“John Trinian” (aka, Zekial Marko) is best known for the scripts he wrote for The Rockford File, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Mission: Impossible, and Toma. But he also wrote some excellent novels in the early Sixties that have been out-of-print for decades. North Beach Girl (1960) captures the sense and sensibility of Beat culture. Scandal on the Sand (1964) features a character study mixed with drugs and violence. Rick Ollerman’s “In Pursuit of a Pleasant Oblivion” traces all the phases of Trinian’s tangled writing career. I found out that once Toma was canceled it morphed into Baretta starring Robert Blake. Ki Longfellow’s “The Last Great Pulp Fiction Writer” takes the reader on a vivid trip into the past when Longfellow hung out with Zekial Marko. And Belle Marko’s melancholy “Memories of My Father” is a touching tribute to a talented, but troubled man. Stark House should be celebrated for this latest Noir Classic, both for returning two scarce novels back to print, but also providing an intriguing context for this forgotten writer and his work.
The ancillary material in Stark House books is often worth the price of the volume. This is a case in point.
Good one. I must admit I like the original covers a lot better. These “period piece” beatnik-era books (like Block’s A DIET OF TREACLE) are fun to read now.
Jeff, I’m with you. Beatniks were way cool!
Bill, I totally agree. I love the ancillary material! Stark House knows how to do these retro books right.
George, you call the novels “noir classic”. Are these novels really noir, featuring a doomed protagonist spiraling down to dark, irreversible misery and woe? I would have thought they were just pulpish hard boiled stories. Whichever, you’re right that Stark House has yet again published a fine paring. I have this on my buy list for the next trip to Powell’s.
Rick, Stark House puts the “Noir Classic” label on the covers of many of its releases. Noir is an elastic descriptor. I enjoy almost everything Stark House publishes.
I guess “noir” has a more specific meaning, and the misuse of the term bothers me somewhat. If I see a book – or film – labeled noir I usually avoid it as I don’t like the depressing, hopeless aspect of the term in it’s original usage. So, dang it, I wish publishers wouldn’t say “noir” when they mean “hard-boiled” or something else.
Rick, I think “Noir” has become a marketing term. It’s sexier than “hard-boiled.”
I love these Stark House reprints–I’m hoping they’ll eventually reprint all the Elisabeth Sanxay Holding books. I’m not familiar with John Trinian (although my kids watch Kolshak on Netflix all the time) but will look for them as they appear worth seeking out.
Deb, Stark House collects these forgotten books in attractive packages. I’m with you on Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. I hope all of her books show up in Stark House reprints.
I’m surprised you’re surprised by the TOMA/BARETTA datum. Yeah, the series was dumbed down and continued for several seasons…
Todd, it was news to me. I liked the BARETTA theme song.