THE SPOOK LIGHTS AFFAIR

THE SPOOKS LIGHTS AFFAIR

By Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini

A Forge Book

250 pages

There have been several husband and wife mystery-writing teams in the past but only two have ever both won the coveted MWA Grand Masters award; Margaret Millar and Ross McDonald and the authors of this book.  “The Spooks Lights Affair” is part of their Carpenter and Quincannon series and if this entry is representative of the earlier cases, we may have to go dig them up.

In 1895 San Francisco, Sabina Carter and John Quincannon are partners of a well known and respected private detective agency.  Although they usually work as a team, in this  book we find them handling their own individual cases. 

Carter has been hired by the wealthy St. Ives family to shadow their rebellious, overly romantic daughter, Virginia.  It has come to their attention that the girl has been seeing handsome young store clerk who does not meet their upper-crusty standards for an acceptable suitor.  Alas, the girl is frustrated by having the tenacious private eye on her heels constantly.  On a fog shrouded night, while both are attending a sumptuous gala hosted by the mayor; Virginia attempts to elude Carter and dashes up the side of a steep hill where she commits suicide by throwing herself off a cliff.

As tragic as these events are, they take a quick turn towards the mysterious when an extensive search of the area below the cliffs fails to find Virginia’s body.  It has somehow disappeared, vanished into thin air.

Meanwhile the always ambitious Quincannon is attempting to hunt down the solo bandit who robbed a local Wells Fargo office of thirty-five thousand dollars.  The bank has offered up a tidy reward for anyone who can find the culprit, bring him to justice and retrieve the stolen funds.  Thus it would seem the sleuthing partners are dealing with two separate cases.  But when they compare their notes, they discover that several of the people they are investigating have connections to one another.  How is dead girl’s older brother connected to one of the shadier figures involved with the bank heist?  What was the true role of the dead girl’s beau in her demise and subsequent disappearance?  Is he also part of the daring robbery?

The plot is complex and fun to follow.  Even more so is the authentic setting in which it plays out as Carter and Quincannon give us a wonderful tour of San Francisco in its gilded era from the infamous Barbary Coast to the rich Tenderloin gambling houses and garish brothels that catered to the city’s wealthiest men.  “The Spook Lights Affair” is both a terrific mystery plus a rollicking time-travel adventure populated with truly colorful figures both fictional and historical.  It is a fun romp by two masters of their craft who obviously enjoy working together much to their readers’ delights.

RAGTIME COWBOYS

 RAGTIME COWBOYS

By Loren D. Estleman

A Forge Book

264 pages

I have a particular fondness for stories that pair historical figures together in fictional adventures.  These people actually lived during the same time but in reality never met, ergo the wish-fulfillment element in this kind of what-if story.  That’s what Loren D. Estleman has done with “Ragtime Cowboys” and it works to perfection.

As unlikely as it seems, both Charlie Siringo and Dashiell Hammett did have several things in common; both worked for the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency at one time and both later went on to become published writers.  Siringo was recognized more for his illustrious lawman career which had him rubbing elbows with the likes of Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett and Butch Cassidy and his whole in the wall gang.  There have been scores of books and films about his life and career securely guaranteeing his place in western cowboy history.  Hammett on the other hand would gain renown for his literary achievements giving the mystery world such classic personages such as Sam Spade and Nick and Nora Charles.  Thus they were karmic opposites, one famous for his real exploits, the other for his fictional creativity.

And so Estlemen brings them together in 1921 California.  The tale begins in Los Angeles where a senior Siringo is attempting to write another book about his colorful past. He is visited by an aged Wyatt Earp.  Earp owns a horse ranch and one of his prized racing horses has been stolen.  He hires his Siringo to find and retrieve it.  The only clue they have is the suspected thief has just been hired to work for the widow of Jack London on her spread in the hills beyond San Francisco.  Earp sends Siringo to Frisco where he is met by a young man also a former Pinkerton veteran who will act as his guide and aide; one Dashiell Hammett. 

The dialogue between Siringo and Hammett is brilliant and hilarious.  While Siringo was a staunch Republican who despised socialist of every ilk, Hammett was an avowed liberal who never missed a chance to criticize the noveau American rich gentry.  From the second they meet, the sparks fly and it is only through their trials together that they ultimately come to respect each other’s grit and strength of character. How that mutual respect evolves is the true beauty of this cowboy fable. 

Oh, there’s also an underpinning plot of political corruptions wherein our two ragtime cowboys get mixed up with the Teapot Dome Scandal.  This was a bribery incident that took place between 1920 and 1923 during the administration of President Warding Harding which ultimately led to the Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall becoming the first Cabinet member to go prison.  The entire plot is a nothing but a flimsy gimmick with which to bring Siringo and Hammett together against an authentic historical event.  Its revelations at the book’s climax are superfluous and easily forgotten.  What is not is the shoot-out at the London ranch and both Siringo and Hammett reliving their raucous rowdy youthful escapades one last time.

“Ragtime Cowboys,” is an insightful look into America’s past through the eyes of two remarkable men, both of product of their times.  It is one of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever read.

SNATCHED!

 SNATCHED!

By Charles Boeckman

235 pages

Prose Press

No baseball player hits a homerun every time at bat.  Nor does every writer produce a must-read thriller with each new book he or she releases.  I’ve made no secret in this column that I am huge fan of pulp writer Charles Boeckman and the fact that he is still writing in his 90s continues to both astound and inspire me.  Sadly, with his latest book he goes off into a multi-plotted ditch with no clear cut finale.

In fact, the book is divided into two very distinct parts as if it had been originally intended to be presented as two separate shorter pieces.  In the first half we meet our protagonist, private eyes Kate McHaney and her alcoholic musician ex-husband, Craig Dawson.  We’re given brief background histories of both; a reader’s digest encapsulation of their all too brief union and then the mystery begins.  The mayor’s teenage daughter has been kidnapped and it is suspected the culprit was a local mob boss with connections to the Mafia.  McHaney and Dawson are hired by the mayor and ultimately discover the real bad guys and in a climatic shootout in some arid Texas scrubland, rescue the young lady.

Now had the book ended there, we’d be applauding loudly and singing its praises.  But it does not and what we are then presented with are a series of interconnected vignettes regarding the gangland boss which all manage to involve our heroes in one fashion or another.  The old mayor has retired and the mobster is campaigning to replace him. Somehow Craig is recruited to run against him.  Then the two private eyes become the guardians of a young orphan whose father, a convicted drug-dealer, was murdered.  Soon thereafter the boy comes to Kate asking her help in finding a missing Mexican girl here in the U.S. illegally.  Which then puts the lovely detective in the crosshairs of the Mafia kingpin and days prior to the big election, Dawson disappears.

If this all sounds confusing, it is and it isn’t.  It is not difficult to follow because Charles Boeckman is the consummate writing professional and his technical skills are exemplary.  The reader has no problem following along with his tale. The problem is that narrative goes nowhere and by the end of the book there are no concrete resolutions to any of these plot threads.  The book is billed as the first in a series and so it is safe to assume Boeckman will pick up on these dangling plots in his next volume.  All well and good if the reader is fortunate enough to find the next book.  But even in a series, each chapter should be somewhat self-contained and close out on a genuine climax that does not require having to wait for a sequel.

Thus, as much as I liked these characters and the author’s storytelling, I’m left unsatisfied that the book does not have a real ending.

DOCTOR OMEGA

DOCTOR OMEGA

By Arnould Galopin

Adapted by Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier

Black Coat Press

254 pages

Was there a French fictional character “who” appeared in a 1905 book that just possibly might have been one of the inspirations for the famous British sci-fi icon, Doctor Who?

Upon reading this 2003 edition from Black Coat Press, one would be hard pressed to believe the similarities between writer Arnould Galopin’s Doctor Omega and that other fellow are purely coincidental. Then again, in the world of pulp fiction, stranger things have happened.  Still whether you choose to believe the above supposition or not, it did not hamper the enjoyment this reviewer had with this wondrous and little known sci-fi French adventure.

The story is told by one Denis Borel, a semi-retired violin teacher who settles in the peaceful Normandy countryside to get away from the hustle and bustle of Paris. But he soon discovers he has a rather eccentric neighbor in a white-haired gentlemen named Doctor Omega.  This scientist has invented an amazing ship, the Cosmos, that can travel through both time and space and he invites Borel to accompany him on his voyage to Mars a billion years in the past.  Accompanying them is Dr. Omega’s aide-camp, a burly bearded fellow named Fred.

And before you can shout Sacre Bleu!, the trio take off for the bizarre red planet as it existed in ages past.  The Cosmos is not only a spacecraft, but it can be altered to become a submersible thus allowing them to explore the depths of Mar’s seas and then it extends tractor wheels and becomes a pseudo tank carrying them across the harsh landscape of this alien world.  Eventually Dr. Omega and his companions discover all manner of animals, flora and ultimately a dwarfish race of Martians.  Considering when this book was written, we can’t help but marvel at Galopin’s boundless imagination as his tale is wonderfully interpreted and enhanced by the Lofficiers.

“Doctor Omega” is a real treasure from the annals of early science-fiction and though nowhere as successful or famous as Wells or Verne, Arnould Galopin deserves some recognition for this truly exceptional work.  As to the similarities between Dr. Omega and that other doctor, we’ll let you decide for yourselves.  This reviewer is simply happy to have had the chance to meet both of them.

AMERICAN GUN

AMERICAN GUN

By Chirs Kyle

(with William Doyle)

William Morrow

264 pages

The history of American as told through the invention and use of ten firearms.  Written by Seal Team 3 Chief Chris Kyle and completed a little while before his tragic death in Feb. 2013.  Each chapter, while focusing on a particular firearm, also relates stories of famous American personalities and their associations with the gun.

He begins with the American Long Rifle and its role in the American Revolution, pointing out even at the dawn of our country, our military leaders realized the potential of individual sharpshooters in any given combat encounter.  Kyle’s story of these early marksmen is fascination.  From there he jumps into the tragic Civil War and the battle between the states; this time highlighting the advent of the Spencer Repeater and how it could possibly have shortened this national holocaust had it been allowed to reach the battlefields sooner then the third year of the conflict. It is not at all surprising to see that even in the midst of this dark period when the Union was threatened that career minded soldiers played politics with the country’s future at stake.

With chapter three, Kyle’s story turns westward and the expansion movement following the Civil War.  He does so by exploring the evolution of the Colt Single Action Army Revolver; AKA Colt .45.  From the early Navy Colts employed by Civil War vets, we see the Colt come into its own with the early Texas Rangers and Captain Samuel Walker’s trip to Connecticut to confer with Samuel Colt in the development of the Walker Colt; instrumental in helping the Rangers finally be able to hold their own against the fierce Comanche raiders.  As the handgun continued to make its impact on the western migration, it also lent itself to frontier legends ending with the most famous shoot-out of them all, the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

In chapter four, the Winchester 1873 Rifle takes center stage as yet another noteworthy gun that would take its place in the taming of the frontier.  The slaughter of the American Bison would ultimately end the Native American Tribes control of the prairie and open the vast grasslands to pioneers and settlers.  Ironically this same rifle was instrumental in the Indians final, major victory against the encroaching hordes as it was the primary weapon employed by the Lakota Sioux and their allies in the massacre of General George Custer and his 7^th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in on June 25^th, 1876.

Next comes the M1903 Springfield rifle which was actually based on a German weapon, the Mauser, which was used by the Spanish with deadly efficiency against Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders during the Spanish American War.  At the end of that conflict, military officials had the idea of copying the German rifle, making improvements and thus the Springfield Armory was given the commission.  It delivered the M1903 that would go on to stop the Germans in Belleau Woods when used by skilled Marine marksmen.  It continued to see service through World War II and Korea and remains a favorite even today amongst outdoorsmen. 

As a pulp fan, we really appreciated chapter six’s story of the M1911 handgun, better known in pulp thrillers by its popular nickname, the Colt .45 automatic.  One can clearly imagine the Shadow or Spider blasting away with these magnificent, powerful pistols.

Kyle not only relates the gun’s history but retells the amazing story of Sgt. Alvin York who used his with unerring accuracy to capture 132 German soldiers during World War One.  Although the U.S. Army has since moved on to the lighter-weight 9mm Beretta as its official sidearm, gun experts, military officers and police personnel still prefer the M1911 for its reliability and stopping power.

With chapter seven, Kyle goes gangland as he relates the bloody background of the Thompson  Submachine Gun made notorious by mobsters and G-Men alike during the days of prohibition.  It later traveled to the front in World War Two and was put to effective use by American GIs.  Staying with this conflict, he then devotes chapter eight to the most popular rifle of the war, the M1 Garand.  This is the one gun in this book that the reviewer was personally familiar with, having learned to shoot it while in basic training in 1965.  Though no expert by any means, my own memories of the rifle included how easy it fired and stripped down to be cleaned and maintained. 

And finally AMERICAN GUN wraps up its final two chapters with one on the quintessential police handgun of the 50s through 70s, the .38 Special Police Revolver and the Vietnam warhorse, the M16 rifle.  In regards to the pistol, he relates the events of the attempted assassination of President Harry Truman on 1^st Nov. 1950, by two Puerto Rican revolutionist.  Having never heard of this incident, we were both surprised and amazed at how close to succeeding these two killers came. 

Although never having personally handled the M16, we were surrounded by them during our own tour of duty in Vietnam and Kyle’s report of their initial successes and then long string of mechanical failures were also familiar to us.  In the end it was a weapon rushed into development to meet the army’s needs only to have its weaknesses discovered in the crucible of combat.  It would later be modified into the more effective model M4.

The book features a truly insightful epilogue by Kyle on the role of guns in any society and how these specific makes were a large part of American history.  He defends his own perspective of them being mere tools to be employed, for good or evil, by those men and women who wield them; nothing more and nothing less.  What is poignant is his widow’s own final Afterword and the story of Ryan Job, a Navy Seal blinded during a firefight in Ramamdi and his ultimate passing.  It left me in tears.

Today, more than ever, Americans are divided about the role of guns in our society and we realize many will ignore this book as another gun-lover’s fanatical world view. That is their right.  But if you are a true, unbiased student of history, with at least an ounce of the respect for all the men and women who have served, and continue to serve, in both our military and law enforcement, then AMERICAN GUN will have something to say to you as it did so to this reviewer….in a most profound way.

THE VRIL AGENDA

THE VRIL AGENDA

By Derrick Ferguson & Joshua Reynolds

An Airship 27 – Pulp Work Press Production

238 pages

Guest Reviewer Shawn M. Vogt 

Derrick Ferguson's character Dillon is an absolute favorite of mine. Taking inspiration from both old pulp characters, and from more modern action heroes that at one time ruled the cinema, Derrick has come up with a highly unique hero. It also helps that the man can write his butt off. He knows when to fill in the blanks, when to tease you with a cool concept, and when to remain silent on a particular subject. In essence, he knows how to build a detailed world for his characters to exist in... and his highly enjoyable and visual writing style always brings you back for more. Dillon is a character who always has the knowledge and skills to carry him through, no matter what mission he happens to be on. But where did he gain this type of training? There has been a number of mysteries surrounding Dillon, especially regarding his younger years, which I've been hoping Derrick would eventually get around to filling in... and then one day I happened to check Amazon, and found out that The Vril Agenda had been released! Co-authored with Joshua Reynolds, this release tells a tale of Dillon's early days, and of one of his mentors. It's my first experience with the character of Jim Anthony: Super Detective, and I have to say that Joshua writes the character in an extremely effective and entertaining manner. An older pulp character that shares some similarities with Doc Savage, Jim Anthony is revamped in fine form by Joshua. A master of all things martial, an inventor, and a renowned murderist, Jim is living in semi-retirement now, despite keeping his hand in the game. Just the type of man a younger Dillon would want to be trained by... and that's exactly what takes place in this 238 page adventure, published by Airship 27 Productions/Pulp Work Press.

It's been two years since Dillon left the fabled land of Shamballah, and returned to our reality. He has traveled across the world, and finally arrived at his destination. Which is the New York chapter of the Baltimore Gun Club, where he hopes to encounter Jim Anthony, and convince the Super Detective to train him. Dillon's family has enemies, enemies that slaughtered his mother and father... and Dillon wants to pay them back in kind. His seven years of training under The Warmasters of Liguria has partially prepared him, but he knows that he needs to learn much more, in order to survive his quest. Dillon lays out his story to Jim Anthony, who (much to Dillon's disappointment) does not immediately agree to train him, but does agree to think on the matter, as he gets to know the young man better. Unfortunately Jim also has a number of enemies that are still active, and after a number of violent assaults on the two men, they are left wondering who exactly is trying to kill them. The adventure that follows will be an examination of both men's past, will drive them apart and pull them back together, and in the end they will stand united, facing an evil that plans to reshape the very fabric of reality...

In my opinion, The Vril Agenda is a perfect example of New Pulp done right. In fact, it's just a really great story, regardless of genre. An excellent team up between a modern hero, and a hero from the past, that takes place across the years. The writing from both authors is absolutely top-notch, the characters compelling, the story action-packed. The story flows along seamlessly, and once I started reading, I didn't want to put it down. The time and thought that go into fleshing out both men's history is greatly appreciated. Derrick and Joshua give you enough to satisfy, but hold back enough to preserve the aura of mystery surrounding the two characters. Dillon and Jim Anthony are consummate heroes; willing to sacrifice everything for the greater good, even themselves. The villains aren't one dimensional in any way, they are given their own motivations, which (in their own mind) justifies their actions. They think of themselves as heroes, who are working towards a better reality that will benefit humanity. This makes the villains themselves much more interesting. The settings are imaginative, and well rendered. Basically, this is an outstanding release. I'm not sure what more I can say, other than go out and grab a copy, and get reading! You won't be disappointed.

SKULL CRUSHER

SKULL CRUSHER

By Joel Jenkins

Pulp Work Press

224 pgs.

One of the many aspects of Joel Jenkins’ writing is how innovative it is.  It seems he is always putting a new spin on old concepts.  This was never more prevalent to us then when reading his latest book, “Skull Crusher.”  Set on the alien world of Carapath where heat-powered balloon ships sail the skies and empires are ruled by sword and magic, we were reminded of the old “Gor” paperback series made famous by the artist Boris Valejo’s barbarian and half-naked slave girl covers.  There is a great deal in “Skull Crusher” that echoes those salacious titles.

Strommand Greatrix is a warrior prince with a weakness for woman.  This is exploited in the opening chapter when a beautiful temptress seduces him with both her voluptuous body and goblets of drugged wine.  When Strommand awakens, his beloved city of Covallis has been overrun by an invading force and his entire family, father, mother, siblings….all have been slain by a sadistic general named Bastor Megalith; the merciless henchman of the Emperor Damion. 

Realizing how easily he was duped, Strommand, while managing to escape into the desert wilderness, makes a vow of celibacy.  He will not have sex or imbibe in any alcoholic drink until he has defeated the evil Damionites and put his uncle, his last living relative, on the throne of Covallis and seen it restored to its former grandeur.  Of course the second he makes this oath, he is immediately put in the proximity nubile wenches through a series of adventures.  One such is the alluring Amber, a slave girl he encounters and frees from the clutches of cruel desert bandits.

And here is where Jenkins turns his tale on upside.  Up until this point, the book is related in Strommand’s first person narration.  Now, at the half-way point, Amber takes over the story-telling and we quickly discover she is really a conniving, selfish character who will do anything to win the handsome’s Strommand’s affection and eventually become his queen when he returns to Covallis and completes his bloody mission.  Amber is a vile creature and will stop at nothing, including murder, to achieve her ends.

That Jenkins can easily switch between her and his protagonist, Strommand Greatrix, is truly marvelous and again we applaud in his ingenuity.  “Skull Crusher” is the first in the series and is jammed packed with lots of great action, both on the ground and in the air; it also leaves this reviewer impressed, delighted and most anxious to see what comes next. 

SHADOW MAKER

SHADOW MAKER

By James R. Hannibal

The Berkley Publishing Group

371 pages

As promised, upon finishing the first Triple Seven Chase adventure, “Shadow Catcher,” we jumped right into its sequel, “Shadow Maker” and having just finished it, a little R & R was order.  Phew!  Somehow Hannibal manages to amp the action, suspense and all-out thrills in this second book featuring Major Nick Baron and his allies.  The stakes are also higher as Baron finds himself dueling electronically across the globe with an insane Chess Grandmaster seeking revenge for the death of his father at Baron’s hands years earlier.

Identifying Baron’s colleagues and family as chess pieces, the Emissary, as he calls himself, plots various terrorist acts according to classic game maneuvers.  Somehow, despite Baron and his pal, Major Drake Merigold’s best efforts, their cunning foe manages to stay one step ahead of them.  From a bombing assault on Washington D.C. to a gun battle in the catacombs of Turkey and a gas attack on London’s financial district, the Emissary and his league of fanatical Hashasins leave an escalating trail of death and destruction behind them.  One by one Baron’s associates are shot, poisoned and crippled systematically as the twisted sadistic genius plays his evil game.

In the end a biological weapon threatens the U.S. while a Nuke is primed to detonate in Jerusalem simultaneously.  Even the intuitive and gutsy Nick Baron can’t be in two places at once.  As the action races towards the final confrontations, Hannibal skillfully whips up a frantic climax that will the reader’s heart beating faster all the way to the very last page.  Sequels are always a daunting task, having to bring back characters one’s readers have come to know while at the same time creating new threats and challenges so as not to retread the same old thriller clichés.  At the heart of both books, Baron’s love of family is the connecting chord that makes him a true, vulnerable hero that we can cheer for as he battles impossible odds.

With Major Nick Baron, Hannibal has given us a new pulp hero that continues to ascend in reader popularity.  Thumbs way, way, up for “Shadow Maker.”  This reviewer can’t help but wonder…what comes next?

SHADOW CATCHER

SHADOW CATCHER

By James R. Hannibal

The Berkley Publishing Group

360 pages

A while back I received an e-mail inquiry from a marketing manager at Berkley Publishing asking if I would like a review copy of “Shadow Maker,” the sequel to last year’s “Shadow Catcher.”  Obviously the latter being the beginning of a new military thriller series.  Of course it is virtually impossible for these managers to keep track of every title they send out and to which reviewers.  Thus it often happens that I’ll get offered the second or third or fourth ….books in a series without ever having had the chance to read the first.  Yes, that can be most frustrating and generally if that happens, I’ll politely opt out of accepting the sequels.

Whereas I do love modern day military techno thrillers and have been a huge fan of Clive Cussler, James Rollins and Matthew Reilly amongst others.  This Hannibal sounded like a brother-in-arms what with his Air Force career as a fighter jock etc. and I was really intrigued by the ad Berkley did up.  So, on a whim, I let this marketing fellow know I would be happy to receive a copy of this second book but at the same time asked if they might also send along the first in the series as well.  Hey, you don’t try, you never win.

A week later I received copies of both “Shadow Catcher” and “Shadow Maker.”  Such a magnanimous gesture will not go unrewarded. I’ve decided to read both back-to-back and review them accordingly.  Something I’ve never done before.  So, sit back and buckle up for some top-notch action adventure.

Air Force Majors Nick Baron and Drake Merigold are the primary agents of a top secret military unit known as Triple Seven Chase and work directly under the command of the President and his Chiefs of Staff.  The unit commander is a tough-as-nail Army Colonel named Walker.  From a hidden underground headquarters under Andrews Air Force Base, Baron and his colleagues, supported by skilled engineers and computer experts, deploy at a moment’s notice to combat America’s foes and thwart their various plots to destroy our way of life.  If this all sounds like something out of an old pulp series, that’s because it is.  The set up is pure old fashion, patriotic pulp and it works brilliantly.  Hannibal is a fearless writer willing to amp the action at the drop of a hat and the more he puts his heroes through the paces, the fast you turn the pages.

In “Shadow Catcher,” Baron and his team are given the mission of extracting a downed American pilot who has been kept in a Chinese prison camp for the past twenty-five years.  Publicly listed as dead on the C.I.A. scrolls, Tom Novak is an emaciated lost soul desperately trying to come home.  After escaping his captors, he manages to locate a hidden C.I.A. cache equipped with supplies, canned foods and a still functioning radio which he uses to transmit his coded pleas for rescue.

The men of Triple Seven Chase are initially suspicious of the S.O.S. and set about researching Major Novak’s career and his last spy mission to verify the identity of the radio appeal.  Bit by bit they unearth the story of Novak’s last flight and the validity of his message becomes clearer with each passing hour.  Satellite images detail unusual troop activity in the vicinity of the hidden prison compound.

Even with the evidence supporting Novak’s call, Baron’s instincts are at odds with the facts.  Long suspecting a mole in their intelligence circle, he is leery that the entire rescue mission may be a clever Chinese ruse to lure them into delivering their newest stealth aircraft, Shadow Catcher, into the hands of a Chinese Master Spy.  What Baron doesn’t know is that this Espionage Mastermind is in fact planning something far more insidious and world shattering.  They are being manipulated with Major Novak as the bait.

James R.Hannibal, with this book, easily gets added to my favorite-writers list.  His characters are succinctly put forth in an economy of words that is most welcome and never slows down the pacing; which is break-neck.  Like the fighter jets he’s flown, Hannibal never lets up.  He propels his story into a stratosphere of white-knuckle action and suspense that had this reader hooked from page one to the cataclysmic finale.  In a time when many so called thrillers are padded, overblown phonies, “Shadow Catcher” is the real McCoy! 

DRAMTIS PERSONAE - Public Domain

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

(PUBLIC DOMAIN)

By Joseph Lamere

Pro Se Press

110 pages

Imagine if you had the power to enter fictional worlds and once there meet and bring back famous characters.  That’s exactly what Diogenes Ra can do; with ease.  At an early age, while visiting a Hollywood movie set with his mother, Diogenes somehow stepped through a portal and met his fictional heroes from a very popular space opera movie.  By the time he grows up, Diogenes soon learns his ability to bring these make-believe figures into our world is a very profitable talent.

All of know of agencies that rent out Look-Alike actors for private partiers.  If you want Tom Cruise, they have someone who looks like Cruise’s mirror image, and for the proper fee, he will liven up your gathering.  Etc. Etc. Etc.  Whereas Diogenes doesn’t offer doubles, he is giving his clients the real McCoys.  Alas, somewhere along his highly public dealings, Diogenes came to the attention of the military.  They begin envisioning a cadre of agents able to cross back and forth at will.  Aware of their clandestine agendas, he is naïve in believing there is no way his abilities can be duplicated.

He’s proven wrong as one series of misadventures soon begins following another like a set of falling dominoes.  First Sherlock Holmes disappears in New York for several hours leaving Diogenes scrambling to learn his whereabouts and get him back to Victorian London fast.  Shortly thereafter, Don Juan, on a crossover for an undergraduate student, is stung by a genetically altered bee and nearly dies.  Diogenes begins to suspect the General he is working with is manipulating these events and is about to unleash his own hidden dimensional-hopping superhero.

And if that wasn’t enough to keep Diogenes scrambling, elements from his own mysterious past begin to resurface.  Could his father be a fictional character his mother, a writer, invented?  And if so, does that make Diogenes half-real and half-fiction??   Honestly, dear readers, Lamere’s story is one wonky, fun, head-trip that had me chuckling all the way through.  It is one of the most original ideas ever put forth and works beautifully in the context of the adventure.  I, for one, would really like to see more of Diogenes Ra and his exploits.  Once you’ve read DRAMATIS PERSONAE – Public Domain, I’m betting you will too.

YOUNG DILLON In The Halls of Shamballah

YOUNG DILLON

In The Halls of Shamballah

By Derrick Ferguson

From Pro Se Productions/Pulp Work Press

109 pages

First of all let’s get one thing clear right from the start, this is a whopping great novella and you have to get, read and enjoy it right now.  I’ll explain why in a second, but I wanted to jump right into the deep end.  It’s billed by Pro Se as part of their Young Pulp line and I have a problem with that.  At the “young” age of 67, this reviewer totally sees himself as the audience for this wonderful adventure yarn.  Whereas sticking a label on this paperback telling perspective readers it is geared to children is a miscue that could turn away older readers.  Now that would be a shame.  I have to believe that this labeling comes from the fact that the protagonist in the tale is only twelve years old. 

Derrick Ferguson has been writing the exploits of his hero, Dillon, for a decade now and has produced some of the finest pulp fiction ever put to paper.  The Dillon books are classics, always filled with tons of action, adventure, colorful locales and amazing characters; the primary of these being Dillon himself.  He’s a globe-trotting adventurer part Doc Savage, Indiana Jones and Dirk Pitt.  Throughout all these amazing tales, Ferguson has hinted at Dillon’s training as a youth amongst the fabled Warmasters of Shamballah; that magical realm hidden in the heart of the Himalayas.

Found half dead at one of the secret bridge entrances to the fabled city, Dillon is rescued by Kerenos Ford, the Grand Master of the Warmasters.  When he regains consciousness, he learns his mother, Pamela, herself a one time Warmaster, has sacrificed her own life to get him to Shamballah.  This creates a political upheaval in the strange city.  In its five hundred year history no one who ever left Shamballah has ever been able to find it again; until now.  Suddenly this resilient young boy finds himself at the center of a political contest between the various factions that make up Shamballah, each wanting to know how his mother accomplished the impossible.

Ever since James Hilton’s classic novel, “Lost Horizons,” Shamballah has become a recurring setting in many fantasy adventures to include both pulp and comics.  In most of these it is employed as a unique training ground of heroes and Ferguson does the same thing here.  But his Shamballah is far from the quaint, quiet and sedate repository of ancient wisdom, rather it is vibrant, energetic enclave filled with as many dangers and wonders.  None more deadly than the Roaring Forest in which young Dillon must face his greatest challenge at the story’s powerful climax.

This reviewer has been a Dillon fan from day one.  When news of this title was first announced, we couldn’t happier; fully expecting something truly wonderful.  Now having read it, we can say our expectations weren’t only met, they were exceeded beyond our wildest imagination.  “Young Dillon In The Halls of Shamballah,” is an amazing chapter in the continuing saga of one of New Pulp’s greatest characters.   Young, old, middle aged, don’t let that YA label put you off.  If you love pulp action of the highest caliber, this book is for you.  I guarantee it.

KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED

KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED

A Walt Longmire Mystery

By Craig Johnson

Penguin Books

288 pages

I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I believe this is the third book in the Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson.  I’ve read, and reviewed several others and enjoyed them tremendously.  Not reading the books in the proper sequence can have an unsettling effect.  Somewhere in one of those I’d already finished, references were made to Sheriff Longmire and his crew having visited Philadelphia, Deputy Victoria Moretti’s home town.  As it turns out, KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED is that particular adventure and as such it really an odd duck chapter in this generally superb mystery series.

The charm of the Longmire books, as I’ve said in those past reviews, is their authentic Wyoming setting.  Wyoming’s rugged, sparse, often times brutal nature, is a real character in the tales and such an integral element that its absence in this book is sorely felt.

As the tale opens, Walt Longmire and his good friend, Henry Standing Bear travel to the City of Brotherly to visit Longmire’s daughter, Cady, an attorney who has just gotten engaged.  They arrive in the city and are just getting settled in when Cady is knocked down a flight of cement stairs by an unknown assailant and the first time her father sees her is in the hospital after coming out of surgery.  She is in a coma and the chances of her recovering are slim.  Nobody writes emotional scenes like Johnson and he brilliantly captures the agonizing suffering Longmire endures throughout the remainder of the story as he fights desperately to cling to even the slightest glimmer of hope.  It is impossible for this man, already a widower, to imagine his life without his beautiful daughter. 

Slowly, but methodically, Longmire gets involved with the investigation into his daughter’s attack and quickly allies himself with two very smart and dedicated Philly detectives.  The pacing is brisk.  When Longmire learns that Cady’s fiancé, a lawyer named Devon Conliffe, is involved with a local drug cartel, he naturally suspects him of being connected to the attack but before he can begin his investigation, Conliffe is murdered.  From this point on, bodies begin to pile up and Longmire and the cops find themselves racing to find a mysterious witness who supposedly has all the pieces to the puzzle.

Please don’t get me wrong here, KINDESS GOES UNPUNISHED is an excellent read and worth your attention.  But in this humble reviewer’s eyes, it doesn’t come close to the others in this series.  You might be able to take cowboy out of the west, Craig Johnson, but in the future, please don’t take the west out of the cowboy.

THE BRUTAL ILLUSION

THE BRUTAL ILLUSION

By Stephen Jared

161 pages

Solstice Publishing

Since Hollywood first appeared amidst the bustling beehive of Los Angeles, California, it became the Mecca for thousands of young men and women hoping to find fame and fortune in the film industry.  But only a tiny percentage would ever realize those dreams. The majority would either return to their small town homes, find other menial employment or worse, end up lost souls beneath the heartless wheels of the motion picture world.

Stephen Jared’s cautionary tale of Allyson Rockwell is such a tragedy and from the first page to the last, it is a grim, unrelenting descent into a young woman’s personal hell. Depressed and ready to call it quits, Allyson is within hours of taking a bus home when, on a whim, she goes to a glitzy Hollywood film premier and there meets a Lenny Carsen, a sadistic mobster who is captivated by her good looks.  Seeing her vulnerability, Carsen convinces her to give up her plans of going home by suggesting he can get her a film contract. When he manages to make good on that promise, it is then simple for him to suggest Allyson move into his small home in the suburbs.  Not wanting to appear ungrateful and still euphoric by having just signed a contract with Universal Studios, Allyson naively accepts Carsen’s offer.

Days later, while in a drunken stupor, he rapes her on the kitchen floor.  He makes it quite clear she can expect more of the same on a regular basis.  Too ashamed to go to the police, Allyson is afraid a scandal would jeopardize her fledgling acting career which she had worked so hard to attain.  But by choosing to keep her situation a secret, Allyson begins her descent into a dark, bottomless pit of despair from which there is no return.

After beginning his writing presence with several action adventures, Stephen Jared focuses his considerable talent on his own back yard.  A professional actor in both films and television, he is no stranger to the back office deals and exploitative manipulations young actors are subject to on a daily basis.  It is this intimate knowledge of the players in this industry of illusion that lifts his tale to a level of poignant reality that is difficult to ignore.  It is by far his most personal work and thus his best.  There are no happy endings in “The Brutal Illusion,” only broken hearts.

KING OF WEEDS

KING OF THE WEEDS

By Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins

Titan Books

267 pages

Available 6 May 2014

Private Eye Mike Hammer’s closest friend is Homicide Detective Pat Chambers.  The two fought together as Marines in the South Pacific and came home to join the police force together.   But Hammer’s general dislike of authority soon had him setting up his own private shingle while Chambers worked his way up through the ranks as one of the most hard-nosed, honest cops to ever serve people of New York City.  Now, with his promotion to Inspector locked up and a decent retirement only a few years away, an early case from the past resurfaces with newly discovered facts that may derail Chambers’ bright future and smear an otherwise untarnished career.  A man then Officer Chambers had collared for a string of Bowery murders now appears to have been innocent all along and wrongly incarcerated for forty years.

At the same Hammer is gunned down by professional assassin on his way to work one morning.  It is only through blind luck that the two .22 slugs intended to shred his heart are stopped short by a recently purchased….  To say any more would spoil one of the most dramatic openings to any Hammer book ever imagined.  Soon, the aging P.I. and his beautiful assistant, Velda, begin to suspect threads from a previous case are getting them targeted for death.  Buried somewhere in the rugged mountains of the Adirondacks is a cavern containing ninety-billion dollars of stolen mob money stashed away by another of Hammer’s old war buddies.  Before being gunned down, this old foxhole pal confided in Hammer the location of the treasure.  Suddenly a whole lot of people, both lawmen and outlaws, suspect Hammer of knowing the location and they are willing to do whatever it takes to make him reveal it.

Two disparate cases with no apparent connections; one forty years old, the other as fresh as Hammer’s healing bullet wounds.  Yet, as Hammer starts digging into both, his well tested instincts begin sending out warnings that these two cases have a common dominator and unless he can find out exactly where they converge, Pat Chambers stellar reputation will be destroyed and a lot more people will die thanks to the diabolical orchestrations of a criminal fiend known as the King of Weeds.

According to co-author, Max Collins, this book represents the last of six substantial manuscripts Spillane left behind, and was intended to be the last in the series, before he started THE GOLIATH BONE in response to 9/11.  It is also the sequel to the last Hammer published in Spillane’s lifetime, BLACK ALLEY (1997) but can be read as a stand alone entry in the series.

This reviewer has been a Spillane fan from the first time he picked up a Mike Hammer paperback as a teenager in the early 60s.  That these unfinished manuscripts should be completed by the writer chosen s specifically by the character’s creator is a truly remarkable literary achievement in the history of mystery fiction and it is all too obvious that Spillane knew what he was doing all along.  Collins, through his never wavering respect for these characters has delivered them to a finish line Spillane would have been proud of.  Known for using that last sentence in his books like a final punch to put away his critics, Spillane wielded sentences like a surgeon’s scalpel with finesse and razor sharp precision.  A skill he taught this Collins kid and when you read the last line in KING OF WEEDS, like me, you’ll have a wicked smile on your face.  I guarantee it.

LEGION II - SONS OF TERRA

LEGION II – SONS OF TERRA

By Van Allen Plexico

White Rocket Books

323 pages

One of the things I try my best to do when writing these reviews is to be honest with you, dear readers.  Which is why, if you haven’t read the first book in this series, LEGION I – LORDS OF FIRE, then stop reading this and go out a pick up a copy now!  Once you’ve finished reading it come on back.  Of course, if you decide not to do that, then I have to advise you not to read this second volume.  This in a tightly plotted trilogy and each book is intricately connected.  By itself this book serves no purpose.

That being said, LEGION II – SONS OF TERRA picks up where the first one ended, the human galactic empire having survived a demonic attempt at conquest as orchestrated by dark gods from another dimension.  As this volume begins, the forces of mankind are engaged in stellar warfare throughout the galaxies and two outer world Legions are scattered over too many fronts guaranteeing their ultimate failure.  General Ezekial Tamerlane, the chief aide to Supreme Ruler, suspects the coordinated attacks of their foes coming simultaneously is no coincidence but a well planned scheme by unknown forces.  Have the demons from Underworld returned and if so, who exactly is manipulating them?

Tamerlane’s dear friend and ally, General Agrippa of the Third Legion, is battling overwhelming alien armies with psychic weaponry and the defeat of his troops is imminent unless Tamerlane can muster fresh reserves to come to their aid.  This he plans to accomplish by convincing General Iapetus to deploy his Legion II Sons of Terra in these outer world battles. But Iapetus, ordered by the Supreme Leader, Nakamura, to defend the planet Earth, has no intentions of wasting his legions on what he sees as a futile endeavor and ignores Tamerlane’s request.

Unable to fathom Iapetus’ blatant insubordination, Tamerlane finds himself challenged both from without and within; surrounded by strange forces, demonic spies and suspicious agents of the Holy Church whose actions continue to fuel his paranoia.  All of which comes to a startling confrontation on the Empire planet of Ahknaton where, in blood and death, the enemy will be revealed and all masks removed from friend and foe alike.

Not since Frank Herbert’s DUNE books has there been such an intricately plotted space saga that echoes all the action of the early days of science fiction yet is tempered with the talented sensibilities of a modern day pulp adventure.  What never fails to amaze me is, in the midst of these clashing futuristic armies and navies, Plexico still manages to define his characters so distinctly as to make them compelling.  He never loses sight of the fact that no matter how grandiose in scope a story may be, it must never overshadow the simple truths of its characters.  LEGION II SONS OF TERRA is another amazing chapter that leaves us anticipating the final book with so nail-biting anxiousness.

For this reviewer, it can’t get hear fast enough.