2011 UPDATE TO PAUL RADER CATALOG
A new book is available that I wish to recommend to all of my readers. SAND'S GAME by Ennis Willie is a 2010 hardcover from Ramble House.
It has been almost 50 years, entirely too long, since Ennis Willie was in print. This wonderful collection corrects that deficit, and introduces a new generation of readers to one of the masters of vintage sleaze, Ennis Willie. SAND'S GAME collects two of Willie's increasingly scarce Sand thrillers and all three of his rare short stories about Sand. Like Richard Stark's contemporary Parker, Sand is a one-named tough guy. The rhythms and raw violence of Mickey Spillane shine so brightly throughout Ennis Willie's prose that for many years a rumor persisted that Spillane WAS Ennis Willie. Willie's admirers included several hardboiled crime writers, and their discussion of Ennis Willie on Ed Gorman's blog led to the surprising discovery of the real Ennis Willie. He was neither Spillane nor anyone else. He was Ennis Willie from Georgia. Willie's paperback originals for Merit Books have been cult favorites for some years now, and at last it is a true treat to get to know the story of this writer. The introduction by Lynn F. Myers Jr. and an interview by Stephen Mertz fill in most of the missing pieces in the puzzle that surrounded Ennis Willie for years.
And best of all, the Sand stories collected offer a perfect introduction to Sand and his universe. It is distinctly Ennis Willie's world, and he paints it with vivid strokes of blood red and smoky urban fog. Willie's trick, his clever device, is to make Sand an ex-hood who has walked away from the Mob. In each book someone has been violently killed, and Sand then becomes the detective who solves each crime with his own unique methods, using his knowledge of the inner workings of the underworld. His books are hardboiled crime thrillers disguised as cheap sleazy paperbacks. If you love hardboiled writing, you have to get this book.
And now, on to the 2011 Paul Rader update:
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VOLUPTUOUS VOYAGE When I wrote the first Paul Rader checklist in 2003, I included bona fide Rader covers, some suggestions from friends, and some guesses. Seven years later, I was looking at a website showing the auction of the collection of Charles Martignette; where I saw “VOLUPTUOUS VOYAGE,--------- MIDWOOD F198, cover art by Bruce Minney”. This was one of the covers on my first Paul Rader catalog. The original art is unsigned, so I was guessing. I tried to make a case that Paul Rader, not Bruce Minney, was the artist of the VOLUPTUOUS VOYAGE. I have since seen a magazine illustration by Minney that pre-dates and matches this art. I know that Bruce Minney was definitely the artist on VOLUPTUOUS VOYAGE, and I have removed it from my Rader checklist. |
Cover by Bruce Minney. |
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Gold Star IL7-14 A NICE WAY TO DIE – Janson, 1963 I wasn’t sure enough this was Rader when I did the checklist so I left it off. Some other Gold Stars that look the same to me have been credited to Barton. I noticed Alex Henzel has this on his Rader list on his recommended website Good Girl Art.com, and it looks at home there. (You will also find a Midwood called DIVORCEE there. I attributed it to Alvara, but I have not a shred of proof either way, it could just as easily be Rader. I’ve been hoping to hear from Alvara’s family for eight years, no luck yet.) This Gold Star is also credited to Rader in the price guides, and it very well could be Rader. She certainly has “Rader hair”. Compare her hair to COMPANY GIRL below. |
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CHARIOT BOOKS I had two Chariots on the Rader checklist – CB179 KEY CLUB GIRL and 1627 INSATIABLE DESIRE. At that time there were many Chariots I had not seen. Now, thanks to great internet sites like bookscans.com, many Chariot covers are accessible, and I suspect Paul Rader did a bunch of them. Here are three or four unsigned covers I feel the most confident are probably Raders: CB105 SEX ON TAP – Noderheim, 1959. One of Rader’s obsessions was the play of a woman’s hair across the skin. This cover strikes me as a Rader maybe. But if you know otherwise please contact me. |
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CB118 THE THRILL SEEKER – Damon, 1960. Although unsigned we know this is Rader because he has reused the woman from his SWANK art from January 1958, which you can see on our Rader checklist under “Magazine Work”. |
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CB175 COMPANY GIRL – Clark, 1961. Rader? The second printing is shown here. Everything about this woman (especially her cascading blonde hair) reminds me of a Rader cover - except for her face. Many Rader cover models have rather soft features, not hard like this company girl. The artist remains unidentified, but maybe this is a Rader. |
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CB200 PICK-UP – Newland, 1961. The woman with the ponytail reminds me of a Rader Midwood called GIRLS DORMITORY. |
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BEACON / SOFTCOVER LIBRARY B905X VELVET JACKPOT – Carter, 1965. On my 2003 Rader checklist, I mentioned I often found myself confusing the paperback art of Victor Olson with Rader. Then, in 2011, I did it again when I wrote that VELVET JACKPOT was "obviously Paul Rader". I was wrong. Thanks to Michael Weinstein for pointing out that the cover art is a reworking of an earlier Beacon 603, SEVEN DAYS TO LOVE. That cover art is signed by Victor Olson. VELVET JACKPOT is a Victor Olson cover. |
Cover by Victor Olson |
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Because Rader’s notes, cover proofs and paperback covers were destroyed after his death, my 2003 Paul Rader checklist was an attempt to rebuild a record of his work. I took a guess at a few unsigned covers that looked like Rader. One of them was Beacon B300, LINGERIE LTD. “Although not signed, this looks like a Rader to me”, I said then. In 2010, Gary Lovisi put out a tremendous collection of “bad girl” paperback covers, BAD GIRLS NEED LOVE TOO. For the cover illustration he chose Beacon B300 and noted that the cover art was signed by “R. Gifford”. The signature is way over on the spine edge, and my copy had been printed without that signature. So I am removing Beacon B300, and Beacon 734X, which used the same painting, from my Rader checklist online. Now the only thing that bothers me is I can’t find a single other paperback cover signed “R. Gifford”. Jan 2012 - found it - R Gifford's signature also appears in SIR! Magazine, May 1959. |
Cover by R. Gifford |
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The nature of my Rader research was guesswork and piecing together a puzzle that was all there, except the pieces had been scattered over the years. We will never have a complete Rader checklist, but certainly as time goes by, other Rader covers that are out there will turn up. Doing research for my Charles Copeland checklist, I was looking through a box of Belmonts at my friend Robert Speray’s library when I noticed CASE OF THE VILLAGE TRAMP by Craig (Belmont BT 50607, 1973). This reuses Rader’s cover art for Midwood F326, THE HONEYMOON HABIT. |
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VILLAGE TRAMP was #4 in a series, so it was natural to wonder if there were any other Rader covers in that series. #9 is a Rader cover, too. The woman has been lifted from Midwood 35-934, THE SEX BETWEEN / WHEN LADIES LOVE. CASE OF THE COLD COQUETTE – Craig, Belmont Tower BT 50711, 1974. The other books in the series have different cover artists. For a foreign book with a reused Rader cover, a book I’ve never seen, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozpulps/4444417102/sizes/z/in/pool-51468240@N00/ |
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The ever-resourceful Rader collector Brian Emrich recognized this movie poster when he saw it at auction. The art has been borrowed from Paul Rader’s cover for Midwood F274, PAJAMA PARTY. |
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