Satan Takes the Helm by Calvin Clements

Litchfield Reviews Satan Takes the Helm by Calvin Clements

Calvin J. Clements’ (1915-1997) debut novel, first published in 1952, is so authoritative and instructive about best practices for commanding a vessel that you can’t help but admire the leadership skills of the shrewd, hard-bitten narrator, Martin Lewandowski. A tough, out-of-work seaman in San Francisco, Martin is put in charge of a freighter, the Eastern Trader, by the promiscuous co-owner, Joyce Sloan.

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Devil May Care and Sinner Take All by Wade Miller (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Two Exhilarating Thrillers by Wade Miller

Among the novels I’ve read this year, Devil May Care and Sinner Take All rank as two of the very finest. Both were penned by the writing duo of Robert Allison Wade (1920–2012) and H. Bill Miller (1920 –1961), a couple of close friends who wrote a fair number of big-selling novels in the crime, mystery, and thriller genres during the 1950s and 60s. Without doubt, their most fruitful collaboration was Badge of Evil, a manuscript adapted for the screen as Touch of Evil, directed by Orson Welles and starring Welles, Charlton Heston, and Janet Leigh. Other novels by Wade and Miller were adapted to the screen, though, strangely, Devil May Care, considered by some as the duo’s best, didn’t become a movie (despite actor James Cagney’s efforts), and it hasn’t been reprinted since the Fawcett Gold Medal printings in the 1950s.

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Hsi-wei Tales by Robert Wexelblatt

Litchfield reviews ‘Hsi-wei Tales’ for the Colorado Review

Published today in the Colorado Review is my review of Robert Wexelblatt’s wonderful story collection Hsi-wei Tales. Here is a snippet: “There is an admirable, lyrical splendor to Robert Wexelblatt’s heartwarming tales centered on the fictional Chen Hsi-wei, an itinerant Chinese shoemaker and celebrated peasant-poet of the Sui period.”

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The Quantum Theory of Love and Madness by Jerry Levy

The Quantum Theory of Love and Madness by Jerry Levy

I was first introduced to the prose of Canadian writer Jerry Levy in 2012 when his story “Paris is a Woman,” about a bank clerk who trades his wife and job for an artist’s life in Paris, featured in issue #9 of Lowestoft Chronicle. As I recall, it was a rather captivating piece with a gently evolving story that might have gone in any number of directions but which concluded in an unanticipated, unresolved way. A tale with the emphasis on character over plot, but no less enjoyable because of it. The story was subsequently included in Levy’s first story collection, URBAN LEGEND, published by Thistledown Press in 2013.

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LowestoftChronicle_issue43

Issue 43 of Lowestoft Chronicle

In a recent interview in the South Florida Poetry Journal poet George Moore, author of Children’s Drawings of the Universe, among other fine collections, singled out the literary magazine Lowestoft Chronicle for the consistent quality and variety of its poetry. “I was bred on print journals, of course, but I’ve gotten close to a number of online journals that I stay in touch with and read whenever a notice of a new issue comes up. I keep up with Lowestoft Chronicle, who do a fine job with a range of poetic tastes.”

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The Tease and Sin For Me by Gil Brewer

Litchfield Reviews The Tease and Sin For Me by Gil Brewer

Stark House is responsible for publishing many of Gil Brewer’s (1922-1983) works—and not merely reprints. Numerous previously unpublished novels and short stories have found their way into print, and I’m hoping more will emerge in the future. Their most recent two-in-one crime noir reprint is something of a collector’s volume. Flaunting a nice adaption by Jeff Vorzimmer of Roger Kastel’s original cover illustration for The Tease, it comprises two nicely paired tales published in 1967 by the short-lived Banner Books, a paperback imprint acquired by the Hearst Corporation that mainly focused on crime and mystery novels.

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Footsteps in the Night and Beat Back the Tide by Dolores Hitchens (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Review of Footsteps in the Night and Beat Back the Tide in Bookgasm

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of Dolores Hitchens novels — fortunately, there’s plenty to pick from and, thanks to Stark House Press, reprints of her books are hitting the shelves again. Very popular in her day (primarily, the 1950s and ’60s), she was one of those authors who had enormous critical and commercial appeal. At a time when male authors monopolized the mystery genre, Hitchens was ranked as one of the nation’s leading mystery writers. Prominent authors, journalists, and book reviewers, like Anthony Boucher, sang her praises for good reason. Her vividly drawn characters have depth and personality, and she has a masterful ability to shock and unnerve and escalate suspenseful situations.

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A Rage At Sea / A Party Every Night by Frederick Lorenz (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Reviews of A Rage At Sea and A Party Every Night in Paperback Warrior, Crime Time, and Bookgasm

Recently, the website Paperback Warrior, which posts vintage fiction reviews and features regarding the action-adventure, hardboiled crime, western, pulp, and espionage genres, included a review of the collection A Rage At Sea / A Party Every Night, which was published on May 25. Here’s a snippet of what they have to say of the author and these two long-forgotten crime stories: “Frederick Lorenz was the pseudonym used by Lorenz Heller (1911-????) for a handful of paperback crime novels released by Lion Books in the 1950s. The New Jersey native worked as a seaman on a freighter, so it’s only fitting that I’m introduced to his body of work through his shipwreck novel A Rage at Sea from June 1953. Best of all, the book has been reprinted by Stark House Crime Classics as a double along with Lorenz’s A Party Every Night and an informative introduction by Nicholas Litchfield. A Rage at Sea isn’t particularly action-packed, but the author’s excellent writing keep the pages flying by. Recommended.”

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The Tooth and the Nail / The Wife of the Red-Haired Man by Bill S. Ballinger (Introduction by Nicholas Litchfield)

Review of The Tooth and the Nail and The Wife of the Red-Haired Man in Bookgasm

I’ve been squirreling away antique paperback copies of Bill S. Ballinger’s work for a long time, having first gotten hold of his Barr Breed mysteries and then moved on to his Joaquin Hawks espionage series, before devouring his many suspense novels. It was mystifying why his work had drifted into obscurity. So, in 2018, it was rewarding to have a hand in bringing a couple of his novels (Portrait in Smoke and The Longest Second) back into print and contribute the introduction to the collection.

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