Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:41PM8 comments ›
Tue Oct 14, 2008 — by Robert Greenberger
New Lester Dent Novel Found
Crime Story to be Published in 2009

We adore Hard Case Crime and their line of hardboiled crime and mystery tales from new and famous authors. Founder Charles Ardai just announced that he will publish, for the first time ever, a Lester Dent novel, Honey in his Mouth. The creator of Doc Savage had written the story intended for the Gold Medal line of books that are a direct ancestor to Hard Case.
Similarly, a previously unpublished Roger Zelazny mystery, Dead Man’s Brother, will finally see the light of day in February, the first new Zelazny novel in 15 years. Found more than 30 years after it was written, it’s the only new book by the author since his death a decade ago. The breathless back cover copy tells us: “Once an art smuggler, now a respectable art dealer, Ovid Wiley awoke to find his former partner stabbed to death on his gallery floor. That was strange enough—but when a CIA agent showed up to spring him from NYPD custody, things got a lot stranger.
“Now the CIA is offering to clear up the murder charge, but only in return for a favor: They want Ovid to fly to Vatican City and trace the trail of a renegade priest who has gone missing with millions in church funds. What’s the connection? The priest’s lover, a woman Ovid knew in his smuggling days... “Those who’ve read early copies have been effusive with their praise.
Now out, is The First Quarry, featuring Max Allan Collins’ early crime character. He wrote his first Quarry book in 1976 and has periodically revisited the character ever since, most recently in last year’s Hard Case release, The Last Quarry. This book, the eighth, goes all the way back to the hitman’s beginning.
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Comments (8)
mike weber (12:25 AM on Wed Oct 15, 2008)
Can't say i'm particularly thrilled by the thought of a new Lester Dent novel.
Or a Harry Whittington.
Or a Michael Avallone.
Or a Peter Leslie...
Keith R.A. DeCandido (12:59 AM on Wed Oct 15, 2008)
Uhm, this isn't the first new Zelazny novel in 15 years. His completion of one of Alfred Bester's unifinished manuscripts, Psychoshop, was published by Vintage only 10 years ago, in June 1998. I know because it was part of the reissuing of some of Bester's work that I edited (which also included reissues of The Stars My Destinationand The Demolished Man, and a short-story collection called Virtual Unrealities) published by Vintage in the late 1990s.
mike weber (3:28 AM on Wed Oct 15, 2008)
OTOH, it is the first all-Zelazney, right?
Keith R.A. DeCandido (10:25 PM on Wed Oct 15, 2008)
In 15 years? Seems unlikely, since Zelazny was still alive 15 years ago.
I'm not sure specifically -- I only know about Psychoshop because I edited it.....
mike weber (4:48 AM on Thu Oct 16, 2008)
you're right. My younger brother and RZ got to be pretty good friends in Zelazny's later years - i remember his story of watching "Damnation Alley" together late one night - and they met when Zelazny complimented Dave on "Path of the Fury" as they were autographing at a con in Virginia...
Dave (5:48 AM on Wed Oct 15, 2008)
The cover for The First Quarry looks like it was heavily inspired by a Frank Frazetta drawing.
mike weber (6:51 AM on Wed Oct 15, 2008)
Actually, it looks like a standard Gold Medal or Signet paperback from the 1960s/1970s
Dave (10:39 AM on Wed Oct 15, 2008)
Well, I have a picture in one of my books which looks almost exactly like this cover. Perhaps his drawing was a homage to those paperback covers.