77 Sunset Strip (The Magazine) July 1960, Great American Publications Okay, so it wasn't the greatest cover. It looks like it was cobblers together during somebody's lunch break. Also, this tie-in "digest" was actually closer in size to a pulp, which no doubt annoyed newsstand employees who weren't sure where to shelve it. Still, I'm sure … Continue reading My Scrapbook: 77 Sunset Strip (The Magazine)
Tag: Donald Westlake
Wilson (Hall)
Created by David C. Hall (1943–) “There was nothing to think about, it was just a matter of keeping on, and there was nowhere to go but straight. Eventually she would get tired. Everybody gets tired, everybody makes mistakes. Which was why, Wilson thought, you didn’t have to be very smart to do his job." … Continue reading Wilson (Hall)
Donald Westlake
Pseudonyms include Alan Marshal, Edwin West, Edwina West, Edwin Wood, Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Timothy J. Culver, Samuel Holt, Curt Clark, J. Morgan Cunningham, Ben Christopher, Grace Salacious (1933-2008) Simply the best. One of the most accomplished crime writers ever, and certainly one of the funniest in the hard-boiled school, Donald Edwin Edward Westlake was … Continue reading Donald Westlake
Tim Smith
Created by Donald Westlake (1933-2008) "This is my town. Mine. I don't run away from it, nobody chases me out." -- Tim SmithWinston, New York, is a town of about 40,000 souls that has seen fit to license one--and only one--private eye. That's because TIM SMITH, the man they've licensed, knows every even halfway sordid … Continue reading Tim Smith
John Dortmunder
Created by Donald Westlake (1933-2008) What's so funny? Dortmunder is. Donald Westlake is the King of the Comic Caper Novel (any argument?) and JOHN ARCHIBALD DORTMUNDER, his prize creation, is the savvy professional thief whose plans always, for some strange reason, go spectacularly and hilariously awry. No, he's not a private eye, and he probably … Continue reading John Dortmunder
Parker
Created by Richard Stark Pseudonym of Donald Westlake (1933-2008) "I'm only the messenger!" "Now you're the message," Parker told him, and shot him. -- Parker explains the facts of life, in Butcher's Moon Definitely not a private eye. Hell, sometimes he's so cold and ruthless, he's barely human. Maybe a shark, or some other predator? … Continue reading Parker
The Mitch Tobin Series by Tucker Coe (Donald Westlake)
An Overview by Bryan Schingle I am not a huge fan of the books of Donald E. Westlake. But I love the books written by his pseudonyms. I was already an avid fan of the extremely bleak, hard-boiled Parker books that Westlake wrote under the pen name of Richard Stark, featuring a hardened professional criminal. The characters, … Continue reading The Mitch Tobin Series by Tucker Coe (Donald Westlake)
Mitch Tobin
Created by Tucker Coe Pseudonym of Donald Westlake (1933-2008) Guilt? MITCH TOBIN's soaking in it. This unlicensed private eye and disgraced ex-cop appeared in five novels by Donald Westlake (under the pen name of Tucker Coe), and together they make up one of the most interesting and varied private eye series of the sixties. Obsessed and … Continue reading Mitch Tobin
My Scrapbook: “The Exploiters” Magazine Spread
My Scrapbook "The Exploiters" Magazine Spread Better late than never, I suppose. This is the spread from the February 1968 issue of Men's Only magazine, kicking off an excerpt from Richard Stark's 1962 novel The Hunter (aka Payback), published six years earlier. It was the first of long-running and critically acclaimed series of novels about … Continue reading My Scrapbook: “The Exploiters” Magazine Spread
Writers Say the Darnedest Things
"They're fancy talkers about themselves, writers. If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talk about writing or themselves." — Lillian Hellman "All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, … Continue reading Writers Say the Darnedest Things