RARA-AVIS: Summer Reading

From: Jeff Vorzimmer (jvorzimmer@austin.rr.com)
Date: 13 Jul 2008

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    I just got back from a vacation in Michigan's upper penninsula, trying to interest my daughter in fishing and shooting. We're about 150 miles from nowhere and we stop in a small town that's big enough to have a post office where we buy stamps for postcards. I notice a couple of junk shops that claimed to be antique stores. Well, since we're only half way though the vacation and I've already finished the three books I brought, I figure maybe they have some old paperbacks. No luck in the first store, but then, in the second store I notice a dresser with a drawer half open. As I'm passing I notice there are paperbacks in the drawer--spines facing up. I pull it all the way open and see that's it completely full of paperbacks from the 50s and early 60s. There are Gold Medals, Lions, Dells, Aces etc. I open the second drawer, same thing. By the third drawer I'm realizing I'll have my pick of lots of good stuff. The guy who owns the place notices my enthusiasm and says, "Great stuff, eh? Two bucks each, three for five." Of course, a lot of it I've read and I don't want to haul them back with me on the plane, no matter how good the price is, but I do notice two authors I haven't read--in addition to all the well-known authors represented in the drawers--James McKimmey and Matthew Blood.

    The Blood is a Gold Medal PBO called The Avenger and it's great and I'm wondering why I've never heard of this guy. When I get home I find out that Matthew Blood was a pseudonym of Brett Halliday. Written in 1952. He only wrote one other title for GM, called Death is a Lovely Dame, also under the Matthew Blood name.

    I've always wanted to read James McKimmey, so I grabbed Squeeze Play (Dell), Blue Mascara Tears (Ballantine) and The Long Ride (Dell). I read The Long Ride after The Avenger and I couldn't put it down. Very original story and very fast paced; written in 1961. I'll definitely be reading the others soon.

    In addition to those mentioned I bought a Mickey Spillane novel I missed previously called Killer Mine and another book called Hate Alley by Martin Weiss, an Ace paperback with a great cover.

    Jeff



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