Pulp Magazine Authors and Literature Fans discussion

The late Donald Hamilton is a writer whom I think deserves a thread of his own in this group! Getting his start back in the 50s, he wrote noir-influenced spy/espionage fiction that's very much in the pulp tradition, as well as traditional Westerns that have been praised for their quality and accuracy (though I haven't read any of those personally). He's best known for his Matt Helm series (which won plaudits from no less a respected critic than Anthony Boucher) featuring a tough, no-nonsense, cynical and lethal American spy/assassin --but Helm isn't always as amoral and heartless as he seems, which makes him an interesting protagonist.

I liked the Helm series opener, Death of a Citizen, and can recommend it. A later Helm novel, Murderers' Row, got four stars from me, as did his non-Helm standalone novel, The Steel Mirror. (If anybody's interested, I can link to my reviews.) Most members of this group, I think, would enjoy his work, so if you aren't already acquainted with him, give him a try!

The best news is that as of next month, they are going to start selling reprints of the first two books & the third will be available in August. You can find them on Amazon.com, just search books for "Matt Helm" & they'll be your top 3 choices.

IF they continue to reprint the rest of the series over the next few years as planned, we'll FINALLY get to read the last Matt Helm book. Hamilton wrote it, but the publishers felt it had been too many years, so the entire series would need to be reprinted. They didn't think there would be enough interest, so they declined. Let's hope enough of us support the project. I've been dying to read the final one & my original paperbacks are about 50 years old so they don't have many more reads left in them.

I've read a number of Helm novels and have enjoyed them a lot. I've recently read a couple of Hamilton's old westerns. One of them being . They're probably not too hard to find in the used bookstores out there.

Thanks for the info on Donald Hamilton. I've added him to my lengthy list for my used book store trips...

Hamilton's westerns are excellent. I have several of them & some were free on this site:
http://www.mmtz.us/dh/
It seems that's no longer an option, although you can see the covers.

Two other sites that are pretty good for news & link to other sites are:
http://www.benish-industries.com/hami...
http://www.matthelmbooks.com/author.html

I have read many of Hamilton's "Matt Helm" series and recently reread some that I won on ebay. They still wear well after all these years. He was a much tougher spy than most back in the 60's. Tougher than Bond. I also remember a book called "Line of Fire" which I thoroughly enjoyed as a teenager about an assasination attempt that was interrupted by a girl. I have seen it on ebay and will probably buy it so I can reread it.

The first two are now out, the next two due out in August & October. I've read & reviewed them. No editing at all so far as I can tell.