Spillane

Name: Spillane (eBook)
Brand: The Mysterious Press
SKU: 392934
Price: 17.99 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly

Spillane

King of Pulp Fiction

Max Allan Collins

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Description

There has never been a full-length biography of Mickey Spillane, the most popular and influential mystery writer of his era—until now.

Beginning in 1947 with I, the Jury, and continuing with his next six novels, Spillane quickly amassed a readership in the tens of millions, becoming the bestselling novelist in the history of American publishing. Surrounded by controversy for the overt violence and suggestive sexual content of his iconic Mike Hammer private eye novels, Spillane was loathed by critics but beloved by his readers.

There is, however, more to Spillane's life than the books. He also starred as Hammer in a movie, was a circus performer, worked with the FBI in capturing a notorious criminal, and starred in Miller Light beer commercials that were so popular they ran for a quarter of a century.

Max Allan Collins became Spillane's friend and collaborator, continuing the Mike Hammer series for years after the author's death, building upon unfinished manuscripts the writer left behind. Now, with co-author James Traylor, Collins has produced the first comprehensive and authoritative profile of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. It is a must-read for any fan of the author—or of the generations of crime writers that were influenced by his work.

Genres

Literary FiguresBiography & AutobiographyHistorical

Pages400

Released2023

LanguageEnglish

PublisherThe Mysterious Press

ISBN9781613163801

SellerSimon & Schuster

About the author(s)

Max Allan Collins (b. 1948, Muscatine, Iowa) was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2017. He is the author of the Shamus Award–winning Nathan Heller historical detective novels and the innovative Quarry series, recently adapted for TV by Cinemax. Road to Perdition, his graphic novel (with artist Richard Piers Rayner), became an Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks. His other comics work includes the Dick Tracy comic strip (1977–1993), Batman, and his own Ms. Tree and Wild Dog (both co-created with artist Terry Beatty).

Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of The Mysterious Press (1975); MysteriousPress.com (2011), an electronic-book publishing company; and New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop (1979). He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars (for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, 1977, and The Lineup, 2010), and lifetime achievement awards from NoirCon and The Strand Magazine. He has edited more than 70 anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.

Reviews

"Spillane almost single-handedly created the market for 'pocket books' in the late 1940s, and he was one of the first authors media-savvy enough to promote himself as a character."

Eddie Muller, host of Noir Alley

"A full-dress biography of the most polarizing practitioner of 20th-century crime fiction. . .. Fans who've been waiting for a life of Spillane will gobble this up."

"Illuminating . . . This definitive work is indispensable for any fan of the revolutionary Spillane and his two-fisted novels."

"A knockout biography . . . A thoroughly engrossing life story and an indispensable account of the rise of paperback publishing."