Art Scott delivers not one, but two magisterial essays on Carter Brown and the Robert McGinnis covers that graced those classic paperbacks. In “Carter Brown: The Writer and The Stories,” Art traces the career of Alan G. Yates (aka, Carter Brown) from writing for Australian pulp fiction magazines to his long relationship with Horowitz Publications where he churned out a Carter Brown novel each month for decades. In the 1950s Signet Books started to reprint many Carter Brown titles that eventually featured McGinnis covers. And gorgeous covers they are!
But, things get even better in “Carter Brown: The Books and The Covers.” As many of you know, Art Scott has collected a nearly complete collection of Robert McGinnis paperbacks with those amazing covers and unique artwork. And, yes, Art Scott and Gary Lovisi deliver dozens of fabulous paperback covers! If you’re a fan of Robert McGinnis artwork and Carter Brown’s blend of sexy wackiness and mystery, Paperback Parade #104 is a must-buy! GRADE: A+
You can order copies of Paperback Parade at: www.gryphonbooks.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PAPERBACK TALK by Gary Lovisi 2
CARTER BROWN: THE WRITER AND THE STORIES By Art Scott 18
CARTER BROWN: THE BOOKS AND THE COVERS By Art Scott 22
CARTER BROWN: THE SIGNET BOOKS By Gary Lovisi and Art Scott 40
CARTER BROWN: BELMONT-TOWER VINTAGE PAPERBACK INDEX Compiled by Art Scott 58
FEARN’S JINXED NOVELS By Philip Harbottle 62
MATCHLESS PAPERBACKS By Richard Greene 70
MIGHTY MIDGETS By Gary Lovisi 72
EARLY PENGUIN SF By Jon D. Swartz 88
BILL CRIDER By Jon D. Swartz 98
When I was a teenager Carter Brown books were everywhere. Right up there with John D. MacDonald and Richard Prather. I read a few but I wasn’t that impressed and haven’t read one in almost 60 years.
Not a huge fan of his books, but I love the covers. I used to pick up the old Australian digest-sized copies in England, especially if I could get the ones that hadn’t been published in the States at that time.
Jeff, it took me some time to figure out the wonderful covers on the Carter Brown books, the cool DELL Mike Shayne covers, artwork on Erle Stanley Gardner, and jazzy covers on Richard S. Prather were all done by Robert McGinnis. And years later I learned there was a guy who loved those covers even more than that I did: Art Scott.
Jeff, I have an assortment of the Aussie digests, mostly thanks to Graeme Flanagan. On thing I learned researching the article was that Horwitz sometimes used Hollywood starlet photos for their covers – Mamie Van Doren, Joan Collins & Julie Newmar were cited. I don’t have any of those, do you?
Steve, I read a ton of “Carter Brown” books back in the 1960s. But, I bought them for the covers.
Art – sadly, no. I got rid of all the Horwitz digests in the end, but none had those covers.
I can still picture rows of them at used bookstores. I wonder if they are still there.
Patti, if those Carter Brown paperbacks are still there, they’ll be pricey!
Though I like the artwork, I’m not a fan of the writing. Like Steve, I tried a few and was disappointed, so I quit.
Rick, I set the bar low for Carter Brown novels.
Not sure August of this year would be considered old or forgotten…….
Rick, I was referring to the classic Carter Brown paperbacks and the McGinnis covers. Of course, they are not forgotten by some of us!
You couldn’t walk past a paperback spinner rack at the drugstore, dime store, newsstand, or bus station in the ’60s without seeing the Carter Brown books. Picking up on Patti’s comment, I used to find a fair amount of ’60s and ’70s paperbacks in used-book stores 10 or 15 years ago, but very few anymore.
Fred, same here. Vintage paperbacks have vanished from Western NY. But you can find plenty online…for a price.
If Carter Brown books sold for a quarter back in the sixties, at least 20 cents of the price should have gone to McGinnis.
Michael, I certainly purchased most of the Carter Brown paperbacks for their McGinnis covers.
Not often one gets labeled “magisterial”, a term usually reserved for the likes of Nero Wolfe, and I appreciate it. But I think you missed pointing out a couple of aspects of the Carter Brown special that should be noted. Though, quite properly, the McGinnis covers on the series get the most attention (after all, he did an even 100 of them), I made a point of also covering the artwork of Ron Lesser and, especially, Barye Phillips – the first illustrator on the CB series – with plenty of examples. Of all the important paperback cover artists, the versatile and astonishingly prolific Phillips is oddly slighted by cover art buffs. He should be right there in any “Mt Rushmore” discussion of paperback artists.
The other noteworthy feature of the issue is the comprehensive bibliography of all the Signet (and Belmont) American paperbacks. This was principally Gary’s work, but I had a hand in it. The big problem was doing the later Signet editions with photo covers, which neither of us owned. With assists from the Bookscans website, and Hubin, I spent many hours surfing the net for cover images of every CB title to get book number & price information, mostly from eBay ads and image sites like Flickr & Picasa. The catch was that many of those images were lo-res, and the key information unreadable; there were a couple of titles that almost escaped me, but I think I finally managed to get them all. I doubt that I’m the first person to try to compile a bibliography by surfing the web for cover scans, but I’d bet this is the largest such effort to date.
Thanks for plugging the issue. Paperback Parade has been around since 1986 (!); Gary’s contribution to the pb hobby has been enormous, and I’m proud that I can contribute to it once in a while.
Art, I’m sticking with my “magisterial” assessment of your essays on Carter Brown and the McGinnis (and others) cover artwork. I’m surprised that you and Gary didn’t give SUNY at Buffalo a call. At least a 100 Carter Brown paperbacks reside in the Kelley Collection.
I firmly believe that Carter Brown (and beer) allowed me survive my college days. I found the Carter Browns quick and enjoyable reads, often reading three of them (and, very occasionally five) in a single day. Haven’t read one since college, though. I’m not sure if my enjoyment was due to the writing or the beer.
It is my uderstanding that Robert Silverberg wrote four Carter Brown novels, titles or whether they were actually published unknown. The official statement from the Brown estate was that Alan G. Yates wrote ALL the Carter Brown books, and who am I to argue with that? Still, the question remains…
Jerry, I’ve heard those rumors of Robert Silverberg’s involvement in the writing of some Carter Brown books. Maybe someone on the Internet can confirm or refute those reports. Like you, I remember the days waiting in O’Hare Airport for a late or canceled flight and reading three or four Carter Brown paperbacks during the delay.
As with any high-volume genre writer, there are ghosting stories about CB. The Silverberg story is hard to figure, since he was apparently scrupulous about archiving his soft porn books (and not shy about owning up to having written them), but can’t cite the CB titles. Hubin’s bibliography cites information that 6-12 titles (not identified) were written by Australian writer Cecil James McKenzie for Horwitz, likely during the year that Yates was touring the US promoting Carter Brown for Signet. Another story out there, not actually ghost writing, & which sounds plausible, is that Signet hired Frank Kane to edit & “Americanize” the first few titles reprinted in the US. Whatever the numbers, the non-Yates fraction of the entire CB output is a drop in the bucket.
I was doing a zine exchange with Lovisi when I published MDM. After not getting anything from him for three years I wised up and stopped sending him my zine.
Queried Robert Silverberg. His response:
I wrote one Carter Brown novel, circa 1960. Was paid for it. Never published, far as I know.
Todd, I wonder where that missing Carter Brown novel that Silverberg ghosted is now?
Good question. Silverberg’s own copy might well’ve perished in his total house fire just before his move from NYC to the Bay Area.
Todd, too bad. Another lost book…