Paperback Fanatic #10

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic #10 (June, 2009)

Cover: John Holmes

Just crawled through the letterbox so without preamble, here’s what you get in #10

Stephen Sennitt on serious occultist turned top pulp author Gerald Suster.

Andreas Decker on the German editions of Donald Glut’s ace New Adventures Of Frankenstein.

Justin Marriott on New English Library’s “Sex Manuals” of the ’sixties & seventies.

John Mains interviews cover artist John “The Fontana Horror ‘Melting Heads’ man” Holmes.

Justin Marriott again on Barry Sadler, the man responsible for not only the Casca the Mercenary pulps but also the rabid pro-’Nam US smash hit single The Ballad Of The Green Beret (!!!)

Roy Bayfield on Ballantine’s Adult Fantasy books’.

Justin (”I’m leaving to everyone else this issue”) Marriott on versatile and ludicrously prolific pulpster John Harvey whose credits include the Herne The Hunter series and a collaboration with Laurence James on the elusive snuff exploitation job Cut.

Four pages of Fanatical Thoughts

A tribute to Richard Gordon

Order your copy  via the Paperback Fanatic site!

Paperback Fanatic 9

Man, this is so hot through the letterbox, I haven’t even managed to extract it from the envelope!

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic #9 (February 2009)

A quick flick through before i settle down to actually read the thing, and what immediately catches the eye? Plenty! There’s a lengthy feature on The Man From O.R.G.Y. and his fellow international men of mystery as “The Fanatic dives into the world of sexy spies and double-d double agents.’ Curt Purcell of the incomparable Beyond The Groovy Age Of Horror investigates The Twilight World Of Eli Podgram, star of Nel’s six-part ‘Specialist’ series from the early ’seventies. There’s an interview with and overview of Peter Tremayne’s career as a horror, fantasy and Crime author and John Mains’ interrogates Chris Lowder about his Mills & Boon Blood Of Dracula outing as Jack Hamilton Teed. Bootboys and Bovver girls are as well catered for as man or woman can ever be with Skinhead Revival: Richard Allen and his delinquent spawn unleashed across seven pages, one of which is commandeered by a certain Franklin ‘Suedehead’ Marsh! As you maybe guessed from the cover, the featured classic artist of the issue is Nel/ Mayflower serial offender Richard Clifton-Day and, of course, there is Fanatical Thoughts, the unmissable letters department, and a right old fiends reunited affair it is with loads of names familiar from this board offering their support and encouragement. Fanatical Thoughts is my absolute favourite department of any publication you care to mention.

As you’re no doubt aware, Justin is currently being kept very occupied by baby Sophie (wish you well, little one) so “No chance to update the PF site, but maybe you could mention £5.25 inc postage by paypal to my e-mail address and to pm me if they don’t know it.”

The email address is justinATjustincultprint.free-online.co.uk (replace the AT with @, obviously. Anti-spam precaution)

Thank you Justin!

Justin Marriott – Paperback Fanatic 8

It’s out!

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic #8 (December, 2008)

• Fanatical Thoughts
• Eaten Alive! The Fanatic continues it’s study of New English Library’s pulp horrors of the 1970’s
• The Ivy League Vampire. Paperback covers produced by the legendary comics creator Jim Steranko
• Men’s Adventure starring Sas Malko
• Terry Harknett: A Fistful of Pulps
• Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Paperbacks Time Forgot
• Fanatical Mail

I’ve just been handed this by an ashen-faced postman so you’ll not be getting a word of sense out of me for at least the rest of the day and possibly never again! Here’s the cover and contents for the time being. You’ll find all the ordering details at Paperback Fanatic.

Paperback Fanatic: The November Relaunch

Justin writes:

Lots of news! Including I will become a dad in February, although I suspect you’re far more interested in news of my other mutant off-spring The Paperback Fanatic!

The new-look Fanatic will be with you in November 2008

All issues bar 7 are now sold out (I’ll get to the web-site and update it ASAP).

The Fanatic will be re-launched in November as a quarterly publication from Sequential Media. There will be some changes to make it feel more like a magazine, but it should still very much feel like 95% of the original Fanatic. The new publishers also wanted me to carry on with the design to preserve the look, but bearing in mind the increased workload I’ve turned that over to them.

I’m currently writing Volume 2, Issue 3, so there are two issues currently being proof-read and designed. Maybe you could post the new dummy cover for people to check out?

Volume 2, issue 1 content includes-

Skinhead Revival!
The Fanatic traces the rise and fall of the most notorious and collectible of 1970s paperbacks- the skinhead pulps from New English Library (I had to write this one for FM!)

Jim Steranko, The Ivy League Vampire
The Fanatic takes its regular look at the classic paperback artists – this time it’s the legendary Jim Steranko under The Fanatic microscope

Confessions of a Paperback Fanatic
The full story behind the mag you hold in your very hands!

Edgar Rice Burroughs in paperback
With a Princess of Mars movie in production, The Fanatic digs out its collection of British ERB paperbacks and takes a trip to Mars, Venus and Pellucidar

A Fistful of Pulps!
The Fanatic chats with Terry Harknett, the man behind the George G Gilman pseudonym and the million selling spaghetti westerns in print- Edge and Steele

Fanatical Thoughts
Fanatics from around the world have their say on the letters page

The Paperback Dungeon
Updates and corrections to previous features, as well as the latest news, reviews and gossip

Men’s Adventure
In this first instalment of a regular feature on Men’s Adventure pulps, The Fanatic looks at the Malko super-spy series

Pulp Horror Has Risen From The Grave!
The concluding part to The Fanatic’s study of the classic horror pulps of the 1970s

So there you go! Can’t wait to see it out there. I think the launch event will be at the ABC Fair in London in November, so nearer the time I’ll be looking to drum up some support from various alcoholic members of Vault to turn up and cause mischief!

Paperback Fanatic 7

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic #7 (June, 2008)

New English Library Horror Pulps! Witches, warlocks, demons and virgin sacrifices feature in the first part of this study of the lurid and shocking horror pulps from the UK’s stalwart pulp publishers of the 1970s!

Laurence James- huge overview of the legendary editor and author of The Angels from Hell biker quartet, the Confessions books, the Witches as James Darke, Deathlands and so much more.

Jeff Jones- checklist and critical assessment of the highly collected fantasy cover artist.

Fred Nolan- a behind the scenes look at the British publishing industry with the larger than life Fred Nolan.

Just arrived this morning and needed to share it before i’ve even thought of hacking out one of my risible non-reviews.

Ordering details and much, much more from Paperback Fanatic. Justin’s magazine has made the nominations for best magazine in the 2008 British Fantasy Awards and, no disrespect to the other candidates, many of whose publications I’ve yet to investigate, but I’d so love to see a Fanatic win!

BFS, Ye Olde Cock Inn, London, Sat. July 19 2008

Justin of the legendary Paperback Fanatic writes:

The BFS is providing a forum for those recommended at Ye Olde Cock Tavern, Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1AA on Saturday 19th July, doors from 2pm the event starts at 3pm promptly. the purpose of the day is to celebrate those recommended for this years award and to give people a chance to meet those recommended and have a look at the works in question. The judges are the membership of the BFS who have until the 1st August to vote on their top 3 from each category. The winners are then announced at FantasyCon in September.

Looking for a few friendly faces/moral support. Is the British Fantasy Society award nominated anthologist Charles Black going to be in attendance?

And the nominations are …..

British Fantasy Society Awards 2008

I’m sure we all recognise a few shifty characters among that lot! Best of luck to all of yers!

Paperback Fanatic

Paperback Fanatic : The Story so far ……

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic # 6 (Feb. 2008)

Peter Haining interview – long chat with the late Peter Haining about his trail-blazing days at the New English Library fiction factory. Discusses authors such as Jim Moffatt, Terry Harknett and Chris Priest, and books such as Skinhead, Chopper and Edge.

Haining’s Web of Terror- noted genre expert Mike Ashley’s dissection of Peter’s classic horror anthologies

Sexton Blake and The Guardians- Andy Boot’s investigation into the murky world of Bill Baker’s Press Editorial. Great stuff for any fan of 1960s pulp!

Philip Harbottle’s Vision of Tomorrow- how did the excellent SF mag Vision fail? Editor Phil reveals the inside story on the rise and fall of the UK’s only SF mag of the early 1970s.

Plus- Robert E Howard in UK paperback, NEL and the Mafia, letters, updates and reviews. 44 A4 pages.

Cover price £3.95, post-free to members of this site. Payment by paypal – details at Paperback Fanatic

This has just this minute arrived but see the Vault thread for comment on the mighty Paperback Fanatic # 6

Paperback Fanatic #5

Justin Marriott (ed) – Paperback Fanatic #5* (Nov. 2007)

Cover art: Ade Salmen

Right. Stuff in your strongest stomach because the eagerly awaited ‘When Animals Attack!’ special is finally upon us, 14 glorious glossy A4 sides devoted to the ‘Nasty’ creature feature novels that proliferated in the wake of James Herbert’s sex, gore and social commentary smash The Rats. As with the rest of the magazine, the article is offset with a plethora of cover reproductions treasury from the golden age. Even if you’ve never sampled the delights of Eat Them Alive, The Maggots, Worms, Night Killers or the mighty Crabs On The Rampage, you’ll qualify for the dreaded ‘overnight expert’ status once you’ve stomped and squelched your way through Justin’s crash course.

Following on from the Robert Lory scoop in the previous issue, an interview with Robert ‘Big Bob’ Tralins, a new name on me but responsible for a respectable stream of sexploitation and warped horrors for Popular, Belmont, Paperback Library and similar US cheapo publishers through the ’swinging’ ’sixties and ’seventies. Sword & Sorcery he-men and she-women are well catered for with a Rivals Of Conan round-up and this issue also sees the conclusion of Legion Of The Damned, an exhaustive meditation on the joys of the pleasant, long-lived escapist Nazi war pulp craze. Finally, a welcome new feature is the self-explanatory Fanatical Thoughts – News, Updates, Letters, Gossip where various reprobates get to air their views.

For this reader, the best and most frustrating thing about Paperback Fanatic is that just when I think I can finally put a lid on all the genres I need to watch for when creepy crawling the junk-shops, Mr. Marriott will write something utterly intriguing about some old pile of rubbish or other and I’ll be all ‘Hmmm, but can I really live without Captive Of Gor‘?

Order your copy via paypal:
justinATjustincultprint.free-online.co.uk

* replace the AT with @ *

£3.50 post-paid UK
£5 post-paid mainland Europe
$8 post-paid to US and Canada.

* Perhaps I should attempt to explain the numbering system as it can get confusing. Issue 1 was Pulpmania!, issue 2 was Paperback Dungeon hence what I’ve always referred to as Paperback Fanatic #1 was actually #3.

I’m glad I’ve cleared that up to everybody’s complete satisfaction ….

Paperback Fanatic # 4

Paperback Fanatic #2 (Sept. 2007)

What did we do before Paperback Fanatic? If it only seems a couple of weeks since we were raving over the first issue, that’s because it is, so when a mysterious bundle squelched through my letterbox on Monday the last thing I was expecting it to contain was a proof of number 2!

It’s not as if I’m ever going to struggle to promote it to you people, but the eagle-eyed will have noticed that the cover features selected works from Robert Lory – and Justin has landed one of his biggest scoops ever! If you recall the interview-cum-career retrospective with Michel Parry way back in Pulp Mania, imagine the same treatment afforded to Mr. Lory …

To blithely trot out “worth the entry price for this alone” is true but also pays a huge disservice to the rest of the magazine. Justin has hit on a winning formula with his genre-hopping approach and number 3 showcases the artwork of Jan Parker and Bruce Pennington, the first in a two part investigation into the ‘German’ war fiction of Sven Hassel, ‘Leo Kessler’ and their acolytes, plus the usual feast of cover scans.

Order your copy via paypal
justinATjustincultprint.free-online.co.uk

* replace the AT with @ *

£3.50 post-paid UK
£5 post-paid mainland Europe
$8 post-paid to US and Canada.

Paperback Fanatic #3

The third issue of the legendary Justin Cultprint’s excellent The Paperback Fanatic (”The British magazine for collectors of pulp fiction”) is available now and if you enjoy browsing ’seventies book covers this is certainly the magazine for you! The highlight for me is the catalogue of Sphere’s ’seventies horror titles and there are also features on tacky kung-fu novels, the many faces of Paul Tabori and a piece on violent cops ‘The Special Squad’.

Here’s the cover!

Order your copy via paypal
justin@justincultprint.free-online.co.uk

£3 post-paid UK
£5 post-paid mainland Europe
$8 post-paid to US and Canada.

A Vault Of Evil version of the Sphere article is now available online here. My thanks to Justin for giving me permision to do this.

Paperback Fanatic # 6 (Feb. 2008)

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic # 6 (Feb. 2008)

Peter Haining interview – long chat with the late Peter Haining about his trail-blazing days at the New English Library fiction factory. Discusses authors such as Jim Moffatt, Terry Harknett and Chris Priest, and books such as Skinhead, Chopper and Edge.

Haining’s Web of Terror- noted genre expert Mike Ashley’s dissection of Peter’s classic horror anthologies

Sexton Blake and The Guardians- Andy Boot’s investigation into the murky world of Bill Baker’s Press Editorial. Great stuff for any fan of 1960s pulp!

Philip Harbottle’s Vision of Tomorrow- how did the excellent SF mag Vision fail? Editor Phil reveals the inside story on the rise and fall of the UK’s only SF mag of the early 1970s.

Plus- Robert E Howard in UK paperback, NEL and the Mafia, letters, updates and reviews. 44 A4 pages.

Cover price £3.95, post-free to members of this site. Payment by paypal – details at Paperback Fanatic

This has just this minute arrived but see the Vault thread for comment on the mighty Paperback Fanatic # 6

Happy New Year! News 2008

PAPERBACK FANATIC: THE SITE

A great way to see out 2007 and usher in 2008, Justin Marriott’s  Paperback Fanatic – the site opened for business this morning! You’ll find sample pages, reviews, contact info, details of issues 3-5 and an on-line shop, so if you’ve yet to find out what all the fuss is about, now’s your chance!

VAULT’S TRAD XMAS MELTDOWN

It being Christmas, Vault has become even more of a refuge for the bleary-eyed and hungover than usual, but we did manage to piece together some vaguely coherent end of year round up. Was your book naughty or nice in 2007? Find out in our definitive guide to the hits and misses of this and every other year in the 2007 capsule.

WORKING ON IT

The long-threatened New English Library section of this sprawling, viewer hostile mess should be with you soon-ish ….

THANKS

Happy New Year to all the people who’ve supported Vault in 2007 – and everyone else, come to that (barring those I permanently disclude from my well wishes, obviously: they can all go and etcetera etcetera)

Paperback Fanatic #5

Justin Marriott (ed) – Paperback Fanatic #5* (Nov. 2007)

Cover art: Ade Salmen

Right. Stuff in your strongest stomach because the eagerly awaited ‘When Animals Attack!’ special is finally upon us, 14 glorious glossy A4 sides devoted to the ‘Nasty’ creature feature novels that proliferated in the wake of James Herbert’s sex, gore and social commentary smash The Rats. As with the rest of the magazine, the article is offset with a plethora of cover reproductions treasury from the golden age. Even if you’ve never sampled the delights of Eat Them Alive, The Maggots, Worms, Night Killers or the mighty Crabs On The Rampage, you’ll qualify for the dreaded ‘overnight expert’ status once you’ve stomped and squelched your way through Justin’s crash course.

Following on from the Robert Lory scoop in the previous issue, an interview with Robert ‘Big Bob’ Tralins, a new name on me but responsible for a respectable stream of sexploitation and warped horrors for Popular, Belmont, Paperback Library and similar US cheapo publishers through the ’swinging’ ’sixties and ’seventies. Sword & Sorcery he-men and she-women are well catered for with a Rivals Of Conan round-up and this issue also sees the conclusion of Legion Of The Damned, an exhaustive meditation on the joys of the pleasant, long-lived escapist Nazi war pulp craze. Finally, a welcome new feature is the self-explanatory Fanatical Thoughts – News, Updates, Letters, Gossip where various reprobates get to air their views.

For this reader, the best and most frustrating thing about Paperback Fanatic is that just when I think I can finally put a lid on all the genres I need to watch for when creepy crawling the junk-shops, Mr. Marriott will write something utterly intriguing about some old pile of rubbish or other and I’ll be all ‘Hmmm, but can I really live without Captive Of Gor‘?

Order your copy via paypal:
justinATjustincultprint.free-online.co.uk

* replace the AT with @ *

£3.50 post-paid UK
£5 post-paid mainland Europe
$8 post-paid to US and Canada.

* Perhaps I should attempt to explain the numbering system as it can get confusing. Issue 1 was Pulpmania!, issue 2 was Paperback Dungeon hence what I’ve always referred to as Paperback Fanatic #1 was actually #3.

I’m glad I’ve cleared that up to everybody’s complete satisfaction ….