Cliff Corner (Bastei Verlag)

Ok, I finally admit it! I am a pulp novel junkie since my early childhood. Thanx dad! Not only do I read pulp novels from the USA that everybody knows like Tarzan, Conan, Buck Rodgers,... but also the lesser known ones like the Shadow, the Spider, Doc Strange, Lord Lister, G8....and all the others. And my addiction does not stop there it stretches even into the German pulp novel market better known in Germany as "Romanhefte" from publishers like Bastei, Kelter, Pabel... with heroes like G-man Jerry Cotton, Ghosthunter John Sinclair, Demonkiller Dorian Hunter, Professor Zamorra, Damona King, Lassister... covering everything from horror over phantasy over science-fiction over westerns and even, gulp, romance and heimat pulp novels! I read it all and collect it all! Silly me! So it is always nice to see a cover on a German romanheft with a motive from a Marisa Mell movie! (The G-man Jerry Cotton covers) This time it is from the Bastei Verlag series "Cliff Corner", a copy cat of the mega success G-man Jerry Cotton. Issue 105 from 1969 with title "Sterben Sie wohl, Mister Corner!" sports Marisa Mell as she appeared in the movie "New York Chiama Superdrago", a James Bond rip-off! (The Mystery of the Purple Dress) Now where did I put this issue of the series in my collection?

New "Mario Bava"-book by Spanish writer Carlos Aguilar

A new phantastic book about the great Italian filmmaker "Mario Bava" was published this March 2013 in Spain, by the author Carlos Aguilar. The book forms part of the publisher Catedra’s Cineastas collection. Carlos Aguilar is a Madrid based author, who writes both novels and cinematographic essays, among which some of the most successful of the series have been on Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone, Jesús Franco and Giuliano Gemma, as sole author, and those about John Phillip Law, and Eugenio Martin, written with his wife, teacher and writer Anita Haas. This is the first book ever on Mario Bava published in Spanish by Aguilar, contains around 330 pages and 60 photos. It describes the career of the great Italian filmmaker, combining objective information with subjection evaluation. It also includes a detailed filmography as well as an extensive bibliography on both Bava, and others who worked with him, in front of and behind the camera. Among them is, of course, the one and only Marisa Mell and the film Diabolik forming an important part of the work (no less than 15 pages!). A must-have book on this genius of Italian cinema, who knew how to reconfigure the parameters of fantasy and horror genre, adding a unique macabre sensuality and an enveloping, baroque atmosphere, and creating two such contrasting currents as Italian Gothic and Giallo.

This book on one of the greatest directors ever costs 13 euros and can be found on Amazon, or get a signed copy from the author at: carlosaguilargutierrez@gmail.com. Highly recommended!