THE MYTH HUNTER

THE MYTH HUNTER

By Percival Constantine

Pulpwork Press

192 pages

What happens when you put the best parts of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft together then mix them up with a little bit of Modesty Blaise?  Answer, you get Percival Constantine’s coolest new pulp hero, Elisa Hill.  From the opening action sequence to the last climatic battle with a cruel and vicious assassin, “The Myth Hunter” is a super charged thriller that never lets up.

Even when dealing with exposition scenes, Constantine shines in this adventure.  His writing has matured greatly since his last book and “The Myth Hunter” captures the reader’s interest with a fluid ease of storytelling that is both polished and suspenseful.  Learning that a little is often better than more, he gives us bits and pieces of Elisa’s past, when she was a mercenary tomb raider, seeking out the world’s ancient treasures solely for personal gains.  Yet somewhere along the way, echoes from her parents’ teachings take root and she learns to value the non material treasures of the world, particularly honor, loyalty and courage.

Now she is out to discover the secret to the whereabouts of the fable lost Lemuria with the help of her university allies and a truly bizarre Japanese changeling.  But there are also dark forces gathered against her such as the secret society known as the Order and their roguish agent, Lucas Davalos.  Davalos and Elisa were once partners, now they are on opposite sides and a victory for one could mean death to the other.

“The Myth Hunter” is a solid, masterful thriller by a young writer realizing his tremendous potential.  Another publishing note, “The Myth Hunter” is the first book from any publisher to bear the New Pulp logo brand signifying a very exciting movement in the field.  Based on the classics of old, new pulp thrillers like “The Myth Hunter” are blazing into the future to thrill and excite an entire new generation of readers.  Isn’t it time you bought a ticket on this train?

BLOOD OF THE REICH

BLOOD OF THE REICH

By William Dietrich

Harper Books

417 pages

Available July 2011

You realize there are books reviewers are predisposed to like by the title alone.  When the good folks at the New York Journal of Books offered to send me this book, it was because I’d already reviewed an earlier book by the same author and liked it a great deal.  But being brutally honest here, I’d forgotten what that title was until they showed me the cover image to “Blood of the Reich.”  Ah, yes, William Dietrich, I thought, the fellow who created that Revolutionary version of Indiana Jones in his first book, “Napoleon’s Hero.”  Yes, I had enjoyed that historical romp and was curious as to what this new stand alone offering might contain in the way of a fun reading experience.

Once I read the marketing copy, I was hooked.  Nazis scientists racing to Tibet in hopes of finding a hidden mystical power in the lost city of Shambhala.  These plot elements scream pulp pleasure and I knew immediately this was my kind of book.  Dietrich’s background as a naturalist and historian allow him to create outlandish plots against authentic, real world settings and it is that richness of historical data that catapults “Blood of the Reich” into action from page one.

In 1938 Kurt Raeder, a German archeologist, is given an assignment by Hitler’s personal advisor, SS Chief Heinrich Himmler.  Raeder and a handful of loyal Nazis scientists are to travel to Tibet, seek out the lost city of Shambhala and there retrieve an ancient power known as Vril.  Himmler and the members of the arcane Thule Society believe this Vril could tip the balance of the coming war in Germany’s favor and fulfill Hitler’s mad dreams of a Third Reich world conquest.

Raeder is an intellectual sadist and the temptation to achieve personal glory, maybe even immortality, through the success of such an undertaking is much too great for him to resist.  And so the mission is launched.  At the same time, American intelligence agencies discover Raeder’s purpose and recruit their own academic agent, zoologist Benjamin Hood, to go after the Nazis and beat them at their own game.  Failing that, he is to sabotage their efforts and assure Vril never becomes a German weapon.

Now this rollicking race across the world is exciting enough but Deitrich ups the ante by creating a second storyline; this one taking place today.  Rominy Pickett is a computer publicist living in Seattle when she is kidnapped by a mysterious, handsome journalist, who claims her life is in danger from Neo-Nazis.  They believe her to be the great granddaughter of Benjamin Hood.  These want-to-be Nazis have uncovered the records of Raeder’s Tibetan mission and hope Rominy will lead them to rediscover what was found in those rugged mountains back in 1938.  Thus is a smart, witty, normal young woman suddenly hurled head first into a life-or-death race around the globe accompanied by a charismatic stranger who appears to be a physical embodiment of all her romantic fantasies.  But is he really her knight-in-shining armor or someone with ulterior motives using her to achieve his own dark agenda?

“Blood of the Reich” is a barn-storming novel that sets its sights high and never fails to deliver on them.  My singular criticism is that the convoluted mystery of Rominy’s past and her evolution from frightened victim to pistol toting survivalist challenged even my willing suspension of disbelief.  Deitrich’s prose is much more accomplished when dealing with the 30s whereas his modern sequences aren’t as assured.  Still, this book has so much pulp goodness within its pages, I can’t help but recommend it enthusiastically.  It would make one hell of a great film. 

FEVER DREAM

FEVER DREAM

By Preston & Child

Vision Books

540 pages

Since creating their unique modern pulp hero, FBI Special Agent Pendergast, writers Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have miserly doled out small pieces of his background history.  The highlight of which seemed to be the monumental trilogy that depicted the battle with his demented brother, Diogenes.  Still there remains missing elements and with FEVER DREAM, the tenth book in the series, the pair once again sets about filling in those pieces.  At the offset we are introduced to Helen Esterhazy, the beautiful and brilliant woman who would be Mrs. Pendergast for an all too brief time only to die in a horrible hunting accident while on safari in Africa.

Now, twelve years after that tragic event, Pendergast uncovers irrefutable evidence that Helen’s death was not an accident but murder, the result of a well orchestrated scheme but a merciless killer. A man of obsessive passions, once this information comes to light, Pendergast becomes a living dynamo set upon a singular quest; to discover the murderers and wreak his vengeance upon them.  To accomplish this, he recruits his long time friend and ally, New York police detective, Vincent D’Agosta much to the frustration of the cop’s lover, Chief Laura Hayward.  Hayward doesn’t trust Pendergast because of his unorthodox methods and is forever worried his recklessness will jeopardize D’Agosta career or worse, get him killed.

This time her fears are almost realized as the pair begin traveling the globe unaware their inquiries into this decades old mystery has made them the targets of a ruthless, professional killer. The non-stop action moves from the African bush to the bayou swamplands of the south making FEVER DREAM another solid entry into what has become this reviewer’s favorite modern pulp series.  As I’ve always preferred paperback editions to the hardbacks, my apologies for these reviews being somewhat late.  If you love great characters and truly bizarre story plots, the Special Agent Pendergast books should be on your must-read list.  Believe me, you will not be disappointed.

CRUSADERS OF THE SALTIER

CRUSADERS OF SALTIER

By William Speir

Strategic Book Group

230 pages

Last year William Speir introduced the world to a super secret organization known as the Knights of the Saltier; a group of patriotic men and women dedicated to helping the legal authorities of the world maintain law and order.  Into this highly complex organization he set his protagonist, Tom Anderson, a former military officer looking to find meaning in his life beyond the normal goals of career and monetary success.  By the end of that first volume, Anderson had joined the Knights and discovered his own father was one of the Grand Masters.

At the time I reviewed KNIGHTS OF THE SALTIER, I made a point of applauding it’s originality in giving pulp fans something new and fresh.  Whereas with this second entry in the saga, Speir has inadvertently gone down a very popular plot path considered to be one of the most remembered in the history of the genre.  In 1934 Popular Publications launched OPERATOR 5, the adventures of a Secret Service agent named Jimmy Christopher. The stories were penned by veteran pulp scribes Frederick C. Davis and Paul Tepperman.  Tepperman was responsible for the 13 interconnected novels that make up The Purple Invasion, a series in which the Purple Empire (an unnamed European power) conquers the United States after conquering the rest of the world.  Jimmy then led the insurgency against them.  The saga is often referred to as the War and Peace of pulps.

In CRUSADERS OF SALTIER, Speir has America conquered but not from an outside force.  Rather it is seized from within by a corrupt Washington Administration led by a megalomaniac President set on a course of tyranny and using his power to illegally circumvent the Constitution.  When dissenting Americans begin mysteriously disappearing without due process, the Knights of Saltier must confront their greatest challenge ever, how to battle corrupt government agencies and restore the country to the rightful rule of the people.

This is an intense thriller with a fascinating, and very chilling plot line, extremely well realized.  Speir balances the action sequences with the more mundane occurrences in Anderson’s life, ala his meeting a lovely young woman and falling in love all the while caught up in the Knights’ struggles to save the government.  His skills as a storyteller are growing exponentially with each new book. Once again I heartily recommend this to pulp fans looking for a new twist on action-adventure prose. CRUSDAERS OF THE SALTIER is a terrific chapter in a truly excellent series.

TREASURE OF KHAN

TREASURE OF KHAN

By Clive Cussler & Dirk Cussler)

Berkeley Books

604 pages

In this, the 19^th book in the Dirk Pitt adventure series, the head of Numa and his loyal sidekick, Al Giordano find themselves in the wilds of Mongolia battling a descendant of the world conqueror Genghis Khan who has harnessed a machine capable of creating earthquakes.  These he uses to disrupt the world’s fuel distribution.  Once again, Cussler’s modern day pulp hero faces overwhelming obstacles to thwart the villain and in the end discover the long lost graves of both Genghis and Kublai Khan.

This is the second Pitt adventure Cussler has co-written with his son Dirk and comforts a legion of fans in knowing the character will most likely continue long after his creator had retired.  For those who believe the pulps died out long ago, pick up any Dirk Pitt title and get ready for a truly amazing ride.

JACK AND THE JUNGLE LION

JACK AND THE JUNGLE LION

By Stephen Jared

(www.jackandthejunglelion.com)

115 pages

This little book is such a breath of fresh air, I was delighted with it from page one to the end.  Many of today’s action thrillers take themselves way too seriously.  Actor, writer Stephen Jared knows how to blend slapstick with flying fists and this adventure truly has the feel and charm of an Indiana Jones flick.

The hero is Jack Hunter, known around the world for starring in B-Movie actioners.  He’s on his way to South America to film yet another jungle potboiler and everything seems routine.  Even better, aboard his chartered flight is a gorgeous animal trainer named Maxine “Max” Daniels accompanied by her orphaned niece and nephew, Lindy & Tyler.

But when the pilot has a heart attack and the plane goes down in the Ecuadorian wilderness, Jack quickly learns everything isn’t exactly like a movie script.

Jack, Max, the kids and tag-along co-pilot Clancy, have to brave wild animals and savage head-hunters to survive their all too real ordeal and along the way, Jack learns what it is to be a real hero, to put others before his own interests and to discover the meaning of true love.

JACK AND THE JUNGLE LION may not win any literary awards, but it’s amusing, rollicking tale will make you nostalgic for the old days of glitzy Hollywood when fantasy and reality where often too close to tell apart.  Pick this book up, it’s just plain fun.

REX RIDERS

REX RIDERS

By J.P.Carlson

432 pages

Monstrostities Books
Available June 21, 2011

It was somewhere between the ages of twelve and thirteen that I discovered the classic pulp heroes of old through paperback reprints.  Here were 1930s urban heroes such as the Shadow and Doc Savage while primal, wilderness characters were represented by Robert E.Howard’s Conan the Barbarian.  I also discovered one of the greatest pulp authors of all time, Edgar Rice Burroughs. My entry into Burroughs fantastic worlds was through his Tarzan books like most of the readers of my generation.  Having already become familiar with the Ape Man via movies, it was both a treat and surprise to discover the actual character in Burrough’s purple prose.

Becoming addicted to his work, it was a logical next step to pick up his equally popular John Carter of Mars series starting with “A Princess of Mars.”  On the off chance there is someone reading this that has never had that pleasure, here is a quick recap.  The series tells of an ex Confederate officer named John Carter, who, while mining for gold in the Arizona badlands, is somehow magically transported through space to the red planet Mars. There he finds it inhabited by all manner of beings and monstrous creatures that refer to their world as Barsoom. Carter has one glorious adventure after another, finds his love, the beautiful princess Theja Thoris, and goes on to become the Warlord of Mars.

I devoured those books.  I’d never encountered anything else so filled with action, exotic characters and unabashed imagination as displayed in that amazing series.  Of course the popularity of Burroughs alien tales inspired hundreds of writers to follow in his footsteps, many attempting to duplicate the verve and grandeur of his Barsoom titles.  None ever came close, until now.

From the first chapter of J.P. Carlson’s book, “Rex Riders” that same magical what-if that Burroughs so effortlessly created is evident here.  Set in the sleepy Texas town of Dos Locus, post Civil War, what Carlson brilliantly does is turn the tables on the Carter device and brings an alien romantic hero to Earth in the form of the Rex Rider. 

The book’s protagonist is fifteen year old orphan, Zeke Calhoun, who is being raised on his Uncle Jesse McCain’s ranch.  His two best friends are Bull, McCain’s loyal ranch hand and Stumpy, the old cantankerous and wise ranch cook.  Growing up to be a cowboy is not an easy life and Zeke is constantly butting heads with his uncle, their ability to communicate strained by their ages.  Having never married or had children, McCain finds bringing up a rambunctious teenage boy much more complicated than herding cattle. 

Then one day a live triceratops comes charging down Dos Locos’ main street attacking the arriving stagecoach.  After toppling the coach, the confused, armored beast then goes on a rampage and destroys several of the town’s stores before it is shot by McCain.  Before anyone can even attempt to explain the creature’s presence, let alone existence, the area’s most powerful landowner, Dante D’Allesandro comes along, offers to pay for  the damages and whisks the carcass away. No one gives the incident a second thought.  I give much credit to Carlson’s depiction of good, decent and simple people who would react exactly as he writes them.

Months later, while riding through a nearby valley, Zeke and Stumpy come across a truly bizarre scene.  An alien humanoid lying comatose on the ground, having been shot, and standing over him protectively is a baby Tyrannosaurs Rex with a saddle strapped to its back. With much effort, the two manage to haul the eight foot rider onto the back of his dangerous looking mount and get them back safely to McCain’s ranch.  After the town doctor removes half a dozen bullets from the purple hued alien and he recovers, he relates a fantastic tale to McCain and his crew.

Slim, the name Stumpy gives the alien rider, is from a planet called Ismalis where millions of years ago his ancestors, using amazing transporters, rescued large numbers of the Earth’s dinosaurs when they saw they were in danger of becoming extinct.  Now they thrive on Ismalis and as a Rex Rider, it is Slim’s duty to see they continue to do so.  Unfortunately D’Allesandro has learned that it was via one these transporter platforms, hidden in a nearby mountain cave, that the runaway tryke traveled from Ismalis to Earth.   D’Allesandro then begins to transport a group of cowboys to that alien world to build a  camp from which they can rustle hundreds of trykes and bring them back to our world.  When Slim attempts to stop him, warning that his scheme can only end in disaster for all involved, D’Allesandro’s hired gun, Caleb Cooper, attempts to kill him and his T-rex mount, called Hellfire.

McCain immediately sees the folly of D’Allesandro’s plan and offers his support to the Rex Rider, along with Zeke, Bull & Stumpy.  Together these new allies have to travel to that strange and dangerous world and set things right.  “The Rex Riders” is a deft blend of action, humor and wall-to-wall adventure in a truly original setting.  Reading it was nothing short pure joy, easily recapturing the fun I’d had when first discovering the John Carter of Mars books.  And if that isn’t a cause for celebration amongst today’s pulp readers, I don’t know what is.  In fact, I love this book so much, I’m giving it to my grandson, Alex, assured it will set him on a path I first walked over fifty years ago.  Thanks, J.P. Carlson.  With your first book, you’ve made a loyal fan that is very, very anxious for the sequels. 

YESTERYEAR

YESTERYEAR

By Tommy Hancock

Pro Se Press

180 pages

One of the most widely recognized facts regarding American comic book heroes is that they actually evolved out of the Depression Era pulp magazines.  Fans of both media are well aware that the likes of Batman and Superman were the literary children of characters such as the Shadow and Doc Savage.  Tommy Hancock employs this historical theory against which to set his first novel, “Yesteryear.”  Hancock, the winner of this year’s Pulp Ark Award for Best New Writer, had earned that title based on his short fiction. Now with this novel length drama, he cements that position soundly with a work of deft imagination heralding past days of American glory.

J.C.Smithernson is a one time crime fighting boy detective who has grown up to become a writer and publisher.  He has put his hero days behind him, though his good friend, Detective Donovan Bradley, suspects he still harbors longings to get back into the fray.  Then one day a mysterious package is left on Smitherson’s steps containing the journal of newspaper man, Ramsey Long, who was part of the Golden Age of Heroes back in the 30s and 40s.  Thought to be a myth, Ramsey’s musings are said to be a tell-all book that honestly rips aside the veil of public relation mumb-jumbo to detail the true history and exploits of those early mystery men and women.

Which is why when it is learned that Smitherson possesses the book, factions both political and private, begin targeting him and his loved ones to guarantee the journal never sees the light of day.  For J.C., it is an eye-opening revelation that some of the people he once admired are flawed enough to want to destroy him rather then have their human failings exposed publicly.  Still, he is determined that the truth will be told regardless of the consequences.

“Yesteryear,” is a marvelous homage to all those great pulp characters and golden age comic heroes who followed in their footsteps wonderfully told with a true sense of time and place.  Hancock knows his history and the richness with which he paints the times adds much to the books plot and appeal.  So on a purely literary basis, I recommend this book highly, it was tons of fun to read.

But I do have one criticism and it deals with the book’s packaging, not the story.  I don’t often make mention of actual production values but in this case felt compelled to do so because in the end, it did lessen my overall enjoyment of “Yesteryear.”  Hancock is also the book’s producer and he’s filled many of its pages with some truly fantastic drawings of many of the fabulous characters described in the text.  All to the good.   Alas, that’s where his design musings should have stopped.

Instead he also chose to change the fonts and styling of the text throughout the entire book so that the reader is confronted with bold type, cursive scribbles, light, thin fonts constantly changing, many difficult to adjust to after finishing a chapter presented in an entirely different way.  I understand the concept he was trying to achieve with this mixing, but it does not work and instead becomes a physical flaw to an otherwise stellar offering.   Hopefully his next book will have a more conservative presentation.

FRANKENSTEIN - Lost Souls

FRANKENSTEIN – Lost Souls

By Dean Koontz

Bantaam Books

381 pages

Horror fantasist, Dean Koontz continues his best selling series about the never ending war between Mary Shelly’s mad scientist Victor Frankenstein and his immortal creation, the Monster; now known in these books as Deucalion.  This is the fourth book in the saga and the beginning of a brand new story arc.  In the opening trilogy, which took place in New Orleans, the four hundred year old obsessed genius set about creating an army of super clones who would ultimately replace imperfect humans as the new dominant species on Earth. 

He was foiled by Deucalion and two brave police detectives, Carson O’Connor and Michael Maddison.  By the third book’s climax, they believed he had been killed and the world saved.  What they were not aware of was Frankenstein had cloned himself and this doppelganger came to life upon the death of the original.

“Lost Souls” opens two years later after the first conflict to find Carson and Michael have married, moved to San Francisco, opened a private detective agency and had a child, a beautiful baby girl named Scout.  For the most part their lives couldn’t be any happier.  This is why Deucalion’s reappearance bodes ill tides.  He has learned that his creator is still alive and hiding in the small town of Rainbow Falls, Montana.  What the patchwork  warrior does not know is that his cloned nemesis is completely insane and unlike his predecessor, has but one goal, the total annihilation of all mankind, both originals and replicants.  He dreams of Armageddon.

“Frankenstein - Lost Souls” is Koontz’ most audacious pulp novel to date.  It is a bold, raucous narrative that moves at lightning pacing.  Horror upon horror is visited on the small, peaceful town of Rainbow Falls and Koontz never once spares his readers with his lean and brutal prose.  His fans are going to devour this latest chapter in what has become a truly classic pulp series.  New readers need not have read the first trilogy, although it would add much to their enjoyment of this entry.  And be aware, this is book is only the first part of the story and ends with a suspense laden cliffhanger. Wherein the only real sour note is we now have to wait for several months for part two.  Now that’s torture at its most sophisticated.

GHOSTS OF WAR

GHOSTS OF WAR

By George Mann

Pyr Books

231 pages

Available July 2011

Hot on the heels of earning a Pulp Factory Award nomination for Best Pulp Novel of 2010 for GHOST OF MANHATTAN, writer George Mann unleashes the second novel in this steampunk series.  Although considering the archetype pulp trappings these books are totally saturated with, one would suggest labeling them steampulp.

This new adventure of Gabriel Cross, the haunted veteran of World War One who protects New York City as the rocket-boot propelled, black garbed vigilante known as the Ghost, begins only a few weeks after the end of his last, horrific case.  He is still emotionally wounded having witnessed his lover, Celeste, sacrifice herself to save mankind from outer-dimensional monsters.

When a new threat to his city arises, he gratefully dons his Ghost garb and goes into action.  Weird hybrid mechanical flying creatures called Raptors are swooping out of the night sky and randomly kidnapping people with no apparent pattern or purpose other than to cause city wide terror.  The Ghost sets about catching one of these horrible monstrosities with the help of his friend, Inspector Felix Donovan, who shares his secret identity. 

At the same time, Donovan is given the task of hunting down a British spy by his superiors.  He is told the secret agent is a catalyst with information that will ignite a war between England and America.  When elements from both assignments suddenly come together, the Ghost and Donovan begin to suspect a much darker plot with tendrils leading to corruption among the highest ranks of City Hall.  In the end the Ghost allows himself to be captured by the raptors and taken to their hidden lair.  It is his one chance to uncover the evil mastermind behind the attacks and discover the true horror that awaits all mankind unless he and his small band of allies can save the day.

Hideous creatures from another dimension, a mad scientist more machine than man, an armed, massive airship on a mission of doom and more thrill-a-minute action than any other ten, oversized thrillers on the market today.  GHOSTS OF WAR is even better then its predecessor as Mann is truly warming up to this alternate world and his remarkable, colorful and appealing cast of characters that populate it.  This is new pulp fiction at its finest and I’m predicting there’s another Pulp Factory Award nod in its future.  Long live the Ghost! 

LAKE CHARLES

LAKE CHARLES

By Ed Lynskey

Wildside Press

191 Pages
Availablen July 2011

One of the hallmarks of classic pulp noir fiction is a protagonist over his head in a convoluted life or death dilemma.  In “Lake Charles,” Ed Lynskey has invented such a figure in Brendan Fishback.

Brendan is out on bail, after being implicated in the drug overdose death of a lovely young lady named Ashleigh Sizemore, daughter of the wealthiest man in Umpire, Tennessee.  To help get his mind off his problems, his best friend, Cobb Kuzawa, suggest they go fishing on secluded Lake Charles up in the mountains. At the last minute Brendan’s twin sister, and Cobb’s ex-wife, Edna, decides to tag along. She harbors some hope she and Cobb can reconcile.

Friction between Edna and Cobb threatens to ruin the trip. Then Edna mysteriously disappears without a trace, after having zipped across to the other side of the lake on her jet-ski. Frantic to find her, Brendan and Cobb begin combing the lake on their small one man bass boats. When that proves fruitless, they begin searching the lake’s perimeter on foot. Things get decidedly worst when they are attacked by gunmen who are growing marijuana in the surrounding backwoods fields and glens. They fight back; killing one of their assailants in the process and their untenable situation continues to escalate, pulling them along to even deadlier encounters.

Lynskey’s stacks his deck with brutal characters, both good and bad, each trying to escape a lackluster existence.  Brendan is a rudderless soul, cast adrift when his father, Angus, deserted the family and wandered up to Valdez, Alaska to work on the oil pipeline. His own job at the local printing press is a boring, dead end and he dreams of following his father’s trail to a better place until his drinking and pot smoking put him in the extreme wrong place at the wrong time.  Ultimately he comes to suspect Edna has been kidnapped by the men growing the illegal weed and his only hope of saving her lies with Cobb’s eccentric, Korean vet father, Mr.Kuzawa.  Mr.Kuzawa is a John Wayne take-no-prisoners type and the second he enters the story, the action and suspense rev up to maximum overdrive.

As Brendan and his gun-toting mentor crisscross the rural Tennessee landscape, bodies start dropping.  What surprises the confused lad is in the midst of their violent Odyssey, clues are uncovered that connect Ashleigh’s death with the mysterious crime kingpin controlling the county’s drug trade. Are Brendan and his sister only pawns in a much bigger game? And if so, we’ll he survive long enough to find Edna and uncover the truth? Or will he fail and become another unexplained mystery surrounding the foul waters of Lake Charles?

“Lake Charles” is a gripping, crime thriller that portrays a world of tough, desperate people and creates a suspenseful mystery that will have you guessing to the final page.  The genius of the book is that its messy image of the world is a whole lot closer to reality than most of us would care to admit.  Brendan Fisback is someone we’ve all met before, maybe when looking in the mirror.

IMARO - The Naama War

IMARO :The Naama War

By Charles Saunders

Sword & Soul Media

331 pages

Available Only at (www.Lulu.com)

There are times when a review must, by necessity, become more than mere words praising or critiquing a literary work.  When a reviewer recognizes a monumental injustice, then there arises a moral obligation to sound a clarion call in the hopes of shedding light on the issue.  This is such a case.  Read on.

Over twenty-five years ago, writer Charles Saunders created a new sword and sorcery hero whose roots and adventures were set in the mythological past of the African continent.  For the first time ever, a writer had eschewed the dominant overshadowing umbrella of Western-European culture for an untapped history that was totally unique to its corner of the world.  From this unbelievably rich untapped mythological tapestry came  Imaro, a mixed blood outcast raised by the grasslands warrior people known as the Ilyassai after his mother abandoned him.  He grows up bitter and resentful, his own salvation being that he is bigger, stronger and faster than anyone in the village. Once having achieved manhood, he leaves the tribe to seek out his destiny and perhaps learn the reasons why his mother gave him up as a child.

In the subsequent short stories and novels, Saunders took us on a fantastic journey through this rich and original African landscape.  Along the way we discovered Imaro was in fact an unwilling pawn in a cosmic struggle between the forces of good, represented by the Cloud Striders, and evil, alien beings known as the Mashtaan.  For centuries, the Mashtaan had been manipulating their earthly agents, wizards known as the Erriten, towards their ultimate goal of ripping apart the dimensional barrier between their world and ours, thus allowing them access to invade Earth.  To stop them, the Cloud Striders set in play two remarkable humans, both touched by their celestial powers while still in the womb; the first was the sorceress queen Kandisa and the second, Imaro. 

As he states in his afterword, Saunders initially planned to tell this saga as a trilogy, but the more he wrote of Imaro’s travels and adventures, the more the epic scope of his story continued to swell until he had no recourse but to continue on to a fourth, concluding chapter.  This writer is damn happy he did.  At the end of book three, “Imaro – The Trail of Bohu,” Imaro’s wife and young son had been brutally murdered by the demigod fiend, Bohu, working as an agent of the Eritten.  Incensed by the crime, Imaro, along with a few loyal allies, sets out to hunt down Bohu and destroy him.

It was then that Kandisa revealed to him that all the hardships of his life had been orchestrated by the Mashtaan because of their fear of him.  A war was coming that would encompass all the known kingdoms in a final contest between the gods with Imaro being the deciding factor.  Imaro’s anger was only increased by this revelation that he had been manipulated as a mere pawn, that he was not the true master of his own fate.  It was only Kandisa’s heartfelt persuasions that convinced him to reluctantly accept his role in the coming conflagration. Still he continued his hunt for Bohu.  By the end of this third volume, he and his party found themselves in the land of Maguvurunde ruled by the powerful  knosi (king) Mkwayo and his beautiful queen, Katisa.  It is then revealed that they are Imaro’s parents.  Talk about a cliffhanger ending.

“IMARO – The Naama War,”  picks up where the last book ended and quickly begins the final events of this ground-breaking epic.  Coming to grips with his new found family and heritage, the stoic Imaro begins to accept the supernatural abilities the Cloud Striders had bestowed upon him. He gradually assumes responsibility befitting his new role as a prince.  With each new conflict he is drawn like a magnet to the cataclysmic confrontation Kandisa had predicted between the great armies and the Northern Highland and those of the Eritten controlled lowlands.  Imaro takes his place alongside his father, warrior-chieftain uncle and courageous cousin to lead their forces and in doing so accepts his destiny.

Saunders writes the most gripping, complex and thrilling battles sequences since Homer’s tales of the Trojan War.  His pen wields legions of humans and their nightmarish creature allies with a feverish skill that is unequalled in fantasy adventure and in the middle of it all, is Imaro, the greatest warrior ever to take up spear and shield and pit himself against the forces of the evil.  But like all great stories, Imaro’s victory comes with a price that cuts deep into his soul and leaves him spiritually wounded.  Though he saves mankind, he ironically remains the fates’ most tragic victim.

Charles Saunders is Robert E. Howard’s one true literary heir.  He is the finest fantasy adventure writer of the past twenty-five years.  This is no exaggeration.  No other fantasist on the bestseller lists today, Robert Jordan, David Eddings, George R.R. Martin, etc. etc. comes close to equaling the raw power of his stories, his sweeping imagination and the grace and grandeur of his tales.  And yet he is relegated to self-publishing his own material because no publisher in either America or Canada has been smart enough to sign him to a contract.  Rather it is his hundreds of fans, on-line reviewers and true aficionados of the genre who recognize his greatness and continue to support his career.

When Saunders first created Imaro, his earlier books were published by DAW paperbacks.  This was the early to mid 70s and sadly the books, for whatever reason, failed to find a large audience.  Maybe readers simply weren’t ready for a black fantasy hero. It is this reviewer's hope that today that is no longer the issue, but rather the world at large is simply not aware of this magnificent epic and it has gotten lost on the larger digital stage.  It is high time it was rediscovered.  Both “Imaro – The Trail of Bohu” and “Imaro – The Naama War” are available at (www.Lulu.com).  I would urge my readers not only to purchase both immediately, but to also tell all their friends and associates who love great fantasy adventure.  Maybe together we can bring Imaro back to the prominence he and his creator truly deserve.

HEXXEN HAMMERS -Graphic Novel

 

HEXEN HAMMERS

Written by Ben Fisher

Pencils by Mike Henderson

Inks Eric Layton

Colors Adam Guzowski

Letters Charles Turpin

Publisher – Arcana Studios

102 pgs approximate

I’ve a passion for reading graphic novels, much more so than the traditional monthly magazines.  The opportunity to sit down and read a big, whopping graphic story in one package is still a treat for this fan. Thus, when “Hexen Hammers” arrived in the mail yesterday, I was thrilled and within minutes was seated comfortably in my office recliner and digging right into this wonderful, action horror fest from the good folks at Arcana.

Ben Fisher is a capable writer and he knows how to set up both characters and situations smoothly so one follows another effortlessly.  Still, one of the speed-bumps in this tale was the time anachronisms.  We’re told the year is 1685 in Salem, Massachusetts and yet several of the main characters wield revolvers and other hand guns that wouldn’t exist for another hundred and fifty years.  Now that is both confusing and jarring.  Yet the story is compelling enough to make me shrug of that discrepancy and plow on.  Hell, this could be an alternate Earth, so I chose to ignore the weapons out of time and concentrate on the plot.

Hexen Hammers’ are four distinctly different men who have banded together, under the guidance of the Catholic church, to seek out and destroy all manner of demons, witches and other assorted evil monsters.  They are very, very good at their job.  Pike is a cold hearted mercenary only loyal to money and the other three.  Father Zachary Porter is a Catholic priest unlike any you’ve ever met before and Richard King is a genius inventor who hears voices.  They are led by a haunted, driven soul named John Hathaway whose sole purpose in life is to destroy demons.  The camaraderie and loyalty of these men to each other, despite their individual natures is handled extremely well and one of the biggest assets of the book itself.

The plot itself is direct and straight forward, they are sent to a small New England town to pick up a witch and bring her back to the Church leaders for trial.  Of course nothing happens as it should and soon the Hammers are finding themselves besieged by horrific creatures everywhere they turn until it becomes clear they have been duped and sent on a fool’s quest by a traitor working for the enemy.

The artwork in this book is stellar, although Mike Henderson’s style of sharp angles and features take a few pages to adjust to.  But once I did, I began to appreciate it for its energy and impact.  His action sequences are powerful and beautifully rendered, as are his characters throughout.  He does an especially nice job on the creepy crawlers.  Visually this book could give you nightmares.  Henderson is aptly assisted by inker Eric Layton and colorist Adam Guzowski, both of which bring added levels to the art. Guzowksi’s choice of color palette was perfect for this adventure and brings to it a moody mystery feel the story requires.

The weak link in the creative chain is the lettering.  Not so much Chris Turpin’s skills, they are adequate enough here.  But rather in the production phase, the word balloons are transparent so that the artwork behind them comes through.  A truly annoying flaw as it often makes reading the damn words difficult when they get lost in the dark colors of the art on which they are laid.  If this process was intentional, then it was a huge mistake on someone’s editorial judgment.  Lettering is a separate art form and deserves to be handled with as much care and attention as any other element in a graphic novel.  In this case it was terribly mis-handled.

Despite the few critiques mentioned, “Hexen Hammers” is a truly powerful, dramatic reading experience that easily won me over.  If you are looking for something new, original and different in a graphic novel experience; something with a solid bite, then you really need to seek this out and pick up a copy.  Arcana has a solid winner here.  Don’t miss it.

THE BONUS

THE BONUS

By Georgia Lowe

Lucky Dime Press

398 pages

The trouble with most history books is that they are generally impersonal.  They offer up the facts and then focus solely on the public figures who actually shaped events.  What is omitted, save for the grainy black and white photos of yesterday, are the tales of the average people who experienced those moments; days now slowly morphing into ghostly images of a past all too soon forgotten.  In choosing to read and review Georgia Lowe’s powerful retelling of the Bonus March, I purposely stepped away from this column’s focus on pulp fiction.  Why?  Because too many of us who love this unique brand of fiction some times need to be reminded of the times in which it was born.  To better appreciate those exciting and colorful tales of escapist fancy, we should be aware that they were created during a time of national pain and suffering; the Great Depression.

Sadly there have been too few novels set in this time of social upheaval, economic tragedy and hopelessness.  Not that there haven’t been many competent historical text, several of which the author mentions in her own lists of references, still it takes a fiction writer to make history personal.  John Steinbeck did it with his “Grapes of Wrath” and now, first time novelist, Georgia Lowe achieves the same emotional impact with “The Bonus.”  This is not an easy book to read for any American who loves his or her country.  Its honest depiction of the Hoover administration and the cavalier, egotistical attitude of its chief participants from the President on down to his Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur is deplorable, to say the least.

In 1924, several years after the end of the War to End All Wars, America’s veterans were promised a bonus payment for their service.  The country’s representatives spend the next five years debating on what form and amount this “bonus” will be in.  Then comes the Wall Street crash of 1929 sending the economy into an unparalleled nosedive.  Unemployment rises to 25%, banks collapse like dominoes, home foreclosures are rampant.  On top of all this, Mother Nature delivers the second knock out punch in the form of a far reaching drought that devastates America’s central farmlands, turning abundant fields of wheat and corn into arid wastelands soon to be known as the Dust Bowl.  The end result, Congress votes to defer the Bonus until 1945.

Three years later, in the Spring of 1932, thousands of veterans, feeling betrayed by their own government, began to organize throughout the country.  As the news of their discontent and public gatherings spread, the idea of a united march on the Capitol is born and eagerly approved.  Charismatic leaders among the various groups like the VFW arise and by the start of summer, they are leading thousands of desperate veterans to Washington in every mode of travel possible from automobile caravans to train boxcars filled with weary travelers.  Their one unifying goal, to force Congress into giving them their money now.

We experience this historical pilgrimage through the yes of several characters including Will Hardy, a reporter for a Los Angeles tabloid, himself a veteran still enduring the effects of “shellshock,” and his lovely girlfriend, Bonnie.  Bonnie, enjoying her life as a Hollywood extra is naively unaware of the country’s ailing condition until she embarks on this odyssey with her girlfriend Myrna to rendezvous with their men.  By the time she arrives in Washington, she and Will become eye-witnesses to the monumental injustice perpetrated by President Hoover and his cronies.  Not only does Hoover publicly ignore the peaceful petitions and demonstrations of the Bonus marchers, in the end, he has them attacked and driven out by Army troops under the command of General McArthur.    

“The Bonus” is one of the finest historical novels I’ve ever read and it left me emotional drained.  It is clearly a cautionary tale of what happens to a people when its elected officials allow themselves to become disassociated with their constituents.  It is a story of governmental betrayal at its worst and a timely warning considering our nation’s current situation.  It is also a fine work of fiction with moving, believable characters that any reader will quickly recognize as each is driven to find their own piece of the American promise.  We tip our pulp fedora to Georgia Lowe and we thank her deeply for reminding us all what happened that summer in 1932.  It is up to each and every one of us to make sure it never happens again.

THE DAMN THING

THE DAMNED THING

By Barry Reese

Wild Cat Books Digest

152 pages

Pulp writer Reese takes a stab at turning Dashiel Hammetts’ classic “The Maltese Falcon” into an occult thriller with delightful results.  Instead of tough guy private eye, Sam Spade, he gives us tough gal, Violet Cambridge.  She’s a widow whose husband, Walter Cambridge, was killed on a case and rather than seeing the offices of Cambridge and Knopf shut down, she assumes his position in the company.  Violet has no qualms about shooting first and asking questions later.  Always dressing in mourning black, she is a femme fatale who is perfectly at ease using her feminine wiles to achieve her ends; a true Black Widow in way.

When her partner is cruelly murdered by an occult sect in search of an ancient artifact said to possess immeasurable power, Violet takes up the hunt for “The Damn Thing” to solve his death and bring them to justice.  Along with way she soon discovers there are several other factions competing with her.

There’s a religious order, dedicated to finding the cursed statue for the sole purpose of destroying it while the world famous occultist, Aleister Crowley, represents those seeking to possess it for their own twisted ends.  During this danger laden hunt Violet discovers it was this very affair that led to her husband’s murder.  From that point on, the case becomes a personal vendetta and nothing is going to stop this Atlanta based, strong willed investigator from uncovering the truth, no matter who she has to shoot to do so.

A fan of Reese’s work for several years now, this reader believes “The Damn Thing” is by far his most polished story.  As a writer he continues to grow and the prose here is smooth, economic and effective.  There’s no wastage of words to get the tale across with as much power and drama as it requires with not a superfluous sentence more.  It’s fun, suspenseful and introduces one of the classiest dames in fiction since Honey West.  Here’s hoping there’s lot more Violet Cambridge in all our futures.

MERKABAH RIDER

MERKABAH RIDER

By Edward M. Erdelac

Damnation Books LLC

278 pages

Although the straight forward, no frills western genre seems to exist only in today’s paperback market, the proliferation of the “weird” western tableau is visible everywhere.  Comics and prose anthologies have been expanding this pulp theme strongly and recently Hollywood has joined in with films such as “Jonah Hex”  (a cowboy who can speak to the dead), “The Warrior’s Way” (pitting Japanese Ninja’s against cowboys) and the soon to be released blockbuster, “Cowboys VS Aliens,” (the name says it all).

Up until a few weeks ago, I’d pretty much thought there was nothing else to be done with bizarre westerns.  Happily Edward Erdelac has proven me wrong with his “Merkabah Rider – Tales of a High Planes Drifter.”  The giveaway is in the spelling of the word planes.  For you see, the hero of this book is a Hasidic Jew mystic known as a Merkabah Rider because of his ability to travel out of his body and explore the higher and lower realms of heaven and hell.  In fact the Rider, as he prefers to be called, actually travels the post Civil War southwest on foot, pulling a dirty white onager behind.  An onager is an Asiatic wild ass.  I had to look that up too.

Through the four stories in this volume, we learn that the San Francisco born Rider interrupted his religious studies to serve in the Union Army during the war between the states; a decision that turned many of the elders of his order against him.  He returns home to discover all the members of this enclave, known as the Sons of Essenes, have been murdered by his renegade teacher, a man known only as Adon.  Feeling spiritually tarnished by his association with Adon, the Rider begins his quest to seek him out and exact vengeance.  In the process he travels the globe until his quest brings him full circle back to American desert lands of the southwest.

Which is where this first book begins. In the quartet of adventures collected here, the Rider battles a foul Demon sacrificing children in an Arizona mining town, combats a dust devil that animates a hellish windmill in a Mexican border town, goes up against a cursed gunman who slaughters entire towns and confronts a powerful, alluring succubus said to be the first wife of Adam.  Through these travails, the Rider learns that Adon is conspiring with the demon world to bring about an earthly holocaust which will herald the end of all mankind.  Unless he, alone, can stop him.

“Merkabah Rider,” is a terrific read that captivated me from the first page to the last.  The exhilaration of discovering something new and vibrant in an old setting provided this reviewer with complete and unabashed entertainment.  The Rider is the most original western hero since Clint Eastwood’s Man-With-No-Name and his background in the exotic magic of ancient Hebraic mysticism make him a character this reader will not forget any time soon.     

KISS HER GOODBYE

KISS HER GOODBYE

By Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

270 pages

Available 25 May 2011

This book, the third Mike Hammer thriller begun by the late Spillane and completed by his protégé Collins, takes place in the mid 1970s.  Hammer is in sunny Florida recuperating from several bullet wounds; the results of a shoot-out on the New York City docks with the crazy son of a mob boss.  Emotionally wounded as well as physically, Hammer has fled the Big Bad Apple, deserting his friends and most importantly the one truly love of his life, Velda.  He is determined to spend the rest of his days basking in the sun and deep sea fishing.  But when his pal, Detective Pat Chambers calls with the news that his old mentor, Inspector Doolan is dead, an apparent suicide, Hammer has no choice but to pack it up and return to the asphalt jungle.

So begins one of the most convoluted mysteries the tough-as-nails Hammer has ever confronted.  Doolan had been diagnosed with cancer and his days were numbered.  Everyone, including the coroner, is convinced he shot himself in the heart before the end became too painful to endure.  Hammer doesn’t buy it, even though the evidence is stacked against him.  It doesn’t feel right.  His love of the old war horse tells him Doolan would never have succumbed to what he always referred to as “the coward’s” way out.

No sooner does Hammer start poking around, visiting Doolan’s friends and a few of his enemies, then he and Pat stumble on the body of a young waitress stabbed to death only a few blocks from the funeral service for Doolan.  Is it random coincident; just another senseless death on the mean streets of the city?  If so, then why does the newly appointed, highly ambitious assistant district attorney show up at the crime scene?  What is her interest in a supposedly routine slaying?  With each passing hour, Hammer uncovers facts that on the surface appear totally unconnected. From a former gangland heir operating the city’s fanciest disco for the rich and famous to a legendary jewel with ties to Nazis war criminals living in South America. 

Couple this with Hammer’s own confused emotions about being back in the steel canyons he both loves and hates and the stage is set for a slam-bang adventure unlike any the savvy gumshoe has ever encountered.  This book is packed with fast guns and dames and plenty of punches all culminating in a shootout that makes the Gunfight at the OK Corral look like a picnic! In a world that has become soft and compromised with the corruption of “political correctness,”  having Mike Hammer back to plow through the BS and uncover the truth, no matter the cost, is a jolt of clear headed sanity we all need lots more of.

SIX-GUNS STRAIGTH FROM HELL

SIX-GUNS STRAIGHT FROM HELL

Edited by David B.Riley & Laura Givens

Science Fiction Trails Publishing

284 pages

I’ve made it a habit that after reading and reviewing a whopping big novel, I like to follow it up with an anthology.  Sort of allowing my literary palette to enjoy smaller treats after having digested a weighty tome.  With anthologies one can read them at a leisurely pace, choosing one or two tales every few days and not worry about remembering a single narrative over a long period of time.  This I picked up “Six-Guns Straight From Hell,” a collection of weird western stories produced locally here in Colorado by editors David Riley and Laura Givens.

Now deciding whether any anthology is good or bad is simply a matter of mathematics.  If the collection has more good stories than bad ones, it’s a good book and just the opposite if the clunkers outnumber the decent yarns.  This volume contained a total of twenty stories and in the end the break down was four truly great pieces, ten good ones and six duds.  Ergo, an excellent package all around, to include Laura Given’s humorous cover which tips its Stetson to the old TV series, the Wild Wild West.

Among the stellar quartet was “Chin Song Ping & the Fifty Three Thieves” by editor Givens.  It’s the first story and my personal favorite.  A Chinese rift on the Arabian legend of Ali Baba with a little Jackie Chan kung fu humor thrown in for good measure.  Original, surprising and fun, it has all the elements to make you glad you picked this book up.  Whereas “The Road to Bodie” is a sensitive drama about a young Mexican woman caught between two untenable situations, desperate to take her widowed mother and flee to a better life in Texas.  And then there’s “The Enterprising Necromancer,” about a shrewd fellow whose business is raising the dead.  A deliciously twisted fable that had me chuckling aloud.  The final gem is “Snake Oil” by Jennifer Campbell Hicks about an elixir salesmen who arrives in town in a new, fancy dirigible. 

Without listing all the other ten tales that I liked, let me add honorable mentions to David Boop’s “Bleeding the Bank Dry,” “The Last Defenders,” by Carol Hightshoe, “Smile” by Kit Voker and “A Specter in the Light,” by David Lee Summers.  Coupled with the others, these adventures into the strange and scary west all proved to be entertaining.  As for those I labeled duds, you’ll just have to pick those out yourself.  All art is subjective and who knows, maybe one of them will tickle your particular fancy.

The bottom line here is “Six-Guns Straight From Hell” is a solid, marvelous anthology for those of you who like to mix your genres.  So grab a copy, load your six-shooters and saddle up for some macabre adventures.  It’s one “Hell” of a ride.

PULP HEROES - KHAN DYNASTY

PULP HEROES – KHAN DYNASTY

By Wayne Reinagel

566 pages

Knightraven Studios

Calling this thick hunk of book the “Gone With The Wind” of pulps would be no exaggeration at all.  Detailing, and intertwining the lives of dozens of heroes and villains from both the 19^th and 20^th centuries, Wayne Reinagel has delivered a book that is pure treasure chest of action and adventure delights.

With KHAN DYNASTY, Reinagel takes a jump backward in time to showcase the birth of America’s most famous pulp and comic book heroes of the 1930s.  To do so he weaves such classic figures as Jekyll and Hyde, Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu together in an incredible globe spanning saga; although some have their names changed due to licensing restrictions. Still the acute pulp fan will easily identify such stalwarts as Doc Titan and his five loyal companions, the Darkness, the warrior who fights in the shadows and the deadly Scorpion, who’s automatics blaze a trail of death and destruction in meting justice to evil doers.  These were the same characters we were first introduced to in PULP HEROES – MORE THAN MORTAL, his first entry in this mammoth trilogy; although it is the second chapter of the saga.

We personally wish he would have launched this Magnus Opus with this volume for several reasons.  The obvious would have been the natural progression of the characters’ history would have made following events a whole lot easier.  Secondly, as much as we enjoyed MORE THAN MORTAL, it had many narrative bumps.  We were thrilled to see these gone in KHAN DYNASTY as Reinagel’s earlier amateurish style and awkward phrasing have been replaced by a smooth, easy and very professional writing competency.  This bodes very well for his proposed third volume due out later this year.

No one does historical research better than Reinagel and his books are clearly the results of hours of meticulous study.  Having embraced the late Philip Jose Farmer’s wonderful Wold Newton concept of classic heroes and villains being somehow related to each other via one amazing family tree, Reinagel takes that supposition one giant step further and details every single minutia on every single branch of that tree. Which is also the book’s clear weakness in that he is easily tempted by factual history and spends way too many pages relating little known historical data that have absolutely no relevancy on the book’s plot.  This volume could have trimmed fifty pages of such fat and moved things along at a faster clip.  But don’t get me wrong, there’s still tons of action and adventure packed into this story, more then enough for any ten regular pulp novels.

Clearly, books like KHAN DYNASTY are not for the casual reader just discovering pulps.  Whereas, if you are a true fan who has rudimentary knowledge of this unique literary genre and its more famous characters, then it would behoove you to pick this up.  It will provide you with a reading experience unlike any you’ve ever enjoyed before. Bravo, Mr.Reinagel. Bravo!