Windy City Pulp and Paper Show 2022

The annual three-day event where people who like to read books and collect books is soon approaching. The Windy City Pulp and Paper Show is held outside Chicago, Illinois, and brings together authors, historians and collectors. There are slide show seminars, an evening auction, vintage movies screened and lots more. The best part of the weekend is meeting up with friends I see once or twice a year. The vendors have so much stuff (photos below) that I can never return home without a box of books. A flyer for this year's event and a link to the website is provided in case you want to check it out. The event is recommended.

www.WindyCityPulpAndPaper.com

DARK CITY: The Lost World of Film Noir

If you are a fan of film noir, then you are probably already aware of this book. If not, you are in for a real treat. DARK CITY: The Lost World of Film Noir by Eddie Muller was first published in 1998 and considered by film buffs as the essential book on the subject. Personally, I find this to be the best book on the subject for which no other books about film noir are required. Thoroughly enjoyable with magnificent prose, historical perspective and social critique mixed together. So you can imagine how pleased I was to know that this out-of-print book that was expensive in the past few years is now available with a new printing -- an updated and expanded edition. 

Yes, this is the same Eddie Muller who is a weekly host of the film noir thrillers on Turner Classic Movies. 

The new edition is available in hardcover. To my knowledge, the prior rendition was paperback only. And to avoid confusion, I am only posting a photo image of the expanded edition that was just published. 

Nothing much else to say since the above sums it up perfectly. Treat yourself to a great book if you have not read this one yet and love watching film noir.

To purchase a copy, click here:

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-City-rebuilt-Lost-World/dp/0762498978

BLOOD 'N' THUNDER 2022 SPECIAL EDITION

One of the best magazines to read is Blood 'n' Thunder, edited by Ed Hulse. The magazine covers subjects ranging from pulp magazines, cliffhanger serials, crime thrillers, Hollywood B-mysteries... basically adventure fiction of the first half of the 20th Century. A few years ago the quarterly magazine became an annual publication and with additional pages in the form of a book.

In 2022 Blood ‘n’ Thunder celebrates its 20th year and to commemorate this monumental achievement, Ed produced a massive "Special Edition" boasting more than 100,000 words and over 100 illustrations in 336 pages. Historian Will Murray leads off with an article on the rare one-shot supervillain pulps The Octopus and The Scorpion. Life-long fantasy fan Donald Sidney-Fryer shares his memories of old friends and fantasy/horror authors August Derleth and Fritz Leiber Jr. Film historian Richard W. Bann offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of This Gun for Hire (1942), an early film noir classic. Karl Schadow uncovers fascinating details on late ’20s and early ’30s radio programs adapted from pulp magazines. Another film historian, Daniel J. Neyer, presents a perceptive overview of the sound-era movie serials produced by Universal Pictures. Legendary pulp-art collector Robert Lesser discusses his passion for the stuff in a wide-ranging interview. Gilbert Colon catalogs myriad pulp and pop-culture references in the CBS Access series Strange Angel, which dramatized the life of space-program pioneer Jack Parsons. Five articles reprinted from 1930s issues of Writers Digest feature prominent pulp fictioneers Erle Stanley Gardner, H. Bedford-Jones, Frank Gruber, and others offering valuable tips about wordsmithing.

 

The highlight of the book consists of some 120 pages—more than a third of the book—which chronicle the Golden Age of Doubleday’s Crime Club, the influential mystery-fiction imprint that published novels featuring such immortal characters as The Saint, Dr. Fu Manchu, and Bulldog Drummond. Also discussed at length in this section are ’30s movies and radio programs adapted from the Crime Club novels. There is much previously unpublished information, a good deal of it culled from obscure publishing-industry trade journals. And there are complete chronological lists of all Crime Club books, films, and broadcasts from 1928 to 1940, the imprint’s Golden Age. As a fan of the B-mysteries produced in Hollywood, this is a highlight worth the cost of the book.

You can order your copy here:

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-n-Thunder-2022-Special/dp/B09Y8CQZRR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MRXVGLIESHKT&keywords=blood+n%27+thunder+2022&qid=1650461740&sprefix=blood+n%27+thunder+2022%2Caps%2C103&sr=8-1

 

THE GREEN HORNET: How Sweet the Sting

A general consensus among fans of The Green Hornet, Moonstone Publishing should be congratulated for the numerous books published in recent years, offering officially licensed prose in the form of both short story and novella. To date they published three collections of short stories and a few novellas. The most recent, How Sweet the Sting, is perhaps the best of them. 

When ex-Special Forces soldier Dane Knoble returns home from overseas, he finds his beloved city overrun by crime. With little or no prospects for his future, he joins a local mob as an enforcer, but an encounter with the infamous Green Hornet sends him hurtling into the hospital with a new mindset. Dane begins to live a double life, one of crime at night, and honest work at the Daily Sentinel during the day, all to implement one simple, bold, and daring plan: Wipe out the Green Hornet!

It should be noted that all of the renditions published are based on the 1966-67 television rendition starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, but word on the grapevine is that the company may publish a 1930s rendition based on the factoids from the radio program. Fans of the franchise have been asking for stories from the 1930s so their wish may soon be granted.

In the meantime, this new novel, written by Jim Beard, captures the flavor of the series with the necessary bullet points required to maintain continuity with the television series. At 130 pages, the novel only take a couple hours to read. If you are looking for a novel to read, this is worth seeking out.