Frank Kane – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

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¢

Vault November 16, 2019

Manhunt No. 12 Dec. 1953

Contents Page
David Goodis “Black Pudding” art by Ray Houlihan
Richard Marsten “Switch Ending”
Charles Beckman, Jr. “Killing on Seventh Street”
Craig Rice “Murder Marches On!” (John J. Malone)
Hunt Collins “Sucker”
Dan Sontup’s Portrait of a Killer No. 7: Tillie Gburek
Evan Hunter “The Wife of Riley” art by Tom O’Sullivan
Harold Q. Masur “Richest Man in the Morgue” (Scott Jordan)
Jonathan Craig “The Quiet Room”
David Chandler “The Coyote”
Roy Carroll “Wife Beater” art by Tom O’Sullivan
Frank Kane “The Icepick Artists” (Johnny Liddell)
Vincent H. Gaddis’ Crime Cavalcade
R. Van Taylor “The Insecure” art by Ray Houlihan
Coming Up Next Month
Mugged and Printed: Frank Kane, Harold Q. Masur, David Goodis, David Chandler

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly Vol. 1 No. 12 Dec. 1953
Flying Eagle Publications, Inc,
Editor: John McCloud
Managing Editor: Hal Walker
Art Director: Chas. W. Adams
Business Manager: R.E. Decker
Cover: Frank Uppwall
144 pages, 35¢

Peter Enfantino’s story-by-story synopses of Manhunt is featured in The Digest Enthusiast No. 6–10.

Vault October 22, 2019

Michael Shayne Feb. 1957

Most of the Mike Shayne short novels that appeared in his digest magazine were ghost written under the Brett Halliday pseudonym. But this issue features the first of a three-part series presenting a brand new full-length novel by Davis Dresser himself. “Weep for a Blond Corpse” ran in the Feb., April, and June 1957 issues. This issue was the last one with “Michael,” in the title; it was strictly ”Mike” from here on.

Brett Halliday’s Goal to Go! (intro)
Contents Page
Brett Halliday “Weep for a Blond Corpse” part one
Veronica Parker Johns “The Cannibal Oxen”
Lee E. Wells “Desert of Death”
Robert O’Niel Bristow “The Naked Trap”
Jay Carroll “A Dress for May Lou”
Irving Burstiner’s Find the Detective (puzzle)
Henry Slesar “The Right Kind of House”
Samuel W. Taylor “Night of the Full Moon”
Robert Bloch “The Real Bad Friend”
Frank Kane “The Rumble”

Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine Vol. 1 No. 6 Feb. 1957
Publisher: Leo Margulies
Managing Editor: Cylvia Kleinman
Production: Joan Sherman
5.25” x 7.75” 160 pages 35¢

Vault July 18, 2019

Manhunt No. 8 Aug. 1953

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly Vol. 1 No. 8 August 1953
Contents
Fletcher Flora “The Collector Comes After Payday”
Evan Hunter “Still Life”
Fredric Brown “The Little Lamb”
Frank Kane “Slay Belle” (Johnny Liddell)
Robert Turner “The Crime of My Wife”
Dan Sontup’s Portrait of a Killer: Robert W. Buchanan, M.D.
Craig Rice “The End of Fear” (John J. Malone)
Vincent H. Gaddis’ Crime Cavalcade
Frances Carfi Matranga “Less Perfect”
James M. Cain “Two O’Clock Blonde”
Richard Ellington “The Ripper” (Steve Drake)
Roy Carroll “Kayo”
Harold Q. Masur “Rhapsody in Blood” (Scott Jordan)
Donald Hamilton “Throwback”
Richard Marsten “The Innocent One”
Mugged and Printed: James M. Cain, Fredric Brown, Richard Ellington, Harold Q. Masur

Flying Eagle Publications, Inc,
Editor: John McCloud
Managing Editor: E.A. Tulman
Art Director: Chas. W. Adams
Business Manager: R.E. Decker
144 pages, 35¢

Vault May 17, 2019

Manhunt No. 7 July 1953

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly Vol. 1 No. 7 July 1953
Contents
Fredric Brown “The Wench is Dead”
Craig Rice “Quiet Day in the County Jail” art by J.Q. Farris
Fletcher Flora “I’ll Kill for You”
Jonathan Lord “Day’s Work”
Evan Hunter “Good and Dead” (Matt Cordell) art by R. Cossette
Bruno Fischer “Say Goodby to Janie” art by Rus Anderson
Hunt Collins “The Follower” art by R. Cossette
Vincent H. Gaddis’ Crime Cavalcade
Elliot West “I’m Getting Out” art by J.Q. Farris
Frank Kane “Evidence” (Johnny Liddell)
Dan Sontup’s Portrait of a Killer No. 2: Charles Henry Schwartz
Richard S. Prather “The Double Take” (Shell Scott)
Arnold Marmor “Heirloom”
Mugged and Printed: Fredric Brown, Bruno Fischer, Frank Kane, Craig Rice

Flying Eagle Publications, Inc,
Editor: John McCloud
Managing Editor: E.A. Tulman
Art Director: Chas. W. Adams
Business Manager: R.E. Decker
144 pages, 35¢

Vault December 17, 2018

Johnny Liddell’s Morgue

Published by Dell in 1956, Johnny Liddell’s Morgue is a collection of Frank Kane’s short stories starring PI Liddell from earlier magazines, primarily Manhunt. Here’s the rundown:

“Lead Ache” Manhunt May 1954
“Frame” Manhunt August 1954
“Return Engagement” Manhunt Feb. 1955
“The Dead Grin” Manhunt June 1955
“A Package for Mr. Big” The Saint Detective Magazine Sep. 1954
“A Game of Murder” Mobsters Feb. 1953
“Morgue-Star Final” Crack Detective Stories July 1945
“Gory Hallelujah!” Private Eye Dec. 1953

Vault October 1, 2018

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly March 1953

Contents
Richard S. Prather “The Sleeper Caper” (Shell Scott)
Evan Hunter “Dead Men Don’t Dream” (Matt Cordell)
Bruno Fischer “Stop Him!”
Robert Patrick Wilmot “Triple-Cross”
Leslie Charteris “The Loaded Tourist” (The Saint)
Frank Kane “Payoff” (Johnny Liddell)
Craig Rice “The Tears of Evil” (John J. Malone)
Harold Q. Masur “The Mourning After” (Scott Jordan)
Mickey Spillane “Everybody’s Watching Me” (Part 3 of 4)
William Lindsay Gresham “Teaser”
Floyd Mahannah “Prognosis Negative”
Richard Marsten “Against the Middle”

Vault July 8, 2018

Manhunt Detective Story Monthly Jan. 1953

Contents
“Everybody’s Watching Me” by Mickey Spillane (Part 1 of 4) art by Joe Kubert
“Die Hard” by Evan Hunter
“I’ll Make the Arrest” by Charles Beckman, Jr.
“The Hunted” by William Irish
“The Best Motive” by Richard S. Prather (Shell Scott)
“Shock Treatment” by Kenneth Millar
“The Frozen Grin” by Frank Kane (Johnny Liddell)
Backfire by Floyd Mahannah
“The Set-Up” by Sam Cobb
“Who is Vetter?” (coming next issue)