Vintage Pulp

February 20 2024

DARKEST DESIRES

There's no jealousy like a femme fatale's jealousy.

It’s amazing how much easier James M. Cain makes writing seem than scores of other authors. His 1950 novel Jealous Woman starts at a gallop. Here’s the first line: At the desk, when they said she was in 819, I knew hubby or pappy or somebody was doing all right by their Jane, because 19 is the deluxe tier at the Washoe-Truckee, one of our best hotels here in Reno, and you don’t get space there for buttons. And just like that we’re off. Cain gives readers ambitious insurance man Ed Horner of General Pan-Pacific Insurance of California. Horner lives, works, and parties in Reno, where unhappy marrieds migrate to be freed from their nuptial bonds. He gets involved in a complex divorce/annulment scheme between Jane Delavan, her rich husband, Jane’s ex-husband, and his current wife. Yes, it’s a bit complicated, but a messy murder uncomplicates it a little. At least for readers. For Horner, things get weird. Jealous Woman isn’t Cain’s best, but it’s still a slice of devious fun worth reading, and this Ace version with John Vernon cover art is the edition to buy if you can.

Nevada, Reno, Ace Books, James M. Cain, John Vernon, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

September 25 2018

GETTING HER GOAT

Listen, lady! There's two of us and only one goat on this island! We're going to have to come to an agreement!

No, this cover for William Fuller’s 1954 thriller Goat Island is not a duplicate of yesterday’s. It’s a similar piece painted by the great same artist—George Gross. On both fronts you have the dark-haired femme fatale, the open white shirt, the seated position, the nearby tree, the shack in the distance, and a general backwoods mood. If you must copy, copy yourself. In terms of content the book falls into the category of South Florida detective yarns, a sub-genre scores of writers have found profitable over the decades. It’s the second book featuring Fuller’s franchise detective Brad Dolan. In 1957 Ace Books republished it with the art redone by John Vernon, which you see below. Yes, they’re different. Look closely. Vernon’s signature appears at the extreme bottom right, whereas Gross’s is absent at top. Duplicating covers was common during the mid-century paperback era but we’ve rarely seen an artist as accomplished as Vernon given the task. Both covers are good, but Gross gets the nod of quality for only copying himself.

Florida, Dell Publications, Ace Books, William Fuller, George Gross, John Vernon, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

December 19 2017

WARNING SHOT

The most important safety precaution is to make sure the chamber on this baby is empty, or else disaster can—BANG!

The U.K. imprint Panther Books had some tasty covers during the mid-1950s, including this pretty effort by John Vernon for Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest. We gave it a read and it involves Hammett’s recurring character, a Continental Detective Agency operative, aka the Continental Op, being hired by a newspaper publisher who turns up dead before the two can meet. The subsequent investigation lifts the lid on corruption in a small town called Personville—but which locals call Poisonville. Hammett was a very solid genre author, with a spare, raw style, like this, from chapter seven:

It was half-past five. I walked around a few blocks until I came to an unlighted electric sign that said Hotel Crawford, climbed a flight of steps to the second floor office, registered, left a call for ten o’clock, was shown into a shabby room, moved some of the Scotch from my flask into my stomach, and took old Elihu’s ten-thousand dollar check and my gun to bed with me.

After reading dozens of other (still very entertaining) authors since we last hefted a Hammett it was good to be reminded just how efficiently brutal he was. While the story is spiced up by a wisecracking femme fatale named Dinah Brand, the main element in Red Harvest is violence—a storm of it. By the end of the bloody reaping there are more than twenty five killings, as one player after another is knocked off. We rate Red Harvest the most lethal detective novel we’ve ever read. It was first published in 1929, with the above edition appearing in 1958.

Britain, Panther Books, Dashiell Hammett, John Vernon, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

December 31 2016

MOON IN THE GUTTER

Baby, come out here and see this. The moonlight shining on the sewage canal is so romantic.

Kathleen Sully’s Canal in Moonlight was titled Bikka Road in the U.S., and concerns a happy family of eighteen. Well, they’re happy when the book starts. And they’re soon to be nineteen, as the wife is pregnant yet again. But she dies in childbirth, a daughter whose beauty is garnering the attention of men disappears, a couple of major purchases go wrong, a revenge scheme is enacted against the man thought to have wronged the family, etc., and pretty soon nobody is happy anymore. This is pure literature rather than a pulp style novel, but we couldn’t resist the cover art. It’s by John Vernon, who painted numerous fronts for Ace Books during the 1950s. This nice effort is from 1957.

Ace Books, Kathleen Sully, John Vernon, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

September 21 2012

A BIRD IN THE HAND

Is worth a fortune in the pocket.

Above, a rare copy of Dashiell Hammett’s classic 1930 detective story The Maltese Falcon, the Panther Books edition, 1957, with cover art by John Vernon.

Panther Books, The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett, John Vernon, cover art, literature

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 5

1945—Hollywood Black Friday

A six month strike by Hollywood set decorators becomes a riot at the gates of Warner Brothers Studios when strikers and replacement workers clash. The event helps bring about the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which, among other things, prohibits unions from contributing to political campaigns and requires union leaders to affirm they are not supporters of the Communist Party.

October 4

1957—Sputnik Circles Earth

The Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik I, which becomes the first artificial object to orbit the Earth. It orbits for two months and provides valuable information about the density of the upper atmosphere. It also panics the United States into a space race that eventually culminates in the U.S. moon landing.

October 4

1970—Janis Joplin Overdoses

American blues singer Janis Joplin is found dead on the floor of her motel room in Los Angeles. The cause of death is determined to be an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

October 3

1908—Pravda Founded

The newspaper Pravda is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles living in Vienna. The name means “truth” and the paper serves as an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991.

October 3

1957—Ferlinghetti Wins Obscenity Case

An obscenity trial brought against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of the counterculture City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, reaches its conclusion when Judge Clayton Horn rules that Allen Ginsberg’s poetry collection Howl is not obscene.

October 3

1995—Simpson Acquitted

After a long trial watched by millions of people worldwide, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson subsequently loses a civil suit and is ordered to pay millions in damages.

October 2

1919—Wilson Suffers Stroke

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed. He is confined to bed for weeks, but eventually resumes his duties, though his participation is little more than perfunctory. Wilson remains disabled throughout the remainder of his term in office, and the rest of his life.