Paperback Fanatic 36, Pulp Horror 5, Men of Violence 6!

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic #36 (March, 2017)

Full colour 100 glossy page paperback!

Fanatical Thoughts. Editorial
Fanatical Mails. Graham Andrews, Andy Boot, Clive Davies, Scott Carlson, Stuart Williams, Tom Tesarek, Nigel Taylor.
Tom Tesarek – Us or Them?
Tom Tesarek experiences a paperback bad trip when he drops three volumes of Us
Rob Matthews – Gold Medal Classic Murder Trials
Rob checklists a rarely discussed slice of true-crime courtesy of the iconic Gold Medal.
Tom Tesarek – Arizona: A Book Odyssey
Tom Tesarek ‘s epic voyage of self-discovery and paperbacks is a Homer’s Odyssey for the Paperback fanatic.
Jim O’Brien – The Tale Of Two Dark Angels
Jim O’Brien looks at the Dark Angel series including its origins in a newspaper strip and the evolution of the African-American heroine in 70’s popular culture.
Artists Assemble #5: Screaming Metal
French artists of the Metal Hurlant/ Heavy Metal school forever changed the world of fantasy art in the mid-70’s.
Graham Andrews – The Pantastic Saint
Graham Andrews goes undercover to investigate the earliest paperback editions of the famous spy character and his creator.
Justin Marriott – Thud And Blunder
The Fanatic does battle with Lin Carter’s Year’s Best Fantasy series.
Paul Bishop – Get Your Motor Running
The actor and author makes his Fanatic debut with a look at the depiction of outlaw bikers in men’s adventure magazines.
Jack Chalker – The Discovery At Red Hook
A reprint of “Irwin Binkin meets H. P. Lovecraft” with an obscure but relevant HPL reference in the title.
Justin Marriott (ed) – Pulp Horror 5 (March, 2017)

Full colour 96 glossy page paperback!

A Visual Guide To Frankenstein. 35 pages of the famous monster in comics, magazines and books.
The Tie-Ins of Frankenstein. A look at the link between the film and book versions of the monster.
The Lost World Of Frankenstein. Pulp-meister Andreas Decker looks at the German editions of Don Glut’s New Adventures Of Frankenstein series.
Mister Frankenstein. An Interview with Frankenstein’s most famous fan and collector.
In The Shadows. David A. Sutton traces the development of the British small press across two important decades.
Straight From The Satyr’s Mouth. Pulp Horror interviews David Sutton about horror in the seventies and his own publishing imprint.
Leslie Whitten: Night Stalker. Tom Tesarek looks at an early example of the contemporary vampire novel.
The Michelangelo’s of Mutilation & Misogyny: Two volumes of Sex and Horror collect the outrageous cover art that appeared on Italian comic books.
The Wicca Man. The occult fiction of Stewart Farrer, a leading light in the Wicca movement.
David Morrell’s The Totem: A Review
Justin Marriott [ed] – Men Of Violence #6 (March, 2017)

40 pages, B/W. That old school fast, furious, cheap ‘n nasty vibe.

Danger Diabolical. Review of Bob & Dusty Sang’s Deadly Companions
Letters of Violence. Just the one supportive communique from Clive Davies.
Dennison’s Army. Adam Lassiter’s ’80’s Men’s Adventure series.
Bloody Brits. The Nel, Futura, & Sphere approach to the genre.
Submission. Richard J. Harper’s The Dragonhead Deal
Lost In Translation. Checklist of US & UK paperback editions of the San Antonio series.
The Great Game. Ramsey Thorne’s Renegade ‘Adult westerns.’
The Executioner versus Michigan General Corps. A whole lot of court appearances for Don Pembleton and The Executioner

Order direct from Paperback Fanatic – but you’d better be quick!

Anon – Four Gothic Novels

Anon – Four Gothic Novels   (Oxford University Press, 1994)

Horace Walpole – The Castle Of Otranto
William Beckford – Vathek
Matthew Lewis – The Monk
Mary Shelley – Frankenstein

Blurb
Macabre and melodramatic, set in haunted castles or fantastic landscapes, Gothic tales became fashionable in the late eighteenth century with the publication of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764). Crammed with catastrophe, terror, and ghostly interventions, the novel was an immediate success, and influenced numerous followers: These include William Beckford’s Vathek (1786), which alternates grotesque comedy with scenes of exotic magnificence in the story of the ruthless Caliph Vathek’s journey to damnation. The Monk (1796), by Matthew Lewis, is a violent tale of ambition, murder, and incest, set in the sinister Monastery of the Capuchins in Madrid. Frankenstein (1818, 1831) is Mary Shelley’s disturbing and perennially popular tale of a young student who  learns the secret of giving life to a creature made from human relics, with horrific consequences.

This collection illustrates the range and the attraction of the Gothic novel. Extreme and sensational, each of the four printed here is also a powerful psychological story of isolation and monomania.

Margaret Armour – The Eerie Book

Anon [Margaret Armour] (ed.) – The Eerie Book: Tales Of The Macabre And Supernatural (Shiells, London, 1898: Castle, 1981)

Illustrated by W. B. MacDougal

Edgar Allan Poe – The Masque Of The Red Death
George W. M. Reynolds – The Iron Coffin (extract from Faust, A Romance)
Hans Andersen – The Mother And The Dead Child
Robert Hunt – Tregeagle (extract)
Catherine Crowe – The Dutch Officer’s Story
Edgar Allan Poe – The Cask Of Amontillado
Anon – Earl Beadie’s Game At Cards
Mary W. Shelley – Frankenstein (Abridged)
Catherine Crowe – The Garde Chasse
Anon – A Dream Of Death
Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville – The Mysterious Horseman
Catherine Crowe – The Blind Beggar Of Odessa
Robert Chambers – The Story Of Major Weir
Rev. Bourchier Wrey Saville – Marshal Blucher
Baron de la Motte Fouque – Sir Hulbrand’s Wife (extract from Undine)
Thomas de Quincey – Klosterheim, or The Masque (abridged)

Published in the USA in 1981, it’s hard to tell if this is a fascimile copy of an authentic Victorian collection or just a modern take on what the editor suspected one would have looked like. Interesting rather than great, with three solid stories from Catherine Crowe (more often than not included in ‘factual’ ghost story anthologies), and two excellent tasters from de la Motte Fouque and Reynolds, the latter serving up a torture chamber death to Lucrezia Borgia.

see also Vault’s thread for The Eerie Book

Peter Haining – Classic Horror Omnibus

Peter Haining – Classic Horror Omnibus Volume 1 (New English Library, 1979)

Peter Haining – Introduction

Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
Robert Louis Stevenson – The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
Clemence Housman – The Werewolf
Bram Stoker – Dracula
Gaston Leroux – The Phantom Of The Opera