Tuesday, February 8, 2011

"The Magic Pen Wiper"


Big Ben Blagwell had whored and boozed and brawled his way through every two-bit dive in the South Seas, but he hadn’t really hit rock bottom until that day he strolled into a little place down Baguio way on the isle of Luzon, a little joint called the Magic Pen Wiper.

The Magic Pen Wiper, by Horace P. Sternwall; a Popular Library paperback original, 1952 (republished as Port of Passion, by "Hank Peter Savage", a “Perma Book Original”, 1954).

(Painting by Mort Kunstler. Scroll down the right-hand column of this page to find a listing of links to the opening passages of some other fine but sadly out-of-print novels by Horace P. Sternwall.)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

During the past week or two I've been too overwhelmed to notice your new serial, Dan. Or excuse me, Horace. Nice contrast between your prose and poetry. One has no time for games; the other uses words trippingly.

Dan Leo said...

Aw, I'll pass on your comment to Horace, Kathleen!