PULP FICTION EXAMINED

Upcoming release: Beat Girls, Love Tribes, and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture, 1950-1980. Paul Bishop and David Foster from Spy Vibe sister-sites, Bish's Beat and Permission To Kill, have teamed up with a number of other pulp authors and pop culture scholars to create an exciting overview of mass-market paperbacks. From the press release: "The first comprehensive account of the rise of youth culture and mass-market paperback fiction in the postwar period, Beat Girls is a must-read for anyone interested in retro and subcultural style and popular fiction. As the young created new styles in music, fashion and culture, pulp fiction followed their every step, hyping and exploiting their behavior and language for mass consumption. From the juvenile delinquent gangs of the early fifties, through the beats and hippies, on to bikers, skinheads and punks, pulp fiction left no trend untouched. Boasting wild covers and action-packed plots, these books reveal as much about society’s desires and fears as they do about the subcultures themselves. Featuring over 300 pulp covers, many never before reprinted, as well 70 in-depth author interviews and biographies, articles and reviews, Beat Girls offers the most extensive survey of the era’s mass market pulp fiction. Novels by well-known authors like Harlan Ellison, Lawrence Block, Evan Hunter/Ed McBain, and by filmmakers Samuel Fuller and Ed Wood Jr., are discussed alongside neglected obscurities and contemporary bestsellers ripe for rediscovery. More than 20 critics and scholars of popular culture contributed to this celebration of a fascinating body of work." This project thrills me on a number of levels. As a kid who searched the bookshops every weekend for James Bond and Man From U.N.C.L.E paperbacks, my eyes always scanned over the piles of other authors and series titles that crammed the mystery and adventure shelves. There were so many I didn't have time to explore, but now Beat Girls can serve as an excellent introduction! And as an adult with a background in sociology, I'm especially interested to read about mass-market books and how they reflected youth culture and changes in society during the Cold War. Beat Girls comes out in November from Verse Chorus Press, but you can pre-order on Amazon here. Congratulations to Paul, David, and the Beat Girls team for what will certainly prove to be an essential addition to everyone's Spy Vibe library. 

Selected Spy Vibe posts: Leonard Nimoy Tribute, Shatner at 84, Bob Morane series, New Saint Publications, The Saint Complete box set, Gerry Anderson Box Sets, Bond LEGO, Deadlier Than the Male, Spectre Report, Music For Spies, Thai Bond Design, Brian Clemens RIP, Bond vs Modernism, Imitation Game, New Avengers Books, Road to Hong Kong, Inside Gerry Anderson, Ringo Does Goldfinger, Sixties Beat Wear, SPECTRE Announced, Popular Skullture, New Gerry Anderson Sets, New SECRET AGENT set, Art of Modesty, Avengers Blu-ray update, Tokyo Beat 1964, Polaroid Spy, Modesty Monday, Feraud Mod Fashion, Flint Scores!, Bond Danish, Home Movies, New Richard Sala Book, New 007 Comics, Designing Bond Books, Green Hornet Manga, Margaret Nolan Art, No 6 Festival, Barbarella Returns, 007 Audio Books Return, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Mattel X-15, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Danger Diabolik Soundtrack, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The 10th Victim German Edition, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.

DOLLY DOLLY KINDLE

Congratulations again to all of the Spy Vibers who won vintage prizes in our birthday give-away contest! What else is new here in the lair? Scroll down for posts about Ian Fleming's desert island interview, new Fleming book designs, Spy Smasher cliffhanger serial, the new Barbarella tv show, Man From U.N.C..L.E. illustration, British spy comics in the 1960s, Piper Gates retro spy designs, Cinema Retro celebrates James Bond, and Spy Vibe's 2012 top ten, including my review of Skyfall.

Now on Kindle: One of the interesting characters from 1960s Swinging London was author Adam Diment. He appeared on the scene with his first novel, Dolly Dolly Spy, in 1967. Publishers Weekly: "A kinky, cool mod flare that is outrageously entertaining….If you appreciate clever plotting, plenty of excitement, sex at its most uninhibited, a dollop or two of explicit sadism, Adam Diment is a name to remember." Diment wrote four novels about his alter-ego, Philip McAlpine, a hip spy with Diment's taste for fast cats, planes, girls, and chemical substances, before disappearing completely from public view in 1971. David Hemmings was cast to play McAlpine in a 1968 film adaptation of Dolly Dolly Spy, but the project apparently died during development. That same year, Hemmings, who resembled the author, made his two iconic films Barbarella and Blow Up. Collectible and difficult to track down, Diment's Dolly Dolly Spy novel is now available on Kindle here. You can read more about Diment here and a review of Dolly Dolly Spy at our sister site Permission to Kill here. 

MACABRE MYSTERY WEEK: DR. MABUSE

With the recent release of the Fantomas collection from Kino International, Halloween coming this weekend, and a new Richard Sala book around the corner, It's been macabre mystery mania here at the Spy Vibe lair. I unfortunately missed the debut of the new Sherlock Holmes, but I have been busy enjoying the thrills and intrigue of classic French characters like Fantomas and Judex. Fans familiar with the penny dreadful tradition of serialized pulp fiction will hopefully recognize this rogue's gallery of mystery villains and avengers. If you have made the leap to an eReader, you might want to check out one of the many original Fantomas novels available on-line (many are priced around $1.00). You can even read them on your smart phone with Kindle's free app!


Today on Macabre Mystery Week, Fritz Lang's Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933). In this iconic scene, the head of a psychiatric hospital becomes so obsessed with the machinations of his patient, the arch-villain Dr. Mabuse, that he becomes possessed by the fiend's spirit while studying his plans to build an "empire of crime." Design-wise, masks and skulls set the stage for the character's duality. Lang used double exposure and a whispered voice-over with chilling results. Testament was Langs second Mabuse film, and the character would be resurrected, like Fantomas and Judex, for a series of films thirty years later (including the fab 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse with Gert "Goldfinger" Frobe). A new Dr. Mabuse film is currently under development. Check out more Dr. Mabuse info at fellow C.O.B.R.A.S. blog, Permission to Kill.