Paperback Parade [#114 January 2022](Gryphon Books, $15.00, 100pp, digest) 1 • Contents 2 • Paperback Talk • Gary Lovisi • cl 16 • Allen Steele: An Interview • Gary Lovisi • iv 35 • The Books of Allen Steele • Gary Lovisi • bi 38 • The History of Science Fiction Why It Matters • Allen M. Steele • ar 46 • The Sexton Blake Library • Gary Lovisi • ar 72 • Matchless Paperbacks [The Shrinking Man] • Richard Greene • ar 74 • Edmond Hamilton & Leigh Brackett • Jon D. Swartz • ar 86 • William Faulkner: Mystery Writer • Richard L. Kellogg • ar 92 • A Tale of Two Derbys • Jim Fitzpatrick • ar
Contents formatted in the style of Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website. FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.
Paperback Parade [#112 July 2021](Gryphon Books, $15.00, 100pp, digest) 1 • Contents 2 • Paperback Talk • Gary Lovisi • cl 18 • The First Star Trek Paperback & Some Others of Note! • Gary Lovisi • ar 28 • The Bantam Star Trek Paperbacks • Jules Burt • ar 43 • An Interview with Peter David • Gary Lovisi • iv 48 • A Basil Gogos Spock Portrait • David Spurlock • ar 50 • Star Trek the Original Series: The Early Pocket Books • Jules Burt • ar 66 • The Osyssey Trilogy by William Shatner & Garfield & Judith Reeves-Stevens • Tom Cantrell • ar 76 • A Joe DeVito Portriat of Seven of Nine • Richard Greene • ar 78 • An Appreciation of Rowena Morrill • Jon D. Swartz • ar 86 • Canadian Sports in Early Canadian Paperbacks • Jim Fitzpatrick • ar 96 • Matchless Paperbacks: Quark’s • Richard Greene • cl
Contents formatted in the style of Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website. FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.
Haven’t posted in awhile. Busy with holiday hurdles and production on The Digest Enthusiast No. 15 and Pulp Modern No. 8. Both will be out in January. For those waiting, thanks for your patience.
In the meantime, Happy Holidays to all you digest and fiction enthusiasts out there. Below is the contents list for Gary Lovisi’s latest digest.
Paperback Parade [#113 October 2021](Gryphon Books, $15.00, 100pp, digest) 1 • Contents 2 • Paperback Talk • Gary Lovisi • cl 20 • Things That Go Bump in the Night • Michael S. Smith • ar 42 • She Was No Lady by Al Bocca • Morgan Wallace • br 46 • First Nighter Books Checklist • Chris Eckhoff • illustrated list 71 • A New Kind of Porn?! • Kenneth R. Johnson • ar 76 • Science Fiction in the Early Perma Books • Jon D. Swartz • ar 88 • Future Noir: Eric Brown’s Bengal Station Trilogy • Gary Lovisi • ar 96 • Matchless Paperbacks: Dianétiques • Richard Greene • cl
Contents formatted in the style of Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website. FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.
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
Contents formatted in the style of Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website. FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.
Paperback Parade [#110 Feb. 2021](Gryphon Books, $15.00, 100pp, digest) 1 • Contents 2 • Paperback Talk • Gary Lovisi • cl 18 • Beadle’s Frontier Series Examined • Gary Lovisi • ar 38 • The Ballantine Bal-Hi Program • Jim Fitzpatrick • ar 48 • Rural Noir • Jay A. Gertzman • ar 54 Of Masked Men and Silver Bullets • Roy G. James • ar 62 • Matchless Paperbacks • Richard Greene • cl 66 • Earl Kemp: A Remembrance • Jon D. Swartz • bg 68 • An Appreciation of Richard (Dick) Lupoff • Jon D. Swartz • bg 70 • Rembering Dick Lupoff • Phil Harbottle • bg 82 • Change My Mind: Bama’s Best? • Gary Lovisi • ar 86 • The Canadian Collins’s White Circle Artists • Jim Fitzpatrick • ar 94 • Boy’s Wonder Library • Gary Lovisi • ar
Contents formatted in the style of Phil Stephensen-Payne’s Galatic Central reference website. FictionMags Index Family Item Types & Other Abbreviations key.
Several great new releases in the last week or so:
All Due Respect 2020 Featuring the work of Stephen D. Rogers, Tom Leins, Michael Pool, Andrew Davie, Sharon Diane King, Preston Lang, Jay Butkowski, Steven Berry, Craig Francis Coates, Bobby Mathews, Michael Penncavage, and BV Lawson. Edited by Chris Rhatigan and David Nemeth.
The Sleazy Reader No. 9 Crime special! Sleazy reading in the crime genre, with articles on 1950s sleazy digest magazines, comics, paperbacks and true crime magazines. Includes the life and death of True Detective magazine, pre-code comics theft from EC Comics, when the crime genre went hardcore, Harlan Ellison in the crime digests, Crime Does Not Pay comics, Mafia true-crime paperbacks. And more! 74 full color pages, loaded with illustrations.
Paperback Parade No. 109 Contents Gary Lovisi: Paperback Talk Gary Lovisi: The Master Artist: Sam Peffer Tom Cantrell: How Roy Higgins Managed the Adaptation of the Novel Captain and The Kings for the 1976 TV Miniseries Gary Lovivi: Collecting The Winthrop Press in Very Tiny Paperbacks Jim Fitzpatrick: The Persistent Image of “I, the Jury” Richard Greene: Matchless Paperbacks Jon D. Swartz: Alfred Bester Phil Harbottle: The Tit-Bits Science Fiction Library
Paperback Parade No. 109 Nov. 2020 Editor: Gary Lovisi Designer: Richard Greene ~5.5” x 8.5” 100 pages, full color throughout $15 + postage for a single issue $40 for three-issue subscription Gryphon Books website
Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem No. 1 This new mystery and crime digest debuted in June 2020. Every issue is themed–this one is built around private eyes. MCM is a well-concieved series, delivered in a pleasing package. The tone is soft-boiled, with plenty of character development and embellished settings. My favorite in this edition was the story by editor Leah Cutter: “Going Deeper.” Print $12.99 Kindle $4.99
Oddities and Other Grotesques The Roman Scott collection is nearly complete. Editor Marc Myers is giving the files a final review and completing the setup at Lulu.com. The book topped out at 168 pages and includes over 14 issues of Scott’s comix and art zines.
Pulp Modern Vol. 2 No.6 The initial layout is complete. Ran Scott is busy on the issue’s artwork and the book will be out shortly after he finishes up his work.
The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 Finished proofreading the bulk of the issue and made various corrections to the art and copy. All that remains is the front-matter and compiling the News Digest. I’ll work on that next week before Thanksgiving.
Our current issue: The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 is available in print at Lulu.com and Amazon, and in digital formats at Kindle Books and Magzter.
New Release The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 June 2020 Contents: • Interviews with Tony Gleeson (Fantastic, Amazing Science Fiction, Mike Shayne, Personal Crimes) and John Shirley (Weirdbook, Fantastic, The Crow, Constantine, Wetbones). • Lester del Rey’s Five Ages of Science Fiction by Vince Nowell, Sr. • Born of Other Worlds, it’s Science Stories, the digest Ray Palmer “tossed in your lap with little or no ceremony.” • News and dozens of cover previews from around the world of digests, direct from the magazines’ editors, publishers, and writers. • Mike Chomko and William Lampkin untangle the fate of PulpFest 2020 and The Pulpster. • Richard Krauss exhumes the true crime sensation: Fotocrime. • Steve Carper rediscovers the remarkable Photoplay Editions. • Ward Smith spotlights Digest Science Fiction Novels. • New fiction by Michael Bracken, Rick Ollerman, and Joe Wehrle, Jr. with artwork by Rick McCollum, Marc Myers, and Michael Neno. • Reviews of Amazing Selects, bare•bones No. 1, EconoClash Review No. 5, Guns + Tacos Season One, Lake County Incidents, and Paperback Fanatic No. 43. • Plus over 100 digest magazine cover images, first issue factoids, cartoons by Bob Vojtko, and more. • Cover by Tony Gleeson, 160 pages, published in full color by Larque Press. Print $18.99 Kindle $4.99 Magzter $4.99
Digest Magazine Reviews Robert Lopresti reviews Luke Foster’s “Seat 9B” from Mystery Weekly Magazine June 2020 at Little Big Crimes.
James Reasoner reviews Commando: Mask of Death at Rough Edges.
Storytime Victoria Dalpe’s “The Girl” on JD Graves’s Podcast No. 4 at EconoClash Review.
William Boyle’s “Unsatisfied” at Rusty Barnes’ Tough Crime.
Alec Cizak reads his story “The Space Between” at ACTV.
Digest Magazine Blogs Holly Messinger on “Byzantine” from F&SF May/Jun 2020 at Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Kevin Mims compares and contrasts The Black Death by Gwyneth Cravens and John S. Marr with the current pandemic on EQMM’s Something is Going to Happen.
TDE Contributors’ Corner Uncle Jack (Seabrook) and Cousin Peter (Enfantino) review Vampirella No. 16, Eerie No. 39, and Creepy No. 45 at barebones e-zine.
Readin’ and Writin’ John Floyd offers writing Do’s and Don’ts as SleuthSayers.
James W. Ziskin counts words to motivate “butt-in-chair” writing at Criminal Minds.
Read Hard Case Crime HCC-005 this week. Two for the Money works as a title for the story, and even better as the description of this two-fer reprint of the Curtis OPB novels “Bait Money” and “Blood Money.” In his afterword, author Max Allan Collins provides the details on the originals and how they came to be paired under the Hard Case Crime imprint. I kinda wish it had been a Foreword. The redundant recap of key plot points from the first novel in the second are more forgivable when you have the facts. Nonetheless, the two represent Collins’ first published novel: “Bait”—and, “Blood,” if not his second, certainly another early effort. Both are serviceable, but felt padded with over-long descriptions and several fully rendered scenes that could’ve easily been summarized in a paragraph or two instead of a whole chapter.
Also managed to fit in a reading of Paperback Parade No. 107. Designer Richard Greene dominates this edition of PP, sharing his collection of paperbacks set in the South Pacific—the Hawaiian islands, Fiji, Tahiti, and Tiki-inspired pop culture. A refreshing, well-researched read. Even his regular “Matchless Paperbacks” feature follows suit with James Michener’s Hawaii. Paperback Talk by Gary Lovisi is always a fun mix of new releases, LOCs, and collectors’ addendums to previous articles. Gary’s piece on the Spanish space operas Luchadores Del Espacio (Space Fighters) is a rare treat, loaded with background and over 40 cover images from the series! Another terrific issue rounded out with pieces on Denis Hughes, Hard Case Crime, and Robert A. Heinlein.
Alec Cizak’sPulp Modern Vol. 2 No. 5 was finalized this week he’s ordered proof prints ahead of its June 23rd release date.
Vintage Fantasy Digest Sword & Sorcery Annual 1975 Contents Page Robert E. Howard “Queen of the Black Coast” (Conan) art by Steven E. Fabian Sam Moskowitz’s L. Sprague de Camp: Sword and Satire John Jakes “The Pillars of Chambalor” (Brak) art by Gray Morrow Michael Moorcock “Master of Chaos” (Earl Aubec) art by Virgil Finlay Robert Arthur “The Mirror of Caglisastro” art by Dan Adkins Fritz Leiber “The Cloud of Hate” (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser) art by Leo R. Summers Ursula K. Leguin “The Masters” art by Dan Adkins Roger Zelazny “Horseman” art by Leo R. Summers
Sword & Sorcery Annual 1975 Ultimate Publishing Co. Editor: Sol Cohen Cover: Steven E. Fabian 5.25” x 7.75” 128 pages Cover price 75¢
New Releases Ellery Queen May/June 2020 Contents Page Richard Helms “Noble Rot” art by Mark Evan Walker Steve Steinbock: The Jury Box —Second Sister by Chan Ho-Kei —The Plotters by Un-Su Kim —The Circus by Jonas Karlsson —The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo —The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre —Paris in the Dark by Robert Olen Butler —Queen of Bones by Teresa Dovalpage Susan Dunlap “Quality Control” Dean Jobb’s Stranger Than Fiction: The Two Will Wests R.T. Raichev “Rassendyll’s Grave” Benjamin Percy “House of Ash” Shelly Dickson Carr “Nantucket Undertow” Tom Tolnay “Rhododendron” Judy Clemens “Safe” Kristopher Zgorski: Blog Bytes Alaric Hunt “Borrowed Brains” (Black Mask) Marilyn Todd “Beyond the Tree Line” N.W. Barcus “The Workaholic” (Dept. of First Stories) Michael Berg “Travelers’ Rest” (Passport to Crime) Translated from the Dutch by Josh Pachter Jim Weikart “The Frog” Keith McCarthy “The Perfect Crime” Wynn Quon “Art in Pieces” (Dept. of First Stories) 2019 Readers Award Toni L.P. Kelner “Rage Warehouse—Ire Proof” David Dean “Shadow Lane” Katherine Hall Page “The End of the Line” art by Laurie Harden Jane Smith “Annie Oakley” (verse) Dean Jobb’s Stranger Than Fiction Online: Preview Indicia Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine May/June 2020 Vol. 155 No. 5 & 6, Whole No. 944 & 945 Publisher: Peter Kanter Editor: Janet Hutchings Managing Editor: Jackie Sherbow Senior Director Art & Production: Porter C. McKinnon Senior AD: Victoria Green Cover: Neil Webb
Paperback Parade No. 107 Contents Page Gary Lovisi: Paperback Talk Richard Greene: Aloha Tiki Paperbacks Gary Lovisi’s Space Fighters: Luchadores Del Espacio Series Philip Harbottle: The Return of Rex Brandon Jim Fitzpatrick: Hard Case Crime Editions of PBOs Richard Greene’s Matchless Paperbacks: Hawaii Jon D. Sartz: Robert A. Heinlein Gary Lovisi: Heinlein Paperbacks
Paperback Parade No. 107 May 2020 Editor: Gary Lovisi Designer: Richard Greene ~5.5” x 8.5” 112 pages, full color throughout $15 + postage for a single issue $40 for three-issue subscription Gryphon Books website
Hot Lead: Most Wanted All-Review Special A special issue loaded with over 200 reviews of western paperbacks arranged by era: 1920–1959, 1960–1969, 1970–1979, 1980–1989, and 1990+. Also includes the essays: Top 10 Western Authors, Gold Medal Overview, and The Lovesome Dove Saga. Foreword by Chuck Dixon. Introduction by Justin Marriott. 7” x 10” 168 pages Print Only $7.99
Digest Magazine Reviews Victoria Silverwolf reviews Fantastic June 1965 at Galactic Journey.
Storytime John M. Floyd’s “Saving Mrs. Hapwell” at Kings River Life. (Thanks Kevin R. Tipple.)
Digest Magazine Blogs Joseph Bruchac on “An Indian Love Call” from F&SF May/Jun 2020 at Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Toni L.P. Kelner on “Rage Warehouse—Ire Proof” from EQMM May/Jun 2020 at Art Taylor’s First Two Pages.
The same Toni L.P. Kelner discusses her varying approaches to writing short stories at EQMM’s Something is Going to Happen.
TDE Contributors’ Corner Uncle Jack (Seabrook) and Cousin Peter (Enfantino) review Eerie No. 38 and Creepy No. 44 at bare*bones e-zine.
TDE Advertisers From the Fantasy Illustrated website: David Smith was born near Anaheim California in 1954 a few months before the opening of Disneyland. Raised in the Orange/Los Angeles County area in the 1950’s and ‘60’s he was influenced with a steady diet of pop culture. At the age of 14 he started working for the late John McLaughlin at The Book Sail in old downtown Anaheim. It was here that he was first exposed to the likes of old comic books from the 1940’s ,pulp fiction, vintage magic books signed by Houdini, and lots of old and rare books.
Dave worked there from 1969 to 1972 and again from 1976 to 1979 after The Book Sail had moved to the city of Orange. In 1979 he left to open his own store, Fantasy Illustrated about 1.5 miles from Disneyland in Garden Grove. From inception until he sold the store location (keeping the name) to Mile High Comics in 1994, Dave maintained one of the largest selections of vintage comic book and Pulp magazines in the Orange County area.
Wanting a change of pace he moved out of state, negotiated a deal with the owner of Rocket Comics of Seattle Washington and on Jan 1 1995 became owner of that store. In 1999 Dave found what would become the famous Yakima Pedigree collection of hundreds of ultra high grade pulps. These are considered some of the finest condition pulps known to exist.
Around 9-11 he closed down Rocket Comics as a brick and mortar store and continued dealing full time as Fantasy Illustrated doing mail order out of his house near Mill Creek Washington where he lives with his wife Kelli. Visit Fantasy Illustrated.
Readin’ and Writin’ Finished reading Will Murray’s pulp history tome: Wordslingers this week. The author himself describes the work in his introduction: “What follows is a species of oral history, employing found quotes, developed so that the author recedes into the role of omniscient organizer, sometimes disappearing altogether, in order to allow the participants of the past to spin the saga of their literary labors.”
The writers and editors—and occasionally the publishers—tell their tale in hundreds of timely quotes gleaned from dozens of sources, most often magazines like Writer’s Digest. Like any business riding waves of high- and low-demand these western fictioneers were constantly postulating market changes and how their writers needed to update their approach to maintain or goose sales. Murray does a phenomenal job documenting the rapids and whirlpools along this 40-some-years journey. For die-hard pulp fiction historians this volume is a treasure.
The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 is complete. A proof copy is in process and I’ll make an official announcement of its availability here as soon as I approve the proof via lulu.com.
I tried several times to finalize the book on both IngramSpark.com and the newly improved Lulu.com site and encountered issues on both. It took three days for one of them to fix the hang-ups, so I went with that one: Lulu.com. Each company has certain pluses and minuses, but I’m happy to try Lulu on this edition, as last issue was/is printed through Ingram. I will link to the book on Lulu’s site this time because it removes the middleman (amazon, etc.) where most of the sales revenue goes. Lulu seems to make its profit on printing rather than printing and distribution.
The first color edition I created was an alternate version of book ten, so I could see first-hand what the standard color option looked like. (Great!) That special edition is available only from Lulu.com in case any readers want one of their own. The Digest Enthusiast No. 10C (full color) $16 at Lulu.com
Work is also very close to complete on Pulp Modern No. 5, which is now scheduled for a June 23, 2020 release.
Vintage Western Digest Zane Grey Western Magazine Nov. 1969 Leo Margulies: The Lure of Zane Grey (introduction) Contents Page Romer Zane Grey “Gun Trouble in Tonto Basin” Noel M Loomis “The St. Louis Salesman” James Oliver Curwood “The Beloved Murderer” Ben Smith “The Man Who Stole a Horse” Zane Grey “Fantoms of Peace” (A Zane Grey Masterpiece) Walter Dallas’ Gunfighters Saddlemate Gunnison Steele “When the Dessert Gods Laughed” Bill Pronzini “Sawtooth Justice”
Zane Grey Western Magazine Vol.1 No. 2 Nov. 1969 Publisher: Leo Margulies Editorial Director: Cylvia Kleinman Advisory Editor: Romer Grey Advisory Editor: Dr. Loren Grey 5.25” x 7.75” 128 pages 50¢ cover price
Contents Page Gary Lovisi: Paperback Talk Richard Greene “Dream Dance: The Art of Ed Emshwiller” Gary Lovisi “Lila Lynn: Paperback Cover Model” Richard L. Kellogg “Revisiting Peyton Place” Gary Lovisi “The Hard-Boiled Paperbacks of Al Fray” Sean McMullen “Carter Brown’s Unscientific Thrillers” Gary Lovisi “The Australian Scientific Thrillers” Richard Greene’s Matchless Paperbacks by Howard R. Milsted, Jr. Philip Harbottle “The Return of Norman Firth” Richard Greene “Road Trip Treasures”
Paperback Parade No. 106 Jan. 2020 Editor: Gary Lovisi Designer: Richard Greene ~5.5” x 8.5” 104 pages, full color throughout $15 + postage for a single issue $40 for three-issue subscription Gryphon Books website
Contents Page Gary Lovisi: Paperback Talk Gary Lovisi “A Look at the Cherry Delight Books” Tom Lesser “British Pedigree Books” Morgan A. Wallace “Swan’s Detective Thriller Library” Richard Greene “Matchless Paperbacks: The Cost of Living” Gary Lovisi “What in the Hell . . . !?” The ‘Heroes in Hell’ Books Tom Cantrell “Leslie Edgley (aka Robert Bloomfield): A Writer on the Edge of the Blacklist” Richard L. Kellogg “Uncle Abner: Seeker of Justice” Philip Harbottle “Remembering A.A. Glynn” Kathy Godfrey & Kenneth R. Johnson “Regency Fantasies”
Paperback Parade No. 105 Oct. 2019 Editor: Gary Lovisi Designer: Richard Greene ~5.5” x 8.5” 104 pages, full color throughout $15 + postage for a single issue $40 for three-issue subscription Gryphon Books website
