PAPERBACK HEROES

Fifty authors gather in Mission Hills for Black Ace Books' annual paperback signing event.

While pulp digging in L.A. we found this cool flyer advertising Black Ace Books’ 33rd Annual Paperback Collectors Show and Sale. There will be some heavyweight authors at this thing, including some award winners, but unfortunately, we can’t go because we won’t be in L.A. anymore. It was a lovely three weeks in the U.S., though. We saw many friends, and between forays into the abundant and diverse nightlife found plenty of new pulp, which you’ll see as the year progresses. Anyway, if you happen to be in Southern California, consider attending the Black Ace event. Mission Hills is a little out of the way, in our opinion, but if you’re from the area you’re certainly used to driving an hour or two to get where you want to go.

On another note, we’ll be moving headquarters in the next few weeks, which involves the torturous process of getting new internet set up, so don’t be surprised if we post a bit more intermittently than usual through the first part of April. On the other hand, things could go really smoothly and we’ll avoid disruptions. It’s impossible to predict, though. That’s just the nature of infrastructure related issues where we live. If we really wanted fast, cheap, reliable internet we’d move to Scandinavia, but sadly our bodies cannot tolerate ice unless it’s in a margarita. Thanks, America, for a fun trip. 

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1923—Yankee Stadium Opens

In New York City, Yankee Stadium, home of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees, opens with the Yankees beating their eternal rivals the Boston Red Sox 4 to 1. The stadium, which is nicknamed The House that Ruth Built, sees the Yankees become the most successful franchise in baseball history. It is eventually replaced by a new Yankee Stadium and closes in September 2008.

1961—Bay of Pigs Invasion Is Launched

A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. However, the invasion fails badly and the result is embarrassment for U.S. president John F. Kennedy and a major boost in popularity for Fidel Castro, and also has the effect of pushing him toward the Soviet Union for protection.

1943—First LSD Trip Takes Place

Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann, while working at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, accidentally absorbs lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD, and thus discovers its psychedelic properties. He had first synthesized the substance five years earlier but hadn’t been aware of its effects. He goes on to write scores of articles and books about his creation.

1912—The Titanic Sinks

Two and a half hours after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean on its maiden voyage, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks, dragging 1,517 people to their deaths. The number of dead amount to more than fifty percent of the passengers, due mainly to the fact the liner was not equipped with enough lifeboats.

1947—Robinson Breaks Color Line

African-American baseball player Jackie Robinson officially breaks Major League Baseball’s color line when he debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Several dark skinned men had played professional baseball around the beginning of the twentieth century, but Robinson was the first to overcome the official segregation policy called—ironically, in retrospect—the “gentleman’s agreement.”

Edições de Ouro and Editora Tecnoprint published U.S. crime novels for the Brazilian market, with excellent reworked cover art to appeal to local sensibilities. We have a small collection worth seeing.
Walter Popp cover art for Richard Powell's 1954 crime novel Say It with Bullets.
There have been some serious injuries on pulp covers. This one is probably the most severe—at least in our imagination. It was painted for Stanley Morton's 1952 novel Yankee Trader.

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