James Reasoner

I've published at least four stories by American veteran writer James Reasoner in Isku, Ruudinsavu and Seikkailukertomuksia. We've been changing e-mails for years, somewhat sporadically, but I still consider James a personal friend.

Now I'm devastated after reading what has happened to him and his house, his work, his collection of books and pulps.

I can't imagine what he feels at the moment. After I'd read his blog post, I turned to Elina to point it at her and then reading this at Bill Crider's blog, I asked Elina whether she'd be able to work at all if everything we own burns down. I don't really think I would.

Brad Latham's Hook series

I finished reading Brad Latham's Hook series that was published in paperback in the early eighties. From the original five books, three were translated in Finnish, in the early nineties. It seems no one gives a damn about these series, and I won't argue: there's not much to miss. Here's Thrilling Detective on the books, though.

Hook is Bill Lockwood, tough insurance detective working in the late thirties in New York. He meets dames, has gunfights, gets knocked over - you know the drill. I thought at first that the books are filled with graphic sex, but that applies only to the fourth novel in the series (the second in the Finnish series), The Death of Lorenzo Jones (Kuolettava kaunotar). It starts with a scene about a woman who tries to seduce Hook by stripping naked, shaving her pubic hair and wearing only high heels. Needless to say, she manages. The other two, The Gilded Canary and The Sight Unseen, are more or less traditional in their depiction of sex and the books seem pretty coy. (And I was really anticipating more stuff, with my hands sweaty, gripping the books... Just kiddin'. But it would've been nice.)

The most interesting of the three books is the second one (in Finland the third one), The Sight Unseen (Kuoleman varjossa, in which Hook battles against Nazi spies. There are even some political issues. The plot is a bit confusing, though, and the overall effect isn't much.

Now, Brad Latham is a pseudonym. It seems no one knows who it belongs to. I've heard rumours that the books were written by David J. Schow, the famous horror writer who had hand in the splatterpunk school in the late eighties and early nineties, but I would say that these three books had at least two different writers, maybe three. The first one, The Gilded Canary, is skimpy in details and reads faster than the other two. The Sight Unseen is more elaborate and has more convoluted plot than the others. The Death of Lorenzo Jones, however, relies so much on sex that it seems the most important thing in the book - I don't remember much else about it, but I think it also had an okay plot. It seems, though, that Schow's participation is certain - take a look at what Mystery#File has to say (you'll have to scroll down a bit).

The reason I read these books (well, of course I would've read them eventually, but at this point) is that I'll be writing an entry for genre sex paperbacks in the forth-coming book on erotic classics. Now, Brad Latham will be immortalized between Marquis de Sade and Anaïs Nin. Too bad, though, that the books didn't have more sex in them! (I'll also have Gary Tubbs's The Case of the Missing Rubber... but let me get back to that later!)

Lukemisto-lehteä sotavuosilta

(About a Finnish pulp mag.)

Olen lueskellut yliopiston kirjastossa Lukemisto-nimistä lukemistolehteä vuosilta 1943-1945 ja tehnyt indeksiä. Kirjoitin tämmöisen viestin Pulpetti-sähköpostilistalle ja muun postitettavan puutteessa ajattelin kokeilla sitä tännekin. Olen miettinyt, että perustaisin oman blogin lukemistoille ja niiden sisältöindekseille, mutta voi olla, että aika paljon saa vetta virrata myllyn alitse ennen kuin se tapahtuu. Tässä ei ole kaikkia lehtiä, palataan sitten niihin... Samoin kuin kuviin.

Tässä vielä maanantai-illan ratoksi indeksiä Lukemisto-lehdestä. Helkkarin mielenkiintoinen lehti - jutut vaikuttavat rennoilta ja hauskoilta ja jotenkin vetävämmiltä kuin monessa muussa vastaavassa kotimaisessa, ja kauhun ja puhtaan fantasiankin määrä ihmetyttää. Tässä on suomalaisen kirjallisuuden vaihtoehtoinen historia!

Kommentteja:

- olen aivan varma, että anonyymin kirjoittama "Vampyyrin orja" on Harry Etelän kirjoittama, juttu ei voi olla kenenkään muun kirjoittama!; Etelällä on lehdissä pari humoristis-romanttistakin juttua, joista "Villin kevään" päähenkilö on ammatiltaan jännityskirjailija!

- Turo Ahva ja Klaus Marno ovat ilmeisesti sama tyyppi, ainakin Kalevi Haikon arkistosta löytyneen summittaisen merkinnän perusteella; en ihmettelisi, tyyli on samanlainen ja silloin kun Ahva kirjoittaa kauhujutun, meininki on samanlaista kuin Marnon jutuissa; Dorton-jutut kertovat hullusta tiedemiehestä, joka keksii aineen, joka lähettää ihmiset toiseen ulottuvuuteen; "Punainen temppeli" on puhdasta fantasiaa, jossa kulkija löytää kadonneen kaupungin ja sen hullun kuningattaren - näitä kun voisi julkaista uudestaan!

- Leni Hoffrén on todennäköisesti Lennart Hoffrén, joka kirjoitti 60-luvulla pari sotaromaania ja julkaisi 60-luvulla omakustannepokkareita (länkkäreitä ja sotajuttuja); hänellä on novelleja 60-luvun Lännensarjoissa hyvin samantyyppisellä salanimellä, nämä ovat enemmänkin romanttisia juttuja

- Ossi Haimi on kaiketi oikea nimi, jos en väärin muista, hän kirjoitti myös salanimellä O. Kaskamo Riksin kirjoissa ilmestyneen Tunturipaholaisen; osa Haimin teksteistä on parodisia ja satiirisia runoja, varsinkin nuo Jali-jutut, joissa hän irvailee kohtuullisen hauskasti ajankohtaiselle politiikalle ja mm. Hitlerille

- Pertti Paakkanen ja Aarre Paakkanen voivat olla veljekset, en tiedä; Fennican mukaan Aarre Holger Paakkanen kirjoitti vuonna 1945 romaanin Kolme kultaista kirvestä (kustantaja Kivi; onkohan fantasiaa?) sekä upean kuuloisen kirjan Nepalin kadonnut rubiini (Pellervo 1948); Pertti Paakkanen esiintyi mm. salanimillä Erkka Kare ja Jack Rogers

- kiinnostava yksittäinen hahmo on Uolevi Kianto, Ilmarin poika! juttu on humoristista kauhua

- Ossi Valle Rahkonen on Osvald Rahkonen, joka jostain syystä pyrki peittelemään etunimeään, hän esiintyi nimillä Osv. tai Osvi Rahkonen

1/1944

Stephen Phillips: Valkoinen kissa
anonyymi [A. Paakkanen]: Partakoneenterä
James Sparrow: "Tervetuloa Floraan!"
Harlekiini: Aatami ja Eeva: draamallinen huvinäytelmä
anonyymi: Keinotekoinen Kalle ja muita koneellistettuja miehiä
Budapestin Juliska: Suuren suosion saavuttanut iskelmä elokuvasta Sininen naamio
Esko Helo: Kullanhimo
Heikki Seppälä: Irinan luostarinmatka
P. Paakkanen: Tri Jarmenin keksintö
Per Erik: Mr. Walsh erehtyy

2/1944

Calami: Herra Eemeli Ounasketo [pakinasarja]
Turo Ahva: Tulisilmän suurin nautinto
Viola Pallas: Angelan unelma täyttyy
Leni Hoffrén: Topin ranskalainen kihlaus
Turo Ahva: Salaperäisen Li Shon arvoitus
Per Erik: Liian hermostunut
A. Paakkanen: Partakoneenterä, osa 2
anonyymi: Kirje sinulle kultaseni
anonyymi: Idylli Nigeriassa
Pentti Kari: Kolmen kuukauden jälkeen
Ossi Haimi: Tyttöni, on jälleen kevät...
P. Paakkanen: Tri Jarmenin keksintö

3-4/1944

Calami: Herra Eemeli Ounasketo
Turo Ahva: Komisario Lane Scotland Yardista
Ossi Haimi: Terveiset kapteeni Juan Burolta
Per Erik: Trevor epäonnistuu
E.F. Benson: Home Sweet Home [klassikkokäännös]
Harlekiini: Elämän linja-autossa; Ampiainen ja minä
Leni Hoffrén: Jorman juttu
Kalervo Kujala: Sätki
Milli: Kestävyyskoe
Jep: Äidin luokse
Turo Ahva: Kaksi herrasmiestä
Per Erik: Kaulahihna
Leni Hoffrén: Kömpelöt kädet
P. Paakkanen: Tri Jarmenin keksintö

5-6/1944

Camali: Herra Eemeli Ounasketo
Turo Ahva: Aavehyena
Ossi Haimi: Kapteeeni Buron terveiset
Per Erik: Kuumetta
anonyymi: Vampyyrin orja [todennäköisesti Harry Etelä; kuv. ei signeerausta, Pentti Viherluoto?]
Milli: Virstan tolpalla
Leni Hoffrén: Karhu Ville
Ossi Haimi: Ihannevaimo
Milli: Pienen pääskysemon voitto
P. Paakkanen: Tri Jarmenin keksintö
Harlekiini: Carmen
Turo Ahva: Salaperäinen suomalainen [kuv. Ahva?]
Turo Ahva: Komisario Virtasen herrasmiehen maine

7/1944

Harry Etelä: Kummituspatsas
Ossi Haimi: Kapteeni Buron terveiset: Pasifisti sai urhoollisuusmerkin´
Turo Ahva: Kohtalon laukaus
Ossi Haimi: Siviilin kirjePer Erik: Kirottu vesisade
Ossi Valle Rahkonen: Laukaus kuului keskukseen
Ossi V. Rahkonen: Tapaaminen
Harry Etelä: Eriskummallinen yö
Turo Ahva: Vain pieni erehdysanonyymi: Kohtalo johtaa

Lukemisto 1/1945; kansi Pentti Viherluoto

Camali: Herra Eemeli Ounasketo
Turo Ahva: Kuoleman portti
Viola Pallas: Kihlajaisilta
Ossi Haimi: Kapt. Buron terveiset 4: Equadorilainen kauneus kukkii Perussakin
Aarre Paakkanen: Sukeltaja
Klaus Marno: Hornansalin salaisuus. Professori Dorton-sarja: Kauhukertomuksia mielikuvituksen rajamailta
Leni Hoffrén: Paluu
Harry Etelä: Öisen myrskyn huminaa (kuvitus Pentti Viherluoto)
Pertti Paakkanen: Kadonnut kultakaivos 1

2/1945; kansi Pentti Viherluoto

Camali: Herra Eemeli Ounasketo
Harry Etelä: Kummituksen morsian
Turo Ahva: Olinko se minä?
Ossi Haimi: Kapt. Buron terveiset V: Minulle yritetään kostaa
Tip-Top: Kauneusuni
A. Paakkanen: Palanut kirje
Ossi Valle Rahkonen: Paljastava rumba
anonyymi: Erään nuorukaisen rakkauskirje
Klaus Marno: Professori Dortonin pako
Pertti Paakkanen: Kadonnut kultakaivos 2
Ossi Haimi: Kirje Jalilta: Uni N:o 1
Pertti Sara: Silmälasit

3/1945

Camali: Herra Eemeli Ounasketo
Harry Etelä: Kummituksen morsian 2
Ossi Haimi: Kapt. Buron terveiset VI: Tarkoitus pyhittää keinot
Klaus Marno: Professori Dorton nousee kuolleista
Pertti Paakkanen: Kadonnut kultakaivos 3

4/1945

O-La: Mies joka sai haastattelun
Harry Etelä: Villi kevät
Ossi Haimi: Kapt. Buron terveiset VII: Lapsellinen juttu
Klaus Marno: Dorton-Wellmont - viimeinen erä
Ossi Haimi: Runoilija Jalin ilmestysuni sanomalehden yleisönosastosta
Pertti Paakkanen: Kadonnut kultakaivos

5/1945

Camali: Herra Eemeli Ounasketo
Ossi-Valle Rahkonen: Kaksi kevättä
Mirva Sammas: On kuollut kylmyys -
Klaus Marno: Dorton-Wellmont - viimeinen erä
Harry Etelä: Villi kevät 2
Paul John-Smith: Kuoleman mestari

6/1945

M.S.: Kukkii tuomet; Juhannusyönä
Leni Hoffrén: Amerikkalaista vauhtia
Ossi Haimi: Kapt. Buron terveiset VIII: Ranskatar on ranskatar; I osa seikkailusta Näkemiin... kohtalo!
Uolevi Kianto: Vanha kummitus
Turo Ahva: "Hain" arvoitus; ilmoitus että Paakkasen jatkosarja Kadonnut kultakaivos lakkaa ilmestymästä
Ossi-Valle Rahkonen: Harmaasilmä

7/1945

Klaus Marno: Punainen temppeli
Ossi Haimi: Kapt. Buron terveiset IX: Näkemiin... kohtalo 2: Minä hymyilen ääneen
Turo Ahva: "Hain" arvoitus 2
M.S.: Kesäyönä
Ossi Haimi: Jali kirjoittaa
Leo Landon: Valkoinen neliöanonyymi: Rosvometsän pojat

8/1945

Klaus Marno: Mestariampuja: kertomus Villistä Lännestä
Ossi Haimi: Kapt. Buron terveiset X: "Espanjan neito ja Espanjan maa... ja niin!": 3 osa seikkailusta Näkemiin.. kohtalo!
Turo Ahva: "Hain" arvoitus 3
Ossi Haimi: Jali kirjoittaa: Taistelurunoilija
Ossi-Valle Rahkonen: Erehdys
Harry Etelä: Kanarialintu (kuvitus Pentti Viherluoto)

Kallasvuo sucks!

(This is about Finnish politics.)

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo sanoi tänään Hesarissa, että markkinataloudessa ei voi taata elämänpituisia työpaikkoja, millä hän viittasi Saksassa lakkautettavaan Nokian tehtaaseen.

Tiedän ainakin yhden tyypin, jolle nykyinen markkinatalous takaa elämänpituisen työpaikan. Vaikka se ei olisikaan Nokia, niin kyllä näin dynaamiselle kaverille aina duuni löytyy.

For all you bullies out there

I don't remember whether I've mentioned it here, but I'm editing a book on sex and porn short stories that have been previously published in skin mags or books of the same kind. I've got quite an impressive list of well-known Finnish authors for this, but I'll get back to the book later, I just want to say something about an affair that I found about while digging for rights to use a story by a writer who died not ten years ago.

I got hold of the writer's widow and asked her for a permission to use a story his late husband had written for a porn mag in the mid-eighties. She said she'd think about it and then she got back and said she'd decided no. It turned out that the writer's teenage daughter had been bullied in school because of his father's sometimes quite controversial novels and other writings. The girl had swapped school and seemed much better now and got new friends. It was only understandable that her mother didn't want to see the porn story getting any publicity. And so it won't be in the anthology, which is a shame in itself, but what's more important is that a young girl's identity has been crushed.

Which makes me want to speak out.

So, all you fucking stupid morons: STOP BULLYING! I mean NOW!

RIGHT FUCKING NOW!

Torturing Nazi baboons

Groovy Age of Horror has scans of the infamous story about Nazis experimenting with baboons. The story has an interesting sciencefictional premise (yeah, right), but the climax is a bit rushed, don't you think? The story was published in a magazine called Man's Daring - it was one of those men's adventure magazines that flourished from the fifties to the seventies.

Getting mentioned

I notice from Bill Crider's blog that this is out - the writers of the book contacted me asking a permission to reprint some of my posts. I don't think I'll ever see the book, but thanks for having me nevertheless!

Roger Zelazny and Hard Case Crime

Hard Case Crime announced in their latest newsletter that they will be publishing "the long-lost, never-before-published thriller by award-winning fantasy and science fiction author Roger Zelazny"; the book will be out "at the start of 2009".

I didn't know that Zelazny, the author of the Amber series and Damnation Alley, amongst others, had written non-SF, so I asked around (mainly in the Fictionmags e-mail list) and found out that "this is the mystery/thriller novel, originally entitled APOSTATE'S GOLD, and then retitled THE DEAD MAN'S BROTHER, which was completed in May 1971 by Zelazny and scheduled for a 1972 publication by [paperback house] Berkley...and then cancelled." It appears that Zelazny mentioned having written this novel in a fanzine called Phantasmicom in the early seventies.

His own description of the book in the fanzine is short: the manuscript is "about a priest who is dissatisfied with current Vatican policies - and a little bit of hijacking".

Edward Hoch dead

I learned just about an hour ago from Bill Crider's blog that veteran writer Edward Hoch has died. So sad - he almost came close of having 1,000 short stories under his name (and some pseudonyms).

Here's what I wrote about the man and his writings in Pulpografia (in Finnish, naturally):

Edward D. Hoch (s. 1930) on harvoja nykyisiä jännityskirjailijoita, joka kirjoittaa lähinnä novelleja. Hoch on julkaissut viisi romaania, mutta novelleja ainakin 700. Niitä hän on julkaissut lähinnä Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazinessa, mutta myös muissa lehdissä. Hoch aloitti novellistin uransa 1950-luvun puolivälissä. Hoch julkaisi tuolloin mm. Murder!-lehdessä ja salanimellä Stephen Dentinger Smashing Detective -lehdessä. Vuodesta 1965 alkaen Hochin pääasiallinen julkaisukanava on ollut juuri Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Hochin tuotantoon mahtuu niin klassista perinnettä mukailevia tarinoita (Hochin itsensä suosikkikirjailijoita ovat John Dickson Carr ja Ellery Queen) kuin kovaksikeitettyjä, seikkailullisia novelleja.

Edward D. Hochilla on monta vakiohahmoa. Tunnetuin ja arvostetuin on Nick Velvet, arvottomiin tavaroihin keskittyvä murtovaras. Myös Kapteeni Leopoldista kertovia tarinoita on kehuttu. Suomen-noksissa yleisin on yksityisetsivä Simon Ark, jonka elämä on mysteerioita täynnä. Vuonna 1955 Crack Detectivessä ensiesiintymisensä suorittaneen Arkin väitetään olevan vaeltava juutalainen, joka kulkee ympäri maailmaa Paholaista hakien — ja samalla maallisiakin rikoksia ratkaisten. Ark-novelleissa on usein hyvä tunnelma ja ne ovat huolellisemmin kirjoitettuja kuin suuri osa aikalaisistaan, mutta niiden julkiuskonnollinen sävy on oudoksuttava. Lisäksi novelleissa on usein myös uskonnollisten teemojen varjolla tapahtuvaa diskriminointia — esimerkiksi homoseksuaalisuus novellissa "Salaperäinen rakastajatar" on vain pahasta. Uskonnolliset teemat ovat pinnalla novellissa "Paholaisen hetki", jossa Kiinan kommunistihallintoa paenneet lähetyspapit kuolevat salaperäisesti luostarin muurien sisällä. Simon Ark sanoo novellissa, jossa sivutaan platonilaista symposionia: "Todellinen mystillisyys ei ole magiaa eikä spiritismiä. Se liittyy vain Jumalaan."

Maallisempi seikkailu on "Kadonnut laululintu", jossa Simon Ark ja hänen nimetön apurinsa etsivät Lawn Lawrencea, sensaatiomaista laulajatarta. Laulajattaren salaisuus paljastuu, mutta hän itse kuolee ja häntä kaukokaipaavasti katsellut Arkin apuri tuntee jääneensä yksin maailmaan. Salaisuus — jota en tässä paljasta — vielä menettelee, mutta se, mitä Lawn Lawrencelle tapahtuu, on seksuaalipoliittisesti vähintäänkin epäkorrektia.

Hochin tuotantoon kuuluu myös tavanomaisia vakoilunovelleja ("Labyrintti", jossa Spacer-niminen vakooja etsii Euroopassa Minotauros-nimistä terroristia) ja jännitysnovelleja ("Mies, joka oli kaikkialla", jossa aviomiehestä päästään eroon erikoisella tavalla). Komisario Leopoldista kertovat novellit ovat melko perinteisiä poliisikertomuksia, joissa on usein muistumia mysteeriperinteestä. "Leopoldin lomassa" komisario ratkaisee lomapaikallaan tapahtuvan ampumistapauksen, johon näyttää liittyvän uhkapeliä. "Komisario Leopoldin uhkapeli" on urbaanimpi ja kovaksikeitetympi. Siinäkin liikutaan peliluolien maailmassa: Leopoldin työtoveri huumataan ja häntä ammutaan lomallaan Atlantic Cityssa.

Novellit:
Kadonnut laululintu, Seikkailujen Maailma 5/1961.
Kapteeni Leopold ja lukittu huone teoksessa Josh Pachter (toim): Top Crime — jännityksen valiot. Suom. Jouko Vanhanen. Kirjayhtymä: Helsinki 1984.
Kolme hautakiveä, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 4/1973.
Komisario Leopoldin uhkapeli, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 3. Viihdeviikarit: Hyvinkää 1981.
Kuolema vierailee satamassa, Ellery Queenin jännityslukemisto 4/1963.
Labyrintti, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 10. Viihdeviikarit: Hyvinkää 1983.
Leipää linnuille, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 6. Viihdeviikarit: Hyvinkää 1982.
Leopold hermona, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 1/1974.
Leopoldin loma, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 8/1973.
Lukitun huoneen arvoitus, Maailman parhaat jännärit 4/1971.
Malabarin korppikotkat, Hitchcock esittää 3/1988.
Mies, joka oli kaikkialla, Alibi 7/1958.
Miljoonakaappaus, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazinen valitut jännärit 1. Junior-Kustannus: Helsinki 1977.
Nahka-arkun arvoitus, Maailman parhaat jännärit 5/1971.
Nainen vai leijona? Alfred Hitchcockin valitut jännärit 2/1980.
Paholaisen hetki, Seikkailujen Maailma 9/1961.
Pehmeä turvapaikka, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 6/1973.
Pieni palvelus, Hitchcock esittää 2/1988.
Salaperäinen rakastajatar, Seikkailujen Maailma 1/1962.
Syntymäpäivälahja, Alfred Hitchcockin valitut jännärit 3/1980.
Taistelu timanteista, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 3/1973.
Vakoilija, joka tiesi liikaa, Maailman parhaat jännärit 2/1971.
Vakooja ja kaunis rakastajatar, Maailman parhaat jännärit 1/1971.
Vampyyrin päivä, Alfred Hitchcockin jännityskertomuksia 10/1973.
Novelli nimellä Mr. X:
Virvatulten salaisuus, Maailman parhaat jännärit 2—3/1971.

Adventure Stories # 2 out

I picked the second issue of Seikkailukertomuksia/Adventure Stories from the printers today. It's a beautiful magazine, with a Jukka Murtosaari cover. The illo is for James Reasoner's story "Devil Wings Over France" which is great old-fashioned pulp fun. The other writers in this issue are JP Koskinen, the premiere writer of historical adventure working in Finland now, the father of the Finnish theater Kaarlo Bergbom, with a story from 1864 (!), and a new writer called Matias Latvasalo. I contributed also a story (I'm always pretty ashamed to include my own scribblings in these mags...).

I'll be doing at least one more issue of Seikkailukertomuksia, since I've got some stories lined up for publication, including a story from 1970 by veteran Gerald W. Page, a great hardboiled fantasy story by Pat Lambe and a pretty weird story a Finnish guy sent me - it's about sharks, a woman who thinks she's a shark, and some blood-thirsty pirates.

Great cover on Swedish paperback

Here's a great cover for the Swedish translation of Talmage Powell's memorable novella-length story, "Sudden, Sudden Death" (AHMM, 1957; anthologized many times). The story was published in Sweden in 1971 in a series of mini-sized paperbacks (roughly 9 x 14 cm and 120 pages). The illustration, which I like very much and which is the reason I bought the book, is probably Spanish in origin. The Swedish title means "To Hate till Death".

The mini-paperbacks never really caught on in Finland. There was a series called Mikro-kirjat in the late fifties (they published three science fiction novels, may have to do a post about them later) and later on there was only one series, aimed at female readers.

I.G. Edmonds's Big Eye books

I promised to say something about Ivy Gordon Edmonds's private eye books that have apparently been published only in Finnish. It took me quite a while to grasp that this was the only possibility for the books to exist and not to be found in the English crime fiction bibliographies. As I got confirmation from the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, this proved to be 100 % correct (even though they didn't know the books were published in Finland, and it seems they were not published in Sweden or Norway, even though that's what their records state).

Edmonds's hero in these four books is Greg Graves, private eye called Big Eye. He got his moniker from a reporter and is not pleased with it. He owns the Seven Seas investigation office and says that his holy things are "money, scotch and beautiful dames" (as if you didn't know that by now). He seems to be a bit of woman-hater, though, since he also says: "The women-hating hermits are the only real wise men in this crazy world."

It seems to me that the Big Eye books are parodies of the P.I. genre and the clichés it had reverted to in the fifties and the sixties. The Big Eye books remind one of Richard Prather's Shell Scott books, but are not anywhere near as funny.

There are four books translated in Finnish. I don't know the original writing years, but I should suspect they are from the early sixties and had been circulating around the paperback publishers before they found their home in the Northern Europe. One wonders why a cheap paperback publisher like Beacon didn't take these, or even a cheaper one, like Kozy Books. Maybe someone could dig these up and publish them in English for the first time... Hey Hard Case! If they only were better and funnier.

Big Eye and the Torrid Target, published as Etsi sinä - minä tapan (You Find - I Kill) in 1970, starts when Big Eye receives a call from a stripper, who says Big Eye is going to get killed. In Big Eye and the Scorched Bikini (Tulenarka bikini) Big Eye finds a curvy dame in his office, with a literally scorched bikini on her. (I don't have notes for the other books, it's possible I never read them.) The books, or at least some of them, were published with Robert McGinnis covers, which makes them rather nice.

There's also a war paperback published as by I.G. Edmonds, called The Devil Cheaters (Pirullinen tehtävä), that hasn't apparently been published in America.

I have I.G. Edmonds's address and will write him a letter later this week and will ask about these books. Will let you know if he answers!

Here's the bibliography:

Etsi sinä — minä tapan. Transl. Aila Virtanen. Viihdekirjat: Tapiola 1970. Originally Big Eye and the Torrid Target. 1969. [The original year is given in the book, but that must've been the year of the sale.]
Kuumaa tavaraa. Transl. Ritva Rekola. Viihdekirjat: Tapiola 1968. Originally Big Eye in Kiss or Kill.
Tulenarka bikini. Transl. H. Suikkanen. Viihdekirjat: Tapiola 1968. Originally Big Eye and the Scorched Bikini.
Villikissa. Transl. H. Suikkanen. Viihdekirjat: Tapiola 1967. Originally Big Eye and the Naughty Nudes.

And the war novel:

Pirullinen tehtävä. Transl. H. Suikkanen. Viihdekirjat: Tapiola 1967. Originally The Devil Cheaters.

My career at the movies

I posted a lengthy memoir about my activities in the Monroe cinema club on one of my other blogs here. It's in Finnish. About I.G. Edmonds - tomorrow.

Ivy Gordon Edmonds

I received this morning a lengthy e-mail from Brian Threlkeld, who'd noticed my seven-year old query on writer I.G. Edmonds at the Rara-Avis e-mail list's archives. I asked him a permission to publish his letter here. So, here it is, with my original query on top.

RARA-AVIS: I.G. Edmonds From: Juri Nummelin

Date: 15 Aug 2000
Does anyone know anything about one I.G. Edmonds? There are several books translated in Finnish under this name, but he's not mentioned in Allen Hubin's crime fiction bibliography. Edmonds had in the sixties a sex-cum-private-eye series called Big Eye and the titles are always something like "Big Eye and the Scorched Bikini". Any information is valuable.

Juri

Hello. You made this query quite a while ago, but perhaps an answer will still interest you. I encountered the author I.G. Edmonds (I think his first name is "Ivy") when I was in the 6th grade, through one of his books, entitled The Case of the Marble Monster and Other Stories. This collection of stories for younger readers was about Tadasuke Ōoka (1677-1752), a judge in "old" Japan who because legendary for his wisdom, generosity, creativity, and unassailable integrity. Marble Monster may have been a condensation of Edmonds's Ooka the Wise: Tales of Old Japan, (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), which, itself, Edmonds seems to have adapted from an earlier book (see below).

A helpful summary of information about Judge Ooka was included in a book review, in an English-language Japanese paper, of a series of recently-published mysteries or crime stories for young readers, set in 18th-century Japan. The books were written by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler, a husband and wife team living in New York City.

"The crimebuster in the three Hoobler books published so far is Judge Ooka Tadasuke, Echizen no Kami (Lord of Echizen), a historical figure who certainly needs no introduction to Japanese readers. Appointed by Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune as one of Edo's two machi bugyo (governor-magistrates) in 1717, Ooka presided over the Southern Court for nearly two decades and earned a legendary reputation for integrity.

"As his fame spread after his death in 1751, stories about his exploits were compiled into an anthology known as 'Ooka Seidan (Famous Cases of Ooka),' dramatized in several kabuki plays and, from 1970, made into a popular television series.

"Ooka, incidentally, boasts the distinction of having entertained readers in English for nearly a century. His first appearance dates back to WJS Shand's 'The Case of Ten-Ichi-Bo, a Cause Celebre in Japan,' published by the Tokyo Methodist Publishing House in 1908. Ooka then reappeared in 1956, in 'Solomon in Kimono: Tales of Ooka, a Wise Judge of Old Yedo,' an oversize illustrated book from the Pacific Stars & Stripes by I.G. Edmonds. "

I remember reading a brief note by Edmonds in Marble Monster that told of being stationed in Japan after WW II (in the U.S. Air Force, I think), and of listening to his Japanese landlady tell funny, fascinating, and delightful stories about Judge Ooka. He clearly enjoyed living in Japan, and his desire to publish English-language versions of those stories reflects the affection he had for the place and the people. I would speculate that he also married a Japanese; a number of his books included the co-author Reiko Mimura.

More generally, the Library of Congress online catalog indicates that Edmonds was publishing in the United States from 1961 to about 1982. He authored over 50 books, largely for young people, on a wide variety of topics. He seems to have written mostly as what I would call a pulp, or commercial, writer. He would write about anything, it seems, from motocross to the Shah of Iran to magic tricks. I've wondered if a lot of his books weren't written on commission from publishing houses. Perhaps publishers for youth markets were trying to make sure they had a catalog of books on a certain range of topics always available, and they hired writers like Edmonds to crank out books to order with a fairly short turn-around. Such writers would have been able to work quickly, and generate books that were undistinguished as literature, but competently written -- easy reading for transient enjoyment, to be consumed, set aside, and forgotten. That, however, is just speculation on my part.

I do feel, however, that the Ooka books appear to have been more a labor of love for Edmonds, something he cared about for more than the living he could earn from it. Edmonds would, by the way, be about 90 years old, by now, I think -- but at least one source I've seen states that he's still alive, living in the town of Cypress, in southern California.

I hope this has been at least a bit illuminating for you.

This certainly was illuminating. As to my original query, I'd found sufficient info on Edmonds (I was working my way through writing Pulpografia) and noted that he was Ivy Gordon Edmonds. I also found, thanks to Barry Malzberg, that the Scott Meredith Literary Agency records state that the Big Eye books were sold to Scandinavia (not to Finland, however, so the Finnish editions were probably pirated and no one was ever paid for them). So, they share the same fate as some crime novels by Bruce Cassiday and Frank Castle, i.e. they weren't published in English at all. I may post a list and pictures of them at a later point.

Furthermore, Brian managed to find an address to one Ivy Edmonds, who might still be alive in his early nineties. I may yet write him a letter and ask him about these affairs.

Mika Waltari's The Egyptian

(Everytime I blog about something I've read, I'm reminded by my conscience that someone somewhere wrote that those blogs in which someone writes about the books he's read are boring and they shouldn't really exist. Try to bear with me.)

I wrote earlier that Mika Waltari's Sinuhe Egyptiläinen/The Egyptian (1946) is overwritten and thus overrated. Well, it is still, in my opinion, since it is so uneven. Waltari sure writes beautifully, but some scenes and chapters lack rhythm and some are just too long - and overwritten. But the overall effect is, well, effective and some of the scenes are great adventure. I was especially fond of the scenes in Crete in which Sinuhe goes to the labyrinth after his lover, Minea, and finds the Cretean god. It could've been in a pulp magazine of the thirties... Some of the battle scenes later on were also very effective and I liked the scene in which Sinuhe is lured to kill the crazy pharaoh. The book is pretty grim and given what year it was originally published, someone might say there's a tone of noir in there. Sure, Sinuhe is trapped inside his own outsideness, his own loneliness, his mixed heritage, his opportunism and willingness to please his superiors (even though he tries to battle that same willingness), and therefore he's doomed.

It's been a while since I saw the Michael Curtiz film from the late fifties and I can't really comment on that. It has a bad reputation and Waltari disowned it almost immediately. One sure wishes that Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe would've played the lead parts... But seriously, the book would require something like Peter Jackson made with Lord of the Rings - I don't mean he did a very insightful job, but he had the courage to include almost all of the book in one piece. The same should be done with this. I don't think there's anyone in Finland now who would be my choice to direct this, even if the finance could be found. And it surely couldn't. Maybe some Egyptian bankers could back this up - or Muammar Gaddafi? He has the money and the film could be shot in Libya.

It seems that the book was published as a trade paperback by Chicago Review Press in 2002, plus there are lots of cheap copies on Abebooks. How is the translation, I wonder. It would be interesting to compare. An Abebooks seller says that the book was deemed obscene at the time, does anyone know anything about that? The same sentence can be found on every website about Waltari...

The jacket of the Pocket Books edition from 1955 doesn't seem to be on-line. That means I'll have to post a scan. (Which means I'll have to locate a magazine in the midst of the chaos that is our study.)

My diary from 1995

I have this other blog, called Julkaisemattomia/The Unpublished. The main point was to post pieces that I've written and have been left unpublished, but I've been posting every other piece I've come across from old disks and such (almost everything has been in Finnish). When it started to seem that I'm running out of stuff, I dug out the diary I kept from October 1995 to May 1996. I've posted two entries from the diary on the blog (in Finnish, of course). I don't know if it's any interest to anyone else, but we'll see. I'll have to take away lots of material about my personal matters - I had lots of trouble with love affairs at that time and sometimes I think I should've taken a different route with the matters, but.. ah well, you never know what's best for you.

Next post: about something more pulpish, hopefully!

The talking snowflakes again

You may remember my graphic short story (sic) about Kauto and Ottilia and the case of the talking snowflakes. Well, here's more. These I drew in a bus during one of our Christmas trips, when it seemed that Kauto was falling asleep when he shouldn't have and Ottilia was getting too bored. So it's totally improvised and the last frames I drew when the bus was already approaching the place we were getting off. I already ended the story (it says "loppu/the end" already after the first six frames), but it seemed that the bus trip wasn't going to stop for a while, so I decided to continue.

It goes something like this:

It's winter.

Ottilia: Snow!

Kauto [who's apparently out in the yard]: Ottilia, come on out!

Ottilia: No, I won't! The talking snowflake is out there!

The snowflakes: No, he's not! Come on out!

Ottilia [who doesn't have a clue]: Well, okay, I'll come then!

Ottilia: Yippee! It's fun to be out!

Kauto: Let's make a snowman!

The snowflakes: Don't do that!

Ottilia: Shucks! These again!

Kauto: Ottilia, do splat splat!

Ottilia goes splat splat.

The snowflakes: Aaaaah...

The end.

Another one

And here's one more in the series about Kauto's and Ottilia's adventures. I'm not sure where I made this anymore, but from the drawings it's evident that I wasn't in a moving bus. One of the frames was made by Ottilia and I used it - that's why it seems so off-place.

It's summer.

Ottilia's out. Ottilia: Fun!

Suddenly...

Ottilia: Snow! It's Summer!

Ottilia gets confused. Ottilia: It shouldn't be snowing now...

And suddenly it dawns on her. Ottilia: It's them again!

The snowflakes: Who? The talking snowflakes, huh?

Kauto comes. Splat, splat, splat!

The snowflakes: Argh...

The end.

Harry Etelää vielä toisenkin kirjan verran?

(This is about the book with Harry Etelä's 1930's horror fiction that I edited a while back.)

Sain lukijalta viestin, että Harry Etelän kauhunovelleja olisi vielä toinen mokoma lisää - ja vieläpä sellaisessa aiheen kannalta marginaalisen kuuloisessa lehdessä kuin Kylän Lehti! Tässä lukijan tekemää listausta ja kuvailua Etelän novelleista - pitää oikein tosissaan miettiä, kannattaisiko tehdä toinenkin Etelä-kirja:

Kuorsaava pääkallo. (Aimo Viherluoto). Ill. by P. Viherluoto. Lukemisto 1945:10 s. 3-5.
Kauhujen orja. (Harry Etelä). Kylän Lehti. Perhelukemista Suomen Kodeille 1938:8.
Raunioiden salaisuus. Kauhumysteerio-novelli. (Harry Etelä). Kylän Lehti. Perhelukemista Suomen Kodeille 1938:12.
Kummituksen morsian - 1 Osa. (Harry Etelä). Lukemisto 1945:02.
Kummituksen morsian - 2 Osa. (Harry Etelä). Lukemisto 1945:03.
Totorin kieli. (Harry Etelä). Ill. P. Viherluoto. Lukemisto 1945:11 s. 3, 6-7, 11, 15.
Öisen myrskyn huminaa. (Harry Etelä). Lukemisto 1945:01

Kylän Lehti. Perhelukemista Suomen Kodeille -lehdessä ilmestyi 30-luvulla lehden parhaimpiin lukeutuvat kauhukertomukset jotka olivat Harry Etelän kynästä lähtöisin. Suomalaiseksi kauhukirjallisuudeksi ne käsittelivät aikakautensa oloissa varsin poikkeuksellista aihatta, vampyyriä riehumassa Suomen suviyössä.Kertomus Raunioiden salaisuus. Kauhumysteerio-novelli Kylän Lehdessä 1938:12 kertoo tarinan haamuvampyyrin ahdistelemasta naisesta.Paljon merkittävämpi on kuitenkin ihka-aito supisuomalainen vampyyrikertomus, tarina Kauhujen orja KL 1938:8. Siinä kerrotaan kuinka "räätäli", kuten kyläläiset vanhaa vampyyria kutsuvat, terrorisoi erästä maaseutupitäjää.

Back from the xmas parties

Happy New Year and all that jazz. I'm not feeling very well at this moment - strongly getting sick with flu and so tired I'm afraid I'll die any minute -, but I'll have to start working tomorrow. Maybe I'll start with reading something I didn't have enough time to finish during the holidays. This Christmas wasn't very good for reading. I barely managed Mika Waltari's late 1920's novella Fine Van Brooklyn (which was pretty good, it almost takes a turn after which it would've been a nice Lovecraftian horror story) and started Waltari's The Egyptian. (Which I think seems to be a bit overrated - it's wildly overwritten and pointlessly rhetorical in scenes that would play better with understatement. But more on that later, and also on Waltari.)

Oh, I also read J. Pekka Mäkelä's Nedut which is a new Finnish science fiction novel. It has a nice premise (Neanderthals come back from outer space to the modern day world), but writing is wooden and characters are overwritten. I very much marvelled the fact that Mäkelä's novel has had so much praise from the Finnish critics.