A LITTLE R & R

Dear faithful readers, please bear with me while I do a little Rest & Recuperation. I was in the hospital all of last week for a little lung surgery. No worries, I came through with flying colors. Now I'm home healing, and hope to get back to reading, and reviews, as soon as possible. Thanks
ever, Ron.

ZERO COOL

ZERO COOL
By John Lange
Hard Case Crime
221 pages

In reading through this excellent thriller, I couldn’t help but bemoan the fact that filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock, is no longer with us. This would have been a terrific book for him to translate to film. ZERO COOL has all the elements of a classic Hitchcock experience. The protagonist is an educated, professional who inadvertently is sucked into a criminal enterprise and against his will, soon finds himself the target of several groups all intent upon bringing about his demise.

Radiologist, Peter Ross, is on a much needed vacation in southern Spain when he’s approached by a mysterious group of men to perform an autopsy on a body that has to be shipped to the United States for burial. Ross does his best to put them off, but when they threaten him, he relinquishes and performs the illegal procedure. Illegal because he is told to put a wrapped package into the cadaver’s chest before sewing it shut. Now he knows these criminals are attempting to smuggle an unknown object into the states.

Again, classic Hitchcock, in that whatever the mystery object is exactly is completely unimportant to the story as its very existence as a plot device to endanger our protagonist is only real purpose of being there. Soon poor Dr. Ross finds himself, beaten, shanghaied to Paris where meets another group of unsavory characters and then once again returned to Spain for shady adventures. All the while accompanied by a beautiful woman who, because of their flirtatious tryst, finds herself entangled in his dilemma.

ZERO COOL is a really fun thriller that has its share of surprises and twists, all done with a deft hand that never allows the pacing to lag. By the book’s finale, in a rather well known Spanish landmark, another nod to Mr. Hitchcock, I had been thoroughly entertained from start to finish. What more can you want from any book?

SPACE VULTURE

SPACE VULTURE
By Gary K. Wolf &
Archbishop John J. Myers
Tor Books
327 pages

When people ask me why, after a life time of reading, I still enjoy it so much, I am never hard pressed to answer them. All I have to do is hand them a book like this one. Born in 1946, I grew up in the 50s, when newspapers still carried the Flash Gordon strip and early television was offering up classic science fiction adventure melodramas like Tom Corbett; Space Cadet, Captain Midnight and Commando Cody; Sky Marshall of the Universe. It was a rich time for any kid with a vivid imagination.

Keep in mind this was not what fans would call “hard” science fiction that was being practiced by the likes of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein. Nope, this was pure, unadulterated space opera on a grand scale; the kind George Lucas would return to amazing popularity in the 70s with his debut of the Star Wars saga.

SPACE VULTURE harkens back to those early days when heroes were chiseled jaw, noble and always ready to come the rescue and villains were dastardly scoundrels capable of the most monstrous acts without blinking an eye. Such is the culprit in this wonderful, exuberant adventure. Space Vulture considers himself the epitome of the human race. He is the handsomest, smartest, most talented individual ever born and by that irrefutable logic, he should be the supreme ruler of the universe. Petty laws made for lesser beings should not impede his efforts towards that lofty goal and they don’t. He robs, pillages and destroys to his heart’s content, completely oblivious to the suffering he causes others.

When Space Vulture, and his zombie soldiers, raid a small farming colony on the fringes of the galactic empire, he not only nets hundreds of healthy, fit men and women to sell in the slave markets of unscrupulous worlds, he also, by sheer accident, captures his most ardent nemesis, Marshal Captain Victor Corsaire, the most famous and successful lawman known throughout the stars. Also among his prize catch is the beautiful widowed foreman of the colony, Cali Russell. By some quick thinking, Cali manages to hide her two sons, eleven year old Eliot and seven year old Regin, so that when the Space Vulture lifts off with his human cargo, they are left behind, still free.

The boys soon discover the insidious villain has left one other behind, a small time space con-artist and thief, Gil Terry. Terry’s only desire, having somehow managed to escape the Vulture’s clutches, is to find a spaceship and go his way, having no problem deserting the two helpless boys to whatever fate awaits them. Unfortunately for Terry, the boys aren’t as helpless and he believes and they trick him into accompanying them on a mission to find the Space Vulture and rescue their mother.

The book is filled with non-stop action and adventure as the boys, with the supposedly heartless Terry, manage to overcome and survive one disaster after another while chasing after the Space Vulture. With each new victory, the thief’s stoic nature slowly begins to thaw as he gradually comes to care for these likeable lads and against all his criminal rationale, he actually finds himself becoming their true ally and protector.

Meanwhile, aboard the Space Vulture’s magnificent spaceship, Cali and Captain Corsaire join forces to plot their own escape and somehow find a way to thwart the Vulture’s plans. In the process, Corsaire, a man dedicated to lady justice, begins to recognize in Cali Russell and exceptional woman as she stirs strange, new emotions in his lonely heart.

Believe me when I say Wolf and Myers pull out all the stops here and have woven a grand tale destined to be a hailed as a classic in the genre. It is bold in its unsophisticated narration, painted with the broadest strokes imaginable, yet deftly giving us characters so true to life, they become real from the moment you meet them. I love space operas and SPACE VULTURE is one of the finest I have ever read. It deserves to win awards, but more importantly, to find a huge audience, as I’m sure it will. Do not miss this one, that would be the biggest crime of all!!

NO QUARTER

NO QUARTER
By Everette Bell
Creative Guy Publishing
52 pages

NO QUARTER is gritty short story. It calls itself a novella and is printed as a chapter book, but with only 52 short pages, it is really a short story. Having said that, it is one hell of a terrific, in your teeth explosion of drama and violence that displays a very strong writing talent. Three men rob a bank, killing several people in the process and then attempt to flee in a stolen vehicle. They are stopped by the cops and forced to take shelter in a tattoo parlor, where once again they unleash a storm of cold blooded violence.

Ace is the punk of the trio, wanting to get to this brother and apologize for turning his sister-in-law into a crack whore. Cuz is the white giant who simply wants to inflict as much pain as he can before he is gunned down. Finally there’s the black man, Juice, who although educated, sees his life as tragedy predetermined by the fates long before he committed his first misdemeanor.

Opposing them is veteran police sergeant James, himself a tough, professional with no illusions about life and the great beyond. James takes the bad with the good and in his confrontation with the three desperate killers, arrives at his own moment of truth.

NO QUARTER is a hard slap to the face that entertains more than its slim package would suggest. Sadly it comes and goes like so much fast food, leaving the reader truly hungry for much, much more. Bell should be honing those storytelling muscles and tackling novels. He has a lot to offer crime fans. Let’s hope he realizes his own potential soon.

NO QUARTER is available on-line at (http://www.creativepublishinguy.com)

SEASON OF THE WITCH

SEASON OF THE WITCH
By Natasha Mostert
New American Library
395 pages

Before getting into the review of this book, I have to take a minute and applaud Carla Bolte and Spring Hoteling. Who are they? They are the extremely talented designers who made this book so beautiful. We bibliophiles don’t only to read books, we also appreciate the very objects themselves and are fully aware of the tasks involved in producing a product that is pleasing to the eye. The moment I pulled this book out of its package, my breath caught in my throat. So beautiful was the cover, its colors, fonts and over-all design composition, I simply held it for a few minutes appreciating the true skills of its designers. Take a bow, Bolte & Hoteling, you do exceptional work and I’m sure because of it, lots of people are compelled to pick this book off the store shelves and take a closer look. That is, after all, what book covers are for.

Gabriel Blackstone is an industrial thief who uses the latest wireless computer technology to steal. His best friend is a geek hacker named Isadore and the two of them have a lucrative business going for themselves in the heart of modern day London. People from various scientific and financial companies are their primary clients, as all of them are willing to pay large amounts to know what their competitors are doing. It is a colorful, if often times boring, life and Gabriel is most content with it.

He is not at all happy when the wealthy husband of a former lover approaches him with the request to find his missing son. Gabriel wants nothing to with the man or his offer. Within days of turning him down, he is visited by the man’s wife, his former paramour. It is through her we are informed that Gabriel is a gifted psychic who, at one time, worked for a special organization using extra-sensory abilities to help the police. During a kidnap case, Gabriel refused to use his talent and a young woman was brutally killed before the police could track down her abductor. Blaming himself for her death, Gabriel left the group and ceased using his gift. Now, Frankie, his lost love, wants him to use that talent in finding her missing stepson and Gabriel, still harboring feelings for her, reluctantly acquiesces to her request.

Here the story moves into the realm of an arcane, erotic thriller. It seems Robbie, the lost youth, was last seen in the company of two wealthy and beautiful sisters who consider themsevles witches. Upon meeting them, Gabriel is instantly mesmerized by their sensual graces, their quick intellects and their bravura joie de vivre. As he delves deeper into their mysterious lives, he soon learns that the young man he is seeking is dead, drowned by one of the sisters. But which one? And why? Then, as if that wasn’t enough of a puzzled, Gabriel is attacked psychically and the entire matter takes on horrific implications. His sexy unknown advisory is capable of killing with her mind!

As a writer, Mostert is wonderful at building a very deceptive pacing that seems leisurely. Her choice of words and descriptive passages paint complete atmospheres that captive the reader and pull us into the world of the two sisters. Yet each scene seems to come along like a literary freight train, each moving swiftly towards a taunt, gripping duel that takes place in ever shifting realm of pure thought. Her characters are well drawn and believable, enough to earn the reader’s empathy from the start and to elicit emotional investment.

This is a one powerful, highly entertaining novel that I will remember for a long, long time. If you enjoy tales of modern witchcraft and fantasy, look no further. SEASON OF THE WITCH is your cup of herbal tea.

VALLEY OF EVIL

VALLEY OF EVIL
A Wraith Adventure
By Frank Dirscherl
Coscom Entertainment
162 pages.

In the past five years there has been a tremendous resurgence in pulp fiction centering on the old heroic pulps. Young writers have started taking up the mantle of old masters like
Walter Gibson and Lester Dent and begun creating their own avengers in tales of genuine purple prose. Among the best of this new generation of wordsmiths is Australian, Frank Dirscherl and the exploits of his modern pulp paladin, the Wraith.

VALLEY OF EVIL is the second novel detailing the crusade of this macabre vigilante against the criminal forces that threaten the good citizens of Metro City. In his first adventure, the Wraith battled a mysterious fiend named the Cobra and vanquished him soundly. As this second adventure begins, a new threat arises even deadlier and more insidious. Someone has created a plague of epic proportions and randomly unleashed it. Thousands are dying in the streets of the city and officials are powerless to stop it. Enter the Wraith and his two devoted allies, Max, his mechanic and genius inventor, and Leena, his gutsy girlfriend, who knows no fear when fighting by his side.

As the plot moves along, the Wraith discovers the villain behind the plague is none other than the beautiful Natalya Blackova, the Cobra’s chief aide, along with his former enforcer, the deadly Magnus Khan. Now it is up to the Wraith to find Blackova and Khan and stop them before they destroy the city he has sworn to protect.

Of all the classic heroes, Dirscherl clearly emulates the action-packed tales of the Spider and chronicled by the late Norvell Page, as his plots are always bombastic, over-the-top disasters where the body counts add up faster than the average reader can keep count. The atmosphere is moody, the action relentless and the villains always meet the fates they deserve at the hands of our warrior hero. VALLEY OF EVIL is no exception and wonderfully carries on this pulp tradition without reservation.

My singular quibble with the Wraith adventures is they occur in modern times and that is always an awkward fit, a 1930s hero operating in today’s computer saturated environment. Note, the pulps were never about logic and most of them ignored mountain size plot holes for the sake of action and melodrama. In reading a pulp, you accepted these flaws for the benefit of the ride. The Wraith’s setting just make that road a bit bumpier than it should be. It’s a venial sin I’m all too happy to forgive in lieu of Dircsherl’s writing. This is grand pulp!

TWO BY GIL BREWER

A DEVIL FOR O’SHAUGNESSY
& THE THREE-WAY SPLIT
Two mysteries by Gil Brewer
Stark House Press
286 pages.

If you, like me, enjoy good, crime fiction, then allow me to point you in the direction of Stark House Press. Here you will find some of the finest mysteries and pulp noir thrillers ever penned by the masters of the genre. Stark House specializes in reprinting long lost classics in thick, wonderfully designed volumes that are jammed packed with good stuff. Each, such as this particular title, contains two complete novels by a particular writer, essays on his life and career and occasionally a short story or two to complete the package. When I wrote editor/publisher, Greg Shepard, last year requesting to be put on their reviewers list, I had no idea the first book he would send me would be such a gem.

Tolbert O’Shaugnessy is a con man. The trouble is he is not a very good one. O’Shaugnessy has a conscience, a real liability in the grifting game. He also has a weakness for alcohol, which tends to aggravate his delicate stomach, and another for beautiful women which almost gets him killed.

At the start of the book, O’Shaugnessy has been romancing Miriam Kindott, a sexy socialite who lives with her wealthy grandmother. His plan is to romance as much of that money from her as he can. It’s a good plan, but unfortunately for O’Shaugnessy, Miriam is two steps ahead of him and hires a private eye to look into his background. When she shows him the report detailing his checkered past to include a stay in the Colorado State Prison, he figures his ticket has been punched. But exposing him for the sake of ending their association is not Miriam’s intent. She likes the fact that O’Shaugnessy is a grifter because she wants him to help her murder Old Lady Kindott and inherit all her wealth.

Many years ago the old woman had a grandson, one Joe Lancaster, who at the age of eight was taken away to live overseas with his father. Except for a few letters over the ensuing years, the boy then disappeared. Grandma Kindott never forgot him and he is the sole recipient of her will. From the same investigator, Miriam has discovered that Lancaster died in England and she wants O’Shaugnessy to impersonate him to get into the old woman’s good graces. Once securely a member of the household, they would murder her, make it look like an accident and together run off with the inheritance.

It sounds simple enough, but O’Shaugnessy is a crook, not a killer. Although he allows Miriam to recruit him in this deadly con, he has nothing but reservations from the moment he comes to live at the Kindott mansion. There he meets Grandma’s beautiful secretary, Ann Elliot, and learns the old lady has a wild South American monkey named Gargantua as a household pet, believing it to be possessed with the spirit of her dead husband. If that wasn’t screwy enough, within a day of moving into the estate, O’Shaugnessy discovers a dead body hidden the basement. The identity of that corpse and its connection to his presence there all begin to crowd in on the reluctant con man. Events begin to spin wildly out of control and he soon begins to suspect he’s the real patsy in a much deadlier game.

A DEVIL FOR O’SHAUGNESSY is expertly written and effortlessly pulls the reader along, with enough twist and turns to keep things interesting. There’s even a very nice, completely rational surprise ending that I enjoyed a great deal. After this, the book showcases three of Brewer’s nasty short stories. My favorite was easily “Love…and Luck,” but each is a gem and wonderful bonus in this collection. It is followed by the second novel.

THE THREE WAY SPLIT tells the story of Jack Holland, a down and out guy who barely makes a living chartering his fishing boat out of Tampa, Florida to rich and bored tourists from the north. On one particular excursion, Jack is forced to dive into the clear waters of the gulf to retrieve a necklace that has fallen from the neck of one of his drunken passengers. In doing so he discovers the wreck of an old sailing ship, the type known to have carried valuable cargos of gold and silver.

Upon his return to his slip, Jack is anxious to tell two people about his amazing discovery. The first is Sally, the girl he loves and hopes to marry and the second is an old sailor named Mike Wales who is expert on ancient wrecks and diving. But his plans are suddenly knocked askew when his con man father, Sam, shows up with mob killers hot on his tail. When the old man learns of the sunken treasure, he muscles himself into the deal, much to Jack’s displeasure. Jack can sense his father’s involvement will lead to no good and his instincts prove correct when a hit man arrives on the scene. Murder follows and Jack’s dreams of a big strike become a nightmare that threatens to destroy him and the woman he loves.

Brewer was a skilled craftsman and he builds suspense slowly and deliberately, leading the reader down an unavoidable path of doom that is the hallmark of classic noir. His characters are flawed, desperate and always believable. That he is considered one of the finest crime writers of his generation is no surprise, it is a title he truly deserved as these two books clearly demonstrate.

So there you have it, two terrific novels and three shorts, all wrapped up like a nice noir gift between two covers. Do yourself a big favor, go to (www.starkhousepress.com/), find this book and check out all the other great titles available there. Tell them Fortier sent you.

JOURNEY OF THE GUN

JOURNEY OF THE GUN
By Van Cort
Berkley Medallion
158 pages

This book was published in 1966 and sold for all of fifty cents, most likely off some drugstore spin rack. What kind of route did it travel through time and through how many different hands before it reached mine? The answer to the last part is simple enough,
my fellow reviewer, Troy “Doc” Holaday found this somewhere, read it and then sent it along to yours truly. But not before registering it on-line at Bookcrossing.com. More about that after I’ve reviewed this really terrific western drama.

Clay Rand is a young 19 year old out west to seek his fortune. At the offset he gets in with cattle rustlers and the book opens with Clay and his new found friends about to be hanged for this attempted crime. For reasons unknown to him, the foreman of the lynching party spares Rand’s life and lets him go with a warning. Days later, while traveling alone and still emotionally numb from his brush with death, Rand meets up with a savvy outlaw named Connie Blackwell who imparts a little frontier advice to the boy and gives him one of his extra hand guns. From that point on Clay Rand’s life is buffeted by outside forces and he soon finds himself using that outlaw gun to survive.

Gaining a reputation as a gunslinger, Rand is soon the object of much interest amongst town politicians, ranchers and even the local sheriff. Being handy with a six iron is a marketable talent, he soon discovers. Still, how long before an even faster gun comes along and ends his troubled life? Cort writes an adult story and is very authentic in his portrayal of the burgeoning west with its many complexities, challenges and dangers. In the end, Rand’s journey is very much of self discovery and he is a better person for it. This is an excellent read and if you can find a dog-eared copy in some used book shop, I recommend it highly.

Bookcrossing is an organization made up of thousands of readers from all over the world who enjoy sharing books back and forth. The process is simple enough. Once you’ve registered at their site (www.bookcrossing.com) you can list a book, give it a specific identification number, which you then paste somewhere on the book, usually the inside front cover. Then merely send it to someone else and allow them to read it and do the same, after logging on and leaving their own comments or reviews. This is referred to as Read & Release. I’ve yet to decide who I’m going to send JOURNEY OF A GUN to, so if you’d like to have some fun with this, by all means drop me a line.

MIDNIGHT MASS

MIDNIGHT MASS
By F. Paul Wison
Tor Books
403 pages

One of my favorite horror movies of all times is Bela Lugosi’s DRACULA and it’s sequel, DRACULA’S DAUGHTER. While growing up I was always fascinated and scared silly by the idea of undead creatures ruling the night and drinking the blood of others. When Hammer Films came along in the 60s with Christopher Lee inheriting the role of the Transylvanian Count, there was a distinct erotic element added to the tradition which I didn’t mind as long as the vile nature of the monster remained. Oh, sure, he could gloss himself over to ensnare unsuspecting humans who were his prey, but in the end he was still that same disgusting, horrible creature with absolutely no mercy within his cold, dead heart.

Thus it is no surprise that I fell in love with Stephen King’s modern take on the entire vampire myth in his absolutely marvelous epic, SALEM’S LOT. That an entire small New England town, like the one I grew up in, could be taken over systematically by the undead totally awed and scared me at the same time. Then came Robert McCammon’s THEY THIRST and he took this same conceit up a notch when he had the vampires overwhelm Los Angeles and rule over it with their unquenchable blood lust.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I was not all that happy with the advent of Anne Rice and her sissified version of the undead. No offense, but these things she modeled after 19^th Century Romance novels were not the cruel, decadent, rotting monsters I’d come to know and relish. It seemed for a while, thanks to the popularity of her work, that we would never see the true horror of vampires again. Was I ever wrong, and gratefully so.

MIDNIGHT MASS by F. Paul Wilson is a glorious, gory return to the nightmares of King and McMcCammon in a rather logic progression of their masterpieces. In this grim and dark thriller, the undead have not only captured mere villages or cities, but most of the known world. They have swept over and conquered all of Europe, Asia and England.

When the book opens they have crossed the Atlantic and begun their assault on America, quickly winning most of the East Coast to include their new headquarters, New York City. With this foothold established, it is only a matter of time, something they have an endless supply of, before they completely subjugate the entire continent.

Into this world devoid of any hope, Wilson introduces us to a determined Rabbi, a vigilante, bomb-making nun, a lesbian revolutionist and a gung ho Catholic priest named Joe Cahill. Together they form the nucleus of the first real opposition to this new Vampire Nation. Against all odds, with faith, courage and good healthy dose of righteous anger, these four set about reclaiming their desecrated church from the foul hands of the devil’s minions. From this one battle, which Father Cahill appropriately likens to the Alamo, these four dare all in hopes of igniting a spark among those humans still alive but afraid to stand up and fight. That they succeed and what happens next when the vampire overlords retaliate had me turning pages late into the night. MIDNIGHT MASS is an awesome experience and now takes its place on my library shelf beside SALEM’S LOT and THEY THIRST as one of the finest vampire thrillers ever written. Thanks, F. Paul Wilson for restoring my faith in monsters.

WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST

WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST
By William C. Dietz
Ace Books
342 pages

Several pages into this sci-fi military adventure, I found myself comparing the plot two of my favorite war movies; The Bridge on the River Kwai, and the recently made, The Great Raid. Elements from both are borrowed in this tale of futuristic warfare, heroism and self-sacrifice. The book is part of a series labeled The Legion of the Damned, but none of the previous chapters are needed to appreciate and enjoy this one.

In this future, mankind is part of union known as the Confederacy of Sentient Beings and is at war with a bug-like race known as the Ramanthians. Good sci-fi military books require traditional set pieces to be effective, among these are large scale outer space battles. When All Seems Lost opens with a dandy. The Ramanthians have managed to deploy an ambush around a known hyper-space exit point and when Confederacy warships begin appearing, they brutally decimate them one after the other. Aboard the flagship of this doomed fleet is none other than the President of the Confederacy and as his ship comes under fire, it looks like he will either be killed or captured by bugs; the latter course much more damaging to the Confederacy. As a high level prisoner, the President could be used by the enemy to extort certain concessions from the administration, concessions that would prove extremely harmful to the war effort.

Then, at the last minute, a savvy diplomatic assistant suggest disguising the President’s identity from their captors. This would allow him to go undetected among the other POWs until a hopeful rescue mission could be launched. The President agrees to the subterfuge and orders the captain of the ship to surrender. Thus begins the ordeal of the Confederate survivors. They soon find themselves on a harsh, hot and humid jungle planet and put to work aiding the Ramanthians in building a space elevator. Which is where the similarities to the Bridge on the River Kwai come into play.

Back in the 1980s, comic book writer Chuck Dixon wrote a sci-fi war series for Marvel comics called, Alien Legion. The idea was to imagine an organization created on the model of the French Foreign Legion, which was made up of rogues and villains from all nationalities and became one of the most fearsome fighting forces the world has ever known. Dietz works that same idea in this series and the primary hero of this mission is Legionnaire Captain Antonio Santana, who is asked to lead a suicide rescue made up of inmates from a Confederate military prison. So you can say he even throws in a little bit of the Dirty Dozen for good measure.

To say this book has it all would be a gross understatement. Good and evil cyborg warriors, alien politics on a grand Machiavellian scale, and episodes of gut wrench bravery as the POWs fight with their hearts and minds to protect their leader and at the same time sabotage the enemy’s goals. The pacing is brisk and never lets up and the characters so wonderfully etched that I came to care for them and their fates. The battle sequences are powerful and effective and the book races its way to a completely satisfying climax. This was my first meeting with Dietz’s Legion of the Damned, but you’d better believe, it won’t be my last. Hooyah!!

PARAGAEA

PARAGAEA
By Chris Roberson
Pyr Books
393 pages

Hold on to your hats! When you open this book you are in for a rip-roaring, old fashion adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burrough’s planet stories. Like John Carter of Mars, Soviet Cosmonaut, Akilina (Leena) Mikhailovna Chirikova finds herself deposited on the strange world of Paragaea after being sent through a worm hole. No sooner does she arrive then she is captured by mutated jaguar men and then just as quickly rescued by an Englishman named Heironymous Bonaventure of the Royal Navy. He served during the Napoleonic Wars and is also a refugee from Earth. He is accompanied by powerful black jaguar man named Balam, a deposed prince seeking to regain his crown.

Under Bonaventure’s guidance and tutelage, Leena reluctantly accepts her fate but is determined to find another inter-dimensional gateway that will take her back to her own world and time.

The three begin a danger filled journey across Paragaea where they encounter all kinds of creatures, travel in a magnificent aiship and ally themselves with an immortal android named Benu who may have the answers they seek. Their quest is a lively action filled romp that I enjoyed to the max and was sorry to reach the end all too quickly. It does end with several unresolved plots that I hope will be handled in forthcoming sequels. Heironymous, Leena and Balam are three of the best adventure heroes ever created and I’m so happy to have made their acquaintance. It’s an experience I’d like to repeat and soon. So will you.

VACATION

VACATION
By Jeremy C. Shipp
Raw Dog Screaming Press
158 pages

Beware of books that make you think too much. The end result being a headache. VACATION by Jeremy Shipp supposedly has a plot but calling it that is like saying the trail through the woods behind your house is a really a super highway. The so called story here is really a gimmick to play with your mind. And that it does in every conceivable way possible.

When I came home from Vietnam in 1968 I was shoved into college by an adult friend who wanted me to get an education. The cultural shock of college life following immediately on the heels of Army life was mind-boggling to say the least and somehow I ended up a philosophy major. Ha. Until I got in my Volkswagon Beetle two years later, drove off campus and never looked back.

So what’s all this have to do with Shipp’s book. Nothing, except every now and then the mind can become constipated. Consider the million bits of data that bombard it daily and the task it has to filter through all of that to shape reality. When giving blood at local Red Cross Drives, I was made to believe that depleting the body’s blood by a pint was a positive thing as it forced it to make more, newer cells. Likewise books like VACATION are very much a strong enema that sweeps through the attic of one’s mind like a strong, fresh and clean wind. Bringing it with a much needed sweeping out of the old.

This is a book about ideas and it is not for everyone. Believe me, if you enjoy traditional stories that have a clear and lucid beginning, middle and end, avoid VACATION like the very plague. It truly is not for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy having your intellect stimulated, shaken up and toyed with in a deft, literate fashion (Shipp can write, make no mistake on that front), then I urge you to find this little gem and have at it. You may be just as confused when you’ve finished it as I was. But you also may be tickled pink with the mental adventure of it all.

CREEPERS

CREEPERS
By David Morrell
CDS Books
356 pages

As a child, the street I lived on had an abandoned railroad spur that cut across the border of an old factory yard and came to an end next to deserted concrete block building. Now, as an old thinking back on its shape and design, I’d guess it had once functioned as some kind of transformer power station, controlling the various tracks. But by the time I was ten, it was nothing but an empty structure, its guts long ago ripped out leaving behind a bizarre concrete shell that was a irresistible magnate to every kind within a two block radius.

Situated at the bottom of a hillside depression, the raise railroad platform virtually hid the blockhouse from view to those people in the big factory or on the street passing by. Once I, and my brothers, and pals discovered it, we spent many summer hours in, around and stop that place. Sometimes I would have most of the gang meet me there after dinner, just as twilight was falling and we’d climb ten foot ladder, enter the dusty, junk cluttered interior, with its open portals, the glass having long been smashed and obliterated, and there, with a single flash-light in hand, I would sit and tell them ghost stories. That was almost fifty years ago and to this day, whenever I cross paths with one of the old gang still around, they will invariably mention our adventures in that old, abandoned power station.

I mention all this because I too was once a Creeper; the slang name given to today’s urban explorer. Urban explorers are people from all walks of life who are obsessed with investigating abandoned buildings, structures, tunnels and other architectural landmarks created by our fast moving societies. They imagine themselves time-travelers when exploring these long forgotten edifices. Today there are thousands of Creepers in all parts of the world and their adventures formed the idea behind this David Morrell thriller.

The grand Paragon Hotel, which for many years towered over the boardwalk of Ashbury Park, New Jersey, is scheduled to be demolished in two weeks. Having been bordered up over twenty years ago, the hotel, built in the shape of a pyramid, was the home of an eccentric, hermit millionaire. University Professor, Robert Conklin, has assembled a team of three former students and one tag-along reporter, to explore the darkened halls and rooms of this once luxurious resort and see what remains of its former glory. But once they managed to gain access to the building’s convoluted interior, they soon discover that there is a grotesque evil still residing amidst the silent corridors of the Paragon. It is a monstrous evil that does not welcome intruders and within only a few hours of their entry, Conklin and his team are in a frantic, desperate struggle for their very lives.

David Morrell is the finest thriller writer alive today and CREEPERS continues to support that claim. It is a flawless thriller that is so well written, the reader becomes mesmerized within the first few pages and then captured completely. Once you’ve reached the black heart of the Paragon Hotel, you’ll find yourself wanting to escape it as desperately Morrell’s characters and the climax can’t come fast enough. CREEPERS is a delicious experience and having enjoyed it, I doubt I will ever look at another abandoned building in quite the same way ever again.

A DIET OF TREACLE

A DIET OF TREACLE
By Lawrence Block
Hard Case Crime
205 pages

Welcome to Greenwich Village, New York, during the height of the “beat” movement. Anita Carbone is a bored college student who, like the rest of her generation, is repulsed by the American dream of surburbia, a nine to five job and two and a half kids. She doesn’t know what it is she wants, only what she doesn’t. Thus she hooks up with two pot-smoking hippies in the persons of Joe Milani and Shank Marsten. Shank supports the two by selling marijuana while Joe simply smokes weed and floats through his life.

When Shank is offered an opportunity to start pushing heroin, he grabs for it and soon is moving in faster, more lucrative circles. He begins to have dreams of big scores with even bigger rewards. All the while Joe and Anita are simply tagging along for the ride, unaware of how deep into the drug world Shank is leading them. In the end Shank’s house of cards falls apart and he resorts to violence to escape capture by the law. Soon all three of them are on the run with nowhere to go.

Block is a craftsman who builds characters precisely. He knows their motivations, or in this particular case, their lack of such, and he paints a sad picture of a lost generation struggling to find some worth in the world. By the books climax, Joe has to climb out of his mental fugue and get back into reality, or else become a piece of social flotsam forever adrift in a meaningless existence. First published in 1961, A DIET OF TREACLE is a look back in time well worth your attention.

DYING FOR DANA

DYING FOR DANA
By Jim Patton
Forge Books
316 pages

Max Travis is a tough as nails District Attorney whose personal life is a mess. He’s had two failed marriages and just can’t seem to connect with the right woman. Then within a period of two days his routine world is turned topsy-turvy by two supposedly unrelated events. The first is a home invasion at his friend’s place that goes tragically awry and leaves another pal shot and in a coma. The second is his accidental meeting of a sensational looking divorcee in his favorite bar only a day later. The hot blond, Dana Waverleigh, looks like she just came off a Penthouse centerfold and Max falls for her like the proverbial ton of bricks. From her immediate, sexual response, Dana seems to be feeling the same things and the two begin a highly charged affair.

Travis is at a place in his life where idea he may end up a cantankerous old bachelor seems to be evolving into a self-fulfilling prophecy. So much so that he overlooks the facts that Dana has two daughters from her past failed relationships. That should warning enough that there is something psychologically wrong with his new paramour. But the sex is great, the dream of making one relationship work is just too strong. Max soon finds himself lost in Dana’s charms.

When another horrible shooting occurs and ballistics matches the bullets to the gun used in the home invasion, clues begin to drop that Dana’s association with Max is not an accident of chance but there exist a tenuous connection to the drug-addled killer on the loose. Can the love-sick D.A. come to his senses before somebody else dies? Patton’s writing is crisp and concise with an economy of verbiage I found absolutely perfect for this kind of noir melodrama. He has an ear for dialogue that rings true and a bitter sweet sympathy for all his characters, whether good or evil.

DYING FOR DANA is a solid entry in the ranks of crime-fiction that I recommend it strongly. It’s a good read that completely satisfied me by the end.

UNQUIET DREAMS

UNQUIET DREAMS
By Mark Del Franco
Ace Books
292 pages
Available Feb.08

Imagine if you will that the world of fairies and elves and other assorted fantasy folks actually existed somewhere in another dimension along side our own. Now imagine that somehow that world and our own suddenly merged together into one truly weird reality and there you have the setting of Mark Del Franco’s fantasy series. In this world, which looks, sounds and feels like our own, all these fey creatures now reside right alongside normal humans. The day of merging is known by all as the Convergence and the fey people recall it with much melancholy as they were the ones uprooted from their familiar existence and thrust into ours without any warning.

It is many years since the Convergence and fey folk have learned to adapt and live in the human world, albeit with a silent, often antagonistic acceptance. Our hero, Connor Grey, a Druid born on Earth, is part of the new generation that has no memories or emotional connection to the old world. He lives in Boston and works helping the police on matters dealing with the fey community. His best friend is a tough, Irish detective named Murdock and they make an effective team, each deferring to the others strengths whenever on a case.

During an earlier investigation, Grey was nearly killed by a German Elf. When the Convergence occurred, it did not simply deposit all manner of fey beings so they could live harmoniously as one people. Far from it. Old hatreds and rivalries came along, such as the animosity between Celtic Fairies governed by the Guildhouse and the Teutonic Elves ruled over by the German based Consortium. It is one of these latter that attacks Grey, and although the villain fails to kill him, his eldritch assault somehow robs Grey of his druid powers. Now he has to adapt to a life without these skills and rely on his instincts to help Murdoch when something goes awry in Boston’s fey neighborhood.

When one of the leaders of the Consortium and a human teenage drug runner are both murdered on the same night only blocks away, Grey suspects the killings are somehow related. The Elf lord was a politic figure attempting to bring about unity between the Guildhouse and the Consortium. His brutal slaying by a Troll gang leader begins to stir up bad blood between the two factions until an all out magic war threatens to overrun the streets of Beantown. It is left to has-been Druid and a savvy human cop to unravel the mystery before that war erupts.

UNQUIET DREAMS is the second book in the series and although I’ve not read the first, I can say without reservation it a solid adventure filled with unique characters and plenty of fast paced suspsense. In fact the only thing I did not like about this book was its title. Del Franco has chosen to name the books in this series with words beginning with the UN prefix and although that may be a nifty marketing stratagem, it really does not serve his novel in the slightest. It is a poor label slapped on a really good book. Do not be put off by it.

WHERE LEGENDS RIDE

WHERE LEGENDS RIDE
Edited by Matthew P. Mayo
Express Westerns Publication
185 pages
Available on-line at Lulu.com
(http://www.lulu.com/content/1386629)

What with having recently read and reviewed the collected short western stories of Elmore Leonard, it seems I’ve suddenly found myself caught up in this uniquely American pulp sub-genre. Happily so, I might add. This particular volume is made up of writers, most of them British, who write western novels for the Robert Hale publishing outfit across the pond.

Oh, there are a few American scribes among this talented bunch, but oddly enough only one of them actually lives out west, while two of the four reside in the woods of Maine. Go figure. It seems you really don’t have to live out west to write about it. WHERE LEGENDS RIDE contains some truly memorable and weld told stories that I enjoyed a great deal. As in all anthologies, there are degrees of proficiency and this book is no exception.

The Prodigal by Chuck Tyrell is a poignant, classic cowboy tale of right and wrong with a dedicated marshal having to hunt down his own son. Likewise The Man Who Tracked a River by Derek Rutherford offered up a story of guilt and redemption that was seeped in the dust of the badlands. Desert Surrender by Kit Churchill is a raw, grim adventure that had me turning the pages fast. These are all classic western gems.

Once Upon A Time In Mirage by I.J. Parnham and Snows of Montana by the editor, Matthew P. Mayo read like saddle-tramp sagas inspired by O’Henry, their twisty ends fun.

For outright horsey humor there is Hard Times For The Pecos Kid by Les Pierce and Pretty Polly by Duane Spurlock. Both could have been made into movies with James Garner, they have the same light, hilarious flare to them. Whereas Hectate by P. McCormac tells the story of a mule from hell that is just too funny. I actually chuckled out loud while reading these entries. Proving that all westerns need not be straight laced and melodramatic.

Among the others, I thought Bubbles by Ross Morton was a creative mistake as it really isn’t a short story. It’s a tale so large it is clearly an outline for a novel that I hope some day he chooses to write. While as much as I enjoy anything Lance Howard writes, his The Ballad of Jesse Barnett did not belong in this collection. There is a larger-than-life theme to the eclectic collection and this story just does not fit that mold.

Fourteen horse-operas presented for your enjoyment by skilled writers who clearly know their stuff. There is so little good short fiction done these days, when an excellent book like this comes along, you dare not pass it up. So tighten your cinches, belt on your holster and get ready to ride. This is one hell of a literary round-up.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

A CHRISTMAS CAROL
and Other Holiday Tales
by Charles Dickens
Borders Classics
224 pages

There are still many classics I’ve yet to lay my hands upon. As Thanksgiving passed and we entered fully into the Christmas season, my thoughts drifted to all the wonderful movies with this particular holiday theme that I like so much. For me, A Christmas Carol remains the most enjoyable, followed closely by It’s A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story. I wonder if many people know that Dicken’s immortal tale of old Scrooge is the most filmed novel ever. From the days of the silent movies through to animation and even a Muppet Christmas Carol, the story has been told and retold countless times. And yet I’d never read the actual novel. Well, to be fair, novella. It is a relatively short piece and one of five Christmas stories that Dickens wrote during his life. This wonderful volume also contained two others; The Chimes and The Cricket On The Hearth.

Now having finally read the original, I’m truly delighted to have done so. Dickens had a true sense of human nature and he reveled in telling stories of people from all social standings. He understood the woes of the poor and downtrodden and forever gave them a poignant, suffering nobility. What surprised me the most about the story was how fast paced it is and just how quickly old miserly Scrooge’s conversion comes about. On the oft chance that there are those of you still unfamiliar with this cautionary tale, it’s plot is simple enough.

Ebeneezer Scrooge is a cantankerous old man who detest charity and believes hard work is the only means to salvation. Enough so that he treats his clerk, Bob Cratchit, like a slave and refuses to celebrate the Christmas holidays. On the eve of Christmas he is visited by the waling ghost of his late business partner, Jacob Marley, who has come to warn him. Unless he changes his ways, his own eternity will be spend in misery. Marley tells Scrooge he will be visited by three ghosts, spirits of Christmas past, present and future. Which is exactly what happens and in those three visitations, Scrooge’s heart is thawed to the blessings of love and family. He is forever changed into a decent, thoughtful and generous soul who finds great satisfaction in doing for others the rest of his days.

In so short a collection of words, Dickens crams more drama and pathos than any ten writers could hope to accomplish. He cuts to the quick of human emotions and frailties and delivers a brilliant testimony on the powers of Christmas and good fellowship. The message it brings the world is even more relevant in our consumer obsessed society than ever before.

Of the remaining two stories, I found The Chimes to be difficult and confusing. It tells the story of a porter who works near an old church and is forever haunted by the sound of the steeple bells. Somewhere in the New Year’s celebrations he is given a vision of the future by Bell Goblins. It is a bleak setting due in part because he has listened to the wrong advice and not to his heart. Upon waking, he sets out on a different, more jovial and hopeful path. Not one of Dicken’s better efforts.

Whereas the last of the three, A Cricket On The Hearth is pure Dickens and much fun to read. A group of working class people prepare to celebrate the wedding of Tarkelton, an old skin-flint who owns a toy shop, to a beautiful young woman. Meanwhile a Carrier name John Peerybingle and his own young wife, Dot, have just had a new baby and he has a hard time believing his good fortune. There is also Caleb, the widowed toy-maker who lives with his blind daughter and works for Tarkelton.

Now into their midst comes a deaf old man who is down on his luck and has nowhere to stay. Dot Peerybingle urges her husband to take him in and soon events begin to occur that come to test their love and loyalty to one another. All the while the little cricket who lives in the Peerybingle hearth continues to inspire the residents with a magical charm that saves John Peerybingle from making the worst mistake of his life. By the end of the story the true identity of the mysterious lodger is resolved and all are made happy again in typical Dickens’ style. Having read several of his novels while in school, A Cricket On The Heart reminded me of that old familiar charm inherent in his longer works. It really is a gem of a story and one I’m glad to have found at last.

Reading new books is always a pleasure, but it can never quite compare with settling down with something this old and cherished. If you are looking to add some old fashion cheer to this holiday season, look no further than Mr. Charles Dickens and a Christmas Carol.

WESTERN STORIES OF ELMORE LEOANARD

THE COMPLETE WESTERN STORIES
OF ELMORE LEONARD
Edited by Gregg Sutter
Harper Books
546 pages

A good magnetic compass will always point to what is called “true North.” After having finished this whopping big book, I found myself thinking the one clear cut theme throughout these thirty-one stories was that they all pointed “true West.” Social historians have for years claimed a big part of this country’s moral fiber was shaped during the post-Civil War years during our expansion west. The era of the “wild west” and the cowboys somehow infused itself onto our cultural consciousness. From the early dime novels to the rampant production of the silent B movies, tales of the old west have imbedded themselves into the identity of what it is to be an American.

Talented writers who have worked in this genre always revolved their stories around that basic cowboy code of simply doing the right thing. From Tom Mix seeking vengeance in Riders of the Purple Sage, to Gary Cooper defending his town in High Noon and Clint Eastwood out to avenge a scarred saloon girl in Unforgiven, the ramrod nobility of the cowboy hero has remained unwavering.

Picking up a book this big can be daunting, but once I started getting into its tales of Apaches, Mexicans and Cavalry officers, I could almost smell the mesquite and feel the heat of the blazing Arizona sun that just never quits. Leonard uses that locale as the primary background for all his stories and he does so skillfully, painting a picture of a rough, cruel landscape that clearly helped define the people who dared to live on it.

Leonard was brought up in Detroit and during World War II served with the Seabees in the South Pacific. Upon his discharge he entered the University of Detroit and graduated in 1950 with a degree in Philosophy and English. He sold his first short story, Trail of the Apache, in 1951 and for the next two decades continued writing top-notch western tales. At the same time he also penned novels, many of which were later bought by Hollywood and made into films. Two of the stories in this collection were similarly adapted into movies; the Captives filmed as The Tall T, and 3:10 To Yuma, first filmed in 1950 and then remade this year. Each of these films, including those based on his western novels feature the resolute, stoic hero up against overwhelming odds but refusing to compromise his integrity and honor. They are all classic morality tales that just happened to be played out on horseback.

After the western pulp magazines died off in the mid-sixties, Leonard shifted all his efforts to novels and soon was turning to urban criminal topics like Get Shorty, Rum Punch, and Out of Sight. All of which propelled him into the limelight as a bestselling author. Deservedly so. Still, it is in these western that his true gift shines, as each of these stories captures not only the human condition in all its imperfection, but does so with a sympathetic touch that leaves the reader feeling better for having read them. They are populated by unforgettable characters like the young army officer who’s taste for moonshine saves his patrol; the Mexican constable who confronts racism and is in the end defeated by it and the woman with the blue tattoos on her face exiled into the desert by an ignorant, wounded husband.

This is a truly amazing collection and if you appreciate the true genius of short stories, then do not let it pass you by. Voices like Elmore Leonard’s need to be cherished.

DOG DAYS

DOG DAYS
by John Levitt
Ace Fantasy
297 paged

Half way through chapter one of this book, I began get a very familiar feeling as if I was entering a fictional neighborhood I’d been to before. Mason is a jazz guitarist who lives in San Francisco and makes a comfortable living playing occasional gigs in night spots throughout the city. He is a talented musician but admits he could be much better if he worked at it. The same applies to his ability to do magic.

The word wizard is never used, rather Mason tells us immediately that there are people who can “do” magic and those that cannot. Whoa, now where have we heard that before? Of course it is Harry Potter’s setting, the non-magic folks being the muggles. That is what DOG DAYS reminded me of from start to finish, as if I’d stepped into a mature version of a J.K. Rowlings adventure.

Like Harry, Mason also has a pet ally, a small brown dog named Louie who is much better realized as a character then Harry’s owl ever was. Levitt develops the relationship between Mason and Lou so deftly, it becomes one of the major plot points to what is actually a very fast paced suspense mystery. An unknown practitioner, the word replacing wizard here, has attacked Mason on several occasions and both times nearly killed him. Desperate to understand why his life is suddenly in jeopardy, Mason seeks out the help of Victor, an Enforcer who oversees the magical well-being of the city, and his old mentor, Eli, another powerful practitioner.

As much as Levitt uses magic throughout the story, he never allows it to drift free, keeping his reality-anchor in check throughout. Much like the Rowlings books, because we believe in the mundane, normal every day environment the protagonist lives in is our own, we can then suspend our disbelief and imagine a secret realm co-existing in the shadows, just a little askew from our vision. A place of deadly arcane goblins and crystalline cave dwelling monsters that Mason must escape and defeat before he can hope to unravel the mystery and the villainy behind it.

It is a terrific story, well plotted and written. Mason and Lou are fascinating and I’m thrilled to know DOG DAYS will have sequels. I enjoyed taking this journey through the fog enshrouded, magical streets of the Golden Gate city with the two of them and am very eager to do so again.