Sunday 12 November 2017

The Cellar Boys - Howard Baker

They lived for kicks - maniacal tearaways who though they could beat the law


FIVE STAR 
1ST PRINTING 1973
MANCHESTER, UK
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS 'ESPRESSO JUNGLE' 1959
& 'THE CELLAR BOYS' 1965

THE CELLAR BOYS

FATSO...crack driver, expert at a quick getaway

SMILER...sadist and flick-knife artist

MARTY...confirmed 'purper', always at war with everyone

CHI-ANN...maniac-depressive tearaway, the leader

MISTER BIG...the faceless one whom nobody knew but whose orders were carried out without question

They thought they were invincible...until one night they picked on Ricky Castain...

Friday 3 November 2017

The Cellar Boys - Howard Baker

THEY LIVED FOR KICKS - MANIACAL TEARAWAYS WHO THOUGHT THEY COULD BEAT THE LAW


CONSUL BOOKS 1367
1ST PRINTING 1965
LONDON, UK
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS 'ESPRESSO JUNGLE' BY FLEETWAY PUBLICATIONS 1959 AS PART OF THE SEXTON BLAKE LIBRARY NO. 435

FATSO...crack driver, expert at a quick getaway

SMILER...sadist and flick-knife artist

MARTY...confirmed 'purper', always at war with everyone

CHI-ANN...maniac-depressive tearaway, the leader

MISTER BIG...the faceless one whom nobody knew but whose orders were carried out without question

They thought they were invincible...until one night they picked on Ricky Castain...

Thursday 2 November 2017

Jerry Cotton - Nichts Ist Spannender


ISSUE 2609
EUROPE 2007

Issued in 11 European countries, this detective magazine has been going since the 1940s and from what I have seen of them, they use a photograph from various films for the cover that has nothing to do with the actual story inside and are all non-English language publications. This issue as you can see has "The Warriors" on the cover and that is why it's here, the story isn't JD but the cover is. These are probably more of interest to collectors of movie related books and digests, especially the early issues as the photo covers are pretty cool.

Monday 11 September 2017

Reefer Boy - Hal Ellson

A SHOCKING NOVEL OF TEEN-AGE DOPE ADDICTS


PEDIGREE BOOKS 
FIRST PRINTING 1955 
LONDON, UK
FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE UK BY NEVILLE SPEARMAN 1955
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE USA AS THE GOLDEN SPIKE

From the reeking slums of a big city, from the twilight world of escape-hungry "junkies", comes this striking and powerful novel of tormented adolescents-neglected by society, victimised by ruthless dope-pedlars.

Published in cheap edition here for the first time its purpose is to focus attention upon a problem which is by no means confined to the big cities of the United States with which the book is concerned. It is now common knowledge that drug addiction is a widespread and rapidly growing evil in this country and the publishers believe that this factual account of its effects upon teenagers can serve as a timely warning and a deterrent.

The material of this book is sensational, but this is not a sensational novel. It is based on fact-the shameful, inescapable fact that society takes no responsibility for these lost and bitter children.

The author Hal Ellson, is a recreational therapist who comes into daily contact with the under-privileged and emotionally disturbed teenagers about whom he writes. More than two years of interviewing and several hundred pages of notes went into the preparation of the background of Reefer Boy. Mr. Ellson is also the author of Duke and Tomboy, whose total sales in America now top 3,000,000 copies.

Tuesday 11 July 2017

Go Ask Alice - Anonymous

'No one can read this book without crying for the young who find the world we have built too much to bear.' Sunday Mirror


CORGI BOOKS 0 552 09332 7
2ND PRINTING 1974 (1973)
LONDON, UK
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN HARDBACK BY EYRE METHUEN 1972

YOU CAN'T ASK ALICE ANYTHING ANYMORE.

BUT YOU CAN DO SOMETHING-READ HER DIARY. STRONG, PAINFULLY HONEST, CANDID. THE ACTUAL STORY OF A DESPERATE GIRL ON DRUGS AND ON THE RUN WHO ALMOST MADE IT.

"Go Ask Alice is a very frightening book-not because it is a story of how drugs can kill, but because it offers an insight, of remarkable naive force, into a style of life...because it is one person's story...because Alice was a born writer, with a natural gift of language and observation. It's not an enjoyable book but it is short and powerful-and dangerous-not for children."
Ray Gosling, The Times

"It shows the complexity of modern life, the awful pressures which plague even the 15-year-old who needs all her energies to cope with growing, it shows the realities of the much-discussed generation gap, the isolation of one who wanders off the track and, alone, finds it impossible to fight her way back."
The Guardian

"Everyone who reads it must ask that most agonising of all questions: 'Can it be that love is not enough?'"
Sunday Mirror

Wednesday 5 July 2017

Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson

The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs of California


PENGUIN BOOKS 2801
1ST PRINTING 1967
LONDON, UK
COVER PHOTO BY CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

They shoot the hillcrest like a burst of dirty thunder, shoulder-length hair streaming from Cro-magnon faces, swastikas jangling, filthy death's-head-emblazoned denims cracking in the wind-the Hell's Angels are out on a run, and America's West Coast cowers in loathing...

Gang rape, pillage, murder...recent press reports of the Angels read like a plot-synopsis of a thriller-writer's worst dreams. Hunter Thompson found the reality different-but still disturbing. Here, with Rabelasian gusto, he tells of his experiences with Little Jesus, Charger Charlie the Child Molester, Big Frank ('You don't really jerk the eyeball, you just sorta spring it so it pops outa the socket') and a host of others. This is the inner truth of a phenomenon which relegates our Rockers to the nursery.

Sunday 2 July 2017

Together Brothers - Jim Robinson

Some mother killed their main man MR. KOOL and all at once they're Together Brothers


AWARD BOOKS 426
1ST PRINTING 1974
NEW YORK, USA
MOVIE TIE-IN

A WANTON MURDER
A MUTILATED BODY
A STALKING KILLER

"Mr. Kool? Why hit him?" the cop asked.

"Why?" His partner shrugged. "Because he was a black cop in a jungle...he just got too close to the animals."

Mr. Kool may have been the "fuzz"-"no better than any other jive-ass cop"-to most of the inhabitants of the ghetto. But to H.J., A.P., Monk, Gri'Gri' and Mau Mau he was a friend, a man who tried to understand young blacks and their problems. His death at the hands of a vengeful ex-con plunged the gang into a chilling manhunt-a race against time and terror in which five black kids pit their street know-how and motherwit against the steel cunning of a crazed killer...