Classic 1960s spy parodies back in print and e-print
In the mid-1960s, when Playboy was serializing Ian Fleming’s adventures of the world’s most famous superspy, they interspersed them with Sol Weinstein’s rollicking tales of the Jewish state’s most hilarious weapon, Israel Bond, agent Oy-Oy-7. After the book editions of what the Chicago Tribune called “probably the funniest secret agent parodies ever written” had sold over a million copies, all for volumes were allowed to fall out of print. There they stayed for decades, fondly remembered but unavailable.
Now, all four novels – Loxfinger, Matzohball, On the Secret Services of His Majesty, the Queen, and You Only Live Until You Die – are back, in fully authorized editions with a brand new editorial polish by Weinstein himself. The books are available in paperback and for the Kindle, Nook, iPad, and other e-book devices. Additionally, there’s The Israel Bond Omnibus, offering all four novels in a single book or single e-book download at an affordable price.
The fourth and final volume, in paperback for the first time.
Nat Gertler, publisher of About Comics (whose Combustoica prose imprint is releasing the books) says that “like many people, I discovered the books after they were already out of print, stumbling across the first couple in used bookstores and then hunting out the other two. When I realized how hard it was to find the final volume for under $50, I saw an opportunity. Good stuff where demand outstrips supply sure sounded like a business opportunity to me.”
Weinstein, who was also writing for Mad while he launched the Oy-Oy-7 stories, filled the books with the Jewish-themed humor that was the rage at the time, and which is finding a new home with the rising interest in Yiddishkeit. ““You don’t have to be Jewish to howl at Oy-Oy-7,” noted the Philadelphia Inquirer, “and you will, you will!”
The books can be ordered through the Oy-Oy-7.com website, with ebooks orderable directly through the Kindle, Nook, and iBook stores by searching for Sol Weinstein.
