PAPERBACK COLLECTOR

Had a hour to kill in Cardiff earlier this afternoon and so I drifted into Troutmark Books, a fine used book store in the Castle Arcade. Came away with another great stash of books.

Three Max Brand's Gunman's Goal, Galloping Broncos and The Big Trail - fine literary westerns. The writer's actual name was Frederick Schiller Faust. He was the author who created, among others, the character of Destry which was filmed most memorably with James Stewart in the role.

Slocum and the Helpless Harlots - which is another in the long running Slocum series by Jake Logan. Logan is a pen name that many writers have used including the prolific James Reasoner. Can anyone tell me who was responsible for this one?

I was pleased to find Edge no 9 - Bloody Summer as I collect the series and this title is one of the six I need (five now) to complete the run. And for £1.95 - can't be bad.

Two Dirty Harry novelisations - Dirty Harry and Sudden Impact - I'm not usually keen on novelizations but I'm trying to complete my collection of Dirty Harry tie-in fiction so these'll slot in nicely. I've heard good things about the Sudden Impact novelization so I may try that first.

I was especially pleased to find a copy of the Penguin 1990 edition of Riders of the Purple Sage - next to Owen Wister's The Virginian this is one of the most influential westerns of them all. This edition features the essay by Jane Tompkins which gives an interesting take on the history of both the author and this title.

Two Guy N. Smith horror novels - Crabs Moon and The Black Fedora - I used to read Guy as a kid and since then I've come to know him as a fellow pipe enthusiast, and I'm trying to collect his back list. I've a few to go yet, though.

Cop Hater by Ed McBain - this is a nice edition of the book that started the 87th precinct series way back in 1956 - this edition features an introduction written by McBain shortly before his death in 2005

The gem here is a Thriller Book Club 1957 edition of James Hadley Chase's, The Guilty are Afraid. The book was originally published in 1957 and although this is not a first edition proper it is a first Thriller Book Club edition and in excellent condition. Clean unmarked boards, none of the pages loose and great cover artwork. Not that first editions matter to me - I'm a collector but not that sort of collector. If a book appeals to me then I have to have it and this one sure did appeal. There' a detailed Crime Time article on the author HERE

MAGAZINE WATCH

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - cover dated July 2009 and on sale now is highly recommended this month with one of the strongest issues in recent months.

Simon Brett, a fave of mine since his Charles Paris days, has a story entitled The Man who didn't play Golf which is well up to his usual standard. The mag also features stories from Loren D. Estleman. Kristine Rusch, R. T. Smith, David Dean, Donald Olson, Melodie Johnson Howe, C. J. Harper and Archive favourite Hard-boiled fiction pusher, Charles Ardai. There is also a first story for Chris Muessig. Add to that the usual reviews, features and of course Bill Crider's Blog Bytes.

True West (June cover date) features the usual historical features and articles on the modern day west. This issue the cover piece is titled Custer's Ride to Glory and 27 other extreme western adventures. The article is all about taking a western history vacation and makes for great reading.

The July 2009 (out today) issue of Book and Magazine Collector was mentioned on the Archive yesterday in connection with David Whitehead's (AKA Ben Bridges) piece on collecting western fiction.

I'm pleased to report that it is a very informative 19 page article that more or less covers the history of western fiction. Of course it's geared towards the book collector but the list of the 50 top westerns, in the collectible sense, make for great reading. It's no surprise to The Archive but David, who writes Black Horse Westerns under the name Ben Bridges and others clearly knows his subject. Also of interest to western fans will be a feature on Cormac Mcarthy. There is also a memoriam piece on J. G. Ballard who died recently.

Remember folks, Tarnished Star is out end of the month and is available to buy now.
Buy
HERE
HERE
HERE
AND HERE

Or ask your local library to order The Tarnished Star by Jack Martin - traditional old style western adventure.