Found

[Cordial Jim]

Thanks for the feedback, Jim. I have a couple authors I enjoy who write sleaze-noir, so may need to give these sleaze-sci-fi pbs a shot. I went back and looked at the collection, and it's not complete, but has most of the books from 2 to 19. All are priced at $5, and while that seems to be a little high on some (based on what I see on ABE), apparently not so much on others.

That's too bad #1 wasn't in there. VG+ copies of that go for ~ $50. New/NF $75 or higher. The first book is a must as it really sets up the series and characters. But each book is sort of its own contained story (with continuity between them), so it wouldn't be the end of the world to start with #2. Anyway, you might want to pick up a few of the early ones and see if you like it or not before buying the rest.

If you are curious to learn more about the author (Andrew J. Offutt), his son Chris wrote a great piece about his dad in the NY Times last year called "My Dad, the Pornographer". A great article, although it doesn't talk too much about the Spaceways series, unfortunately.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/ma...pher.html?_r=0

[RC65]

Thanks -- I'll give that a look. An author I collect is Orrie Hitt, a sleaze-noir author, so between him and a few other authors' works in the same realm I've picked up over the years, I'm well acquainted with the sleaze-porn pb industry of the '50s and '60s and all its euphamisms, so I'm sure sure will find the article fascinating.

Btw, if you want to read a couple books on the subject, HIP POCKET SLEAZE and SIN-A-RAMA are both wonderful examinations of the industry and men who wrote for it.

Here're a couple links on Hitt:

http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs...p-brian-greene

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbc...emailAFriend=1

EDIT: Just finished the Offutt article...great stuff, very interesting and compelling. He took a more sexually extreme route with his fiction than Hitt, whose works were essentially human dramas, sometimes mysteries, cloaked in garish, sexualized packaging and rife with the euphemisms of the era...fans of today's FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY books and others like it would find his stuff frustratingly tame.

EDIT2: Just caught this at the bottom: "This article is adapted from a forthcoming memoir about his father’s 50-year career in pornography." -- definitely a must-buy when it's released.

EDIT3: Well, I'll be...just checked Amazon and the book is due out this month! http://www.amazon.com/My-Father-Porn.../dp/1501112465

[Cordial Jim]

Glad you enjoyed it, RC. He certainly had an interesting career. From humble log cabin beginnings, he went on to pump out over 400 books using 17 different pseudonyms in a variety of genres. What an impressive work ethic he had. Like Block, Westlake and others, he did what he had to do to survive in the harsh writer's landscape of the late 60's/early 70's. I don't have any of his Turk Winter stuff. Talk about your hard to find paperbacks!

I totally forgot about the memoir. Definitely will be checking that out.

Never heard to Orrie Hitt before (I really don't read/collective much "sleaze-noir", although I have some, heh), but I'm always interested in reading about authors.

Thought I'd post a few more of my favorite FINDS from over the years...

First appearance of "Suffer the Little Children" in book form


UK PB


UK PB


Black Sparrow Press


Early Crichton 1sts


Early Cronin 1st


This and almost all the other Factoid Press "Big Book Of" books. LOVE these!

[Cordial Jim]

Btw, if you want to read a couple books on the subject, HIP POCKET SLEAZE and SIN-A-RAMA are both wonderful examinations of the industry and men who wrote for it.

Here're a couple links on Hitt:

http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs...p-brian-greene

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbc...emailAFriend=1

I really enjoyed reading about Orrie Hitt! Another fascinating author and career! The description of his writing ("ultra-realistic, gritty, often moving human dramas"), and the time period which he wrote, reminds me a lot of John D. MacDonald or Jim Thompson, but with a little more "sauce" to it. As a collector of older paperbacks, I can't believe I've never heard of him before. But I see that he published mostly in Kozy Books, Softcover Library, Beacon-Signal, and Domino, books that I hardly ever see or come across. I'll definitely be on the lookout for him in the future! Thanks!

[RC65]

Jim, glad to welcome you to the Orrie Hitt fold. :-)

If you want to get a good sense of his style before laying out the $$$ for the vintage pbos, Stark House published a two volume trade paperback of two of his best novels a while back. Might want to give that one a shot for a cheap taste.

[Jacqui]

I found first UK editions of the last three DT books, plus TWTTK for £1 each in a charity shop.

I'd have bought them if they were tatty paperbacks tbh, because I only had the audiobooks...

Also first editions of autobiographies of two of the Spice Girls in a charity shop- I love autobiographies. They're about to go on ebay though, because I don't have much interest in the Spice Girls anymore. And a copy of The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams in excellent condition, which IS on ebay.

Non-book related, and pre-internet, my dad used to by Carnival Glass for pennies in charity shops and sell them in the paper for quite a bit of money...

[Cordial Jim]

Nice scores there, Jacqui!

I had some nice finds in the last couple of weeks, all paperback originals. Two were $3, the rest $1.

Nancy A. Collins' first two books - Sunglasses After Dark (1989) and Tempter (1990) - , signed/inscribed. I've only read Collins short stories work. Looking forward to reading about the vampire Sonja Blue!




First book in the superb Black Company series by Glen Cook (1984). Second printing, replacing my third printing copy. Cannot find a first printing of this one in good condition for the life of me. And Shock Rock II (1994), to go with the first Shock Rock (1992). Awesome stories in these, especially if you like rock music.



First two books in the These Lawless Worlds trilogy (1984). These are similar to the Spaceways series. Jarrod Comstock is actually the pseudonym of two women (Sharon Jarvis and Ellen Kozak). Looks interesting.

[RC65]

I really like Nancy Collins' horror work, and still miss her once-strong presence in the genre. She's done some urban-magic fantasies pbs recently, but that's not really my thing.

[Cordial Jim]

Top finds from March...

JDM's Reading for Survival, a Library of Congress Center for the Book publication (1987). This was his last work completed before his death. It's an essay about the value of reading, structured as a conversation between two of his most famous fictional characters: Travis McGee and Meyer. Brilliant, as usual. Found in a box full of old travel brochures ($1).

"The theme will be the terrible isolation of the non-reader, his life without meaning or substance because he cannot comprehend the world in which he lives."

- John D. MacDonald
to the Center for the Book
October 1985



Three Dan J. Marlowe "Drake" books from the early 70's. Love these books. Great covers. $1.50 each.



Green Mile Audio Box Set (still in shrink rap). $5.



A gritty Jack Ehrlich about vigilante cops and Simmons' Phases of Gravity. Both paperback originals. $1.50 each.



Early Margaret Millar Dell mapback from 1946.

[RC65]

Jim, that Macdonald find is fantastic, especially for a buck and how/where it was found. Truly a Find-with-a-capital-F.

[Cordial Jim]

Top finds for April...

JDM Dell First Editions, April Evil (1956) and A Man of Affairs (1957)



Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) early 70's Parker Berkeley reprints



The 4th Lew Archer book (first paperback edition) and early non-Shell Scott Richard Prather (1952)



Late 80's paperback re-release of the first Yellowthread Street book by William Marshall (US & UK editions). Absolutely love this series and this Aussie author. Wild, exotic police procedural set in Hong Kong circa 1970's.