TRASHY TUESDAY: WAR, UNDERWEAR, MEN’S MAGAZINES AND CARTER BROWN: AUSSIE PAPERBACK PULPS

Heading into Christmas and I have some final new additions of Australian paperbacks for 2023 to share.

Despite A. G. Yates’ prodigious output, Horwitz could not keep up with the demand for Carter Brown novels, and in 1954 launched their Collector’s Series, which initially reprinted earlier novelettes. The first series ran from 1954 to 1955 (14 issues) and was then followed by a second series (also confusingly called Volume 1). This second series continued until 1960.

Collector Series, Volume 1, No.11 (1958) comprised Shady Lady, the marvellously titled Dimple Died Deluxe (they just don’t do titles like that anymore!) and the short novelette Kidnapper Wears Curves, which doesn’t appear on the front cover.

The three stories were originally published singularly in 1953, 1954 and 1954 respectively, but were brought together in this single volume in 1958 at a time when Brown’s appeal was really beginning to take off.

The cover is more demure than some which graced the Australian editions of the Carter Brown books, but it is very effective, with the stronger red colours drawing out the woman’s face from the washed out background and the paleness of her dress.

I already had a copy of this book, but this one is in slightly better condition.

This Horwitz digest edition of No Harp For My Angel (another great title) dates from 1956, and is the 25th book in the Carter Brown numbered novel series. It is not in great condition, but is a good example of the photographic covers that Horwitz were using at the time. This one is by photographer David Franklin, and runs pretty much to formula with an attractive model in the foreground and silhouettes of fighting men behind.

Also from Horwitz is Away Boarders! (1962) by Australian war novelist titan J. E. Macdonnell.

Away Boarders is number 41 in his Sea Adventure Series, which eventually ran to 147 books. The cover, uncredited, is typical of the evocative artwork, which adorned his early books.

Here is a link to some other J. E Macdonell war books and covers: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/trashy-tuesday-july-book-haul/ and his medical books: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/trashy-tuesday-australian-book-haul/

Man magazine started in 1936 and continued until 1974, when it was replaced by more sexually explicit men’s magazines.

In addition to the magazine, Man also produced the occasional ‘Best Of Man’ books, which featured stories from the magazine. Unholy Angels of Death dates from the late 1950s/early 1960s, I think, and has a good action cover. I am going to explore the stories, which seem to be mainly by Australian authors, in a later article.

Finally, The Show-Off Girls by Matt Harding is an Australian reprint of the American Beacon book, The Near Nudes. It was reprinted by the publishers of Man magazine, Magazine Services, and uses the same artwork as the Beacon original, but with a different title and changed wording on the cover. It would seem to date from around 1966, when decimal currency was being introduced into Australia.

So an interesting collection of Australian pulp fiction of the late 1950s and early 1960s to close out the year. I have a burgeoning pile of books, which I will feature next year.