SECRETS of the STEVE MERTZ LIBRARY (Part 2)

Yesterday we took a closer look at the top row of this small portion of the Stephen Mertz Unpublic Library of Tucson, AZ. Today we're moving on to row Two. What wonders will we find? Read on . . .

Way over there on the left, above Steve's shoulder, is a glimpse of the Mertz section. Unlike the others, these are not filed alphabetically by author, but I suppose they're entitled to a place of honor.  

The first thing we see are these two Crossroad Press hardcovers. Devil Creek is a reissue, and The Castro Directive is an original.

After another hardcover with the title obscured is the first of the Blaze! books, an indecipherable trade paperback and at least a couple more Blazes! (More about Blaze! HERE, HERE, and HERE.) And that's it.  I wish I wish we had a look at the whole Mertz section, because Steve has written at least a couple of bushels of books, but for purposes of this post, what we see is what we get. 

Returning to the regular rotation, there are some books I should be able to identify, but can't. I've seen that fat white paperback that starts with a P many times in used bookstores, but can't put a name on it. Same for the salmon colored pb to the right of the Cussler book. Another Cussler? I just can't be sure. 

These are the first two I can be sure of. I knew Steve was a Spillane reader, but didn't know about Cussler. (I enjoyed all the books Cussler wrote alone, but haven't delved into the collaborations.)

And now we come to the Dalys, with Snarl, the first Race Williams novel, and The Man in the Shadows, a third-person adventure of Daly's first-person pre-Race private investigator, Two-Gun Terry Mack. 

The Hidden Hand is the second Race novel, and Vee Brown was Daly's Dime Detective guy, until Race himself jumped from Black Mask to Dime in 1935. More Vee Brown talk HERE. 

Next to Vee Brown there's a black hardcover I don't recognize (what the heck is that, Steve?) followed by the extra-fun Mr. Strang (discussed HERE) and the first collection of unrelated Race novelettes, from 1989.

And right next to that is another of my favorite books, the first novel in the Doan & Carstairs series (described HERE.)

Here's another mystery. On the left here are four Gold Medals, who apparently fall between Davis and Dent. But I can't think of any Gold Medal authors in that range who wrote that many books. Can you?

The Dent books start with a couple of Doc Savages (can't read the titles), then stand tall with Genius Jones, the first book publication of an Argosy serial from 1937. (More about that HERE.) Next to that is a taller book with a white spine. All I can read on that one is DENT, and I want to know more. What is it, Steve?

Several more Savages follow, but the only ones I can name are these. 

After that, Dent's first two Crime Club novels. Dead at the Take-Off is discussed HERE.

Lady Afraid was Dent's third and final Crime Club entry (more HERE), and Flight Into Fear was Will Murray's fifth Doc Savage novel, published way back in 1993. There are a couple of Doc Omnibuses nearby. I had hopes of naming those, but there were more than one in each of those colors.

Cry at Dusk (reviewed HERE) was Dent's sleaziest book, and Lady in Peril (HERE) a first edition Ace Double. 

Finishing out the Dents is this Hard Case novel, unpublished until 2009. After Honey, there are a few Sherlock Holmes books (grist, no doubt, for Zombies Over London), followed by more titles I wish I could decipher.

The next things I can see, though, are two editions of this western I now want to read. Other Fieldhouse paperbacks follow, which I may be hunting too. 

The end of this row brings still another mystery. I see what appear to be three or four Gunsmith books by "J.R. Roberts." If these had been penned by Gunsmith creator Robert Randisi, they'd be down on row four with the other Randisis. So who, with an F or G initial, wrote these babies?

Tomorrow: We move to row Three with more questions than answers. Come back and see which are which.  

SECRETS of the STEVE MERTZ LIBRARY (Part 1)

Steve Mertz posted this pic of his bookshelves on Facebook the other day (taken, I suspect by Paul Bishop, who paid him a recent visit). So, in the tradition of my 2015 post "Secret's of Bill Crider's Bookshelf (that's HERE), I did a little literary detective work to give you a closer look at some of Steve's reading matter.

Unlike Bill's photo, in which almost every title was legible, this one required more guesswork and familiarity with Steve's tastes. It also helped that he shelved the books alphabetically by author, making the guesswork easier. Today, we'll be taking a closer look at that first row, marching off to the right of Steve's forehead.

Of the first twenty books, the only author I can decipher is Edward S. Aarons, and I can't make out titles. But the Cleve F. Adams section is easy to spot. The orange hardcover is the second Rex McBride adventure, And Sudden Death, and the tall trade pb with the white & blue spine is the first, the new reprint of Sabotage from Altus Press.

If you haven't read these books, you should. More on Sabotage HERE, and And Sudden Death HERE.

Can't make out the black hardcover next to Sabotage, but next in line are these first two of three novels featuring Bill Rye, who was Adams' take on political operative Ned Beaumont of The Glass Key. I'm jealous of Steve's Dig Me a Grave dust jacket. (More about Dig Me HERE.)

Next up is Murder All Over, a retitling of the Rex McBride novel Up Jumped the Devil, recognizable because of it's distinctive brown spine.

And next to Murder All Over is a spineless paperback I'm pretty dang sure is a Handi-book, meaning it's one of the two above. My money is on Up Jumped the Devil, discussed HERE. 

After several undecipherable titles by William Ard, and at least a couple by Philip Atlee, we come to hefty collection of paperbacks by Michael Avallone. That's no surprise, as Steve is a long time admirer of his.

I could read only two of those Avallone titles, and they're shown above.

But I also see an Ace Double tucked in there. Could this be it?

I don't recognize the first ten books in this section, but the eleventh is Dealing Out Death, an early novel featuring W.T. Ballard's Hollywood troubleshooter Bill Lennox.

Steve's copy has to be one of the editions above (probably the one on the left). More about that book HERE. 

Next to Dealing Out Death is Ballard's last Bill Lennox novel, published for some inane reason as by "John Shepherd. This one appeared in 1960, twenty-seven years after Lennox's debut in Black Mask. Then, after a couple more mystery books, we come to the Robert Leslie Bellem section...

No bookshelf should be without a Dan Turner collection, and Steve has at least two. Roscoes in the Night was published by Adventure House in 2003, and the John Wooley book below (more HERE), came out in 1983. You'll find the title story from the Black Dog's Spicy Western collection Lust of the Lawless HERE.

The most intriguing book on this top row is shelved between Roscoes and another mystery book, followed by Lust of the Lawless. It's sort of salmon colored, and appears to be an old hardcover in dust jacket. Could it be the Bellem mystery Blue Murder? Or maybe the Adams-Bellem collaboration The Vice Czar Murders? I've never seen a dj for either. Again, I'm jealous. I'm also mighty curious about the tall white book between the skinny little Lust and the Hollywood Detective book. What the heck is it?

You'll find scans of Handi and Harlequin Sleeping Nude covers (including Art Scott's Bellem autograph and a link to James Reasoner's erudite review HERE.)

Next to Sleeping Nude are these two sleaze books. I didn't think much of them, and Steve probably didn't either, but since they're by Bellem, I guess we had to have them. You'll find scans of the back covers HERE. 

Next up: What wonders await on row Two? What books will you recognize that I can't? Come back tomorrow and see.

THE SHADOW vs. SHIWAN KHAN

Empire of Doom was reviewed HERE.

Forgotten Books: WAR AGAINST THE MAFIA by Don Pendleton

Reading this book again was like reuniting with a long-lost friend. I read all 37 of Don Pendleton’s Executioner books sometime in the ‘70s, and again in the ‘80s (he wrote books 1 thru 15 and 17-38, with number 16, Sicilian Slaughter, written by “Jim Peterson,” aka William Crawford).

When Gold Eagle took over the series with new authors in 1980, I read the first, judged it far below par, and gave it up. Only years later did I discover Steve Mertz had written a handful for the Gold Eagle line, and done Pendleton proud.

On this reading, I was struck once again by Mack Bolan’s strength of conviction. I can’t think of another character, fictional or not, who is so damn sure of his role in life. It isn’t cockiness, or even self-confidence. He’s always well aware his next mission could be his last. He just knows what needs doing, and if he doesn’t do it, no one will. So off he goes. No doubts, and damn sure no fear.

At this point, just beginning his long paperback career, Bolan is a little like Don Quixote. The Mafia is a mighty big windmill, and he has no expectation of winning this war. He’s simply determined to fight it, and keep on fighting it for as long as he can.

Pendleton’s prose here is good, tight and tough, but stylistically, Pendleton is just getting warmed up. By the time he really gets going - later in the series - he gives the “poetry of violence” ascribed to Raymond Chandler a whole new meaning.

At one point, in discussing Bolan, a couple of mobsters make reference to the Phantom and The Shadow. And whenever Bolan stages a hit, he leaves a calling card in the form of a marksman's medal, hugely reminiscent of The Spider. Makes me wonder: Was Pendleton a pulp fan?

Last time I read the series, I felt the first three books (this one, along with Death Squad and Battle Mask) formed a sort of trilogy, setting the stage for the series proper. Once those three housekeeping books were out of the way, Bolan was off on his rampage around the country, and that’s when Pendleton’s style really began to pop.

At this stage, had someone told Mack Bolan he’d need only thirty-eight books to cripple the mob and divert his attentions to terrorists instead, he’d have scoffed at the notion. And Don Pendleton, no doubt, would have been astounded to hear there would be well over six hundred Mack Bolan novels, plus the spin-off series Able Team, Phoenix Force and Stony Man. The series was officially cancelled last year, after 47 years of continuous publication, but I’ll be mighty surprised if it doesn’t charge back from the dead. Especially if we finally get a movie.

Over the years, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone and Vin Diesel have all been slated to play Bolan on screen, but all four projects fell through. In 2014, Warner Brothers got the rights, planning to star Bradley Cooper, but I’ve heard nothing about it since. Will it happen before I croak? Jeez, I hope so. 

First published by Pinnacle in 1969, War Against the Mafia has been given new life by Open Road Media. They have now reissued the first three volumes in trade paperback, and the all 37 Pendleton volumes as eBooks. I found those first three books recently at the public library. The Executioner in the library. Who'd a thunk it?

P.S. Last week, Ben Boulden posted a piece by Steve Mertz discussing Don Pendleton's pre-Bolan work - a series of sleaze books featuring private eye Stewart Mann, written as by "Stephan Gregory." Those books (minus the sleaze) need reprinting! That post is HERE, and is extremely worthy of your attention.

AMAZING! ASTONISHING! WEIRD! The Complete Pulp Magazine Covers Vol. 2

Todd Frye, author of four earlier picture-packed books (Fantastic Planets: The Complete Pulp Magazine Covers Vol. 1, Passion and Peril: The Complete Men's Magazine Covers Vol. 1, I Was a Teenage Monster Magazine Fiend, and Collecting Vintage Men's Magazines) has released this new one, presenting complete runs of cover images from Amazing Stories, Astonishing Stories and Weird Tales, with bonus pages devoted to the short-lived Marvel sci-fi mags, and even shorter-lived South Sea Stories. 

The 8 1/2 x 11" book features over 600 cover pics, all in color, on good quality matte white paper. Most are four to a page, while many of special interest or beauty get the full-page treatment. Todd has also provided brief histories of each magazine, plus notes on the history and collecting of pulps. Here are two actual photos of the book in action in the hands of an actual pulp collector (me):

86 of the book's 197 pages are devoted to Amazing Stories, and another 86 to Weird Tales, a tribute to the long life of those two titles. Astonishing lasted only fifteen issues, but they're all here, along with all of the various Marvel titles and the five issues of South Sea Stories. Following are some sample scans for your viewing pleasure. You can snare your own copy at http://www.toddfrye.org.  

Amazing! Astonishing! Weird! (and Todd's other books) are available HERE!