W. A. Ballinger (1925–1991)
Author of The Vampires of Finistère
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
W.(illiam) Howard Baker was a novelist, editor, and publisher. In addition to writing under his own name (Baker), he used numerous pseudonyms, including:
* Peter Saxon (a house name, credited for numerous works)
* W. A. Ballinger (Drums of the Dark Gods)
Series
Works by W. A. Ballinger
Devil's Can-Can 2 copies
Unfriendly Persuasion 2 copies
Gods dwazen 2 copies
Klenod försvunnen 1 copy
Traitor! 1 copy
The Guardians 1 copy
Mannen som visste för mycket 1 copy
The Inexpendable 1 copy
The Naked Blade 1 copy
Det hände i Hamburg 1 copy
Dollarligan 1 copy
Mord i studio ett 1 copy
The Galaxy Lot 1 copy
Televisionsmordet 1 copy
Mord i parti 1 copy
Dark mambo 1 copy
No Place For Strangers 1 copy
The Voodoo Drum 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Ballinger, W. A.
- Legal name
- Baker, Arthur Athwill William
- Other names
- Baker, W. Howard
Saxon, Peter
Rekab, Bill - Birthdate
- 1925-10-03
- Date of death
- 1991-02-13
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- editor
publisher
novelist
newspaper reporter - Short biography
- W. Howard Baker was a novelist and editor, Editor of Sexton Blake Library for a time. Writer of Sexton Blake, Danger Man and Jonathan Quintain novels, plus many war, horror and mystery stories. Proprietor of Howard Baker Books (1960s UK publishing company). Credited with saving the Sexton Blake Library from extinction, when publishers Fleetway ended the series, he gained their permission to continue the series independently, firstly through deals with various paperback publishing companies then later through his own Sexton Blake Omnibus hardback series. He is noted for the many pseudonyms used by him (e.g. Peter Saxon).
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Cork, County Cork, Ireland
- Places of residence
- Wimbledon, England, UK
- Place of death
- London, England, UK
- Disambiguation notice
- W.(illiam) Howard Baker was a novelist, editor, and publisher. In addition to writing under his own name (Baker), he used numerous pseudonyms, including:
* Peter Saxon (a house name, credited for numerous works)
* W. A. Ballinger (Drums of the Dark Gods) - Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
The Waters of Madness by W.A. Ballinger in Talk about LibraryThing (May 2022)
Reviews
“With the compliments of the Jack Ketch Society.”
A society that kills killers! My vengeful heart loves this kind of thing! When a suspected murderer gets released, the 'Ketchers' grab them, pronounce them guilty, and hang them! Done and done!
Of course, the police are out to stop them, and a newspaper hires famous detective Sexton Blake to do the same! Can they catch the Ketchers? You gotta read it to find out!
I liked this story, and think it was just about the right length. Any longer, show more and I think I might have lost interest. I'm not sure if I liked the twist at the end, but overall, it was an enjoyable little read!
Good last sentence too! :
"You know," he said mildly, "I'd quite forgotten I was supposed to be dead." show less
A society that kills killers! My vengeful heart loves this kind of thing! When a suspected murderer gets released, the 'Ketchers' grab them, pronounce them guilty, and hang them! Done and done!
Of course, the police are out to stop them, and a newspaper hires famous detective Sexton Blake to do the same! Can they catch the Ketchers? You gotta read it to find out!
I liked this story, and think it was just about the right length. Any longer, show more and I think I might have lost interest. I'm not sure if I liked the twist at the end, but overall, it was an enjoyable little read!
Good last sentence too! :
"You know," he said mildly, "I'd quite forgotten I was supposed to be dead." show less
Secret agent Peter Quintain is sent undercover on an Allied convoy to Murmansk. The convoys have taken a battering from the Germans, and the admiralty suspect a spy in the midst of the ships’ crews. Quintain’s task is twofold: unearth the traitor, and ideally prevent another attack. This is a competent but rather thin naval thriller. Some of the writing is overly dramatic, and the characters don’t really have much personality (except for the cartoonishly awful Fanshawe). I would show more definitely not rank this anywhere near MacLean (whose Ice Station Zebra and HMS Ulysses are much better reads). It is a quick read, though, so if this is the flavour of brain candy you like best and you aren’t too fussed about thin characterization, this might do the job. show less
A very classy performance from SBL editor W Howard Baker here, not necessarily the kind of thing I associate with him.
The story is part mildly humorous detective story, part a satire on the publishing industry. More than once, I wondered if some characters were drawn from life, especially the more scathing portrayals.
The writing is often witty, with some very keen insights appearing here and there, as in this portrayal of one characters wartime RAF service ;
"They had been boys in 1940, show more contemptuous of death because they did not truly understand it ; unafraid because they were unable to appreciate that they were not immortal. They had taken risks because they hadn`t really divined the risks they were taking. They had lived dangerously, and the business of living had been a grand and glorious game.
But 1940 was seventeen years behind them now. They were all mature, reasonable, thinking men. Only John Bovis remained.
He was not mature. Often he was not even reasonable. Rarely did he consciously think."
There are one or two in-jokes here and there ; at one point Blake comments "I had some dealings with Edgar Wallace long ago." Shortly afterwards, one character expresses what may be Baker`s own experience of editing the SBL ; "Most of the trouble in my life, it seems to me, has been caused by one damned writer or another."
The plot is quite ambitious in it`s scope, and the writer seems reluctant to stay within the confines of one genre - is it satire ? comedy thriller ? traditional whodunnit ? . I thought I detected the hand of Jack Trevor story here and there, an impression re-inforced when a character from his The Season of the Skylark makes an unexpected appearance. Having said that, better men than me accept WHB`s claim to sole authorship, and I am far from being an expert on either man`s work.
Perverse though it may sound, I would not like every Blake story to be like this, but it is a personal favourite. show less
The story is part mildly humorous detective story, part a satire on the publishing industry. More than once, I wondered if some characters were drawn from life, especially the more scathing portrayals.
The writing is often witty, with some very keen insights appearing here and there, as in this portrayal of one characters wartime RAF service ;
"They had been boys in 1940, show more contemptuous of death because they did not truly understand it ; unafraid because they were unable to appreciate that they were not immortal. They had taken risks because they hadn`t really divined the risks they were taking. They had lived dangerously, and the business of living had been a grand and glorious game.
But 1940 was seventeen years behind them now. They were all mature, reasonable, thinking men. Only John Bovis remained.
He was not mature. Often he was not even reasonable. Rarely did he consciously think."
There are one or two in-jokes here and there ; at one point Blake comments "I had some dealings with Edgar Wallace long ago." Shortly afterwards, one character expresses what may be Baker`s own experience of editing the SBL ; "Most of the trouble in my life, it seems to me, has been caused by one damned writer or another."
The plot is quite ambitious in it`s scope, and the writer seems reluctant to stay within the confines of one genre - is it satire ? comedy thriller ? traditional whodunnit ? . I thought I detected the hand of Jack Trevor story here and there, an impression re-inforced when a character from his The Season of the Skylark makes an unexpected appearance. Having said that, better men than me accept WHB`s claim to sole authorship, and I am far from being an expert on either man`s work.
Perverse though it may sound, I would not like every Blake story to be like this, but it is a personal favourite. show less
The half dozen Danger Man novels seem to be a fairly uneven bunch... Some don't even resemble the show in any sense, others are quite good. This one is one of the good ones.
Departure Deferred portrayed a John Drake I recognized, in a fairly good story which was in keeping with the show. I liked that the Drake character often didn't have a plan and winged things as they were flung at him - That's a particular trait of Drake's I like from the show. I'm also rather fond of the screen Drake on show more assignments that require him to take on another personality and while that's largely due to McGoohan's acting abilities, I also enjoyed the theme in this book - I thought Drake's internalizations about the preparation of his role were in keeping with the screen character and it was interesting to get a view into his head on the matter.
My star rating is within the context of this being a show novelization - Not as a piece of literature. show less
Departure Deferred portrayed a John Drake I recognized, in a fairly good story which was in keeping with the show. I liked that the Drake character often didn't have a plan and winged things as they were flung at him - That's a particular trait of Drake's I like from the show. I'm also rather fond of the screen Drake on show more assignments that require him to take on another personality and while that's largely due to McGoohan's acting abilities, I also enjoyed the theme in this book - I thought Drake's internalizations about the preparation of his role were in keeping with the screen character and it was interesting to get a view into his head on the matter.
My star rating is within the context of this being a show novelization - Not as a piece of literature. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 64
- Members
- 339
- Popularity
- #70,284
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 9
- ISBNs
- 27
- Languages
- 2