Friday, September 02, 2005

James R. Barton

This is the Finnish cover of James R. Barton's war paperback Shadow over Europe (Badger, early sixties). It may well be the original cover, for all I know - at least it fits the story, which is about an Englishman getting caught in the Poland's conquest in 1939 and fighting bravely against the Nazis (or is the exploding plane a French one?). It's a fast read, but also very black and white: all the Germans are pigs, bastards and maniacs. It's interesting to note that the hero was in Spain in 1936 fighting with the people's front, against the Francoists and Germans.

I said at first that Barton was one of the pseudonyms of very prolific John Glasby, but I checked and it turns out that Barton was "an unknown Badger author". I notice from Hubin that as J.C. Barton there were two crime paperbacks, The Corrupt Ones and The Pay-Off.

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