This Island Earth by Raymond F Jones & Shasta Publishers

One day while perusing the shelves at Bonnett’s Books here in Dayton Ohio I came upon a spine that said This Island Earth. I excitedly grabbed it. Was this a coincidence!? A novelization of the movie!? To my surprise it was indeed THAT Island Earth and it was the original novel that the 1955 movie was based on. One that I had watched many times as it was the movie that appeared in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Movie.

Video review here. Written review below.

This Island Earth was written by Raymond F Jones and originally was published as a three part serial in the pages of Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Part one was titled, “The Alien Machine” and appeared in the June 1949 issue.

Part two was titled, "The Shroud of Secrecy” and appeared in the December 1949 issue.

Part three was titled, "The Greater Conflict” and appeared in the February 1950 issue.

Raymond F Jones combined the three and filled it out to make a full-length novel and in 1952 it was published in hardcover by Shasta Publishers out of Chicago. I have the hardcover Shasta Book Club Edition, and it has this absolutely terrible cover here that makes it looks like a 1950s high school science textbook. I will say I do love the giant SCIENCE-FICTION at the top.

What a disappointment to go from incredible cover art of those pulp mags to this almost plain cover. The painfully basic cover art did lead me down an interesting rabbit hole as I was curious to see who this Shasta was and what their other covers looked like. So, we’re going to take a little detour because I think this story is very inspiring especially to people like us and all other fans who want to participate.

Shasta was founded in 1947 when three science fiction fans from Chicago, Erle Melvin Korshak, T. E. Dikty, and Mark Reinsberg came together to release The Checklist of Fantastic Literature compiled by E.F. Bleiler, a comprehensive list of science fiction, fantasy and weird books published before 1949. The book records over 5000 titles. Which if you needed to be reminded, this is 1947. Acquiring this kind of information would take years and the logistics are beyond my understanding. Imagine how much money was spent on stamps alone.

After they released their book and it was a well received success, they decided, well hell, we should keep going. Shasta then released a string of science fiction classics. Their next book published is in my top five favorite short stories of all time, Who Goes There? By John W Campbell with the iconic Hannes Bok cover art, who also happened to do the cover for The Checklist.

They released seventeen more titles. The first eleven had incredible artwork. Let’s just take a min and check it out.

Slaves of Sleep, by L. Ron Hubbard (1948) H.W. Scott

The Wheels of If, by L. Sprague de Camp (1949) Bok

The World Below, by S. Fowler Wright (1949) (what happened here??)

The Man Who Sold the Moon, by Robert A. Heinlein (1950) Hubert Rogers

Sidewise in Time, by Murray Leinster (1950) Bok

Kinsmen of the Dragon, by Stanley Mullen (1951) Bok

Space on My Hands, by Fredric Brown (1951) Malcom Smith

The Green Hills of Earth, by Robert A. Heinlein (1951) Hubert Rogers

Cloak of Aesir, by John W. Campbell, Jr. (1952) (short fiction collection) Malcom Smith

And what was number twelve? This Island Earth. Cover by Robert Johnson

And here the cover art really takes a dive. Maybe they weren’t doing so well financially and couldn’t afford to have top genre illustrators do their covers anymore?

We might as well take a look at the rest of the titles since there is only seven left.

Murder in Millennium VI, by Curme Gray (1952) Robert Johnson. Please fire this guy.

The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester (1953) Mark Reinsberg (one of the Shasta owners)

Space Platform, by Murray Leinster (1953) Isaac Heilbron. This one is YA. It has a passable cover for what it is.

Revolt in 2100, by Robert A. Heinlein (1953) Hubert Rogers. They threw some money into this cover. Heinlein must have sold well for them.

Science Fiction Carnival, edited by Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds (1953) Ardi Ames

Space Tug, by Murray Leinster (1953) Malcom Smith. Another YA novel but with some fun and exciting cover art.

Empire of the Atom, by A. E. van Vogt (1956) Malcom Smith

So yeah, what an impressive little run they had. What makes it more special in my eyes is that these books were released out of love. A major publisher is probably more aware of what won’t and what will make money and lean into the latter. Which, there is something to be said about that also because those publishers lasted for decades. Some are still going. But I do love an underdog and really appreciate people with passion who make things happen.

I’m so glad that I stumbled upon this book and took a minute to look into who released it. What an exceptional random find. And of course, today the books are even more collectible than they were back then. Who Goes There? is up on ABE books for $500 2nd edition to $1500 1st edition.

And now on to THIS ISLAND EARTH

Joe Wilson is the purchasing agent for Ryberg Instrumentation Corporation. He stares out the window, depressed. He always wanted to be an engineer but now here he is an office flunky whose sole purpose was to order mechanical parts for hunky leading man Cal Meacham. Cal is a radio engineer, a pilot, a pacifist, and an honorable scientist. He thinks science should be used to make the world a better place, not to destroy or kill. I like him already.

Joe has ordered a new condenser from his usual supplier, but when it arrives it is much more powerful than the one he ordered. Even more odd, it came from a completely different supplier than who he ordered from.

Cal is blown away with how the condenser works. This technology doesn’t exist! He asks around the other departments at Ryberg. They have also gotten parts from this mysterious new supplier and likewise they have mechanics and power that seem impossible.

Some time goes by and from the same supplier comes an instruction manual on how to build and “interocitor.” What’s an interociter? Cal wonders. He takes his time putting it together and we are there step by step with all of the fun sci-fi and electronics jargon.

Once assembled we see that Cal has built a high tech communications device. A man appears on the screen. He congratulates Cal on building the interocitor and invites him to join his group of super scientists called, The Peace Engineers. Which is great, because Cal loves peace. The Peace Engineers mission statement is basically to work on cutting edge electronic, physic, and mechanical inventions but keeping them out of the hands of world leaders and the common people as they can’t be trusted with it. Sounds very James Bond villain to me but not to Cal and he is all in.

So right off the bat there are a few differences from the movie in the first sequence but nothing major. Joe isn’t Cal’s fellow engineer who helps him build the interocitor. There’s no hint of something alien at the beginning. Cal’s plane doesn’t glow green and malfunction. The unnamed-at-this-point man who appears on the interocitor is not Exeter and is completely human looking. The time frame of events is stretched out. In fact it’s like that in the whole book. We’re talking years for this whole plot to unfold.

A plane with no pilot shows up to pick Cal up and take him to a little north of Phoenix Arizona. As he exits the plane he is met by a looker of a lady whose name is Ruth. Ruth works for The Peace Engineers as a psychiatrist ...but also a secretary/ personal assistant to Dr Warner, the man Cal spoke to on the interocitor. Cal does not recognize her like in the movie which is fine because that whole little interaction didn’t really make sense. Cal does have a hard time calling Ruth doctor though because she’s a pretty woman.

Cal meets with Dr Warner who tells him that this is an interocitor plant and he wants Cal to manage it. Being that they are working on an item that is not a weapon Cal is all in. At the facility he meets his old Swedish college roommate Ole. Right away Ruth and Ole tell Cal that something fishy is going on around this here interocitor plant but Cal is way too excited about science to listen. Then we get a huge chunk of this book where Cal is just running the plant. Exciting stuff.

Eventually we meet the leader of the Peace Engineers, Dr. Jorgasnovara. Cal instantly likes the man and completely dismisses the worries of his friends.

And there is our set up. I would imagine this is the end of the first part of the original serial, The Alien Machine. I loved it. It’s intriguing, suspenseful and mysterious. Who are these Peace Engineers really? What does the interocitor actually do? I also appreciate how drawn out the time frame is. It works better than the movie. Not that the movie is unenjoyable in the beginning. I mean, it has different story telling logistics. It HAS to move faster but with the novel you could slow down and fill in the gaps. Aside from the section where Cal start’s running the plant, the novel’s pacing isn’t slow though.

Unfortunately, here is where the book takes a bit of a dive.

Finally, Cal starts to become suspicious but there is a lot of back and forth. Unfortunately, that suspicion envelopes everything so it becomes a complete conspiracy. It’s the Peace Engineers, it’s Ruth, it’s Ole, and back and forth over and over. What starts off as intriguing becomes tiresome.

The rest of the book is almost completely different from the movie.

Cal and Ruth are married by the beginning of part two.

This Island Earth is explained. Jorgasnovara explains that his people are from another world and are at war with another. He likens Earth’s part in it all to how in World War Two the warring countries would enlist the help of the “primitive people,” the locals of various small islands, to help clear forests which in turn helped the troops of the good guys to win the day. So essentially Earth people are the primitives and our planet is an island strategically located on the battlefield. And peace loving Cal who thinks science should be used only for the advancement of his world immediately flips and signs on to help battle this alien race.

It’s a strange turn of events but I’m starting to see that Mr. Raymond F Jones had some political comments and now you’re going to hear about them. Which, you know, it’s his book, totally fine. Let’s hear what you got Jones.

I would surmise that maybe Raymond F Jones thought that people who believe in peace and not getting involved aren’t being realistic. This point was written in the plotline pretty well. It made sense, he made some valid arguments. No issue with this.

On the other hand, Raymond F Jones does not like the Union. There is no surmising from me on this point. It is loud and clear. At one point the interocitor production floor is sabotaged in the middle of the night. Cal immediately blames the union. The union doesn’t want money Ole explains, “It won’t matter how much you give them. They just have to strike periodically to show things are still done the democratic way around here, and they’re just as good as the next guy.”

Ok, not bad. It's subtle and fair. Let's hear what Cal has to say though,

"Don't blame the union," said Ruth. "They don't support this kind of thing. It's the crackpot morons who get in that are responsible for this."

"The union is responsible! said Cal. "It's responisible because it admits and upholds and goes on strike in behalf of the crackpots and morons. Each individual member of the organization is responsible for this as long as he votes and strikes in support of a sub-normal moron we need to remove in order to run a factory. There's no way on Earth they can escape that responsibility."

You like unions, you don’t like unions, and you want to give your opinion in your novel? Whatever. My only stipulation is that it has to cohesively fit in the storyline and be a valid dispute. You can’t turn to the camera and give speeches. There was no compelling argument and the idea that because this interocetor union went on strike now meant the whole world would be destroyed is so outrageous.

Sorry. I don’t mean to harp on about this but not only is it mentioned over and over through the middle of the book, there is a whole chapter dedicated to it. AND spoiler alert, it wasn’t even the union that sabotaged the facility. The whole incident was created just so he could have Cal give these insane angry tirades.

As you can see we lost a lot of fun here and we are still at the plant with Cal while he tries to manage it. Yes, This Island Earth the movie is now out in space having the adventure of a lifetime and in the book Cal is trying to figure out how to triple production in a factory full of "petulant child-minded laborers."

I’ll just leave the climax detail here untouched. It is nothing like the movie and proceeds on the same trajectory and dies with a whimper.

Big disappointment here but only because I have the movie to compare it to. The beginning was so promising but it at the start of the second installment it breaks down slow and steady until you get to the end and you are glad it’s over. There are enjoyable aspects to it so it’s not a complete disaster. I am glad I read it though and I am really glad that I bought this edition. After learning about Shasta I feel like I have something special here even if the story contained inside was middle of the road.

Chainsaw Terror by Shaun Hutson

The basic backstory of this novel is that a young Shaun Hutson was doing well in the horror paperback publishing world. He had four best-selling novels, Slugs, Spawn, Erebus and Shadows. He was approached by his publishers to write a novelization of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Unfortunately, the rights were more than the publishers wanted to shell out so they said, what the hell, just give us your own chainsaw horror novel. Shaun threw in some other grisly power tools and submitted Chainsaw Terror. The year was 1984. The stores refused it. This was the era in the UK of the video nasties so to have a book suggesting murderous chainsaw violence was a no-no. The publisher, Star took it and rebranded it with the generic title, Come the Night in 1985.

Not exactly as graphicly enticing as Chainsaw Terror. These days the novel, in either form, is rare but particularly in the case of the pulled version of Chainsaw Terror. So, once again to the benefit of vintage paperback horror lovers worldwide, Fathom Press got the rights and republished it under the original title, Chainsaw Terror in beautiful and nowhere near dead mass market paperback size. It also has new classic 80s horror movie homage artwork painted by Stephen Andrade. Justin says that it SHOULD be out by the end of February 2026. Give the man a break if it’s not, he’s at the whim of his printers. Click on this FATHOM PRESS link to purchase.

Video review here. Written review below.

The year is 1978. We are right outside London. A young lad named Ed Briggs is watching TV when his workaholic handyman dad comes home early from work. Hello son, where’s mom?

Mom is upstairs packing her bags. She’s had enough of this loveless marriage. She’s met a new man and in his arm’s is where she will be from now on.

Dad is not into this new arrangement and lets her know how he feels about it with physical violence. He smashes a silver mirror and with a sharp sliver of mirror he repeatedly stabs her. After her last breath escapes her lips, he takes the sliver and slashes his own throat.

At the bedroom door young Ed has been watching in fascination the entire time. The scene is written in pure graphic violence and gore.

The year is now 1983. Ed and his sister Maureen, now adults, are still living in the house. Ed took over Dad’s handyman business. We get a sample of modern-day Ed and his opinions on women. He is on a handyman job, and the woman is being flirty. Asking about his girlfriends. MOCKING HIM. Or so he thinks. He feels embarrassed and humiliated, which makes him angry. Why do women act like that? Because they are sluts who need to be put in their place. It seems Dad’s handyman business isn’t all that Ed took over from his father.

You know what woman doesn’t act like that? Maureen. His dear younger sister Maureen. She’s the kind of woman that Ed could appreciate if you know what I mean.

But poor Maureen does not feel the same way. She hates living with her creepy brother who is always relating them to a married couple. Ed is stifling, controlling and jealous, which is no good because Maureen has met a man and wants to move in with him.

Before Dad died, he sound-proofed the home. He hated outside noises. Maureen finds living in the home depressing. Like living in a vacuum. No sound gets out. The only thing that exists while you are in the house is the people inside. Every sound is pronounced and loud. Dripping water. Creaking Steps. It really sets the tone of trapped isolation.

Ed has made some adjustments to the house himself including peepholes to watch Marueen take baths. While creeping Ed thinks to himself, no one turns him on like Maureen. They belong together. If she were ever to leave, he doesn’t know what he’d do. He goes down to his workshop cellar to contemplate some more. He plays with his chainsaw.

Maureen is done with Ed. He hardly talks. He isolates himself from the world. He makes her very uncomfortable. While venting to her Derbyshire boyfriend Mike, he invites her to come live with him. Finally, Maureen sees an escape, but she is afraid of her brother’s reaction. When she gets home, she tells Ed right away.

Out comes the cleaver and he starts hacking. One in the neck. Chops off her hand. Chops off her head and holds it in front of him. He gets turned on by her headless corpse lying on the floor. Ah man, please don’t go where I think this is going.

Thankfully, not that far but still absolutely brutal. This is total gore described in excruciating detail. Her body and bits gets shoved into a plastic bag. Her decapitated head is taken into their parent’s room and set on a pillow where he gently whispers, “I told you you’d never leave me.”

And there it is, Ed is now an up-and-coming serial killer. Maureen’s boyfriend gets it next when he comes searching. It’s enjoyable to Ed because he was Maureen’s lover but what he’s really looking to do is punish some more women. Typical incel behavior.

We cut to our protagonists. Dave Todd is a reporter doing a story on the seedy side of SoHo. Sex shops, strip clubs and hookers. Dave has made friends with two ladies of the night, Valerie and Amy. We get some emotional investment here as the author shows the beautiful ladies as the wonderful human beings that they are. Shaun Hutson ain’t no incel, he knows what’s up. From a reader standpoint though we know that’s no good. These ladies are probably going to get it.

The writing in this book is vivid. Very colorful. Like if prose was neon lights.

Ed visits SoHo to pick up ladies. He wants to bang them in front of his dead sister’s decapitated head. Different strokes for different folks, right? Being the weirdo that Ed is, he will tell the hookers his real name. What difference does it make, they won’t be around to tell anyone anyway. Or maybe that’s just how off he is.

Let’s stop for a second and check on how Maureen’s head is doing.

“It was in an advanced state of putrefaction now. The skin had lost that waxy sheen and was now dull and flabby. The eyelids were closed, covering the eyes which were now almost fluid- soft mushy balls which looked like coagulated grease. One ear had withered like a flower exposed to flame and the eyebrows and lashes had come away in places. A clear fluid had trickled from both nostrils and solidified on the drooping top lip. The cheeks were sunken, a piece of bone showing through on the left side.”

The rest of the book follows the same trajectory. Ladies go missing. Dave Todd, the reporter, is reminded of a brutal murder he once read about involving someone with the last name as Ed. Dave and Valerie are on their own as they try and figure out what is going on with the missing women and the connection to this son of a murderer.

This is a straight slasher movie. It's one of the adult slashers though. No kids at a camp. This is grimy big city streets. It’s sleazy with it’s neon lights and porn shops and pimps. The ladies working the streets doing what needs to be done and some just like it and that’s just the way it is. In this way it reminded me of an old Men’s Adventure Magazine shocking supposed true feature of the life of a pro. “We just do it for kicks, you suburban squares!”

It’s not cartoonish. There aren’t masked supernatural stalkers with cool theme music. It’s cold, real and unsettling. Taxi Driver meets Driller Killer.

And it leans hard into the gore. We’re talking about Hershell Gordon Lewis type stuff right here.

“Edward was panting for breath. He steadied the McCullough (the chainsaw) and, with a shout of pleasure, drove the monstrous blade forward. It ripped into her, pulverizing the delicate flesh, tearing upwards through her body, the barbs hacking effortlessly onward as he pushed, driving further as they began to churn through her intestines. Blood sprayed in all directions. Now he wrenched it free, briefly hearing the drone of metal on bone as it crunched her pelvis and lower ribs into a thousand splinters. Entrails seemed to snake upwards like the bleeding tentacles of some stricken octopus and a stench so rank it made him sick, wafted up from the riven cavity of her stomach.”

It spends time with the brutality. It's weird to think this was from the 80s. It feels like it was written yesterday with how much it nails the atmosphere. In a modern day lens, it’s easy to look back on slasher movies and pull out all the stops but this pulled it off in the era.

I've never read a horror book like this and to be honest, extreme horror is not my cup of tea. The detailed chunkin’ and cuttin’ up of bodies is a wading pool of gooey guts here. That being said, it’s from the 80s. Their extreme is not the same extreme you would get in some modern day books who fly the extreme flag.

My personal favorite aspect of the book was the sleazy SoHo street-walker parts. If this story was told strictly from their perspective, it would read more like an erotic serial killer thriller. As is though, if you are a fan of the gloriously bloody heyday of 80s slashers, this is the book you’ve been looking for.

The Hustler by Laura Pope and Sleaze Alley.

Put the kids to bed folks because today we’re talking sleaze! Classic softcore sleaze paperbacks to enhance the romance in your pants on Valentines Day. So, yes, adults only from this point on. This is the afterhours episode. The skinimax episode. The USA UP all night episode.

I am going to do a review of this book The Hustler by Laura Pope. We’re also going to talk about this fanzine/book called Sleaze Alley by Peter Enfantino and then we’ll do a showcase of my modest little sleaze collection (video only).

Before we get started, I want to clear up some of the misnomers of sleaze paperbacks. Number one, they aren’t hardcore. They aren’t smut or porn. Well, not as people in 2026 think of that stuff. I’m sure back in the 1950s and 60s this was hot material but to our present day minds, these books are an R-Rated movie. But even more than that, these books actually do try and tell a story. No matter how naughty and salacious they make it look and sound on the cover, there is usually something beside surface level shit going on. And I think that’s what removes them from the world of pornography.

I’ve only read a few, but from what I have read they are often dark in tone. Where the characters have emotional misgivings about their actions but an overwhelming urge to dose their flames.

Why are they intriguing? It’s a time capsule. An era frozen in time. These books would never be written today. They are not on par with where we are now. It’s kind of adorable. The innuendos and ways that the authors had to come up with creative ways to write about doing the deed without flat out saying will make you chuckle. And the stories contained within? Though some were written by unknown authors of dubious talent there are many written by famous genre authors we know and love like, Donald E Westlake, Lawrence Block, Robert Silvberberg, Harry Whittington and Evan Hunter. And the cover art while not quite the McGinnis and Lesser quality was stylistically original. I feel the art style encompasses a bit of innocence while still being suggestive. More like the look of an old ratty copy lying around a frat house in 1962 than a book hidden in some dark shady porn shop. It’s dirty but not that dirty.

The Hustler by Laura Pope

Magenta 1965

Cover artist unknown.

Our protagonist is Ted. He’s a young good lucking hustler working as a waiter at Hillstar, a high-class resort located in the Catskill Mountains. He likes to bed ladies. All kinds. All ages. He also likes money. He makes good money at the Hillstar but more importantly there are a lot of lonely ladies there. The story is told from his perspective in first person narrative, so we get to hear his thoughts and insights into the world around him.

We open with a softcore scene of him bedding a rich man’s lonely wife. She’s older but Ted doesn’t mind that she’s forty. She’s hot to trot and can’t get enough. She wants Ted to spend the night. Her husband will be here tomorrow. It’s their last night together. But there are strict rules that the help is not to fraternize with the guests and Ted knows that the chances of him getting caught leaving in the morning are much greater than at the current time of 2am. She starts crying. He watches her, detached. He has a distant coldness to him. We hear his inner monologue. He psychoanalyzes her and her husband. He speculates on the mental damage they are doing to their kids. He realizes he should feel bad for what he’s doing but he doesn’t. He even states that he likes the husband, he’s a great tipper. But what the hell, if it wasn’t him, it would be someone else.

The next day he sees his buddy acquaintance, Bernie. Bernie is a journalist and comes up to the Hillstar to hook up with ladies. He hangs around the lobby pretending to read literary books. The two are kind of friends though more in a way that they respect each other’s skills in the game. Ted is one hundred percent a loner though.

It’s now Friday night and the Hillstar is jammed pack. Ted sets the ladies on the back burner and works on his second favorite love, money. He’s a damn good waiter. He reads people. He knows what they want. And once again we get his analysis of people and how they behave in relation to who/what they are.

He slams teachers. He says all teachers ever talk about is how little they are paid. He simply finds it annoying. He never states an opinion on whether they are or not. It probably would never come into his mind. All he knows is that he isn’t going to be getting a good tip.

The doctors are golfers. They eat light and healthy. They make a lot of money plus they don’t report all of their income taxes. Once again, no moral judgement. He’s very aloof when it comes to ethics. All he cares about is that they will give him a decent tip.

I'm kind of loving this so far. I was taken aback by how interesting I found the Ted character to be. He’s a cynical and shallow opportunist. But he’s also charming, intelligent and perceptive. The narrative has a very removed fly-on-the-wall feeling. Even though Ted interacts with this world he is very detached. Someone who most of the guests probably don’t notice or give a second thought to unless they need him and he uses it to his benefit. He has emotions but they are faint and he only acts upon them after logically thinking about the feeling. He’s not a complete narcissist but is extremely confident.

He reminds me a lot of the Bateman character in Rules of Attraction.

There is another mild sex scene where he hooks up with a younger gal from Bernie’s table. And don’t worry, Bernie gets the other lady and there are plans to swap tomorrow night. Considering this is supposed to be triple x territory we are in, the scenes are all pretty bland for today’s standards. A Shannon Tweed movie level of naughtiness.

Reporter Bernie gives Ted a tip about a high-priced call girl that is here with a very rich person of importance from New York City. Ted doesn’t really care. How does that benefit him?

Here is where Linda enters the picture. She is Ted’s age; twenty-three. She is drop dead gorgeous with the body to match but it would cost Ted a whole month’s worth of pay to spend a night with her. He waits on her and her old man boyfriend. He is instantly smitten. He notices the couple aren’t getting along. She is flirty with Ted.

The inevitable invitation to make a late-night stop in her bedroom arrives. Oddly, Ted is interested in her as a person and keeps trying to get a dialogue going. With all the other ladies we just wanted a quick bang and he’s out. She doesn’t want to chat, she wants to get it on, so she taunts him. He finally submits but oops, her rich John boyfriend just opened the door. Ted scurries away.

The next afternoon he sneaks back up to her bedroom after a very odd breakfast meeting where she keeps telling him over and over in different ways that she is a whore. Mocking him with it. He hates it.

Yet here he is in her room again. This is the beginning of Ted losing his aloof exterior. Once again, he wants to talk. She goes off the rails this time, strips down and starts pleasuring herself in front of him all the while taunting him with “I’m a whore” talk and howling extreme orgasmic pleasure sounds. Finally, Ted leaves pissed without having ever touched her.

Deep stuff here, surprisingly! Linda is a real human being cracking at the seams. She’s not just there to pleasure you though at this point that’s how she sees herself. Why is Linda the one to melt Ted’s cold cold heart? Does he see himself in her and that’s why he is so disgusted when she debases herself?

The first half of this at the resort, is killer. I loved it. After the season is over he moves to New York City and here is where it takes a nosedive. He gets a job with a "motivational research outfit" which basically is a business where other businesses hire them to figure out why people buy one product over another. Ted admits that they usually just make it up. He finds it depressing and all of his coworkers are average men and he doesn’t connect. He lives a lonely life and thinks about Linda often.

He has random sexual encounters of an unbelievable nature. After paying ten dollars for a housewife turned hooker he decides, well, I might as well call Linda.

At her plush apartment he is very shitty with her about being a hooker. She admits that she doesn’t like the lifestyle, and her psychiatrist tells her she has self-destructive tendencies. Leaving Las Vegas!

They bang finally and she asks him to leave as she has a six o clock appointment. He is salty. Wants her to quit. In the midst of it all he tells her that he loves her. She tears up a little.

Absolutely tedious at this point. They argue a ton. He is so demeaning to her and acts like he owns her. He wants her to quit for him. And she’s like what will I do for money and he's like who cares. Quit for me. They go out on the town. Get wasted. At a fancy restaurant a man approaches her. He is some big wig and offers her a job for the night. She takes it and Ted flips. He finds a cheap hooker and bangs her. Goes home.

There are a bunch of people in the courtyard. Basically, an orgy. There is a girl on the porch who wants to go up to his room. She’s weird and asks all kinds of questions like how often married people do it. And then she wants him to nibble on her arm like a piece of corn.

All he thinks about is Lisa.

The playboy is gone. He's pathetic in this part but maybe that’s the point? He fell for a woman, and it ruins him. So, lame. Or maybe we are supposed to learn something else here? Maybe it’s a character study on people who suffer from self-destructive tendencies? Or maybe I am looking way too hard at a cheap and sleazy book that was probably written in an afternoon?

Lisa calls Ted. She tells him that she loves him and is quitting the life. He’s elated and then just as quickly defeated. She’s going back to her husband. Linda and Ted can’t be together because it will inevitably fail as neither of them are strong in character. There's no point. So, she might as well go back to her husband. This thing is depressing.

At the end of the day Ted is back at the Hillstar Resort. Everything is the same except him. The thrill he used to get hustling is empty. His buddy Bernie is there and tells him all about how he had to go out on a call. “Remember that hooker Lisa? She jumped off a building. Killed herself.” Bernie is amused that he couldn't afford her and now he's accidentally slipping on her brain matter on the sidewalk. It’s harsh but not unnecessary. This is the way the world saw Linda and the point is driven hard into Ted’s heart when he hears it.

Ted feels terrible. But what’s the point? Life is misery.

So, there we have it. Not very sexy. It was enjoyable on the front half and maybe even the back though the forced sexual encounters were ridiculous. It’s a bleak ending but if you are into movies like Rules of Attraction and Leaving Las Vegas this does have that same tone. Not to say that this is as well written but it’s not bad either. I give it a C+.

Sleaze Alley vol 1 by Peter Enfantino

Cimmaron Street Books 2025

It looks like it is sold out directly from the publisher, but it is available on Amazon.

My wife actually bought me my copy for my birthday last year. So, this isn’t a review copy or anything, I’m just sharing it because I think it’s cool.

Sleaze Alley is a zine/book containing nearly 100 reviews of vintage paperback sleaze from the 1960s all written by Enfantino himself. I haven’t read anything else by him but I do know of his Bare-Bones zine which has an online blog and physical issues, and he was a co-author of the Manhunt Companion which is a guidebook to Manhunt Magazine. And also, he lives in Gilbert Arizona which is where I used to work when I lived in Arizona. I wonder if we ever crossed paths at the bookstores??

What’s great about this other than the insightful and often-comical reviews is he’s done the hard work for you. He lists the pseudonyms and the cover artists, if at all possible. There are full color scans of the covers, and he has a four-star rating system where he judges the book on: The Story, The Sex and The Cover.

I marked a few interesting ones so we can take a closer look and see what he has to say about them.

First up is Beast of Shame from 1964. The author is credited as Don Holliday but it’s actually David Case. He looks to be mostly a horror author with many excursions into werewolf mythology. He even has an Arkham House release from 1980 titled The Third Grave. Cover artist for a Beast of Shame: unknown.

This is about a small-town detective with a bunch of murdered women on his hands. And a werewolf. A horny one who lays the babes and then slashes them to pieces. Enfantino tells us, not only is this sucker entertaining but it’s a real werewolf. No bait and switch.

Second up is Flesh Damned by Alan Marshall aka Donald E Westlake from 1964. Cover art by Robert Bonfils.

This one is a revenge story of a man who is out to kill the four men responsible for making his wife a drug-addled prostitute. He kills one and gets four years. When he comes out there is only one man left alive. The man keeps some young twins (adults!) around for carnal desires and when the husband finds him he ends up falling for the twins and lets just say, not a happy ending.

And finally, Flesh Hammer by John Baxter from 1963. Cover art by Robert Bonfils.

I picked this one because it is absolutely gnarly. There is a serial killer stalking the night called Jack the Hammer. He gets his namesake from smashing prostitutes with a hammer. Enfantino describes it as both an involving mystery and an absolute gore fest. The way he described it reminded me of a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie and coincidentally his movie Blood Feast was released the same year. Maybe a book to track down for all the slasher gore fans out there.

There are a lot of stinkers out there in the world of sleaze and the books aren’t usually cheap so to have a resource like Sleaze Alley is vital. Like I said, it’s available through Amazon and is a must have for anyone interested in the vintage sleaze genre. One other thing I learned while reading this book is that he mentions another book called Sin A Rama published by Feral House in 2004. I didn’t know this book existed and immediately ordered it directly from the Feral House website.

While you are waiting for your new books to arrive might I also suggest checking out Gary Lovisi’s youtube channel as he shows sleaze books from time to time and there is also a crazy extensive website called Vintage Greenleaf Classics which is a checklist of every book published by Greenleaf through 1959 to 1975.

To the Dark Tower- Lyda Belknap Long (AKA Frank Belknap Long)

Lancer Books 1969

Cover art Lou Marchetti

I recently did another Guide to Gothics episode with my pal Eric from the Paperback Warrior on my YouTube channel where we discuss this book. We had a special guest this time around, Chris from the Youtube channel Liminal Spaces. Here is the video but if you just want the quick written review, it is below.

The book starts off with a prologue chapter from the perspective of a young boy with “a big head, round pale eyes and a mouth that was too wide.” He stumbles upon a ceremony of what could be described as a coven of witches out in the woods who are surrounding a black kettle.

So, not a good start. The visual is so cartoonish. They might as well have had green skin, pointy black hats and giant warts on their nose. This really took the wind out of my sails almost immediately. A nail in my tire. Getting hit with the ball at my first at bat. My new fish dying in the bag on the way home from the pet store.

The boy realizes he has seen something he shouldn’t have and runs through the woods in a panic. Neither we nor him know if he’s being followed. The woods open to a lone house. The boy recognizes it as his doctor’s house who he regards as a very kind man.

Before he gets to the house a man in a robe with a hood drops from the tree in the front yard. He creeps up to the doctor’s door. He places something on the porch, rings the bell and runs back to the tree.

The doctor answers the door, sees the mystery package, picks it up, gets angry and throws it into his front lawn near where the boy with the big head is hiding.

The boy sees what it is.

It’s a doll with pins in it made to look like a lady he once saw the doctor with.

The man from the tree jumps back down, the boy grabs the doll and starts running but not fast enough because he suddenly feels a pain in his back like someone threw a rock and passes out.

And scene.

We now meet our protagonist Archeologist Joan Lambert. She is driving to Glen Oaks, Kentucky to visit her fellow Archeologist slash museum manager boss slash protective boyfriend Dr Wilfred Allen. But this isn’t just a weeklong lover’s getaway with her man. Dr Allen has invited an internationally renowned psychiatrist, a psychical research scholar (a ghost hunter), an anthropologist whose focus of study was East African tribal shaman incantations and a Doogie Howser type young psychologist. Now, to what purpose would this grouping of experts on the paranormal and human mind need to be assembled?

Sixteen months prior Joan was on an archeological expedition in Pyrenees mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. While exploring a cave she was attacked by something that is described or insinuated as organic but then she believes that it followed her and is connected to her in a mental capacity, so it is supernatural. It’s very ambiguous.

In the cave she found not only ancient cave paintings that proved witchcraft was practiced in ancient times but she also found a defiled fertility statue called the Aurignacian Venus.

So, as limp as this story is I will say Frank Belknap Long did some research here. The Pyrenees Mountains were renown for witchcraft and satanism. The area was known as the Land of the Goat. There was a book just released in 2024 called Land of the Goat: Witchcraft in the Pyrenees by Julia Carerras-Tort which looks into the history of witchcraft in that area. So, the fact that FBL hit on something that is just now having books written about is pretty impressive.

So far, I am into this book. It’s an interesting premise incorporating real world historical witchcraft and a malevolent supernatural force straight out of a Weird Tales story.

After the exposition backstory we get some action. While Joan is driving a black monstrous figure appears in the middle of the road. Joan swerves to avoid it and wrecks her car. This part kind of reminded me of the scene in the Mothman Prophecies.

She climbs from her wrecked car, gasoline dripping everywhere, glad to be alive but then she remembers that she is out in the middle of nowhere, alone with a monster. She looks up to see it standing there. Its face is skull like. It has a hood on and even though the robe covered it she was sure it still had its taloned hands. With the gasoline leaking she thinks about lighting a match as she would rather take her own life than let this creature get ahold of her.

And that’s when the creature started coming for her. She gets up and panic runs through the dark forest. She can hear the thing pursuing her. Eventually she runs into a man. It’s the local sheriff out a-huntin. She passes out in his arms.

Hope you guys enjoyed that excitement. That’s about it.

There is an interlude chapter jammed in here where a newlywed couple are traveling through. They run out of gas. See a man in the forest with what looks like red hunting gear on. They walk through the woods to a clearing and see two cloaked men and a woman near an open grave. They do a ritual and then throw a dead woman in the grave. The couple runs back to their car in shock. Another car happens upon them so they can go get gas. Twenty min later both cars are at the bottom of a ravine. This chapter seemed kind of unnecessary as it just rehashes the prologue. In fact, the first three chapters have a character running through the same exact woods.

Speaking of reiteration. Joan wakes up inside Dr. Wilfred Allen’s home. Here she pretty much retells the second chapter over again. Isn’t that one of the rules of writing? Don’t rehash something you’ve already covered?

Later that night she hears a noise outside her window. She looks out to see 12 naked men and women circled around a figure twice the size of a man but looks like an impaled frog. The people start banging it out. She thinks, I would be all right with this if it was just a regular orgy but she knows that its part of a witch ceremony so she feels queasy.

The Sheriff shows up to check on her. He tells of the murder of the big headed boy from the beginning. He also pulls out the voodoo doll that we now know is Joan.

Wilfred tells of how the doll was left on his porch and he threw it away. The sheriff is like, ok, why didn’t you tell me? Which, yeah that’s fishy, Wilfred.

Sheriff infers that Joan has something to do with it. Wilfred takes sheriff to the porch to go off on him.

While the two are outside the guests come up and introduce themselves to Joan. The first is a women who tells her she is Wilfred’s half sister...oh and also that she spent a year in prison after being falsely accused of murder but has recently been exonerated when the real killer confessed.

Wilfred never even mentioned he had a sister let alone one in prison even though they are very close. Hmmm.

Oh ho ho the plot thickens!

At the end of the day, the ideas, themes and ambience in this are wonderful but FBL likes to circle around the cool stuff at arm’s length. There is a lot of unnecessary talking in this and what’s even worse is they are talking about what has already been shown in the story. The part that I found most interesting, the creature from the Pyrenees caves, is all but forgotten once she gets to Kentucky. It is never explained or concluded.

I’m putting this one down as another miss from my boy Frank here. I really need to go back and read his golden era Weird Tales stories. These later novels aren’t doing it for me.

The Pulp Price Guide- An interview with Tim Cottrill

I had the opportunity to sit down and chat in person with Tim Cottrill, owner of the Bookery book shop here in Dayton and author of the Bookery's Guide to Pulps and Related Magazines. A brand-new edition of the price guide was just released in December of 2025 by Ed Hulce’s Murania Press. You can pick up the price guide directly through his website and it is also available on Amazon.

Tim has been doing the pulp price guide since 2001 and has had the book shop since the mid-80s. He is a knowledgeable and friendly guy, and I think there is something in this video for both of the folks who are just now learning about the pulps and the ones who have been collecting all of their lives. Hope you enjoy!

The Hawk Series by Dan Streib

About ten years ago I was in Mesa Arizona at an excellent used bookstore called The Book Maze. I was perusing the action shelf when I came upon one of the greatest covers I had ever seen. Hawk number 13, The Hawaiian Takeover by Dan Streib. The cover had a guy with a savage look on his face. He was holding a giant gun. All around him were scenes of action straight out of an 80s B-movie. I was intrigued!

At the time I had never read a Men’s Adventure novel. I hadn’t even heard the term before.

I read it right away. I was surprised to see that all of that exciting adventure from the cover was actually in the book. Yes, he stabs a shark with a knife. Yes, he drops a man from a helicopter into lava. Yes, there are lots of sexy naked ladies. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The book was packed full of visceral entertainment. Real cave man shit. It was fun and exciting, ridiculous and hilarious. This was the kind of fantasy I’ve been looking for. Sure, we enjoy the exploits of Frodo and his magical ring, but did Frodo ever get attacked by a female assassin with a gun hidden in her vagina?? Hell no. Frodo is probably a virgin. As soon as those pants came down, he’d be passing that ring over willingly in his excitement, hoping to get a taste. But our pal Michael Hawk has seen them all and let me tell you, he isn’t falling for no banana in the tailpipe, if you know what I mean.

As of a few weeks ago I had every book in the series except one. I talk about it all the time on my YouTube channel and one of the pals we made there, Stiv Nagen/Max Dacron wrote me an email and said he has the book I am looking for. He graciously sent it to me and finally the collection was complete. Big hearty shout out for my man, Stiv!

Now that the series was finally complete I wanted to write up this entry and make a video about it. In the video I closely examine the cover art and read off the back synopsis. Here in the blog I will just post pictures of the covers. Check out the video if you’d like more:

The Hawk Series was a Men’s Adventure paperback original series published by Jove that ran from 1980 to 1981 and had 14 entries.

Four in 1980

Ten in 1981

 So, as you can imagine, the Hawk Books probably didn't have a lot of thought put into them, but you know, they're action-adventure books. How much thought do you need put into it?

The star of the show is Michael Hawk. He is a freelance reporter though that profession is abandoned pretty quickly in the series. In book one he half-heartedly tries to save the daughter of a South American dictator/drug cartel Patron. He fails and with her dying breath she curses him with “more wealth than a small nation,” as she gives him the numbers to a secret bank account called, Crusaders International. Which is what gives him the tagline, The Deadly Crusader.

And now with nothing but his extremely good looks, his ability to be the best at everything he does and an endless supply of money, he travels the world, getting into vigilante adventures to take down communists, sadistical human traffickers, organized crime groups, nazis and your random evil mastermind. But don’t worry he still finds time to bag some ladies and live that good life. Unfortunately, he must keep on the move as all the baddies are after his money including the United States Government who simply want him to pay his rich guy taxes which he doesn’t think he should have to pay. I mean, he did earned that money with hard work and perseverance… wait, no he didn’t, it was bloody drug money given to him for failing to save a woman’s life.

Hawk is the man ladies love and the man you wish you were. His name says it all; Michael Hawk. AKA Mike Hawk.

And you are probably wondering what author would have the cojones…the vision to name their leading Men’s Adventure character Mike Hawk??

Well, that man is…

Dan Streib (1928-1996)

There isn’t a lot of info out there about ol’ Dan Streib but I found this obituary from the LA times which I think sums him up perfectly.

Daniel T. Streib, 67, author of children’s stories and action, adventure and romance novels. Born in Rockfield, Ill., Streib earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Iowa and was a combat officer in the Korean War. Originally a reporter and photographer in Iowa, he based his first book, “Code Name: Countdown,” on knowledge about spacecraft he acquired as a communications specialist for General Dynamics in San Diego.

The book was made into a movie in France. Streib, who frequently wrote under his own name, also penned romance novels under the pseudonym Lee Davis Willoughby and adventure books under the names J. Faragut Jones and Jonathan Schofield. His work included three popular illustrated action books for teenagers, “Ride Along,” “Million Dollar Hunt” and “Deadline”; a 10-book (incorrect LA Times! It was 14) series about the single adventure character Michael Hawk, and a six-book series, “Counterforce.” For nearly 30 years, Streib also taught fiction writing in high school and college. He died on Monday in San Diego of a heart attack.

Pseudonym of Dan Streib: (thank you Paperback Warrior)

Paul Ross- Chopper Cop (first two entries of three)

Frank Colter- Death Squad (two entries)

Mark Cruz- Kill Squad (five entries)

And he wrote one Nick Carter- The Night of the Avenger

-Grant Fowler (two entries)

-Counter Force (nine entries)

All of the beautiful cover art for the Hawk books was done by seasoned Men’s Adventure artist Samson Pollen. And honestly, that’s what made me pick up the book in the first place. It totally encompasses that 80s b-movie action level of excitement. If you are looking for more artwork like this, I would suggest checking out The Men’s Adventure Library series of Samson Pollen’s artwork that originally appeared in the Men’s Adventure Magazines of the 50s,60s and 70s.

The model on the cover of every Hawk book is male model Chad Deal.

He graced many genre fiction paperback covers in the 70s and 80s but most folks would probably recognize him from all of the romance covers he did. It recently blew my mind when I stumbled upon his current realtor profile page and saw that he IS Hawk. First off, he lives in Hawaii. A very Hawk place to live. He is a Vietnam Vet. Water Sports and Saftey Instructor. Classical Concert Pianist. Surfer. Sailor. Skier. Outdoor Survival Skills AND check out his martial arts training: Student of Traditional Asian Martial Arts; Shuri Ryu Okinawan Karate Do (4th Degree Black belt), Shuri Te Bujitsu Kai (3rd Degree Black Belt), Okinawan Goju (2nd Degree Black Belt), Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (2nd Degree Black Belt), Hung Gar Kung Fu / Instructor-Member, International Shuri Ryu Association, United States Karate Association, and “White Crane International”

Streib might have thought he was Michael Hawk but it turns out it was no coincidence the universe gave us Chad Deal’s face as the face of Hawk. Could you imagine randomly bumping into the real-world Hawk? My mind would be blown. Anyway. If you are looking to buy a house on the island of Kauai from Michael Hawk go hit up Chad Deal at Kauai Tropical Properties.