Monday, December 31, 2018

Theme Parks: Lotte World

Lotte World is the world's largest indoor amusement park, with an adjoining outdoor section.


Saturday, December 29, 2018

TM Gallery: Men's Adventure Paperbacks


Edge 17: Vengeance Valley by George G. Gilman
For the first time in his life he has a bundle of cash - $25,000 – and not a care in the world. Then he happens to trespass on Woodrow Ryan’s spread, a huge chunk of western Texas. Never one to appreciate what to do, Edge is soon battling the land baron’s army of henchmen. But Edge has allies among the local farmers, who’ve been beaten into submission by the mighty Ryan. Edge will have none of that. He is a man of his own, and not likely to join up with a bunch of scared plowboys. Caught between the suspicious farmers and the deadly Ryan gang, Edge attempts to ride a slim trail out of the area. Involvement will mean time and trouble.
Trouble wins as Edge is waylaid by a dozen men and beaten senseless. He is then tied up and roped to a horse ... and set up to be dragged to his death.
It looks like the end... But it is only the beginning.
Vengeance comes to the valley. 
Kindle ebook from Amazon


On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Dark Master by Raymond GIles

Dark Master
by Raymond Giles
1970 Fawcett




This slavesploitation novel feels like a follow up, but it appears to be Giles' first effort in the genre.  We meet blacksmith Absalom, who has been sold away from his family after getting into some trouble.  His new master is a freed black man, who can be as cold and sadistic as the white ones.

Absalom makes a failed attempt to return to his plantation, while his new master Hannibal flirts with Libby, the visiting cousin of the neighboring Drummond clan.  Various slave women try to jump into Absalom's bed, and things are fairly mild and chaste.  For the first half.

The community white folk gang rape Hannibal's housekeeper, who commits suicide.  In retaliation, Hannibal starts to rape Libby, but she's down for it, so they start seeing each other in secret.  Absalom develops a drinking problem, but finds a new purpose when Hannibal offers to buy his family if he earns the money blacksmithing.  Meanwhile, Hannibal makes plans to sell the plantation, free his slaves, and run off to France with Libby.

Hannibal gives Absalom his freedom, but makes the mistake of informing him that his wife and child are dead.  Absalom beats Hannibal from an inch of his life and lets the Drummonds know about Libby's affair.  We end the book with the Drummonds killing Hannibal and Libby, while Absalom steals Hannibal's arsenal and heading out for revenge, much like Sweet Sweetback. ..


Despite the themes, the text was quite tame.  All of the sex and most of the violence is off-page, and the most lurid passages are characters describing things that happened elsewhere.  Still, this is definitely more exploitation than historical romance.  Giles avoidance of actual sex scenes actually serves his style well.  The gang rape scene consisted solely of the dialogue of the rapists, which made it all the more horrific.

Giles wrote many more slavesploitation books, including the Sabrehill series, but this title evidently stands alone.

Used paperback from AbeBooks

Thursday, December 13, 2018

The Ultimate Slavesploitation Novel list

Slavesploitation, also called Plantationploitation, Plantation Porn, or Gothic Plantation, is a genre that spun out of the 1957 book Mandingo.  At its core the genre is about proper white ladies banging black slaves in the 19th century, wrapped up in a package of historical romance/adventure.  It also intersects a vein of Southern Gothic, with themes of incest, torture, murder, and family sagas.

While these had a female audience and had covers that mirrored romance novels, the books also have a strong male audience, including an African American one.  While trashy and exploitative to the bone, they at least acknowledged the evils of slavery, and aren't as near as morally objectionable as racist trash like Gone With the Wind.

Through the 70s the genre became more adventure oriented, with escaped slaves becoming pirates or revolutionaries, and settings began to include the Caribbean.  The genre came to an abrupt stop by the mid 80s, with at least one series (Bloodheart) seeming to change genres by the end.  The thirst for interracial historical romance seemed to be diverted to native American romances with the word Savage in the title - Zebra printed more of these than horror in the 80s.


Links are to AbeBooks for paperbacks, or Amazon the few titles available for Kindle.

Series titles:

Falconhurst
1957 Mandingo by Kyle Onstott
1962 Drum by Kyle Onstott
1964 Master of Falconhurst by Kyle Onstott
1966 Falconhurst Fancy by Lance Horner
1967 The Mustee by Lance Horner
1968 Heir to Falconhurst by Lance Horner
1971 Flight to Falconhurst by Lance Horner
1973 Mistress of Falconhurst by Lance Horner
1978 Taproots of Falconhurst by Ashley Carter
1980 Scandal of Falconhurst by Ashley Carter
1983 Rogue of Falconhurst by Ashley Carter
1985 Miz Lucretia of Falconhurst by Ashley Carter
1986 Mandingo Master by Ashley Carter

Blackoaks by Ashley Carter (Harry Whittington)
1976 Master of Blackoaks
1978 Secret of Blackoaks
1981 Heritage of Blackoaks
1984 Farewell to Blackoaks

Wyndward by Norman Daniels
1978 Wyndward Passion
1978 Wyndward Fury
1981 Wyndward Peril
1981 Wyndward Glory
1984 Forever Wyndward

Black Royal aka Black Lord, Black Master by Stuart Jason (some of whom are Michael Avallone, but I'm not untangling all that here) - these all reference each other in the covers or elsewhere, so presumably they're the same series, but I gave up trying to piece together the order or original publishing dates.  Some of these may be retitlings of the same story.
Black Lord
Black Lust
Black Prince
Black Master
Black Emperor
Black Love aka Black Lover
Royal Stud
Royal Master
Black Rebel (omnibus of Black Lord, Black Master, and Black Emperor)

Chane by Norman Gant
1968 Chane
1968 Black Vengeance aka Vengeance of Chane
1969 Slave Empire
1971 Wrath of Chane (omnibus containing Chane, Black Vengeance, and Slave Empire)

Dragonard by Rupert Gilchrist
1976 Dragonard
1976 The Master of Dragonard Hill
1976 Dragonard Blood
1978 Dragonard Rising
1979 The Siege of Dragonard Hill
1980 Guns of Dragonard

Slaves Without Masters by Rupert Gilchrist
1982 House At Three O'clock
1983 A Girl Called Friday Night
1985 The Wrong Side Of Town

Sabrehill by Raymond Giles
1974 Sabrehill
1975 Slaves of Sabrehill
1976 Rebels of Sabrehill
1981 Storm Over Sabrehill
1982 Hellcat of Sabrehill

Captain Jacob King by Leslie Gladson - I've gotten conflicting information about the years and order of this series - it appears to have run between 1968 and 1971
1968 Slaver 
King's Slaves 
The Abolitionist 
Beast 

Golden Stud by Lance Horner
1975 Six-Fingered Stud reworked into Golden Stud
1977 Sword of the Golden Stud

The Plantation by George McNeill
1975 The Plantation
1977 Rafaella
1978 The Hellions
1983 White Trash

Bloodheart by Richard Tresillian - note: while Bloodheart is packaged as slavesploitation, Bloodheart Feud is packaged as intra-racial historical romance. This appears to be set in Sri Lanka, so it might only be thematically similar.
1985 Bloodheart
1986 Bloodheart Royal
1987 Bloodheart Feud

Bondmaster by Richard Tresillian
1977 Bondmaster 
1977 Blood of the Bondmaster
1978 The Bondmaster Breed
1982 Bondmaster Fury
1983 The Bondmaster's Revenge
1984 Bondmaster Buck

Fleshtraders aka Black River by Richard Tresillian aka Raynard Devine
1984 Master of Black River
198? Black River Affair
1985 Black River Breed
1985 Revenge at Black River by Raynard Devine

Shame and Glory by Jerrold Mundis as Eric Corder
1967 Slave
1968 The Long Tattoo
1969 Slave Ship
1972 Hellbottom
1976 Savage Rite aka Running Dogs
1978 Shame and Glory (Omnibus)

Vane by Jeanne Wilson
1976 Weep in the Sun
1977 Troubled Heritage

Beulah Land Trilogy by Lonnie Coleman
1973 Beulah Land
1977 Look Away, Beulah Land
1980 The Legacy of Beulah Land

Ebony Masters by Simon Lascaux
1985 Chains of Rage
1986 Bonds of Shame

Non-series titles (or I couldn't tell)

1978 Chains by Justin Adams (Lou Cameron)

1968 The Slave by Alston Anderson - this may have been a more serious piece, but at least the NEL cover is exploitative.

Roger Blake (aka James Moffat)
1978 Black Reaper
1979 Black Fury 
1979 Black Summer 

Harold Calin
1969 Black Cargo
1969 The Black and the Damned
1970 Black Hell
1977 Slave Ship

Leo Callan
1980 Black Sapphire
1980 Black Temptress
1981 Black Rebel

1983 The Outlanders by Ashley Carter

1974 Chindera aka Brown Sugar by Nancy Cato

Joseph Chadwick
1970 Black Velvet
1971 Sabrina

Lou Cameron (some may be in a series)
1968 Mistress of Bayou LaBelle
1969 Ashanti

Jonathan Craig
1970 Quadroon

Norman Daniels
1970 Slave Rebellion
1970 Voodoo Slave
1973 Jubal 

1978 Eulalie by Julie Ellis

Peter Gentry (Kerry Newcomb)
1976 Rafe 
1977 Titus Gamble 

Raymond Giles
1970 Dark Master by Raymond Giles
1973 Rogue Black by Raymond Giles

1969 Generation of Blood by I. A. Grenville

1971 Machismo by Gramm Hall

1969 Muscavado by Eleanor Loise Heckert

1969 Mantee by Robert J. Hensler

1969 The Long Whip by John Hicks

Lance Horner
1969 The Mahound by Lance Horner
1975 Six-Fingered Stud by Lance Horner - reworked into 1975 Golden Stud by Lance Horner

Stuart Jason (unknown if any of these are connected to the Black Royal series)
1969 Black Hercules
1969 Kingblood

1969 Beauty Beast by MacKinlay Kantor

1969 Slaves by John O. Killens

1976 Chinaberry by William Lavender

1973 Jeb by Jeffrey Lord (Michael Avallone?)

1977 The Unconquered by Margaret Maitland

1969 Plantation Breed by Hugo Paul

1969 The Stonehedge Slaves by Clement Purvis aka Gardner F. Fox (yes, the DC Comics writer)

Kenneth Roberts
1969 Blaze
1970 Flame
1978 Black Fire

Clint Rockman aka Kenneth Bulmer - These may be all related, most are about black pirate women.
1972 Black Slaver 
1972 Black Queen
1972 Black Gold
1972 Black Ivory
1973 Sable Diana 
1974 Sable Adventure 
1974 Sable Mistress 
1979 Sable Ivory (omnibus of Black Ivory and Sable Mistress)

1969 Fury by Mark Swanson

Robert Tralins (may be in a series)
1969 Runaway Slave aka Rampage
1969 Black Brute aka Black Stud
1971 Black Pirate
1970 Slave King
1974 Slave's Revenge
1977 Black Roots (omnibus of Black Stud, Rampage and Slave's Revenge)1980 Panther
1981 Chains

Richard Tresillian
1979 Fleur
1988 Giselle (may be plantation light)

1973 Voodoo Queen by Adam Turner

Boyd Upchurch
1968 The Slave Stealer

Robert Vaughan
1971 Mistress Of The Lash
1972 Slave's Blood

Lionel Webb
1968 Sparhawk by Lionel Webb
1968 Rogue Black by Lionel Webb
1970 Sebastian by Lionel Webb
1974 The Blackbirder by Lionel Webb
1977 The Flame and the Fury by Lionel Webb
1977 Night of Dark Fires by Lionel Webb

Jeanne Wilson
1976 Mulatto

Seem like slavesploitation but aren't:

1956 The Street of the Sun by Lance Horner
1963 The Tattooed Road by Lance Horner
1967 The African by Harold Courlander
1971 Swamp Girl by Evans Wall 
1978 Panama by Ashley Carter

Movies based on these novels include: Mandingo, Drum, Dragonard, and Slaves, as well as original films that I won't go into here.

As of this writing, George McNeill and Peter Gentry (Kerry Newcomb) are the only authors with ebooks in print.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Tie-Ins: Alien Nation

Alien Nation is about an alien ship landing on Earth and the social changes caused by them integrating into human society.  From what I saw of it, Bright was a direct lift, with fantasy instead of scifi.

There was one season of a surprisingly good television spin-off, and several years later a handful of TV movies.  Some of the novelizations are interesting in that they developed from scripts from the aborted second season, some of which were later rewritten into the TV movies.

1989: Alien Nation by Alan Dean Foster - movie novelization
1993: Day of Descent by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens - original prequel book
1993: Dark Horizon by K.W. Jeter - adapted from a second season script, later made into a TV movie
1994: Body and Soul by Peter David - adapted from a second season script, later made into a TV movie
1994: The Change by Barry B. Longyear - from an unproduced script
1994: Slag Like Me by Barry B. Longyear
1994: Passing Fancy by  David Spencer
1995: Extreme Prejudice by L.A. Graf
1995: Cross of Blood by K.W. Jeter

Monday, December 10, 2018

Tivoli Gardens - Skaersliden Funhouse

I spent the better part of three days trying to find this funhouse footage I came across a couple years ago.  My obsessions rarely pay off, but here you go


Saturday, December 8, 2018

Ringo of Nebraska

Ringo of Nebraska (1966)


Mild oater, without the edge or creativity that mark good eurowesterns.  Stranger come to town Nebraska (not Ringo, and not Sartana) gets involved in a range war.

Available on Amazon Video - their print is a composite, with a few shots in Italian.

Friday, December 7, 2018

TM Gallery: Vintage Sleaze Paperbacks


Wife and Harlot by Zana Gale
Sexual torment tortured her body and seared her soul
Paperback from AbeBooks


A Nice Girl Like You by Richard Wormser
Lt. Andy Bastain, the lovable cop, heads an unlovely search for the man who violated a teenage beauty and left her just enough intact to someday tell the tale. Andy becomes the star legal attraction when his best friend becomes the number-one suspect in the case and finds himself in sore need of a helping hand and an eloquent alibi. 
Paperback from AbeBooks


Common-Law Wife by Karl Kramer
She had to have a man - with or without marriage

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Kaheesh by Nathan Butler

Kaheesh
by Nathan Butler (Jerry Sohl)
1973 Fawcett


A family on vacation runs into a Hinduish holy man, Kaheesh.  The husband wants to study under him before becoming sick.  The wife is forced to sleep with Kaheesh or he will psychically increase her husbands fever.  Turns out she was his lover from previous incarnations.

Lots of telling, because good lord there's nothing to show.  The novel is packaged as a combination of sleaze and horror, and fails miserably on both fronts.  A titch of anxiety with Kaheesh influencing the family, nothing as scary as grandma giving all her money to a televangelist.  Tame sex sequences - after she gets back with her husband she shows her shameless adventurous side by having sex in the shower.

Nathan Butler is the name science fiction write Jerry Sohl used when writing sleaze, all of which has been reissued in ebook form.

Available for Kindle from Amazon

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

TM Gallery: Movie Posters


13 aka Eye of the Devil
On Amazon Video


The Italian Connection
The second film in Fernando Di Leo’s Milieu Trilogy focuses on Luca Carnali, a small-time mobster and pimp who has been set up by his gangland boss. When a shipment of heroin disappears between Italy and New York, Carnali is framed for the theft. Carnali is pursued through Milan by a pair of merciless American hit men – played by Henry Silva and Woody Strode, and referenced by Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction (1994) – whom mistakenly believe that he has stolen a drugs shipment. Following the murder of his wife, the hunted becomes the hunter as Carnali takes his revenge on his boss, the hit men and anyone else who stands in his way. 
On Amazon Video


Invasion of the Vampires
A doctor and his assistant hunt down Count Frankenhausen, a vampire who is terrorizing the community. 

Monday, December 3, 2018

TM Gallery: VHS Covers


Ghost Keeper
A group of three friends on a snowmobiling trip find themselves stranded at an abandoned lodge isolated in the mountains. They discover that an old woman resides in the hotel, along with an evil entity that she is keeping in the basement.
On Amazon Video  


Moon of the Wolf
After several locals are viciously murdered, a Louisiana sheriff starts to suspect he may be dealing with a werewolf. 
On Amazon Video


Satan’s Black Wedding

Sunday, December 2, 2018

TM Gallery: Pulp Hero


The Spider: Voyage of the Coffin Ship
Coffins and gold lay side by side in the strong-room of a liner that was sailing to its doom. Aboard as a guest is a disguised Richard Wentworth, who dons once more The SPIDER's dusty cloak and well-oiled guns for an epic battle at sea. Old Captain Homan won't tolerate any delays-the Treasury Department has sent orders not to delay the arrival of the gold bullion-but a merciless pirate, known only as 'The Baron', has a different agenda. The killing begins at dockside and doesn't cease until The SPIDER's confrontation with The Baron-a confrontation that could end with The SPIDER's burial at sea! 
Reprint from Amazon


The Shadow: The Yellow Band


The Spider: The Spider and the Scarlet Surgeon

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Ninja The Violent Sorcerer

Ninja The Violent Sorcerer


Sometimes it looks like Godfrey Ho/Tomas Tang is inching towards making an actual movie instead of editing in ninja fights to a crime drama.  Here, most of the footage is original, consisting of battles between ninjas and hopping vampires.

For once it looks like he edited in a decent movie, a gambling-fu comedy The Stunning Gambling, which I'll need to track down.


Thursday, November 29, 2018

Author Overview: Sidney Williams

Sidney Williams came in at the tail end of the horror paperback boom, writing several titles for Pinnacle.  As the adult market dried up and the young adult books grew, he published more titles under the name Michael August for Zebra, two in the Scream series.  All of his titles are currently available in ebook, and he has resumed writing horror fiction.  Find him at https://sidisalive.com/



Azarius (1989): In the small town of Ainsley, Louisiana, a terrible evil has been let loose--a deadly force that has already brutally murdered a priest and is now moving in on a young victim.



Night Brothers (1989): The drought-stricken Louisiana town of Bristol Springs was turning into a living grave. Little by little its desperate citizens were watching their dreams die. But the terrible blight was bringing something else to life--a deadly horror far worse than any earthly bane. A vampire as old as time with powers greater than mere legend, she summoned the beasts of the night to serve her foul will. Fierce, relentless, they made humans their unnatural prey, leaving them helpless victims of her endless blood-thirst...


Blood Hunter (1990): Legends abound about hideous creatures who live in the swamps near Aimsley, Louisiana. They’ve picked up the name Mormo, and they are said to be terrifying. but Jag Walker and Debra Blane discover the creatures are at the root of a larger conspiracy as they begin a search for her missing brother. As they unravel ancient secrets and modern evil, they find they must confront a nightmare.



Gnelfs (1991): What seem to be nightmares about Heaven's favorite cartoon characters soon lead Gab to a stranger paranormal conspiracy focused on revenge. She's faced with a living nightmare in which friends die and dangerous sorcery is at work.



When Darkness Falls (1992): Unconcerned by the series of wolf attacks that have terrorized the community, a teacher takes a job in Petittville and meets Charlie, a shy misfit who believes the wolf attacks are part of an ancient legend.



Deadly Delivery (1993, as Michael August): As summer approaches, Derek Cliver and his friends join a mail-order club that allows them to create their own monsters and "dispose" of their enemies, but The Terror Club turns frighteningly real.




New Year's Evil (1994, as Michael August): Determined to correct the behavior of Bran Hatten, the school bully, Tess Ryan and her friends at Penbrook High ask Charisse Bienville, rumored to be a witch, to help--and are shocked when bad things start happening.



The Gift (as Michael August): When you're down in the dumps, there's no better pick-me-up than a surprise present. That's why Veronica Mallory's father has just bought her a dollhouse that looks incredibly life-like. At first, Veronica is thrilled with the ancient treasure . . . until it starts having a violent effect on anyone who comes near.

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

TM Gallery: Men's Adventure Paperbacks


Apache 4: The Death Train by William M. James
Paperback from AbeBooks


Chant by David Cross
John Sinclair, a masterful black belt warrior-for-hire, is pursued by Bai, the sensei who originally trained John and perhaps the only man who can stop him 
Paperback from Amazon


The Executioner 370: Dark Alliance
From the lazy heat of Miami to the steamy Colombian jungles, Mack Bolan is on the trail of a missing American journalist. The woman was close to exposing the key players in a dangerous drug cartel, and Bolan figures they snatched her to protect their illicit empire. Each step pulls him further into an unforgiving world of guns and violence until he himself is captured.

The vicious drug czar responsible for Bolan's plight reveals a carefully planned conspiracy that could topple a government…and an entire nation. Tortured and beaten, Bolan is only seconds away from escape…or death. His only advantage: the enemy isn't banking on the unrelenting force known as The Executioner.