Book Review: Full Service

celebrating Pride Month 2019

Book Review: 'Full Service' by Scotty Bowers

5 / 5 Stars

The Queens were the most demanding. A straight guy would merely ask for a blonde or a brunette or a girl with a cute figure or big tits or one who was good at some specific sexual technique like giving a fantastic blow job, but gay guys were a lot choosier. They not only wanted someone tall or blonde or very good-looking, he also had to be suntanned or hairy or smooth or muscular.....The list could go on and on. And you know what ? I was able to provide them with precisely what they needed.....My little black book had only names and numbers.......Everything that people liked....was committed to my memory. 

Here at the PorPor Books Blog, we like to celebrate Pride Month by highlighting a fiction or nonfiction book that illuminates the LGBTQ Experience. 

For June 2019, our selection is 'Full Service', a memoir by Scotty Bowers.

This trade paperback edition (288 pp) of the book was published by Grove Press in 2012. It features two inserts of black-and-white photographs.

'Full Service' made Scotty Bowers into an overnight sensation, and in 2018 a documentary of his life and times, titled Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, was released to considerable acclaim.

(Today, at age 96, Bowers remains in reasonably good health).

The book's early chapters describe Bowers's childhood, growing up in considerable poverty in the Midwest. His memories of his interactions with adults during the Depression years are not for the squeamish, although Bowers describes them with a mixture of aplomb and affection. 

After serving in the Pacific Theater in World War Two, in 1946 Bowers took a job at the Richfield gas station on Hollywood Boulevard. Many celebrities stopped at the station for gas and repair work and Bowers (who describes himself as bisexual, but with a preference for women) soon learned that more than a few of these celebrities were looking for various pleasures, in addition to gas and oil. 

Before long, Bowers was supplying his male and female friends to all manner of Hollywood actors, producers, directors, tycoons, and magnates for twenty bucks a trick; in the late 1940s, that was very good money indeed.

In roughly chronological order, Bowers relates his adventures in 'turning tricks' for one celebrity after another, all the way up to the late 1960s. There's plenty of eyebrow-raising, lough out loud anecdotes and gossip, so much so that, rather than give away any spoilers, I'll just say that 'Full Service' is an engaging read. Each page brings some new revelation, so don't be surprised if you find yourself finishing the book in just two or three sittings.

Along with its impact as an expose, the book offers a portrait of the Golden Age of Southern California and Los Angeles, when smog, gangbangers, the homeless, rats, typhus outbreaks, exorbitant taxes,, catastrophic wildfires, and clogged freeways were as yet unknown. By so doing it evokes a melancholy tone: those days are gone forever. 

Summing up, you can't go wrong with 'Full service', both as a Pride Month read, and as a fascinating memoir.

Sanjulian: Master of Fantasy Art

Sanjulian: Master of Fantasy Art
Steve Morger / Big Wow! Art
March 2019

Sanjulian: Master of Fantasy Art was Kickstarted by Steve Morger back in 2018, and the limited number of copies produced when it was published back in March evaporated seemingly overnight.

I was fortunate to pick up a copy from Stuart Ng Books in California. The book is now only available from those early purchasers who are willing to part with their copies (which seems unlikely). 

This book fills an unfortunate gap: for an artist who is one of the best-known figures in fantasy illustration, there is a real dearth of art books devoted to Sanjulian.

In 2001 publisher SQP released a 72-page trade paperback, titled Sanjulian: Master Visionary, that primarily covered the artist's black-and-white artwork.

According to the Tebeosfera website, Big Wow! previously published a book of Sanjulian art in 2008, but I could find very little information about it.

In 2014 Underwood Books published a collection of Sanjulian's 'barbarian' artwork, but at 48 pages, Sword's Edge: Paintings Inspired by the Works of Robert E. Howard could do little more than give but the briefest glimpse of the artist's catalog.

So, this 2019 edition from Big Wow! stands as the definitive collection of Sanjulian art. At 9 x 12" and 312 pages, the trade paperback edition is a well-made book, with thick paper stock and good-quality reproductions of the artwork.

Sanjulian, the pseudonym of the Spanish artist Manuel Pérez Clemente (b. 1941), is of course very well known to anyone who read fantasy, sci-fi, and horror paperbacks and magazines over the span of decades from the 60s to the present day (Sanjulian continues to do some commercial art work, but primarily produces commissioned pieces for collectors).

This book is an overview of his commercial and studio art over this five-decade span of time. It's organized by subject matter, with chapters devoted to depictions of characters from film and televsion, classic Monsters, Pop Culture icons, barbarians, chain-mail-bikini chicks, Vampirella, and femme fatales.

Many of the pieces showcased in Sanjulian: Master of Fantasy Art are commissioned works done in the past 10 years for collectors of fantasy and sci-fi art. While these pieces are impressive in the sense of fulfilling the dreams of affluent Fanboys, I was hoping for a greater inclusion of Sanjulian's works for the magazine and paperback markets of the 70s and 80s. It may be that Morger had difficulties in securing the rights to reproduce these works (it appears that Sanjulian did not retain the original art he did for many of these commercial assignments).

One thing that emerges from the book is Sanjulian's versatility. His paintings for the covers of Western novels show his skill in rendering that genre:

The (unfortunately) few studio art pieces showcased in the book demonstrate his skill at traditional portraiture:

Summing up, in the absence of any further printings, I suspect that any copies of Sanjulian: Master of Fantasy Art that ever come up for sale are going to have very dear asking prices. If you are a fan of Sanjulian's art, your best hopes probably revolve around the possibility that a major publisher like Titan Comics, or Dark Horse Books, or Schiffer will elect to release an edition of this book for wider distribution.

Book Review: O-Zone

Book Review: 'O-Zone' by Paul Theroux

1 / 5 Stars

'O-Zone' first was published in hardback in 1986. This Ballantine Books paperback (536 pp) was published in October 1987.

'O-Zone' is set in the early 21st century, after severe ecological and economic collapses have converted most of the U.S. into thinly populated rural settlements where technology has stayed at a 20th century level. The exception is New York City, where the wealthy elite - referred to as Owners - live within luxury skyscrapers clustered on Manhattan Island. Outside Manhattan, what used to be the greater New York metropolitan district is a polluted wasteland occupied by impoverished Skells, Roaches, and Trolls. 

As the novel opens, a group of Owners, including the brothers Hooper and Hardy Allbright; the latter's autistic, genius son Fisher; and assorted wives and friends, embrace a once-in-a-lifetime adventure: a foray into the wasteland known as O-Zone. 

O-Zone used to be the state of Missouri, before a vaguely defined catastrophe involving underground nuclear waste led to the mass evacuation of the state, and its conversion to a prohibited zone that can only be entered by those holding special permits.

For Owners like the Allbrights and their acquaintances, O-Zone is a mythic place where cannibalistic mutants (referred to as 'aliens') and rabid wildlife skulk in the dense forests and roam the ruined towns and cities. Even though the Allbrights travel in a heavily armed VTOL plane, bringing with them laser perimeters, environmental hazard suits, and the latest in modern small arms, the camping trip brings with it the allure of danger.

But events transpiring in O-Zone soon leave the Allbrights with a changed sense of the world and their place in it. Hooper Allbright finds himself obsessed with the alien girl he glimpsed sprinting through the forests of O-Zone. Hardy Allbright sees O-Zone as the ideal location for a terraforming scheme that will be the capstone of his career. And Fisher Allbright will discover what it's like to be uprooted from a life of privilege.......

'O-Zone' has an interesting premise, but that can't save it from being one of the most boring reads I've had in the past several years. I routinely had to struggle to finish this book.

At 536 pages, it's badly overwritten, a failing I've noticed in those few other fiction works by author Paul Theroux I've attempted to read. Practically every paragraph is overloaded with empty sentences; hardly any expository sentence goes unaccompanied by several additional sentences that laboriously disclose to the reader what a particular character is thinking or feeling (for Theroux, it's always 'Tell', and never 'Show').

Things are salvaged a bit in the final 150 pages, as some of the characters embark on a modern-day Homeric Journey across the hazardous landscapes of the Central and Eastern U.S. But in my opinion, it's too little a reward for having to plow through the preceding 386 pages.

[An argument could be made that 'O-Zone' is in fact not a sci-fi novel, but rather, a ponderous satire of the state of American society in the mid-80s. As wealthy, Jewish, New York City dwellers, the Allbrights and their friends have the same parochial mindset as did their 20th century counterparts, whose perception of the world outside the boundaries of Manhattan was mocked in a classic 1976 New Yorker cover, 'View of the World from 9th Avenue', by Saul Steinberg.]

The verdict ? For all its cover blurbs and approbations from 'serious' writers and critics intrigued to see a 'literary' author like Theroux dabble in the ghetto of sci-fi, 'O-Zone' is a dud. There are plenty of 80s sci-fi novels that are more rewarding reads.

One on One publicity still

One on One
Publicity Still
1977

One on One was a feature film released in 1977. Robbie Benson starred as a freshman basketball player who discovers that the game at the college level is more challenging than he expected.

In this publicity still associated with the film, number 44 is Darrell 'Dash' Crofts, and number 14 is Jim Seals (Seals and Crofts composed and sang the song 'My Fair Share' for the film's soundtrack).

Number 52 is composer and actor Paul Williams, perhaps best known for playing Little Enos in the movie Smokey and the Bandit.

Number 10 is Robbie Benson. 

I don't know who number 41 is.......he is familiar, but I can't place him.

Book Review: Falling Toward Forever

Book Review: 'Falling Toward Forever' by Gordon Eklund

2 / 5 Stars

'Falling Toward Forever' (190 pp) was published by Laser Books / Harlequin in 1975. The cover art is by Kelly Freas.

Calvin Waller is a mercenary fighting on the side of an un-named insurgent group in an un-named African country. As the novel opens the insurgent army is about to mount an attack on a government outpost. As one of the most experienced and capable soldiers in the insurgency, Waller is tasked with securing the arms depot in the center of the government compound.

The attack is launched, and amid the carnage Waller fights his way to his objective. But then things go drastically wrong: accompanied by a pair of battle participants, Waller finds himself teleported instantly to a strange landscape. There, another conflict is underway, and Waller soon finds himself a key figure in yet another 'war for liberation'.

The bigger question - who, or what, has subjected Waller and his companions to the teleportation - always looms in the background. And when Calvin Waller finally meets the architect of his strange journeys through time and space, a settling of accounts is by no means assured.........

I picked up 'Falling Toward Forever' hoping it was one of those Laser Books titles that turns out to be an overlooked gem of sci-fi from the mid-70s. 

Unfortunately, 'Falling' is a dud.

In its favor, the plot is a straightforward adventure tale, highly reliant on dialogue. The hero, Calvin Waller, has the cynical, ironic humor that calls to mind the protagonists of Jason dinAlt and Slippery Jim diGriz in Harry Harrison's novels.

But I found the closing chapters, and their explanation for the strange phenomenon afflicting Calvin Waller, to be unconvincing. 

By 1975, Eklund had published a number of novels and short stories, including All Times Possible (1974), which also addresses the subject of time travel and alternate histories. So the failure of 'Falling Toward Forever' to impress has little to do with any lack of experience on the part of the author. Rather, it stems more from a perfunctory stance on Eklund's part: this one was written just to pay the bills, and not much more. 

For Eklund completists only.

The Tower King episodes 1 - 3

The Tower King
episodes 1 - 3
Alan Hebden (writer)
Jose Ortiz (artist)
Eagle (UK) 1982

This is another hard-to-find gem of British comics.

'The Tower King' was serialized in 24, three-page chapters in the UK Boy's Paper Eagle in 1982. Featuring a post-apocalyptic storyline crafted by veteran 2000 AD writer Alan Hebden (Meltdown Man, Harry20 on the Rock), and outstanding artwork by Jose Ortiz, 'The Tower King' was essentially unknown to American comics readers. Which is unfortunate, because is as good as (if not superior to) many US comics of the same era.

In 2014 the UK specialty publisher Hibernia Comics issued an 80-page compilation of the entire run of 'The Tower King', but only a small number of copies were produced, making it a genuine rarity.

Posted below are the first three episodes of 'The Tower King'. 

episodes 4 - 6 are here.
episodes 7 - 9 are here.
episodes 10 - 14 are here.
episodes 15 - 19 are here.

episodes 19 - 24 are here.

In the Box in the Back of the Store

In the Box in the Back of the Store

Last weekend I traveled to a comic book shop in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It's only about 70 minutes away from where I live, but once you reach the main drag (i.e., Route 3) leading into town, driving in Fredericksburg on a Saturday afternoon is an exercise in self-flagellation. It's all about stopping at intersections every 100 yards  .........with a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer right in front of you going at 10 miles an hour, and gassing you with its exhaust fumes.

The area's population has grown so exponentially that the existing road network can't handle it. And it's only going to get worse, as new subdivisions sprout up as far west as Chancellorsville and the WIlderness, giving the people who choose to live there a 2 1/2 hour one-way commute north to the metro DC area (if there hasn't been an accident on Northbound I-95, that is).

Anyways........... in the back of the store, on a table loaded with old cardboard boxes containing old books, I found some treasures that made the hassle of driving worthwhile. These all were used books, now rare and hard to find, printed in the 70s and 80s from publishers like Catalan and NBM. They had that peculiar smell that signals that they came from a smoker's home...........

Celtia (1975), printed in Ireland by De Danann Press of Dublin, is the first book to showcase (albeit only in black and white) the art of Jim Fitzpatrick.

Lakota (1996), published by Treasure Chest Books, Tucson, Arizona, is from Brazilian artist Sergio Macedo. If you read Heavy Metal magazine at all during the 1970s, then you'll recognize Macedo as the creator of the fantastic comics 'Psychorock' and 'Telefield'.

Tex Arcana (1987) from Catalan Communications compiles a set of strips that first appeared in Heavy Metal in the early 80s. I can't say I found the tongue-in-cheek 'Gothic Western' storyline of Tex Arcana to be all that captivating but there's no denying the meticulous artistic skill employed by John Findley.

Richard Corben: Flights into Fantasy is a real obscurity. It was issued in 1981 by publisher Thumb Tack Books. Copiously illustrated in black and white and color, it's an overview of the comics, album covers, book covers, magazine covers, and other works Corben did up to the early 80s.

The Great Walls of Samaris (1987), from NBM, is an English translation of a 1983 bande dessinee from the Belgian writer Benoit Peeters and artist francois Schuiten. 'Great Walls' is the first volume in the 'The Obscure Cities' series. It also will be familiar to readers of early 80s issues of Heavy Metal. 

Then, there is Views (1975), by Roger Dean. Dean created the publishing imprint 'Dragon's Dream' in order to make real his idea for a well-produced book that would showcase his artistic endeavors. Views of course went on to become a staple of the well-read 70's stoner's library, sitting on the shelf alongside such titles as Eschatus by Bruce Pennington, Beauty and the Beast by Chris Achilleos, and Visions by Walter Hopps.

So there you have it............you never know what you might find when you look through those battered cardboard boxes in the back of the store................

Book Review: Tales to Astonish

Book Review: 'Tales to Astonish' by Ronin Ro

4 / 5 Stars

'Tales to Astonish' (298 pp) was published in hardback by Bloomsbury in 2004. 

Author Ronin Ro (I have a faint suspicion that the name is a pseudonym) has written a number of nonfiction works, many of them on rap music and rap musicians. In 2000 he  published a novel, titled 'Street Sweeper', which has a tie-in CD (?!) of rap songs by various artists, including Ludacris and Ja Rule.  

'Tales' is a biography of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the two men who, of course, were responsible for bringing in the Marvel Age of Comics with their collaborative effort on the inaugural issue of Fantastic Four in 1961, and the string of innovative titles that followed. 

Ro covers the lives of each man, from their birth in modest circumstances in New York City, up to 2004 (Jack Kirby died in 1994, ten years after the book was published, while Stan Lee of course passed away in late 2018).

I found the book to be a very engaging read, one that not only showcases Kirby and Lee, but also the other artists they interacted with, and businessmen that they worked for. Ro documents he triumphs and conflicts that characterized the collaboration between the two men in an objective manner, leaving it for the reader to decide whether Kirby's multiple grievances against Lee and Marvel were as justifiable as they have been made out to be.

The book is rich with 'insider' anecdotes that illuminate what went on 'behind the scenes' in the offices of Marvel and DC. 

Where 'Tales' fails to achieve a five-star rating is in its lack of detailed sourcing; there are no endnotes or footnotes. The book's brief bibliography states that Ronin Ro interviewed a large number of Kirby and Lee's associates; however, there are no details given on when and where the interviews were conducted (nor who conducted them), nor whether the interviews were in-person, or generated from email exchanges. 

The book also suffers from a dearth of illustrations. While it's highly likely that Ro faced difficulties in securing permissions from Marvel and DC to reproduce comic book covers and interior art, it's disappointing that he couldn't access even a small number of personal / open source photographs of the major characters. 

Summing up, if you're a fan of Marvel comics, Jack Kirby, or Stan Lee, then 'Tales to Astonish' may be worth picking up (used copies can be had online for modest prices). Just be aware that the lack of detailed sourcing means it has limited value as a reference work.

You Need Friends

You Need Friends
by Larry Watson (story) and Massimo Belardinelli (art)
2000 AD, prog 646 (September 30 1989)

Thin Lizzy: Lizzy Killers

Thin Lizzy: Lizzy Killers
album cover illustration by Jim Fitzpatrick, 1980