Books Update: Wake Up And Smell The Paper
*Crime, Spies & Sleaze: 30th Century Comics have been greatly cheered by recent reports that sales of real (as opposed to virtual) books have stopped falling. Now comes yet more proof that you can’t beat a real book, with the news that a new fragrance, Paperback, has been released “with just a touch of the mustiness of aged paper”. Chemically speaking the scent that habitués of second-hand bookshops identify with is a mixture of acetic acid (think vinegar), rosin and a relative of vanillin. Here at 30th Century Comics though, we say why have hamburger when you can have steak? Our mega crime and spies update gives you the opportunity to own the real fragrance, with more than 40 books added. You’ll be spoilt for choice with a nice spread across the decades. From the 1950’s: Graphic Mystery novels, some with Oliver Brabbins cover art, such as Murder – Very Dry (Samm Sinclair Baker), or two other 1950’s novels, The Big Guy (Wade Miller) and Follow The Saint (Leslie Charteris). 1960’s works include James M Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, Adam Diment’s The Dolly Dolly Spy and The Great Spy Race and Winston (Poldark) Graham’s Take My Life. In the 1970’s we have Victor Canning’s A Delivery Of Furies and two blaxploitation novels, Black Gunn (Larry Pryce) and Shaft Among The Jews (Ernest Tidyman), along with Zero Cool (Michael Crichton disguised as John Lange), The Big Hit (Ken Follett disguised as Symon Myles) and The Ace Of Spies (Don Von Elsner). Finally one book published in 1980, The Drowner by John D MacDonald. This is not an exhaustive list (although it’s been exhausting typing it!): check the Crime, Spies & Sleaze listing to see all the titles.