March 2022 – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

News March 25, 2022

Nostalgia Digest Spring 2022

Nostalgia Digest [Book 48, Chap. 2, Spring 2022, April-May-June 2022] ed. Steve Darnall (Funny Valentine Press, $5.00, 64pp, digest) Cover: Bing Crosby
1 • Hello, Out There in Radioland! • Steve Darnall • ed
2 • A Few Moments With . . . Leonard Maltin • Steve Darnall • iv
4 • Bing Crosby, Transcribed • Martin Grams, Jr. • ar
10 • Television’s First Family [Mary Kay and Johnny] • Garry Berman • ar
14 • Necrology of 2021 • Anon • ob
22 • Confessions of a Baseball Card Collector • Dave Reddall • ar
25 • CELEBio: Gene Kelly • Official Bio by MGM 1954 • bg
28 • The Man of Many Voices [Santos Ortega] • Denise Noe • ar
32 • Those Were the Days [program guide April-May-June] • Anon • schedule
40 • Don’t Make Me Over [Ann Sheridan] • Jordan Elliott • ar
46 • Suspense: The Final Year • Keith Scott • ar
54 • Having a Wonderful Crime [Burke’s Law] • Michael Barrett • ar
61 • 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.

News March 10, 2022

Killer by Robert Silverberg

Coming soon: Black Gat No. 37.

Originally published as Passion Killer by Don Elliott for Sundown Reader in 1965, this sleaze paperback seems like an odd choice for the Black Gat imprint. Maybe it’s an experiment to test the waters. Weighing in at 163 pages, I’d guess well over three quarters of this is one boring soft-core sex scene after another. Marie and Dolores’ cups runneth over explicitly above the waist, but anything below is a mere hint and a wink other than their rear ends that are described a lot like their tatas sans nipples.

The plot that moves intermittently forward as interludes between all the sex scenes ain’t bad. It could’ve easily been the basis for a good crime novel about a rich dude who hires a hit man to snuff his wife so he can marry his much younger, voluptuous girlfriend. Obviously, Silverberg can write. Unfortunately, the soft porn dominates too many pages and I couldn’t wait to finish unfulfilled.

Collectors will want this volume to keep their Black Gat runs complete, but I hope if Stark House continues with this genre they’ll spin it off in a line of its own.

News March 5, 2022

Bare•Bones No.9

bare•bones [#9 Winter 2022] ed. Peter Enfantino, John Scoleri (Cimarron Street Books, $9.95, 114pp, digest)
1 • Contents Page
2 • Dueling Editorials • John Scoleri, Peter Enfantino • ed
3 • The Beagle has Landed [The Evolution and Possible Offspring of A.E. van Vogt’s “Black Destroyer”] • Matthew R. Bradley • ar; illustrations by Allen Koszowski
14 • James Bond’s Illegitimate Cousins [“Eurospy” films of the sixties] • William Schoell • ar
25 • The Private Eye Procedural [Joe Gores’ DKA File Series] • J. Charles Burwell • ar
38 • It’s Still Not About Anything [But Hickey & Boggs means everything if you’re obsessed with Los Angeles in the early ’70s] • Duane Swierczynski • ar
46 • Universal Opens the Door to a Fantastic 1974 [Boxoffice Review: March 11, 1974] • John Scoleri • ar
53 • Digging Into Crime Digests: These are the Damned [The Guide to Sure-Fire Detective Stories] • Peter Enfantino • cl
85 • S. Craig Zahler on . . . Horror Manga • ar
89 • Sleazy Alley • Peter Enfantino • rc
_89 • Carnal Cantina, John Dexter, Late-Hour Library, 1967 • br
_91 • Carnal Captive, Tony Calvano (Thomas P. Ramirez), Nightstand, 1965 • br
_91 • Lust Kill, John Dexter, Ember, 1964 • br
_93 • Swap It to Me!, Alan Marshall, Companion, 1969 • br
_93 • Sextories, Charles Miron, Kozy Books, 1960 • br
95 • R&D: The Man With Six Names [John Wyndham] • David J. Schow • cl
102 • Movies Illustrated Bonus: The Day of the Triffids! • John Scoleri • pi
108 • A Good Cast is Worth Repeating • bg

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.

News March 4, 2022

Staccato Crime SC-003: Criss-Cross

Johnny Thompson is all in over femme fetale Anna Krebak, whose main interest in a man is the size of his bankroll. Johnny’s desire to win Anna’s love lures him into bad business with Slim Parsons, a hood with big ideas. Slim cooks up the perfect scheme to knock over an armored car full of payroll cash with Johnny behind the wheel.

With a title like Criss-Cross, you know they’ll be plenty of overlapping double-crosses, and you won’t be disappointed. A tour de force of noir magic. Filmed in 1949 with Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo, with direction by Robert Siodmak.

One caution: both Round Trip and Criss-Cross include the original jazz-age era racial slurs.

Round Trip/Criss-Cross is Staccato Crime SC-003 coming soon from Stark House Press.