The Ramble House Rambler #12
November 8, 2003
Newsletter of Ramble House, publisher of Harry Stephen Keeler and other loons, produced by Fender Tucker, mailed whenever something happens. To be removed from this list, please respond to this message and ask. Fender Tucker, 443 Gladstone Blvd. Shreveport LA 71104, 318-868-8727. (fender@ramblehouse.com)
Thank you one and all for signing up to the new RAMBLER so quickly. I'm sorry I had to ask you to sign up again, and I hope it's the last time I have to ask you.
We have a new Harry Stephen Keeler novel for you, THE TRAP. It was written in 1956 and has never been published in any language until now. Francis M. Nevins supplies a five-page introduction that chronicles the series character, doddering old detective Tuddleton T. Trotter, who also appears in THE BARKING CLOCK and THE MATILDA HUNTER MURDER. Mike Nevins calls this "one of his daffiest late novels". And of course Gavin L. O'Keefe has produced a beautiful dust jacket -- complete with mapback -- for it, which can be see at the Ramble House website. www.ramblehouse.com
Dixilee Whitted, noted Keeler Society member, performed the first edit of THE TRAP and deserves our appreciation. You have no idea how difficult it is to type in a whole novel. In THE TRAP's case, the existing manuscript was so poor that modern techniques like OCRing didn't work.
Next up is the classic Civil War-era novel from 1958, I KILLED LINCOLN AT 10:13! It's a mega-novel so it'll come in two volumes. Due to a couple of lacunae Volume Two's release may follow Volume One's by a month. It'll be like reading a monthly pulp serial. Corina Mangham -- my daughter-in-law -- edited the first volume and and Gavin O'Keefe did the second. By the way, I KILLED LINCOLN AT 10:13! is a true Ramble House book in that parts of it take place in Washington D.C. at the building known as "Ramble House".
To thank you further for your quick sign-up, any orders from you in the next two weeks will include a free copy of a new 40-page booklet written by Gavin O'Keefe and published by Ramble House, THE RAMBLE HOUSE MAPBACKS. It has pictures of the 15 mapback covers created by Gavin, along with text describing how he drew them and what inspired him. The DELL mapbacks from the 40s and 50s were the neatest paperbacks ever -- until Ramble House's books -- and if you haven't heard of them, you need to. They were so much classier than today's thick, $8.99 potboilers that all look and read alike.
Finally, in case you haven't lately seen a list of Ramble House's books, here it is:
RAMBLE HOUSE’S HARRY STEPHEN KEELER WEBWORK MYSTERIES
The Ace of Spades Murder
Adventure in Milwaukee (RH orig.)
The Amazing Web 1
The Amazing Web 2
The Barking Clock
The Book with the Orange Leaves
The Bottle with the Green Wax Seal
The Box from Japan 1
The Box from Japan 2
The Box from Japan 3
The Case of the Canny Killer
The Case of the Flying Hands (RH orig.)
The Case of the Ivory Arrow
The Case of the Jeweled Ragpicker
The Case of the Lavender Gripsack
The Case of the Mysterious Moll
The Case of the 16 Beans
The Case of the Transposed Legs
The Case of the Two Strange Ladies
The Chameleon
The Circus Stealers (RH Orig.)
Cleopatra’s Tears
A Copy of Beowulf (RH orig.)
The Face of the Man From Saturn
Find the Clock
The Five Silver Buddhas
The Flyer Holdup (RH orig.) $12
The 4th King
The Gallows Waits, My Lord! (RH orig.)
The Green Jade Hand
Hallowe’en Nights 1 (Finger, Finger 1)
Hallowe’en Nights 2 (Finger, Finger 2)
Hallowe’en Nights 3 (Behind That Mask)
The Iron Ring
The Man Who Changed His Skin (RH Orig.)
The Man with the Crimson Box
The Man with the Magic Eardrums
The Man with the Wooden Spectacles
The Marceau Case 1
The Marceau Case 2
The Matilda Hunter Murder 1
The Matilda Hunter Murder 2
The Matilda Hunter Murder 3
The Monocled Monster
The Murder of London Lew
The Murdered Mathematician
The Mysterious Card
The Mysterious Ivory Ball of Wong Shing Li (RH orig.)
The Mysterious Mr. I
The Mystery of the Fiddling Cracksman
The Peacock Fan
The Photo of Lady X (RH Orig.)
The Portrait of Jirjohn Cobb
Report on Vanessa Hewstone (RH orig.)
Riddle of the Travelling Skull
The Scarlet Mummy 1 (RH orig.)
The Scarlet Mummy 2 (RH orig.)
The Search for X-Y-Z 1
The Search for X-Y-Z 2
The Sharkskin Book
Sing Sing Nights
The Six From Nowhere (RH orig.)
The Skull of the Waltzing Clown
The Spectacles of Mr. Cagliostro 1
The Spectacles of Mr. Cagliostro 2
Stand By—London Calling!
The Steeltown Strangler
The Strange Will
Thieves’ Nights
The Tiger Snake
The Trap (RH orig.)
Vagabond Nights 1 (The Defrauded Yeggman)
Vagabond Nights 2 (10 Hours)
The Vanishing Gold Truck
The Voice of the Seven Sparrows
The Washington Square Enigma
When Thief Meets Thief
The White Circle (RH Orig.)
The Wonderful Scheme of Mr. Christopher Thorne 1
The Wonderful Scheme of Mr. Christopher Thorne 2
X. Jones—of Scotland Yard 1
X. Jones—of Scotland Yard 2
Y. Cheung, Business Detective
RAMBLE HOUSE’S OTHER LOONS
A To Izzard: A Harry Stephen Keeler Companion by Fender Tucker — Articles and stories about Harry, by Harry, and in his style. A trade paperback, large-print edition is available. 311 pages
Wild About Harry: Reviews of Keeler Novels edited by Richard Polt & Fender Tucker — 22 super reviews of Keeler works from Keeler News. 195 pages
The Anthony Boucher Chronicles — edited by Francis M. Nevins. All three volumes are available in a trade paperback, large-print edition.
Volume 1 - As Crime Goes By — monthly columns from the SF chronicle. 246 pages
Volume 2 - The Week in Murder — weekly columns and short reviews. 320 pages
Volume 3 - A Bookman’s Buffet — longer reviews and articles. 249 pages
Muddled Mind: Complete Works of Ed Wood, Jr. — David Hayes and Hayden Davis deconstruct the life and works of a mad genius
The Green Odyssey — classic early adventure SF by Keeler Society member Philip José Farmer. 276 pages
Prose Bowl — Futuristic satire on writing — Bill Pronzini & Barry N. Malzberg. 236 pages
Marijuana Girl — classic dope tale from the 50s — N.R. de Mexico. 189 pages
Madman on a Drum — suspense in the Woolrich mold — N.R. de Mexico. 195 pages
Private Chauffeur — three women – one poor ex-pilot — N.R. de Mexico. 234 pages
Kiss the Killer — forgotten non-preachy 1950s potboiler — Joseph Shallitt. 290 pages
The Golden Spike — from the golden age of heroin — Hal Ellson. 340 pages
The Amorous Intrigues & Adventures of Aaron Burr — Surprisingly frank “docu-novel” from the 1800s by Anonymous. 220 pages
I Stole $16,000,000 — true story by cracksman Herbert Emerson Wilson. 220 pages
My First Time: The One Experience You Never Forget — Michael Birchwood — 64 true first-person narratives of how they lost it (complete with details). 390 pages
Tales from the Tower — Subversive fiction by Fender Tucker. 170 pages
Weed, Women and Song — Reminiscences by Fender Tucker. Includes lyrics to all of his original songs and a CD with MP3s of his recordings of them. 203 pages
Fender Tucker
www.ramblehouse.com
fender@ramblehouse.com (PayPal name)
318-868-8727
443 Gladstone Blvd.
Shreveport LA 71104