This has become an annual tradition for me. Around the yuletide season, I reminisce about the life of a book-lover. The true agony is that there's so much to read, too little time. This has been a cataclysmic year for me when it comes to books.
For one thing, I switched my attention to researching the history of Fawcett Gold Medal, the legendary publisher that put paperback originals on the map. There is a story there behind it and its history. For roughly four or five months, I was on a mad, whirlwind course of reading. I not only read interviews and articles regarding Gold Medal, but I spent time researching and reading dozens of Gold Medal's contributors: John D. MacDonald, Wade Miller, Day Keene, Clifton Adams, Peter Rabe, Jim Thompson, Ed Mcbain, Elmore Leonard, and many others. It reminds me of the proverbial situation in which a man keeps digging a pit without a ladder to get himself out. I still have plenty of reading to do. To a smaller extent, I've also been researching another paperback publisher, Lion, which has been noted for publishing a hefty portion of Jim Thompson's work.
These projects are on temporary hiatus because I had to draw my focus on an even bigger task: my wife and I are putting our time into our side-hustle, Monte House Books, LLC. We decided that it was taking too long to attract agents and find the right publishers. Our goal, beyond publishing our own works, is to eventually publish up-and-coming writers and we want to do so without regard for the writers' personal politics. There is such a major focus in the arts these days on woke politics, especially in movies, that it has put a bad taste in my mouth. Pressure from influencers with this mindset amounts to bullying, name-calling, and guilt-placing and it irritates me. It adds up to censorship which should make any writer's blood broil. The last thing I want to do is appease them.
The only things that should matter are if the publisher likes what they publish, think it's good, and believe that they can sell it. Monte House Books currently has two titles in its catalogue: my horror poetry collection A Willing Victim and Other Poems of the Macabre, and my wife Ashlee Montelongo's space opera novel Outshining Reality We plan on publishing speculative fiction including fantasy, horror, and science fiction. We will probably expand into mystery, crime, and westerns. We also want to publish pulps, whether they be reprints or new pulp from contemporaries. The next books on our docket is a collection of love-themed poetry by me, a collection of my horror stories, and my sword-and-sorcery novel. My wife is currently writing her sequel. We also hope to put out some work by obscure horror writers such as Joseph Payne Brennan, Vincent O'Sullivan, and Michael Arlen.
This leads to the last major focus of my reading, writing, and work recently. I have returned to reading the same stuff I was this time last year: The Shadow! I recently read 7 shadow novels in a row, then the first Doc Savage: Man of Bronze, then back to the Shadow in the thrilling novel The Salamanders. The pulps have magnetized me. They comprise an era in American history that I've always been drawn to. Bear in mind, I grew up going to movies such as Dick Tracy, The Shadow, and The Rocketeer in the 90s. I fully intend on reading more Shadow, Savage, the Spider, and other characters such as Secret Agent X, the Crimson Mask, and the Avenger. Last year, I even created my own pulp hero and if the writing doesn't go sour, he will eventually become a Monte House publication. More on him some other time.
This all leads back to one inescapable fact: I have hundreds of books in my backlog to read. Aside from pulps and pulp histories, I have Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life by Phillip Jose Farmer. I have more books by Peter Rabe and the largely unknown Clifton Adams (probably my favorite western writer and a very fine novelist). I have the heist novels of Lionel White and short fiction of Cornell Woolrich. There are literally rows and stacks of stuff I plan on reading. It's maddening and wonderful at the same time. The agony continues! Aaaahhhhh!!!
Written by Nicholas Montelongo
For one thing, I switched my attention to researching the history of Fawcett Gold Medal, the legendary publisher that put paperback originals on the map. There is a story there behind it and its history. For roughly four or five months, I was on a mad, whirlwind course of reading. I not only read interviews and articles regarding Gold Medal, but I spent time researching and reading dozens of Gold Medal's contributors: John D. MacDonald, Wade Miller, Day Keene, Clifton Adams, Peter Rabe, Jim Thompson, Ed Mcbain, Elmore Leonard, and many others. It reminds me of the proverbial situation in which a man keeps digging a pit without a ladder to get himself out. I still have plenty of reading to do. To a smaller extent, I've also been researching another paperback publisher, Lion, which has been noted for publishing a hefty portion of Jim Thompson's work.
These projects are on temporary hiatus because I had to draw my focus on an even bigger task: my wife and I are putting our time into our side-hustle, Monte House Books, LLC. We decided that it was taking too long to attract agents and find the right publishers. Our goal, beyond publishing our own works, is to eventually publish up-and-coming writers and we want to do so without regard for the writers' personal politics. There is such a major focus in the arts these days on woke politics, especially in movies, that it has put a bad taste in my mouth. Pressure from influencers with this mindset amounts to bullying, name-calling, and guilt-placing and it irritates me. It adds up to censorship which should make any writer's blood broil. The last thing I want to do is appease them.
The only things that should matter are if the publisher likes what they publish, think it's good, and believe that they can sell it. Monte House Books currently has two titles in its catalogue: my horror poetry collection A Willing Victim and Other Poems of the Macabre, and my wife Ashlee Montelongo's space opera novel Outshining Reality We plan on publishing speculative fiction including fantasy, horror, and science fiction. We will probably expand into mystery, crime, and westerns. We also want to publish pulps, whether they be reprints or new pulp from contemporaries. The next books on our docket is a collection of love-themed poetry by me, a collection of my horror stories, and my sword-and-sorcery novel. My wife is currently writing her sequel. We also hope to put out some work by obscure horror writers such as Joseph Payne Brennan, Vincent O'Sullivan, and Michael Arlen.
This leads to the last major focus of my reading, writing, and work recently. I have returned to reading the same stuff I was this time last year: The Shadow! I recently read 7 shadow novels in a row, then the first Doc Savage: Man of Bronze, then back to the Shadow in the thrilling novel The Salamanders. The pulps have magnetized me. They comprise an era in American history that I've always been drawn to. Bear in mind, I grew up going to movies such as Dick Tracy, The Shadow, and The Rocketeer in the 90s. I fully intend on reading more Shadow, Savage, the Spider, and other characters such as Secret Agent X, the Crimson Mask, and the Avenger. Last year, I even created my own pulp hero and if the writing doesn't go sour, he will eventually become a Monte House publication. More on him some other time.
This all leads back to one inescapable fact: I have hundreds of books in my backlog to read. Aside from pulps and pulp histories, I have Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life by Phillip Jose Farmer. I have more books by Peter Rabe and the largely unknown Clifton Adams (probably my favorite western writer and a very fine novelist). I have the heist novels of Lionel White and short fiction of Cornell Woolrich. There are literally rows and stacks of stuff I plan on reading. It's maddening and wonderful at the same time. The agony continues! Aaaahhhhh!!!
Written by Nicholas Montelongo
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