Herbert Kastle

Herbert D. Kastle (1924-1987) was a Brooklyn-born American writer of various types of books including paperback originals from the late 50s into the 80s. He also wrote stories for the science fiction magazines. He may be best remembered today for two classic Gold Medals – HOT PROWL and THE REASSEMBLED MAN. Later in his career he found success writing steamy “mainstream” hardcover novels in the style of Harold Robbins and Sidney Sheldon for publishers like Arbor House and Delacorte. I can’t blame Kastle for writing this stuff, the pay was good and the books were popular and you have to do what you gotta do to pay the rent and the kids’ tuition. They’re not bad books, in fact I hope you will enjoy them. They’re just not for me, not as collectible as the genre stuff he did earlier. It also never ceases to amaze me how raunchy all those later books are – the depravity and pervy sex and violence in these bestselling “mainstream” hardcovers always outstrips anything you can find in a sleazy sixties paperback. This is an overview of Kastle in both US and UK paperbacks, with special emphasis on the British reprints by Granada and Grafton. They put out PB editions of almost all of his books, most of them highlighted by flashy color wraparound photo covers by Beverley Le Barrow and Andrew Cockrill.