PURSUED

PURSUED

By Charles Boeckman

Worldwide Imprints

150 pages

Sometimes we reviewers have a tough job finding the adequate words to describe our experiences reading books.  The challenge in reviewing any Charles Boeckman book is what can you say that hasn’t already been repeated numerous times in regards to a 92 year old pulp writer who has been at this writing game most of his adult life? 

Really, not a hell of a whole lot.  Thus the wise course is to simply describe in some small detail the actual plot and tell you ahead of time this is a damn good book.  Boeckman doesn’t know how to write any other kind.

Lauran McCaully works for a radio station along the east coast of Texas.  One night, while driving home, she is run off the road by two men in a black sedan.  It is all too clear that they mean to kill her and Lauran flees her wrecked car into the brutal countryside hoping to escape them.  She manages to reach the isolated ranch of Deputy Sheriff Lee Walton, a widower living by himself.  Hurt and weakened by her ordeal, Lauran is helpless and Walton quickly administers to her wounds, gets her fed and allows her a night’s rest in his own bed.  The following morning she is able to give him a cohesive account of what happened to her on the road.

At the same time, Lee is emotionally surprised at how much he is attracted to this lovely, desperate woman.  The attraction is mutual as both quickly get to know each other in the coming days.  Although Lee believes Lauran’s accounts of the attempt on her life, his boss, a political ambitious sheriff has other thoughts.  When Lauran’s abandoned car is found miles from the scene of the accident it has the body of a dead man in it; a lawyer Lauran had done computer work for in the past.  The sheriff publicly accuses her of killing the man over some romantic entanglement and having concocted the entire automobile attack as a means of throwing suspicions away from herself.

Lauran is living an ever escalating nightmare.  Not only did two men attempt to murder for reasons she can’t fathom, but now it looks like she is being framed for the murder of a dear friend.  But she is not alone in her plight, as Lee Walton finds the circumstances surrounding the entire affair too coincidental and his instincts tell him Lauran is being set up.  Risking his career, he quits his jobs to help prove her innocence and learn who the real killers are.

Now all this would be enough of a thriller plot as is, but Boeckman amps it up even further by setting it against the arrival of a category five hurricane that threatens the entire town should tidal waters crest the beach front barricades.  And in the middle of all this, a secret from Lauran’s past re-emerges posing as yet another threat to both her and the man she has irrationally fallen in love with.

“Pursued,” is the embodiment of what a fast paced, pulp thriller is all about.  There is not a single miscue in the entire tale and it will keep you turning pages at lightning speed, as if the hurricane in the book had leaped out of the pages to rail against the reader’s own imagination.  To write like this is both a talent and the result of years of hard work and dedication.  The blessing for we readers is Boeckman shows no signs of letting up and I full expect to be reviewing his stuff when he turns 100.  Just bloody amazing!!!

SOUL QUEST

SOUL QUEST

By Percival Constantine

Pulp Work Press

400 pages

This wonderful, sci-fi fantasy adventure is the longest work Percival Constantine has ever done.  It’s also his best to date.  And that’s saying a lot.  Having enjoyed his work since he first popped up on the New Pulp scenes a few years ago, what impressed me the most was how each new book revealed a growing, maturing talent that was constantly improving.  His last few offerings have been exceptional and “Soul Quest” simply knocks it out of the ballpark.  It is a solid, literary homerun.

Set in a colorful alien, world, the story centers on a crew of Sky Pirates.  Their ship, the Excalibur, is well known, and dreaded, throughout the shipping lanes of various empires.  Swordsman Zarim is her captain and his crew is made up of the boomerang hurling Ekala, a beautiful thief, and the winged faerie tough guy, Swul.  When Zarim’s mystic mentor, Master Quand, sends them on a mission to find five powerful gems said to possesses unimaginable power, their lives are quickly turned upside down.

What Quand fails to tell them is that the High Priest of the city-state of Serenity, Vortai, is also seeking the very same gems for his own nefarious ends.  When Zarim and the others are nearly killed retrieving the first two stones, Quand is forces to confess the full extend of the legend behind the powerful rocks.  Whoever possesses all five will absorb their power and be able to remake the world in his, or her, image.  In other words become a god.  Considering Vortai’s streak of sadistic cruelty, Zarim and his pals understand immediately that he cannot be allowed to triumph in his quest.  If they don’t find and collect the stones before Vortai, the world as they know it will cease to be.

And on that plot road, Constantine puts forth all manner of terrific, fun and original characters, both good and bad.  Traversing this amazing new fantasy world, the Excalibur’s ranks swell with the addition of Tanus, a former officer in the Dreadnaught Navy, Reyche, a religious devotee turned vampire and Liran, a white furred humanoid catwoman warrior from the frozen north.  Whereas Vortai has his own cadre of relentless killers ready to foil Zarim and his team at every turn.

“Soul Quest” reminded me a great deal of those early Ace Paperbacks in which I first discovered science fiction and fantasy as a teenager.  The action never stops; the heroes are true romantic rogues in the classic sense and the villains as dastardly as they come.  For a big book, “Soul Quest” moved at such breakneck speed, I read through it quickly only to be both satisfied and sad to see it end.  Zarim and the crew of the Excalibur are wonderful characters and I really am keeping my fingers crossed we’ll see them again soon.

EL MOSAICO - The Road to Hellfire

EL MOSAICO

Vol II – The Road to Hellfire

By Michael Panush

Curiosity Quills Press

189 pages

After reading Michael Panush’s first collection starring his western Frankenstein-like monster last year, I was eager to dig into this second volume. This one contains seven new tales of Clayton Cane, a man assembled by a Confederate scientist during the last days of the Civil War from the parts of dead soldiers.  Hoping to replenish the ranks of the failing Southern legions, the scientist used voodoo magic to animate the man he had stitched together but then perished before he could duplicate the process. Thus El Mosaico, as he is called by Mexicans, is one of a kind, roaming the world seeking purpose and salvation.  Or so he believes.

In RATS, Cane finds himself in New York City at the bidding of a several powerful politicians.  A rat infestation has been plaguing their district and they hire Cane to find the source and eliminate the pests.  But to do so the stitched-up hero must confront a vengeful wraith and put it to rests as only he can.

In APACHE GOLD, Cane and a lady school teacher are captured by a gang of outlaws and dragged along into the Arizona wilderness to find an old Spanish gold mine now protected by the angry spirits of long dead Conquistadors.

AT COFFIN’S CLOSE brings the patchwork gunfighter to New Orleans to help the only friend he ever had; a man dead for many years.  It’s a gruesome tale of voodoo, zombies and a fanatical ex-Confederate Officer bent on taking control of the city.  One of our favorites from this collection.

Then Cane hires out as a guard on a wagon train going through the high mountains in the deep of winter.  While crossing the cursed stretch known as BLOOD PASS, they are set upon by a brood of vampires and quickly imprisoned in caves to be fed upon.

THE MAKING OF A GUNSLINGER has Clayton Cane crossing paths with an Eastern writer of dime novels who wants to chronicles his exploits.  But when the two encounter an old foe from Cane’s past, neither may live long enough to finish any story at all.

Next Cane travels to San Francisco’s Chinatown and hires out to a Tong leader whose opium den is being haunted by a malevolent HUNGRY GHOST.  When he learns the secret behind this voracious poltergeist, Cane switches allegiances to lie to rest a suffering soul.

As in others of his collections, Panush ends this one with a novella; ON ANGEL’S WINGS. Cane is followed by a motley crew of past acquaintances to a Texas town called Hellfire which is about to be set upon by the very man who created him, Dr. Adolphus Angell.  Cane had assumed Dr. Angell had perished in the last days of the Civil War but now learns his creator is not only alive but has made a company of patchwork men fashioned after Cane and with them plans on conquering the world.  To do so he requires unique minerals found in the land beyond Hellfire called the Silver Mesa.  Thus to reach this spot and mine the sought after element he is willing to slaughter an entire town unless Cane stop him.

ON ANGEL’S WINGS is a great finale bringing Clayton Cane’s story full circle as he confronts the evil genius who made him and must wrestle with his own destiny.  Can a man created only for war aspire to something grander?  The gunfighter known as El Mosaico is about the find the answer to the question as will those readers smart enough to grab this truly outstanding book.  If you like weird westerns, they do not come any better than this.

SUPEREME JUSTICE

SUPREME JUSTICE

By Max Allan Collins

Thomas & Mercer

284 pages

Available June 2014

After taking a bullet for the President he personally despised, Secret Service Agent Joseph Reeder collected his partial pension and called it quits.  Now he operates his own security business in the nation’s capital and is fairly content with his life.  All that changes when a Supreme Court Justice is shot dead during the audacious daylight robbery of a swank D.C. restaurant.  Reeder is recruited by Gabe Sloan, an old F.B.I. friend, to help with the investigation.  Nicknamed “Peep” by his former associates, Reeder is a student of kinesics; the art of reading body language and his observation skills are legendary.

Asked to examine video footage of the robbery and shooting, Reeder is able to see through the subterfuge of the incident and discovers that the Justice’s murder was in fact a deliberate assassination.  Sloan has him report his findings to his superiors at the Bureau and an inter-agency task force is put together to find the killers.  Twenty four hours later a second Justice is gunned down outside his home and what had begun as an isolated act of violence is quickly turned into a full-blown threat against the highest court in the land.

In Joe Reeder, Max Collins has invented up a compelling, quirky and totally believable hero caught up in a twisted mystery with enough twists and turns as to leave a crossword junky dizzy.   Teamed with Patti Rogers, a smart and tenacious F.B.I. agent, Reeder is a modern day Sherlock Holmes matching wits with an unknown advisory whose ultimate goal is nothing less than altering the landscape of American jurisprudence for generations to come.

Collins’ ability to capture the social and political schism of our times delivers a truly frightening and plausible scenario.  “Supreme Justice” is a taut thriller you will not be able to put down once you’ve picked it up.  This is a master at work. 

HITLER'S GIRLS

HITLER’S GIRLS

By Emma Tennant & Hilary Bailey

OR Books

214 pages

The title to this book intrigued us when we were first contacted by the publisher’s marketing representative.  In the write-up we learned this was a thriller whose plot revolved around a possible British heir to Adolf Hitler.  The book delivers that in a straight forward, slightly humorous vein that almost skirts the side of a Black Comedy, though it is clearly not that.

Matronly Jean Hastie is a Scottish art historian and as far removed from the traditional hero-figure most of us are use to seeing in such conspiracy tales.  When her childhood friend, Monica Sterling, whom she has not seen in many years. is murdered on her own doorstep by an all-girl street gang high on drugs, Jean travels to London to see after Sterling’s only daughter, Melissa, who is also her goddaughter.

Upon her arrival, she learns from the police that Mel is the primary suspect in her mother’s murder.  Then, Jean discovers Monica’s secret diary and learns the truth about her old school chum.  Monica was the daughter of a flighty British heiress, who, as a young woman, traveled to Berlin and was seduced by the leader of the Third Reich.  Born on a secluded island off the Scottish coast, the baby girl was given up to adoption by the secret society that had manipulated her birth in the first place.  Before the end of the war, Hitler and his stooges had locked away millions of dollars in a Swiss Bank account.  The account numbers were given Monica’s real mother and then later, in a very surreptitious fashion, passed down to her for safe keeping.

Upon learning of her true lineage, Monica was repulsed at being the daughter of such fiend and vowed to never let the conspirators discover the account numbers.  She is murdered only days after her last entry in the dairy and thus it is left to Jean to avenge her friend, save Melissa and thwart this new Nazis plot.  All in a day’s work for a Scottish art historian who abhors violence.  “Hitler’s Girls,” is something original in a well-worn genre and sparkles with both wit and suspense.  As ludicrous as the plot seems, once the characters begin telling their tales, we were totally seduced by it all.

One of the goals of Pulp Fiction Reviews is to showcase new and different books of quality and high imagination.  “Hitler’s Girls,” fills that bill…and then some.

THE THIEF

THE THIEF

(An Isaac Bell Adventure)

By Justin Scott

Character created by Clive Cussler

Berkeley Books

420 pages

Every single time I finish a new Isaac Bell book by Justin Scott, I feel both satisfied and sad.  Satisfied in that Scott has one again entertained me with his exploits of the turn-of-the-century Van Horn Detective Agency’s chief detective; sad that I now have to wait for the next one.

The real joy of this series is its setting in history at a time when science and technology were altering the world on such a grand scale; it truly was an age of marvels and wonders.  In the midst of all these remarkable achievements, as is always the case, the eternal war between good and evil continued to rage.  While wondrous inventions made the lot of mankind easier, lessening the burden of daily toil, it also provided men of power with the incredible tools to subjugate less advanced nations.

Imperialism was on a crash course with democracy and a World War loomed just over the horizon.  This is the era of Isaac Bell and the love of his life, Marion.  In “The Thief,” we are happy attendants at their wedding aboard the magnificent ocean liner, the Mauretania.  At the same time, Bell fatefully comes to rescue of two scientists about to be kidnapped by German spies.  He soon learns that the men have developed a new process that will make talking motion pictures possible.  As Marian is a director of silent movies, she quickly educates her new husband on the importance of such a device and how it could revolutionize the media.  Still, Bell is puzzled as to why the Imperial German Government is so obsessed with possessing what he sees as a mere entertainment device.

Before the ship can reach the docks of New York, the older inventor is murdered by a German spy known as the Acrobat leaving only his young protégé with the knowledge of how to produce the new “talking” film machines.  Bell vows to product the young man and escorts him to small town in California called Hollywood.  Along the way Bell has to stop several attempts to kidnap the inventor, all orchestrated by the Acrobat.  Although filled with authentic movie history set pieces, Scott keeps the action moving flawlessly leading up to a fantastic climax confrontation between Bell and the Acrobat you don’t want to miss.  Thumbs way up on another great Isaac Bell novel.

STRANGE TRAILS

STRANGE TRAILS

Edited by James Palmer

A Mechanoid Press Book

182 pages

Weird westerns have become highly popular among new pulp readers of the past five years with lots of major publishers getting in on the act.  Now comes this collection of six such tales by some of the best scribes in new pulp fiction as edited by James Palmer.

Josh Reynolds leads the pack with his Pinkerton agent in, “Mr. Brass and the Mass of Serpents.”  Imagine a steampunk western mash up with Lovecraftian horrors and you have this fast moving entry wherein Mr. Brass, accompanied by a young occultist named Warren and the legendary black lawman, Bass Reeves, must get their prisoner aboard the 3:10 airship to the federal prison while fighting off a hosts of snake-people.  Though the story is fun, its glimpsed into an alternate world is much too brief and left this reader feeling cheated.  There’s obviously a whole lot more to Reynold’s creation than what we were given here.

“Sins and Lilies,” is offered up by Tommy Hancock and newcomer Morgan Minor.  When a small town sheriff encounters a beautiful ghost being held in servitude by a twisted Sin-Eater, he challenges the black-hearted villain for her very soul. A gem of tale wonderfully executed.

Next up is Barry Reese’s “The Mechanical Heart: a Tale of Julia Holst and the Weird West,” which immediately wins him the prize for the anthologies longest title. Julia is a woman who seeks out mysteries and in a small mining town she runs into a truly unique being; a robot vampire named Timothy. Reese’s tale is cleverly set forth and totally avoids the kind of clichéd pitfalls such a plot would invite.  Instead he delivers a brilliant story that is by far one of the finest he has ever put to paper.  It alone is worth the price of admission.

Writer Ed Erdelac’s “The Alkeldama Dig,” is the most horrific entry as it tells the story of a miner offered five thousands to dig into a rich man’s grave from beneath it to claim a valuable deed.  Instead of wealth, the hapless fellow finds a treasure of monstrous evil at the end of his tunnel.

“Mummy Train,” by James Palmer is a rollicking action packed yarn that takes place on a train and has a gunfighter and magician joining forces to combat a group called the Cadre set upon stealing ancient Egyptian artifacts being transported on the train. In the process a mummy is revived and does battle with a mechanical man which had me envisioning scenes from old Universal Monster movies. 

Still, this is the third story out of six in which a humanoid automaton appears and that is bothersome.  We would have preferred Editor Palmer be more selective in his choosing entries and not repeat the same themes.

Finally the book goes out with a whopping bang in writer Joel Jenkins’ “The Eye of Ulutoh.”  This features Jenkins’ highly popular Indian occult fighter, Lone Crow as he and a female gunfighter, aboard a Costa Rican steamship, fight an otherworldly monster from the ocean’s dark depths.  It’s a colorful, well written story that had us wanting to find more Lone Crow tales.  Clearly our second favorite in the colletion.

STRANGE TRAILS is, like all such anthologies, a mixed bag but we’ve no hesitation in recommending it as all six stories are competently crafted and totally entertaining.  Now isn’t that the purpose of any book?  Kudos to Mechanoid Press and we do hope there will be future volumes of these weird westerns yarns.

SUSPECT

SUSPECT

By Robert Crais

Berkeley Books

339 pages

As a book reviewer, we get lots and lots of promotional material from various publishers every time a new book comes out.  All of this material is geared to entice us to read their books.  Of course most of it is the same homogenized spiel repeated over and over again until it becomes impossible to distinguish one book from another.  That is why the marketing rep who penned the promotional package for Robert Crais’ newest thriller is a genius.  You see, what he/she explained in the first paragraph of Berkeley Book’s flier was the fact that Crais, after decades of writing best selling novels, has never once agreed to allow any of them to be filmed.  He’s obviously not a big fan of movie adaptations.  But that is all about to change because Crais has found a film outfit he is willing to work with and the book he wants to see on screen is “Suspect.”

Well, if that isn’t an original hook, we don’t know what is.  We were immediately intrigued as to why this particular book was so unique to the author amongst all the others he’s done in the past.  We asked to receive a review copy.  It arrived in time to be our first review of 2014 and after devouring it, we’re thrilled to say the New Year at Pulp Fiction Reviews is off with winner.

Scott James is a Los Angeles police officer.  One night, he and his partner, Stephanie Anders, are caught in a brutal crossfire when they witness the murder of two successful businessmen by a gang of masked men.  Stephanie is killed and Scott terribly wounded.  Months later, after completing physical therapy and while under a psychiatrist care, Scott manages to get himself reinstated for duty.  He is haunted by Anders death and guilt ridden.  Reluctant to be teamed with another officer, Scott request reassignment to the K-9 division of the LAPD.  His logic, dogs don’t talk. 

At the dog training facility, Scott is about to be paired with one animal when he sees a beautiful female German Shepherd with scars on her backside.  Curious, he inquires as to how the animal was injured.  He learns she was a former Marine Scout Dog and while on patrol in Afghanistan, was shot twice while attempting to save her trainer who died from an I.E.D roadside explosion.  Scott learns that Maggie, the dog, also bears her own emotional scars and no one at the kennel expects her pass the rigorous tests required for her to be certified.  Scott, because of his own issues, recognizes that he and Maggie share a great deal and convinces the Sergeant Leland, the man in charge of the unit, to let him have Maggie.

From that moment on, Crais skillfully weaves his story between both the human and the dog, allowing us to see their individual fears exposed through the budding relationship each is building with the other.  Maggie lives to love and serve; it is how all dogs are wired; whereas Scott’s own reservations are daunting.  When he eventually begins to open his heart to Maggie’s purity, his life begins to have purpose again.

Eventually new clues surface as to the identity of the gang who ambushed the businessmen and Scott, through a friendly detective, is pulled back into the case.  At first he is cautiously optimistic and then as new leads begin to surface, the mystery elements of the plot take center stage.  Only now, Scott is the not alone in his quest for justice but he is faithfully assisted by a truly remarkable, brave, four-legged ally.  We haven’t encountered such a wonderful dog hero since Dean R. Koontz’s Einstein in his classic fantasy adventure, “The Watchers.”  Believe us, Maggie, is just as memorable a hero and this is one of those rare books that you will hate to see come to a close.

So, let me conclude with this one thought.  Hollywood, you’ve been given a gem of a tale to bring to the silver screen. As in all such adaptations, casting will be all important and somewhere out there, you had best find the next Rin-Tin-Tin.  Maggie deserves nothing but the best you have to give.

THE WRONG QUARRY

THE WRONG QUARRY

By Max Allan Collins

Hard Case Crime

221 pages

Here is another tough and gritty tale featuring Max Allan Collin’s killer-for-hire, Quarry. Collins, a superb story-teller with several series under his gunbelt, is never better then when narrating a new Quarry story.  Unlike Collin’s other good-guy heroes, the Vietnam veteran is the quintessential pragmatic character who sees his job of eliminating people as something totally mundane and unromantic.  Quarry’s philosophy is a simple one, certain people need killing and killing is something he is good at.

Upon his return from Nam, Quarry was recruited by a man known as the Broker.  Later, when the Broker betrayed him, the savvy hitman terminated the Broker and confiscated all his files.  Amongst these records were the names of the other killers working for the Broker. It was then that Quarry was struck by inspiration.  What if he were to follow these other killers, learn who their targets were and then use this information to his own advantage.  He would contact the person in the cross-hairs and, for a substantial fee, offer to eliminate the threat to them by killing the killers.  A hitman targeting other hitmen.  As bizarre as the concept was, Quarry actually made it work and was soon living a very comfortable life in his new, albeit macabre, career.

In, “The Wrong Quarry,” Quarry shadows a hitman to the sleepy little town of Stockwell, Missouri and soon learns the man’s target is a gay dance teacher named Roger Vale.  After doing a little digging, Quarry discovers that a year earlier high school senior Candy Stockwell, the granddaughter of the town’s patriarch, had vanished mysteriously.  Although the Stockwell family did its best to prove Vale responsible for the girl’s disappearance, the police could find no conclusive evidence to substantiate their claims.   Quarry learns that the majority of parents whose students were taught by Vale all supported him and believed Clarence Stockwell’s accusations were founded on his dislike of Vale’s homosexuality.

Working against a pair of killers’ unknown timetable, Quarry confronts Vale and informs him of the contract on his life.  He then offers the dance teacher his lethal services.  Once again Quarry sets about fulfilling his contract but he isn’t completely convinced it was the senior Stockwell who commissioned the hit on Vale.  As he begins to do his own private investigation into Candy’s disappearances a different picture takes shape and he soon realizes, as in all things in life, nothing is ever simply black and white.  Somewhere in the missing girl’s past is a hidden secret that hides a sadistic monster and before his job is finished, Quarry will discover the depths of depravity a twisted mind is capable of.

“The Wrong Quarry,” is another solid entry in a truly hard-edged series this reviewer hopes will never end.  These books are just too damn good!

RUNNER

RUNNER

By Patrick Lee

Minotaur Books

336 pages

Available Feb 18, 2014

Guest Reviewer – Andrew Salmon

Patrick Lee burst on the scene with a trilogy for the ages. The Breach novels were three of the finest action novels I've had the pleasure to read and I was chomping at the bit to see what Lee had up his sleeve for a follow-up.

RUNNER is that follow-up to the Breach and it does not disappoint!

Sam Dryden, a former special-forces operative, is living on auto-pilot following the death of his wife and daughter. One night, plagued by insomnia, he feels compelled to go for a run on the beach during which he runs into a frightened eleven-year-old girl on the run from a group of armed men. Dryden gets involved and they elude the pursuers at least for the moment.

But the group after the girl are a determined bunch and they've got state of the art gadgetry to corner their prey - so long as their prey isn't Sam Dryden. Using tracking satellites, mis-information to the media and dastardly doggedness, Sam and Rachel are running for their lives. And make no mistake, the group is not thinking of capturing the pair, this is a search and destroy mission.

What follows is a breath-taking, full-tilt, action yarn that does not let up until you hit the last page. Part Jack Reacher, part FIRESTARTER, Lee's RUNNER combines the best elements of both. His characterization is excellent. Dryden comes across as a damaged yet capable human being and Lee makes sure Rachel never strays into the smart-mouth, precocious kid minefield. Twist and turns abound and this is where Lee shines. He has the uncanny knack of slowly unveiling the details while Sam and Rachel flee for their lives and the plot unfolds with tantalizing slowness, just enough to keep you reading until Lee pulls the rug out from under you time and time again.

But where Lee excels is in his payoffs. Once the main thrust of the plot is revealed, any experienced reader could fill in where they think the story is going only they'd be wrong. Lee keeps the standard action, suspense framework of the novel fresh and, although the final payoff does not quite reach BREACH's mind-blowing levels, it is still satisfyingly different and engaging.

 With characters you care about, and an unpredictable plot, RUNNER is sure to satisfy any action junkie. I tore through the thing and am already anxiously awaiting Lee's next effort.

SHERLOCK HOLMES : WORK CAPITOL

SHERLOCK HOLMES ; WORK CAPITOL

By Andrew Salmon

A Fightcard Novel

137 pages

Canadian writer Andrew Salmon burst on the New Pulp scene several years ago when his very first Sherlock Holmes story for Airship 27 Procutions, The Adventure of the Locked Room, won him the Pulp Factory Award for Best Pulp Short Story of 2009.  Since that outing, Salmon has gone on to write four more tales starring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous crime solving duo, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Now Salmon has taken his affinity for these characters and given us his longest Holmes story yet; one wherein the famous sleuth is tested both physically and mentally.  The Fightcard books, established by writer/publisher Paul Bishop, is a popular series that has quickly revived a classic pulp genre, the boxing stories, by new and exciting writers.

Bringing Holmes and Watson into the 1880s London underground world of bare-knuckle fighting was a stroke of genius first suggested by Bishop and now brilliantly realized in this new title.

Easily one of the author’s most daunting challenges, Salmon clearly did his homework and offers up a terrific adventure that is both historically accurate in its setting and at the same time true to the classic Doyle formula of presenting our heroes with a unique and macabre murder mystery.  With only a few days before Christmas, 1884, Sherlock Holmes engages in a friendly boxing match with an old friend as another of his many personal challenges to better himself.  No sooner has the bout ended then someone enters the hall screaming, “Murder.”  Disregarding his own lack of clothing, Holmes rushes into the snowy night clad only in britches to find the dead body of a young man apparently strangled to death.  But the victim’s footprints are the only ones to be found in the pristine white snow around his body?

And just like that the game is afoot as Holmes and Watson find themselves plunged into a deadly affair filled with sadistic killers, clever counterfeiters and a monstrous ex-pugilist named Tanner who has no qualms about eliminating any who stand in his way.  Thus as the wintery holidays draw near, Holmes and Watson race against the clock to solve not one, but two heinous crimes while matching wits with a diabolic fiend hidden in the shadows.  In the end, Holmes must once again step into the ring and put his life on the line against a sadistic brawler or all will be lost.

“Sherlock Holmes : Work Capitol,” is easily Andrew Salmon’s finest work to date and is destined to become a classic amongst diehard Holmes and fight fans alike.  It is a reading experience to be enjoyed and savored and it is poetically fitting that it comes to us now at Christmas time.  Thank you, Mr. Salmon, for this marvelous literary gift to us all.

DINOSAUR DUST

DINOSAUR DUST

By Michael Panush

Curiosity Quills Press

225 pages

Early last year we reviewed a book called “Dinosaur Jazz” by Michael Panush of California.  It told the story of a strange and mysterious island in the South Pacific discovered at the turn of the century by British explorers.  On the island were found all manner of creatures thought to be long extinct from dinosaurs to saber-tooth tigers and wooly mammoths; plus a race of ape-like people.  Of course the discovery of such a place had scientific repercussions around the world and soon the island was being invaded by scientist but also tourists, hunters, adventurers and entrepreneurs.  The place was called Archeron Island.

“Dinasaur Jazz,” told the story of Sir Edwin Crowe, the son of the man who had discovered the island and a World War One veteran wanting to put the horrors of the trenches behind him.  The book was a glorious introduction to this unique setting and one filled with so much action and adventure that this reviewer nominated the book for the Pulp Factory Awards ad Best Pulp Novel of 2012.

Now Panush has profuced a sequel, “Dinosaur Dust,” and as unbelievable as it seems, it is just as wonderful as its predecessor.  The book opens in the United States ten years after the events in the first book.  The Jazz Age has given way to the Depression and Americans are in dire straights, to include convicted gangster, Norris Hall.  A former Marine, Hall has no intention of spending his days in an Oklahoma prison and escapes to hunt down the man who betrayed him.  He returns to St.Louis to inform his mob boss that he is out and once again available do to his bidding.

The Boss owns part of a Hollywood movie studio which produces B-movies featuring a trained raptor named Rusty.  Someone has stolen the loveable dino and Hall is ordered to Los Angeles to learn who snatched the scaly star and retrieve him unharmed.  Now if that wasn’t odd enough, he’s also ordered to take along a young pulp writer named Nathan Whipple whose father is a New York attorney who had been helpful to mob families in the past.  The naïve writer wants to learn more about gangsters as fodder for his future pulp sagas.

Of course readers of “Dinosaur Jazz” will immediately recognize this character as the same ten year old precocious lad who was part of that book’s cast of characters.  Having him reappear in this sequel as a struggling pulp writer was a real treat and it helped tie the two books together.  Still, one needn’t have read the first to enjoy this new tale.

The fun of “Dinosaur Dust” is getting to know tough-guy Hall and to watch his character develop a real conscience as he is cast into an entirely new experience unlike any he has ever known before.  He and Nathan manage to uncover the villain who stole Rusty only to learn the creature has been shipped back to Archeron Island and so they must travel there to complete their assignment.  When they arrive, they quickly discover the island has become a microcosm of the world’s current political unrest.  Causing part of this  tension are Russian Bolsheviks who have organized the Apemen laborers and are inciting them to revolt against the rich who control most of Victoria City, the island’s capital. They also discover a huge contingent of both Japanese military and a company of Nazis storm-troopers, all pumping their chests with nationalist fervor and clearly eager to ignite a new world war to achieve their mutual mad dreams of conquest.

So what the hell does have missing Hollywood dinosaur have to do with any of that?

By the time Hall and Whipple discover the answer to that puzzle, things heat up fast and the action explodes non-stop across the pages all leading to a pulp-glorious final battle in the Hollywood Hills between Nazis, dinosaurs, airships and American gangsters to be forever known as “The Battle of L.A.”

Michael Panush is one of the best New Pulp writers on the market today and “Dinosaur Dust,”is by far his most original and exciting book yet.  We will be nominating it for Best Pulp Novel of 2013.  It deserves to win.

SADDLES, SIX-GUNS & SHOOTOUTS

SADDLES, SIXGUNS & SHOOTOUTS

By Charles Beckman, Jr.

ISBN 9781483922102

179 pages

The latest story in this new collection by writer Charles Beckman, Jr. is dated 1956 so the odds are most of you reading this volume weren’t even born when these were published for the first time in various western pulp magazines.  Now, thanks to the easy accessibility to self-publishing, books like this can be produced and made available to an entire new generation of young pulp enthusiast.  Beckman, during his long career, was one of the hundreds of veteran pulp scribes who pumped out scores of stories in every genre imaginable to earn a living.  Was it great literature?  Hardly.  Rather pulps were the epitome of escapist, entertaining fiction intended not for academia but for the average reading Joe and Jill.

As this new book proves readily, when it came to entertaining fiction, no one took a back seat to Charles Beckman, Jr.  This title features his western yarns and contains a neat dozen.  So saddle up for some genuine wild-west adventures.

BRAZOS WOMEN encapsulates the history post Civil War Texas as seen from a Southern Belle who has escaped the sexist prejudices of New Orleans to make her fortune on the frontier.  It is wonderfully told and Beckman does a deft job of setting an authentic background filled with tragedy and triumph.

BAD MAN FROM BOSTON has greenhorn Art Billows coming to grips with his dreams of being a hero and willing to sacrifice all for one minute of bravery.  While in RUSTY GUNS an old gunfighter seeks revenge only to find redemption.  Clayton Traveler in THE KID COMES BACK follows a ten year old trail to get justice on the men who murdered his father and stole their home.  Jimmy Laredo is an orphan with the face of an angel and the soul of killer unable to escape THE LAST BULLET.  Whereas ex-outlaw, Ollie Towns finds his past hot on his heels in time for him to catch the STAGE COACH TO HELL.

Ex-Confederate soldier, Jim Brady, comes to a small Texas town to start a new life all because of a photograph in HOME IS THE KILLER.  One of my favorites here.  Then tough town-tamer Bull Huler has to decide whether to reconcile with the woman who deserted him, or not, in BITTER REUNION IN RIMROCK. All of Beckman’s stories are infused with simple but powerful human emotions that resonated with this reviewer. Sometimes fatalistic, his men and women are rugged pioneers coping with the ever expanding frontier that will either bring their lives success or tragedy.  THE DEVIL’S DEADLINE tells the story of Ed Brennan, a small town newspaper publisher who finds the courage to stand up to a corrupt sheriff, even though it means the end of all he ever hoped for.

And finally, the book ends with another novelette, HELL’S CARGO; the story of a young riverboat captain who comes home from the Civil War to face the man who stole both his boat and his woman.  It is a fast paced, superbly written tale of the lost glory of the old steamboats that plied the Mississippi and Missouri rivers between St.Louis and New Orleans before the coming of the railroads.  It’s a grand adventure and just the right way to close out this truly excellent collection.

We’ve enjoyed every Charles Beckman, Jr. story we’ve ever had the pleasure of reading and this new title is no exception.  Beckman was a true pulp veteran who could spin a tale with the best of them and SADDLES, SIX-GUNS & SHOOTOUTS proves that beyond a doubt.  Recommending this book is a no-brainer, folks.  You owe tit o yourself to learn what good writing is all about.

HUGH MOON - Catching A Rising Star

HUGH MONN – Private Detective

CATCH A RISING STAR

By Lee Houston Jr.

Prose Press

175 pages

Last year I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing writer Lee Houston Junior’s debut title featuring his futuristic private eye, Hugh Monn.  It was a collection of tales showcasing the white haired, ex-military vet and his life on the alien world of Frontera. I gave the book major thumbs up and I trust all of you went out a grabbed a copy.  That book reminded me a great deal of the 1950s paperback era and all the marvelous sci-fi authors who appeared in the pages of those Ace Doubles.

Now comes Hugh Monn’s newest case and, much to my delight, it’s a full length novel.

A film company, Stellar Studios, arrives on Frontera to shoot a romantic-comedy vid featuring the very sexy and popular alien star, Ruby Kwartz.  When her human manager, Augustus Dubois, recommends they hire a local to act as an additional bodyguard.  The lucky man they choose is our protagonist.  From the start Hugh isn’t comfortable around the movie entourage finding they gauche and egotistical but they are willing to pay triple his usual rates.  Typical of all private eyes, there’s no way Hugh can turn down that kind of creds.

Then the big star’s publicist, Nola Pierce, also a member of the same red-skinned race, confides in Hugh that she believes Ruby is in real danger.  Although unconvinced at the start, as the gumshoe begins to investigate he uncovers a few unsavory facts about Dubois and Ruby’s co-star, Dirk Hartford.  Then, only hours after location filming begins on a nearby beach, a flying camera goes bonkers and nearly crashes into Monn, Hartford and the actor’s Primoid bodyguard.  Monn doesn’t believe in accidents, especially when he’s working a case.  Is Ruby Kwartz’s life in jeapordy?  And if so was the beach incident meant to eliminate him or her co-star?  And if so, why?

Houston delivers all the standard wise-cracking humor these kind of mysteries of noted for and it is surprising how well the form works even in such an exotic off-world setting.  All the while reading “Catch A Rising Star,” I was reminded a great deal of those wonderful Shell Scott mysteries by the late Richard Prather.  That both Hugh and Shell have premature white hair just can’t be a coincidence; can it?  This is a marvelous book written by a talented writer who knows both genres well and thus merges them so smoothly as to be totally entertaining.  This book cemented my membership in the Hugh Monn fan club, a group that’s about to get a whole lot bigger.  Take my word for that.

SKORPIO

SKORPIO

By Mike Baron

Word Fire Press

334 pages

Guest Reviewer – Derrick Ferguson

If you’re as well read as I think you are (and you must be…why else are you reading book reviews? You’re looking for something good to read, right?) then you should have some familiarity with the name Mike Baron. Mr. Baron first landed on my radar when I discovered his innovative science fiction comic book “Nexus” which he co-created with Mike Rude. Much like other great comic book pairings like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers or Marv Wolfman and Gene Colon, the two of them made magic together and if you haven’t read “Nexus” yet then you should correct that at your earliest opportunity.

Mr. Baron has also written many other comic book titles but in recent years he’s been working in prose, writing some really compelling novels such as “Helmet Head” which I really enjoyed. That’s a book you really ought to pick up as it reads like the lost novelization of a John Carpenter movie. Yeah, it’s that good.

SKORPIO is almost as good. It’s not a roller coaster ride like “Helmet Head’ which reads like a runaway train going downhill from start to finish. Mr. Baron takes his time setting up the situation and the characters before he gets to the guts of his story but I appreciate a writer who has the confidence to take his time to take us where we need to go so he can most effectively deliver the goods later on and yeah, SKORPIO delivers.

Vaughan Beadles is a Professor of Anthropology at Creighton University in Illinois where he enjoys a near rock star status. He’s too handsome for his own good with a gorgeous wife and beautiful baby boy. Beadles is riding high due to his acquisition of relics belonging to a previously lost Southwestern Indian tribe, the Azuma. But all that comes to a screeching halt when Beadles is framed for stealing some of the artifacts. And if that wasn’t enough, one of his students dies from a scorpion sting that he got when Beadles lets the kid get an unauthorized sneak peek at the artifacts.

His life rapidly falls into ruin. His wife leaves him, he loses his job and all of his money goes toward his legal fees. The only way Beadles can see to salvage his life is to find where the Azuma actually lived and prove his theories to be true. In his quest to find the birthplace, Beadles runs into a truly amazing diverse cast of characters. Some of them you’ll wonder what the hell they’re doing in the book but trust me, part of the enjoyment of reading SKORPIO is seeing just how Mike Baron pulls all of these characters together and makes them integral components of the story.

It takes a while for the title character to show up but when it does it’s worth the wait. Skorpio is a vengeful ghost of hideous power who appears in the sunlight, which is a nice twist as ghosts are usually associated with the nighttime. I also liked Mr. Baron’s choice of protagonist. Vaughan Beadles isn’t exactly squeaky clean in his dealings and he’s a bit of an opportunist, always actively looking for an angle to advance his career and fatten his bank account.

In fact, most of the characters in SKORPIO are a little more on the gray side than you might expect but I enjoyed that as it gave the book an unpredictability I found refreshing. There’s never any way to tell what these characters are going to do or say and for me, that’s always welcome in my fiction.

Mike Baron’s prose is as uncomplicated and straightforward as the word “No.”  He doesn’t go in for flowery purple prose. He’s a born storyteller who is concerned with only one thing: telling you a good story. He’s not interested in showing off his vocabulary or trying to impress you with his cleverness in turning a pithy phrase. He just wants you to have a good time and I certainly did have a good time reading SKORPIO.