Paperback Parade #94

PAPERBACK PARADE #94, August 2016. $15.00 (U.S.A.), from Gary Lovisi, Gryphon Books, P.O. Box280209, Brooklyn, New York, 11228-0209. This 100-page issue contains articles by Gary Lovisi, Bill Crider, Richard A. Lupoff, Richard Greene, Tom Johnson, Richard L. Kellogg, Graham Andrews, and Philip Harbottle. With articles on King Kong, Milton K. Osaki, Matchless Paperbacks, Earl Norman Spy Series, Philip Wylie, PEC Sleaze Spy Series, Isaac Asimov, and much more. It is also filled with paperback covers in color. The is the issue that contains Tom Johnson’s 11 page coverage of the Earl Norman’s Burns Bannion paperback series.

Hang Me In Hong Kong

HANG ME IN HONG KONG by Earl Norman. This is a Rick Shaw novel, published in 1976 by JADE ORIENT. Earl Norman (Norman Thompson) wasn’t a polished writer, but his novels set in Japan and Hong Kong were lots of fun. Thompson, a karate black belt himself, wrote excellent fight scenes, with some nice plots. Berkley Books published six of his Burns Bannion novels in the US, then Norman self published five of them in Japan, plus three not released in the US, and sold them through the military bases PX and Stars & Stripes to US military personnel in the Orient. Nine novels in all, featuring Burns Bannion, then a final novel featuring Rick Shaw that is extremely rare. Does anyone have this book for sale, trade, or will photocopy it for me if they don’t want to sell it?

Earl Norman Thrill Books

This is my favorite cover in the Earl Norman Thrill Books. This is #4 (ERLE Edition), “Kill Me In Shinjuku”. Published by Berkley in the US, Earl Norman (Norman Thompson) also published the series in Japan as ERLE editions. Thompson, himself a karate expert worked in Japan after WWII, and had connections to the military Stars & Stripes bookstores, and got his books placed on the racks all over the Far East. He was an actor and stuntman, played opposite John Wayne in The Barbarian And The Geisha. The nine books in the Burns Bannion series are a lot of fun. Berkley started the series in 1958 with “Kill Me In Tokyo”.

Tom

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/Action_Sixties/

http://pulpden.blogspot.com/

Kill Me In Tokyo

Kill Me In Tokyo by Earl Norman (Norman Thompson) from 1958. This novel kicked off the Burns Bannion series, though the karate champ didn't catch on until the 1960s. Only nine thrill-packed stories were published by Berkley, followed by Erle Editions in Japan. After nine stories set in Japan, Norman changed the locale to Hong Kong, and published a final novel, Hang Me In Hong Kong, featuring a new character named Rick Shaw.