I had the Three Investigators story tapes as a child and loved them. Very well produced and atmospheric. Still not sure of Hitchcock's involvement. Probably as suggested, just licenced his name. From memory there was an introduction from Hitchcock at the start of each story on the cassette, much like his 'Presents' TV series, but obviously just a voice actor and not the great man himself, given they were recorded in 1984.
Those are all new to me, and as I’ve said before, I’m not keen on photo covers, I would not have put these on my shelves, not because of the content, but because the covers would not sell the book. Is that Jimmy Sangster of Hammer script fame?
One of the most popular series of books in the kids section was Goosebumps by R L Stine. I have to say that the covers were excellent…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
some of those GooseBumps covers scare me and I'm a grownup! Dont Go to Sleep and Stay Out of the Basement especially evoke the phobias I had as a wee lad. Funny children are so attracted to the very things they find scary.
It is indeed Jimmy Sangster of Hammer Productions. He wrote two thrillers featuring John Smith, Private I and Foreign Exchange. Both were adapted into television movies by Thames TV. I can't remember the actor off the cuff, but Jill St John played his girlfriend. I think the first was retitled The Spy Killer. I saw them some years ago and they were okay without being anything brilliant. Sangster also wrote the Katy Touchfeatehr series. All the novels are a well written and I enjoyed them.
Ive never heard of these @chrisno1 so thanks for the information, strange how none of them ever came my way, but then again, that must apply to hundreds of thousands of books.
The legend of the Wandering Jew has fascinated me since I read this…
It’s the story of the man who taunted Christ on his way to the crucifixion and who was cursed to walk the Earth until the Second Coming. The character appears, or is mentioned, in many other books and is also a central character in the movie The Seventh Sign, with Demi Moore.
A popular pulp series called Casca followed, with two of the books being withdrawn over plagiarism allegations.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Book series were the mainstay of my business, once someone was hooked on a series they wanted every single one. The higher numbers were always the harder to obtain as less were printed (and henceforth more expensive). Lots of series were from successful TV shows but some surprisingly failed at the first hurdle and the series ended at #1. As far as I know all the following only had one book published…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Wow, The Chinese Detective, a great show, David Yip as a sensitive cop in a prejudiced police force, very of its time and very good.
I've searched for a copy of The Protectors paperback for years. Never found one. [I expect some bright spark will track it down now and post me a link...]
@chrisno1 I sold a few copies of The Protecters over the years, and there is one for sale on abebooks (smart a* that I am) 😂 £20 which is about right.
Batman in 1966 was huge, the TV seres was at it’s height in popularity and the movie was coining it in at the cinemas. Four Square released 3 paperbacks which reprinted comic strips and two novels, one of the movie adaption. They were very sought after during my time selling books, gaining high prices, although these dropped with advent of the internet.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Many authors publish under pen names as well as their own, and back in the day they would write for book series and do movie/tv tie-ins as well to boost their income. Manning Lee Stokes was one of those authors and his books have some nice covers…
Under his own name…
Book series…
And pen names…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
It’s been a while since I’ve outdone some of the glorious Pan paperback covers, so here is a random bunch…and yes…the last one is an actual publication not a fake!
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Not seen this one before, has a ring of 'Le Big Mac' described in Pulp Fiction.
Nothing distinguished about it, don't now why they didn't go with the usual movie tie-in design. It's on eBay, anyway, at the moment, if anyone wants to brush up on their French.
Any British person would have almost certainly received a UK Annual at some point during childhood as a Christmas present. These hardback books were published in the autumn of each year and were a staple present for grandparents and uncles and aunts to gift to the younger members of the family. The subjects were wide, most popular were the annuals of the weekly comics such as The Beano, then there were annuals based on television series or movies, and then annuals for pop stars and sport - usually football. I’ve posted a few annuals below from the comics of the day - how many did you get?
Collecting annuals has become big business, many early Beano and Dandy annuals have sold for thousands of pounds each - time to check those attics!!!
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Comments
I had the Three Investigators story tapes as a child and loved them. Very well produced and atmospheric. Still not sure of Hitchcock's involvement. Probably as suggested, just licenced his name. From memory there was an introduction from Hitchcock at the start of each story on the cassette, much like his 'Presents' TV series, but obviously just a voice actor and not the great man himself, given they were recorded in 1984.
@The Red Kind I don’t remember seeing those story tapes before, thanks for posting!
John Creasey wrote 600+ books in his time (using a couple of dozen pen names as well as his own) and the Inspector West series was popular…
In my defence, I have a pretty fair selection of low brow fiction myself including these delightful babies:
and my personal bizarre favourite, chiefly because the cover has absolutely nothing - I mean really nothing - to do with the story:
Those are all new to me, and as I’ve said before, I’m not keen on photo covers, I would not have put these on my shelves, not because of the content, but because the covers would not sell the book. Is that Jimmy Sangster of Hammer script fame?
One of the most popular series of books in the kids section was Goosebumps by R L Stine. I have to say that the covers were excellent…
nice sunset photo @chrisno1 !
some of those GooseBumps covers scare me and I'm a grownup! Dont Go to Sleep and Stay Out of the Basement especially evoke the phobias I had as a wee lad. Funny children are so attracted to the very things they find scary.
It is indeed Jimmy Sangster of Hammer Productions. He wrote two thrillers featuring John Smith, Private I and Foreign Exchange. Both were adapted into television movies by Thames TV. I can't remember the actor off the cuff, but Jill St John played his girlfriend. I think the first was retitled The Spy Killer. I saw them some years ago and they were okay without being anything brilliant. Sangster also wrote the Katy Touchfeatehr series. All the novels are a well written and I enjoyed them.
Ive never heard of these @chrisno1 so thanks for the information, strange how none of them ever came my way, but then again, that must apply to hundreds of thousands of books.
The legend of the Wandering Jew has fascinated me since I read this…
It’s the story of the man who taunted Christ on his way to the crucifixion and who was cursed to walk the Earth until the Second Coming. The character appears, or is mentioned, in many other books and is also a central character in the movie The Seventh Sign, with Demi Moore.
A popular pulp series called Casca followed, with two of the books being withdrawn over plagiarism allegations.
The TV series Dallas was huge in the 80’s and a tie-in series old very well throughout that decade. There were also a couple of UK annuals…
Book series were the mainstay of my business, once someone was hooked on a series they wanted every single one. The higher numbers were always the harder to obtain as less were printed (and henceforth more expensive). Lots of series were from successful TV shows but some surprisingly failed at the first hurdle and the series ended at #1. As far as I know all the following only had one book published…
Wow, The Chinese Detective, a great show, David Yip as a sensitive cop in a prejudiced police force, very of its time and very good.
I've searched for a copy of The Protectors paperback for years. Never found one. [I expect some bright spark will track it down now and post me a link...]
@chrisno1 I sold a few copies of The Protecters over the years, and there is one for sale on abebooks (smart a* that I am) 😂 £20 which is about right.
Batman in 1966 was huge, the TV seres was at it’s height in popularity and the movie was coining it in at the cinemas. Four Square released 3 paperbacks which reprinted comic strips and two novels, one of the movie adaption. They were very sought after during my time selling books, gaining high prices, although these dropped with advent of the internet.
The World Adventure Library published some popular books with interesting covers. They were text stories with illustrations.
Just when you thought nothing could get more manly than Christopher Lee.
I hadn’t seen that one before @Trigger_Mortis and actually had to check if it wasn’t a photoshopped cover, and it isn’t!!
Secret agent Mark Hood tried to out-Bond Bond in 14 adventures. The Swords Of Genghis Khan has a cover that the movie Octopussy would copy.
@CoolHandBond You can buy a copy on eBay, should you feel inclined - but the quality of the item is shabby, sadly.
But, I think the book is old enough to have been a new release when I grandfather was in his youth while my parents weren't even born.
Many authors publish under pen names as well as their own, and back in the day they would write for book series and do movie/tv tie-ins as well to boost their income. Manning Lee Stokes was one of those authors and his books have some nice covers…
Under his own name…
Book series…
And pen names…
It’s been a while since I’ve outdone some of the glorious Pan paperback covers, so here is a random bunch…and yes…the last one is an actual publication not a fake!
Not seen this one before, has a ring of 'Le Big Mac' described in Pulp Fiction.
Nothing distinguished about it, don't now why they didn't go with the usual movie tie-in design. It's on eBay, anyway, at the moment, if anyone wants to brush up on their French.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Just a random selection of covers…The Girl In 304 is an e-book but the cover is evocatively of the period.
Glad to see these back, thanks CHB! 👍
A few more…
Excellent covers. William Ard - what a name!
It’s his real name, too!! He also wrote under a handful of other names.
Any British person would have almost certainly received a UK Annual at some point during childhood as a Christmas present. These hardback books were published in the autumn of each year and were a staple present for grandparents and uncles and aunts to gift to the younger members of the family. The subjects were wide, most popular were the annuals of the weekly comics such as The Beano, then there were annuals based on television series or movies, and then annuals for pop stars and sport - usually football. I’ve posted a few annuals below from the comics of the day - how many did you get?
Collecting annuals has become big business, many early Beano and Dandy annuals have sold for thousands of pounds each - time to check those attics!!!
I like this cover of Gardner's "Icebreaker". It's Swedish and the title is "ice cold for 007"
I think the Norwegian cover is more generic, but at least the title is changed to "The death machine".
A quick roundup of some interesting covers I’ve seen over the past few weeks.
Nice to see this thread back. Those Cherry Delight covers are, hmm, a delight
The whole series can get viewed here:
https://www.gardnerfrancisfoxlibrary.com/cherry-delight-novels-read-entire-stories-library
"Menace of the saucers" is a memorable title. 😀
Sounds like what happens when you give the wife bad news.
"Tong in Cheek." A pun so bad it's great.