This is another little zine I found not too long ago while rummaging through a neglected shelf.
As hard as it is for a geezer like me to believe, some of you are probably so young that you don't remember the days before the Internet, the days when information about old paperbacks wasn't easily available, when you couldn't go to Bookscans and see just about every vintage paperback cover there ever was, when instead of searching through little out-of the-way thrift shops for years for that elusive book, you could click on Abebooks and find any title you were looking for, make another click and buy it.
What we had in those olden times was zines like Paperback Forum, although this one came along a bit late in the game. It was quite professionally produced, and it had a lot of B&W photos of paperback covers in addition to the articles.
Probably the most interesting thing in this issue, and still of interest to anybody into paperbacks, is an interview with Knox Burger, conducted by Jon White. I don't have to tell you, I'm sure, that Burger quite a career in publishing, especially as an editor at Gold Medal and Dell. Piet Schreuders has an article on Bantam Books. Geoffrey O'Brien has a review of Goodis: LaVie en Noir et Blanc, available at the time only in French and which has only just this year been translated for those of us cretins who don't read that language (that's Goodis on the cover, as you can see). Barry Kaplan's article is on paperback novels about homosexuality. And of course there's other good stuff including Michael Barson's review of a couple of books about Dell.
It's hard to explain to someone who wasn't around what a thrill it was to get a copy of one of these zines in the mail, but, trust me, it was. I still get a little tingle even now when I thumb through one of them.
A few days ago I got an e-mail from someone who used to attend our writing workshops at Alvin Community College. She'd been going through some old magazines and had run across a copy of Mystery Scene Volume 1, Number 2, postmarked December, 1985. She said she'd opened it up and seen my article on selling the first book in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series and wondered if I'd like to have the magazine. You're durn tootin' I would.
I hadn't seen the magazine in years nearly 30 years. My copy is in deep storage somewhere in the depths of the Cushing Library at Texas A&M University if they haven't given it away. So naturally I jumped at the chance to see it again. As soon as it dropped through the mail slot here at Casa de Crider, I tore open the envelope and started turning the pages. Holy galloping nostalgia, Batman! It was overwhelming.
For one thing, there's Ellen Nehr's "Murder Ad Lib" column, which includes an interview with Barbara Michaels and Ellen's reviews. Ellen was a fan right down to the soles of her white tennis shoes and a unique personality. I feel a little sorry for the generations of mystery readers and fans who've come along since her passing and never known her (and her eccentric spelling, sadly absent in the column, thanks to the editors). She also has a letter in the issue, informing executive editor Ed Gorman that quiche was served at the PWA luncheon at the Bouchercon (which was in San Francisco that year). "Bill Pronzini was so embarrassed that he grabbed his passport and left for two weeks in England. Can you blame him?"
William Campball Gault has a report on the Bouchercon, and he writes about running into pulpster and western writer Tommy Thompson in the lobby of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. Thompson had no idea that there was a convention in the hotel. He was there with his wife to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary. So, Gault says, he and Thompson "sat in the lobby and dreamed back, boats against the current. . . . Someone has said recently that nostalgia ain't what it used to be; it is to old pulp writers." To me, too, and I'm sorry I wasn't in on that conversation. I was at the convention, and I did get to spend a good bit of time with Gault. A great guy, and I'd have loved to meet Thompson.
There's a wonderful interview with Knox Burger conducted by Jon White (it first appeared in Paperback Forum, a publication that I also gave to Texas A&M). Burger reminisces about his days as an editor at Gold Medal and Dell. Great stuff, just great. "There was another guy from that time, a wonderful guy, a madman, but very entertaining and a good writer, named William Campbell Gault. He was a fiesty little guy." Hmmm. Where have I heard that name before?
Ed Gorman's article on Dean Koontz calls Koontz "America's most successful least-known-writer." Geez, could 1985 have been that long ago? It's hard even to imagine a time when Koontz could've been called a "least-known-writer."
Max Allan Collins has a movie column, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's read his blog. He was already and established writer, as the ad in the issue indicates. Barry Gifford writes about discovering Jim Thompson. And there's a lot more. Reading this issue was like opening a time capsule, and I wallowed in nostagia for . . . well, I guess I still am. Wow. Where are the snows of yesteryear?
