I'm not sure anybody would actually call this music but...

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Boiled... hard.

True bliss probably comes in many shapes and forms but this morning it comes with the knowledge that I've spent the last couple of hours choosing which re-released OOP pulp fiction novels I should order from the Book Depository shop in the UK. I ended up with the 6 titles you see in the cover scans here. All are from the awesome HARDCASE CRIME BOOKS publishing label (located in the US).



For a while last year and during the early months of 2011 I feared HARDCASE CRIME BOOKS were calling it quits; I feared bankruptcy as so many other companies have closed down due to the recent recession. Most of their early books were going out of print and, actually, yes the label were in trouble as their publisher Dorchester publishing house folded 18 months ago.



Luckily HARDCASE CRIME BOOKS have recently (well, 6 months ago but the update pace here is slooow - as I'm sure you've realised by now) managed to strike a deal with Titan Books in the UK so from now on the books are gonna be UK editions (I have no idea if the coming releases are going to be published in the US simultaneously by Titan or if they're going to export the UK editions to the US or whatever and quite frankly I don't give a rat's ass. What is of major fucken importance here is that the old books are going to stay IN print and new ones are going to be printed (from November of this year). Which country they're going to be published in is not really important. New HARDCASE CRIME books! Yay!! Spiffy!!!



The books I've ordered from Book Depo are new editions but whether they are newly printed or from Dorchester's old stock I don't know. I guess I'll find out when they're here. If you're interested in old-skool hard-boiled crime fiction I can only recommend that you check out some of the releases from HARDCASE CRIME BOOKS. Out of the 60+ books they've released so far I have only got 11 of them so I can't really comment on how good they all are but if nothing else the covers are truly awesome!



Fortunately HARDCASE are gong-ho on old crime pulp mags and the covers certainly show!! Getting a book from HCCB is like stepping into a book store in 1957 and picking up a cool pulp mag. Hmm, it's 8:34 in the morning here but I already feel like giving one of my "Back From the Grave" or "Teenage Shut-down" records a spin to set the tone. You should do the same! xD xD xD
(and do check out my old entries labelled "pulp"!)



PS: most of the HARDCASE CRIME BOOKS are 30-50% off at Book Depository at the moment so there's a great deal to save + free postage anywhere in the world (and they take PayPal)!! :D