Tuesday, August 25, 2020

A Lost Nero Wolfe Novel? You be the judge.


Back when the '80s were young I was a member in relatively good standing of the legendary mystery apa, DAPA-EM (a fiendishly clever acronym for Elementary, My Dear Amateur Press Association). The way it worked was that every couple of months thirty-odd (or thirty odd) people would print thirty-odd copies of their own fanzines and mail them off to the Official Editor, in this case Art Scott, (aka the Emperor of the Universe). Art would collate the zines, staple them into two or three volumes and mail them back to the members. Think of it as an extremely low-tech, and extremely slow, form of blogging. A wise-guy member once defined DAPA-EM as "sort of a cross between a religion and a disease." He was right.

Anyway, my contribution to the 45th mailing, in March of '82, was this 6-page zine called Fast One, in which I discuss the possibility of a lost adventure of Nero Wolfe. Incredible? Read it and see. This piece was also reprinted in the July/August (Vol. 6 No. 4) issue of The Mystery Fancier, which, to my utter astonishment, is now available as a POD book from Wildside Press. Hey Wildside, where are my royalties?







25 comments:

Cap'n Bob said...

This was in Daps-Em? I admit I don't remember it at all. Did anyone ever confirm or deny it was a Stout book?

Ray Garraty said...

Evan,
my link here is last week's. I have a fresh one:
http://longwalkwithbooks.blogspot.com/2013/08/hill-girl.html

Thanks!

Evan Lewis said...

Thanks Ray.

I believe Jud Sapp looked into the matter, Cap'n.

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

Thanks for including me in the meme roundup Evan - and itterly fascinating to read about this potential new Stout - it's the sort of thing I always imagine is an April Fool, but I'm pretty convinced! Thanks.


Sergio

Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King) said...

Ta for the link, sir. I've got a review up today which might be more suitable than The Outfit, but it's up to you. (I doubt I'll be posting anything at all next week, so maybe Patti can link today's review in next week's FFB.)

Kevin R. Tipple said...

Thank you for including Barry's effort on my blog. Appreciate it.


Kevin

Kelly Robinson said...

I have one here: http://bookdirtblog.blogspot.com/2013/08/book-review-no-blade-of-grass.html

I'll read and remark on your post after I've had caffeine!

Gerard Saylor said...

I got one, GROUCHO MARX, MASTER DETECTIVE by Ron Goulart.

http://booksareforsquares.blogspot.com/2013/08/done-groucho-marx-master-detective-by.html

Randy Johnson said...

I have one as well. Evan.

Jerry House said...

Mine is finally up, Evan.

Evan Lewis said...

Jeez, I didn't come back from the dead until 8am (Pacific). My apologies to all you earlier risers.

Kelly Robinson said...

This really takes me back. My sister and I used to have a 'zine of weird Victoriana -- anything from Conan Doyle to Jack the Ripper. (We had a "Sexiest Man Alive" feature that would usually be some Boer War luminary.)

I miss 'zines so much. Blogs are just not quite the same.

Gerard said...

"Boer War luminary" Ha!

You'll have to scan those pages and post'em up.

Unknown said...

Ah, DAPA-Em. I miss the old days.

Todd Mason said...

I'm up...and happily showing as a linking site. (No apologies needed on my usual late-running account.)

pattinase (abbott) said...

Thanks so much!

George said...

Thanks for hosting FFB, Evan! We all appreciate it!

Rick Robinson said...

I miss DAPA-Em too. Dang.

Shay said...

So now you have me prowling the usual websites (unz.org, pulpgen and pulpmags.org) looking for yet another author! Curse you, Jack Dalton...

Cap'n Bob said...

Alas, Judd died way before his time. Did he come up with anything before his death? I kind of doubt it. What about the Wolfe pack?

Bryan Fo said...

This cover should look familiar:
http://philsp.com/data/images/p/private_detective_stories_194406.jpg
According to FictionMags Index George A. McDonald was active from 1933 to 1946 in various detective magazines. Would be interesting to see if there are any other 'Titus Lyon' stories in "Private Detective Stories".

Evan Lewis said...

Good catch, Bryan.

jurinummelin said...

The link to Todd's posting leads to a wrong site.

Unknown said...

That cover was a fake, isn't it ?

https://adventurehouse.com/shop/product/private-detective-stories-06-44/

Evan Lewis said...

Well, yeah.