There's a magazine dedicated to vintage paperbacks called "Paperback Fanatic," now available through 'print-on-demand' on Amazon, that I've sporadically contributed to over the years. Back in 2012 they published what was supposed to be the first part of an extensive A to Z of Gold Medal paperbacks - I've still to write any other parts! But a large portion of my free time last year was spent researching and writing an article on the Italian espionage imprint "Segretissimo," the first part of which appeared in the pages of Issue number 40 in September while the second part is due out this month in Issue number 41.

Why a history of "Segretissimo" you might ask? Well, in all honesty, the details of the Italian translations could almost be described as a mcguffin - an excuse to throw lots of information on British, American and French espionage authors and characters onto a sheet of paper and make an attempt to make a readable article from it all. Of course a chance to showcase the luscious art that Carlo Jacono provided for each paperback was another reason.

What can readers see if they add these two issues to their basket? From France the OSS117 stories of Jean Bruce (and family) and the SAS stories of Gerard de Villiers; the American spies Nick Carter, Phil Sherman, Matt Helm, Joe Gall, Joaquin Hawks, Bart Gould, Monty Nash, Stephen Dain and Sam Durrell; the British agents Jason Love, David Grant, Boysie Oakes, Paul Chavasse, Charles Hood, John Craig, Simon Larren and Jonas Wilde. All liberally sprinkled with the artwork of Carlo Jacono. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out - but I know for a fact that I could never make a living out of it. As Harry Callahan once said "a man has to know his limitations."