THRESHOLD

THRESHOLD
By Bonnie Kozek
iUniverse, Inc.
118 pgs

What are the odds I’d end up reviewing two books back to back whose protagonist is named Honey? Which is exactly what happened, but be warned, these ladies are about as different as night and day can be. Read on, MacDuff.

This book kicked me in the teeth. It’s an ugly slice of life few of us ever get to see, or want to for that matter. Which is why turning its pages was like sparring with a heavyweight. Every few scenes your get you jaw rocked and your gut punched. It hurts like hell, but once the literary adrenalin starts juicing, there’s no way you are going to stop. Of course the challenge here is to try and tell you what Bonnie Kozek writes like, when it’s damn near impossible. She’s an original. Imagine what kind of hard boiled fiction Mickey Spillane would have given us if he’d been a she? A sassy, angry, tough, twenty-first century dame with a story to tell. That’s Ms.Kozek.

Honey McGuinness grew up with a suicidal mother who wanted to share eternity with her. Only problem is, mom didn’t want to wait until nature ran its course and opted to punch both their tickets by taking a flying leap off a high-rise. She died, Honey lived. If you call the messed up life she endured from that point on was living. Sex, drugs and a little rock and roll, the girl walked on the wild side until it all became home, one she has no intentions of ever leaving.

“…what was I afraid of? I’d ingested, digested, shoved up my ass, and shot into my bloodstream every kind of consciousness-numbing intoxicant, narcotic, and medication known to man-and whatever I missed in my later years my sick-o mother shoved down my throat in the first sixteen. I was experienced, stoned and beautiful.”

When one of Honey’s homeless friends is gunned down in front of her apartment and left to bleed to death, her bleak, comfy world is shattered. Especially when she finds Billy was wired and the machine tape is still on his body. Was he a helpless pawn of the cops? A patsy sent into the drug flooded streets to be sacrificed to the scum? Honey believed her heart had turned to stone long ago but with Billy’s murder, she realizes, much to her own utter disbelief, that she gives a damn. Then she finds an unlikely ally in a goody-two-shoes rookie cop named Skinner. All of which propels Honey on yet another personal voyage through hell to uncover a truth too many powerful people want hidden permanently.

THRESHOLD is a brutal, take-no-prisoners adult thriller that paints a disturbing, factual picture of a culture most Americans will never know. Thank God for that. Whereas the fact that people do live like this is a crime against all mankind. Bravo to Bonnie Kozek for having the guts write about it. My only question is, why was this book published by a small, unknown publisher? If any book deserved to be a Hard Case Crime title, it’s this one. They just don’t come any meaner.

KISS FOR A KILLER

KISS FOR A KILLER
By G.G. Fickling
Overlook Press
200 pgs.

Sexy, blond, private eye, Honey West, was created in 1957 by the husband and wife team of Gloria and Forest Fickling. She was a fashion writer and he covered sports; they wrote ten Honey West paperbacks under the pseudonym G.G. Fickling. Honey is notable for being one of the first female private detectives in popular fiction. She inspired a short lived TV series (1965-66) starring Anne Francis and was a very popular heroine until here retirement in 1971.

KISS FOR A KILLER is the sixth book in the series and is typical of most of them. When a professional football player, with whom she once had a fling, is run over by a steamroller, Honey takes it upon herself to get involved with the case, much to the chagrin of Deputy Sheriff, Mark Storm. Soon she’s caught up with a zany bunch of lethal nudists who have a lot to hide in more ways than one. The Fickling’s clearly wrote these as light, comedic tales and were ingenious in just how many times they could get poor Honey out of her clothes.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of truly creepy sequences in this story that are extremely well handled and make the book worth picking up. But be warned, the plot is paper thin and there are so many red herrings sprinkled throughout, it is sometimes hard to keep up with the determined Ms. West. New bodies keep popping up like dandelions on a spring lawn. In the end, Honey solves the case in her own unique style and walks off in the arms of the ruggedly handsome Deputy Storm.

If you are old enough to remember the TV series, you may be surprised by these books, as by the time Honey was brought to the small screen, she’d undergone a serious make-over to dampen her risqué (for that time) nature, although Ms. Francis certainly captured her allure and sensuality. This is the second Honey West book Overlook Press has released, the other being the first in the series, THIS GIRL FOR HIRE. Both are inexpensively priced and if you are looking for some fun, summer reading, you could do a lot worse than meeting Ms. Honey West.

THE AVENGER CHRONICLES

THE AVENGER CHRONICLES
Edited by Joe Gentile & Howard Hopkins
Moonstone Books
361 pages

One of the most original and enduring pulp heroes was a character known as the Avenger and another product of the successful Street & Smith publishing house. This was the same company that had given the world both the Shadow and Doc Savage, by far the most famous pulp characters of all time. The Avenger came about when the folks at Street & Smith came up with the idea of creating a new character who would combine both the mystery elements of the Shadow and the globe-trotting adventures of the Man of Bronze. The result was the dramatic story of Richard Henry Benson, a famed adventurer whose beloved wife and daughter are murdered by a ruthless gang of killers. Benson suffers a traumatic breakdown that not only turns his hair prematurely white, but at the same time deadens the nerves in his face so that it takes on a putty-like malleability thus allowing him to shape it in any manner he desires. Suddenly, with a little make up and a few wigs, Benson can become anybody. Seeing this bizarre ability as a sign, he opts not to wallow in self-pity, but to devote his life from that moment on to the cause of righting wrongs for other victims like himself. He soon recruits a band of loyal follower, each of them with their own personal history of loss at the hands of criminals, and thus is born Justice, Inc.

The series was written by pulp veteran Paul Ernst and although the stories were extremely well done and very popular with the fans, the title was doomed to a short run. It had the misfortune of coming on the scene as the door was closing on the pulp era wherein economic hard times and paper shortages were forcing all the major publishers to cut back on their output. The Avenger was one of the early casualties of this media demise.

Now pulp fans can take rejoice, as the Avenger and his entire team are back in a terrific anthology featuring eighteen brand new adventures by some of today’s finest action writers. Here are Nellie Gray, the spitfire blonde, Smitty, the veritable seven foot electrical genius, Fergus MacMurdie, the Scottish chemist, Josh and Rosabel Newton, the African American husband and wife team and the debonair Cole Wilson; all of them willingly racing into danger at their leader’s bidding. The stories themselves pit them against assassins, mad scientists, and killer robots all penned by today’s modern pulp scribes to include Mark Justice, Martin Powell, and Ron Goulart amongst others.

This reviewer would be hard pressed to pick a favorite in this collection, as all eighteen are truly great, fast paced action yarns. Kudos to editors Joe Gentile (a true pulp enthusiast and promoter) and Howard Hopkins (an authority on the Avenger) for putting these pulse pounding new chapters in the life of one of pulpdom’s greatest heroes. This is one of the best pulp anthologies ever produced. Here’s hoping there are future volumes in the works. You can never have too much of a good thing.

FAKE I.D.

FAKE I.D.
By Jason Starr
Hard Case Crime
Available May 26
253 pages

This is one of the grittiest, most hypnotic novels I’ve ever read. True to classic noir, it introduces the reader to a luckless schmuck with illusions of grandeur and then proceeds to suck him into a bottom-less pit of crime and insanity. Like the gory roadside crash on the highway that compels us to slow down and stare at mutilated figures, once we meet would be actor and bouncer, Tommy Russo, we become his shadow and watch helplessly as his life unravels thread by agonizing thread.

In his early thirties, Russo is a gambling addict and all-around loser who lies to himself about one day hitting the big score at the tracks or getting an acting gig that will instantly catapult him to fame and glory. When he is offered an opportunity to join a small syndicate of men in buying a race horse, Tommy sees it as his one big chance to grab the brass ring of life and become a winner. But to join he’ll have to come up with ten thousand dollars, which he of course doesn’t have.

Using his good looks, Tommy seduces an old girlfriend and steals her jewelry. He pawns the stolen baubles for seed money, believing he can win at the tracks and thus earn his stake in the proposed syndicate. Of course he only ends up losing the money, making the girl suspicious and in the process he becomes even more desperate. Enough to rob the safe in the bar where he is employed by a man who trust him like a son.

Starr’s writing is economic to a fault, sparing little verbiage on anything other than Tommy’s cold, cruel, irrational look at the world. Within the first chapters the reader realizes the guy has no real grasp of reality and is on a one way trip to hell. How that doom befalls him is both ironic and pathetic.

FAKE I.D. is a nasty piece of work and thus a delicious noir experience you will not soon forget. Powerful stuff.

CONQUISTADOR

CONQUISTADOR
By S.M.Stirling
RoC Books
582 pages

I love what-if stories that set the imagination free. Growing up in a small New England town, I spend many hours playing in the surrounding woods that ran along the small river that wound its way through the center of town. Often I would find myself on a summer afternoon hidden in a copse of oak and elms, no view of our house or the street. Then I’d begin daydreaming what this entire land must have been like before Columbus and the Europeans arrived. Indians, as we wrongly referred to them back then, had the entire North American continent to themselves; a vast empire of mountains, valleys, forests and plains as yet unspoiled by what some folks call civilization. As a teenager, I thought how truly magnificent that world must have been.

Writer S.M.Stirling must have done much of the same daydreaming as the plot of this mammoth what-if adventure makes it possible for his characters to find that uncorrupted land. The book begins in 1947 when ex-Marine, John Rolfe returns to civilian life after having survived brutal combat in the South Pacific. He buys an old, long abandoned house in San Francisco and one night, while cleaning out its cellar, a blue shimmering wall of energy suddenly manifest itself in midair before him. Not one to shy away from a mystery, Rolfe soon discovers the blue wall is a portal to another Earth, one wherein America was never settled by Europeans. Rolfe immediately realizes the importance of his discovery and beings to hatch a wild, outlandish scheme to conquer this new land and there create his own government, his own social order, his own idealized world. To do this, he enlists several of his old war buddies and once they are brought to this “other” California through the dimensional gate, they are easily swayed by Rolfe’s dreams of power and wealth.

The story then jumps ahead to the year 2009 (a neat twist as Stirling penned the book in 2003) and introduces a California Wild Life and Game warden named Tom Christiansen. Christiansen and his colleagues have stumbled upon an animal smuggling operation in Los Angeles. In the process of investigating the case, they find several rare animals thought to be extinct. The mystery eventually brings him in contact with the beautiful Adrienne Rolfe, the granddaughter John Rolfe, who attempts to divert Christiansen’s case by providing him with false information. The two become romantically attached and ultimately Tom and his pal, Roy Tully, uncover the truth about the “other” Earth and Adrienne has no choice but to abduct them and bring them through the gate.

Once there, they learn that a descendant of the original families, Rolfe’s World War Two companions, is plotting a revolution to seize control of the gate and in the process the new world they have built for themselves over the past sixty-one years. Slowly Adrienne begins to win Christiansen’s support until he signs on as her ally to discover the truth behind the secret coup and then defeat it.

Stirling is remarkably adept at world-building and he goes on for pages at a time explaining the history of this alternate world and John Rolfe’s new society. All well and good, as he wants to show he’s clearly thought it all out. I do appreciate that, but don’t wonder if a more critical editor, for the sake of narrative pacing, might not have found a few dozen pages here and there to trim. Christiansen’s indoctrination into this macho social experiment at times seems naively idyllic as when all the locals sign on to help harvest Ms.Rolfe’s wheat fields. It’s romantic fantasy to the tenth degree.

Where Stirling excels is in his action scenes. These are extremely well written, taut and suspenseful. The last section of the book, when Christiansen must fall back on his warrior training as an Army Ranger in the Iraq, is superbly handled and had me turning pages fast. CONQUISTADOR is a big book with big ideas and not something you want to pick up for a fast weekend read. It will demand a hefty investment of time. If you are willing to give it, you will be amply rewarded for the effort.

STILL KICKING

Just wanted to take a few seconds to let all of you fellow readers that I'm still alive and kicking. And I apologize for lack of a new review in a while. I am also a writer and editor and the past few weeks have been very work intense. Hopefully that is about to ease up and I'll have a new review up soon. And while I'm here might as well let you all know, I will be attending the Windy City Pulp & Paper show the 1st May representing my pulp company, Airship 27 Productions, along with my partner, artist Rob Davis. If you've never been to a pulp convention and live in the Chicago area, I urge you to give it a try. They are tons of fun. Okay, back to work, and as always, thanks so much for stopping by.
Ron

THE HELLFIRE CONSPIRACY

THE HELLFIRE CONSPIRACY
A Barker & Llewelyn Novel
By Will Thomas
Touchstone Books
311 pages

This is one of my favorite series currently being written. A long time Sherlock Holmes fan, I always keep an eye out for fictional characters operating against the same historical backdrop of Victorian England. Thomas’ first novel in this series, SOME DANGER INVOLVED, hooked me immediately with the introduction of Inquiry Agent Cyrus Barker and his just-recruited aide, and chronicler, young Thomas Llewelyn. Dig into these archives and you’ll find my review of that terrific debut adventure.

Thomas wasted no time enjoying his laurels and soon offered up books two and three; TO KINGDOM COME and THE LIMEHOUSE TEXT, respectively. Each continued to evolve the relationship between the two main characters and delved deeper into the social and economic world that was the British Empire at this juncture in history. With each new entry we’ve come to learn more and more about Barker’s past in the Orient and his life as a ship’s captain. Whereas Llewelyn begins to mature under his employer’s tutelage, gaining new found confidence along with the skills imparted to him to become a bona fide agent.

When a young girl is kidnapped in broad daylight outside the offices of a respectable charity, Barker and Llewelyn are hired by the girl’s father who fears she’s been taken by white slavers. Against the backdrop of child labor issues and the plight of the poor in London’s factories, the two men soon uncover a much more sinister evil at work. The girl has become the victim of an audacious child serial killer who openly taunts the police with poems insulting their attempts to capture him. Calling himself Mr.Miacca, a character from a children’s fairy tale, this heartless killer promises to continue murdering little girls unless Barker can discover his identity and put an end to his twisted crimes.

The Barker and Llewelyn mysteries are suspense page turners that will satisfy the most jaded crime reader. I have relished each new adventure as they continue to round out these complex men and the world they inhabit. THE HELLFIRE CONSPIRACY is a pure literary triumphant and readers would be hard pressed to find a better classic mystery series. Books such as this one are why I love to read. Need I say more?

HUNT AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY

HUNT AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY
By Gabriel Hunt
Leisure Books
226 pages
Available in April 09

Just a little over two years ago, writer-publisher, Charles Ardai, and an associate, burst on to the pulp scene with their noir imprint, Hard Case Crime. Since then they’ve given pulp fans over fifty of the finest pulp noir mysteries, crime and thrillers from both new works and reprints of long forgotten classics. Both the company and several of its books have justifiably won awards. Of course, once saturated into the world of pulp fiction, it was only a matter of time before Ardai would turn his creative attention to the most popular genre of that field, the hero pulps.

Thus he’s created a second imprint, Leisure Books, solely for the purpose of giving us the exploits of a modern day, globe-trotting pulp action hero; Gabriel Hunt. With his roots firmly in the past ala classic 30s pulp heroes, while brandishing today’s modern technology, Hunt joins his contemporaries Dirk Pitt, Kurt Austin, Jack Reacher and Special Agent Pendergast, among others, as a terrific new two-fisted star.

In this first adventure, an old Confederate flag may be the clue that unlocks the mystery of one of the world’s oldest legends. From the swamps of Georgia to the jungles of Guatemala and a lost Mayan city, Hunt and a beautiful Mexican scientist pursue an ancient mystery with death hounding their every step. Bestselling novelist James Reasoner is the imagination behind this debut outing and he delivers it all, fast pacing, exotic locales, damsels in distress and a classic pulp quest. Other well known writers will be assuming the by-line in subsequent installments.

This is a dynamite new series and AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY a grand debut send off. Clearly, the “Hunt” for adventure has begun!

CORRECTION ADD ON - I mistakenkly thought Charles Ardai had started Leisure Books. Erin Galloway, Manager of Marketing was kind enough to correct me. "Established in 1972, Leisure Books is an imprint of Dorchester Publishing, the oldest independent mass market publisher. We worked with Charles to create the Hunt series." My apologies and thanks for setting the record straight here.

THE STAR OF KALEEL

THE STAR OF KALEEL
By C.J. Burch
www.lulu.com
153 pgs

The old adage says you can’t judge a book by its cover. That’s true, unfortunately what that saying fails to take into account is, you can’t market a book without a hell of a nice cover. It’s not that readers judge a book by its packaging as much as attractive covers are more likely to attract attention. Which is why C.J. Burch’s self published adventure, THE STAR OF KALEEL, gets a very bad deal here. Had Burch been able to acquire the services of people who know art and graphic designing, I am positive his work would be getting a wider audience.

THE STAR OF KALEEL is a sword and sorcery tale that is competently written, presents fresh ideas and settings and offers up two really great characters at its center. Karim and Maleeva are vicious, professional gladiators in the pits of Solon, where they fight and die for the entertainment of the populace. Karim is the older, wiser of the two, whereas the younger Maleeva desires to take her place as the number one fighter in the pits. Both are soul weary of their lives and when they are offered a job as agents of a wealthy female politician, they see it as their one chance to escape their hellish lives.

The plot is simple enough and a familiar one to readers of this genre. Somewhere in a desert outpost between the east and the west, a power jewel is buried, hidden away hundreds of years ago because of its dangerous powers. The Star of Kaleel is said to be able to destroy entire nations, maybe all mankind, with a simple thought. Now a madman named Hafad is after the jewel for his own dark ambition and Karim and Maleeva are sent to stop him and steal back the jewel for their patron.

Burch moves the pace along at a good clip and the writing never gets bogged down. The characters are fully sketched and as a reader I found myself quickly caught up in their circumstances. Most readers expect to find male heroes in this kind of adventure, thus having two beautiful, deadly women instead is a refreshing change. Burch explores the women’s lives and feelings towards each other in a very delicate and mature fashion, eschewing a prurient approach a lesser writer could easily have been tempted to follow.

Thus, in the end, he delivers a solid, enjoyable adventure that I’m very happy to have discovered. This is a very good book that deserves your attention and support. Go to Lulu.com and punch it up. And please, as I said at the start of this review, don’t be put off by the cover. Yes, it is crude and amateurish, but what’s inside is anything but.

THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS

THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS
By Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Vision Books
492 pages

The last time we saw Special FBI Agent, Pendergast, he had survived a deadly encounter with his brother, Diogenes, who died in that contest. All of that took place after Diogenes has violated his beautiful young ward, Constance Greene. In an attempt to heal her scarred psyche, Pendergast takes her to an ancient Buddhist monastery hidden deep in the mountains of Tibet. It is there that they learn that a very rare and powerful occult object has been stolen from the monks and Pendergast is asked to retrieve it. He is told that this strange thing, called Agozyen, is capable of unleashing a great evil upon the world. One that could have catastrophic results for all mankind.

Pendergast and Constance take up the hunt, trailing the thief to England only to find him horribly murdered and the Agozyen gone; this time into the hands of a killer. The trail leads to the docks and the launching of a new, super ocean liner called the Britannia, about to depart on its maiden voyage to New York City. The magnificent, ultra modern ship carries with it over three thousand guests and crew. And a fiendish, arcane monster that quickly makes its presence known with a series of gruesome, random murders.

Thus, while Pendergast and Constance continue to search for the identity of their unknown prey, the crew of the Britannia finds itself dealing with ship-wide panic and paranoia as their wealthy guests soon realize their leisurely cruise has become a nightmarish voyage to destruction. When Pendergast is mentally attacked and then subjugated by the Agozyen, it falls to Constance to somehow save him, if she can, before all is lost.

Since his first appearance in the team’s book, RELIC, Special Agent Pendergast has rapidly evolved into one of fiction’s most unique and appealing action heroes. I’ve always maintained that there is a modern version of most of the classic 1930s pulp heroes. We’ve all known from his debut novel that Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt was our new Doc Savage and all his subsequent adventures have born that out. I’d like to suggest that Pendergast is our new Shadow. He’s as original and mysterious a crimefighter whose greatest asset is his brilliant mind and encyclopedic knowledge of everything under the sun. I think the late Shadow scribe, Walter Gibson, would have been a huge fan of these books. They are pure pulp heaven.

DOC WILDE AND THE FROGS OF DOOM

DOC WILDE
& The Frogs of Doom
By Tim Byrd
G.P.Putnam’s Son
186 pages
Coming May 2009

Sometimes the twist and turns of fate can make you sit back and ponder those magical things we call coincidence. Early yesterday morning, via the internet, I learned that one of our finest fantasy, science fiction writers had died; Philip Jose Farmer. Amongst his many popular works, Farmer had invented a strange heroes mythology wherein he surmised not only were all the great literary heroes of the late nineteenth and twentieth century based on real people but that they were also related in one fashion or another. This was called his Wold Newton Mythology.

In this fanciful theory, Farmer postulated that there had actually been a 1930s globe trotting adventurer who was the basis for the pulp hero, Doc Savage. Farmer also suggested this man was related to the jungle lord we call Tarzan. Amongst his elaborate genealogy of heroes, Farmer several times replaced the name Savage with Wilde, again to indicate historical personages and their fictional disguises.

So why bring this all up now? Simply because on the day I learned of Farmer’s passing, this book arrived on my doorstep; DOC WILDE AND THE FROGS OF DOOM by Tim Byrd. In his action-packed story, Byrd tells us this Doc Savage figure not only existed, but that he went on to marry and have a son and grandchildren. The son is one Doctor Spartacus Wilde, a golden hued chip off the old block. Like his dad, now ninety-nine but still fit as an Olympian athlete, he is a famous scientist, inventor and world traveler. He is also a widower raising two fantastic kids, Brian and Wren, both of whom have inherited the family adventuring genes.

As the book opens, Doc and his children learn that Grandpa Wilde has disappeared at the same time they are attacked by a variety of bizarre, hybrid frogs. Surviving these bizarre assaults, Doc, Brian, Wren and Doc’s aides, take up the search from the Empire State Building, where they interview Grandma Pat Wilde to the halls of Harvard. Oh, and the two aides I mentioned are a red-headed Irishman named Declan mac Coul and a natty, debonair lawyer named Phineas Bartlett. (Of course any self-respecting pulp fan will recognize them immediately.)

The trail of the missing senior Doc leads our group to the South American jungles of Hidalgo, as yet another well known name from the Savage canon. The innocent fun of this book, which is a Young Reader’s offering, is that it does not attempt to shy away from its origins and is a worthy pastiche for all Doc Savage enthusiasts. Byrd is having a grand time offering us a satisfying what-if adventure that rings true from start to finish and left me wanting more. All the trappings and clichés of the hero pulps are here, but presented in such a fresh and carefree manner, the reader will be swept away by the outlandish exploits performed by this one-of-a-kind family. The Wildes are old fashion heroes in the best sense of the word and their adventure is sure to thrill pulp fans, both old and new. Don't miss it!

THE DEAD MAN' BROTHER

THE DEAD MAN’ BROTHER
By Roger Zelazny
Hard Case Crime
252 pages

Ask any knowledgeable reader who was Roger Zelazny and you’ll be told he was a brilliant science fiction writer who won six Hugo Awards during his career. Which is why when the late author’s agent uncovered an unpublished manuscript the surprise was not so much in it’s discovery as the fact that it was a crime thriller. There is even some doubt as to when the book was written, although the author’s son, believes it was produced in the early 70s.

THE DEAD MAN’S BROTHER is a mystery thriller that moves across three continents and embroils its hero in murder, embezzling, espionage and militant revolution. Ovid Wiley is a respectable New York art dealer with a criminal past. When an old associate shows up on his gallery floor dead, Wiley soon finds himself a pawn for the C.I.A. He is sent to Rome to investigate a missing priest who has stolen millions of dollars from the church. Wiley soon learns the man has been murdered and then barely escape a hit on himself. When he discovers that Maria, another face from his criminal past, was the priest’s mistress, things begin to get complicated.

Eventually Wiley, with Maria in tow, is forced to fly to Brazil in search of the dead man’s brother, the leader of a group of anti-government revolutionaries. Although the book has many twists and turns, Zelazny was a competent storyteller and he never loses his main plot, dropping just enough clues to keep the reader following the bread crumbs along with an often-times befuddled Wiley.

This is not the best such book I’ve read and there were places I wished the author would have quickened the pace. No writer ever wants to limit his or her range and that Zelazny had a crime book in him is no surprise. Still, it comes nowhere near the originality and daring of his science fiction work, in which he excelled. In the end, neither a success or failure, THE DEAD MAN’S BROTHER seems a personal experiment he needed to get done, which I suspect is why he never pushed getting it published. Thus it now surfaces as a literary oddity and that may truly be it’s only worth.

STARFINDER

STARFINDER
By John Marco
DAW Books
326 pages

Every now and then a book comes along that you know was somehow written solely for you. Such is the case with this wonderful fantasy adventure from John Marco. He has masterfully taken my love of airships and woven them into a story that pits mankind and its sciences against the magic of wizardry and a fantasy world inhabited by very familiar mythical creatures.

Moth lives in high atop the cliff city of Calio and dreams of one day flying a dragonfly, the single-seat aircraft of the Sky Knights. Moth is an orphan being raised by an old airman named Leroux who spins tales of the fantastic world beyond the Reach. The Reach is a fog enshrouded no-man’s land from which only a handful of explorers have ever returned. Leroux’s yarns tell of beings called the Sky Lords who rule the land beyond the Reach and claim the skies for themselves.

When Leroux dies, he leaves the boy a strange navigational device called a Starfinder and a charge to go into the Reach and save Lady Esme, his Kestrel Hawk. Leroux claimed the bird was in actuality a Sky Lord Princess who had been cursed by the King of the Sky Lords because of her love for Leroux. Moth, using the Starfinder, must find a dragon wizard named Merceron who will help Lady Esme regain her true nature.

Fortunately for Moth, he has a courageous ally in Fiona, the fiery red-headed granddaughter of Calio’s governor, Rendor. What neither of them is aware of is that Rendor was Leroux’s companion during that long ago expedition into the Reach and that he wants the Starfinder. The Starfinder possesses unique arcane powers that, in the hands of the Sky Lords, could enslave the human world. When Rendor learns Moth and Fiona have fled into the Reach, he immediately organizes a search and rescue operation aboard his newly built, massive airship, Avatar. Among the military cadre under his command is Moth’s closet friend, Sky Knight pilot Captain Coralin.

From the first page to the last, this book weaves an incredible tale filled with truly amazing characters; beautiful mermaids, wise dragons and brave warrior centaurs. Each is brought to life with deft, sure strokes and the story propels itself gracefully along much like the giant airship at its center. Before Moth and Fiona can achieve their goal, they will have to grow up fast, face many dangers and bear the heartache of sacrifice and loss. STARFINDER stands leagues above similar fantasy books. It is the first of a new series and if subsequent sequels are this good, then sign me up now. This is a journey this airman is very eager to get started.

THE ROOK

THE ROOK –Vol. One
By Barry Reese
Wild Cat Books
157 pages

Before you start thinking this is a very small book because of the page count, let me add that the book’s format is 7 x 10 inches, much like the original pulp magazines. The pages feature a double column layout and there really is substantial text between the two covers. I’ll discuss the book’s design later, but first the contents.

The Rook, an original character, exist in the time of the classic heroes and in this, his first collection, crosses paths with several popular figures. The first is Richard Benson, the Avenger, and the second, with whom he shares a case, is the weird Moon Man from Ten Detective Aces. The Rook’s real identity is that of wealthy playboy, Max Davies and as this first volume begins, he’s transplanted himself to Atlanta, Georgia to escape the scrutiny of the New York police force. Of course trouble is going to follow him, no matter where the Rook sets his nest and soon he’s knee deep in zombies, vampire queens and ancient Egyptian magicians. There’s no lack of exotic, over the top villainy in these tales and Reese is clearly having much fun putting his hero through his paces.

At the same time there are allies, the most prominent being Hollywood B-movie star, Evelyn Gould, who, as the book transpires becomes the Rook’s lover and partner, sharing his wild and wooly adventures side by side. She’s a great character and marvelously realized. All the trappings of solid, classic purple prose are present in these five stories and except for a single misstep, Reese proves to be a masterful story-teller. My one and only critique is his permanently altering an established pulp hero. It was a joy to see Steve Thatcher, the Moon Man, team up with the Rook in the books’ fourth chapter, The Gasping Death, but when Reese ends the tale by having Thatcher marry his sweetheart, Sue McEwen, I cried foul! Classic characters should be kept as the writer found them, and thus available for future pulp-scribes to play with. Changing them is petty and selfish. Again, the only sour note in a truly sumptuous composition.

Finally, if you are going to paint a sexy woman’s image on the overhanging moon of the cover painting, then don’t go covering her up with the book’s logo! Storn A. Cook’s beautiful cover deserved much better respect than what it was given. Somebody at Wild Cat Books dropped the ball on this one.

Bottom line, The Rook – Vol. One is an excellent pulp offering and you should not miss it. Reese has already released a volume two and just recently a number three. I’m thrilled, and you can expect to see both of them reviewed here in due time.

NEW TRICKS

NEW TRICKS
By John Levitt
Ace Fantasy
321 pages

This is the second book in a series begun last year by writer John Levitt about a jazz guitarist named Mason and his dog, Louie. They live and work, at least Mason does, in the Castro district of San Francisco. Mason is also a practitioner of real magic and uses his talents, along with his mentors, Eli and Victor, in maintaining the peace among the city’s magic people. Since they prefer to keep their talents from the normal public, this can be a very delicate balancing act. Fortunately for Mason he is one of the few practitioners aided by a magic creature known as an Ifrit. In this case, his small Russell Terrier, Lou.

I enjoyed this pair’s debut in DOG DAYS and was eagerly anticipating their further adventures. Perhaps my expectations were too high. The trouble with books that mix genres is that they are obligated to fulfill two distinct purposes. Whereas this series is a fantasy, it must explore those elements to a greater degree with each new book and NEW TRICKS delivers on that front wonderfully. During the course of the story we are introduced to all manner of new magical creatures and alien locales that added much to the enjoyment of this read.

Unfortunately the book is also a mystery, much like most dark fantasy series these days. Which is where the book fails miserably. At the start we learn that an unknown black magician has tried to steal the body of one of Mason’s former girlfriends, another practitioner. This unknown assailant failed, but in the process left the woman brain dead. Mason and his friends immediately set about hunting this malevolent magician and soon several suspects emerge in classic mystery form; one of them is the mind killer, the others red herrings. The process is to then follow Mason throughout the book as he assembles clues, escapes attacks on himself and Lou and ultimately puts everything together to expose the murderer. Of course a few other innocent practitioners are murdered along the way.

Levitt’s writing is very solid and he does infuse a great deal of personality into both Mason and that dog. In fact I would guess most readers will end up liking Lou better than his human sidekick. But sadly I knew the killer’s identity within just a few pages of that character’s entry into the narrative. And thus I found myself very annoyed that it took Mason the entire rest of the book to come to the same conclusion. Bad mysteries tend to make the hero appear less than brilliant and that should be avoided at all cost.

In the end, I’m still going to recommend picking up NEW TRICKS, but for the magical aspects of the book and the series as a whole. Levitt has left many things still unanswered about this pair and I am intrigued enough to stay with this. But because of the lame mystery element, this one gets only a marginal pass.

PEACEKEEPER

PEACEKEEPER
By Laura E. Reeve
RoC Sicence Fiction
324 pages

I can’t think of a better way of starting a new year of Pulp Fiction Reviews then with the premier of a new science fiction series by a very talented writer. The Press Release that accompanied PEACEKEEPER explained that Laura E. Reeve is a former Air Force Officer and that her experiences as a participant in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty inspired this sci-fi military thriller.

Ariane Kedros is a pilot aboard a two man exploration vessel called Aether’s Touch. Her single crew is the ship’s and company’s owner, Matt Journey. Matt was born on a generation ship and has a phobia about open spaces. Besides her career as a pilot, Kedros is also a reserve major in the Consortium of Autonomous Worlds, CAW, often undertaking assignments for the intelligence branch.

Fifteen years earlier, Kedros piloted a ship on a secret mission that resulted in the total annihilation of an entire solar system. She and her team were duped by their superiors and didn’t realize the true purpose of their flight until it was too late. They barely managed to return in one piece. Even though this horrendous action brought about peace negotiations between the CAW and their foes, the Terran Expansion League, Kedros and her team were all given new identities to protect them from possible retribution.

But some demons come from within and Ariane Kedros is plagued by her own conscience to the point of becoming an alcoholic. When members of her old squad start turning up dead, her superiors believe they have somehow been unmasked and that a cunning assassin is going after them one by one. Amidst this life and death puzzle, Kedros is sent as a CAW representative to oversee the first official disarmament inspection by a Terran party of a CAW military space station. She is about to confront the very people who, if they knew her true identity, would demand her head on a pike.

PEACEKEEPER moves along at a good clip with several mysterious sub-plots that include an alien race with their own secret agenda. There’s also the discovery of strange ancient ruins on a newly discovered planet and the murder of Matt’s business partner. How all these threads come together is dealt with quite nicely in this first chapter of Major Ariane Kedros’ adventures. Several plots are left open ended and I, for one, am eager to see where this is all going to go. This is good, old fashion science fiction with some great characters. You don’t want to pass it up.

KILLING CASTRO

KILLING CASTRO
By Lawrence Block
Hard Case Crime
206 pages

As a writer, Lawrence Block may be the stingiest man in the world. He never wastes a word. His writing is lean and crisp, evoking images swiftly and pushing his narrative along at such a smooth, even pace it becomes seductive. After you’ve read a few of his books, you soon come to realize that in his hands, you are assured a completely satisfying reading experience.

The year is 1961 and Fidel Castro, a one time lawyer and revolutionary hero of the people, is now Cuba’s reigning dictator. Five American mercenaries are recruited by a secret Cuban refugee organization to kill the bearded one. For this deed they will split one hundred thousand dollars. What follows next is a fast paced thriller throughout which Block offers up the actual history of Fidel Castro and his rise to power. It is a marvelous counterpoint against which he paints the characters of five very different men and their motives for taking the job.

Hines, the youngest, is looking for revenge. Fenton, an accountant, is dying of cancer and has nothing to lose. Garth is a mindless bruiser just looking for his next pay check while Turner is trying to escape the law. That leaves the only professional in the bunch, Garrison, a cool, pragmatic killer methodically going through familiar motions. Block’s genius is painting all of them in vivid detail quickly and effortlessly. It’s that economy of words again. A few paragraphs and all five suddenly come to life.

I found it particularly appropriate that Hard Case Crime would reprint this classic thriller at a time when Castro’s health is waning and the world waits to witness the final chapter in his notorious life. I wonder if it will be as dramatic as Block’s book?

THE SPY WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS

THE SPY WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS
By David Morrell
Vanguard Press
228 pages

I’m somewhat ambivalent about what I call “gimmick” books. These are novels written specifically around a particular theme or event. Obviously publishers love nothing more than to have Christmas related titles out during this time of the year and I would imagine some editors actually suggest such projects to their authors. This is where the tricky stuff comes into play. Imagine you are David Morrell, one of the finest writers of modern pulp thrillers working today and a friend innocently brings up the idea of your writing a Christmas spy thriller.

Which, we are told in the book’s acknowledgement, is exactly what transpired. Now I am a huge fan of Morrell’s work and when I saw this gaily colored and designed dust jacket on the bookstore’s shelf, I immediately picked it up. But this time with a good degree of trepidation. I already know Morrell can write amazing suspense tales and his action is second to none in the seat-of-your pants category, but a sentimental Christmasy plot? I left the store with some serious doubts and not a little bit of natural reader curiosity.

Of course, being completely honest here, I too fell victim to the fun idea of having a Christmas themed pulp fiction book to review. I’ve never claimed to be impervious to a savvy marketing campaign. Ha.

The book opens on Christmas Eve in the city of Sante Fe, New Mexico. A group of immigrant Russian gangsters from New York, under the employ of Al Quaida, have come to this southwestern town to kidnap an Arab baby; a baby hailed by the world press as the Child of Peace. The father is a Palestinian doctor and founder a very powerful peace movement in the Middle East. Of course there are always those who prefer the world as messed up as it is, as they profit from its suffering. These are the agents of evil who will stop at nothing to prevent this baby from heralding a new peace.

Amongst this gang of ruthless killers is an American spy, Paul Kagan. Born of Russian parents who fled to this country to escape the oppression of Soviet Communism, Kagan has been raised to despise any organization or government that robs people of their freedoms. Able to pose as a Russian outlaw, he has infiltrated the gang and over the years becomes the trusted right hand of the leader, Andrei, a brutal and efficient killer. Still, the things he is force to do to maintain his role gradually begin to eat away at his soul until he fears he will become as corrupt as the forces he battles. But his controllers refuse to allow him to quit, always claiming there is one more threat to be dealt with, one more plot to be uncovered.

Thus, on this Christmas Eve, in the middle of the kidnapping, something inside the Kagan snaps and he rebels. He snatches the baby away from the Russians, killing one of them in the process and flees into the crowded streets, but not before being shot in the arm as he escapes. And thus begins the chase that is the book’s main plot and one I guarantee you will keep you turning pages as if they were on fire. Soon the wounded and desperate spy takes shelter in a modest home where he encounters a battered young mother and her son. The three quickly become allies and set about turning the house into a defensible fort to repel the coming siege. All are determined to save the baby, even at the cost of their lives.

Morrell is a marvelous storyteller and he revels in retelling the classic Nativity Story in this fresh and fantastic manner. By the time the book’s action finale rolls around, he has created a powerful scenario that hinges on the philosophical tenet that the bravest among us are the peacemakers. In the end, Kagan’s salvation depends on his ability to trust his enemy, to see him with fresh and forgiving eyes. Whereas in that microcosm between two men, Morrell paints the real challenge of all mankind, do we have the courage to trust? Christmas tells us we can.

Finally, I want to thank all of you. Because of your repeated visits to Pulp Fiction Reviews, this endeavor has become more rewarding than I ever dreamed possible. Over the past two years thousands of you have stopped by to read these reviews, discuss them and, to my happy surprise, gone out and purchased the books. Publishers have taken note, as have writers so that my mail box is always filled with new books because of your support. Thank you and Merry Christmas to all of you. Now make yourself a cup of eggnog and go read a good book.

GUN WORK

GUN WORK
By David J. Schow
Hard Case Crime
249 pages

Barney is a gunman. He makes his living as a firearms expert. There is very little, outside a few close friends that he values in this world except his skill and knowledge as a shooter. When an old Army pal from his days in Iraq calls to say his wife has been kidnapped in Mexico City and is going die, Barney’s sense of loyalty propels him into a deadly nightmare mission to save her. What Barney doesn’t realize, until it is too late, is that he is merely a pawn in a larger operation. He’s been duped right from the start. His noble efforts leave him a prisoner in a Mexican hellhole where he is tortured repeatedly by men who enjoy their work.

Through a strength of raw will, Barney manages to survive his ordeal and escape, but not before being horribly mutilated. By the time he returns to his home base in Los Angeles, he is consumed with an all encompassing hatred and need for revenge. He recruits three shooting buddies, men who understand guns and know how to use them, to help him obtain that bloody vengeance. As this book charges into its final chapters, the action explodes across the pages with a riveting, all too realistic battle royal. Bullets fly and bodies fall!

GUN WORK is not for the squeamish and reminded me a great deal of those classic 1950s Men’s Sweat magazine adventures. It’s a story about a man who thought he had nothing to live for until he comes within a breath of dying and then hate becomes his motivating obsession. David J. Schow writes pulp like nobody’s business. This one is the real McCoy!

FLYGIRL

FLYGIRL
By Sherri L. Smith
Putnam Books
269 pages

In the winter of 1941, Ida Mae Jones has graduated from high school in Slidell, Louisiana and lives on a strawberry farm with her widowed mother, her grandfather, older brother Tom and younger brother Abel. Tom is a student at a Negro college studying medicine and Ida Mae works as a maid for a well-to-do white family in nearby New Orleans with her best friend, Jolene. Before his death in a freakish accident, Ida’s father had bought a plane for crop dusting and taught her how to fly. It is her life’s passion. Sadly no respectable flight school will give her a pilot’s license because of her gender. As December rolls around, she is resigned to the fact that she may never realize her dream of becoming a professional aviator. When Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and the United States enters the world war already raging in Europe, everything changes for this spirited young woman.

Two years later, Thomas is in the army serving in the South Pacific and Ida is going stir crazy at home wanting to get involved. When she learns that the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) program is recruiting women to help fly planes across the country, her dream is rekindled. This unique organization was a merger of WFTD (Women’s Flying Training Detachment) and the WAFS (Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron) whereby the US Army Air Force employed civilian female pilots to fly military aircrafts on missions that ranged from ferrying planes from factories to military bases and towing aerial targets. They made it possible to free up thousands of male pilots for combat roles overseas. Sadly, in 1943 they were also discriminatory against blacks and qualified Negro women were refused entry into the corp.

Which is where Sherri Smith’s story takes-off much like her high flying heroine. Ida Mae is a light skinned Negro who can easily pass for white. She is also a person of high moral character and the realization that she must lie to achieve her goal of joining the WASP is a truly bitter pill. Against her family’s wishes, Ida applies for flight school and is accepted, her subterfuge successful. Soon she finds herself stationed at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, with hundreds of other would-be pilots. There she meets two other spirited girls in Patsy “Cakewalk” Kake, a veteran wing-walker and barnstormer and Lily Lowenstein, a wealthy socialite from New York. They become close friends and in the weeks and months ahead, support each other through the grueling training.

Smith’s research is flawless and she vividly recreates the daily life of a WASP. For the most part, these brave young women were given very little credit by their male counterparts, when all too often they performed to higher standards then the men. Time and time again, WASP pilots were put to the test and their skills and courage always won out. Thus Smith weaves both a marvelous historical narrative that is one hundred percent factual with a warm and endearing fiction. It is a seamless tale that is both sad and inspiring. FLYGIRL is one of those rare books you wish would never end and Ida Mae Jones is a character you will never forget.