Primal Spillane: Early Stories 1941-1942

Edited by Max Allan Collins & Lynn F. Myers, Jr.

(also available in eBook  format)

41 fast-moving short-short stories by the creator of Mike Hammer! Revised and expanded with 14 new stories, including "A Turn of the Tide," a previously unpublished tale.

Before Mike Hammer, P.I. made his explosive debut in I, the Jury, author Mickey Spillane (1918-2006) toiled in relative obscurity, writing short-short stories as filler material in Golden Age comic books. Their purpose to fulfill a postal requirement, these stories were the literary boot-camp for the future king of hardboiled fiction.

In commemoration of the Spillane centenary, Bold Venture Press released the newly revised and expanded edition of Primal Spillane: Early Stories 1941 - 1942. This unique anthology, long out-of-print and largely unavailable, contains additional material never before reprinted — and a newly discovered, previously unpublished story by Spillane.

In this collection, you’ll meet high-flying soldiers, a prospector exploring a Lovecraftian mine-shaft, a light-fingered con artist, an overworked cub reporter, a hapless exterminator, and many others.

Readers have the opportunity to see a master develop his craft. Primal Spillane collects the earliest short stories bylined Mickey Spillane — Each story moves fast, and concludes with the trademark Spillane “socko finish.”

Today's combined cost of the rare comic books in which these text pieces first appeared would be more than that of a new Cadillac; but these short stories provide their own memorable rides. Their value as a training ground for the 20th Century's top crime-fiction writer is priceless when compared to the millions of fans across the world entertained by Mickey Spillane's prose.

Introduction by Max Allan Collins, America’s top crime-fiction author, and Lynn F. Myers, Jr.

Read more about Primal Spillane in the blog post "Sudden Fiction" — publisher Rich Harvey offers a few insights in the latest installment of "Bold Venture Bulletins."

Read "Trouble — Come and Get It!" by Mickey Spillane, selected by Rich Harvey from Primal Spillane.

Story list

The stories numbered 1-28 appeared in the original Gryphon Books edition (2003). Stories numbered 29-41 are unique to this new edition; #41 "A Turn of the Tide" was previously unpublished and appears for the first time anywhere.

1. Trouble — Come and Get It!
2. A Case of Poison Ivy
3. Clams Make the Man
4. Creature of the Deep
5. Fresh Meat for a Raider
6. The Curse of Tut Ken Amen
7. Flight Over Tokyo
8. Devil Cat
9. Jinx Heap
10. Jap Trap
11. Killer’s Return
12. The Man in the Moon
13. Scram, Bugs
14. The Sea Serpent
15. The Ship in the Desert
16. Undersea Champion
17. Woe is Me
18. Spook Ship
19. Terror in the Grass
20. Tight Spot
21. Lumps of Death
22. Satan Himself
23. Sky Busters
24. Last Ride
25. The Sea of Grassy Death
26. The Secret of the Wreck
27. The Woim Toins
28. Woodman’s Test
29. Fast Thinking
30. Death in the Sea
31. Phony Fish
32. Goon With the Wind
33. Fighting Mad
34. No Prisoners
35. Ham For a Yegg
36. I l l Wind
37. Spy Paper
38. Target Terrors
39. The Mouse Fights Back
40. Shot in the Dark
41. A Turn of the Tide