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Recommended reading
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The lurid world of pulp
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- Treasures and Musings @ Modern Graphic History Library
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Category Archives: Toni Johnson Woods
Interview: Australian pulp fiction historian Toni Johnson Woods
Dr Toni Johnson Woods is someone I’ve been keen to interview on this blog for a while now.
A Research Fellow at University of Queensland, she is passionate about Australian books. Not just capital ‘L’ literature, but the local mass produced pulp fiction of the forties, fifties and early sixties, the existence of which has all but disappeared from our collective cultural memory.
Her commitment to the cause of local pulp includes having listened to hours of popular radio serials (Carter Brown Mystery Theatre and Larry Kent’s I Hate Crime), scanned thousands of pulp fiction covers and read every nearly all 300 Carter Brown novels.
She very generously agreed to answer the following questions about her work by e-mail.
What attracted you to researching pulp fiction in the first place?
One very unremarkable day I was chatting with colleagues in the tearoom. As you can imagine our conversations are very lofty – not. I asked the most basic question: who is Australia’s most popular author.
Well, we batted that around for several minutes arguing about what “popular” means, i.e. best selling, most widely read, most known author. All of these things are not the same. The discussion then turned to what is an Australian author, i.e. someone who was born in Australia?… Read more
Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian pulp fiction, Carter Brown, Horwitz Publications, Interviews, Larry Kent, Pulp fiction, Toni Johnson Woods, Vintage pulp paperback covers
Tagged Alan G Yates, Bleeck Collection, Carter Brown, Cleveland, Erskine Caldwell, Gordon Clive Bleeck, Horwitz Publications, Larry Kent, Mickey Spillane, Signet, Toni Johnson-Woods
Australia’s other lost literary heritage
There’s been a bit of discussion in literary circles recently about whether enough is being done to maintain the public’s interest in the classics of Australian literature. To my surprise it’s a debate I’ve only been able to drum up half-hearted enthusiasm for.
The catalyst was an article by Text Publisher Michael Heyward in late January, in which he criticised journalists, cultural commentators and university academics for failing to create an enduring tradition for appreciating and teaching Australian literature. He singled out universities in particular for the lack of courses about Australian writing.
Perhaps in response, the latest program put out by the Wheeler Centre includes a series of talks called Literature 101, in which contemporary writers talk about classic Australian texts.
You won’t get an argument from me about the importance of Australian literature in building our individual and collective sense of historical self. I also agree universities are failing to teach Australian literature, although I think the problem lies less in any wilful neglect on the part of academics than in the gradual privatisation of our higher education system. Persistent federal government underfunding has squeezed course diversity in favour of subjects that generate income, particularly full fee income. Australian literature is not Robinson Crusoe in this regard. Try studying ancient history or the language of a country that is not one of our major trading partners, and you’ll get the picture.… Read more
Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian pulp fiction, Carter Brown, Horwitz Publications, Peter Corris, Scripts Publications, Toni Johnson Woods, Vintage pulp paperback covers
Tagged Alan G Yates, Australian literature, Carter Brown, Gordon Clive Bleeck, Hip Pocket Sleave, John Harrison, Michael Heyward, Moneky Grip, Scripts Publications, Stag, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Text, The Wheeler Centre, Toni Johnson-Woods
The dying trade? Private investigators in Australian crime fiction
In the 1940s and 50s, some of the biggest names in Australian fiction were authors unknown today. People such as Gordon Clive Bleeck, Carter Brown, Don Haring and KT McCall were the leading lights of a huge local pulp fiction industry. It produced countless cheap westerns, science fiction and above all crime novels, printed cheaply with lurid covers and sold at news-stands on the street and in train stations. This piece was originally commissioned by the Wheeler Center and appeared on their website here.
In 1938, the federal government decided to levy foreign print publications. As a result of this decision, local publishing houses sprang up to fill the void, releasing hundreds of novels a month, including Westerns, racing and boxing stories, science fiction and crime. Hard-boiled and not so hard-boiled PIs became a standard feature of the pulp crime scene that flourished in Australia for two decades thereafter.
The authors are unknown today, despite some selling in the millions in Australia and abroad. Gordon Clive Bleeck wrote over 200 novels, including PI stories, while working full time for NSW Railroads. Carter Brown, the alias of UK immigrant Alan G Yates, is associated with nearly 300 titles.
Starting off as a hugely popular radio program on the Macquarie Network, the PI Larry Kent inspired a series of novels by Don Haring, an American who lived in Australia or a time, and Queenslander Des R Dunn.… Read more
Posted in Angela Savage, Australian crime fiction, Australian pulp fiction, Carter Brown, Horwitz Publications, Kerry Greenwood, Larry Kent, Lindy Cameron, Peter Corris, Pulp paperback cover art, Toni Johnson Woods, Vintage pulp paperback covers
Tagged Alan G Yates, Carter Brown, Don haring, Gordon Clive Bleeck, KT McCall, Larry Kent, Toni Johnson-Woods