An open letter to the pulp community:

For those taking advantage of the discounted SHADOW and
DOC SAVAGE volumes at Half-Price Books, please be aware
that Nostalgia Ventures began remaindering these books
last summer in direct violation of its sub-contract with
me. Also, as of today (July 22, 2009), Nostalgia Ventures
has still not paid royalties to either Conde Nast or me
for any books it has sold since July 1st, 2008. (A
semi-annual royalty payment was due back in February, and
another six months of royalties are coming due in August.)
There is a very good reason why Nostalgia
Ventures/Nostalgiatown is no longer co-publishing these
books, and it involves a continuing series of contract
violations.

And for anyone who may not be sympathetic because Conde
Nast is a huge corporation, please be aware that Conde
Nast has chosen to continue the oral agreement it had for
decades with Walter Gibson, and is splitting its royalties
for the SHADOW reprints with Walter's family. This is an
extremely rare and decent act that is quite unusual in the
publishing world.

I think my SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE double-novel trade
paperbacks are a great value at the $12.95 cover price.
Obviously, the books are an even better value at discounted
prices. However, please be aware that purchasing these
books from either Half-Price Books or Nostalgiatown does
nothing to encourage the continuation of these series. And
since Nostalgia Ventures still hasn't paid its
contract-required royalties for any of the books it has
sold during the past 12 1/2 months, the money from
Nostalgia Ventures' and Half-Price Books' sales also hasn't
been continuing on to Walter Gibson's family.

It's not necessary to purchase THE SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE
directly from Sanctum Books to support the ongoing
publishing operation and encourage the continuation of these
reprints. Bud Plant Comic Art, Adventure House, Mike Chomko,
Vintage Library, Girasol, Edge Books, The Mysterious
Bookshop and any comic specialty shop that orders its books
from Diamond Comic Distributors all get their books either
directly or indirectly through Sanctum Books (which
continues to make its regular royalty payments to Conde Nast
and would like to continue publishing these reprints for
many more years).

Please feel free to forward this message on to other
pulp-oriented email groups.

--Anthony Tollin
Sanctum Books

Thanks for keeping me aware Tony. I promise I will not buy any of those pulps in the future. And I hate to say it but this sort of thing goes on so ofter it makes me sick.

Just don't buy the remaindered ones because those represent copies which could be considered stolen.

The newer books, now being published directly by Tollin, and any older books you buy from legitimate sources are good to go.

Tony

Geez, I wish I'd heard about this sooner since I bought 4 of the Shadow books from Half Priced Books just last week. I'm afraid that I couldn't them pass up given the price and the fact that I don't have many of the Shadow books. In any case it's nice to see that Conde Nast is honoring their agreement with Walter Gibson's estate. Anthony Tollin's introductions are always informative and fun and I hope he succeeds with his new company.

That's a shame. Tony Tollin is doing a fabulous job with the Doc Savage and Shadow reprints. They ARE a terrific deal at the cover price.