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Ep 2 - Pocket Books, Vampire Hunter D Novels and Guest M dot Strange

 



In our second episode of the Paperback Show, host Ricky Lee Grove presents a brief history of the first major paperback publisher - Pocket Books. Next, he looks at the amazing phenomenon of the Vampire Hunter D novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983 and published in English initially in 2005 by DH Press and Digital Manga Publishing. Dark Horse publishing took over the series in 2014. The original Japanese novel series has reached 35 complete novels. The series was originally published by Asahi Sonorama under the Sonorama Bunko label. 


In January 2011, Asahi Sonorama published the first spinoff light novel series set in the Vampire Hunter universe, a prequel series written by Kikuchi titled Another Vampire Hunter: The Noble Greylancer Banpaia Hantā Anazā: Kizoku Gureiransā), illustrated by Ayami Kojima, artist and character designer for the Castlevania series of video games. Only two volumes were published, both in hardcover, with a planned third volume on hold since 2013. In May and June 2021 Asahi Shimbun published new paperback and Kindle editions of the two volumes, featuring new cover illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano.

In November 2017, Kikuchi began to serialize new Vampire Hunter stories in Asahi Shimbun's monthly magazine Issatsu no Hon (一冊の本, lit. One Book) with the story Vampire Hunter: D — Deadened City. These stories are later collected and printed as full entries in the main series, sometimes under new titles. The current ongoing story, Vampire Hunter: D — Bloodwind Trail (吸血鬼ハンター　Ｄ－血風航路, Banpaia Hantā: D — Chifū Kōro), began serialization in April 2021. (source: Wikipedia)

Ricky Lee introduces the artist/creator/anarchist, M dot Strange, in the second half of the show. M dot shares his love of the Vampire Hunter D series and talks about his books and how he organizes them.

MUSIC: Opus De Fun by Elek Bacsik (at Archive dot org)

SHOW NOTES


  • Pocket Books (1939) - a brief history and overview
  • An excellent article from Hyde Park Books on Pocket Books used for this podcast
  • My favorite Pocket Books site at bookscans. You'll find covers for hundreds of early Pocket Books
  • NYT obituary for Robert de Graff, founder of Pocket Books

Hideyuki Kikuchi
  • History/List of Vampire Hunter D novels in Japanese and in English
  • Dark Horse page listing Vampire Hunter D novels
  • The new audiobook version of Vol 1 in the Vampire Hunter D series



  • M dot Strange main website
  • M dot Strange youtube channel
  • The bizarre book mentioned by M dot Strange. The Book Which Tells the Truth! (see photos below)




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