Thanks to Joe Kenney for his plug at Glorious Trash.
It was through Joe's highly-entertaining and informative reviews that I first discovered Joseph Rosenberger and the Death Merchant series, back in the early part of 2014. Shortly thereafter, I found a small pile of Death Merchant paperbacks in a used book store in Toronto - and I dove in.
I was immediately intrigued and entertained by Rosenberger's unique writing style, with its bizarre turns of phrase, extended digressions on various social and political topics (sometimes conducted in the middle of vicious gun battles), and its over-the-top and intricate descriptions of violence. All that - and the constant presence of the "Cosmic Lord of Death".
I wanted to know more about this writer, but there was next-to-nothing about him online (although Joe has posted some stuff in the last few years). I have done some research, as well, and will be posting some stuff (such as several letters to the editor from the 1970s) next year. For now, I am in the process of reading Rosenberger's action-adventure books. I know it's been a while since the last DM review, but a post about #70 is coming soon.
There's a site, thedeathmerchant.com, which claims to be selling, or maybe announcing, a new Death Merchant novel written by Richard Camellion! Do you know anything about that?
ReplyDeleteThat site has been around for several years - and the supposed publication date has changed a few times. But I don't know anything. I've tried sending an email to the address given, but it always gets kicked back. The comment about "Uncle Joe" led me to think the site was put together by a nephew, but Rosenberger's daughter told me "to my knowledge, he didn't have any biological nephews".
ReplyDeleteYou're braver than I -- I didn't want my email going to something weird like that.
ReplyDeleteWasn't the "Uncle Joe" comment in Camellion's voice? So he could be calling Joseph Rosenberger his uncle, which kinda fits.
Amazing site - hope you take a look at Rosenberger's other titles (COBRA, Mace, etc) when you've DM.
ReplyDeleteKarlos: That is the plan. (I've got them all: Mace, COBRA, Murder Master, Shadow Warrior, Geneva Force. Even the two books that Camellion "wrote".) I also want to write a "What do we know about JRR?" post.
ReplyDelete