Mon 20 Oct 2008
Back from Michigan, that is, where a wonderful time was had by all, as expected, and back from Gary Lovisi’s paperback show in New York City yesterday. Attendance was up slightly and a lot of money seemed to be changing hands, but of course the even greater attraction was seeing and talking to many, many friends I’ve known for a long time.
I hope none of them will feel slighted if I mention only one of them, writer and pulp historian Ron Goulart, author most recently of Cheap Thrills, a profusely illustrated history of the pulp magazines, and Good Girl Art, also profusely illustrated, and even more so. I recommend both to you very highly.
Recent health problems kept Ron from this year’s Windy City pulp and paperback show, where he was to have been this year’s co-guest of honor. We’ve known each other for well over 30 years, and it was good to see him again.
Lots of people asked me about the recent absence of posts on this blog. I’m still not sure in what direction I (and it) will be going next, but until I find out, I have a large backlog of reviews that need to be uploaded, and I think you’ll see one here sometime in the next few minutes.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Welcome back Steve. May I second your favorable comments about Ron Goulart. Back in the 1960’s I was just collecting SF and Weird Tales pulps but when Goulart’s detective anthology, The Hard Boiled Dicks, was published I decided I had to start collecting and reading the detective pulps also. I contacted Ron and he kindly sold me his copies of the pulps that he had used for his research, excellent pulps like Black Mask, Dime Detective, and Detective Fiction Weekly. Over the years I managed to put together extensive sets of these titles and other pulps. Even today, I am still reading and rereading the great series characters from the detective pulps like Cellini Smith, The Dean, Steve Midnight, Max Latin, Bail Bond Dodds, Luther McGavock, Mr. Maddox, Rex Sackler, Inspector Allhoff, Bill Brent, and a host of others.
Cheap Thrills is one of the very best of the books about the pulps. This new edition is worth obtaining even if you already have the old edition because it has been expanded by adding dozens of cover illustrations and a long addendum printing for the first time Goulart’s extensive correspondence with pulp authors.
I also bought from Ron a copy of his book, Good Girl Art, which he signed for me. Ron’s detailed and funny signature art in his books is a joy to behold. Both of these fine books are worth adding to your library.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:48 am
Steve: Thanks for the kind plug. And thanks, too, to Walker, Gary, etc. It’s always pleasant to be someplace where people have read my work–and some of them even like it. Best, Ron Goulart
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
[…] he had with him copies of Cheap Thrills and Good Girl Art available for sale and signing. See my previous post, and in particular Walker Martin’s comment in which he describes both of them more fully. He […]