The Paperback Show

First of a series of podcasts on film adaptations of books. The Princess Bride (1973) by William Goldman was adapted by Goldman and director Rob Reiner in the 1983 film of the same name. Discussion of the adaptation with special guest, Matt Kelland. Full show notes available at paperbackshow.com

Ep 20 features a discussion with writer, Chen Malun, on J. R. R. Tolkien's essay, "On Fairy Stories". This essay set the literary and philosophical foundation for modern fantasy and helped Tolkien determine what kind of book he was going to write when he was struggling with the "Hobbit sequel" in 1937/38 (It became the Lord of the Rings).

Full show notes at paperbackshow.com

Ep 19 features a brief history of the sleaze publisher, Holloway House, along with a discussion of the Black authors Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines (and others) and the development of Black Pulp Fiction with crime writer, Gary Philips. Full show notes with links is available at Paperbackshow.com

Music from Freesound.org. 

Special Guest, novelist Hal Bodner, discusses the unique writer, Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) and, in particular, her most popular novel, "The Incredible Mr. Ripley" (1955). The podcast opens with a short biography and then a more focused discussion of Ripley.

Complete notes with links can be found at paperbackshow.com

This episode covers (briefly) the history of Bantam paperbacks with a specific focus on the Western and the author Louis L'amour. Full show notes and transcript can be found a paperbackshow.com. Music is from uppbeat.io and is licensed.

Check out the full show notes at paperbackshow.com. Note that the music for this episode is licensed from upbeatio. 

Episode 15 of the Paperback Show looks at another classic paperback: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson published by Popular Library in paperback in 1963. The first part of the show introduces the concept of the classic paperback and shares a short bio of Shirley Jackson while she was writing The Haunting of Hill House. The second part of the show introduces librarian and actress, Martha Welty (who played Eleonore, the lead character of HOHH, on stage as a young. actor). Martha and I discuss what makes HOHH so great and why Shirley is such a masterful writer.  You can find full show notes at paperbackshow.com

The first of an occasional series on Classic Paperbacks: those paperbacks that have had a huge influence on popular culture around the world. In ep 14 of the Paperback Show we look at the remarkable book Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. Published in 1963 in paperback (originally published in 1946) it is considered to be one of the top 10 most influential books published in the United States. In the first part of the podcast, we look at Victor Frankl and his background along with a short publishing history of Man's Search for Meaning in paperback. In the second half, we discuss the importance of the book with author/editor Lauren Elise Daniels. At the end of the podcast we examine a brief history of paperback cover designs for Man's Search for Meaning. Note that all of the covers we talk about are in a gallery at paperbackshow.com. 

Music for his episode: Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/rick-gallagher/portrait
License code: R7VVPW0RRTTMEEYZ

In this episode, we look at the life and work of celebrated private eye novelist, Ross MacDonald (aka Kenneth Millar) who wrote from the late 1940s into the early 1980s. He was the first mystery novelist to be reviewed on the front page of the New York Times book review and his work paralleled the rise of the paperback. His detective, Lew Archer, was a different kind of investigator whose ability to empathize sometimes got in the way of his job. We share a short biography, a paperback history of his novels and then close with a discussion of MacDonald's classic novel, Black Money, with our podcast regular, Richard Brewer.  Complete show notes can be found at the paperbackshow.com

I read a lot of paperbacks in 2022, but these four titles stood out. In this episode of the Paperback Show, I share why I liked the books, a bit about the authors, and the specific edition I read. The four titles are My Cousin Rachel by Daphne. Du Maurier, Bugles in the Afternoon by Ernest Haycox, The Great White Space by Basil Copper and Black Easter by James Blish.

Full show notes along with covers of each book can be found at paperbackshow.com