A Top Secret McGuffin

nobody@ipernity.com (severance_23) — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 15:57:45 +0000

severance_23 has posted an article:

There's a magazine dedicated to vintage paperbacks called "Paperback Fanatic," now available through 'print-on-demand' on Amazon, that I've sporadically contributed to over the years. Back in 2012 they published what was supposed to be the first part of an extensive A to Z of Gold Medal paperbacks - I've still to write any other parts! But a large portion of my free time last year was spent researching and writing an article on the Italian espionage imprint "Segretissimo," the first part of which appeared in the pages of Issue number 40 in September while the second part is due out this month in Issue number 41.

Why a history of "Segretissimo" you might ask? Well, in all honesty, the details of the Italian translations could almost be described as a mcguffin - an excuse to throw lots of information on British, American and French espionage authors and characters onto a sheet of paper and make an attempt to make a readable article from it all. Of course a chance to showcase the luscious art that Carlo Jacono provided for each paperback was another reason.

What can readers see if they add these two issues to their basket? From France the OSS117 stories of Jean Bruce (and family) and the SAS stories of Gerard de Villiers; the American spies Nick Carter, Phil Sherman, Matt Helm, Joe Gall, Joaquin Hawks, Bart Gould, Monty Nash, Stephen Dain and Sam Durrell; the British agents Jason Love, David Grant, Boysie Oakes, Paul Chavasse, Charles Hood, John Craig, Simon Larren and Jonas Wilde. All liberally sprinkled with the artwork of Carlo Jacono. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out - but I know for a fact that I could never make a living out of it. As Harry Callahan once said "a man has to know his limitations."

"The process of removal continues..."

nobody@ipernity.com (severance_23) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:43:00 +0000

severance_23 has posted an article:

I vaguely recall Max van Sydow's character saying that (or something similar) in David Lynch's problematic adaptation of Frank Herbert's "Dune." He was referring to those assassins left behind by the Harkonnens during the transfer of ownership of Arrakis. I'm using it to refer to the process of removing all of my book cover images over from flickr to this new home at ipernity. Every cover image (1,267 of them) is now here, many of them in albums (more set up here than I had there), now just waiting for collections to be implemented. I've left every group I was a member of, removing all images from those groups, and made all images private - only viewable to contacts. All that's left now is to remove the 60-odd images from groups I was never a member of - can't for the life of me figure out, yet, how to do that - even if I could find them all! As I said - the process continues.

Why, you may ask, am I doing this? Ah, but you're already here, so you know full well that the new flickr is a disaster, with no likelihood of it getting any better. In fact, I can only see it getting worse - surely it's only a matter of time before the social aspect of the site is deemed irrelevant and groups/communities are discontinued. When that happens, the diaspora will be on in earnest.

So what can you expect from my little corner of our new home? More of the same, in all honesty. If you care to browse through my photostream or the album collection, you'll see everything you need to know. Mostly paperbacks, almost certainly of a vintage from the early 50s to the early 70s - loads of Gold Medals, a smattering of Monarchs, Graphics, Avons, Pyramids, Signets etc, mostly crime but not totally, the odd photo cover, the occasional Italian edition - a showcase of dozens of wonderful artists. McGinnis, Barye, Maguire, Chiriaka, Abbett, Kalin, Floherty, Stanley, Schaare, Barton, Jacono - they're all here, and will continue to be added.

I hope you enjoy my images as much as I do.

Articles from severance_23

A Top Secret McGuffin

"The process of removal continues..."