Mick Farren’s Game

In the Summer of 1974 Mick Farren started to submit regular fiction and non-fiction pieces to Roger Noel Cook’s Game magazine, incorporating Rex, that had been published since the start of the year by Top Sellers Ltd. In his first editorial, Cook wrote: ‘Like a good cigarette, a long cool beer or a horny woman, Game seeks nothing more than to bring total satisfaction’. Satisfaction guaranteed then . . . The magazine would run for four years, folding sometime in 1978.

Cook had a successful career in the London pulp mills, turning out Dr. Who exploitation titles and as a staff writer for TV Comics. In between time, he made one of the key Junkshop Glam anthems, ‘Cut Loose’ by Stud Leather and another 45 under his own name, again on the Dart label, ‘Slick Go-Getter’, both released in 1973. He made his fortune with the Electric Blue porno VHS series.

As a top shelf attraction, Game was not going to offer much competition to Men Only, Penthouse and Playboy but it made a good fist of echoing Club International, not only by hiring Farren but also by employing the talents of J. P Smut, aka Jay Myrdal and Pete Smith, and by using Hipgnosis for some of its more off-beat designs, illustrations and photographs.

Bella’s Travelling Fun Palace vol.1, nos. 9–12 (Autumn 1974)

Farren’s obvious delight in Westerns, often reworked for his science fiction, is stage front in the four connected stories that ran in Volume 1, numbers 9-12, Bella’s Travelling Fun Palace. Each story is illustrated by Patricia Ludlow, who in later years specialised in children’s book illustration.

Bella is the madam of a caravan of whores. Between stops, she has to keep her girls out of trouble but mostly she just makes sure they work hard. In the first story, much is made of the exchange rates: ‘a dollar for this, another one for that, and it all adds up’:

Lark looked straight at them.

‘One straight, one French?’

The tracklayers grinned.

‘Suits us.’

Lark winked at them.

‘Cost you ten dollars.’

In the second episode, the girls are nursing hangovers and washing themselves; getting undressed and then getting dressed to get undressed. Meanwhile Bella has to deal with the railroad’s foreman and his boss who call a halt to the whoring on account it was wrecking their schedules. News reaches Bella of a gold strike, six or seven days away so she and her girls head on. They’ve not gone far before they are waylaid by outlaws, but a timely intervention by Old Doc, who works Bella’s bar, saves the girls (and their money). In part 3, they have arrived at Gideon and get set to earn some gold. Nancy has sex with a man that is so good she doesn’t want to even charge him, imagine that. . . In the final episode, Bella is forced to move on again; J. D. Quint, saloon owner, doesn’t want the competition. Next stop, a cavalry outpost. On the way they pick up a young woman who has been molested by a gang of outlaws and she joins Bella’s merry band of chippies who are soon servicing Fort Dixon. The following day an officer will arrive at their camp and move them on again, but ‘at least another day brought another dollar.’

HIT vol.1, No. 10 (October 1974)

SCHENK vol. 2, no. 2 (February 1975)

Farren jumps on board the Nazisploitation wagon, his version of Sven Hassel. Illustration by John Holmes (obit here). Even if you don’t recognise his name, his work on book jackets and album sleeves ranges from BeBop Deluxe’s Axe Victim to Germane Greer’s Female Eunuch.

The Girl with the Folding Pool Cue vol. 2, no. 11 (November 1975)

One of Farren’s better stories, he’s on home ground here. An Englishman travelling by Greyhound is picked up by a femme pool hustler. In the bar, our hero has to face down cowboys and a punk: ‘A kid about twenty-two in dark glasses and a black leather jacket was sprawled on his own in one of the booths oppositie the bar. His hair was black and greasy and cut in a kind of fifties, Elvis Presley style.’ Illustration is by John Bolton who would later work for Marvel. (His home page is here).

The Trouble With Gloria vol.3, no.10 (October 1976)

‘She had straight, almost white blond hair hanging down to just above her waist. A model’s face with dramatic Vampirella makeup, and figure, as Little Richard used to put it in the rock and roll song, built to please. She was also wearing full S+M, leather freak, motorcycle drag.’

Illustration by Terry Durham, an artist of some renown (see here), who mixes Gloria Steinem and Chesty Morgan to low-slung effect

Little Red vol.4, no.4 (April 1977)

Farren not working too hard for his story material, refits Badlands. Illustration is again by John Bolton

Game also gave space to a lengthy extract from Farren’s 1974 rock ‘n’ roll novel, The Tale of Willy’s Rats vol.2, no.5 (March 1975). Illustration by John Holmes

Mick Farren may have submitted more fiction to Game, I’ve seen all but one issue from 1974-75, but a good number of later numbers have yet to cross my path. I’d be interested to learn of any stories I’ve missed. He wrote a good few non-fiction pieces for the magazine and I’ll run some of those in the blog.