Tordotcom, $19.99 hc, $11.99 eb • br
_90 • The Prince and the Troll, Rainbow Rowell, Amazon Original Stories, $1.99, eb • br
_92 • The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, John Garth, Princeton University Press, $29.95, hc • br
94 • Plumage from Pegasus: Mornings are for Commas • Paul Di Filippo • cl
101 • Severed Fruit • Pan Morigan • ss
113 • Red Giant * White Drawf • Derrick Weston Brown • pm
114 • The Un-Awakened • Linda D. Addison • pm
116 • Molly Whuppy • Corey Flintoff • ss
129 • F&SF Competitin #101: Synonymous Winners • Zack Lux, Nigel Parsons • cn
130 • F&SF Competitin #102: Jeopardy! • cn
132 • Babylon System [Lij] • Maurice Broaddus • nv
157 • Drunkard’s Walk • James Enge • ss
173 • Television: The Monsters Within Us • Karin Lowachee • cl
177 • By the Numbers: A Glance at the AFF (and H) Publishing Industry • Arley Sorg • cl
181 • Science: Let There Be Light • Jerry Oltion • cl
187 • The Plus One • Marie Vibbert • ss
199 • Coming Attractions • cl
200 • Refugees • Robert Grossbach • na
253 • When the Water Stops • Eugen Bacon • ss
257 • F&SF Market Place • classifieds
258 • Curiosities: Survivor by Octavia E. Butler (1978) • Michael A. Gonzales • cl

Fantasy & Science Fiction website

Contents formatted for inclusion in Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website.
FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.

The Digest Enthusiast No. 14 is now available:
14C (fullcolor print) $20.00 from Lulu.com and Amazon.com
14BW (b&w print) $12 from Amazon.com
14 (full color digital) $4.99 from Amazon.com and Magzter.com

TDE Update June 9, 2021

20 Million Miles to Earth, the Novel

“As Shuster and Bailey rush to investigate, they find a strange reptilitan creature, eight feet tall with a prehensile tail. Dead—apparently electrocuted by the relatively low voltage of their power lines.”

Henry Slesar (1927–2002) was a prolific author, scriptwriter, and copywriter, famous for his twist endings. He is created for coining the phrase “coffee break” during his early years as an advertising copywriter. His first fiction sale was “The Brat” (Imaginative Tales Sept. 1953).

Two years later he wrote the novelization of the Columbia Pictures’ classic 20 Million Miles to Earth for Ziff-Davis in the the one-shot digest, Amazing Stories Science Fiction Novel.

Read the complete synopsis of Slesar’s novel, with highlights of the differences between film and novel in The Digest Enthusiast No. 14. Available now:
14C (full color print)–$20.00 from Lulu.com and Amazon.com
14BW (b&w print)–$12 from Amazon.com
14 Kindle (full color digital)–$4.99 from Amazon.com
14 digital (full color digital)–$4.99 from Magzter.com

News June 7, 2021

Nostalgia Digest Summer 2021

Nostalgia Digest [Book 47, Chap. 3, Summer 2021, July-August-September 2021] ed. Steve Darnall (Funny Valentine Press, $4.50, 64pp, digest) Cover: Ernie Kovacs
1 • Hello, Out There in Radioland! • Steve Darnall • ed
2 • A Few Moments With . . . Hank Garrett • Anon • ar
4 • The Year of Joltin’ Joe [Joe DiMaggio] • Walter Scannell • ar
8 • Welcome to Kovacsland [Ernie Kovacs] • Jordan Elliott • ar
16 • CeleBio: Dorothy Lamour • Paramount Pictures 1948 • ar
20 • The Time of Your Life [Ralph Edwards] • Martin Grams Jr. • ar
26 • Beware… of It! Them! and The Thing • Wayne Klatt • ar
32 • Those Were the Days [program guide July-August-September] • Anon • schedule
40 • An Actor of Substance [Charles Laughton] • Stone Wallace • ar
48 • Young Man with a Duck [Joe Penner] • Garry Berman • ar
52 • The Little Studio That Could [Republic Pictures] • Bob Kolososki • ar
60 • Mail Call • lc

Nostalgia Digest website

Contents formatted for inclusion in Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website.
FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.

The Digest Enthusiast No. 14 is now available:
14C is $20.00 from Lulu.com and Amazon.com
14BW is $12 from Amazon.com
14 Kindle is $4.99 from Amazon.com
14 digital is $4.99 from Magzter.com

News June 6, 2021

Bare•Bones No. 6

bare•bones [#6 Spring 2021] ed. Peter Enfantino, John Scoleri (Cimarron Street Books, $9.95, 110pp, digest)
1 • Contents Page
2 • Dueling Editorials • Peter Enfantino, John Scoleri • ed
3 • The Overlooked Library • Don D’Ammassa • ar
10 • Lunar Trajectory: Moon of the Wolf on Page and Screen • Matthew R. Bradley • ar
14 • Mistress of the Putrifying Lash! A Complete Look at the Sleazy World of Web Terror Stories! • Peter Enfantino • ar
34 • The Pipes of Pan and its Dark Voices: Horror Anthology Series in Britain • David A. Sutton • ar
44 • Join the Lamb’s Navy! Caroline Munro and the Lamb’s Navy Rum Campaign • John Scoleri • ar
58 • Digging into Crime Digests: Private Eye (July–December 1953) • Richard Krauss • ar
68 • Ten Quick Tales • S. Craig Zahler • ar
74 • I Am Controlling Transmission: Collecting The Outer Limits on Home Video • Craig Beam • ar
89 • Sleaze Alley * Peter Enfantino • rc
_92 • Lust for Love, Harry Whittington
_93 • Sin Cult, Bruno Decesare
_94 • Syndicate City, William F. Frank
_96 • Sin Driver, David Andrews
99 • R&D: In Praise of Twilight Zone No, Not the TV Show • David J. Schow • cl
104 • A Good Cast is Worth Repeating • bi

Cimarron Street Books website

Contents formatted for inclusion in Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website.
FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.

The issue above includes my third contribution to Bare•Bones, an overview and issue synopses of the short-lived crime digest Private Eye, published by John Raymond in 1953. It was a fine crime fiction magazine that included stories by Harold Q. Masur, Will Oursler, Dorothy Dunn, Day Keene, Hunt Collins, Alan E. Nourse, and many others. This edition of B•B also includes co-editor Peter Enfantino’s coverage of the “shudder-pulp” digest Web Terror Stories, so there’s plenty here for digest enthusiasts.

I’ve read all five previous issues of this reboot of Bare•Bones cover-to-cover and have started on this issue. It’s an excellent pop culture treasure trove that I highly recommend. You can order copies from Bud’s Art Books, Amazon.com, and all of the usual outlets for this type of independent gem.