NIGHTWISE

NIGHTWISE

By R. S. Belcher

Tor Books

352 pgs

This is the third R. S. Belcher novel we’ve read in the past two years and we are fast becoming devoted fans. Whereas the first two were part of a weird western series, “Nightwise” is a twisted, dark tale of modern witchcraft and wizardry unafraid of venturing into horrific fields of imagination.

Latham Ballard is a wizard whose name is known throughout the magic world; referred to as The Life. At a child, mentored by his Granny, Latham used his supernatural powers to revive a dead squirrel. From that point on there was no turning back and his life became one bizarre adventure after another; most involving deadly out-of-this world battles with all manner of fantastic creatures. In fact, he caused so much trouble, the Nightwise, an organization of wizards devoted to protecting humanity, expelled him. This came as no surprise to Ballard, as he was never comfortable in the hero role and saw himself as a pure, unadulterated selfish bastard.

As the books opens, Ballard visits one of his remaining friends, another wizard named Branco Boj who is dying of AIDS. Years earlier, Boj’s wife had been savagely butchered by a wizard named Dusan Slorzack. Boj ask Ballard to find Slorzack and kill him. Ballard agrees and thus the chase begins though the rogue wizard has no real idea what a powerful mage he is hunting.

It soon begins clear to Ballard, that Slorzack is a heartless killer able to elude even the most complex searching techniques, both technical and magical. Then, along the hunt, Ballard uncovers a new type of American made magic born during the early days of the country’s history. All of which is centered around a mystical place called The Greenway. What is this strange alien magic all about and what is the significance of The Greenway to Dusan Slorzack?

R.S. Belcher pulls out all the stops in delivering a brutal story about the true meanings of the human heart; loneliness, love, despair, anger, and unyielding hope against the cruelest fates.  It is a brilliant page turner and carves another notch in this writer’s remarkable career. If you aren’t familiar with him, we urge you to do so now and enjoy the ride. He won’t let you down.

POLLEN'S WOMEN - The Art of Samson Pollen

POLLEN’S WOMEN

The Art of Samson Pollen

Edited by Robert Deis & Wyatt Dole

# new texture

135 pgs

One of the tragedies of the original pulp era was the lack of recognition given to the brilliant artists of that time. Every single week hundreds of pulp titles hit the newsstands, each graced with a gorgeous, colorful cover paintings and filled with dozens of wonderful black and illustrations. Whereas these populace magazines were snobbishly ignored by the purveyors of the uppercrust, academia including and no effort was made to save this amazing art. It has been reported that over 90% of all those great covers and illustrations were destroyed and lost to us forever, save in the fading pages of the actual mags, some eighty years or older today.

After World War Two, pulps evolved into comics for kids and two new adult formats to continue the publication of action adventure stories. One was the small paperback designed to be easily carried in one’s back-pocket and produced on the cheap. The other, and more direct descend of the original pulps, was the men’s adventure magazines, hereto referred to as MAGS. From the 50s to early 70s they proliferated in drugstores racks via dozens of titles all aimed at the World War II veterans looking for stories featuring rugged, individuals not afraid to take on the world. The MAMS catered to tales of war heroes, explorers, tough cops and rebel bikers. It was a cornucopia of he-man virility that oozed off every page.

Accompanying these tales was the macho art; a vital element of the entire package. Like their smaller, golden age predecessors, the MAMS were chock full of amazing illustrations, most done in long double page formats while offering up some of the greatest in-your face all action scenes ever put on a cover. Here were soldiers combating overwhelming odds, or treasure hunters battled savage beasts of every kind imaginable while at the same time protecting some half-clad buxom babe. They were simply men’s fantasies brought to stunning visual reality as created a dozen or so remarkable artists.

One such was Samson Pollen and now editors Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle have collected dozens of his more spectacular pieces. Each is represented into versions; first showcasing the actual artwork alone and then the same image as surrounded as folded into the magazine’s layout with text and titles etc. It is a truly effective demonstration of the format challenges posed to Pollen and his peers. One of this book’s most intriguing parts is Pollen’s own memoirs which he shared with co-author Doyle. At 86, the veteran illustrator’s tales of his work-for-hire experiences as a professional illustrator are fascinating. Pollen never assumed he was creating anything but commercial art and his job, as he saw it, was to give the editors what they wanted. No matter how silly those requests often times appeared to be. He was told to draw this or that and he did. He was a workman artist.

Today, one gets the sense that he is happily bemused at how valuable his art has become and the status it has achieved in the scheme of things. In this day of digital art, illustrators are a dying breed and one wonders if future generations will ever see their like again. For now we can only tip our pulp fedoras to Mr. Deis & Mr. Doyle for saving work of this true master; Samson Pollen.

STRANGE VIEW FROM A SKEWED ORBIT

STRANGE VIEW FROM

A SKEWED ORBIT

(An Oddball Memoir)

By Ardath Mayhar

Borgo Press

159 pgs

Dear Readers, this certainly will not be one of my regular reviews. You see the subject matter is much too personal for me and we need to share much more than a few declarative paragraphs concerning this wonderful little book. So time for some history. In the early 80s, pre-PC and internet time, I had joined a group via snail-mail correspondence called SPWAO; the Small Press Writers & Artists Organization. We were made of up both amateur and professional creators all working in one fashion or another with small press. Among that group was Texas based professional sci-fi and fantasy writer Ardath Mayhar. If you’ll allow me to name drop here, the group also included among its ranks Charles Saunders, Richard & Wendy Pini and Kevin Anderson; all of which I’m sure you readily recognized.

We had officers, collected dues and published a monthly newsletter. At one point I was elected the President and responsible for putting out that newsletter. It was along this time that I began a friendly correspondence with Ardath not realizing it would soon become a life-saver for me. Note, members of SPWAO were set on achieving professionalism in various genres, from books to comics. Most of my energies directed towards the latter without much thought at all to novel writing.

Then came my divorce and my world turned upside down. Having three small children unable to comprehend exactly why their father was leaving caused me months of pain and anguish. At one point I let some of this out in a letter to Ardath, this kindly grandmother writer from Texas, as a way of maybe dispelling a little of the hurt I was dealing with. Her response was a rapid reply in which she suggested, “Why don’t we write a book together. It might help take your mind off the sadness.”  She even let me devise the subject matter and plot and we went at it. Six months later her agent sold “Trail of the Seahawks” to TSR’s new Windwalker paperback line and I was a published author. 

And of course, as Ardath was well aware, the rest of my life did settle out. My weekly visitations with my wonderful children eventually proved to them my continued love and devotion and within the next few years some kind of normalcy returned to all of us. Oh, and Ardath and me went on to write two more books together, “Monkey Station” and “Witchfire.” I would have loved to have done more, but she was then in her late 70s and let me know I was good enough to fly on my own, whereas she still had too many of her own tales to tell in whatever time she had left.

That’s the personal stuff.  Now here’s the clinical.  Ardath Mayhar Feb 20 – 1930 to Feb 1^st 2012 (aged 81) began writing professionally in 1979. She was nominated for the Mark Twain Award and won the Balrog Award for a horror narrative poem in Masques 1. In 2008 she was honored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America as an Author Emeritus. She wrote over sixty books ranging from sci-fi to horror to young adult to historical to westerns; with some work under the pseudonym Frank Cannon, Frances Hurst, and John Killdeer. Mrs. Mayhar also shared her knowledge and skills of writing with many people through the Writer’s Digest correspondence courses.

Recently I learned that in 1996 Ardath compiled a rambling, intimate memoir of her life after having been pestered by friends to do so. That book is “Strange View From a Skewed Orbit.”  It is a truly wonderful glimpse into the heart and mind of a remarkable woman who was descended of pioneer stock. It is a glimpse of both the rugged landscape of East Texas but also of a culture that prides individualism and old fashion grit. In the book’s final few essays, Ardath lambast the wishy-washy nonsense that is today’s feminism, decrying pampered women who have swallowed the entire hogwash philosophy of victimhood. In her own words, “It is not the function of government to make life easy for anyone, rich or poor, male or female, black white, yellow or red. That is a sure route to dependency. We are our own motivators, and if we do not use our strength, our intelligence, and our determination to achieve what we are capable of doing, the fault lies with us, not some anonymous “white male establishment.””

It is one of my life’s major disappointments that we never actually got to meet in this world. But believe me, that is a meeting that will certainly take place in the next. Till then, every time I sit down to write, I know I’ve a friend looking down from on high.

God bless you, Ardath, and thanks.

THE OBSIDIAN CHAMBER

 THE OBSIDIAN CHAMBER

(A Pendergast Novel)

By Preston & Child

Grand Central Publishing

437 pgs

We make no bones that we are devoted fans of this new pulp series. Special Agent Pendergast and his revolving cast of supporting characters are truly colorful and memorable. In this, the sixteen entry, the authors pick up from the dramatic cliffhanger they ended book fifteen, “Crimson Shore.” We won’t tell you what that dangling question was on the off chance some of you are playing catch up and have yet to read it.

Rather we will say the tale opens with Pendergast away from his home on Riverside Drive in New York City, leaving his ward, Constance Greene, chauffeur and bodyguard Proctor and household keeper, Mrs. Trask, to fend for themsevles. Not a good thing when his younger brother, supposedly dead, invades the domicile, subdues Proctor and kidnaps Ms. Greene. Here we should let you know, Diogenes is as great a villain as his brother is a hero. A psychotic genius whose level of cruelty is beyond measure and the one true advisory our protagonist has yet to adequately best.

And with that kidnapping begins a globe trotting chase around the glove, as a frantic Proctor, whose responsibility it was to protect the girl, spares no effort or money to go after them wherever they are bound. That this madcap race takes up the first quarter if the entire book will tell you at what a frenetic pace “The Obsidian Chamber” is propelled. By the time our hero does arrive on the scene, having barely escaped the clutches of a gang of drug smugglers off the coast of Maine, we readers are whipping through pages faster and faster. How on earth is Pendergast ever going to get up to speed? And therein lays the talent of this superb writing team in that they set out that solution so logically via what past books have established; that he is no mere mortal. Pendergast is a man of superior intellect and imagination and he how he employs those talents to solve the most bizarre challenge he has ever faced is the delight of this book.

As with all series pulp adventures, some often time feel like obligatory fillers and are soon forgotten when a new chapter arrives. While others, like “The Obsidian Chamber” hit so many right notes as to create a melody masterpiece of plotting and pace so spectacular that the tune will reverberate in your minds long after you’ve finished the last page.

UNREMARKABLE

 UNREMARKABLE

 By Geoff Habiger & Coy Kissee

Shadow Dragon Press

205 pages

We’ve often said the fun of writing a review blog is discovering new and exciting talent. Case in point this book sent to us by authors Habiger and Kissee, “Unremarkable.” From the book design it is easy enough to infer that the story deals with death and violence and sure enough it kicks off fast in those directions.

The year is 1929 and young Saul Imbierowicz is a postal clerk in Chicago. For an average fellow, his life has been what most people would consider dull and boring. But when he meets a vivacious redhead named Moira a few days before Valentine’s Day, things seem to be changing for the better. Moira is a beauty and Saul can’t believe his good luck. When she asks him to accompany her on an errand to the North Side, he willingly agrees to tag along. There isn’t much he wouldn’t do for the girl.

Then they find themselves walking into one of the most celebrated gangland shootings in American history, the St. Valentine’s Massacre wherein seven of Al Capone’s men were gunned in a street corner garage by members of the Irish Mob under the orders of Bugs Moran. Tragically Moira and Saul arrive at the location while bullets are still flying and Moira is shot. Shocked and frightened at her body lying in a pool of blood, Saul flees in horror unable to deal with the violence suddenly foisted upon him.

As if that wasn’t enough to totally ruin his life, he is then grabbed by several of Moran’s thugs and brought to a meeting with the mob boss. Moran informs him that federal agents, who maintain offices in the same building as the post office, have come into possession of Frank Capone’s tax accounting records. The data in those books would be sufficient to put Al away for a very long time. Something Moran wants to assure happens. Fearing Capone might somehow steal the books from the feds, he wants Saul to do it first and then bring those books to him. If Saul doesn’t do as he demands, Moran will have his parents and sister killed.

The authors waste no time in building the suspense and the narrative moves at a very steady pace. Saul is the innocent protagonist who, for no fault of his own, finds himself in a seemingly inescapable dilemma. Can he actually do what Moran wants; break into the feds’ offices and steal the Capone books? As he grapples with this question, he is suddenly set upon by the very agents who occupy those offices. They know of his presence at the street corner during the shooting and want to know what happened to Moira? If poor Saul was mixed-up before, this new wrinkle totally leaves him confused.  Moira’s dead, isn’t she? After all, he saw her die. Or did he?  And if she is somehow alive, where is she and how is she involved with the entire affair?

“Unremarkable” is a really fun read that will keep readers guessing from chapter to chapter. The characters are one hundred percent authentic and the underlying mystery reveals itself slowly like a many layered onion. It is a thriller in the best sense of the word and one we highly applaud. Do yourselves a favor and pick up a copy.

THE BLACK STILETTO - Black & White

THE BLACK STILLETO – Black & White

By Raymond Benson

Oceanview Publishing

309 pgs

In the first book of this series, a divorced unemployed accountant named Martin Talbot uncovered a startling secret upon opening the contents of his mother’s effects.  In the 1950s and 60s, his mother, then Judy Cooper, donned a masked and became a crime fighting vigilante known as the Black Stiletto. Now she suffers from Alzheimer’s and is committed to medical institution. In her diaries, part of the cache he discovers, he learns that as a teenager, Judy had run away from her abusive stepfather in Texas to begin a new life in New York City. There she came under the tutelage of an exboxer named Freddie who taught her how to fight. She later added to her martial skills by studying both judo and karate from a Japanese sensei. Eventually she had a romantic tryst with a young man who she later learned was part of the Mafia. When he was murdered, Judy decided to mete out her own justice in the guise of her secret identity. By the book’s finale, Martin is forced to accept the realities of his discoveries and keep them a secret from everyone including his own daughter, Gina, who adores her grandmother.

With “Black & White,” the saga continues and again is narrated by both Martin in the present and by sections of Judy’s detailed diaries showcasing her exploits. For Judy the year is 1959 and the country is undergoing radical changes. Many are due in part to the racial tensions boiling up in the urban centers of America’s fast growing cities. Harlem has become a blacks-only community and a gangster named Carl Purdy has risen to power. He has grandiose ambitions and challenges the Italian families for control of the growing drug trade.

As the Black Stiletto enters the fray, she finds herself hunted by a smart and handsome F.B.I. agent named John Richardson. Through a series of dangerous outings, the Stiletto manages to start a truly weird, and romantic, relationship with the dedicated agent. While their feelings for each other threaten both of them, Judy finds herself embroiled in the Harlem gang war and agreeing to a truly bizarre alliance with a Mafia Don. Meanwhile, in our time, son Martin has unearthed an actual film reel of Judy in her Black Stiletto get-up and is being blackmailed by a small time New York thug who also owns a copy of the same film.

Once again, Raymond Benson weaves twin stories, interweaving them skillfully while heightening the suspense with each new chapter so that the reader is rewarded with not one but two exciting and dramatic climaxes. What makes this book a winner, as was the first, is his knack of bringing Judy Cooper to life with all her courage, naiveté and sincere empathy for others. She is a wonderful character; one you really should get to know.

THE OLD MAN'S REQUEST

THE OLD MAN’S REQUEST

(Book One of the Utgarda Trilogy)

By Joab Stieglitz

Available at Amazon

109 pgs

In the summer of 1929, three people are summoned to the hospital by an ailing college professor. Fearing his time is short; Prof. Jason Longborough confides a terrible secret to his prorge, Anna Rykov, a Russian anthropologist, Dr. Harold Lamb, a general practioner and Father Sean O’Malley, a Catholic priest versed in the church’s exorcism rituals. Fifty years earlier, Longbrough, then a college student, and several friends, made the foolish decision to dable in the occult; the end result being they actually summoned a horrific demon named Urgarda. Trapped in our world since that time, the shape-shifting monster has kept his existence secret by murdering those with any knowledge of presence.

The old professor realizes it is his responsibility to somehow re-summon the demon to the abandoned farmhouse where he first appeared and there destroy him. The task is too difficult for one person and thus Longborough brings his three young colleagues into his plans. But time has run out for the guilt ridden teacher and after relating his wild story to the trio, he dies. 

Initially all three question whether the old man’s tale was factual or the rantings of a failing mind. Still, to ignore it would have serious consequence; chief among these allowing the demon to continue his evil machinations in our dimension. Bit by bit, each of the three begin to accept the mission that has been foisted on them and the real horror it portents. Having no other recourse, it is up to them to carry out Longborough’s final request and confront the beast.

Joab Stieglitz offers up a really well crafted thriller filled with enough suspense and action to adroitly move his plot along.  Anna, Dr. Lamb and Father O’Malley aren’t superheroes, but rather good people caught up in an affair far beyond anything any of them had ever experienced before. It will take all their courge and mutual trust in one another to summon the demon and defeat it. If that is even possible? “The Old Man’s Request,” is a sure fire page turned.  Need I say more?

THE BALLAD OF BLACK BART

 

THE BALLAD OF BLACK BART

By Loren D. Estleman

Forge Books

231 pgs

This being a fictionalized tale based on historical personages by one of the most enjoyable writers in the western field. But before launching into the review, let me confess that Mr. Estleman is one of those treasures we only discovered a few years ago much to our consternation as he as quickly become one of our favorite writers. With over eighty novels to his credit, ranging from mysteries, both historical and modern, to westerns, for which he has often been times recognized with numerous awards, the man just naturally knows how to spin a good yarn. And this latest is no exception.

The plot revolves around two men, one a daring and resourceful outlaw and the other the manhunter who was tasked with bringing him to justice. From 1875 to 1883, the poetry writing criminal known as Black Bart held up 28 Wells, Fargo stagecoaches. What is more remarkable is that he did these crimes on foot and armed only with an empty shotgun. All of which became a personal affront to company agent James B. Hume who became obsessed with catching the road agent no matter how long it took or how much he had to spend to do so.

It is the irony of the tale itself that Wells, Fargo, via Hume, ended up expending much more money in capturing Bart than he ever actually got away with. In the end, the book reads like a marvelous comedy as Estleman skillfully explores each man’s character and seeks to discover what motivated them in their chosen professions. That he finds similarities in their natures and world views is fascinating and by the time we’d reached the book’s middle there was no way we could possibly put it down.

Estleman richly deserves every award he has ever been given and “The Ballad of Black Bart” is a fitting example of why he is so well admired and loved. We’re still sorry we came to the party late, but we’re doing our best to make up for lost time. You might want to join the club with this truly wonderful title.

THE ASSASSIN

THE ASSASSIN

An Issac Bell Adventure

By Justin Scott & Clive Cussler

Putnam Books

406 pages

This new Isaac Bell adventure is set in 1905 and begins when a highly skilled sniper sets about murdering high officials working for Standard Oil, the biggest energy empire in America. Bell, as a Van Dorn detective, is assigned to the case and suspects the killings are a prelude to even further crimes all meant to discredit the man referred to as the “Most Hated” in the country, none other than J.D. Rockerfeller.

Once again, writer Justin Scott’s fast moving tale is meticulously researched and his depiction of Rockerfeller an acute one. It offers us a look at a giant of industry who was neither monster or saint, but a complicated mixture of both. To complete his mission, Bell gets himself hired as Rockerfeller’s personal bodyguard and accompanies him to Russia’s Baku oil-fields caught in the middle of an armed revolution. Amidst this violent environment, Bell is sure the assassin will strike again, this time directly at the infamous tycoon.

At the same time the daughters of a company officer, Nellie and Edna Matters become involed with the affair. Nellie is a balloonist and diehart suffraget battling for women’s rights while her sister Edna is a truth-seeking journalist sensing Bell’s investigation will uncover ties to their family history. If so, what are those links and do they lead to the killer?

“The Assassin” is another page-turning thriller in a series that has yet to falter. Each new Isaac Bell book is a cheer delight to even the most jaded action reader. Kudos, Mr. Scott and please, keep’em coming.

MYSTERY OF THE HORNED MONSTER

MYSTERY OF THE HORNED MONSTER

A Hollywood Cowboy Detectives Mystery

By Darryle Purcell

A Buckskins Edition Western

If you are a devoted movie buff who knows William Pratt was Boris Karloff’s real name and Bela Lugois was originally Bela Blasko then you most likely will know in which Republic Serial Reed Hadley starred? Now if you are nodding your head with a giant smile on your face, then dear readers, you are absolutely going to love this book by Darryle Purcell. It is the 11^th in his Hollywood Cowboy Detectives series and just unabashed fun from the first page to the last. Purcell knows his Hollywood history and weaves it through out his story via his three heroes; Sean “Curly” Woods, Nick Danby and Hoot Gibson. 

Curly, our narrator is a PR writer for Republic Studios specializing in their B-westerns while Nick is a studio chauffeur working for his older brother Nick Danby, a studio big-wig. And lastly there is silent western star Hoot Gibson, trying to keep his career going in the age of the “talkies.”  Whenever something strange or bizarre happens in the tightly knit film community, Nick calls on Curly and his pals to investigate. In this book, someone is trying to sabotage a newly reformed Monogram Pictures by causing accidents on the set. One invariably results in the death of a stage hand.

The three compadres begin their investigations and hook up with Karloff in the middle of doing a Mr. Wong short for the small studio. The dynamic actor offers to help and soon thereafter they find themselves protecting Bela Lugosi as clues indicate both actors are primary targets of the saboteurs. 

Honestly we could go on and on but that would be spoiling the fun. That Purcell has a genuine love for old classic movies is obvious. The adventure is fast paced, filled with equal amounts action and slapstick humor. Enough so, we wish someone would option this book and film it.  And as if that wasn’t enough goodness, this volume contains a bonus short which features both Ken Maynard and Lon Chaney Jr, who is apparently being haunted by the characters his dead father played in the movies.

Purcell also did the art illustrations in the book and the cover which is masterfully rendered. How much talent can one man have?  In the end, we are just sorry we hadn’t found this series a whole lot sooner.  If you love serials, historical monster movies and the pulps, we urge you to grab this one now. Trust me, once read, you’ll say you owe us one big time.

MURDER IN THE MIRACLE ROOM

MURDER IN THE MIRACLE ROOM

By Micah S. Harris

Minor Profit Press

256 pgs

Young April Gurley was a typical Southern young lady living in Tar Forks, North Carolina when she developed the stigmata; the bleeding of her palms resembling the wounds of the crucified Jesus. The news of this made her a celebrity among the religious fringe groups. Then before she can adjust to this new life in the stoplight, April and her father are in an automobile accident and she is left in a coma. Her father, one of the town’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, hires round the clock care for his only child to include nurses and health care providers. One of the latter is Twyla Chayne, one of April’s high school friends whose job it is to bathe her daily and see to her linens etc. while the nurses handle the respirator machine that keeps April breathing and the I.V. tubes that provide her sustenance.

The entire process soon becomes routine for this little group. Twyla, the book’s protagonist is comfortable with her position; though like everyone else, she prays for a day when April will awaken. Meanwhile a bit of a eccentric, Twyla lives in fear that she’ll die of spontaneous combustion, a fate that supposedly befell her Aunt Grusilla a few years earlier and resulted in sending her Uncle Tate to prison. Tate continues to claim that Groo actually came from a long line of people who died in this fiery manner and Twyla, though a rational person can’t completely shake the idea that it might all be true.

And then one day she arrives at the Gurley mansion to discover someone had unplugged the respirator and allowed April to die. Like the other members of the small staff, Twyla becomes a suspect in the murder; a fact she is unwilling to accept passively. She begins doing her own investigation.  Thus starts one of the most off-beat, original mystery novels we’ve ever read. As the gusty Twyla goes further with her own digging into the murder, she also begins to build a list of possible culprits.  Among these is her Uncle Tate, who she learns had been paroled only weeks before April’s death. Then there is her old beauty queen pal, Lorna who has become some kind of international thief traveling around the world stealing religious artifacts under the orders of the Virgin Mary who speaks to her through various mediums.

Believe us, writer Micah Harris has a knack for throwing in unexpected curves while at the same time bringing forth some of the most colorful characters ever to populate a mystery novel.  “Murder in the Miracle Room” is truly unlike any other story we’ve ever come across and we enjoyed it immensely. Oh, that other writers were this fresh and inventive.  The plot is a pretzel knot that when it begins to unravel will have you both scratching your head in wonder and smiling from ear to ear. If you love mysteries, then it’s time you met Twyla Chayne.  Once you done so, we swear you’ll never forget her.

ARCHIE IN THE CROSSHAIRS

ARCHIE IN THE CROSSHAIRS

A Nero Wolfe Mystery

By Robert Goldsborough

A Mysterious Press Original

215 pgs

Back in 1986 writer Robert Goldsborough took on the task of writing new Nero Wolfe mysteries based on the characters created by the late Rex Stout. Obviously these new pastiches were met with both joy and derision from devoted Stout readers. After reading the first of these seven, “Murder in E Minor,” we were clearly among the crowd happily applauding the return of the overweight, beer guzzling armchair sleuth.  After Bantam Books released the “The Missing Chapter” in 1994, Goldsborough took a hiatus to concentrate his efforst on his own series of mysteries starring a newspaper reporter named Steve Malek.

All well and good, but honestly, we still missed Wolfe. At one point we actually wrote Mr. Goldsborough urging him to return to that familiar brownstone on West 34^th Street and he was most cordial in his reply that maybe one day he would so. In 2012 Otto Penzler of Mysterious Press added his voice to those many fans and Goldsborough relented and did so with a bang. His first new offering was the untold story fans had long clamored for, “Archie Meets Nero Wolfe.” If you haven’t read it yet, we urge to you do so immediately.

It was followed by four others including “Archie in the Crosshairs” which we recently enjoyed.  This one opens with a bang both figuratively and literally as Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe’s operative and confident, is shot at one night as he is returning home. Considering how bad the shooter’s aim was, the bullets missing him by a wide margin, Archie suspects they were actually intended to warn him rather than hit him. The following day, in Wolfe’s presence, he receives a threatening call from the supposed assassin claiming he is going to murder Archie in retribution for a harm done to him by Wolfe in the past.

Having accumulated a large number of antagonists during their years as successful private investigators, Wolfe and Archie begin a systematic search of their recent cases to pinpoint who among these villains would be most likely in a position to strike back at them. As if that puzzle wasn’t time consuming enough, the pair is approached by a perspective new client. A wealthy young socialite, Cordelia Hutuchinson, is being blackmailed for her romantic indiscretions while on a recent trip to Italy. Engaged to be married soon, the blackmailer threatens to expose her dalliances to her fiancée, her family and the public by releasing incriminating photos.

At Archie’s insistence, Wolfe takes the case and directs the young lady to comply with the extortionist’s demands with the stipulation that Archie be her agent in delivering the cash payout. Several nights later, while complying with the blackmailer’s specific directives to bring the money to an isolated spot in Central Park, Archie is shot. Luckily he’s accompanied by two of Wolfe’s other agents, Saul Panzer and Fred Durkin, who waste no time in getting him home and immediate medical attention. Still, the attack by their unknown nemesis occurring in the midst of the blackmail affair raises Wolfe’s suspicions that both matters may be connected. If such is the case, then it makes their efforts twice as complicated and deadly.

“Archie in the Crosshairs,” is a deliciously fun mystery that moves at a good but relaxed pace. In the footsteps of Rex Stout, Goldsborough plays fairs and peppers clues throughout the tale all culminating in a grand meeting of the suspects in Wolfe’s office. As ever, in any Nero Wolfe outing, the careful reader must examine the facts carefully and in the end see if they can beat the Master to the mystery’s solution. Of course, we’ve always maintained, much like the Sherlock Holmes tales of Arthur Conan Doyle, most fans read Nero Wolfe because he and Archie Goodwin are such colorful, amiable fictional characters, it is always a delight to be in their company; the actual mysteries secondary.  Here’s hoping Mr. Goldsborough has at least another dozen stories yet to tell.  Trust me, when they are this good, we never tire of them and neither will you.

JUNGLE QUEENS & SPACE RANGERS The Complete Comic Book Covers Vol 1

JUNGLE QUEENS AND SPACE RANGERS

The Complete Comic Book Covers Vol 1

Edited and published by Todd Frye

Earlier in the year we had the extreme pleasure of reviewing super pulp & comics fan, Todd Frye’s book “Amazing! Astonishing! Weird Tales! Complete Pulp Magazine Covers Vol 2” and we ranted and raved at how much fun that treasure chest of visual delights truly was. Well, now comes this new huge collection of cover reprints and this time Frye is shining his spotlight on early comics whose theme was jungle queens and space rangers.

He starts the book focusing on three Fiction House titles; Fight Comics, Jumbo Comics and Jungle Comics in dealing with those series that dealt jungle adventures. It is important to note that all three titles where in fact anthologies and aside from their jungle heroes, who often hogged the covers, they also included strips of various genres that offered up fast, action paced yarns to keep young boys turning the pages. Among these pre-war titles that would continue into the early 1950s you’d find the art of such notable artists as Will Eisner, Matt Baker, George Tuska and Jack Kamen.

From its start in Jan 1940, Fight Comics featured a bunch of great, brawling heroes who easily lived up to that title. Each monthly issue offered up the exploits of Shark Brodie, Kayo Kirby and Chip Collins and others of the same mold. The October 1941 issue even introduced a new star-spangled, shield carrying hero named the Super American. By the war years a majority of the book was given over to combat stories featuring American GIs in both Europe and the South Pacific theaters of operation. Then in 1947 Tiger Girl appeared; a blond haired hellcat in a leopard print bikini whose jungle adventures would grace the covers from that point on until the books demise in 1954. Armed with either a knife or spear, Tiger Girl fought every imaginable jungle threat one could envision, from beasts to cannibal tribes, voodoo witch doctors etc.etc. It was heady stuff indeed.

Still, Tiger Girl would take a back seat to yet another jungle beauty with golden tresses, that being Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, whose comic home resided in Jumbo Comics. Appearing on the newsstands in 1938, Jumbo was a whopping anthology book that advertised 64 full pages in color all for a dime. It still boggles the mind. The first eight covers were a hodgepodge of cramped images giving the readers a tease of every single character that appeared in that particular issue. Sheena was most certainly among that gathering but it wouldn’t be until the March 1940 issue that she would grab the full cover spot and from that point on there was no looking back. The ultra sexy Sheena’s covers were dramatic and totally eye-catching. During the titles’ run, she battled monstrous lions, tigers, giant snakes, bizarre bug-creatures and even dinosaurs…while never looking at the least bit unglamorous. We should also note that all these jungle comics existed pre-code and so there was often lots of blood-letting on display. One cover has Sheena repeatedly stabling a gorilla and its chest is smeared with oozing blood.

Sheen would eventually cement her role as a cultural icon when she jump to television on the 1950s and many years later appeared in a full length feature motion picture. It is also interesting to note that the size of Jumbo, by the early 50s was already down to just 52 pages and would shrink even further as time went on.

Of course sexy blonde females weren’t the only larger than life heroes in the jungle comics lore. In Jan. 1940 Fiction House launched the appropriately titled, Jungle Comics and on its very first cover it feature a male Adonis with blond hair named Kaanga, Lord of the Jungle. This yellow haired Tarzan clone would be the book’s main feature throughout its entire life culminating with its final issue, # 163 appearing the summer of 1954. Whereas in this series it was the buffed Kaanga who was the blond, then it seemed natural that his own lovely vine-swinging mate in a leopard bikini sport long raven colored tresses ala Jane Russell. Like the other pre-code titles, violence ran rampant on the covers of Jungle Comics. One has an arrow piercing through the chest of a native warrior as shot by Kaanga in the background as the villain was about to stab the Jungle Lord’s mate. Not for the squeamish and faith of heart were these grand and glorious four color mags.

The second half of this volume is devoted to two of Fiction House’s most popular titles ever. Planet Comics was the first such ever devoted solely to sci-fi and from 1940 through to the winter of 1954, it published some truly amazing covers that are highly sought after by collectors today. Featured where many scantily clad ladies firing ray-blasters at all kinds of alien bug-eyed creatures. Some of the more popular ongoing series features within its pages were Space Rangers, Lost World and Mysta of the Moon. Along with the previously mentioned golden age artists, Planet Comics also showcased the early efforts of the great Murphy Anderson.

And finally, this amazing treasure trove ends with the complete covers of Wings, another Fiction House title that had begun its life as a popular aviation pulp and morphed into a very successful comic. It featured some truly dramatic air-combat scenarios and naturally during the war years, each pitted brave allied pilots against either German or Japanese fliers. Skull Squad was a recurring strip along with Captain Wings and Phantom Falcon. After the war, the antagonists battled by these stalwart heroes were mostly Commies. It’s also interesting to point out that during the war years, few females appeared on its covers but after 1946, more and more, in typical “good girl” cheesecake fashion were featured. Obviously with peace time, it was once again okay to ogle a shapely leg, even if the poor lass was falling through the sky at the time.

How Todd Frye manages to find and reproduce these hundreds of wonderful comic book covers is truly a wonder and we fans are the richer for his Herculean efforts. “Jungle Queens and Space Rangers : The Complete Comic Book Covers Vol. 1” should be in every serious collector’s library. Mine now rest on my shelves where we plan to pick it up again and again just to flip through those pages and soak in the fun that was the Golden Age.  You will too.

TARZAN - The Greystoke Legacy Under Seige

TARZAN

The Greystoke Legacy Under Siege

By Ralph N. Laughlin & Ann E. Johnson

ERB Inc.

301 pages

Most fans of my generation will have first been introduced to Tarzan of the Apes via the movies beginning with arguably the most successful of them all, “Tarzan the Ape Man” starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan. It of course wasn’t the first cinematic portrayal of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fantastic hero but again, clearly the most recognizable and economically successful up to that point in the character’s history. From that one movie would come many sequels to keep an ever growing audience entertained and such actors as Lex Barker, Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney and Mike Henry would pick up the vine swinging action. This stretch extended from the mid 1940s through to the 1960s and culminated with a highly successful weekly TV series starring Ron Ely.

Having been born a post-war baby in 1946, this was most of the exposure we were given and actually enjoyed until the age thirteen when we discovered the original Burroughs’ novels in paperback. You can well imagine our surprise on discovering the “original” character was far removed from the monosyllabic wild man portrayed by Weissmuller. Rather we were introduced to a remarkable human being who not only survived being raised by apes in the mysterious jungles of an untamed Africa, but also a brilliant intellect who, along with physical prowess, was able to teach himself to read and ultimately master half a dozen languages. We learned he was heir to a vast British fortune; his real name was John Clayton and eventually, as the saga played out, would ultimately claim his title and the vast amount of wealth that accompanied.

We’ll also hazard that most of you reading this review will have read many of those classics plus other pastiches, some good, some not so good, offered up by various authors over the years. Which brings us to this current series being produced by ERB, Inc. under the umbrella title of “The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rices Burroughs” with this title kicking off Series # 4.

The story takes place in the 1980s and deftly mixes fiction with reality. Authors Laughlin and Johnson immediately establish the Clayton Clan as existing among four generations. There is Tarzan and Jane, their son Korak and his wife Meriem, their son Jackie and his wife Irene and their son Jonathan (Jon) Clayton. Jon is one of the primary plot drivers in the adventure, as it is his desire to follow in his great-grandather’s footsteps that leads us through his ordeals throughout the book. At the same time one of Tarzan’s oldest enemies reaches out from beyond the grave to attack his family both in Africa and in London where the estate’s billion dollar Trust is managed by Jackie. A physical assault is directed at the Claytons’ beautiful African plantation at the exact same time that spurious charges of treason and illegal financial dealings are leveled at the Trust.

And as if this double assault wasn’t vicious enough, Korak’s dear friend, gorilla specialist and advocate, Diane Fossey, is brutally murdered in her jungle home and the blame is directed at Korak.

This book is a brilliantly conceived extension of all that Burroughs created during his career, expanding on these marvelous characters in such a fresh and original way while maintining their authentic personalities throughout. Thus Jon Clayton, as the new generation, becomes the central lynchpin upon which the adventure barrel forwards and to its credit never once is muddled as its various subplots alternate taking center stage.

Each of the Claytons comes to life within these pages as never before and the central theme of family and loyalty to such is a powerful one skillfully employed.

“Tarzan – The Grestoke Legacy Under Siege,” is a terrific book and one every Tarzan fan, young and old, should pick up and add to their library.  As for this reviewer, all we can say is that we are eagerly awaiting the next chapter in this exciting new series.

ROUGH RIDERS Vol # 1

ROUGH RIDERS

A Graphic Novel

By Adam Glass - Writer

Patrick Olliffe - Artist

A Graphic Novel

Gabe Eltaeb - Colorist

Sal Cipriano - Letterer

Mike Harris – Editor

Collects the first 7 issue of regular series.

It has been a while since my subject was a graphic novel and as most of you readers know, that doesn’t happen often. We reserve only the best of the best such comics for this column. Meaning quite simply, this is one of the finest graphic novels we’ve ever enjoyed in a life time of reading comics.

For nearly ten years now we’ve argued that the finest comics work being produced in America today is coming from the independents. Both DC and Marvel long ago gave up the ghost in regards to doing comics for comics’ sake, becoming the tails of their corporate owners who keep them around (demanding no major changes ever) simply to maintain the copyrights on their characters for the purposes of movies, toys and whatever other merchandising potentials they can mine. Ergo, the comics reader surviving on the big two alone, is basically digesting the same old pablum over and over and over again. It’s baby-food, people. Nothing more.

Whereas when you have a writer like Adam Glass with a genuine love of history and allow him to make that the basis from which to create a fantastical adventure, then anything is possible. And that’s exactly the sense of wonder that permeates this series. What if Teddy Roosevelt was a bonafide action hero and was charged by the financial moguls of the time to go to Cuba and investigate the sinking of the U.S. Maine? And what if that sinking wasn’t perpetrated by Spanish terrorist looking to strike back at the U.S., but a third party with deeper, world shattering goals? Realizing this mission is beyond the scope of one man, Roosevelt proceeds to assemble his own special team consisting of four amazing individuals.

In this unit is the incredible new stage magician, Harry Houdini, the electrical Wizard of Menlo Park, Thomas Edison, soon-to-be champion prize fighter Jack Johnson and finally, adding a dash of feminine dazzle and energy, the one and only little Miss Sure Shot, Annie Oakley. Together, Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” travel to Cuba with the military expeditionary forces and under the guise of being part of that military operation, seek out the real villainy at work on that tropical island.

Glass is a master of pacing and knows how to keep his tale moving forward while ingeniously injecting personal moments that reveal each hero’s torturous past and what has led them to this particular point in time…and history. It’s a terrific story from start to finish and deserved only the best in artwork.  Veteran craftsman Patrick Olliffe delivers that and then some. He elevates Glass tale to a higher level by delivering visuals so beautiful and dramatic, each page is a jewel of artwork that propels the reader at the same time entertaining them. His layouts and and compositions are old school, and we say that in the most reverential way. This is classic comics delivered with sequential grace and blends so effortlessly with the script it would be inconceivable to imagine this book without either element. And there’s the magic of comics.

And let’s not forget the deft colors of Gabe Elteab and expert lettering of Sal Capriano. The older we become, the more we’ve learned that great lettering is in fact what takes two vastly different sensibilities and brings them together flawlessly into something singular, i.e. the letterer makes it a comic book. Period.

In the end it’s been a long, long time since we’ve truly relished a comic adventure this much.  “Rough Riders” is brilliant, genius, fun…and every other positive adjective one can whip up. Please, if you truly love comics, pick it up a copy now. You can thank us later.

RV

 

RV

By Keith Suek

Self-published

244 pgs.

Being a book reviewer can at times be a maddening challenge with absolutely no rhyme or reason. Keith Suek, who hails from Wyoming, sent us his book, RV, after meeting us at a comic convention in Cheyenne. In the accompanying letter, he mentioned not getting any response via Amazon and hoping a review from us would help shake things up. Well, we have no idea if that will happen, but then again we do know the damn book did in fact shake us up…radically.

It is almost impossible to accurately review because no matter how we approach it, there is the reality we’ll be leaving behind negative conations in what we are about to say. So, dear readers of good, solid action fiction take what we say with a huge grain of salt…and be wary. Keith Suek is not a bad writer at all. In fact, underneath the editorial mess this book is, we truly believe there exist a very talented storyteller. So, before going much further in this review, let’s talk story.

The American/Mexican border. An oilman named Ian D’eath teams up with a Border Patrolman named Hector Munoz to take on a deadly drug cartel called the Arana. These South of the Border thugs are merciless and have no qualms in killing whoever stands in the way of their making money; be it flooding the country with illegal drugs, kidnapping young teenage American girls and selling them to Arab millionaires or cutting up Mexican natives from the hills to sell their body parts. Again, as we said, these are really bad hombres that Ian and Hector have, through various life choices, found themselves opposing. When they learned of six recently snatched girls, they put together a posse of their own, cross over into Mexico and attempt to rescue them.

The bullets fly fast and furious as Suek obviously knows his firearms and is not the least be squeamish in describing what hot lead of various calibers will do to the human body. There are parts in this book that read like masochistic poetry, the violence is so in your face. On this front, as a pure, unadulterated actioner, RV is like a racing Grayhound that has broken its leash and escape. The pages almost turn themselves.

So what’s the problem? The problem is no page in this entire book ever saw the scrutiny of an editor, pro or amateur. The book is a grammatical nightmare filled with so many typos, and punctuation sins that they mimic the shells spitting from the weapons in the story. It’s as if Suek can’t be bothered with that bread of his sandwich and just wants to get to the slice bologna between it. All well and good for the author, but not so for the hapless reader who opens that cover.

We truly wish we could give this book nothing but high marks, but that wouldn’t be fair to our readers who expect a modicum of polish in a published book. Maybe RV is in itself what is good and what is bad about today’s self-publishing market. On one hand, Suek was able to get his manuscript in print…on the other hand, it got into print as a mess and that is unacceptable.  Final word here.  Kevin Suek, you know how to write…find an editor on-line and pay them to work with you. You have so much potential, don’t let it go to waste.