SPANISH MOSS

SPANISH MOSS

(A Robineux Mystery)

By E.A. Cook

Rogue House Publishing

169 pages

Sometimes the story of how we received a particular book can be as interesting as the book itself.  Several weeks ago we walked into a very small local bookstore.  You know the kind, they make most of their income in selling or trading used books.  As we had a stack of such that were taking up way too much space in our office, we thought we’d stop by this little store and donate them to the owner.   We will never just trash a book, we love them too much. Thus this way they would hopefully end up in the hands of other bibliophiles like us and along the way provide a little sustaining income to the owner of the shop.

The charming lady who operated the store was happy to take the books off our hands, especially seeing the immaculate condition they were still in and we entered into a nice conversation about what we both liked to read.  Finally, as we were starting to say our goodbyes, she held up her hand, walked over to a shelf and picked up this small book with a light green cover.  She then explained it was written by a local writer here Fort Collins and she wanted us to have it.  She personally thought it was very well written.

And now on to our review of E.A. Cook’s “Spanish Moss.”  The protagonist, Calvin, has been physically abused by his father most of his young life.  When the man attempts to rape him at the age of fifteen, Calvin kills him in self-defense and runs away.  Via hitch-hiking, he wanders aimlessly through the south for several years until one night he’s picked up by a sexual predator.  In his attempt to flee, the boy causes car to crash off a bridge and into the waters of a dark and foreboding swamp.  Hours later, while crouched on the limb of a tree; he is rescued by a Cajun named Esteen Robinaux.  Sensing the boy’s fear and fragility, Esteen brings him to his mother, Miss Jovetta Robineux.   Gifted with “the sight,” Miss Jovetta welcomes young Calvin into their lives and informs him that he now has both a home and a family for as long as he wants one.

Having never known such kindness, the lad accepts cautiously but soon learns there is nothing phony about the Robineux, they are exactly what they appear to be, good and loving people.  In time he also meets Esteen’s only child, a beautiful young woman named Sophie who happens to be a Medical Examiner for the parish.  It is through her Calvin discovers the tragedy that befell the Robineuxs when Sophie’s mother, on a trip to New Orleans, was brutally raped and murdered.  The killer was never found.  As his new life progresses, Calvin begins to mature in both body and mind.  Both Miss Jovetta and Esteen provide him with sage life lessons while Sophie, a third-degree black-belt in Kenpo karate, teaches her adopted brother how to defend himself properly.

Upon turning eighteen, Calvin decides that the best way he can repay them is to go to New Orleans and hunt down the monster that killed Camille Robineux.  Though saddened by this, the family respectfully accepts to his decision.  They send him off with their prayers and well wishes.  At this point, Cook’s narrative becomes a true mystery as Calvin, now calling himself Vin, starts his investigations in New Orleans by contacting newspaper reporter Jack Turpin and Police Detective Liam Nation, both familiar with the old case.  The plot is convoluted and ultimately twist and turns on itself like a crazy pretzel demanding that the reader stay alert as each new character brings a new clue to the unfolding drama.  Cook’s depiction of the city and its popular landmarks add an authentic layer to this fast paced story and there is very little wasted wordage.  His writing is lean and mean, delivering an abrupt but satisfying climax. 

In the end, this little tome works nicely as an introduction to a cast of colorful characters we’d very much like to see return.  Vin Robineux and his remarkable family certainly deserve an encore.

BIG TOP TALES

BIG TOP TALES

Edited by Jim Beard & John Bruening

Flinch Books!

168 pages

This is such a fun anthology and we want to applaud editors Jim Beard and John Bruening for not only bringing together a half-dozen truly exciting, fresh stories but for coming up with the concept in the first place. When you consider the fact that there were hundreds of pulp titles in the 30s and 40s and that they covered almost every conceivable topic fiction might offer, it is a minor miracle these two intrepid editors actually found one that hadn’t ever been utilized.  And in doing so have given New Pulp a really exciting new theme. 

The setting is 1956 and circuses are dying out in America thanks to the advent of highways and television.  No longer do the citizens of small towns and villages have to depend solely on these traveling shows to provide them with excitement and entertainment.  And so the members of the Henderson & Ross Royal Circus travel the land wondering how much longer their way of life will continue.  Here’s a quick look at the six terrific entries that make up this first volume of “Big Top Tales.”

“Trial of the Scorpion,” by Frank Schildiner features Marko the Knife Thrower as he confronts the evil twisted genius who raised him as a child.  While in San Francisco, Marko is called before the Master to answer charges of betrayal leveled at him by a rival member of the organization and can only prove his innocent by participating in the Trial of Scorpions.  Schildiner is one of the most imaginative writers in New Pulp today and this story is both gripping and fun.  Here’s hoping we see the Master again soon.

Up nest is “Deadly Triangle,” by Nick Ahlhelm and stars trapeze artist Lulubelle Rose Jensen, the circus’ trapeze artist.  This one is a murder mystery with Rose being targeted by a serial in St. Louis.  Fast paced with a terrific finale worthy of the Big Top.

With “Broken Bones,” writer Rocko Jerome introduces us to the Skeleton Man, Parker Stente, in a sad, sweet melancholy story about love, courage and destiny.  This one surprised me in such a wonderful way.

In the “Ringmaster’s Son,” by Ralph L. Angelo Jr., circus master of ceremony, Tim Tennyson’s reckless past comes back to haunt him when the train stops in the little town of Wellsboro, Penn.  A woman from his past claims to have given birth to his son twelve years earlier.  Is she telling the truth or is her claim a scam to blackmail the flamboyant Ringmaster?

Next we have John A. McColley’s  “A Trunk Full of Memories,” in which the Elephant Lady, Daphne, is confronted by an old flame from her German past; a one time lover corrupted by the Nazis.  Having built a new and positive career in the circus, with her elephant Surlee, she will fight to maintain that life no matter the cost.

Finally writer Sam Gifford wraps everything up with “Because It is Bitter,” the story of the young 15 hear old roustabout, Joey, and his first crush on a girl.  In this instance she is a local bareback rider and his experience is both tender and heartbreaking.  A coming of age amidst the sawdust of the Big Top.

Having known many such traveling shows as a youngster in rural New England while growing up, these stories brought back long forgotten memories of a simpler time in America.  This is a stellar collection and brings with it a unique nostalgic magic that will linger long after you finished it.  Highly recommended.

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

By Terrence McCauley

Polis Books

328 pages

In 1953 British writer Ian Fleming wrote “Casino Royale,” and gave the world super spy James Bond, 007.  The irony is Fleming, who had been in Naval Intelligence during the war, set out to portray a believable espionage agent who would appear to those around him as someone innocuous and boring.  Then in 1960 Universal adapted his book “Dr. No,” as a film with debonair Sean Connery in the role and from that moment on, James Bond was altered forever.  Gone was the drab, realistic settings to be quickly replaced with pulpish super-villains, beautiful sexy femme fatales, exotic locales and fantastic techno gadgets.  Hardly the realism Fleming originally envisioned.  That authentic, punch-to-the-gut grit would come from another source, one purely American.

In 1958, mystery/crime writer Donald Hamilton wrote “Death of a Citizen,” and introduced American agent Matt Helm.  Helm was the total opposite of the suave and sophisticated Bond.  He didn’t drink expensive champagne or drive foreign sports car, but what he could do was eliminate enemy agents with a cold, efficient brutality that was uncompromising in its savagery.  Helm’s world of espionage was a stark, realistic landscape most readers had never glimpsed before.  It was if Mickey Spillane had taken over for Fleming.  In fact, many years later, Spillane actually dipped his toe into these waters with his Tiger Mann books.  Still, put up against Hamilton’s Helm series, they too fell flat.  Though many writers attempted to imitate Hamilton’s style, none could capture his unforgiving authenticity.

Until now.

In “Sympathy For The Devil,” Terrence McCauley introduces us to a ultra secret organization known as the University and one of its top agents, James Hicks.  Leagues ahead of the CIA and NSA, the University has developed an amazing data gathering network by promoting the advancement of such modern day wonders as the internet, spy satellites and other cutting-edge communication devices.  These tools make it possible for Hicks and his colleagues to monitor every major metropolis on the globe.

When one of Hick’s assets, a long time experienced agent, is drugged into betraying him, Hick’s finds himself knee-deep in a mystery whose solution maybe reveal a new and catastrophic threat to America on the scale of 9/11.  What he had believed to be a small terror cell operating in New York City has somehow, under his own scrutiny, evolved into something a lot more complicated and deadly with far reaching international sponsors.  A new group of fanatical Islamic Terrorists have begun a multi-faceted plan to attack America unless Hicks can mobilize the Universities’ substantial forces to uncover and defeat them.

With Hicks, McCauley has given us another Matt Helm.  Hicks is a lone; tough-as-nails patriot with no ties or loyalties to anything but his country.  He is a dedicated shadow warrior who will do anything, to include torture, to completely annihilate his enemies.  He understands the barbaric nature of his foes and is more than willing to give them the same ruthless treatment they exhibit daily.  And in so doing, he steps off the pages of this fast paced thriller as a truly remarkable protagonist, unflinching is his purpose and lethal in its execution.  Finally, in James Hicks, Matt Helm has a worthy successor and one we want to see a whole lot more of.  “Sympathy For The Devil,” is one of those rare books that makes you sit up and cheer.  Don’t miss it!  You will regret it later.

LIGHTWEIGHT - Black Death

LIGHTWEIGHT – Black Death

By Nicholas Ahlhelm

Metahuman Press

129 pages

If you think surviving four years of high school it tough, try doing it as a superhero who can control gravity. That’s Kevin Mathis’s challenge in the second of Nicholas Ahlhelm wonderful series that explores both the angst of burgeoning maturity with the fantastical eternal conflict between the forces of good and evil. As the Federation city hero known as Lightweight, has more problems than your average soon-to-be graduate.

Picking up where the first book left off, Kevin is well into his senior year and quickly coming to grips with the fact that he has become a major pawn in battle between two secret organizations known as the Eloi and the Morlocks. Yes, the connection to H.G. Wells famous “The Time Machine” is referenced. The two groups have been monitoring the rise of mankind throughout time and each believes Kevin is the catalyst that will ultimately either save the world or destroy.

Naturally he disagrees. All he wants is to be left alone. We were thrilled to see the action kick off immediately and Ahlhelm doesn’t waste a minute getting things revved up to full speed. Along the way he reveals some hidden secrets from that first outing such as the identity of the mysterious Gray Man who revealed to Kevin’s totally surprise..  At the same time his romantic relationship with the lovely German exchange student, Constanze, continues to evolve even though she is a Morlock and can morph into the were-woman Howl. In the end she may be his staunchest ally in the climatic battle to come.

“Lightweight – Black Death” is what all sequels should be; better than the first. And that’s exactly what you have here. A continuation of an epic saga that is both riveting and fun and certainly has us wanting a whole lot more. This is how superhero novels should be done all the time.

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SECRET SIX

 

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S SECRET SIX

By Brian Kilmeade & Don Yaeger

Sentinel Books

232 pages

If like us, you are a devoted student of history, the title alone will have you wanting to know what this book is all about. What it reveals, in carefully research documents, is that during the American Revolutionary War, when George Washington battled the greatest military empire in the world of that era, he was aided by a band of colonial spies who made it possible for him to outwit his foes and win our independence. The story is one of unbelievable ingenuity and courage on the part of six brave Americans, five men and one woman, who would become known as the Culper Spy Ring.

Early on in the battle for freedom from England, Washington understood he could never defeat the British by overpowering them in combat. Militarily the British forces were far superior in numbers and hardware. Were Washington to challenge them through combat alone, he knew his cause would be lost.  But if he forestall the British, making the war a protracted costly affair then in the end the British Parliament would capitulate and sue for peace.

To do this he had to outwit his enemies; i.e. out-spy them. In any struggle the combatant who has the most knowledge of his enemy’s strengths and weakness will ultimately learn to circumvent them to his benefit.  Once New York had fallen to the British, Washington set about creating a spy network that would operate throughout that vast metropolis from the streets of Manhattan to the villages of Long Island.  Cunning agents whose identities would be known only to the army officer who would lead them, Colonel Tallmadge. 

Tallmadge had gone to school when Nathan Hale and when Hale was captured and executed because of an ill-advised reconnaissance mission, it was a personal blow to the young officer. Washington then made clear that only Tallmadge would know the name of the person he chose to assemble a band of citizens to spy on the British forces that surrounded them daily. This person in turn would give each of his people a code name by which to operate. Thus neither Washington nor Tallmadge ever knew who their daring spies were.

This book is a revelation shining the light on a long hidden aspect of the Revolutionary War that may have been its most crucial element. So brilliant were the methods devised by the Culper Spy Ring to serve their mission, they are still taught today at C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Virginia. And there the story of the Culper Spy Ring is kept alive to inspire today’s American agents, reminding them that all wars are not fought solely with guns and bombs but with clever intelligence gathering.

Kilmeade and Yaeger have done a wonderful job in bringing to life each of the secret six of which history eventually unmasked years after the war’s end. In fact the true identity of the only female member is still unknown to this day as well as her final fate. It is in these gripping accounts that we found ourselves empathizing with these ordinary citizens tasked to dare extraordianry feats of courage all for the glorious idea of a free democracy.  “George Washington’s Secret Six,” is an amazing book and one that should be thought to every high school student in American today.  There are no monuments to these spies and that is how they would have preferred it but their stories should be known and memorialized.  Freedom is never free, it has a price and these six amazing people were willing to pay it with their lives if need be.  We owe it to them to keep their legends alive.

HUNT AT WORLD'S END

HUNT AT WORLD’S END

(A Gabriel Hunt Novel)

By Nicholas Kaufman

Titan Books

269 pages

We recently participated in an on-line round table forum on how to avoid clichés when writing mystery fiction.  Webster’s defines the word as “…a hackneyed expression or idea.”  Hackneyed in that it has been repeated more time than anyone could ever count.  Which we suppose is what makes it a bad thing, this constant repetition. Whereas, unlike a single sentence or phrase, there are entire books that entirely one humungous cliché.  Case in point the classic pulp novels of the 30s and 40s and the current books and films  they in turned inspired.

Several years ago, publisher/writer Charles Ardai, applauded for bringing back the dark, gritty noir melodramas to the paperback world with his Hard Case Crime line, had the idea of launching a modern day Indiana Jones style series featuring a character named Gabriel Hunt.  Now in keeping with the Jones/pulp mold, Hunt is an archeologist who co-operates the Hunt Foundation with his brother Michael.  Whereas Gabriel is the adventurer, Michael is the desk jockey who sends him on his wild adventures around the globe seeking lost artifacts.  Ardai recruited a group of modern day pulpsters, all with established bonafides, to pen these fast paced actioners.

“Hunt at World’s End,” by Nicholas Kaufmann is one of the latest in this on-going series and everything in it is cliché; from the smart female archaeologist in distress to the ancient mysterious cult and the evil power hungry foreigner all vying to find three lost jewels that when brought together on the face of a lost idol will grant the person possessing them a fantastical power.  And so from Borneo to Turkey and finally the sands of the Sahara, Gabriel and his allies race against time to stop the dastardly villains from achieving success and thereby save the world.

There is absolutely nothing new in these pages but we still relished the book.  Like wearing a comfortable pair of slippers or a favorite lounge sweater, were delighted to have had the experience.  You see, dear readers, most of the best selling series of any kind have to fall back on tried and true elements which readers expect.  Sure, it is always nice to discover something new, fresh and original.   But trust me, in the world of fiction, that is all too rare and one soon comes to rely and enjoy those books done in a familiar style we come to appreciate over the years like good and trusty friends who will not let us down.  The Gabriel Hunt books are such pals and we easily recommend them.  “Hunt at World’s End” maintains their level of excellence with a fast paced narrative, colorful characters and exotic locales.  What more could a pulp fan want?

AMAZING - FANTASTIC - INCREDIBLE

AMAZING – FANTASTIC – INCREDIBLE

(A Marvelous Memoir)

By STAN LEE and Peter David and Collen Doran

Touchstone

192 pages

I was a 13 year old comic book reader when the birth of Marvel Comics launched the Silver Age of Comics in the early 1960s.  That’s why writer/editor Stan Lee, after family and teachers, has had more of affect on my life than anyone else in this world. Through his innovative changes to the media writing imperfect heroes with problems, he elevated the storytelling in comics and for the first time made them appealing to adults.  It is no small wonder that I grew up wanting to be a comic creator.

So yes, Stan Lee is one of my personal heroes and reviewing a graphic novel autobiography required a bit of distancing on my part.  What you have here is a one man’s story of what happened from his early days as a youngster in New York City to his becoming one of the most recognizable cultural celebrities in the world.  As with all such autobiographies, all we can rely on is his version and in that regards some of the stories concerning his conflicts with other well known comic personalities is to some degree suspect. In all such incidents we understand there was another side and yet Lee doesn’t shy away from those awkward events that were painful to him and his family. To his credit, he goes out of his way to credit people like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and all the other amazing creators who built Marvel Comics. I was personally touched with his tribute to his own younger brother, Larry Leiber.  And whether you choose to believe his narrative completely or not, there is no escaping the fact that Stan Lee knows HOW to tell a story.

Which is the part of this volume we can address with unabashed praise.  The art by Colleen Doran is magnificent throughout and finds her adjusting her style from realistic depictions of actual people to outlandish cartoony figures when depicting one of Lee’s many wacky anecdotes.  Kudos also go to Peter David, one of the finest comic scribes in the business. I have to believe he is partly responsible for taking Lee’s wandering reverie and shaping it into a linear tale with a beginning, middle and end. 

This book is a gem and for this veteran Marvelite, a treasure.  It was given to me by my family for Christmas.  They obviously know that within this aged body there still resides an eager, excitable 13 year old who so enjoyed this trip back to a much happier time.  As Lee would say, Excelsior!!    

THE HUMAN DIVISION

THE HUMAN DIVISION

By John Scalzi

Tor Books

431 pages

Rare are the times when a reviewer so loves a book that he or she has to share it with close friends and family, never mind their reading audience.  Such was the case years ago when we first read John Scalzi sci-fi actioner “Old Man’s War.” We hadn’t been that excited about a science fiction novel since the days of Asimov and Heinlein.  Thankfully that book was only the first in a series and subsequent titles set in that universe soon followed. All of them were exceptional and much fun. Scalzi is a skilled writer with a gift for creating endearing characters.

Now we have “The Human Division,” the latest in this series centered about the super military organization of earthlings known as the Colonial Defense Union. In the distant future, mankind has ventured into the stars only to discover they are populated with thousands of alien races, some friendly, others not so. To survive these encounters, humans create super soldiers, i.e. new scientifically enhanced bodies capable of withstanding harsh environments and going toe to toe with hostile aliens. These bodies are then offered to the Earth’s senior population; men and women in the twilight days of their lives. All they have to do is pledge ten years of service to the CDU and they’re consciousness is implanted into one of these green super bodies. Thus someone nearing death is given a second chance at life.

That’s the basic set-up. In this latest entry, a schism between the Earth and the CDU has materialized when it became clear to the governments of Earth that the CDU was basically using the planet’s over population as a breeding pool for their armies; an ugly truth that, when shown in such a harsh light, didn’t sit well with various Earth governments.  Earth has broken off relationships with the CDU prohibiting any further seniors from leaving. Then to add more headaches to the beleaguered CDU, a confederation of alien races calling itself the Conclave, begins overtures to recruit the Earth into their organization thus effectively separate it politically from the CDU.

As the book opens, members of the CDU’s diplomatic corps are tasked with smoothing over the Earth’s ruffled feathers and re-establishing a viable alliance between the CDU and its mother world. Without warning terrorist attacks are launched against both CDU envoys and Conclave diplomats. A mysterious third party has entered the game and is doing its best to start a war between the two space faring groups.  Caught in this topsy-turvy chaotic mess is the crew of the CDU Ambassador ship Clarke led by Ambassador Abumwe and captained by Sophia Coloma. Among the ambassador’s retinue are diplomatic assistant Hart Schmidt and CDU Tech Lt. Harry Wilson.  They are the book’s central cast and Scalzi tells his story via a series of interconnected short stories brilliantly wet forth; each building to the climatic finale.

“The Human Division,” recaptures the wonder and excitement of “Old Man’s War,” but on a grander scale and certainly left this reviewer wanting the next installment soon. This is old fashion sci-fi done right and we certainly need a whole lot more of that these days.

TRUCKIN' SANTA

TRUCKIN’ SANTA

Story by Paul R. Schwab

Illustrations by Emery Parker

Basti Publishing

39 pages

Okay, we’ve still got time to review a final holiday children’s book that landed on our desk a few days ago.  “Truckin’ Santa,” by Paul R. Schwab is a really fun story about how Santa Claus, his elf assistants and reindeer team end up stranded on the side of a country road in the middle of an horrendous blizzard on Christmas. With steadily falling snow making Santa’s sleigh too heavy to fly, he is grounded with almost half his toy deliveries yet to be made. It sure looks like Christmas is going to be a bust.

Then, after offering up a Christmas prayer to Lord of Peace, Santa and his friends see a huge 18 wheeler rig come lumbering down the road driven by a trucker named Nebraska Sam on his way home to spend Christmas morning with his wife and kids. Upon seeing Santa and his crew, Nebraska Sam stops and ask if there is any way he can help Santa save Christmas.  It does seem hopeless.  But then Santa remembers something Mrs. Claus had packed in his sleigh and gets an idea of how he, and the trucker from Ohio, might still be able to get all those presents delivers, blizzard not wisstanding.

Santa’s solution is brilliant and we won’t give it away.  We’ll just say this is a truly sweet and charming tale perfect little ones just learning to read.  The story is ingenious and fun and the art colorful to max.  This is the kind of book any small child would love to have.

Do yourselves a favor and pick up a copy and have it ready for next Christmas. It’s a gift all of you will cherish.

AIRSHIP HUNTERS

AIRSHIP HUNTERS

By Jim Beard & Duane Spurlock

Meteor House

210 pages

It’s 1897 and the 19^th Century is coming to an end.  America, still rebuilding from the ruinous Civil War, is on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution.  Things look bright for the future until mysterious reports of strange flying aircraft begin to filter into Washington. Staring from sightings on the west coast, these viewings begin springing up in an eastward route until they become weekly occurrences in the skies over America’s heartland.

Unable to ignore the public’s fears as fueled by exploitation newspapers, two young men are sent to investigate different aspects of this phenomenon; Army Lt. Valiantiene and Treasury Agent Cabot.  All they manage to uncover is yet more mysteries such as the appearance of strange, counterfeit gold coins in the vicinity of the airship sightings and the brutal slaying of innocent country people at the hands of monsters that tear their victims apart as if they were rag dolls.  Can these beasts also be connected to the weird skyships?

About this time, both men are introduced to each other and told they are to work together as the first operatives in a new branch of the Secret Service to be known as A-23 Aero Marshals.  Up until this juncture, the book had been a straight mystery novel but once Cabot and Valiantine join forces, their burgeoning relationship adds the much needed fun part of the entire adventure and easily sets up the following series of events the two must content with and overcome.

If we have one critique with “Airship Hunters,” it is that the publisher should have announced somewhere on the covers that this was only the opening chapter of a series and that the main mysteries that set everything in motion are actually not solved by the book’s end.  Which is a minor cheat, but still a cheat.  You see, we liked this introduction to Cabot and Valiantine and are eagerly going to be awaiting the next chapter of this saga regardless.  We’d strongly urge you to join us.

SPEAKERS OF THE DEAD

SPEAKERS OF THE DEAD

By J. Aaron Sanders

A Plume Book

294 pages

Available 1^st March

It takes a rare brand of imaginative courage to transform a famous American poet of the 19^th century into a bonafide pulp detective and that is something author J. Aaron Sanders has in abundance.  As an associate professor at Columbus State University with a PhD in American Literature, it is easy to understand Sanders familiarity with poet Walt Whitman.  What is a revelation is his grasp of the times in which the writer lived and honed his skills to claim his cherished position in our cultural history.

The year is 1943 and young Mr. Whitman is working as a journalist for a New York paper called the Aurora.  Two of his dearest friends are Abraham and Lena Stowe, doctors operating a medical college for young women. When an unmarried girl is found dead from a botched abortion, the finger of guilt points to Abraham.  But before he defend himself in count, he is murdered and his wife Lena found standing over his mutilated corpse.  She is quickly arrested, tried and found guilty. Despite the fact she is pregnant with their child, the civil authorities fear a public riot and her death sentence is hastily carried out.  Poor Whitman makes a foolhardy attempt to stop her hanging but in the end Lena Stowe is executed in this barbaric fashion before his eyes.

From that point on, Whitman vows to uncover the truth behind the deaths of his friends.  Who really killed the poor unwed girl and put the blame on Abraham?  Who then butchered the innocent doctor and made it appear his own wife had committed the crime? It is at this point in Sanders tale that mores of the era come into play in regards to common practice of grave robbing to supply medical schools with cadavers on which their students could study.  In the early 1800s society was unwilling to accept that only through clinical dissections could medicine advance.  Zealot religious leaders saw autopsies as sacrilegious and believed if a body was dismembered after death, then the deceased would be incapable of resurrection as promised in the Christian bible; thus being eternally damned.  Thus the body snatching business was a lucrative one for a callous breed of criminals trying to survive in an overcrowded metropolis filled with both disease and political corruption.

Whitman, with the aid of an old editor friend, Henry Saunders, learns that Abraham had been advocating for a new Bone Law that would make it legal for medical schools to purchase cadavers. If enacted, it would end the illegal body snatching trade.  He suspects that would have been cause enough to make his friends the targets of the criminal ring unwilling to see their illegal profits come to an end.  Then, he and the female students of the Stowe’s school become threatened and the center of undue public scrutiny.  Whitman’s inquiries have alerted the killers and they are not about to allow him to discover the truth, even if it means silencing the reporter and hurting those nearest to him.

“Speakers of the Dead,” is a fast paced mystery to rank with the best this reviewer has ever enjoyed.  Sanders effortlessly propels his protagonist through the streets of a past New York that comes to life in his prose.  His characters are complex, vulnerable and brave Whitman emerges in a whole new light for those of us who struggled with his works long ago in high school.  This is a Walt Whitman who is very much the symbol of a country undergoing growing pains and aspiring to be something ever grander than its origins.  Pick up this book and get ready to be entertained to max.

LUST QUEEN - LUST VICTIM

LUST QUEEN – LUST VICTIM

By Don Elliot

Stark House

257 pages

Robert Silverberg is best known for his science fiction titles but during his early days as a writer, he produced hundreds of racy sex pulps under very pseudonym.  In this volume, Stark House reprints two he did under his Don Elliot by-line. The book’s real bonus is Silverberg’s introductory essay in which he details those years between the 50s and 70s when such “risqué” paperbacks flooded the drugstore spinner racks and push the boundaries of sexual acceptance. There is humor in how restrictive the writing had to be to adhere to the more of the time; the so-called sexual revolution hadn’t fully infiltrated the public with its anything goes philosophy.  And so writers had to be inventive with their choice of words in describing the amorous antics of their characters.

In the first tale, “Lust Queen,” a New York mystery writer named Joey Baldwin is given the assignment of ghost writing an autobiography of a popular Hollywood star named Mona Thorne. To do this he has to leave his young, nubile young fiancée for several months; something he is definitely not happy about. Then, upon his arrival in L.A., he discovers that Mona Thorne is an aging sexpot wishing to make him her new love interest and she quickly seduces. Joey doesn’t mind the sex, but Mona is a real she-bitch who demands complete obedience.  Although formulaic in its set-up, “Lust Queen” in interesting in that creating a writer as his protagonist, Silverberg authentically details the publishing world as it existed in those post World War II days gives us an intimate look at the life of a professional pulp scribe.

With “Lust Victim,” the tableau involves a happily married suburban couple, Dave and Moira Lamson.  Dave owns his own business in the city and is doing quite well, and with young boys, Moira is a busy, content mother and housewife. What is clear at the offset is that they still enjoy sex a great deal. Then one night, a burglar breaks into their house, ties Dave up and rapes Moira in front of him. It is a brutal act compounded by the fact that the attacker strongly resembles Dave. After the rapist has fled with what little jewelry he stole, Moira is so emotionally shocked that she makes Dave promise not to tell the police about the rape, only the robbery. He capitulates but soon comes to regret that action when in the succeeding days he slowly discovers just how changed his wife has become.

Rape is always a traumatic experience but when reading “Lust Victim,” it is easy to see that people’s attitudes and reaction to it back in the 60s was far more ignorant than today. Initially Dave naïve believes all Moira needs is time and that she’ll eventually return to her former self and they can merely get on with their happy lives. When this doesn’t happen and she begins to push him off from any physical contact, he is not so much understanding as angry and frustrated. Enough so that he falls prey to the temptations of his flirtatious secretary. And of course his dalliance doesn’t stop there. The more annoyed he becomes with Moira, the more he excuses his cheating habits with the rational that if his wife cannot meet his sexual needs than he has no choice but to go to bed with other women. It’s a convoluted logic, but if one is writing a “sex” book, then one has to have x number of sex scenes to titillate the readers.  Eventually Dave forces Moira to get counseling and this leads to uncovering a very dark secret regarding the night of the rape. A secret, when revealed, leads to dramatic climax, exposed the rapist and ends with Dave and Moira once again happy bed partners…just like that. Once has to wonder if Dave will ever get around to telling Moira about all his escapades while she was going through her personal ordeal?

Reading these books today without knowing their history most likely elicit unfair critiques. Despite one’s thoughts on the field of 60s adult paperbacks, what no reviewer can argue is the competency in which Elliot/Silverberg wrote. His fiction is always precise and enticing, regardless of the plot, his skill as a writer is what is always on display and for that reason alone, picking up this volume is well worth it. Hey, even the best authors had to make a buck.

GIDEON SMITH & THE MASK OF THE RIPPER

GIDEON SMITH & THE MASK OF THE RIPPER

By David Barnett

Tor Books

379 pages

I am by no means a fanatical fan of steampunk, though the little of it I’ve read in the past few years has entertained me a great deal.  None more than David Barnett’s series starring Gideon Smith as the Hero of the British Empire.  Books one, “Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl,” and two, “Gideon Smith and the Brass Dragon,” were thrilling, colorful adventures set in this fascinating alternate history and populated by some of the most imaginative characters I’ve ever encountered in fiction.

Thus you have to know how thrilled I was when this latest volume arrived in the mail. I couldn’t wait to open it to the first chapter and learn what new perils would befall the stalwart Gideon, his sweetheart automaton, Maria, the daring Belle of the Airways, Rowena Fanshawe and the humorous, tubby journalist, Mr. Aloysius Bent. And to my utter delight, writer Barnett waste not a single paragraph in launching this new tale in which our heroes must deal with a bizarre version of Jack the Ripper, Rowena framed for murder and put on trial while Gideon has his memory stolen by an evil hypnotist who is hunting Maria for nefarious ends.

Whereas I’d love to urge all of you to go out and buy this entertaining book, honesty compels me to dissuade those of you who have yet to read the first two volumes. Of course Barnett does provide background exposition on what has gone before as he pulls as along this new adventure.  But the truth remains that he has invented way too many wonderful characters to believe these brief glimpses into their individual histories will suffice to clarify what is going on here.  That is a fallacy as “Gideon Smith and the Mask of the Ripper” is a continuation of what has gone before and the evolution of each principle character as each of them face life altering threats to their lives and to those they have come to love and protect.

The prime example in this deft evolution is Maria the Mechanical Girl. At this juncture of her story, we see her come to grips with being able to accept her solitary uniqueness and what it will mean to her relationship with Gideon.  Can an automaton love and be loved, in all its aspects, both spiritually and physically?  Whereas Rowena Fanshawe finds her own life tossed about on the vagaries of soulless political interests willing to sacrifice her rather then expose the government’s own sins.  Heady stuff for a steampunk thriller, but just another complex element that weaves through a dazzling fun adventure I couldn’t put down. It is perhaps the best book in the series thus far and ends on dramatic finale that suggests possible future plot avenues. 

Now comes the hard part; waiting for that next installment.

COMICS SQUAD - LUNCH

COMICS SQUAD : LUNCH

Edited by Jennifer L.Holm,  Matthew Holm

& Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Random House Children’s Books

Available Jan 2016

136 pages

We discovered cartoons in the daily and Sunday newspapers as a child learning how to read.  Today’s generation of youngsters may not be all that familiar with actual newspaper strips but thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, there are hundreds of new cartoons to be found on-line. This little square book, the second in a series, brings together some of the finest cartoon creators working today.  The theme is lunch room adventures and the style and humor is a broad and eclectic as any ink stroke.

All the stories in this collection are both fun and educational. From Cece Bell’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Lunch” to Nathan Hale’s historical “Lunch Bomb 1943,” there is something for everyone; including a brand new Snoopy adventure called “Lunchtime Beagle.”  The imagination in each tale is tremendous and these are the kinds of strips parents will want to read along with their children.

All in all, “Comics Squad – Lunch” is a cartoon treasure for all the little readers in your family and a truly marvelous introduction to some of today’s most creative comic strips.

We can’t wait to see what the Comics Squad comes up with next.

LIE CATCHERS

LIE CATCHERS

By Paul Bishop

Pro Se Press

272 pages

On average, we read approximately fifty books a year. The bulk of those are fairly decent whereas a small number are amateurish and difficult to get through while an equally small number are truly exceptional; what we call great reads. Finding the latter is always too rare an event, which makes reviewing them that much more of a challenge.  You see, we really want you to know just how superb these books truly are.

“Lie Catchers” by Paul Bishop is one of those gems.  In fact we have no qualms in saying it is among the top five great reads of our year. Obviously it’s a crime thriller, that much the title and back cover text will tell you. What they don’t give away is just how different a cop mystery it is.  Rather than focusing on the usual detective action of investigating the crime and chasing down the unknown perpetrators, “Lie Catchers” takes us into the world of expert interrogators; highly skilled, and trained, men and women whose job it is to question suspects and ferret out the truth from the mountain of lies it is usually buried beneath.  It is this crucial aspect of police work that is examined in a truly fascinating narrative that had us flipping pages late into the night.

Not to say the other cop-book tropes aren’t employed.  Two young children from two different families have been kidnapped.  When the police are called in there seems to be no apparent connection between the two cases.  Leading the investigation is detective Ray Pagan, considered one of the finest interrogators on the force, and his new partner, Calamity Jane Randall, recently returned to active duty after having been wounded on her previous case.  Part of the charm of this story is the relationship evolution between them; Randall, who is hiding a very special secret, and Pagan, an odd-duck personality with an obsessive passion for the truth.  Randall had heard stories about Pagan, most of which she’d thought to be exaggerated bullcrap.  But once partnered with him, she soon learns the eccentric detective is far more colorful than his fabricated exploits.

Together each possesses a unique ability and it is their eventual coming to grips with those talents that ultimately molds them into a cohesive partnership with one single goal, to find the bad guys and uncover the truth.  “Lie Catchers” is a brilliant treatise on the realities all of us grapple with every day and the fantasies we often surround ourselves with to survive.  Heaven forbid, we call them lies.  In the end “Lie Catchers” is a remarkable reading experience you will not soon forget, and that my friends, is whole truth…so help me God.

JUST CAUSE

JUST CAUSE

By Ian Thomas Healy

Local Hero Press LLC

350 pages

For the past three years, Colorado based writer Ian Thomas Healy has been writing some of the most entertaining superhero fiction on the market today. This subgenre of fantasy adventure is about bringing spandex wearing comicbook characters to the world of prose fiction. It is a growing field in literature today with a half-dozen notable New Pulp writers thriving in it; names like Van Plexico, Lee Houston Jr. and Nick Ahlhelm spring immediately to mind. Considering the amount of world-building that went into this novel, we’re amazed this book (series) doesn’t have a much larger following.  It deserves to.

“Just Cause,” billed as the first in the series, actually begins in the middle of the saga, in 2012, when Salena Thompson joins the premier superhero team, Just Cause, as their newest intern after having graduated from the renowned Hero Academy.  A third generation speedster, she calls herself Mustang Sally and is overwhelmed by how fast her life is moving, much like her own super-speed abilities. Both Sally’s mother, Faith, and grandmother, possessed similar powers and fought with previous teams dating back to World War II when metahumans first appeared.

Mustang Sally, as the protagonist, is our entry into this amazing world, and through her eyes we discover the rich and complex history of superheroes, and their villainous counterparts.  Sally’s father was killed weeks before she was born by a twisted scientific genius known as the Destroyer who continues to be Just Cause’s greatest adversary. Sally’s secret wish is to find him and have her revenge. But before she can do that, she must prove herself to the Just Cause which is led by the brilliant, but conservative Juice, whose powers to produce electric charges make him a formidable warrior.

Along the way Sally makes close friends with a Sondra Eagle, the winged Native American known as Desert Eagle and falls madly in love with Jason, the super strong young rock musician called Mastiff. All the while getting to know the other members of the team and learning to adjust to her new role as an adult superhero. Thus the book is really a coming-of-age tale decked out in a flashy superhero garment and it is to Healy’s credit as a writer, that his characterization of Sally and the others is as skillful as his ability to convey action sequences. For in the end, if we don’t believe Salena, the naïve, eager, loyal and courageous young woman then there is no empathizing with Mustang Sally.

“Just Cause” is a pure delight from cover to cover.  This edition is a heavily revised and expanded version. It is a most welcomed addition to our library and we recommend it highly.  If you grew up with your nose buried in Marvel and DC comics, as we did, then you are going to love “Just Cause.”  And as Mr. Stan Lee would say, “Nuff said.”