Review: Men's Adventure Quarterly #14: The Bigfoot Issue! - Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, eds.

I’m no expert on Bigfoot and his cryptid cousins, by any means. I remember reading a comic strip when I was a kid where the characters encountered the Abominable Snowman, and it wasn’t played for laughs like the Bumble in RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. In fact, it scared the crap out of me. But I don’t remember what the comic strip was. If any of you recall a comic strip featuring an Abominable Snowman storyline in the 1960-65 period, let me know!

Then there’s THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, the Seventies docu-drama film about Arkansas’s Fouke Monster. One of my best friends had family in that area and visited often, and he swore the monster was real, although he had never seen it.

So I was ready to be educated about Bigfoot, making me part of the prime audience for the 14th issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY: THE BIGFOOT ISSUE! From the talented editorial due of Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, this volume leans more on non-fiction than some of the previous issues of this great publication. There are lengthy articles from well-known zoologist Ivan T. Sanderson, current cryptid expert Loren Coleman, and John W. Burns, one of the first authors to investigate the mystery that came to be known as Bigfoot. Also to be found in this issue are articles about Bigfoot’s appearances in movies, including the above-mentioned THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, and other media. I had no idea there have been so many movies over the years featuring Bigfoot and his assorted cousins! Other articles detail Bigfoot’s several guest-starring turns on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE BIONIC WOMAN, as well as the series BIGFOOT AND WILDBOY. I remember hearing about those episodes of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE BIONIC WOMAN, but I don’t recall watching them back when those episodes were new and have never seen them since, so this was all new and very entertaining for me.

And of course, there’s some wild, men’s adventure magazine fiction about discovering and fighting Bigfoot-like creatures, and as always, I had a great time reading those yarns.

As for my own encounters with Bigfoot, I don’t have any. But about forty years ago, Bill Crider and I collaborated on chapters-and-outline for a men’s adventure novel involving a Yeti. Unfortunately, it never sold. Going back farther to 1969, I lived only a few miles from the nature refuge where the Lake Worth Monster, sometimes called the Goatman, had the whole area worked up for the whole summer. You can read about that here. I tend to be skeptical about such things, but you couldn’t have gotten me to go out to Greer Island that summer. No, sir. Since then, people I know have claimed the whole thing was a hoax and they know who was behind it. Could be. But I just don’t know.

To get back to MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY: THE BIGFOOT ISSUE!, this is another great issue of one of my favorite publications, and I give it a very high recommendation. You can find it on Amazon or buy it directly from the publisher.

(Apologies for rambling around a little more than usual. Seems to be the way my brain works these days.)

Review: Men's Adventure Quarterly #13: Fatal Femmes

The latest issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY is out, and as usual, it’s a breathtakingly exciting collection of stories and artwork from the men’s adventure magazines, expertly assembled by editors Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham, ably assisted this time by guest editor Eric Compton and guest contributor Terrance Layhew. The theme this time around: Fatal Femmes!

They lead off with “The Gun Moll Who Hated G-Men” from the July 1957 issue of SEE. The author is David Mazroff, whose work I’ve been familiar with for a long time due to his true crime articles and occasional fiction in MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE. I didn’t know until I read about it in a previous issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY, however, that Mazroff was a career criminal himself and was deeply involved with organized crime. That certainly gives his work an air of authenticity. His story in this issue is a non-fiction piece about the notorious Ma Barker and her sons, and he does a great job of capturing their bloody lives and deaths.

Don Honig, a prolific contributor to the men’s adventure magazine whose work has been reprinted several times in this series, also wrote for the mystery digests. His clever crime story “Mrs. Herman and Mrs. Kenmore” is from the May 1958 issue of ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE. While AHMM isn’t exactly a men’s adventure magazine, I suspect there was a significant crossover with the readership of those magazines. A guy like me, for example.

W.J. Saber was really Warren Shanahan, and under his real name he wrote one of the novels featuring the comic strip hero The Phantom that were published originally by Avon back in the Seventies. I was an avid reader of those novels and read and enjoyed Shanahan’s entry back then. Under the Saber pseudonym, he wrote extensively for the men’s adventure magazines, including “Rich Lovers Wanted—Apply Mme. Crielle, Champs Elysées” from the January 1960 issue of STAG. It’s a great, lurid yarn set in Paris in the 1920s about young men being murdered and their blood being drained from them, with a dogged police detective determined to get to the bottom of the crimes.

“Kiss Me and Die” by Hiram J. Herbert (TRUE ADVENTURES, December 1960) is another true-crime yarn about the killing spree of a couple of prostitutes and their henchman/fall guy, an AWOL GI. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of true crime stories, but this one works very well and I enjoyed it.

Buz Rowan, like the author of the previous story, is an unknown quantity, likely a pseudonym. His noir crime yarn “Blood for a Nympho’s Flesh”, from the November 1962 issue of ALL MAN, is about crop-dusting, not a subject that comes up very often in such stories, I suspect. But Rowan, whoever he really was, uses it to craft a gut-punch of a story that could have been a Gold Medal novel in miniature.

I’ve read several stories and a novel by Dean W. Ballenger, and his work never fails to entertain. “The Incredible Norwegian Ice Nymphs” (NEW MAN, September 1963) is a World War II yarn about Norwegian women who fight back against the Nazis and prove to be just as deadly as their men. It’s a punchy, very entertaining tale, as you’d expect from Ballenger.

None other than the great pulp author Paul Chadwick, creator of Secret Agent X and Wade Hammond, shows up with “The Ever-Lovin’ Nude Who Watched Her Boyfriends Die” from the May 1969 issue of REAL MEN. This is the only story Chadwick wrote for the men’s adventure magazines, but it appeared three times under three different titles, in three different magazines, to boot! It’s a good story about a serial murderess who uses poison to dispose of her victims, set in France like one of the earlier stories in this volume. You can always count on Chadwick to spin a good yarn, and this one is no exception.

“Vendetta on the Street of Lonely Frauleins” wraps up the fiction in this issue. It appeared originally in the March 1966 issue of MEN and is by Mario Cleri, a prolific contributor to the men’s adventure magazines who just happens to be better known by his real name: Mario Puzo, author of THE GODFATHER and many other bestselling novels. Taking its cue from the contemporary boom in espionage and secret agent fiction, this story features freelance American operative Scarlet Tracy and her partner Charlie Hunt. Scarlet and Charlie are in Berlin to hunt down a British defector with a briefcase full of top secret documents to sell to the Russians. There seems to me to be a definite Modesty Blaise influence in this one, along with echoes of The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., The Lady From L.U.S.T., and the other books, movies, and TV shows from that era that featured beautiful female protagonists. I am definitely the target audience for stories like this, and I loved it. If Puzo had turned this into a paperback series, I would have been right there at the spinner rack to pick up each new book as it came out. As far as I know, this is Scarlet Tracy’s only appearance, but it’s a good one.

Eric Compton contributes a fine article about fatal femmes in novels, and Terrance Layhew has assembled a wonderful photo gallery of some of the beautiful women from the James Bond films. Both are very worthy additions to one of the best issues of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY so far. But let’s face it, all the issues have been great. If you’re a fan of great art and hard-hitting stories, this volume and all the previous ones get my highest recommendation. You can find the Fatal Femmes issue on Amazon.

Review: Men's Adventure Quarterly #12: The Private Eyes Issue - Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham, eds.

I’ve been a fan of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY since it began, and it’s a real pleasure and honor to have an article in the latest issue, #12, The Private Eyes Issue. My contribution is about detectives in Western fiction, and I hope it’s both entertaining and informative, but I’m here today to talk about the rest of the contents. Which, of course, are absolutely top-notch, as I’ve come to expect from editors Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham.

For starters, there are stories from two of my favorite authors featuring two of my favorite fictional private eyes: Michael Avallone and his iconic character Ed Noon, and Frank Kane and his equally legendary private eye Johnny Liddell. The Avallone story is “Make Out Mob Girl”, a Book Bonus condensation of the first Ed Noon novel THE TALL DOLORES, from the October 1962 issue of MAN'S WORLD. David Spencer, author of THE NOVELIZERS, provides a fine introduction to Avallone and his career, and Mike's son David Avallone contributes a touching essay about his dad. As a long time fan of Mike Avallone and his work, I'm really glad I got be his friend-by-correspondence for many years. 

Frank Kane’s “Party Girl” (KEN FOR MEN, May 1957) is a retitled reprint of the story “Frame” from the August 1954 issue of MANHUNT, the great crime fiction digest. This story was also reprinted in the paperback collection JOHNNY LIDDELL’S MORGUE from Dell. Both are really strong stories, and if you’ve never read any Ed Noon or Johnny Liddell stories or novels, this would be a fine place to start.

But of course there’s more. Honey West is probably the most famous fictional female private eye, and this issue includes the only Honey West short story, “The Red Hairing” by G.G. Fickling, actually the husband and wife writing team Forrest (“Skip”) and Gloria Fickling. This one appeared originally in the June 1965 issue of MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE. In addition, there’s an article about the TV series HONEY WEST featuring numerous photos of its beautiful star, Anne Francis. I was a fan of the show when it aired originally in the Sixties and am always happy to revisit it.

Walter Kaylin, one of the best authors who wrote for the men’s adventure magazine, contributes “I Had to Amputate My Leg to Save My Life!”, the tale of a private detective trapped by a mad killer, and it’s every bit as harrowing and gruesome as the title makes it sound. It’s also lightning-fast, compelling reading. Kaylin was a master, and this story is a good example of his work.

A story from a short-lived men’s adventure magazine actually called PRIVATE EYE features detective Adam Baxter in “Sing a Song of Sex-Mail”. It’s an entertaining yarn written in a fast-moving, breezy style. The story was published anonymously and I have no idea who wrote it, but I had fun reading it.

There’s also a non-fiction reprint from Alan Hynd called “The Case of the Murdering Detective” (CAVALIER, September 1956) about a real-life murder case from 1910 and the clever detective who solves it. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not much of a fan of true crime stories, but Hynd does a fine job with this one and kept me flipping the pages to find out what was going to happen.

New articles in this issue include the one by me on Western detectives that I mentioned above, a look at some of the latest Sherlock Holmes pastiches, both literary and TV, from Holmes scholar and fan Paul Bishop, and film critic John Harrison on detectives in science fiction films. Plus a feature on early Sixties TV series 77 SUNSET STRIP and HAWAIAN EYE, both of which were favorites of mine, especially 77 SUNSET STRIP. I never missed an episode back in those days. If you're the right age, you can hear the show's theme song in your head right now, can't you? I miss the Sixties just thinking about all this stuff!

I know I’ve said it before, but this is the best issue yet of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY. You can find it on Amazon, and I give it my highest recommendation.

Review: The Art of Ron Lesser, Volume 2: Dangerous Dames and Cover Dolls - Robert Deis, Bill Cunningham, Daniel Zimmer, eds.

I’ve become a big fan of Ron Lesser’s artwork in the past few years. Well, actually, I’ve been a big fan of Ron Lesser’s artwork for about 60 years, because that’s how long ago it was when I first started noticing it on paperback covers as I avidly looked through the new books on the spinner racks, searching for the next one I was going to read. I loved his covers—but I had no idea they were painted by Ron Lesser. In fact, one of my early favorite covers, the one on the second Dell edition of L.L. Foreman’s novel ARROW IN THE DUST, was painted by Lesser, although I didn’t discover that until decades later. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many books I picked up because I was intrigued by the covers he painted.

A couple of years ago, THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 1: DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS, spotlighting those paperback covers, was one of my favorite books of the year. Now I’ve read THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 2: DANGEROUS DAMES AND COVER DOLLS—maybe I should say, feasted my eyes on—the second volume devoted to Lesser’s art from editor Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, joined this time around by Daniel Zimmer, with an assist from Tim Hewitt. Zimmer provides a fine biographical essay about Lesser and Joe Jusko, a top-notch artist himself, contributes an excellent foreword, but of course, the real appeal of this beautiful book is the art, scores of excellent reproductions of paintings done by Lesser after his days of doing paperback covers were mostly over. Most of them, as you’d expect, feature beautiful women, but there are top-notch Civil War and Western paintings as well. Lesser was always one of those guys who could illustrate anything and do a fantastic job of it. But let’s face it, his paintings of Bettie Page, Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, and others will just take your breath away.

Then there’s my favorite section of the book: as Lesser puts it in his commentary, cover paintings for books that don’t actually exist. These might as well have come off some of those paperbacks from the spinner racks, the kind I’ve loved for most of my life. And I’d love to read those books now, even if they don’t exist. Heck, I’d write them!

If you’re a paperback lover or just enjoy some absolutely wonderful art, I give my highest recommendation to THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 2: DANGEROUS DAMES AND COVER DOLLS. It’s available on Amazon in hardback and paperback editions. I loved it.

Review: Men's Adventure Quarterly #11: Invasion: UFO - Robert Deis and Bob Cunningham, eds.

When I was a kid, I happened to read Donald E. Keyhoe’s book THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL, and that sparked a huge interest in UFOs. I quickly went on to read other books about the subject by authors such as Frank Edwards and George Adamski, and my fifth grade buddies probably got tired of me yammering about flying saucers. But I was always yammering about something or other, so it might not have made any difference.

Keyhoe, Edwards, and Adamski are all to be found in the latest issue of the always excellent MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY, the INVASION: UFO issue. As you might expect, this volume is right up my alley. Keyhoe, who I’ve really come to admire and enjoy as an author of aviation pulp fiction in the past few years, is on hand with the lengthy article “The Flying Saucers Are Real”, from the January 1950 issue of TRUE, which he expanded into the book I read almost 60 years ago and have never forgotten. Edwards, whose book FLYING SAUCERS—SERIOUS BUSINESS was another favorite of mine, is mentioned. There’s an enjoyable article about Adamski, who I took as a serious researcher and author at the time when I read his book INSIDE THE FLYING SAUCERS. Turns out he was a bit of a charlatan and/or nutjob, but hey, I had a good time reading his book back then and a good time reading about him now, so it's a win as far as I’m concerned.

Gary Lovisi contributes a fine article about vintage paperbacks that exploited the flying saucer craze, and when you have photo galleries that spotlight Anne Francis and Mara Corday, you’ve got to love that, or at least I do. The final article in this issue, “Are UFOs Attacking Our Oil Fields?”, from the May 1975 issue of STAG, combines two of my interests, flying saucers and oil fields, and was written by the great Robert F. Dorr, so I’d say it’s tied for my favorite with Keyhoe’s iconic article. Bob Dorr was just such a fine writer it’s always a pleasure to read anything he wrote, and the same is true of Keyhoe.

Now, I have to make a confession: I’ve seen something strange in the sky myself, a number of years ago, and someone else was with me who saw the same thing. We’ve never been able to figure out exactly what it was, but it was sure puzzling. I’m not going to go into any more details, or you’d think that I’m a nutjob. (Well, some of you no doubt think that anyway, but why confirm it?) You can take my word for it, though, that the latest issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY is another beautiful piece of work from editors Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, and I give it my highest recommendation. You can order it on Amazon or directly from the publisher here or here.

Review: Weasels Ripped My Flesh!: The Illustrated Men's Adventure Anthology - Robert Deis, Wyatt Doyle, and Josh Alan Friedman, eds.

When Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle published the original edition of WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH! TWO-FISTED STORIES FROM MEN’S ADVENTURE MAGAZINES back in 2013, it was the first book reprinting such stories in decades. There were paperback collections of stories from the men’s adventure magazines back in the Fifties and Sixties, but nothing since then as far as I know. The original edition of this book was successful enough that it launched an entire line of such reprints known as the Men’s Adventure Library, as well as the fantastic MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY.

Now, Deis and Doyle have published an updated deluxe edition of this landmark volume that started it all. It’s one of the most beautifully produced books I’ve ever seen, with more cover reproductions and interior illustrations, better printing, full color, and updated and expanded articles and story introductions.

In addition to that, you have the stories themselves, of course, which are hugely entertaining. I’ll be honest with you, I was just going to skim through this new edition and read the updated material, but time and again, I found myself stopping to reread and enjoy all over again some of the stories. It was great fun revisiting these wild yarns by such authors as Lawrence Block, Robert Silverberg, Walter Wager, and Harlan Ellison. I found myself appreciating even more the talents of the legendary Walter Kaylin, who has two stories in this book. And it brought back fond memories of another author with a pair of stories included, Robert F. Dorr, who I was fortunate enough to correspond with, talk to on the phone, and consider a friend before he passed away.

If I had to pick one story that knocked me out even more this time, it would be “I Was a Slave of the Savage Blonde” by Emile C. Schurmacher, from the Summer 1956 issue of HUNTING ADVENTURES. This tale of a two-fisted botanist lost in the jungles of Paraguay, captured by fierce natives, and enslaved by the beautiful blond Spanish anthropologist who has become the tribe’s queen is well-written and moves at a breakneck pace. I remember enjoying it the first time I read it, but I really got swept up in it this time, to the point that I ordered several paperback collections of Schurmacher’s stories from the men’s adventure magazines.

As I’ve mentioned before, I would see these magazines on the stands when I was a kid and really wanted to buy some of them, but I never did. Now, thanks to the efforts of Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle, I can read some of the best stories from them, and I really appreciate that. The new edition of WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH!: THE ILLUSTRATED MEN’S ADVENTURE ANTHOLOGY is available in hardback and trade paperback editions from Amazon or directly from the publisher here or here. If you’re a fan of great art and wild, over-the-top storytelling like I am, I give it my highest recommendation.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #10: The Vietnam Issue -- Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, eds.

The tenth issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY is out, this time around focusing on the best stories and artwork from the men’s adventure magazines dealing with the Vietnam war. Those of you who have been following MAQ from the beginning know that it’s one of the best publications out there, and this new issue more than maintains that very high standard. You’d expect nothing less from editors Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, ably assisted on this issue by Paul Bishop and Rob Morris.

As before, the stories reprinted in this issue are split between true tales (or mostly true) and those that are entirely or almost entirely fictional. For me, the high point of the non-fiction pieces is “MIG Bait” by the prolific MAM writer and military historian Robert F. Dorr, from the February 1968 issue of MAN’S MAGAZINE. It was my pleasure and honor to get to know Bob Dorr a little before he passed away several years ago, and I’ve become a big fan of his work. His story about the first supersonic dogfight in the air over Vietnam is exciting and well-written. I also enjoyed the profile of Barry Sadler by Garth Roberts that appeared in the October 1966 issue of MAN’S WORLD. I remember quite well when Sadler’s song “The Ballad of the Green Berets” was a huge hit and played on the radio all the time. That article also mentions author Robin Moore and his bestselling novel THE GREEN BERETS, which I remember buying off the spinner rack at Lester’s Pharmacy when it was brand-new, so that just adds to the nostalgic appeal of that piece for me. Also in the non-fiction realm, but fiction-related, Paul Bishop contributes a terrific article about the various series of paperback novels centering around the war in Vietnam.

As for the fiction, one of my favorites is “Saigon Nymph Who Led the Green Berets to the Cong’s Terror Headquarters” (MALE, August 1966) by Mario Cleri, who, as all of you already know, was really Mario Puzo, the author of THE GODFATHER and numerous other novels. Puzo was a prolific contributor to the MAMs as both a writer and an editor. I think this story is the first thing I’ve read by him other than THE GODFATHER, all those years ago, and it’s an excellent yarn about a colonel in Army Intelligence going after the VC terrorists responsible for his younger brother’s death.

The other top fictional tale for me is “Saga of Mad Mike Kovacs and His Battling Lepers of Vietnam”, from the January 1967 issue of MALE, by Glenn Infield. This is the first thing I’ve read by Infield, and it’s great, every bit as over-the-top as you might imagine from the title. Fast-paced and very well-written, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Rob Morris contributes informative introductions to both this story and to Robert F. Dorr’s “MIG Pilot”.

On the visual front, this issue is as beautifully produced as all the other issues of MAQ, featuring dozens of covers and interior illustrations along with two lengthy galleries, one spotlighting many of the Vietnam-related covers on which the legendary Steve Holland appeared, and the other featuring Raquel Welch accompanying Bob Hope to Vietnam on one of his famous USO tours. Back in those days I never missed the TV specials drawn from footage of those UFO shows, and I remember quite well the one on which Raquel appeared. It was nice revisiting those days.

So this is another great job all around, and I give a big old recommendation to the Vietnam Issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY. It’s available in two different formats on Amazon: a full-color paperback edition and a black-and-whitepaperback edition, or you can buy the full-color edition directly from editor and publisher Robert Deis on eBay.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #9: Croc Attack! - Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, eds.

Editors Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham deliver another winner in CROC ATTACK!, the ninth issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY, the beautifully illustrated journal that reprints the best of the Men’s Adventure Magazines from the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies. Authors included in this collection of stories about humans battling with crocodiles and alligators are paperbacker Robert Edmond Alter (one of my favorites), pulpster Brian O’Brien, and MAM veteran Leon Lazarus, along with a number of pseudonyms concealing unknown authors. And plenty of wonderful artwork, of course. A gorgeous package and great fun to read, as always. Highly recommended, available in paperback and e-book editions at Amazon.

Atomic Werewolves and Man-Eating Plants: When Men's Adventure Magazines Got Weird - Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, eds.

The men’s adventure magazines of the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies certainly published a wide variety of material, and while it wasn’t as common as some other genres, you could sometimes find tales of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in them. ATOMIC WEREWOLVES AND MAN-EATING PLANTS: WHEN MEN’S ADVENTURE MAGAZINES GOT WEIRD, the latest volume from the Men’s Adventure Library edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, collects some of the best of those offbeat stories, with the usual great cover and interior illustrations to go with them. With some of these, their MAM appearances were reprints from other magazines such as WEIRD TALES and GALAXY, but some were written specifically for the men’s adventure market.

My favorite story is one that wasn’t a reprint when it was published in a men's adventure magazine. “The Man Who Couldn’t Die” by Gardner F. Fox appeared originally in the August 1961 issue of ADVENTURE, the iconic pulp-turned-MAM. Fox, of course, is a legendary name in comic book history and also wrote scores of well-received paperbacks in various genres. This science fiction story is about a sociopathic criminal whose brain is transplanted into a robot body so he can go on a space voyage outside the solar system in search of habitable planets. Of course, what he decides to do instead is to become the greatest criminal overlord the solar system has ever seen. But then, as you might expect, things don’t turn out exactly as he plans . . . This is an excellent, fast-moving yarn with a nice twist at the end. I really had fun reading it.

Another well-known SF author, Theodore Sturgeon, contributes “The Blonde With the Mysterious Body”, from the April 1962 issue of MEN. This one appeared originally as “The Other Celia” in the March 1957 issue of the science fiction digest GALAXY. It’s a wryly humorous, genuinely creepy tale about voyeurism.

“The Hunted” by Rick Rubin, from the October 1961 ADVENTURE, is a top-notch story about humans on the run from robots bent on hunting them down. The twist ending is a little predictable, but Rubin, whoever he was, does a really good job of creating suspense and keeping things moving at a brisk pace.

In horror fiction, you don’t get much more well-known than H.P. Lovecraft, who is represented here with his story “The Rats in the Walls”, reprinted from its January 1959 appearance in SENSATION. The story appeared first in WEIRD TALES in 1924. Another horror tale that appeared first in WEIRD TALES (in 1940) is Manly Wade Wellman’s “Song of the Slaves” from the April 1959 issue of CAVALIER. As you’d expect from a Wellman story, it’s very well-written, and even though you’ll probably see the ending coming, it’s still really effective and downright chilling.

Elsewhere in this volume, you get stories about vampire bats, vampire tarantulas, giant lizards, man-eating trees (by Robert Moore Williams, the veteran SF and Western pulpster), devil worshippers, virgin sacrifices, crazed chicken choppers (a truly weird but good story), mad doctors, evil Nazis (but I repeat myself), and a really good Korean War/Civil War story that reminded me of the great Haunted Tank comic book series. Add some fine essays and introductions by Mike Chomko, Stefan Dziemianowicz, and editors Deis and Doyle, and you’ve got one of the best volumes so far in the Men’s Adventure Library. I had a wonderful time reading ATOMIC WEREWOLVES AND MAN-EATING PLANTS, and I give it a very high recommendation. It’s available in hardback (with a bonus story) and paperback editions.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #8: Heavy Hitters! - Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, eds.

Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham are back with MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY #8: HEAVY HITTERS!, featuring tales of hitmen (and hitwomen) that appeared originally in the men’s adventure magazines of the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies. Deis and Cunningham are assisted this time around by guest editors Gary Lovisi and Michael Stradford. This issue also takes a look at the connection between men’s adventure magazines, bodybuilding magazines, and legendary muscleman Joe Weider.

The assortment of stories and articles is a good one, as always, but two of the tales reprinted in MAQ #8 have a personal connection for me, even though I never met or had any contact with either of their authors.

David Mazroff is a very familiar name to me because I saw it dozens of times on the Table of Contents in dozens of issues of MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE from the Sixties and Seventies. Mazroff specialized in true crime articles for MSMM, usually centering around legendary gangsters or other organized crime figures. He wrote at least one of the Mike Shayne novellas under the Brett Halliday house name and three novellas under his own name about a private eye character of his creation, Rick Harper. In “I Was Al Capone’s Hatchet Man”, from the March 1958 issue of MAN’S ODYSSEY, Mazroff delves into his own criminal past when he was part of Capone’s gang in Chicago during the 1930s. I had no idea Mazroff had been an actual gangster and did time in prison for his criminal activities. He and I appeared in the same issue of MSMM only once, the August 1977 issue, which included his article “Who Killed Johnny Roselli?” and the first story ever published under my name, “Comingor”. Mazroff had one more article in MSMM after that, in the December 1977 issue, but I didn’t have anything in that one.

The other author name in this issue that’s very familiar to me is Wayne C. Ulsh, who wrote “The Day Castro Beat the CIA’s Mafia”, originally published in the October 1975 issue of FOR MEN ONLY. In the mid-Seventies when I was trying to break in as a writer, one of the markets I targeted was FOR MEN ONLY, and as I read the issues I picked up I quickly began to look for Ulsh’s name because his stories were always well-written, suspenseful, and entertaining. His Castro story in this issue of MAQ is pure fiction. Or is it? Well, yeah, it probably is. But it’s a good yarn, like everything else by Ulsh that I’ve written. He published two novels in his lifetime, which ended prematurely when he died early at the age of 58. I own one of them, RIP-OFF, but haven’t read it. His other novel, McDADE, is a mystery published by Belmont-Tower. In 1975, I wanted to be Wayne C. Ulsh. My career wound up taking a much different path and I can’t say that I’m sorry about that, but it was sure nice revisiting his work and remembering those days nearly 50 years ago.

My favorite of the other stories is Anthony Scaduto’s long article about Bugsy Siegel, “Ever-Lovin’ Top Gun of the Syndicate”, from the August 1963 issue of STAG. We watched all five seasons of the HBO gangster drama BOARDWALK EMPIRE not long ago, and I enjoyed reading this lightly fictionalized version of the notorious Bugsy’s life.

Guest editors Lovisi and Stradford contribute articles about hitmen in novels and iconic cover model Steve Holland’s appearances on crime-related magazine and paperback covers, respectively. These guys know their stuff, and their articles are both informative and entertaining.

And of course, this issue of MAQ, like all the others, is packed with beautifully reproduced artwork by Bruce Minney, Samson Pollen, Mort Kunstler, Robert Stanley, and many others. It’s the proverbial feast for the eyes thanks to Bill Cunningham’s masterful production. Bob Deis oversees the whole thing with love and expertise. Everyone involved in this issue can rightfully be proud of it.

Coming up in the next issue . . . Croc Attacks! Hopefully there’ll be a few gators in there, too. Meanwhile, you can pick up MAQ #8 in three different editions: a full-color trade paperback, a black-and-white paperback edition, and a digital replica edition that looks great on a Kindle Fire. Whichever you prefer, MAQ #8 gets my highest recommendation. 

The Art of Ron Lesser, Volume 1: Deadly Dames and Sexy Sirens - Robert Deis, Bill Cunningham, and J. Kingston Pierce, eds.

THE ART OF RON LESSER, VOLUME 1: DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS is the latest fantastic art book from the editing combo of Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, joined this time by crime fiction expert J. Kingston Pierce. This book really got its start from a series of interviews with Lesser conducted by Pierce. Expanded versions of those interviews are included in this volume, along with features on Lesser’s favorite models (including his wife; that's her on the cover above) and reproductions not only of dozens of paperbacks for which he did the covers but also the original paintings which were used on those covers.

In a word, beautiful.

But of course, I’m going to say more than a word. Any book with Bill Cunningham handling the production is going to be very well done, and DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS is no exception. This is a substantial hardback volume, and the cover reproductions are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Those covers looked great on spinner racks, but they look even better at the large size made possible by a book like this.

The text put together by Bob Deis is informative and entertaining. I knew who Ron Lesser is but knew very little about him. Pierce’s interviews and Deis’s features provide plenty of background about Lesser’s life and career.

What really strikes me about this book is realizing how many of those paperbacks with Ron Lesser covers I bought over the years! I could flip through the pages and say, “Yeah, I had that one and that one and that one . . .” Clearly, Lesser’s covers helped sell those books to me. I’m certainly guilty of misidentifying some of his covers as being by Robert McGinnis, as Deis mentions is common. In recent years I think I’ve gotten a little better eye for such things. I’m happy to have those earlier misconceptions of mine cleared up, because Ron Lesser deserves all the credit he can get for being a substantial part of my reading life.

This is just the first of several planned volumes on Lesser’s career. It concentrates on the covers that feature beautiful women. Later volumes will zero in on Lesser’s work for Western, war, and adventure paperbacks. I can’t wait to see them. If you’re a long-time paperback fan and want to relive some glorious days, I give DEADLY DAMES AND SEXY SIRENS my highest recommendation. It’s one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

The Naked and the Deadly - Lawrence Block

As I’ve mentioned many times before, Lawrence Block is one of my favorite authors, and I’m glad that so much of the work from early in his career is available again. The latest Block collection, THE NAKED AND THE DEADLY, comes from Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle at the Men’s Adventure Library, and it showcases some of Block’s earliest published work as well as some later yarns, too.

As Sheldon Lord, the name he later used on soft-core novels published by Midwood, Block wrote several articles from the late Fifties and on into the Sixties for various men’s adventure magazines. Maritime disasters, hookers, swinging stewardesses, and bloodthirsty Nazis were all suitable subjects for these articles, which were a mixture of fact and fiction. Block’s skill as a writer is already apparent in these early efforts, especially in the pacing. These stories move right along and come to natural, well-developed endings. One thing I’ve noticed about the men’s adventure magazine stories is that many of them end rather abruptly as if the author had made the word count and wrapped things up as quickly as possible. The better writers didn’t do this, of course, and Block is certainly among their number.

Also included in this volume are three long private eye novellas featuring Ed London, the protagonist of Block’s early novel DEATH PULLS A DOUBLECROSS. London is Block’s first series character and the stories featuring him are top-notch, as you’d expect from the creator of Matt Scudder. I’d read these before but enjoyed them all over again.

There are also condensed versions—the magazines where they were first published called them Book Bonuses—of two of Block’s Evan Tanner novels. I had read the original versions of these when they were published as paperback originals nearly 60 years ago, but after all that time, reading the Book Bonus versions was like they were new to me, and I had a great time with both of them.

As usual with the books from the Men’s Adventure Library, plenty of great cover art from various books and magazines is lovingly reproduced, and there are informative and entertaining essays and introductions from editor Deis and Block himself. All of it comes together in a package that is well worth your time to read. THE NAKED AND THE DEADLY is available in a paperback edition, an e-book edition, and an expanded hardback edition, not to mention a limited signed edition. No matter which way you want to go, if you’re a fan of Lawrence Block’s work, you need this book. I really enjoyed it.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #7: Gang Girls! - Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, eds.

I’ve read novels about gang girls by such masters as Orrie Hitt and Robert Silverberg and always enjoyed them. The subject came up frequently in the men’s adventure magazines, too, providing an excellent theme for the seventh issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY. This time around, this great publication offers seven stories of juvenile delinquents, biker gangs, and the tough, beautiful girls who ran with them. Included is a lengthy condensation of one of the most notorious and sought-after gang girl novels, ZIP-GUN ANGEL by the mysterious and possibly pseudonymous Albert L. Quandt. Since it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever own a copy of the collectible original edition published by Original Novels in 1952, I’m glad I got a chance to read this version, which was published first in the September 1958 issue of MAN’S ILLUSTRATED.

It’s the story of Pebbles Jackson, a beautiful teenager with an ex-con father who finds herself caught up in the rivalry between two gangs, as well as being the object of attention from a handsome young cop who doesn’t know whether to arrest her or kiss her. Quandt keeps things moving along at a very fast pace, made even faster by the abridgment. Whoever he was, he was a good storyteller and kept me turning the pages.

One of the other stories is by Wenzell Brown, who wrote numerous novels and non-fiction volumes about juvenile delinquency, but who I first encounted in some espionage stories published in THE SAINT MAGAZINE during the Sixties. I’ve always enjoyed Brown’s work, and his story here, “Tomboy Jungle”, from the November 1957 issue of FOR MEN ONLY, is a top-notch blend of gritty fiction, history, and sociology.

My other favorite this time around is “Street Queens Are Taking Over Teenage Gangs”, from the January 1962 issue of WILDCAT ADVENTURES. Pure fiction presented as a true exposé, it’s a bloody, lurid tale of rival gang girls worth of being published in a magazine with “Wildcat” in its title.

Editors Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham have assembled another winner here. The two of them, along with guest editors Jules Burt and Andrew Nette, provide some fascinating articles and story introductions, and of course there’s plenty of great, beautifully reproduced art by Samson Pollen, Bruce Minney, Earl Norem, Robert Maguire, and others.

I’ve run out of superlatives to describe just how good MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY is. If you’re interested in the men’s adventure magazines, beautiful art, and stories that are a real window into another era, I give this issue and all the previous ones my highest recommendation. You can pick up this issue from Amazon or directly from the publisher.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #6: The Heist Issue - Robert Deis, Bill Cunningham, Paul Bishop, and Jules Burt, eds.

Somehow I fell behind in my reading of MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY, absolutely one of the best publications on the market today. This situation cannot be allowed to stand, of course. So I've now read the sixth volume in the series, The Heist Issue, and no surprise, it continues the high standards of the previous issues.

MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY reprints the best stories and art from the dozens of men's adventure magazines published in the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies. As I've mentioned before, I always wanted to buy and read these magazines when I was a kid but seldom did because of the difficulty of smuggling them into the house. (Racy covers, you know. I ran into the same problem with a lot of paperbacks.)

The Heist Issue contains stories by some top-notch writers: bestsellers Martin Cruz Smith and Thomas Chastain (under pseudonyms), veteran wordsmith Donald Honig (who's had a story in every issue of MAQ so far for a good reason: they're all excellent yarns), and paperbacker Grant Freeling, who authored several movie novelizations.

My favorite story in this issue, though, is by the obscure Eugene Joseph, quite possibly a pseudonym for a better-known writer. His story "G.I. Stickup Mob That Heisted $33 Million in Nazi Gold", from the November 1967 issue of MALE, is a well-written, fast-moving tale that includes a lengthy flashback full of top-notch World War II action. This would have made a great movie in the Sixties.

Honig's "Band of Misfits" from the January 1970 issue of ACTION FOR MEN is another stand-out. Editor Robert Deis compares this story of a casino robbery to Donald E. Westlake's Parker series, and that's a legitimate comparison. The hardboiled tone in this one is really good.

All the stories are a lot of fun, as are the introductions by Deis and his fellow editor Bill Cunningham, along with guest editors Paul Bishop and Jules Burt. Cunningham's design work, as always, is spectacular, making MAQ a great showcase for art by Mort Kunstler, Gil Cohen, Samson Pollen, Earl Norem, and others.

The photo feature this time around focuses on Angie Dickinson, who made several heist and caper movies in her career. Angie is an all-time favorite of mine, and more than a dozen pages of sultry photos of her just makes this an even better issue. I give it a very high recommendation.

You can buy MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY: THE HEIST ISSUE on Bob Deis's website or his eBay store. And I'll be back in the near future with a look at the next issue, GANG GIRLS!, which is already on hand.

George Gross: Covered - Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, eds.

I first became aware of George Gross’s work when he did the covers for some of the Nick Carter, Killmaster novels published by Charter Books in the Eighties. He painted some excellent covers for books in that series by my friends Bob Randisi and Bob Vardeman. Later on, I realized that Gross got his start in the pulps, doing many covers for a variety of titles, but the ones that stand out the most to me are the ones on JUNGLE STORIES, where his version of Ki-Gor’s mate Helene became the gold standard for that character.

But between the pulps and the paperbacks, Gross painted scores of covers for the Men’s Adventure Magazines, and that’s the focus of GEORGE GROSS: COVERED, the latest volume from editors Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle of New Texture Publishing.

This is one of the most beautiful books you’ll ever see, reproducing in vivid detail many of those MAM covers Gross painted. I’d post some scans of those issues, but they wouldn’t come close to equaling the reproduction in this book. In addition, Deis and Doyle provide an informative introduction, David Saunders contributes a fine biographical essay about Gross and his work, and fellow artist Mort Kűntsler, who was mentored by Gross, reminisces about their friendship and offers expert comments about Gross’s work.

Finally, the covers themselves. Well, they’re great. The action, the details, and the emotions expressed in them combine to create a real impact, the sort of visceral reaction that drew the eyes of potential readers to those magazines on the newsstand and made those customers want to buy them. Although they were inspired by stories in the magazine (for the most part), when I look at them, I want to write stories with those scenes in them. To me, that’s the ultimate test of a cover, when I think, “Man, I want to write the story that goes with that!” Gross rises to that level, and then some.

Overall, GEORGE GROSS: COVERED is just a wonderful book, available in both hardback and paperback editions. If you’re interested in the Men’s Adventure Magazines or just great action artwork, it gets a very high recommendation from me.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #5: The Dirty Mission Issue - Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, eds.

MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY moves into its second year of publication with issue #5, the Dirty Mission Issue. And I’m happy to report that this latest offering more than lives up to the very high standards set by the previous issues. The men’s adventure magazines probably published more stories about World War II than any other subject, and as you can tell from that great cover by Bruce Minney, this issue concentrates on stories about daring raids carried out by commando forces made up of criminals, prostitutes, and rugged American G.I.s.

The prototype for that plot, of course, is THE DIRTY DOZEN, the bestselling novel by E.M. Nathanson and the famous movie made from it. Or is it? Turns out the inspiration for that novel was a real-life group of commandos known as the Filthy Thirteen, and old pulpster Arch Whitehouse contributes an article about them from the October 1944 issue of the men’s magazine TRUE. That tale kicks off the line-up of stories reprinted in this issue of MAQ, the rest of which are completely fictional, by the way.

The only other author in this bunch whose by-line can be identified as his real name and not a pseudonym is Donald Honig, who has the longest story in the book with “Savage Comrades”, from the September 1969 issue of MALE. There’s been a Honig story in every issue of MAQ so far, because he was a fine writer, and he doesn’t disappoint here. In “Savage Comrades”, he comes up with a neat twist on the criminals-turned-commandos plot by making them German POWs who, because of their criminal history before the war, don’t want the Nazis to win. Along with a couple of American GIs to run the mission, they’re sent in to blow up a vital jet fuel refinery.

The term “Lace Panty Commandos” has become sort of a running joke among men’s adventure magazine fans. The story that coined the term, “The Wild Raid of Gibbon’s Lace Panty Commandos” (MAN’S BOOK, June 1963) is included here, are are “The Desperate Raid of Wilson’s Lace Panty Guerrillas” (WORLD OF MEN, March 1963), “Free the Girls of Love Captive Stalag” (MEN, December 1967), “Death Doll Platoon” (MAN’S STORY, February 1972), “The 5 Wild Missions of O’Brien’s Submarine Commandos” (STAG, November 1973), and “G.I. River Rats Who Blasted the Nazis’ Sex Circus Villa” (STAG, November 1973). That last story has a great bit of copy on its first page: “The guests were top Nazi officers—perhaps even Rommel—and the wild assassination scheme included a mute wrestler, a bear, and a team of underwater daredevils . . .” If you can read that and not want to read the story that goes with it, well, you have more will power than I do. I found all these stories to be very entertaining.

The great fanzine publisher Justin Marriott contributes an article about Dirty Missions in British comics, featuring a couple of my favorite series, the Rat Pack and the Convict Commandos, both written by Alan Hebden, along with covering a number of other series that sound intriguing. Blogger/author Joe Kenney provides an essay about his introduction to the men’s adventure magazines, and like everything he writes, it’s enjoyable and informative. I mentioned Bruce Minney, but there are also dozens of reproductions of great covers and interior art by Minney, Norm Eastman, Gil Cohen, Frank McCarthy, Al Rossi, Walter Popp, and Franklin Wittmack, as well as others I’ve probably overlooked or forgotten. And that doesn’t even include the features on beautiful models Eva Lynd and Mala Mastroberte. For great art and production, you just can’t beat MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY.

The Dirty Mission Issue gets the same very high recommendation from me that the previous issues have. You can buy it directly from the publisher via his eBay page. And coming up next time around, as previewed in this one: the Heist Issue! Something tells me it’ll be a good one.

Men's Adventure Quarterly #4: The Jungle Girls Issue

I’m running out of superlatives to describe what a beautiful publication MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY is. Every issue lovingly reprints great covers and interior art from the men’s adventure magazines of the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies, along with stories and features from those magazines, all of it enhanced by well-written and informative editorials and introductions from editors Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham. The fourth volume is out now, and it’s yet another fantastic issue, this time focusing on a subject near and dear to my heart ever since I first watched those early Tarzan movies (the ones with a very scantily clad Maureen O’Sullivan): jungle girls.

About half of this issue is devoted to Jane Dolinger, a top-notch travel and adventure writer who contributed many stories to the MAMs. But she was also a lovely young woman who posed for many photo features in those same magazines, making her unique among their contributors. Deis and Cunningham deliver plenty of excellent examples of all of Jane Dolinger’s talents, along with an interview with her biographer, Lawrence Abbott, that provides a lot of insight into her life and career.

There’s also a feature on Marion Michael, the star of two German films in which she played Liane, Jungle Goddess (that’s also the title of the first film). I’d never heard of Marion Michael or these movies, so I found this quite interesting. Looks like at least the first movie is available to watch on-line. I probably won’t get around to doing so . . . but I might.

This issue is rounded out by four mostly fictional stories with jungle girl themes, and my favorite, not surprisingly, is Donald Honig’s “Yank Explorer Who Ruled Guatemala’s Taboo Tribe”, from the August 1959 issue of FOR MEN ONLY. There’s been a Donald Honig story in every issue of MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY so far, and for good reason. He’s an excellent writer and always delivers an entertaining, fast-moving yarn, no matter what the subject matter.

As I may well have mentioned before, I used to eye those magazines every time I went to the drugstore to buy comic books and paperbacks, and I really wanted to buy some of them, but I knew I could never get them into the house past the eagle-eyed gaze of my mother. I had enough trouble with paperbacks. (Ah, Robert McGinnis!) Now, thanks to Deis and Cunningham and MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY, I can at least read some sterling examples of what I missed back then. Issue 4, THE JUNGLE GIRLS ISSUE, gets a very high recommendation from me. You can buy it directly from Bob Deis in his eBay store.

Men's Adventure Quarterly, Volume 3 -- Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham, eds.

MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY started off great and just keeps getting better with each issue. Following volumes devoted to Westerns and espionage, the third issue of this beautifully done publication is devoted to vigilante justice, specifically that carried out by Vietnam vets against the Mafia and outlaw biker gangs. Not surprisingly, the Executioner novels by Don Pendleton get a lot of coverage, since that series pretty much created the genre. Abridged versions of the first two Executioner novels that ran as "Book Bonuses" in men's adventure magazines, along with articles by Linda Pendleton, Don Pendleton's widow, about her late husband's creation, occupy roughly half the pages in this issue, and it's fascinating stuff. I remember picking up the first Mack Bolan novel, WAR AGAINST THE MAFIA, when it was new and reading it one day when I was home sick from school. I was so impressed that after that, I bought and read each of Pendleton's entries as it came out. The "Book Bonus" version is called simply "The Executioner" and appeared in the October 1969 issue of FOR MEN ONLY. The second novel, DEATH SQUAD, got the "Book Bonus" treatment in the September 1971 issue of MEN. Both are reprinted here in their entirety.

But there's more, as they say on the late night TV commercials. You also get a guest editorial from Chuck Dixon, for many of us the top scripter on the long-running Punisher comic book, an article about THE EXECUTIONER'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, a digest that didn't really have anything to do with Mack Bolan but is interesting in its own right, page after page of fantastic artwork by Earl Norem, Gil Cohen, Mort Kunstler, and Jack Faragasso, among others, and three more long stories that fit in the vigilante genre. "Blood Feud With the Mafia" (TRUE ACTION, August 1970) is by Donald Honig, an author whose work I've grown to enjoy recently because each issue of MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY has reprinted one of his stories. "We Wiped Out Brutal Mack's Cycle Killers" (FOR MEN ONLY, November 1972) is a supposedly true story by one of the characters, "Jack August", who was actually some unknown pro spinning a yarn, and a good one, at that. It's more a tale of rival outlaw motorcycle gangs, but it does have a vigilante angle. Finally we have "The Amputee Vengeance Squad's Mafia Wipeout" (MEN, August 1975) by "Jack Tyler", another pseudonymous author, with a fantastic, over-the-top illustration by Earl Norem. This is my favorite of the three non-Executioner stories, and if the author had expanded it into a novel, it would have made a fine entry in the explosion of paperback series that followed the Executioner's success.

When I was a kid, men's adventure magazines were staples on the magazine racks where I bought comics and paperbacks. It seemed like FOR MEN ONLY, especially, was always there, month after month. And I always wanted to buy some of them but never did, since my allowance and the money I earned would only stretch so far. But now, thanks to Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham, I can at least read some of the stories and feast my eyes on the great artwork. They're to be commended for bringing this material to a new generation of readers. MEN'S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY is great. If you're not reading it, you should be. You can get the latest issue on Amazon or directly from Bob Deis via his eBay store.

Maneaters: Killer Sharks in Men's Adventure Magazines -- Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, eds.

I've never been a big fan of the ocean. I like sitting on the beach and looking at it, but that's about the extent of the appeal for me. I'm as big a landlubber as you're going to find. And the stories in the latest volume from the Men's Adventure Library Journal do a good job of explaining why I feel this way: there are things out there under the waves. Dangerous things.

Like all the books from editors Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, MANEATERS: KILLER SHARKS IN MEN'S ADVENTURE MAGAZINES, is a beautiful production featuring dozens of great pieces of artwork, including covers and interior art from some of the best artists in the genre.

The stories, mostly fictional, are also highly entertaining. The situations vary widely, but all feature perilous, usually bloody encounters between humans and sharks. My favorites were "The Giant Shark That Guarded Rommel's Treasure" (FURY, January 1961) by Peter Fall (probably a pseudonym), which reads like an early Jack Higgins adventure novel in miniature; "E Mao Ariki" (ARGOSY, July 1968) a South Seas adventure yarn by the consistently excellent author Robert Edmond Alter; and "The Madman Who Ruled a Killer-Shark Pack" (MAN'S WORLD, January 1976) by Bret Harper, also likely a pseudonym, about a husband who finds a unique way of taking revenge on his cheating wife.

In addition, each story is followed by comments from a variety of shark experts, explaining what the author got right, got wrong, or made up entirely. These commentaries are informative and a lot of fun.

Overall, MANEATERS is a great collection. Reading it isn't going to make me more likely to go in the water--just the opposite, in fact--but I had a fine time with it anyway. You know, it would be a pretty good book to read while sitting on the beach. Well up on the beach, away from the water . . .

Exotic Adventures of Robert Silverberg - Robert Silverberg

Travel to faraway lands of mystery, danger, and erotic intrigue in stories from a time when the world still held secrets to be uncovered. From safari to bordello, from smugglers' cove to opium den, Robert Silverberg's lost pulp exotica returns to print for the first time since its original 1950s publication, in bold new oversized facsimile re-creations. Available in softcover and deluxe expanded hardcover editions that look fresh off the newsstand, circa 1958. Go EXOTIC...or go home.

One of the greatest names in science fiction, Robert Silverberg's work is beloved by millions of readers worldwide. He has been awarded virtually all of the top honors in the realm of speculative fiction, including multiple Hugo Awards and Nebula Awards, and induction into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

But his long career as a writer includes many lesser known detours outside SF. One of those detours led to this intriguing set of stories, written and published in 1958 and 1959 for EXOTIC ADVENTURES, a short-lived men's adventure magazine (or MAM) that emphasized tales set in foreign locales then considered mysterious and intriguing. Silverberg proved so adept a storyteller in this mode, he was soon composing nearly the entire magazine under a variety of pseudonyms.

Now, with Silverberg's full cooperation, The Men's Adventure Library presents these long-lost tales of exotic adventure, most never before reprinted, in a unique facsimile presentation that mimics their original publication in the 1950s.

EXOTIC ADVENTURES OF ROBERT SILVERBERG invites you to take a walk on the wild side. Experience life as a smuggler in Tangier...witness the secret sex rites of Uganda...visit a nudist paradise on the French Riviera...take a bride for the night in Kashmir...lose yourself in the opium dens of Vietnam...and much, much more in globe-trotting adventures spun entirely from the vivid imagination of one of speculative fiction's most honored voices.

EXOTIC ADVENTURES OF ROBERT SILVERBERG is available as a 118-page softcover, and as a deluxe 142-page hardcover with additional stories.

(These stories are just really entertaining, and the book is beautifully put together by editors Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle. Several of them, with the addition of a little more plot, easily could have been expanded into lurid but also really entertaining novels, had Silverberg chosen to do so. My favorites were "Safari of Death", "Bride of the Jaguar God", and "Island of Exiled Women". Those titles ought to give you a pretty good idea whether or not this is a book for you. I loved it. And yes, that's Silverberg himself on the cover, in a reworked version of a cover by Rafael DeSoto that first appeared on the April 1957 issue of FOR MEN ONLY. If you're like me and enjoy revisiting that era from time to time, I highly recommend EXOTIC ADVENTURES OF ROBERT SILVERBERG.)