Pulp Fiction discussion

Cathy wrote: "Diane wrote: "Cathy wrote: "David wrote: "Cathy wrote: "David wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Mantan wrote: "Col wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Col wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Col wrote: "That's enough about the Witnesses ..."

Cathy, here's a flickr post with the full jacket cover for the hardcover. This guy and others confirm that it's a picture of Mickey's second wife, Sherri. The marriage ended badly and she apparently tried to sue him for "perverse behavior." She lost the case. What I remember from that article years ago; Mickey claims she "breathed in my ear, 'I want to be naked on the cover of your next book.' I figured why not, beats some dog."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamie179/4764620230/

David wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Diane wrote: "Cathy wrote: "David wrote: "Cathy wrote: "David wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Mantan wrote: "Col wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Col wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Col wrote: "That's enough about ..."

Ha, ha, ha. So funny. Will check out flickr link now.

It's beautiful. Just gorgeous and tried to copy to post but no luck. And MS was right, she beats "...some dog." Nice, Mickey.

Thanks again for the link. Love new information and this was the highlight of my day.

David wrote: Cathy, here's a flickr post with the full jacket cover for the hardcover. This guy and others confirm that it's a picture of Mickey's second wife, Sherri. The marriage ended badly and she apparently tried to sue him for "perverse behavior." She lost the case. What I remember from that article years ago; Mickey claims she "breathed in my ear, 'I want to be naked on the cover of your next book.' I figured why not, beats some dog."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamie179... ..."

David I have to tell you ...that might be the greatest cover for a detective novel hardcover in the history of publishing.

Totally off topic -are any of you guys young enough to remember seeing Spillane on the numerous talk shows of the 1960s? Spillane was a frequent guest on Merv Griffin and others that weren't as widely syndicated as Merv.

Mickey might even have done a couple of the Carson era Tonight shows.

Also seem to remember seeing him appearing as a panelist on an old video compilation of What's My Line and/or To Tell The Truth.

I do remember seeing him, Mantan. But I don't ever remember him mentioning being a Jehovah's Witness!

I ditto what Mantan said re: cover.

I remember, kind of, hearing his name but don't recall seeing him on any programs. But, you know, fellas, I was so very, very young. :D

Bizarre -if funny- moment from To Tell The Truth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IichFy...

2 part interview with Mickey from 2004:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-zYLY...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blRdLm...

This guy was a born storyteller. Engaging, witty, and animated as heck!

Mantan wrote: "Bizarre -if funny- moment from To Tell The Truth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IichFy...

2 part interview with Mickey from 2004:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-zYLY...

http://www.youtub..."

And a JW! Will check out after dinner and thanks, Mantan.

Mantan:

Great clips. Just too funny, MS, and agree that he's all that!

Thanks again.

Cathy wrote: "Mantan:

Great clips. Just too funny, MS, and agree that he's all that!

Thanks again."

So glad you enjoyed the interview!

Fun day on Mickey...and all the other stuff.

You add a lot to this thread, so I thank you.

A film rec: The Devil's Playground: a documentary about Amish teens.

Guy wrote: "A film rec: The Devil's Playground: a documentary about Amish teens."

Hummm. Amish are getting around these days. Guy, you see it?

Currently reading a collection of old 1930s-1940s stories by the brilliant Bruno Fischer that originally appeared in the old Dime Mystery Magazine and Terror Tales pulps as recently reprinted as eBooks by RadioArchives.com and available on Amazon:
(http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Magazin...)

(http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Tales-Ha...)


The titles of the short stories that appear in the Horror anthology Terror Tales were all published under his pen names of "Harrison Storm" and "Russell Gray".
The titles of the stories appearing in Dime Mystery Magazine were published under Bruno Fischer's own name as well as the pseudonyms mentioned above.

Great stuff and fit for the Halloween season.

Radio Archives has done fans of the classic shudder Pulps a great service.

They also publish a slew of "superhero" and "aviation adventure" titles like "The Spider", "G-7 And His Battle Aces", "Captain Future", and more.
Check 'em out!
They're cheap and they're fun!

Thanks Mantan: You've got to love the blurb for The Devil is Our Landlord.
"The hands! Oh god! Stop the hands!" those were the words each young girl screamed, as completely nude and hopelessly insane, she returned to that modern apartment from which, days before, she had vanished--as though into thin air!

Yes I saw the film The Devil's Playground. Makes you look at the Amish in a whole new way.

Guy wrote: "Thanks Mantan: You've got to love the blurb for The Devil is Our Landlord.
"The hands! Oh god! Stop the hands!" those were the words each young girl screamed, as completely nude and hopelessly insa..."

Oh man- Hilarious!
Most of these stories feature a nude or partially nude woman-in-distress every 7 pages or so.
Fell asleep last night in bed reading "The House That Horror Built" from the eBook Terror Tales Harrison Storm & Russell Gray.

Tried a half dozen times to list this book in Goodreads' data base and failed. Tried to upload a copy of the cover 47 times and again... failure.

These eBooks are highly recommended to fans of the classic "Shudder Pulps".

I'm coming to this thread a bit late, and I suppose it's stating the obvious to point out that WITNESS fits the bill as a (at least relatively) noir/hardboiled story set in an Amish community. To my mind WITNESS is an underrated film: Harrison Ford is good as the main character; the story is competent; and the filmmaking by the almost-always-interesting Peter Weir is top-notch. The title of the film, of course, has nothing to do with Jehovah's Witnesses.

Mark wrote: "I'm coming to this thread a bit late, and I suppose it's stating the obvious to point out that WITNESS fits the bill as a (at least relatively) noir/hardboiled story set in an Amish community. To ..."


Wow- I'd completely forgotten about WITNESS!

I was even thinking about Kelly McGillis and wondering what had happened to her career when I saw her (unrecognizable) in a nice little spooky film THE INNKEEPERS (2012) on Netflix.

She was excellent in the role of an alcoholic spiritualist/former movie-star.

I'd like to see WITNESS again -it's been 25 years since I last watched it.

I last saw it about 15 years ago, but I have seen it 4-5 times and I really like it. This thread now makes me want to go watch it again.

Soooo...

JEHOVAH'S WITNESS - A hard-boiled police detective is assigned to go under-cover in a small Amish community to protect a key eye-witness who's being sought by the Mob. That she's drop-dead gorgeous spells trouble. But when the detective starts handing out copies of Watchtower; well, that could mean real trouble...

Anybody out there want to channel Mickey Spillane and write this?

This is all you, David! You're halfway done.

Ctgt wrote: "This is all you, David! You're halfway done."

If only writing a book were as easy as writing a blurb!

David wrote: "Soooo...

JEHOVAH'S WITNESS - A hard-boiled police detective is assigned to go under-cover in a small Amish community to protect a key eye-witness who's being sought by the Mob. That she's drop-de..."

PDF...before portable document format, it meant pretty damned funny which is how I mean it. PDF, David and you write it.

Cathy wrote: "David wrote: "Soooo...

JEHOVAH'S WITNESS - A hard-boiled police detective is assigned to go under-cover in a small Amish community to protect a key eye-witness who's being sought by the Mob. That...David and you write it. "

Hmmm. I'm betting I could make a lot of enemies with this book! ;-)

David wrote: "Cathy wrote: "David wrote: "Soooo...

JEHOVAH'S WITNESS - A hard-boiled police detective is assigned to go under-cover in a small Amish community to protect a key eye-witness who's being sought by ..."

Just a guess but bet they don't visit this thread so wouldn't know of your plan. But if a bestseller, am sure they would hear about it. But maybe not. Don't think they put reviews in Watchtower or whatever the Amish read.

Cathy wrote: "David wrote: "Cathy wrote: "David wrote: "Soooo...

JEHOVAH'S WITNESS - A hard-boiled police detective is assigned to go under-cover in a small Amish community to protect a key eye-witness who's be..."

LOL! Not much chance of it becoming a bestseller. Doubt I'll ever have one of those! And I'm betting you're right that the Amish won't see it. They probably don't have Kindles!

Just finished Frank Kane's Fatal Undertaking. Not as good as his other books but I thought it was okay. Below is my review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Right now, I'm reading Stab In The Dark by Lawrence Block. I think that some of the people in this group said that this was a good book. I agree with you.

Finished The Winter of Frankie Machine - awesome! Now I've started The End of Everything and, to hold me off until November's Elmore read, The Hot Kid. Ah, what all around fun.

Bobbi wrote: "Finished The Winter of Frankie Machine - awesome! Now I've started The End of Everything and, to hold me off until November's Elmore read, The Hot Kid. Ah, what all around fun."

Enjoyed all 3 of those.

Strangely enough I didn't read THE HOT KID when it was first published.
I came by it close to 2 years ago.

If memory serves, Carl Webster is the son of Virgil from Cuba Libre.

As you probably already know, Carl reappears in Up In Honey's Room which I enjoyed but felt wasn't up to Leonard's usual standards.

I can't praise the writing of Megan Abbott enough. I'm a fool for everything she's written -including book reviews and mini-articles that have appeared in the New York Times.

The End Of Everything is a terrific and extremely satisfying read.

Enjoy!

Mantan wrote: "Bobbi wrote: "Finished The Winter of Frankie Machine - awesome! Now I've started The End of Everything and, to hold me off until November's Elmore read, The Hot Kid. Ah, what all around fun."

Enj..."

Mantan: Apparently I enjoyed Honey's Room more since I gave it four stars but noticed it got mixed stars from friends, including one star from Ed. Usually we're in step but not with this one.

Honey was early on in my Leonard reading career, for lack of a better word.

By the way, I love this thread and the comments from everyone. Great reading, great entertainment, folks, the comments, so thanks for that.

Mercy!
I had to give up on the Radio Archives Pulp Reprint eBook of Terror Tales Harrison Storm & Russell Gray (aka the usually excellent Bruno Fischer).

The cover can be viewed on Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...


I would have been better prepared for the appallingly misogynistic nature of this early material submitted by Bruno Fischer to the Horror pulps of the 1930s had I only referred to page 118 of Paperback Confidential under the entry for Bruno Fischer: "He made a name for himself writing stories for the 'weird menace' pulps, using the pseudonym Russell Gray. These stories were brutal tales of women enduring gruesome acts of torture, often at the hands of mad scientists."

Author Brian Ritt then goes on to quote a particularly vile if not vomitous passage from one of "Russell Gray's" more objectionable stories.

Ritt doesn't even bother to excuse the young Bruno Fischer's exuberantly disturbing BDSM dominated (pardon the pun) early stories stating, "Although many pulp magazines, due to their over-the-top nature, are often viewed as campy by modern readers, the detailed descriptions of torture in the 'weird menace' pulps can, even today, be unsettling..."

I waded through 3 stories in this eBook Pulp reprint hoping to find some kind of Lovecraft-inspired creepiness but all I found were revolting stories of women having their skin peeled while still alive & left bleeding to death (Darlings of the Black Master) , having their hands severed at the wrists so that the fiend/s might more easily drain them of their blood (The House That Horror Built), or being flayed to death by a whip wielding sadist returned from the dead (A Corpse Wields The Lash).


Bruno Fischer is the author of the cult classic House of Flesh (not listed on GR but can be found on GR at this link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...) as well as The Lady Kills, Quoth The Raven (also not listed here), and So Wicked My Love.
None of the titles I've read by Fischer prepared me for the content of Terror Tales Harrison Storm And Russell Gray.

Avoid this particular Radio Archives reprint.


(would have posted this as a review and given it zero stars if Goodreads had this eBook listed ...just as well, I suppose)

Mantan wrote: "Mercy!
I had to give up on the Radio Archives Pulp Reprint eBook of Terror Tales Harrison Storm & Russell Gray (aka the usually excellent Bruno Fischer).

The cover can be viewed on Amazon here:
ht..."

Hi Mantan:

I bought the Paperback Confidential when I saw your comments a few months ago and like you, enjoy reading about who's who in the pulp world. So thanks for letting me know this book even existed.

As soon as I began reading your post, I went to page 118. Oh, my, I sure am glad I didn't pick up this one!

Thanks for the "heads up" so to speak. It has that "yuck factor" as I'm inclined to say when it's appropriate.

Cheers, but there's not much cheer in Russell Grey aka Bruno Fisher's books.

Serenade by James M. Cain. It's helpful if you know something about opera which I don't.

52 Pick Up by Elmore Leonard.

Mantan wrote: "52 Pick Up by Elmore Leonard."

Mantan...here's hoping you write a review to remind me. Unfortunately I didn't so can't recall storyline but am sure it's great. I gave it four stars. Friend Jackson said it's hard to squeeze five stars out of me and he's right. (Got curious and my average rating is 3.74...about what I expected. Very few five stars.)

Still struggling a bit with Serenade but wrapping it up. Hope ending is better than the 3/4 pages I've already read.

Alberto wrote: "I'm currently reading Out by Natsuo Kirino, one of the readings candidates for this month's poll. I'm 100 pages into it, a fifth of its lenght, and it's very interesting so far, a noir set in Tokyo..."

Glad to hear this. I have this book and I was planning to read it soon.

Mantan wrote: "52 Pick Up by Elmore Leonard."

My favorite Elmore Leonard book, along with the movie.

Ronhummer wrote: "Mantan wrote: "52 Pick Up by Elmore Leonard."

My favorite Elmore Leonard book, along with the movie."

What's striking about 52 Pick Up to me this time around (being only the 2nd time I've read this book since the early 1980s) is that it's a much more plot-driven novel than the vast majority of Elmore Leonard novels that preceded it & the novels that were to follow.

I enjoyed the movie a great deal having purchased the VHS prerecorded tape of it when it became available. Of course, I've always been a stone Ann-Margaret fan and I like Scheider a lot.
Didn't know that it was available on DVD until moments ago.
Must Own!

Checking IMDB I'm amazed to discover that Clarence Williams III has a major role & I'd completely forgotten he was in it!
I'm all "Holy crap: 'Linc' from The Mod Squad is Bobby Shy!!!"

Yeah, that movie brings back memories. Clarence Williams was great. It was the best and most memorable book that Leonard wrote. And of course, Roy Scheider was great in the lead role. His best movie was the Seven Ups but this was just as good.

Jay wrote: "Just finished When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block. I was very impressed."

Jay...me, too! Just read a month or so ago. Loved it, giving it five stars. Here's my review if you want to read it. When the Sacred Ginmill Closes

I can promise you that I do not give five stars easily (ask GR author Jackson Burnett, he told the world about my hard rating.) Those I reserve for the best of the best i.e. Steinbeck, Cather, etc. Not the usual noir/hard-boiled which I love. The Sacred Ginmill...excellent, just a great book. We're on the same page, so to speak!

My review of The Spiked Heel by Evan Hunter

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Since there was a good response to my last review of Frank Kane's book, I read Slay Ride again and I have put the review here. I'll put up other Frank Kane books as well. Slay Ride is a five star book and is available on Kindle for .99.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Time to take a break from detective novels. Will be reading Bruno Fischer's So Wicked My Love.

I decided to read The Killer by Wade Miller.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I'm reading Johnny Carson by Henry "The Amazing" Bushkin.
For a memoir by a prominent entertainer's attorney this is pretty suspenseful stuff.
Lots of juicy gossip I refuse to spoil for you.

Ditto, here, taking a break from the usual...first "other" book in past 10-15 books.

Anyway, It's Those Angry Days by Lynne Olson about the three years preceding the U. S. entering WWII. Great story, easy reading and so very interesting. Sure is altering what I read in the history books.

Finished 52 Pickup for the group read over the weekend. I really enjoyed it.

Just started The Devil All the Time. I was ho-hum about Knockemstiff so I hope this one will be better.

MSJ wrote: "Finished 52 Pickup for the group read over the weekend. I really enjoyed it.

Just started The Devil All the Time. I was ho-hum about Knockemstiff so I hope this one ..."


Bummered you didn't enjoy Knockemstiff.
The only appropriate Charlie Chan films aphroism that applies here would be "Words of welcome freeze when friend appears troubled." (Charlie Chan in Reno))

Sincerely hoping The Devil All the Time rings a chime or two in your heart.
But as Mister Chan once observed: "Time and analysis will tell."(Charlie Chan in Reno)