SHERLOCK HOLMES -The Baron's Revenge

SHERLOCK HOLMES
(The Baron's Revenge)
By Gary Lovisi
Airship 27 Productions
Guest Reviewer Gordon Dymowski

When considering all the pastiches written involving Sherlock Holmes, it is rare to find one that is purely a sequel - most Sherlockian non-canon lore involves crossovers with other public domain characters, integration of science fiction and/or horror themes, or loose adaptations of the canon.

Gary Lovisi's Sherlock Holmes: The Baron's Revenge, published by Airship 27 Productions, is a rare novel - a straightforward sequel to a past Holmes story that manages to be a crackling good read.

The novel serves as a sequel to "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" from 1927's The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Much like of Conan Doyle's later Holmes work, The Baron's Revenge shares a similar hard-boiled, almost pulp-flavored edge as it tells its tale. Thankfully, one does not have to read Conan Doyle's story in order to understand The Baron's Revenge, given various callbacks to the original tale.

It's also a daring book in that it is written (except for one chapter) from Holmes' perspective. Although it would have been easy to fall into cliche and write Holmes as exceptionally omniscient, Lovisi does Holmes a great service by writing the detective at the proper emotional tone. It is easy to "hear" Holmes narrating the story. Rob Davis' illustrations throughout the book provide it with the right sense of pace and atmosphere, almost making it seem like a "lost" edition of The Strand Magazine. (Thankfully, it is a relatively quick read - I finished it within two days while commuting back and forth to downtown Chicago).

The Baron's Revenge is one of those rare Holmes books - an unexpected sequel that is a very good read and well worth checking out. It is available through Airship 27 as well as Amazon.com.

This book is worth owning and reading. Repeatedly.

Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related. 


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TEN-A-WEEK STEALE

TEN-A-WEEK STEALE

By Stephen Jared

Solstice Publishing

303 pages

In the early 1920s, former Army Lieutenant Walter Steale has returned to civilian life and settled down in Los Angeles amongst the glitz of the silent movie world.  His one ambition is to put the horrors of World War One behind him and get on with a normal, peaceful life. Unfortunately his brother, Sam, the state’s Lieutenant Governor, coerces him into working as hired muscle for his crooked boss, Governor Davies.  This leads Steale into brutal confrontations with crazy mob gangsters and a prostitution ring tied to several corrupt politicians.

When a gang boss is murdered in a bombing and then Steale himself is targeted in another, even in his wounded condition he is savvy enough to realize he’s been set up as a patsy by his own brother. To clear his name and stay out of jail, Steale must rely on the courage of Virginia “Ginny” Joy, a beautiful young movie actress whose star is on the rise. As unlucky a couple as can be imagined, Ginny has fallen hard for the veteran doughboy and is willing to jeopardize her own career to save his neck.

Author Stephen Jared is an accomplished film actor with a vast knowledge of early Hollywood history which he deftly employs here by creating a truly authentic background for his wonderfully crafted mystery.  Refusing to mimic classical noir settings, Jared presents a truly straight forward and original narrative that moves at its own leisurely pace.  Then when the reader least expects it, he delivers scenes of gut wrenching violence in such a cold, calculating style, this reviewer was reminded of the late Mickey Spillane’s work.

TEN-A-WEEK STEALE was a nice surprise in many ways, exceeding my own expectations and in the end delivers a better than average tale in a field overrun with cheap knock-offs.  Wally Steale and Ginny Joy make a nice team, let’s hope we get to see them again real soon.

CALL OF SHADOWS

CALL OF SHADOWS
By David C.Smith
Airship 27 Producitons
208 pgs.
Guest Reviewer - Joe Bonadonna

CALL OF SHADOWS is a tough, dark, very film noirish story. The main character is David Ehlert, a world-weary soul who comes to the aid of newly widowed Ava Beaudine, who is caught in a deadly game being played by her late husband's business partner, the slimy Tony Jasco. But what sets this modern-day thriller tale apart from your usual tale of gangsters and murder is that Ehlert is a powerful wizard born in 1886 but who looks to be in his mid-to-late 30s. And so, what you might think is going to be the usual web of intrigue and murderous intent, suddenly turns into an even nastier, sinister plot involving dark sorcery and one sick, twisted magician.

Ehlert is a haunted man, and the story behind the ghost who haunts him is a tale of true, heart-breaking tragedy. I can't talk too much about this novel without spoiling the surprises -- and boy, there are surprises on almost every page. Just when you think you have it all figured out, when you're sure you know where the story is going, Dave Smith makes a sharp turn to the left and takes you on a detour through the shadowy streets of magic, mystery, and mayhem. The wizard Ehlert is the kind of anti-hero we don't see too much of nowadays: elegant, quietly confident, and all-too dangerous. He's not an over-the-top, flamboyant pretty boy tossing off one-liners and worn-out cliches with a smarminess that would make Hollywood proud. Oh, no. His sense of humor is subtle and dry, but this guy is also as dark as he is unassuming. This is urban fantasy for adults. This is what Harry Potter might have grown up to become if he lived in a more realistic world and had tragedy scarred his soul, instead of his forehead. Ehlert stands right up there, shoulder to shoulder, with Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and all the great characters right out of Black Mask, Weird Tales, and the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction. Ehlert is a man with a past veiled in shadow, and a future that is just this side of grim: he's a man caught in a present that doesn't quite seem suited to him. And the tragedy of his life, the one thing that keeps him going, that gives his life purpose, is the soul of this novel.

But for me, the heart of this novel is the lovely, the endearing and unforgettable Ava Beaudine. Once you meet her, you'll never forget her. She'll steal your heart while Ehlert battles to keep evil forces from stealing her life, as well as her soul.

This is a taut, excellent thriller, with crisp dialogue, solid characterizations, hard-hitting prose, explosive and violent action, and a plot that'll keep you guessing and turning the pages. I'm reading it for the fourth time. Give it a shot -- you may find yourself reading it more than twice!

SAILOR

SAILOR

By Tom Epperson

Forge Books

352 pages

Tom Epperson is a stylist whose writing displays a truly unique sensibility rarely found in the field of modern thrillers before.  He writes about complex people both good and bad, each locked into a personal moral code that propels them to accomplish wonderful feats of heroism or disgusting acts of depravity.  When they collide through various unrelated chains of events the results are scenes of mesmerizing action.

Gina and her son Luke are on the run from her husband’s mob family in New York.  She had been living in the Witness Protection Program, after having testified and helped lock up her sadistic, cruel spouse.  The problem is her father-in-law wants his grandson and ultimately bribes one of the Marshals assigned to protect them.  By a miracle of quick thinking, she and Luke elude the assassin and flee westward ending up on the beaches of Southern California. Here they meet a quiet, likeable stranger named Gray who clearly has a secret past of his own.  All the while the crooked Marshall, a trio of his redneck pals and a pair of deadly Russian hit-men are all converging on them like the hot Santa Anna winds.

Imagine blending Elmore Leonard’s terse, economic prose with the fanciful poetry of a Ray Bradbury and you have “Sailor,” a truly beautifully crafted suspense thriller that plays across the reader’s imagination like the taut bow string of a mournful violin.  None of this comes as a surprise as Epperson also wrote the screenplays to two of finest noir films ever produced; “One False Move” and “The Gift.”  Like those two stories, “Sailor” is peopled by original, believable characters that inhabit a world both familiar and strange.  The tension, the violence and the hope infused in these characters is perfectly etched and by the book’s finale becomes a poignant reading experience you won’t soon forget.

SCARECROW

SCARECROW

By Matthew Reilly

St.Martin’s Paperbacks

457 pages

When this reviewer can chew through four hundred and fifty-seven pages of fiction as if it were a ball of yummy cotton-candy, you know there is lots of awesome action in those pages.  “Scarecrow” by Matthew Reilly is easily one of the fastest paced action thrillers I’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring.  From the very first page to the last, it takes off like a rocket ship cutting through one massive, terrorist style threat after another pitting our hero, Special Forces Marine Captain Shane Schofield against a veritable army of the deadliest professional killers in the world.

The plot is about as melodramatic as these kind of books can get.  A super secret group of arms dealers wish to create a second Cold War so that there will be a renewed demand for their product; a need that has lessened considerably since the collapse of the Soviet Union.  They plan elaborate missile strikes against the major cities of both the east and the west, using weaponry that can be traced back to specific nations and thus throw false blame on them. What the group doesn’t know is that amongst them is a psychopath who has no interest in a “cold” war, but rather this monster is intent on starting Armageddon and seeing the world destroyed.

The only thing that can foil this global scheme is the fact that all the missiles can be aborted by one universal “kill” code; a code that requires near super human reflexes to administer.  There are only fifteen men in the world, soldiers, who have such reflexes to properly activate this “kill” switch.  Thus the clandestine group puts a million dollar bounty on their heads, literally.  They also set a time-table as they want these targets eliminated before the launching of their insidious plan.  

Captain Shane Schofield, code name Scarecrow, is one of those targeted for execution.  Of course, he isn’t that easy to kill and when he escapes the first attempt on his life, he immediately begins to turn the tables on his hunters.  At the same time he is fleeing these crazed killers, he is using his Pentagon contacts to figure out what is actually going on and by the last quarter of the book, Scarecrow has unraveled the plot and begins racing against time to save the world.

Honestly, there were times when reading Reilly’s over-the-top outlandish action sequence where I was thought even Michael Bay couldn’t do justice to this gung-ho Road Runner cartoon brought to life.  There is more action in this one book than any other dozen bestselling thrillers on the market today.  Reilly is the quintessential New Pulp writer who understands the rules of break-neck pacing and the objective of entertaining the hell out of his readers.  He does both masterfully.  It is no wonder he has a huge fan following amongst action readers; this reviewer being the latest recruit.

Note, “Scarecrow” was written back in 2003 and the dog-eared copy I just read was sent to me last year by my Canadian colleague, Andrew Salmon, a long time Reilly convert who knew I’d get a bang out of it. I just couldn’t imagine just how big a bang it would be.

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES

By Deborah Harkness

Penguin Books

579 pages

Guest Review by Nancy A. Hansen

I’m a busy writer and editor so I don’t get to read very often these days. For a large book like this one to hold my attention long enough to get to the end, it has to be well written and engaging. Happily, A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES is all that and more. It’s an absolutely enjoyable and finely detailed novel, and yet it only slows down long enough to reflect on what has occurred and set the stage for another unexpected turn of events.

The premise behind the story is an interesting twist on the vampire mania that has been sweeping the novel and movie worlds. Here we are told, there are four types of beings on earth, only one of which is mundane humanity. The vampires, daemons, and witches that live amongst us are all classified as ‘creatures’ in that they have preternatural abilities that at times get them into very deep trouble. There is a good blend of what might be considered canon for both witches and vampires along with some very intriguing new insights into their background and behavior. Daemons I didn’t feel were explained as fully, other than being incredibly quirky and highly intelligent. Witches were clearly detailed in their ability to cast spells and do other magical working; vampires have the legendary supernormal strength and agility as well as a consuming need to feed on blood. Beyond that, there was a considerable amount of innovative new traits added. Behind all of it though is a taboo against mingling between types, and this sets the tension for the story, in which both main characters—a long lived male vampire named Matthew Clairmont, and Diana Bishop, a highly educated female witch in denial of her considerable powers—have inexplicably fallen in love.

Yet this is far more than a gothic romance story. There is a sense of real and imminent danger from a vigilante controlling cartel of witches, daemons and vampires bent on keeping the bloodlines pure and unmixed. Also complicating matters are serious issues of personal tragedy in the backgrounds of these two diverse creatures that fate has brought together. The binding bit is Diana’s latent ability to call forth from an Oxford library archive a long lost and legendary alchemical tome named ‘Ashmole  782’. This is a manuscript that many of her fellow creatures covet for the knowledge of their origin it is believed to contain. That moment she held the book in her hands puts her life in grave danger and sends both her, Matthew, and a close knit group of relatives and trusted friends on a perilous course of discovery and ultimate rebellion.

This is a finely tooled tale of passion, danger, intrigue, and dark doings that skillfully weaves the trials of academic and family life in with the paranormal abilities of beings that have existed mostly incognito amongst the human race for millennia. The author’s background knowledge of history and literature allowed for a plausible rendering of past world events as well as great works of science and literature into the tale, giving it a richness and depth most fantasy books can’t emulate. I was especially impressed with her ability to smoothly transition from first to third person point-of-view, for while most of the book is told through Diana Bishop’s perspective, there are events that happen without her character involved that don’t suffer from an overbearing narrator explaining how she learned of this. That is not an easy shift to make even for an experienced fiction writer, yet it was seamless enough that it never felt jarring.

Overall, this is a very well done first novel from a new fiction writer. I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for something that effortlessly combines mature love and occult material fashioned around a heaping helping of eerie suspense. Since this is the first book of a trilogy and ends on sort of a cliffhanger note, I very much look forward to reading the sequel when it becomes available.

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Longtime writer and avid reader, Nancy A. Hansen is the author of the New Pulp fantasy novel FORTUNE’S PAWN as well as the anthology TALES OF THE VAGABOND BARDS. She is a staff writer and assistant editor for Pro Se Press, has her own imprint HANSEN’S WAY, and many of her short stories have appeared in Pro Se’s monthly magazines and digests. She also pens a biweekly column called SO… WHY PULP? for http://www.newpulpfiction.com/. Nancy currently resides in beautiful, rural northeastern Connecticut.

LADY, GO DIE

LADY, GO DIE

By Max Allan Collins & Mickey Spillane

Titan Books

241 pages

Available May 2012

After returning home from World War II, veteran Mickey Spillane was prepared to go back to his civilian job of writing comics.  But instead, he opted to take an idea for a new comic series and turn it into a private eye novel called, “I, The Jury.” Released in 1947, it was the first book to feature tough-as-nails Mike Hammer. (His last name pretty much defining everything he was about.)  The book was a phenomenal success and the publisher was eager to get Spillane to do more.  Three years later the first Mike Hammer sequel, “My Gun is Quick” appeared on the bookstore shelves and became as big a seller as the first.  Both Spillane and his creation were on their way to becoming literary icons.

When Spillane passed away several years ago, he left his notes and such to his friend and protégé, Max Allan Collins.  Among these files were bits and pieces of unfinished Mike Hammer mysteries.  Getting the green light from several excited publishers, Collins set about finishing these projects and getting them in print.  Thus far we’ve seen three; “The Goliath Bone” (2008), “The Big Bang” (2010) and last year’s “Kiss Her Goodbye.” Now comes the fourth and perhaps the most anxiously awaited of the entire lot.  You see, according to Collins’ prologue notes, “Lady, Go Die” is actually the original sequel Spillane had intended to follow “I, The Jury.”  Why he never finished it and instead completed and offered up “My Gun is Quick” is a puzzle no one will ever be able to fully solve.  Still, it adds a generous slice of real mystery to this story that was envisioned by one of the greatest writers of our times nearly seventy years ago.

Taking up where the first Hammer book left off, “Lady, Go Die” finds the irascible P.I. and his gorgeous brunette secretary, Velda, traveling to a little beach resort town in Long Island for some R & R.  Velda and Hammer’s cop pal, Det. Pat Chambers, think the emotional battering he suffered in his first case has left Hammer in need of some quiet time.  Alas, as they discover all too speedily, Hammer’s personal shadow is called Trouble.  No sooner does the couple arrive in Sidon, nearly deserted in its off-season, then they witness the brutal beating of a slow-witted drifter by three policemen, one known to Hammer as a dirty cop from the City.

Hammer steps in, pounds a few heads and rescues the helpless young man.  Within hours, he and Velda learn that the small community is in a tizzy, as its most popular citizen, a famous ex-dancer turned media celebrity has vanished without a trace.  Days later, her nude body is found draped over the stone statue of a horse in the park on the public beach.

Hammer smells the familiar odor of corruption and begins to investigate on his own. He soon learns the dead woman’s mansion was in actuality a secret gambling casino being fronted by a mob personality whose identity is carefully hidden.  As if that weren’t enough to keep Hammer and Velda busy, dodging lead and wrestling with gangster muscle, their inquiries also unearth other, supposedly unrelated murders; all of young women in neighboring towns and counties.  Now the savvy Hammer has to follow two different trails and decide if they connect or not.  Suddenly he’s confronting dangerous mob gunsels at the same time hunting a twisted serial killer who may be targeting his next victim.

“Lady, Go Die” is another terrific Mike Hammer caper that moves non-stop like a flying cheetah across the reader’s field of imagination and comes to a pouncing kill in a truly classic Spillane finale.  A big tip of the pulp fedora to this one, gents.

OUTLAW BLUES

OUTLAW BLUES

By Percival Constantine

Pulpwork Press

180 pages

Pulpwork Press is one of the leading New Pulp publishers and books like “Outlaw Blues” are fine examples of the fast-paced, action packed offerings they put forth.  This particular novel, by Percival Constantine is the second in a gritty spy-vs-spy type series labeled Infernum.  Infernum is an ultra secret organization of mercenary assassins operated by a shadowy spy-master called Dante.

Although I did like the first book, it had flaws common to most new writers.  This is Constantine’s second book since that review and it is all too evident that his innate talent is quickly maturing with each new effort.  I have no reservations in saying this is easily the best thing he has ever written.

“Outlaw Blues” tells the story of a former Army Special Forces vet who becomes a killer for hire after leaving the military.  His name is Carl Flint and during the formative stages of his new career, he manages to rationalize his actions with the belief that the world is an inherently bad place and he’s doing what he must to survive and prosper.  If Flint has a conscious, he’s found a way to bury it until that time he can take his ill gotten gains and retire to a more normal lifestyle.

Unfortunately life doesn’t always adhere to our plans and during a botched up assignment, he accidentally guns down a pregnant woman.  Later, when he learns her baby was saved in the hospital, his dormant decency breaks free and from that point on he becomes a haunted soul.  He goes into semi-retirement, opens a blues bar and proceeds to spend the rest of his days in an alcoholic daze.  Then one day, one of Dante’s stooges surfaces to recruit him for one more mission; a job that will pay him enough money to set up a trust fund for the little orphan girl whose mother he killed.  Flint takes the job, fulfills his contract and then, after setting up the trust fund, disappears into Mexico under a different identity.

Of course in all noire tales, the hero can never truly escape his fate and sure enough death and violence follow him to this sleepy town south of the border, compelling him to finally accept his fate.  Carl Flint is very much a Heminway-like protagonist whose bloody finale is was set from the first time he picked up a gun.  Constantine writes him with such clinical economy, never wasting a single adjective or paragraph of mindless exposition.  By allowing Flint to define himself by his actions, we are given an honest look into his soul and by the book’s end come to respect him, if we are still unable to condone him. 

The bible quote is, “He who lives by the sword, shall perish by the sword.”  Around that one single theme, Percival Constantine has given us a truly memorable character and powerful tale that proves his emergence as a genuine master of noire fiction. Even though intended as part of a series, let me assure you this is very much a stand-alone book that should be read for its own merits.  Not having read the first will not impeded your enjoyment in the slightest.  Whereas missing this book would be a real crime.

GIRL GENIOUS - Agatha Awakens

GIRL GENIOUS
(Agatha Awakens)

By Phil & Kaja Foglio

A 319 pg graphic novel.

Tor Books

One of the things I bemoan as a professional reviewer is the lack of graphic novels I’m sent to look at.  Note I did say, “look at.”  The fun of such material is that, when well done, it becomes both a literary and visual feast; a narrative told with both words and art.

The problem is that, even in our supposed enlightened times, most major publishers still do not appreciate or acknowledge graphic novels as legitimate and thus are not receptive to publishing them.  Those pioneer publishers who do are few and far apart.  Happily Tor Books is one of the leading pioneers in this acknowledgement and they deserve credit for not only publishing books such as the Foglios’ “Girl Genius” but also promoting them so heavily.

Since its inception as a webstrip many years ago, this manga inspired sci-fi steampunk comic about airships, monsters, half-humanoid beings and a magical talent called “the Spark,” has won three Hugo Awards and been nominated for both the Eisner & Eagle Awards; the best for American and British strips respectively.  It is a grand, over-the-top tale that showcases a world where machines are looked upon with fear by the average citizen and those scientist who can master them considered heroes of mythic proportions.

Agatha Clay, an orphan college student in Transylvania, is being raised by her aunt and uncle and has no knowledge that she possesses the Spark.  Her only clue being that she often awakens from deep sleeps in her uncle’s workshop surrounded by tools and bizarre, unfinished, “cranks.”  These are robot-like inventions that come in all sizes and shapes with a variety of functions.  Eventually, her secret ability begins to assert itself and she comes under the scrutiny of Baron Wulfenbach, one of the most powerful political scientist in all the world.  He ultimately brings her aboard his city-size airship and there she meets an assortment of characters, both human and half-human, along with a talking cat with attitude and the Baron’s handsome young son, Gilgamesh. 

The boy is keen enough to realize Agatha has the Spark and suspects her talents are greater than most others known to his father.  At the same time, the great ship is coming other attack by an alien entity from another dimension and in the end, there is a climatic battle wherein Agatha, using her gifts consciously for the first time, helps Gilgamesh save the day.  But not before she uncovers other mysteries of her past and her parents.  In the end she is forced to steal an airship and along with her pal, the feisty talking cat, makes good her escape, thus ending the first part of her saga.

At 319 pages, “Agatha Awakens” is a whopping chunk of madcap, graphic fun and action galore.  Although the first hundred pages display a roughness to the depiction of the characters, it is easy to reconcile this was the first year’s worth of pages and the artists were gradually beginning to know their characters.  By the second hundred pages, the art settles into an easy, cartoony style that is part manga, without being overly exaggerated, and typical Saturday morning fare.  I particularly liked the use of coloring, which has been redone for this collection.  It shifts from the duotone and sepia when detailing earthbound city scenes and then explodes with a vibrant rainbow palette upon arriving at the giant airships that cruise majestically through the sky.

Agatha and her supporting cast of characters are fresh, original and fun.  This beautifully produced hardcover is like nothing else I’ve read in graphic form and it truly impressed me a great deal.  If you are a fan of American manga, sci-fi or steampunk, you are going to love “Girl Genius – Agatha Awakens.”  Take my advice; get two copies, one for yourself and another for your pre-teen kids or grand kids. They’ll eat it up.

THE SPY

THE SPY

By Justin Scott & Clive Cussler

Berkley Novel

528 pages

The third adventure in this series created by Clive Cussler and taken over by Justin Scott is another fine entry relating the cases of Isaac Bell, the top agent of the Van Dorn Detective Agency.  When foreign spies from Japan and Germany launch acts of murder and sabotage aimed at crippling the Navy’s battleship program, the noted detective agency is brought into the case.  This happens at the request of a young lady whose father, a gun battery expert, is found to have committed suicide after taking a bribe. Incensed by this slur of her father’s good name, the woman begs the agency to dig deep and prove what she suspects; that her father was actually murdered and the charges against him false.

The start is slow going for Isaac Bell, but bit by bit, oddities in the case begin to surface while at the same time, supposedly unrelated accidents continue to plague the Navy’s shipyards on both the East and West coast until the pattern of these events is just too coincidental to be ignored.  Once on the case, Bell becomes the bulldog man-hunter we’ve come to enjoy in his previous outings and he soon comes to realize he is chasing a deviously cunningly spy with no loyalties to any single government.  This shadowy manipulator is in fact a mercenary attempted to create a world conflict that will line his own pockets with riches.  War is good business.

From the docks of the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the ports of California, Bell and his courageous team of agents find themselves racing against the clock to prevent the Spy Master’s ultimate coup, a terrorist attack that will set the country’s defense plans back by decades and leave American vulnerable to its enemies abroad. Once again Scott sets his suspense thriller against a backdrop of historical accuracy, detailing the emergence of a young republic about to claim its place on the world’s stage.  But will this Manifest Destiny end long before it is born?

Filled with colorful characters and a beautiful glimpse of another, more innocent time, THE SPY is a worthy addition to this already much acclaimed series.  Issac Bell is clearly the Nick Carter & James Bond of his times.

BLACKTHORN - Thunder on Mars

BLACKTHORN

Thunder on Mars

Edited by Van Allen Plexico

White Rocket Books

225 pages

Why on earth would a writer/editor like Van Plexico want to take a 1980 Saturday morning cartoon television show and meld it with a classic Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy series? The answer to that perplexing question is found in this book, which by the way, is the result of that odd pairing.  In the introduction, Plexico tells of his love for an old Jack Kirby created TV series called “Thundarr the Barbarian” and how, for whatever twists of the muses, it seemed to plague his thoughts over the years.  Enough so that he decided to one day do something with the concept, adding a new and fresh spin to the plot.  It would be another few years for that final element of this eclectic brew would reveal itself to him when one day he started thinking of Burroughs legendary Martian series. 

Just like that the pieces were suddenly all there and when he mentally assembled them in his ever wondrous imagination, there he beheld the story of an American General who, upon his death in the Middle East, awoke to find his soul had been replaced in a brand new body; a body locked in the lab of a mad sorcerer on the planet Mars.  Yet more revelations arise when this character, General John Blackthorn discovers his spirit has not only traveled through space but also time as this is a Terra-Formed Mars of the far-flung future.

Within minutes of his bizarre awakening in his younger, stronger body, Blackthorn manages to escape the sorcerer with several other soul-transplanted fellows.  In their flight, he eventually meets the beautiful, dark haired sorceress Aria and the fur skinned humanoid creature Oglok of the Mock Men.  It is this trio, once met, that join forces to travel the amazing, fantastic landscape that is a post-apocalyptic Mars.  Their further adventures are chronicled by a half dozen of the finest writers in new pulp today.

Mark Bousquet, Joe Crowe, Bobby Nash, James Palmer, Sean Taylor and I.A. Watson spin exciting, fast moving adventures that pit Blackthorn and his allies against lizard men, battling robots and an ocean wide haunted valley from which no one has ever returned to name a few.  Each story is a well crafted pearl in a thematic necklace of classical pulp sci-fi and brings Plexico’s dream to vibrant life before our eyes.

It is abundantly clear that Plexico has tapped the mother-lode of adventure fiction with John Blackthorn and I can guarantee you we haven’t seen the last of him, or Aria and Oglok.  One can only wait in breathless anticipation to see where on the giant Red Planet their travels take them next.

ANTIQUES DISPOSAL

ANTIQUES DISPOSAL

A Trash ‘n’ Treasures Mystery

Barbara Allan

Kensington Books

230 pages
Available May 2012

Vivian Borne is an eccentric antiques dealer who lives in Serenity, a small Midwestern  town situated on the banks of the Mississippi river.  She lives with her daughters, Peggy Sue and Brandy.  Together Vivian and Brandy solve murders that in one way or another deal with the business of antiquing.  Which is the simplest way to describe this series, of which this book is the sixth and has been described by other reviewers as being a “cozy” series if anyone really knows exactly what that means.

As a fan of hardboiled detective fiction, I’m assuming “cozy” refers to those mysteries wherein the protagonist is a little old lady ala Agatha Christie’s popular Miss Marple books or the old Angela Landsbury TV show, “Murder She Wrote.”  In other words, not my particular brand of tea; I prefer a headier beverage literature.  Still, every now and then one desires to try something different.  I decided I’d take a chance with “Antiques Disposal.”

It is probably one of the smartest things I’ve done in a while.  Why?  Well simply because the book is so damn funny, I honestly couldn’t put it down.  And the characters!  Oh, my God, is there a more dysfunctional group then the Borne girls?  Remember I said Brandy was Vivian’s youngest daughter?  Well she’s actually Peggy Sue’s daughter.  Yup.  Echoes of “Chinatown.”  You see Peggy Sue got herself “in trouble” as a young, unmarried girl and left her baby with her mother to raise figuring it was best for the child.  Did I mention Vivian suffers from a bi-polar disorder and is on medication?  Never mind that Brandy herself has a daughter….oh, forget it.  Its way too complicated for me to keep track of after only one visit with this eclectic bunch.  The thing is the writing is so clean and precise, even though you haven’t read those first five books  (something I hope to one day correct) the reader just goes with the flow.  There is a charm and decency to these characters that immediately grabbed me and had me caring for them from page one. 

Look, here’s what every true mystery fan knows as a fact, series fail or succeed not on how brilliant the crimes are staged and then solved, but on how appealing and original the heroes are.  Don’t believe me, give this some thought.   Early fans of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson came to demand more stories from Arthur Conan Doyle to read more about them and not the mysteries they dealt with, those became incidental.  The same can be said of every solid mystery series from Sam Spade, to Nero Wolfe and Nate Heller.  In fact one of those famous shamus plays a huge part in this book’s climatic dénouement finale in such a hilarious way, I will not spoil it for you.  It’s just too damn funny.

Okay, if you really need to know the plot, here it is.  Vivian and Brandy go to a storage unit auction, wherein the person who owned the unit stopped paying rental fees on it and the manager is legally free to sell its contents to recoup his or her loses.  These auctions have become very common among antique dealers and I believe there is even a reality show based on the practice.  So our two ladies end up winning the bid, begin transporting the boxed contents to their home and cataloguing them; everything perfectly normal and routine.  Until they return to the storage facility for their second trip and find the manager dead in the now empty unit.  The very next night someone breaks into Vivian’s home, attacks Peggy Sue leaving her unconscious and nearly kill’s Brandy’s loveable little blind poodle, Sushi.

From this point forward, both Vivian and Brandy are on the hunt for the killer and how they go about it so entertaining, pages simply fly by.  Sure, I was playing along and looking for clues too, but honestly, it was the ride I was enjoying to the max.  Bottom line, if all of the Trash ‘n’ Treasures Mysteries are as wonderful as “Antiques Disposal,” then sign me up for the long haul.

Hey, even if you end up not liking the book, did I mention there are recipes for chocolate brownies in it?  Now how can you go wrong with that? 

THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY

THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY

By Barry Reese

Pro Se Productions

230 Pages

As much as most writers enjoy creating new series characters, eventually many of them, after writing the adventures of the same cast multiple times, start to feel the burden of familiarity.  Add to the fact that each new volume often builds upon the fictional cast from allies to recurring villains so that eventually the poor writer is saddled with a huge ensemble that he or she feels compelled to include in each new story.  These moments of repetitive angst seemed to be evident in Reese’s last volume of his Rook series.  For the uninitiated, the Rook is a masked vigilante created by Reese years ago as his entry into the new pulp community and was an instant success among fans; this reviewer included.

Still, by the sixth volume of that character’s exploits, the sheen of newness had faded and the Rook stories started becoming more about the supporting cast rather than the central hero.  Like Arthur Conan Doyle’s ultimate dissatisfaction with his own creation, Sherlock Holmes, Reese somehow to be struggling to keep the Rook afloat.  It was clearly time for him to move on to something new and with this collection, he has done just that in a most triumphant way.

Lazarus Gray is Reese’s new hero and is an homage to the classic Avenger series, wherein we have our mysterious leading man aided and abetted by a team of loyal assitants; in this case a trio.  Together they are known as Assistance Unlimited.  Although Gray’s creation was part of a shared world that included two other heroes, Reese clearly found his old muse with these new characters and has produced some of his best, most energetic and enjoyable fiction to date.  These stories move at a breakneck speed and are filled with memorable characters and well delivered action to match anything done in the days of the old pulps.

At the beginning of the volume, we meet  an amnesiac washed ashore on the beach of Sovereign City with a strange medallion around his name on which is embossed the words Lazarus Gray.  Within minutes of awakening, an assassin dressed as a police officer attempts to kill him, but Gray is more than a match for him and is the victor.  Perplexed at his background, he assumes the name on the medallion and sets about creating a new life for himself as a champion of the underdog, the lost and impoverished while at the same time investigating his own unknown past.

Along the way he acquires three unique followers: Morgan Watts, a once time crook, Samantha Grace, a blonde debutante with both brains and beauty and Eun Jiwon, a Korean martial artists. All three are fiercely loyal to each other and Gray for various reasons and always eager to go into battle with him.  Reese’s ability to define this trio and breathe life into them is deft and although they do represent classic iconic pulp figures, he also injects original personal touches that sets them apart in a truly refreshing way.

Having been a fan of the Rook series from the start, I had come to expect a certain level of quality from Reese.  That this collection totally blew those expectations out of the water was one of the best surprises this reviewer has had in a long while.  “The Adventures of Lazarus Gray” is by far the best work Barry Reese has ever produced and I predict will soon build an even larger fandom than that of his Rook tales.

One point does require mentioning and that is the last story in this volume appears in print for the second time.  It was first printed in “The Rook – Volume Six” and is a team up between the two heroes.  I have no problem with the publisher reprinting the story, but a notice of such should have been made in the book’s indicia.  Which brings about a minor goof because this story was clearly written before the others, although chronologically it appears last.  In this book Gray discovers his true identity as being one Richard Winthrop, yet in “Darkness, Spreading Its Wings of Black” we are told he was Richard Davenport. 

Finally let me add this book is a gorgeously designed package with a wonderful cover by graphic artist Anthony Castrillo and superb interior illustrations by George Sellas. So what are you waiting for?  Go pick up “The Adventures of Lazarus Gray,” you’ll be happy you did.  You can thank me later.

COLD VENGEANCE

COLD VENGEANCE

By Preston & Child

Grand Central Publishing

448 pages

One of my favorite new pulp series on the market today is the Special Agent Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.  I’ve stated many times in past reviews, if Clive Cussler’s hero Dirk Pitt is truly a modern take on Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, then Pendergast is as close to a real life Shadow as we are ever going to get.  What makes Aloysius Pendergast so unique is his expertise in both modern sciences and arcane mystical practices.  First introduced in the book “Relic” the gaunt looking agent with the silver tinted eyes became an instant hit with action-thriller fans and rightly so.

Over the years and in his multiple, totally mesmerizing adventures, the authors have parceled out stingy pieces of the character’s past life; most of which have dealt with his youthful days growing up in New Orleans.  Now the pair has launched a truly masterful trilogy which delves into the one of Agent Pendergast’s most intimate and heart-wrenching experiences, the tragic death of his lovely wife Helen.  With their opening volume, “Fever Dream,” we learned that her tragic death, while on their honeymoon safari in Africa, was in fact a coldly executed murder.  By the end of that book Pendergast and several allies, including New York Detective D’Agosta, had run afoul of a deadly group of pharmaceutical doctors hiding on a foreboding island in the middle of the Louisiana bayous.  In a climatic finale, Pendergast learned the man responsible for his wife’s death was in fact her own brother, Dr. Judson Esterhazy.

As “Cold Vengeance” begins, Esterhazy, aware Pendergast suspects him, attempts to assassinate him while on a hunting trip in the forsaken moors of the Scottish highlands.

But killing Pendergast is never easy and in the end the villain must flee, but not before revealing to the F.B.I. agent that the entire death of his wife was a ruse and that she is still very much alive.

Thus begins the cat and mouse chase that propels us through this second chapter.  Not only is Pendergast after Esterhazy, but he also launches an obsessive quest to find Helen.  As both paths continue to frustrate him, what he is unaware of is Esterhazy’s own desperation has brought him to an immutable conclusion; the only way to stop Pendergast is to cease running and lure him into a trap.  The frantic Esterhazy seeks the assistance of a shadow organization that has in fact been the manipulators of the past events and possesses a diabolic secret whose routes lie in the ruins of Nazis Germany.

Reading this books is addictive, so be forewarned should you pick one up.  You’ll soon be like this reviewer, hooked for the duration.  “Cold Vengeance” is a riveting masterpiece of suspense skillfully balanced with pulse-pounding action galore.  The only negative point is how fast one arrives at the cliff-hanger ending, which is pure torture.  The third and final chapter of this saga is entitled “Two Graves” and for this reviewer it just can’t get here fast enough.

FELONY FISTS-FIGHT CLUB

FIGHT CARD : FELONY FISTS

By Paul Bishop

(http://www.bishsbeat.blogspot.com/)

128 pages

Punch. Block. Counterpunch. Duck. Uppercut. Jab. Haymaker. Clinch. The staccato machine-gun lingo of boxing that taps across the brain like a dance choreographed by battling gladiators.  It is a ballet of flying fists, controlled mayhem performed by all manner of combatants with something to win, prove or defend.  Of the entire classic pulp sports genre, the boxing magazines were by far the most popular and prolific. Now a group of today’s finest new pulp scribes have come together to recreate the blood, seat and tears of those canvas arenas in a series of short novellas under the guiding hand of accomplished novelist, Paul Bishop.

Bishop has an extensive resume from his long career as a police officer then detective for the Los Angeles police department, television and movie scribe and finally mystery/crime novelist.  Recently he’s gotten into the new pulp movement and it’s clear by this tale just how much he loves the old school boxing tales.  This story has the atmosphere and feel of an old Warner Brothers black and white flick from the 40s & 50s and one can easily envision actors like Spencer Tracy and John Garfield in the roles of his characters.  It is that evocative of the time and setting; L.A. in 1954.

Patrick “Felony” Flynn is a young cop on the force who is also an amateur boxer, having been taught by a tough-minded Catholic priest in the Chicago orphanage he and his brother were raised in.  Coming out of WWII and the Navy, where he continued his pugilistic ways, he swaps one blue uniform for another in getting back to civilian life.  His goal is to eventually become a detective and member of the famous anti-mob unit led by Chief Parker and called “The Hat Squat.”  

Through a series of fateful events stemming from his boxing prowess, Flynn is recruited by Chief Parker to help stymie mobster Mickey Cohen’s plans to infiltrate the boxing world via his heavy-weight fighter, Solomon King.  If King can whip Archie Moore, the reigning champion, then Cohen will have established a foothold in the city as well as the sports community.  Something Parker obsessively vows to stop at any cost; including making Flynn a detective in his elite team providing he becomes a professional boxer and takes defeats King.  No small tasks any way you slice it up.

What follows is a thoroughly enjoyable, fast paced, knowledgeable yarn that was a pure joy to read start to finish.  Bishop never misses a beat; again, knowing his melody by heart and relishing every single sentence, paragraph and chapter like a superbly orchestrated fight strategy.  “Fight Card: Felony Fists” is a sensational opening to what this reviewer expects is going to be a truly amazing series that will revitalize a classic pulp genre in a bold new way readers are going to love.  Me, I in his corner all the way.

DOC VOODOO - Aces & Eights

DOC VOODOO
Aces & Eights

By Dale Lucas

Beating Windward Press

201 pages

Last year well known fantasy author Charles Saunders delighted the new pulp community by releasing his novel DAMBALLA, making it the very first pulp novel set in the 1930s to feature an African American hero.  Just this week that same book has been nominated for the Pulp Factory Awards of 2011 for Best Pulp Novel.

Of course good ideas often emerge simultaneously amongst multiple creators and this was the case here.  While DAMBALLA was making its big splash from its widely respected new pulp publisher, Airship 27 Productions, another hard hitting new pulp thriller was debuting from a little known outfit called Beating Windward Press.  This one also featured an African American avenger operating in Harlem, only this one was set in 1926, the heart of the Roaring Twenties.  Written by California based Dale Lucas, “Doc Voodoo” shares several iconic similarities with Damballa to be sure, yet there are also enough differences to define each hero as unique and original in the world of pulpdom.

The hero is a World War One veteran of the famous Harlem Hellfighters 369^th Infantry Division named Booker Dubois Butler Corveaux, a practicing M.D. known in his community as Doc Dub Corveaux.  Raised in Haiti and  having traveled the globe during his service years, Doc Corveaux is well versed in the Voodoo Religion and has become the physical agent of three  powerful entities who, when possessing his physical body, imbue it with supernatural abilities that make him virtually indestructible.  Thus in this state, he dons the garb of the Cemetery Man, black clothes, twin .45 automatics, magical clay bombs, a top hat and white painted face to resemble a skull. This frightening entity has assumed the mantle of Harlem’s protector and as we learn in this first book, she needs one desperately.

Two rival gangs are battle for control of the streets and the action is focused on a tough minded woman known as Queen Bee attempting to open a posh speakeasy called Aces & Eights.  Her opponent is a sadistic gang lord called Papa House who will do anything to ruin her plans even if it means unleashing a terrifying magic to corrupt the entire neighborhood and bring about untold suffering and misery.  Into this vicious contest comes the Cemetery Man, guns blazing, determined to thwart that black magic and save the innocent souls caught in the crossfire.

Dale Lucas is a superb writer with an eye for period detail. His research is meticulous and he knows New York from one end to the other, painting a virtual setting that is truly authentic for its period.  His command of slang and mood of the times pulls the reader into a world in flux, a world caught between the past horrors of the first world conflict and the heady exuberance of a social order challenging the mores of the future.

And like any classic pulp tale, the pacing is fast, the characters brilliantly etched and the action non-stop.  This is a true page-turner that will have you cheering with each new gun battle, from this new pulp hero’s first appearance to his last.  And Lucas wisely leaves the finale open ended for many more sequels, all of which we eagerly await.

“Aces & Eights” is as good a pulp actioner as any other there on the market today.  It’s one and only flaw is its packaging.  Most new pulp publishers are aware of the demands of the genre in regards to marketing.  True, one cannot judge the contents of a book by its cover, but then again, one can’t sell a good book with a bad cover.  “Aces & Eights” isn’t so much a bad cover as a non-existent one.  The tiny image of a white skull and a little color design manipulation do not make a great pulp cover.  I would argue this book would have won lots more attention had it sported a traditional pulp painted front, visually debuting Doc Voodoo in full regalia, guns firing away.  So please, Dale Lucas, if you do indeed have more of his wonderful adventures in store for us, give your packaging the extra attention it really deserves.

ERROL FLYNN - The Life & Career

ERROL FLYNN

The Life & Career

By Thomas McNulty

McFarland & Company, Inc.

369 pages

Yes, I know the title of this review column is Pulp Fiction and this review is straying off that thematic path.  I beg your indulgences, as this particular subject matter is near and dear to my heart thus influential in my own taste for action adventure literature. It will allow you a small glimpse of what shaped this reviewer in his youth.

Growing up in the 1950s, with the advent of television, I was a fortunate member of that generation that had access to old Hollywood movies in the comfort of my own living room.  Television was pretty much our story telling electronic babysitter and it was before it that I discovered the greatest cinematic swashbuckler of them all, Errol Flynn.

To this day I consider his 1938 “The Adventures of Robin Hood” one the all time great adventure romances ever made.  From the splendor of its Technicolor hues to the fast paced script and direction, the beautiful Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, the dastardly charming Basil Rathbone as the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham and of course Flynn as the quintessential Robin Hood.  You can imagine a preteen young boy being mesmerized by such a tale of action and adventure all propelled by a brutally handsome rogue who, against all odds, would win both his cause and the hand of the fair lady.  It was heady stuff; the same stuff that all adolescent dreams are made of.

Over those formative years, I would soon come to enjoy and applaud Flynn in his other great swashbuckling sagas such as “Captain Blood”, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, “They Died With Their Boots On” and another personal favorite, “The Sea Hawk.”  That he was the idol of millions of young men around the world should come as no surprise to anyone who loves movies.  But like all fabrications, the older I became, the more fact, as delivered by the gossip rags, began to intrude on fiction and the real person of Tasmanian born Errol Flynn began to emerge in my awareness.  Learning the harsh reality that the actor was but a poor reflection of the heroes he portrayed on the silver screen was one of life’s bitter lessons to be learned.  Yet, despite these “truths” my fascination and admiration of his films never lessened.  After he passed away at a relatively young age in 1959, I often wondered who Errol Flynn really was.  Thanks to biographer Thomas McNulty, we now have the answer to that question in this remarkable, exhaustively researched book.

At last we have a complete telling of the man’s life, from his early days in Tasmania to his struggling school years in England and finally his return to the Land Down Under and the fateful meetings that ultimately led him to a career in action.  And as his personal journey zig-zags across the globe, so did Flynn’s love the sea and traveling.  We learn that throughout both his successes and failures, it was forever the siren call of the horizon that forever propelled him onward, always eager and curious to find that strange and exotic land beyond.  He was a self-taught philosopher, the talented writer and the cold and heartless womanizer all rolled into one complicated psyche.  He would spend his entire life trying to self-analyze and fathom that mystery until, in the end, he was resigned himself to truth that whatever answers exist, they are not revealed to us in this life.

As a biographer, McNulty accepts his responsibility to tell us the entire story of the man, not the screen legend.  He does so unerringly, often times clearly uncomfortable with the facts he is relating such the FBI’s voluminous files on Flynn and J. Edgar Hoover’s personal disdain for Flynn’s immorality.  Here are the stories of his alcoholism and even worst self-destructive drug addiction to heroin.  And yet this same lost soul remains a loving father devoted to his children.  At the same time McNulty dispels the countless myths and fabrications that were created by Flynn’s enemies while also denouncing the actor’s own tall-tales with which he often used as a shield against the ever intruding press reporters.  Here was a man who both desired and then despised his own celebrity.

“Errol Flynn – The Life and Career” is a truly amazing biography worthy of a place in any true film lover’s library.  Errol Flynn was arguably one of the greatest romantic actors ever to shine on that giant silver screen and his place in cinematic history has been shamefully underrated.  McNulty’s book goes a long way in correcting that wrong and argues soundly that more critical attention demands to be focused on this truly unique and talented man. Let’s hope the academic community is listening.

JUST BEFORE THE DAWN

JUST BEFORE THE DAWN

By Bonnie Kozek

Legacy Publishing LLC

177 pages

A while back I read a book called THRESHOLD that impressed me greatly.  It was modern day, grunge thriller written by a truly fearless writer.  Kozek’s prose, like her protagonist, Honey McGuiness, is not for the faint of heart.  Honey is a broken soul, abused constantly by her father as a child, tossed from one foster home to another; her life has been nothing but a constant swim through the sewers of society.  In that first outing, Honey, with the help of a selfless, naïve police officer, helped topple a corrupt administration and almost got both of them killed in the process.  By the book’s end, she was packing it up for parts unknown.

Which, as it turned out, became an out of the way burg called Pie Town.  As this sequel opens, Honey is working in a restaurant/bar in the small hamlet and slowly getting accustomed to the eccentricities of the colorful locals.  Still there is a recurring oddity about Pie Town, all its young people run off the second they finish high school, leaving the town to children and seniors.  But Honey isn’t a private eye and solving mysteries really isn’t her thing.  Getting by is and as a expert survivor who has taken the worst this world can dish out, she’s lulled herself into thinking Pie Town is a safe, boring corner into which she can crawl and disappear.

Sadly that assumption is the furthest from the truth.  Pie Town harbors a dark and unholy secret and when Honey is kidnapped by a psycho killer operating a sex cult in the nearby woods, she begins a descent into a drug induced hell that is both horrifying and mind-numbing.  Kozek doesn’t spare any of the details of Honey’s sexual degradation and continues to explore her twisted, wounded psyche every painful step of the way.  This book is one woman’s personal journey to that hell and the writing is as sharp and brutal as a razor blade.  It cuts…often.  Still, it is never sensationalized and believe me, that is incredible.  Oh, I am positive there will be readers and critics who will decry it as such, calling the shock-value a gimmick.  They’re wrong.  Like any exploration of the human condition, one has to peel away the layers to find then gristle and bone beneath.  That process is never pretty.  It is real.

And despite its in-your-face portrayal of abject cruelty, JUST BEFORE THE DAWN manages to find a glimmer of hope and salvation at its conclusion.  It may be fragile at best, but then again, in the real world, there are no guarantees.  Each of us gets by, if we’re lucky, with a little help from our friends.  Honey McGuinness is one of the most memorable characters you will ever encounter, if you’ve got the fortitude to take the trip.

Good luck.