THE SAND SHOCKERS
One of the toughest tough guys in men’s adventure fiction is
Ennis Willie’s Sand—A former crime lord
with a price on his head, an army of hit men on his back, and a .45 riding in a
shoulder rig under his arm to do his talking. A man alone, with few friends and
many hates. There is nowhere to hide…and it's too late to pray..
Short, terse, full of sex and graphic violence, the Sand Shockers, took their cue from
Richard Stark’s far better known Parker novels. But Sand is far more than an
imitation Parker. Sand’s violent cross-country crusade to break from his past
as a mob hitman and rectify past wrongs—killing a morgue-full of minions and
former mob bosses without qualms in the process—forms the template followed a
decade later by Donald Pendleton’s Mack Bolan The Executioner series and its
myriad of imitators.
Ennis Willie wrote many novels published by the
low-circulation sleaze imprint Merit Books in Chicago. Merit also published the
nine Sand novels, but the distribution of Merit’s books was erratic at best,
condemning the Sand Shockers to obscurity. However, the inner circle of
hardboiled fanatics—in particular Stephen Mertz and Ed Gorman—have kept Sand’s
flame alive, ensuring his continuing legacy.
THE SAND SHOCKERS
Scarlet Goddess
Aura Of Sensuality
Haven For The Damned
Game Of Passion
And Some Were Evil
Warped Ambition
The Case Of The
Loaded Garter Holster
Passion Has No Rule
Book
Code of Vengeance
The original Sand novels are incredibly rare and expensive, however, Ramble House has resurrected a number of Sand tales in two readily available collections, Sand’s Game and Sand’s War.
Sand predates Parker, by the way -- though I doubt Don Westlake ever read the books or even knew of their existence.
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