James Reasoner's Blog, page 10

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Fiction Magazine, August 1938

I don't know who did the cover artwork on this issue of WESTERN FICTION MAGAZINE. There's a signature on the painting, but I can't make it out. As always, if anyone can identify the artist, I'll greatly appreciate it. But what I do know is that it's yet another appearance of our favorite Western pulp cover trio: the Stalwart Cowboy, the Angry Redhead (she's not totin' a gun in this one, but she is showing a nice amount of leg in that saddle), and the Wounded Old Geezer. Inside this issue are stories by the always dependable Ed Earl Repp (aided, perhaps, by an unknown ghost) and Orlando Rigoni, plus house-name Rex Evans, and another pulpster unknown to me, Dick Robson, who was reasonably prolific for a while, turning out two dozen stories in a short-lived career from 1937 to 1940.

A Rough Edges Rerun Review: Malay Woman - A.S. Fleischman

A.S. Fleischman doesn’t waste any time dropping the reader right into the middle of the action in this novel, published originally by Gold Medal in 1954. The narrator, Jock Hamilton, is an American running a rubber plantation in Sumatra, and as the book opens, he’s already on the run for the murder of his wife, who he appears to have killed in a drunken black-out because of her habit of cheating on him. Jock himself doesn’t know whether or not he’s guilty, but he’s trying to avoid the cops anyway. He heads for the plantation of an old friend of his who has a rubber plantation in Malaya. On the boat heading upriver, he becomes involved with a beautiful Australian widow who has a couple of professional killers after her. She claims to have no idea who could want her dead, but she accepts Jock’s help in getting away from them. Then, arriving at the plantation, Jock finds his old friend married, and the friend’s beautiful wife has a straying eye that lands solidly on Jock. There’s also the matter of Communists insurgents who have targeted the foreign-owned plantations.

Well, with all these complications, you know Fleischman is going to keep the action perking along nicely, and MALAY WOMAN doesn’t disappoint in that respect or any other. The writing is fast and hardboiled, and the local color is handled very nicely. There are plenty of details, but the book never gets bogged down in them and they don’t get in the way of the action. Jock is one of a long line of Gold Medal heroes who are likable but not always the sharpest knife in the drawer, and even though he’s a little dense about what’s really going on, you can’t help but root for him. All of it leads up to an action-packed and very satisfying ending.

Not long after this post originally appeared in a somewhat different form on July 23, 2010, MALAY WOMAN was reprinted by Stark House in a double volume with DANGER IN PARADISE, which I really need to get around to reading. If you like hardboiled mystery/adventure novels, do yourself a favor and pick up this book, which also includes the usual excellent introduction by David Laurence Wilson and a brief intro by A.S. Fleischman himself. It's still available in e-book and paperback editions on Amazon.

A Middle of the Night Music Post: Oooh-Ahh (Catalina) - Mindi Abair

 

I really like Mindi Abair's music, and this one is perfect for the middle of the night when a guy's spirits need a little lift.

Review: The Tripods #3: The Pool of Fire - John Christopher (Samuel Youd)

THE POOL OF FIRE is the third and final book in the TripodsTrilogy by British science fiction author John Christopher, whose real name wasSamuel Youd. You’ll remember from the previous two books, THE WHITE MOUNTAINSand THE CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD, that aliens known as the Masters have invadedand conquered Earth, mentally controlling everybody over the age of 14 andregressing society to a vaguely medieval state. But there are pockets ofresistance, one of them joined by our narrator/protagonist, young Will Parkerfrom England.

Will is one of the few agents of the resistance to infiltrate one of theMasters’ cities and find out anything about them. In the previous book, hediscovered they’re working on something that will put all of humanity in mortaldanger. In THE POOL OF FIRE, the humans come up with a plan to fight back whilethey still have a chance, and once more, Will is in the thick of things,despite the fact that he’s still a teenager.

This volume of the trilogy drags a little in the middle while that plan isbeing developed, but it kicks in and rushes to not one but two big climaxes,both of which are well-written and quite moving with several stand-up-and-cheermoments. However, the wrap-up after that feels a bit rushed to me, and theending is not especially satisfying.

It seems like I’ve given mixed reviews to all three of these books, but don’tget me wrong. I enjoyed the Tripods Trilogy and am glad I read them. Iespecially like the fact that Christopher told his story in three relatively shortnovels instead of eight or ten (or more) 150,000 word behemoths like you findso often in modern science fiction and fantasy. The Tripods Trilogy is a verywell-loved series, and I think I might have responded more positively to it ifI had read the books when I was a teenager. Some books are just better if youencounter them at the right time. But even so, if you’re a fan of classicscience fiction, I think these books are well worth reading. THE POOL OF FIRE,like others in the series, is available on Amazon in print and e-book editions.

Movies I've Missed Until Now: Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

That’s right. Somehow, I’ve managed to spend more than 70years on this planet, and I’ve never seen CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON—until now.

This is another movie where there’s no need at all for me to talk about theplot. You’ve all seen it. So here are some things that struck me about thisone.

This is a really well-made movie. The photography, the music, the Gillman suit,even the acting (which is sometimes not stellar in movies like this) are alltop-notch. Those underwater scenes with Ricou Browning as the Gillman are justbeautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, Julie Adams in a seemingly endless assortment of skimpyoutfits, including that iconic white one-piece swimsuit, is just breathtaking.What a lovely woman. And she turns in a decent performance, too.

Richard Denning is a good villain, although he’s not terribly villainous, justopposed to the other characters’ ideas. I like Denning. He played Mike Shaynein a one-season TV show based on Davis Dresser’s novels, and from what little I’veseen of it, he was pretty good in the role.

One of the natives who’s killed early on by the Creature is played by PerryLopez, who, many years later, was one of the two cops who harassed JackNicholson’s character in CHINATOWN. He was the less sympathetic of those two,not the one who says, “Forget it, Jake, it’s . . . Chinatown.”

Is this considered a horror movie? I always thought it was, but to me it seemsto have more in common with Fifties science fiction movies like THEM! andTARANTULA.

Those are some of the things that occurred to me while I was watching this one.Mostly, though, I just enjoyed the heck out of it and wondered how in the worldI managed not to see it all these years. I’m glad I finally did, becauseCREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is just a terrific movie.

Review: Celtic Adventures - D.M. Ritzlin, ed.

My ancestry is mostly British (which I assume includes someScots, too) and Irish, so I’ve always had a fondness for Celtic heroes. The latestcollection from DMR Books, CELTIC ADVENTURES, offers a fine assortment of suchheroes, too.

After an informative and entertaining introduction by Deuce Richardson, the bookopens with the poem “The Druids” by Kenneth Morris, an author whose name is familiarto me, but I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything by him until now. It’s anatmospheric poem that does a good job of setting the stage.

“The Devil’s Dagger” by the well-regarded writing team of Arthur GilchristBrodeur and Farnham Bishop is set in 13th Century Scotland and finds a young soldier trying to solve the seemingly impossible murder of one of theKing’s officials. If he doesn’t, the father of the girl he’s fallen in lovewith will be executed for the crime. There’s some great action in this one includinga lengthy swordfight that covers a lot of ground in the castle where themajority of the story takes place. I really like the way Brodeur and Bishopwrote. This is the first thing I’ve read by them, although I have a copy oftheir acclaimed novel IN THE GRIP OF THE MINOTAUR and need to get around toreading it. “The Devil’s Dagger” first appeared in the September 3, 1918 issue ofADVENTURE.


One of Robert E. Howard’s many Celtic heroes was Conan the Reaver, an Irishpirate who shared the same name as a certain Cimmerian. “People of the Dark”,from the June 1932 issue of STRANGE TALES OF MYSTERY AND TERROR, is actually one of Howard’s “pastlives” yarns, in which a modern-day man bent on murder takes a fall in a cave,knocks himself out, and winds up reliving a break-neck adventure that happenedto one of his ancestors (the above-mentioned Conan the Reaver). It’s a greatstory, too, full of action as Conan and a couple of companions battle agenuinely creepy race of little people who live underground (another commonelement in Howard’s work). I had read this one several times before, but it hadbeen a while so I thoroughly enjoyed it all over again.

“The Harping of Cravetheen” is by-lined Fiona MacLeod, which was actually a pseudonymfor William Sharp, another author unfamiliar to me. It appeared originally in acollection called THE SIN-EATER, published in 1895. It’s a very well-writtentale about romance, a young woman forced to marry a man she doesn’t want to, feudingfamilies, infidelity, and violent death, along with a supernatural element andsome harp music. I think. To be honest, half the time I wasn’t sure what was goingon in this one. It’s worth reading for the sheer beauty of the language, but itwasn’t really to my taste, either.


“A Claymore for the Clan” is by Donald Barr Chidsey, one of my favorite pulpauthors, and appeared originally in the July 1948 issue of ADVENTURE. Told fromthe point of view of a ten-year-old boy, it’s another tale of blood feuds anddesperate sword battles. Chidsey, equally at home with hardboiled contemporarycrime yarns and fast-paced swashbucklers like this one, is always worthreading, and this story barrels along in very entertaining fashion.


Clyde Irvine’s story “The Horror in the Glen” first appeared in the April 1940issue of WEIRD TALES. A Scottish warrior avenges the murder of his family by arival clan, but not before being banished for seven years to a supernatural realmand acquiring eldritch powers. This is another well-written story that Ithoroughly enjoyed. Irvine’s name wasn’t familiar to me, so I looked him up andfound that he published 18 stories during the early Forties, most of themadventure yarns in JUNGLE STORIES. I’ll have to keep an eye out for his work.


The highlight of this collection (other than REH) is “Grana, Queen of Battle”by John Barnett. This was published as a complete novel in the October 11, 1913issue of THE CAVALIER, but it’s actually a series of six linked short stories abouta beautiful female pirate in Ireland during the Elizabethan era. Grana canhandle a sword when she needs to, but she usually outwits her opponents. Afterinheriting a castle and ships from her father, a famous pirate, she deals withmutinies, English tax collectors, treacherous Spaniards, and rival pirates.Finally, she’s captured by the English and sentenced to hang. This leadsto a smashing climax that manages to be very satisfying while still hitting aslightly bittersweet note. I don’t know anything about John Barnett, but thisis a terrific yarn.

This volume concludes with a poem by Robert E. Howard, “Feach Air Muir LionadhiGealach Buidhi Mar Or”. I don’t know what that translates to, but the poem itselfis dramatic and strikes an excellent ending note to this collection.

CELTIC ADVENTURES is available in paperback and e-book editions on Amazon, with an excellent cover by Jim FitzPatrick, andI give it a high recommendation if you’re a fan of fine adventure stories. Upabove, I mentioned that my ancestry is mostly British, but the part that’s not?That’s Scandinavian, so naturally, I like Viking tales, too! And DMR Books justhappens to have published a book called VIKING ADVENTURES, as well as afour-volume collection of Arthur D. Howden-Smith’s famous pulp series aboutSwain the Viking, so I have a pretty good idea about some of the books I’mgoing to be reading in the reasonably near future . . .

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Foreign Legion Adventures, October 1940

FOREIGN LEGION ADVENTURES was a short-lived reprint pulp from Munsey. This is the second and final issue. I don't know who did the cover art. Obviously, these stories are all Foreign Legion yarns, and some of the big names in the genre are here: Theodore Roscoe, F. Van Wyck Mason, and J.D. Newsom. There's also a story by Houston Day, a fairly prolific pulpster I'm not familiar with. All the stories in this issue originally appeared in various 1930s issues of ARGOSY. I don't know whether ARGOSY or ADVENTURE published more Foreign Legion stories. The number of them in each magazine is probably pretty close. And all the ones I've read have been very good.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Giant Western, February 1952

Here's another Wanted Poster cover, this one by Sam Cherry. GIANT WESTERN was one of the Thrilling Group Western pulps, although it didn't last as long as most of them. The lead story in this issue is by Clifton Adams writing as Clay Randall, so I'm sure it's good. Philip Ketchum, another consistently good author, is also in this issue, along with a couple of writers I'm not familiar with, Lee Priestly and Sam Carson, both of which appear to be real names. I expected Sam Carson to turn out to be a house-name, but it's not, according to the Fictionmags Index. I don't believe I've ever read an issue of GIANT WESTERN. I don't own this one, and it doesn't appear to be available on-line, although PDFs of several other issues can be found at the Internet Archive.

A Rough Edges Rerun Review: Tongking! - Dan Cushman

Dan Cushman wrote extensively for the Western pulps and in fact was responsible for creating the last Western hero pulp, THE PECOS KID. Cushman wrote five Pecos Kid novellas for the magazine, all of which were reprinted by Leisure in paperback. He also wrote original paperbacks for Gold Medal and Dell and was still turning out hardback Western novels for Walker during the Eighties. But he's equally well-remembered for adventure novels set in Africa, the South Seas, and the Far East, including this one.

TONGKING! was published in 1954 as half of an Ace Double (with a great cover by Rafael deSoto) and is very much of its time. The protagonist is down-on-his-luck American soldier of fortune Rocky Forbes, who finds himself broke in Bangkok, not a good situation. He falls in with an old ally/enemy, the smuggler Fatto Kolski (who seems to be modeled pretty blatantly on Sydney Greenstreet). Kolski has a plan to smuggle some guns to anti-communist guerrillas in China, but in order to pull off the scheme, he needs Forbes to pretend to be a dead man.

This is just the beginning of a very twisty plot that involves American spies, British spies, Chinese spies, a beautiful Spanish torch singer, a beautiful American missionary, double crosses, triple crosses, murder, tramp steamers, and shootouts with Thompson submachine guns. If all those plot elements don’t perk your interest, I don’t know what would. The pace never lets up for very long, the local color is very well-done, and Rocky Forbes manages to be a likable hero while at the same time remaining an unrepentant heel. TONGKING! is an updated version of the sort of pulpish international intrigue and adventure stories that were published in BLUE BOOK during the Thirties.

In an interview with George Tuttle that was first published in PAPERBACK PARADE and recently reprinted in SEEKERS OF THE GLITTERING FETISH, the first collection of Cushman’s Armless O’Neil stories that originally appeared in the pulps JUNGLE STORIES and ACTION STORIES, Cushman himself offers a fairly low opinion of TONGKING! I hate to disagree with the author, but I found this novel very entertaining, definitely enough so to make me want to read more of Cushman’s adventure novels. If you have it on your shelves but have never read it, you should take it down and give it a try. If you run across a copy of the Ace Double for a reasonable price, as I did, grab it. That great cover alone is worth something.

(This post originally appeared on July 9, 2010, in a somewhat different form. TONGKING! doesn't appear to be in print, but used copies are out there on the Internet and are only moderately expensive. As for some of the other Cushman yarns mentioned above, all five of the Pecos Kid pulp novels are available on Amazon in three volumes: THE PECOS KID (e-book, paperback), THE PECOS KID RETURNS (e-book, paperback), and NO GOLD ON BOOTHILL (e-book, paperback). Altus Press published a second volume of Cushman's Armless O'Neill pulp stories, completing the series. It's called SWAMP FETISH, you can pick it up on Amazon, and the introduction is by none other than yours truly. The first Armless O'Neill collection, SEEKERS OF THE GLITTERING FETISH, is still available as well. Cushman continues to be one of my favorite authors, and I need to read something else by him soon.)

Review: The Face of Evil - John McPartland

John McPartland died young and wasn’t very prolific, only adozen novels during the Fifties, a couple of them published posthumously. Buthis work was well-regarded and movies were made from several of his books. Thefine folks at Black Gat Books have just reprinted his novel THE FACE OF EVIL,originally published by Gold Medal in 1954 with a cover by Ray Johnson, a greatcover artist but not one I particularly associate with Gold Medal. I’d read andenjoyed several of McPartland’s novels, so I was eager to give this one a try.

The narrator/protagonist is Bill Oxford, a former newspaperman who works for apublic relations agency in Los Angeles. However, Bill’s real job is as a fixer,a guy you can call on to get you out of a jam—or get one of your enemies intoone. His specialty is framing political or business figures for some sort ofcrime and then blackmailing them into doing what his employers want. As thisnovel opens, he’s been sent to Newport Beach to stop a crusading lawyer fromrevealing damaging information about a candidate for public office. McPartlandnever delves deeply into the specifics of any of this, and he doesn’t need to.It’s enough for us to know that Bill is a pretty shady guy who’ll stoop to justabout any dirty trick to accomplish his ends.

Unfortunately for Bill, he still has a tiny shred of decency in him, and it’sabout to be tested when he falls in love with the widow of his target’s ex-lawpartner and also has to deal with the reappearance in his life of a young woman he diddirty several years earlier.

The action in this book takes place in about twenty-four hours, and it’s roughlydivided between Bill wrestling with his conscience, dealing with varioushitches in his plan, trying to figure out the romantic triangle in which hefinds himself, getting mixed up in brutal fistfights, and going on the run fromthe law. It’s all very well-written, and McPartland spins his yarn at a breakneckpace that really had me flipping the pages. And I honestly didn’t know how hewas going to resolve Bill’s various dilemmas, which is always nice.

Speaking of resolutions, I have to admit there are a couple of late plotdevelopments that strike me as deus ex machina, which slightly lessensthe impact of this novel. But it’s still very, very good despite that, withgreat characters, a vividly realized setting (Newport Beach during what’s nowknown as Spring Break, although McPartland never uses that term), and plenty ofaction and drama. I had a great time reading THE FACE OF EVIL, and if you’re afan of hardboiled fiction from the Fifties, I give it a high recommendation. It's available from Amazon in print and e-book editions. There’s a lot in this one I feel like I’m going to remember for a while.