Monday, June 1 2026

Author: Ricky

Written by December 2, 2022

Ep 11 – James M. Cain and Double Indemnity

Podcast Episodes . Podcasts Article

James M. Cain is one of those great mystery/suspense writers that everyone interested in good writing should read. The problem is that film versions of two of the novels were made into Hollywood films that are so popular they have overshadowed their sources. As our guest, Richard Brewer, put it in the podcast, “Well, I’ve seen

Written by November 6, 2022

Ep 10 – Daphne Du Maurier & My Cousin Rachel

Podcast Episodes . Podcasts Article

Daphne Du Maurier is best known for the film adaptations of her novels. Her bestselling novel Rebecca became a very popular Alfred Hitchcock film starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontane. The novel itself has never been out of print, but most people remember the movie and not the original novel which is much, much different than the

Written by November 6, 2022

Ep 9 – Dan Marlowe: Neglected Gold Medal Crime Novelist

Podcasts Article

Dan J. Marlowe is a master crime novelist who deserves to be part of the pantheon of crime writers like Jim Thompson, Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake), and Patricia Highsmith. Why has he been forgotten? Probably because he wrote his major crime novels for a paperback publisher (Gold Medal) and never had a hardback publisher. Also,

Written by September 28, 2022

Ep 8 – The Film Guide Paperback (BFI & Cultographies)

Podcasts Article

Show Notes The history of paperbacks is the history of paperback fiction primarily. Little research has been done on the non-fiction side of paperback publishing. I decided to include non-fiction as part of the Paperback Show to address this missing history. Episode 8 covers the history of the Film Guide primarily focusing on the study

Written by August 14, 2022

Ep 7 – Dashiell Hammett and the Hard-Boiled Paperback

Podcasts Article

Show Notes Although Dashiell Hammett is a major influence in mystery fiction, his novels and stories (with the sole exception of The Maltese Falcon) are often left unread. It’s a shame because they all hold up well even in 2022. I urge you to get one of Hammett’s paperback novels and just sit down and

Written by April 12, 2022

Ep 6 – Sexy Sleaze Paperbacks and Orie Hitt

Podcasts Article

We discuss the history of this unique paperback genre, how the books were written and distributed, and the people who read them (primarily men). The era (excuse the pun) “peaked” in the 1960s when new readers and marketplaces emerged (the adult bookstore). Even established authors like Robert Silverberg and Harlan Ellison wrote (using pseudonyms) these

Written by March 26, 2022

Ep 5 – Gold Medal Paperbacks

Podcasts Article

This week we’ll be talking about Gold Medal Paperbacks. Founded in 1950 by Fawcett Publications, this company was the first successful publisher of paperback originals. That means they didn’t reprint already published hardback books which every other paperback publisher did, but original works of fiction. And they were incredibly successful.  We begin the show however

Written by March 11, 2022

Ep 4 – The Armed Services Paperback

Podcasts Article

In this episode, we look at the history of the Armed Service Edition (ASE) paperbacks made specifically for American soldiers fighting in World War II.  The background of America’s response to Nazi book burnings, the formation of various groups to provide soldiers with reading material, and the final creation of the group that would select, edit,

Written by March 4, 2022

Ep 3 – Raymond Chandler and The Big Sleep

Podcasts Article

Episode 3 of the Paperback Show features a discussion of the novels of Raymond Chandler with bookseller and audio-book producer, Richard Brewer. We focus, in particular, on Chandler’s classic – The Big Sleep. It was a lengthy conversation so we released a condensed version of the show for our regular podcast. We are making the

Written by February 18, 2022

Ep 2 – Pocket Books, Vampire Hunter D Novels, and Guest M dot Strange

Podcasts Article

  In our second episode of the Paperback Show, host Ricky Lee Grove presents a brief history of the first major paperback publisher – Pocket Books. Next, he looks at the amazing phenomenon of the Vampire Hunter D novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983 and published in English initially

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