A piece of Australian pulp fiction, a digest-sized paperback of 98 pages from 1962. Max Strong was a series character by Australian hack called Robert Dudgeon.* Strong had a magazine of his own name in Finland, but there were also stories about other characters by other writers (and some fillers, too, this one has a story "Oil Rain" by someone called Ron Miller).
The cover is.. well, eh.. grunt.. groan.. nice? I don't know the illustrator and I don't know what the Australian digests looked like, so I can't begin to guess if this is original or what. I haven't read the book (just bought it earlier today), but as I've said here (or somewhere else) before, the Australian crime fiction was usually below their Western fiction, which is weird.
* House pseudonym, says Pat Hawk's pseudonyms catalogue. The primary writer was Frank S. Greenop (who has also written as Jess Beaumont, Walt Dundee and Hart E. Martin; you can guess the genre by his 'nyms). Others included such authors as Uell Stanley Anderson and William Listle Stuart. Pat Hawk also mentions American writers having written as Dudgeon: Jack Ehrlich and William Fuller. He also mentions Victor Hanson, whom I've thought to be British. What's going on? (And to make matters worse, Finnish bibliographer Simo Sjöblom states, for some reason, that the Max Strongs published in Finnish in the early sixties were actually written by Lennart Hoffren, a Finnish hack from the sixties and seventies! I don't know where this info is coming from, but it is very doubtful.)
[Digging further into Hawk's Pseudonyms, it seems the Dudgeon name was used (in pirated editions?) with reprints of Ehrlich's and Fuller's novels, presumably in German. The same with Vic Hanson. Hawk's notes are not always very clear.]
10 comments:
Australian pulp!?! Wow, I know nothing about this stuff. Sounds interesting...I wonder if it is available online at all?
I just started my own pulp site at www.pulpserenade.blogspot.com. Only 3 entries up now, but working on one about Day Keene. Take a look and hope you enjoy.
-Cullen
www.pulpserenade.blogspot.com
Those two color schemes are interesting.
Cullen, click on the "Australian pulp" link and you'll get some of my postings. Nothing thorough, though, and mainly on their Westerns. And try Googling, I think "Australian pulp" will lead you somewhere on this matter.
Patti, do you recognize the source of the quote in the subject line?
Cullen, put "paperback" in with your Google search, otherwise you'll get only wood-related stuff. And yes, I've taken a look at your blog. Keep up the good work!
While "Dudgeon" seemed from first glance a house name, a Ron Miller was an sf fan who wrote at least some professionally published material...wonder if.
Todd, I think "Ron Miller" is so common it could be anyone. There were other filler stories in this Finnish series, but I haven't been able to find any info on them. (Which to me means they are Australian fillers and hence unindexed.)
"(And to make matters worse, Finnish bibliographer Simo Sjöblom states, for some reason, that the Max Strongs published in Finnish in the early sixties were actually written by Lennart Hoffren, a Finnish hack from the sixties and seventies! I don't know where this info is coming from, but it is very doubtful.)"
Tämä on ihan totta, Robert-herra on todellakin Lennart Hoffren. :D
Moi Repa,
mistä tiedät? Kiinnostaisi oikeasti tietää, mihin Sjöblomin väite perustuu, kun Robert Dudgeon oli kuitenkin myös oikea aussikirjailija. Toivottavasti huomaat tämän - pistän kommenttia myös sinun blogiisi.
Ystäväni valaisi tästä asiasta minua, hän sattuu olemaan Lennartin lapsenlapsi. Minä en kylläkään osaa paljoa kertoa herrasta mutta ystäväni pyysi kertomaan asiasta puolestaan, kun ei omista tunnuksia tänne. :D
Moi vielä,
voitko pyytää ystävääsi ottamaan yhteyttä, vaikka sähköpostilla (juri.nummelin(a)pp.inet.fi)? Kiitos paljon!
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