THE PEDDLER

THE PEDDLER
by Richard S. Prather
Hard Case Crime
252 pages

First published in 1952, this book tells the story of a young, San Francisco, street punk named Tony Romero who wants to make it big in the criminal world. Through an old girl friend turned hooker, Tony is introduced to the local mob that operates all the houses of prostitution throughout the City-by-the-Bay. Like an itch he can’t scratch, Tony obsessed about rising in the ranks, making a lot of money and becoming a big-shot.

Although this book is terribly dated, especially in lieu of the meteoric rise of legal pornography in the later 60s and 70s, it still paints a very brutal and authentic account of modern day flesh-peddlers. Tony’s blind ambition is his Achilles Heel and reading through this tale, I was reminded of all the terrific gangster movies of old, ala SCARFACE and LITTLE CEASAR.

THE PEDDLER still stands up today as a gripping story of crime, immorality and the illusionary good life it promises but seldom delivers.

THE FIDDLERS

FIDDLERS
A Novel of the 87^th Precinct
by Ed McBain
Hartcourt Books
259 pages

In 1956, Ed McBain had his first novel of the 87^th Precinct novel published. It was COP HATER and it introduced the world to an eclectic cast of detectives we would all come to know and love in the years to come. In fact, before that year was over, two more books in this new police procedural genre would follow; THE MUGGER and the THE PUSHER. It was the beginning of an incredible, long-lived publishing phenomenon.

For the next fifty years, McBain would thrill his readers with novel after novel detailing the daily lives of his cast who worked out of the fictional Eastern seaboard city of Isola; a thinly disguised New York City. And with each new book, the series became more and popular until McBain had a legion of loyal fans. I was one of them. Over these fifty years I got to know Detective Steve Carella, his beautiful, deaf wife, Teddy and eventually their twins, Amy and Mark. I also became intimately acquainted with the other bulls of the 8-7. Steve’s Jewish partner, the bald domed Meyer Meyer, who’s father thought it hilarious to stick his kid with the same first and last name. There was Cotton Hawes, the big, towering redhead with the streak of white through his hair, where he’d been cut by a butcher’s knife. Bert Kling was the youngest and the pretty boy of the group who kept getting into tragic romantic entanglements no matter how hard he tried to make love work. These and a dozen other sub-character to include the beautiful Detective Eileen Brennan and Fat Ollie Weeks were real people to me and millions of others.

So successful were these books that they spawned a plethora of related tie-ins from an 87^th PRECINCT monthly magazine to a comic book that was based on a short lived TV series with Robert Lansing. There were numerous movies made from the books, to include FUZZ where, the then popular, Burt Reynolds played Carella. Later, the mysteries would be adapted to half a dozen made-for TV movies. Even as short as a year ago there were rumors buzzing around the net that A & E was considering doing another weekly series.

Fifty years and fifty-five novels. The last one, THE FIDDLERS, was released last December, a few months after McBain’s death. It was a difficult book for me to read because I’d invested so much of my own life into this series. As I went through this book, the realization that there would be no others to follow was truly a depressing shadow over my shoulder. Still, once into the first few pages, I was once again caught up in the magic of a master storyteller. McBain’s gift for words, for characterization were still as strong as ever. He wrote flawlessly, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do. Any writer worth his salt will tell you what a lie that is. That was the enormity of the man’s gift, and now it is gone.

When a blind pianist is gun downed in an alley, behind the restaurant where he works, Detectives Carella and Meyer catch the call. Upon investigating, they learn the man was blinded in Vietnam long ago and led a pretty quiet and private life. None of his associates have any idea why anyone would want to harm such a harmless old soul. Several days later, a fiftyish divorcee is found murdered in her apartment, shot with the same gun that killed the old fiddler. The body count is rising and there appears to be absolutely no connection between the two victims.

As the case unravels, more seniors are murdered until the boys from the 87^th begin to wonder if they have some kind of perverted serial killer on their hands. As the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together, McBain weaves in the personal lives of his cast of regulars. Carella’s daughter, now a teenage beauty, is starting to get caught up with the wrong crowd at school and he and Teddy are very concerned. Kling has broken up with his latest lover, a beautiful black doctor and he is lost to understand why he keeps messing things up. Meanwhile Ollie Weeks is very much falling in love with Hispanic Officer Patricia Gomez, who, despite his girth an uncouth mannerisms, seems sincerely attracted to him.

By the time the killer is caught and the case closed, I found myself content and happy that McBain ended on a magnificent high note. THE FIDDLERS is a terrific read and as always insightful in the layers of human psychology it exposes. There are no cardboard people here; but living, breathing and dreaming souls just trying to get by day by day. As do the men and women of the 87^th Precinct. As I closed this final chapter, I imagined them out there, still going on. Still living their lives, as created by a wonderful man with a true gift of imagination.

Good-bye, Ed McBain, and thanks.

A BREED APART

A BREED APART
A Novel of Wild Bill Hickok
by Max McCoy
Signet Historical Novel
244 pages

As in all things in life, most of have favorites; a favorite writer, a favorite TV show, a favorite food, etc.etc. Likewise, of all the larger than life historical figures of the Wild West era, mine has always been Wild Bill Hickok. Born James Butler Hickok, in Troy Grove, Illinois in 1837, he grew up to become a Yankee scout during the Civil War. After the war he drifted west as a scout, gambler, stage coach driver and eventually lawman. An educated, sophisticated dandy, with his long, curly brown hair and thick mustache, he was said to cut an extremely dashing figure that caused women to swoon. A friend of Buffalo Bill Cody, he spent an entire season in New York City, on the stage in a Wild West dramatization that was not to his liking and weary, returned to Deadwood, where he was eventually murdered by one Jack McCall.

There have been countless books, both historical and fictional written about him as well as many, many movie and television versions of his marksmanship exploits on the frontier. Now, within weeks of each other, two new books have arrived and I was most eager to get my hands on them.

A BREED APART focuses primarily on Hickok’s younger days leading up to the time where he begins to earn his reputation as a gunfighter. A great deal is spent on his encounter with way-station bully Dave McCanles who crossed paths with the young Hickock and became his first victim. Then the book takes Wild Bill into the war years where he was free-riding spy for the Union Armies along the Missouri, Arkansas border and ends with his famous shoot-out with his old friend, Davis Tutt on the streets of Springfield.

This is a fast moving story that is easily told with fascinating characters. McCoy is a veteran western writer and his shows both in his settings and dialogue. The people are so believable, it is easy to imagine this is truly how it was in a much unsettled and untamed country. This is a terrific book and I hope McCoy comes back to tell more stories about the legendary Wild Bill. There’s lots more to tell.

THE KILLERS

Tales From Deadwood
THE KILLERS
by Mike Jameson
Berkley Western Novel
246 pages

Upon picking up this book, I realized it was actually third and final entry of a trilogy centered around the town of Deadwood and its colorful citizens during that fateful summer of 1876 when Wild Bill Hickock was shot and killed in the # 10 Saloon.

The first two books in the series, DEADWOOD and the GAMBLERS, I am assuming, introduced the large cast and then proceeded to develop the separate plots leading to this climatic chapter.

To that end, Hickock’s murder is a pivotal element in the book and comes at about the half-way mark. It is well told and historically accurate. The other stories here are also a much fun. There is the tale of young gunfighter, Bellamy Bridges, and the battle for his soul. Englishman Dick Seymour’s Pony Express race against the unscrupulous Jed Powell through Sioux territory has some very exciting actions moments and the colorful saloon and bordello owners, Al Swearengen and Laurette Parkhurst add much evil spice to this heady western melodrama.

It’s a dandy read and I’m going to be ordering the first two volumes. So, if you too are as fascinated by the life and times of Wild Bill Hickok, you couldn’t find two better books to read.

PLUTONIUM NIGHTMARE

PLUTONIUM NIGHTMARE
by Erwin K. Roberts
116 pages
Available from Lulu.com

Over the years, many pulp writers have toyed with the idea of what a second generation of heroes would have been like. Take some of the old classic guys like the Shadow or Doc Savage and then imagine them settling down to raise a family. What kind of people would their sons and daughters have been? And more importantly, would they have followed in their parent’s footsteps and become crime-fighters too?

This book attempts to answer that question in that it introduces a disguise-artist-weapons expert hero who is clearly suppose to be the son of 30s super spy, Secret Agent X. And in that vein, it works exceedingly well. A mad villain has stolen 70 kilos of plutonium rich nuclear fuel and is going to blackmail the city for millions. If his demands are not met, he will release the lethal stuff via a dirty bomb that will contaminate thousands of people.

Enter the mysterious, no-face hero known by the police and public only as The Voice. Once again the pulse-pounding beat of classic pulp adventures is sounded, only this time in a more modern setting. And it all works. Roberts obviously knows pulps and captures their break-neck pacing perfectly, while at the same time adding in a heavy does of bloody, shoot-em-up action.

I am giving PLUTONIUM NIGHTMARE a thumbs up, but at the same time I am compelled to point out what I consider its one and only flaw. The book does not adhere to one narrative style. It jumps annoyingly between a third person story telling to a first person narration. I have never been a fan of this kind of writing as it always jars me out of the action. Roberts writes both well enough, and the last part of the book is almost entirely in the hero’s voice (no pun intended), but that doesn’t erase the earlier of moments of bouncing and back and forth. I would really love to see more adventures of the Voice, but please, pick one style next time.

GRAVE DESCENT

Grave Descent
by John Lange
Hard Case Crime
203 pages

I love hard hitting crime thrillers that read easy. You pick up the book, begin flipping pages and before you know it you are half way through it. Such is the case with this thriller from 1970. It is another one of those long lost nuggets that Hard Case Crime is so good at finding.

Off the shores of a tropical Caribbean island, a million dollar luxury yatch, Grave Descent, has gone down in sixty feet of crystal blue, shark-infested waters. The owners, a wealthy family from up north, hire salvage diver James McGregor to retrieve several items from the wreck and ascertain if she can be raised.

But McGregor has been around the block a few times and everything about the ship and its fate just doesn’t add up. The more he gets involved, the more his strong sense of survival begins warning him that he is being played for a patsy. There is something aboard Grave Descent that may just get him killed…after he finds it.

The local color of the setting, the economically lean narrative and the characters are handled just right. Enough so that I read it fast, liked what a read a great deal and will be on the look out for more mysteries by Mr.Lange. If the cold winter blues have got you down, pick this island caper up and enjoy the heat.

NO LIMITS

No Limits
Star Trek: New Frontier
Edited by Peter David
Pocket Books 375 pages

A while back I reviewed a Peter David New Frontier novel and made the claim that it is the best fictional ST series ever done. I stick with that claim and in a few short weeks will be reviewing David’s latest chapter in that enjoyable saga. Unfortunately what we have here is not as much fun.

And allow this reviewer a little second guessing as to the why of this particular anthology. Let us consider that my opinion is right and New Frontier is by far the best selling Star Trek fiction on the market. That being the case, it is only natural to imagine Pocket Books wanting very much to capitalize on this and increase their profits. But sadly there is only one Peter David and he can only do one book at a time. Of course the idea of doing other New Frontier books without him is ludicrous, and thank heavens these editors are smart enough to know that. Still there had to be a way to give readers “more” New Frontier while David busy writing whatever other things he writes?

The solution was obvious. Let’s do an anthology of short stories based on the colorful crew of the starship Excalibur and get David to edit it. That way the fans get more stories, we can more money and David is still on board. It can’t lose.

Economically, Pocket Books was right. Creatively is another matter altogether. There are eighteen stories in NO LIMITS. Of these, six are extremely well done; I’ll get to those in a minute. Eleven are mediocre, something no New Frontier tale should ever be, and one is just God awful. (No, I’m not being sacrilegious here…rather tipping my hand at which is the real turkey in this collection.) I also was very upset by the order of these stories. In one early tale a familiar officer aboard the Excalibur is killed in action but at the end of the book is a story wherein he is very much alive. Now considering that editor Keith DeCandido provides an official New Frontier Timeline as a special addendum here, you would think they could have put these two particular stories in the proper order. Sloppy editing, Mr. David.

If you are a completist and must have every Star Trek New Frontier book, then do check out those entries by David Mack, Kevin Dilmore, Peg Robinson, Mary Scott-Wiecek, Allyn Gibson and Peter David’s own, “A Little Getaway,” which tells the untold story of Calhoun and Elizabeth Shelby’s honeymoon. That gem is almost worth the price of admission.

EEREY TOCSIN IN THE CRYPTOID ZOO

Eerey Tocsin
in the Cryptoid Zoo
by Kevin Noel Olson
157 pages















Available from.. (www.cornstonepublishers.com)

One of the privileges of writing a review column is being able to break your own rules. You see, this is a column devoted to modern day pulp fiction and this title is certainly not that. It is a wonderful, exciting, extremely original children's book by the very talented Mr.Olson.

Having had the pleasure of reading the manuscript before it went to the presses, I was only to happy to contribute a small cover blurb for this terrific story. And now that the book is out and marvelously illustrated by Debi Hammack, I want all you Harry Potter fans to go out and buy this. Eerey Tocsin is one of the most charming, amusing and daring heroines to come down the literary highway in years.

This adventure is fast-paced, dark and mysterious and a through joy to read. Just when you think the wonder and magic have slowed down, you turn the page and wham, it jumps right back at you. I really, really hope this is on the first in a series. I am now an Eerey fan and I want more. Lots more.

MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE

Myths For The Modern Age
Edited By Win Scott Eckert
Monkey Brain Books
392 pages

Imagine, if you will, that all the major fictional heroes of the 20^th Century were actually related. Figures like Tarzan, Dr.Fu Manchu, Doc Savage, the Shadow and Sherlock Holmes all being found on the same family-tree. It boggles the mind, doesn’t it? Well that is exactly what science-fiction writer, Philip Jose Farmer, posited when he invented his wonderful Wold Newton Universe in the early 1970s while writing the biographies of both Tarzan (Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke 1972) and Doc Savage (Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life 1093). In these books, Farmer set forth an amazing genealogy that clearly linked both these remarkable heroes and many others.

According to Farmer, back in 1795, a meteor struck the earth in Wold Newton, a small village in the East Riding Yorkshire County of England. At the moment it hit, two large coaches with fourteen passengers and four coachmen were traveling within a few yards of it. These eighteen souls were all exposed to the ionization of the accompanying meteorites. Somehow this altered their genetic make-up so that their descendants were born with enhanced human abilities and went on to become great crime fighters, scientists and explorers. Whereas others became super criminals.

Since putting forth the theory, Farmer soon found himself swamped with requests from an army of fans to expand the concept. They wanted to know more about these amazing heroes and villains and how they were related to each other. Soon fan interest evolved into scholarly dissertations as other writers came on board to expand the Wold Newton universe and make it their own. Farmer had inadvertently created the biggest mythological sandbox of our times and soon many, many others wanted to play in it.

One such Wold Newton enthusiast, soon to be expert, was Win Eckert. Eckert is a scholar with a B.S. in Anthropology. In 1997 he created the first website devoted to expanding Farmer’s concepts of the Wold Newton Family. This book is a collection of various essays by Eckert, Farmer and others who’ve gone on to add further, more intricate layers to what some call the Modern Mythology.

I truly love this book. Where else can you find an essay that identifies Modesty Blaise as the illegitimate daughter of Tarzan of the Apes and Queen La of the lost jungle city of Opar? Or read an argument to the effect that Sherlock Holmes, Hercules Poirot and Jules

deGrandin are all cousins? And those are just a few of the marvelous concoctions brewed up by these masters of the imagination. It is an introduction to a fabulous world made up of heroes, villains, vampires and ancient gods, all waiting to entertain you with their incredible pedigree. Anyone who calls himself a fan of classic pulp fiction should own this book.

THE DARK LAND

THE DARK LAND
by Andrew Salmon
327 pages
Available at (www.Lulu.com)

This is a straight out science fiction detective thriller that fires on all cylinders. In the not too distant future, the world has been ravaged by a series of natural disasters that have decimated the population. To help rebuild societies around the globe, mankind has taken to producing clones. But not just any clones, rather those created from the DNA of dedicated police officers and fire fighters. The idea here is to produce, from old stock, a new cadre of selfless guardians to protect the fragile remains of humanity.

Into this world comes clone, Peter Reilly, grown from the cells of a much decorated Vancouver detective. Once out of the vats, C-Peter Reilly, the prefix obviously designating his artificial origins, soon learns that something has gone terribly awry in his maturation. Clones are grown with the memories of past lives erased so that they don’t have carry around baggage of lost tragedies. Minus these emotional hang-ups, they can enter this new world with a clean slate. But something is wrong with Reilly. He has memories of his first life, of his wife and children and the world before the devastation.

Such information is considered taboo amongst the governing councils responsible for cloning and should his secret be discovered, he would instantly be mind-wiped. Reilly must keep the fact of his memories to himself, at the same time attempt to cope both mentally and physically with his “second” life.

Salmon’s writing reminded me a great deal of the late Robert Heinlein. He approached classic science-fiction with a new perspective grounded in believable characters so that the reader is never overwhelmed by the strange new worlds the tale unfolds in. Rather C-Peter Reilly is so fully realized, he draws us in to his frightening and exhilarating life. How he copes with his loneliness, anger and ultimate resolve is the true core of the book. If I’ve any real criticism, it is the fact that THE DARK LAND is the first in a proposed series, and too much time is spent on the existing social make up of this post-holocaust environment. I would have preferred more action and focus on the actual murder mystery Reilly is assigned to solve. It seems to take a back stage chair until the climax where it is wrapped up much too quickly. Hopefully future chapters will even the action pacing with the exposition.

All in all and solid thriller that should sought out. Salmon has a bright future ahead of him.

ROBBIE'S WIFE

Robbie's Wife
by Russell Hill
Hard Case Crime
258 pages
Due 27 Feb 07

Jack Stone is a sixty year old, divorced Hollywood screen writer trying to stop his life from simply falling apart. He travels to England with the thought of losing himself in some backwater village, away from the confusion that has become his life. Finding solitude, he hopes, will rekindle his passion for writing again and produce something he can sell the movie studios. Stone is a cynical character and he doesn’t have any real hope his exile getaway will produce anything positive. Rather he believes he’ll simply disappear off the face of the globe and no one will give a damn.

Which is exactly what seems to be happening until a wrong turn on a lonely country road brings him to Sheepheaven Farm and Maggie Barlow.

Maggie is an earthy woman, wife and mother, also trapped in a life she abhors. Her husband, Robbie, is a sheep farmer barely making ends meet, which is why they rent out the spare bedroom as a Bed & Breakfast operation. Their ten year old son, Terry, is a precocious lad that Jack takes to immediately. What he doesn’t foresee is how he easily he becomes obsessed with Maggie.

Maggie is a forceful, sexual creature that soon poisons Jack’s every waking second until he is obsessed with her like the tide with the shore. In classic noir fiction, people get sucked into dark deeds almost as if against their will. The passions of the heart overrule the intellect until they are lost in a maze of evil. Jack Stone is a good man who finds himself in love with another man’s wife and will do anything to possess her. He is quickly ensnared in a deadly spider’s web of his own making.

Russell Hill writes deceptively simple first person prose that is froth with psychological complexities. All the while I was reading this book, I kept hoping that Jack would come to his senses and escape his doomed fate. The suspense never lessened until the very last page where the finale is a bitter, honest revelation. This book is a terrific crime thriller destined to become a classic in the genre. They just don’t get any better than this.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER

The War of the Worlds Murder
by Max Allan Collins
Berkley Prime Crime Mystery
234 pages

Recently there has been a lot of good press concerning the publication of Paul Malmont’s book, THE CHINA DEATH CLOUD PERIL. It seems that all of pulp fandom has been enamored by this fictional account whereby writers Walter Gibson and Lester Dent experience a real adventure vis-à-vis those they created paper. I was one of those reader/critics who loved that book and recommended it to all my pulp loving friends. Well, I’m here today to showcase another book that does the same thing as Malmont’s effort and just as well. Unfortunately this one did not have the luxury of a being a hardcover or getting a marketing blitz to make P.T.Barnum envious as the other did. Which is the real crime here and one I hope to help correct.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER is one in a series of murder mysteries set against the backdrop of an historical disaster; all written by the master of this genre, Max Allan Collins. Previous titles in the series were THE TITANTIC MURDERS, THE HINDENBERG MURDERS and THE PEARL HARBOR MURDERS to name a few. Now the twist with this particular entry is it tells the story of the most famous bogus disaster of them all, the 1938 War of the Worlds radio program devised by Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater of Air for CBS.

Those of you unfamiliar with that event should immediately dig out your history books or Google and do some reading. On that All Hallow’s Eve, Welles and his cast dramatized H.G.Wells
Martian invasion tale as if it were real and they were news broadcasters bringing the horrifying details to the public. By altering Wells story to a modern setting, the Martians landed in a farm field in New Jersey, the inventive Welles and his crew were able to convince thousands of listeners that we were actually under attack. Hundreds of families packed their kids and belongings into their cars and headed north with all possible speed, clogging up major roadways leading to and from the New Jersey area detailed in the bogus reports.

To be fair, Welles had read a disclaimer explaning the dramatization at the start of the program, but the those people who tuned in late were not privy to that announcement and believed every terrorizing word they heard that night. That this mass hysteria did not cause a single loss of life was nothing short of a miracle. Once the hoax was revealed, the authorities clamored for Welles’ head on a pike, but after a few days, the furor slowly died down and people began to appreciate the dark humor that had so thoroughly tricked them.

Into this setting, Collins plants pulp writer, Walter Gibson, the writer/creator of THE SHADOW. Welles contacts Gibson at his Maine retreat and invites him to New York to work on a proposed screenplay for a Shadow movie that he wants to produce. Gibson, eager to meet the young boy-wonder, agrees to come down. He arrives two days before

Halloween and immediately gets caught up in the War of the Worlds presentation. Collins has fun with Gibson and sketches the writer/magician expertly. He’s clearly a fish-out-water around Welles and his troop of actors, but relishes being among them like a kid in a candy store. He is unaware his role is about to change dramatically.

An hour before the show is to go on the air, a missing young woman, the studio’s receptionist, is found murdered in an empty broadcast room, her throat cut. The weapon by her body, a keen edged blade, belongs to Welles. Shocked by the discovery, Welles turns to the famous mystery writer and pleads with him to solve the murder and clear his name. Thus, as the Welles sets about scaring the wits out of America, Walter Gibson goes on a hunt for a killer who may still be roaming the cavernous halls of the Columbia Broadcasting building.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER is just as much fun as THE CHINA DEATH CLOUD MYSTERY and actual trumps it in one important detail, the main plot background is real and actually happened as described. Whereas most of Malmont’s book is pure fabrication. If you are one of those many people who picked up Malmont’s book, then do yourself a big favor and find THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER. It’s like visiting an old neighborhood again, one where you always had a rollicking good time.

AFTER THE FALL

After The Fall
by Peter David
Pocket Books
369 pages

Perhaps no single science fiction franchise has spawned as many books as Paramount's STAR TREK, based on the 60s television show created by the late Gene Roddenberry. Now I don't presume to know how many of these books based on that original series and the its four subsequent sequels have been released. I know I've read lots of them, most of which were from STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION, my personal favorite of all the incarnations of Roddenberry's dream of "the final frontier."

By far the most popular series of all the Pocket Book Star Trek is not based on any of those television shows or the feature films they launched. Rather, the most amazing, original, and thoroughly satisfying adventures based on the Star Trek franchise are those invented by writer Peter David and aptly called New Frontier.

The New Frontier books, of which AFTER THE FALL, is the 18th, center around the Federation Starship Excalibur as helmed by Captain McKenzie Calhoun, a one-time junior warlord, savior of his planet and protege to Captain Jean Luc Picard. McKenzie and his bizarre, fascinating and always intriguing alien crew are the most realized characters ever to populate the Star Trek universe. From the rock-humanoid Kebron to Burgoyne, who is a half-female/half-male Hermat. I won't ever try to explain that; read the books. David has filled his crew with the supporting players from the various TV shows, to even include a couple from the short lived animated Star Trek series, mixing them beautifully with his own creations.

Having said all that, I do have to add that the books do not stand alone all that well. Each is a continuing chapter in an ongoing saga. So, although AFTER THE FALL, is a terrific read, unless you've read the previous books, you are going to be completely lost as to who these people are and what they are about. Still, if you like fast paced, absolutely unique and powerful characters, then I would urge you to make the effort; find those early books and jump on board. It's one hell of a fun ride. One Roddenberry would have truly appreciated.

LUCKY AT CARDS

Lucky At Cards
by Lawrence Block
Hard Case Crime
222 pages
Available in Jan 07

Since arriving on the publishing scene two years ago, Hard Case Crime, has set about reprinting classic crime novels. That it's not surprise that LUCKY AT CARDS is the third such book they have acquired from Grand Master Lawrence Block. No one, except maybe the late Jim Thompson, captures the world of confidence men, and women, better than Block. One has to wonder at his own background. I find it hard to believe that his intimate knowledge of the hustle could be acquired simply by research. Maye some day he'll write an autobiography and fill us all in on how he does it.

For now, we have this 1964 thriller back in print for an entire new audience of mystery-thriller fans. Bill Maynard is a second rate stage magician who gets pulled into the world crooked card games when he is taught how to use his hand dexterity to manipulate a deck three-ways-from-Sunday. Sleight of hand used to cheat people. No longer an honest, two-bit performer, he becomes what is referred to in the criminal circles as a card mechanic.

When fate, and a few broken teeth, land him in a small, out-of-the-way town, Bill plans on sticking around long enough to see a dentist, shill a few locals in a poker game and then beat it for greener pastures. All well and good until he meets Joyce Rogers, the sexy wife of the insurance salesman in whose home the poker game is being held. When Joyce arrives at his hotel room a few hours later and confesses she is from the wild side of the tracks and sees him for the hustler he is, things begin to heat up. Joyce is going crazy stuck in the role of dutiful housewife and desperately yearns for excitement in her life.

Before you can blink, she and Bill are naked and devouring each other physically as if the world were going to end the next day. Joyce Rogers is a femme fatale of the deadliest sort. She wants to run away with Bill, but not without her husband's money. Together they hatch an elaborate sting to achieve that goal. Like all good noir stories, this one has some very unexpected twists and by the end, both Bill and Joyce discover that even a square, unimaginative man like Murray Rogers can become a deadly opponent when the tables are turned and the cards hold a hidden joker.

Block captures all the nuances and tightrope morality of people who live in the shadows with extreme poignancy. He never white-washes them into Hollywood stereotypes, but rather finds the core ambiguousness of their natures. After all, why would anyone in the world want to spend their lives cheating people? Yet, every day, hundreds live that life and are very, very good at it. Reading LUCKY AT CARDS may not explain why they do it, but it will show you how they do it. Get ready for an education.

FANSTASTIX

Fantastix
by Bobby Nash
FYI Comics
242 pages

Superheroes have been around since Superman first took flight from the imagination of Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster. The thing was no one ever took them seriously. Once the American comic book was fully established by the end of the 1930s, it was as a media of make-believe directed solely towards children.

In the 196os, Stan Lee began to chip away at this immovable label by writing characters that were both amazing with incredible powers while at the same time still very much human as they grappled daily with the same problems all of us face. This new pseudo-realism would reach its culmination peak with the publication of Alan Moore's maxi-series, THE WATCHMEN. Suddenly there was an earthy, fragile unmasking of what true heorics meant to all of us. It was an adult story for an adult audience and superheroes were no longer the exclusive reading material of children. They had grown up.

It wouldn't take long for other venues to latch on to this new found, dramatic maturity. Although the 70s, 80s and 90s would give us new film interpretations of Batman and Superman, they were still mired in adolescent mentality, as is evidence with how quickly the Batman franchise quickly spun out of control with each new entry and was ultimately relegated to a live-action-cartoon status. The movies might have had the right intentions, but they simply didn't understand the true concept of superheroes.

Along comes M.Night Shyamalan and UNBREAKABLE. The first true, adult superhero movie ever made. Bruce Willis' character doesn't have an origin story. He doesn't come into his powers easily or eagerly. They frighten him. There are no lofty vows to fight evil and corruption. Rather the film is a journey of self-discovery and clearly puts forth the theory that evolution isn't quite done with the human race. Can REAL superheroes some day walk among us?

Time jump to the present. The hottest new hit on the boob tube is HEROES, a show about every day people suddenly discovering themselves possessed of truly supernatural powers. What happens next? From week to week the writers of this teleplay have begun a weaving, mesmerizing, completely addictive series that tries to answer that very question. Be they villainous, or heroic, the characters on HEROES are finding their way and it seems millions of us have come along for the ride.

Likewise this new thriller by Bobby Nash. FANTASTIX is a story of a world where superheroes have been around for a long-long time. Now something is systematically killing them off and therein lies the mystery of both their beginnings and their future. Nash, himself a comics writer, has a leg up on his writing peers as he gets what the true underlying core of heroism is all about. As we follow Rob Temple, once known as Visage, on his own journey of self-discovery, the road leads to sacrifice for there can never be heroism without selflessness...and selflessness is at the heart of sacrifice.

The story begins when Dominus, a thinly disguised Superman archetype, is found brutally battered to death. The police, the government and a secret agency, known only as Haven, all become embroiled with the fate of the world's meta-humans. Temple and his young sidekick, Mouse, soon find themselves allied with three very unique people; Frisk, the sexy black chick who is practically invulnerable; Lore, the shy, quiet girl with the ability to bend people to her will, and a were-beast known as Kracklin.

Together they search out the truth behind their own lives and the dangers that threaten to destroy them all.

This is only Nash's second book and it is wonderfully executed. He has matured considerably as a writer since that first offering and the control with which he spins this yarn is both deft and entertaining. I really enjoyed reading this book and came to love these characters. If superheroes are your cup of tea, do not pass up FANTASTIX. It has a lot to say.

The book is available on-line from Lulu.com

THE LAST MATCH

The Last Match
by David Dodge
Hard Case Crime
313 pages

David Dodge was a bestselling travelogue and suspense writer back in the 50s & 60s. His most famous novel, TO CATCH A THIEF, was made into a popular film by Alfred Hitchcock and starred Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Dodge's greatest passion in life was traveling and he used writing to support that wanderlust. He also had a real fascination for bunco artist, commonly referred to today as confidence men.

Dodge died in 1974, short after finishing THE LAST MATCH. The manuscript was filed away with his other papers and would not see the light of day again until 1998 when it was uncovered by his daughter, Kendal. An editor friend suggested she show it to Charles Ardai of Hard Case Crime. HCC had last year published Dodge's South American thriller, PLUNDER OF THE SUN, and was very eager to read this long lost novel.

Now, thirty-three years after it was first written, THE LAST MATCH, is published much to the pleasure of suspense lovers everywhere. The book is classic Dodge in that it begins in France, then jumps to South America, the US East coast and North Africa before ending on a small island off Sardinia. It is a book filled with wonderfully drawn characters, exotic locales and a very tight, twisty plot that delivers a marvelous and satisfying climax.

Curly, our hero and narrator, is a discharged GI who chooses to remain in Frnace after World War II. Curly is also a likeable grifter who sees unlimited opportunities for a man of his less than honest talents. In the course of plying his shady trade, he meets a sophisticated British blonde who seems obsessed with humiliating him at every turn. There are also a couple unsavory French and Corsican gangsters who cross his path. Throughout the first half of the book we follow Curly along on several elaborate scams. The guy just loves the con.

But when he starts running afoul of the law, Curly packs his bags and heads for warmer, safer climes and ends up in Peru and eventually the Amazon. There another series of misadventures results in a reunion with the straight-laced British femme fatale and a surprise development he is totally unprepared for.

THE LAST MATCH starts slow and builds methodically. Don't let it's steady, plodding pacing put you off. By the half-way juncture, things pick up and the Dodge amps the speed to a roller-coaster finale just as taut and suspenseful as any thriller I've ever enjoyed. This book isa treasure and kudos to HCC for bringing it to us at long last.

LIFE EXPECTANCY

LIFE EXPECTANCY
by Dean Koontz
Bantam Books
476 pages

Many years ago a good friend handed me a paperback copy of the WATCHERS by Dean R. Koontz and told me to, "Read this." Since that time, I've become a big-time Koontz fan and have read dozens of his books since. THE WATCHERS still remains one of my favorite books ever. But in those intervening years, Koontz has been hit or miss with me. I've loved lots of his work, and others have left me very disappointed. So, whenever a new one comes out, I give it a very serious scrutiny before plucking down my hard earned bucks. I've discovered as a Koontz follower that he writes two different kinds of thrillers; the dark and deadly type that scares the pants off you and the light and whimsical kind. The latter often deals with issues of personal philosophy and our places in this world. Those are usually the titles that entertain me the most. LIFE EXPECTANCY is very much one of these and a real treat. If you are a Koontz fan, you'll love this book. If you've never read any of his books before,
well, "Read this."

On the night Jimmy Tock was born, his dying grandfather made a prediction that there would be five terrible days in his future. Within hours of his birth, a crazed circus clown named Konrad Beezo murders a doctor and nurse because his own wife dies in childbirth. He escapes into the night with his infant son. What is his connection with the Tock family and their newest member? Thus starts one of Koontz's most memorable yarns to date. Jimmy is a great, eccentric character who wants to live his life as peacefully and dully as is humanly possible. Unfortunately the five days of horror are coming as time passes and he has no choice but to confront them, one by one.

The ingenuity and heart of this book left me crying in several places, happily so. Like myself, Koontz believes there is a destiny shaped by a mysterious God and that each of is a unique piece of that cosmic puzzle called life. We can choose to play out our parts or rebel against them, but regardless, the tapestry of life will continue to be woven in an immortal image beyond our mortal comprehension. Such is the magic of every single human life brilliantly captured by this amazing book. Be prepared to be enchanted.

THE PHANTOM MARSHAL

The Phantom Marshal
by Lance Howard
A Black Horse Western
157 pages

Writer Lance Howard is an avowed pulp enthusiast and when he first began writing for the British label, Black Horse Western, it was inevitable that he would bring some pulpish elements to his horse operas. THE PHANTOM MARSHAL is such a book as ti combines the traditional cowboy vengeance plot with touches from the hero pulps, especially the Shadow and the Black Bat.

Print Madsen was the marshal of a small New Mexico town called Blakewood. Everything was peaceful and quiet until the Gauvin brothers, Cort and Hank arrived. Both had ambitions that involvled breaking the law to get rich and famous. Cort started a big cattle ranch from ill-gotten gains and had dreams of becoming the state governor one day. Younger brother, Hank, opened a saloon and was willing to settle for simply running the town. Of course Madsen, and his younger brother, Mark, were going to be impediments to those grandiose plans. Thus the Madsens were attacked one night by a group of thugs led by the Gauvins. Mark was killed outright and Print was beaten to within an inch of his life and his broken body thrown into the river.

This is all back story. The book opens two years later when the members of that killing party, one by one, fall victim to a mysterious masked avenger in black. This murderous wraith strikes without warning and shows the badmen no mercy. On their bodies he leaves a marshal's badge in which a cross has been scratched. Cort and Hank recognize it as the same badge worn by the dead Print Madsen. Has his avenging spirit returned from the dead to wreak bloody retribution? Or is the masked rider someone else altogether with a different agenda? Before the book reaches its gun-blasting climax, many more hombres will fall at the hands of the Phatom Marshal.

A quick note. Although Black Horse Westerns are produced in England, they are easily available through Amazon.com in this country. Try one. They are much fun.

IMARO

by Charles Saunders
Night Shade Books
224 pages.

A long time ago, back in the 70s, DAW books published a trio of books starring a powerful black warrior named Imaro. Mirrored somewhat on Robert E.Howard's classical barbarian figure, Conan, Imaro strode a new and vastly unexplored wilderness few western readers were at all familiar with, Africa.

No, not the Africa of Tarzan and Trader Horn movies that so proliferated the American consciousness of the 1920s and 30s, but an Africa based on authentic myths and legends of that magnificent, nature rich continent. And all of this was the product of an imagination unlike any other to come down the literary halls of fantasy writing. Charles Saunders, like his brawny protagonist, is a large, imposing African-American with a ready smile, marvelous sense of humor and a gift for words that quickly established him as a strong new presence in the American fiction genre.

Sadly the editors of DAW fumbled the ball in marketing this new, and vibrant character and ended up labeling him either "the black Conan" or even more embarrassing, "the black Tarzan."
Imaro was/is neither. He is unique, an original hero who lives his life against the colorful background of a world that sprang from the true, authentic myths of the real Africa. Thus this lack of editorial understanding of the material presented to them, doomed the series to a very quick cancellation after only three volumes. Saunders had in fact written four and had a fifth well in development when this abrupt ending was forced on him. And on that day, fantasy and adventure readers lost something truly special. As one of the few lucky souls to have found and read those three books, I can attest to this loss personally. It seemed Imaro's legend would die before it had really begun.

Jump ahead thirty some years and along comes publisher, Night Shade Books, wanting to resurrect the charactre and the series. Luckily they were able to convince Saunders to dust off his remarkable creation, revamp some of his early chapters to better adjust to modern sensibilities (Saunders is all too aware of current African politics, recent wars and acts of genocide to allow his fiction to exploit such atrocities). And now, a brand new edition of IMARO is once again on the book racks of America, and hopefully this time, with a dedicated publisher, is going to find an eager audience that will soon be begging for more.

Having read both the original version of this book, the first chapter in Imaro's saga, and the new released edition, I'm here to give everyone involved a round of applause. This is by far one of the best adventure books I have read in years. Saunders has matured as a writer and his use of words to convey a sense of time and place is unrivaled among today's fantasists. Do not miss IMARO. You've been given a second chance at a classic, don't blow it. You'll be sorry you did.

THE GUNS OF HEAVEN

By Pete Hamill
Hard Case Crime
254

Do not be surprised if in the coming weeks and months you find lots and lots of Hard Case Crime titles appearing in this column. They are by far one of my favorite publishers and I am always eager to pick up each new title they put forth. HCC is about bringing back the true noir pulp fun of paperbacks that were so prevalent in the 60s & 70s via outfits like Gold Medal and Fawcett and Ace. And that's exactly what they do, combining terse, gripping fiction with brilliant new covers by today's finest painters.

Okay, enough about the company. Let's dig into the book itself First published in 1983, the setting is Ireland during a very turbulent time in its war between the North and South, Catholics and Protestants. It is amazing to think that in just twenty or so years we've all but forgotten about the bloody conflict that ravaged that island country, as we've now turned our attention on the Middle East and it's violent problems. Seems like one war after another, and still with some kind of fanatical religious underpinings. Pete Hamill's protagonist is a New York City reporter named Sam Briscoe, sent to do a story on the Irish Republican Army and their mysterious leader. In the process Briscoe is recruited to hand deliver a message from this shadow commander to IRA sympthizers back in America. He agrees to do so reluctantly and almost immediately comes to regret it when he is followed to Switzerland by gunmen. Briscoe realizes he has foolishly put both himself and his eleven year daughter at risk and quickly delivers her to Spain into the care of her mother, his ex-wife.

Back in New York, Briscoe attempts to the deliver the envelope only to have the intended receiver murdered in a terrorist bombing of an Irish bar. Then he discovers his daughter has been kidnapped and smuggled into America. Unless he cooperates with the kidnappers, she will be tortured and killed. Now he's on his own, realizing her safety depends on his ability to find her and deal with his enemies. That he becomes obsessed and ruthless in his quest is what drives the second half of this thriller and keeps the pages turning. Hamill is good at building suspense, but even more so at setting his stage with complex characters and twisty political knots that don't get unraveled until the very last chapter.

THE GUNS OF HEAVEN is effective, powerful drama. That it is tragic is also worthy of attention. People do have the power the make this a better world. This book wonders if they have the courage to do so?