Python Isle

Doc Savage (Bantam) #184

by Kenneth Robeson, Michael McConnohie (Narrator), Lester Dent (Contributor)

In the second Doc Savage adventure, Python Isle, a long-lost pioneer flyer returns to civilization accompanied by an exotic woman who speaks in a lost tongue. From his towering skyscraper headquarters in New York, through a dangerous Zeppelin journey to Cape Town, climaxing on a serpent-haunted island in the forbidden reaches of the Indian Ocean, Doc Savage and his iron comrades race to untangle a weird puzzle so deep that the only clues can be found in the Bible!

Genres: Pulp, Adventure, Science Fiction, Pulp Adventure, Action, Fantasy

7 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Kenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:

William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson

Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.

All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Python Isle was the first of twenty or so Doc Savage adventures that were written by Will Murray, most from notes or outlines or fragments left behind by Lester Dent, that were published starting with this one in 1991 under the house name Kenneth Robeson. Though it's a bit longer than the original magazine adventures (1933-1949, first as a pulp and then as a digest and then fittingly ending up in pulp format once again) it seems true to the spirit of the original. It's a lost-world tale with aviation and a beautiful princess and treacherous criminals and a nice bit of sin and redemption and all manner of other things that one would wish in a pulp adventure. On the whole, I enjoyed the Murray continuations from Bantam more than the later books that were brought out as the "wild" adventures of Doc Savage, and this one seems to have been much more influenced by Lester Dent than those later stories. Doc is joined by Renny, Ham, Monk, and Habeas in a rousing jaunt across the world. It had been over thirty years since I read the paperback, and I enjoyed revisiting it via this fine Radio Archives production, which comes with a couple of interesting interviews with Murray.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new story for one of the most iconic pulp heroes there are. What's not to like?
It is interesting to see authors make Doc more human, vulnerable, having him make mild mistakes. Doesn't detract from the story.

[Adam Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Python Isle is one of Will Murray’s earliest Doc Savage novels. In it, a wild red-haired man encounters pirates, escapes and goes seeking Doc Savage. The pirate Captain is determined stop a message getting to Doc so he contracts with a baseball-bat carrying cat-loving, bird-loving thug to stop Doc from joining the chase.

Python Isle has a lot of familiar Doc Savage elements: a mysterious lost island, a lost people, and a great treasure, and of course the python make for great natural menaces. The villains are appropriately evil with Bull Pizano being extra-menacing and memorable with his baseball bat, his malice which contrasted with his love of cats and birds. The story also includes a trip on a Zeppelin and the hijacking of the same.

On the negative side, there are the typical issues with Doc Savage books such as lengthy descriptions of everything plus the repetive use of nickname likes “dapper lawyer” and “apish chemist” which comes with the territory. However, this book isn’t as good as other Savage books. It takes a long time to get started and even for Monk and Ham to show up in the story (let alone Doc himself.) Plus, this is a story where the villains seem to run circles around Doc in his men. The Apish chemist even commented he was getting tired of being captured. Given the accolades of Doc Savage in this book as well as the many other adventures Doc has had, it's a bit disconcerting to see him and his men held at bay by a two bit pirate and an eccentric hood with a baseball bat.

Still, the book isn't bad. It has a solid dose of high adventure and mystery. The audiobook is beautifully performed and directed and it even includes two brief interviews with Will Murray as special features. Overall, this story is fair, and offers several hours of adventures with Doc Savage which makes it a worthwhile listen.

[Curt Jeffreys · Rating 5 out of 5]

A reboot, if you will, of the original Doc Savage series. This is longer than the typical Lester Dent story but I have to say, you would be hard pressed to tell Will Murray's tale from Dent's. It's an exciting, adventure packed thrill ride typical of the best Doc Savage tales. I'm looking forward to more of Murray's Doc Savage.
Recommended.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

These new Doc Savage novels have a nostalgic appeal to me. They are written in the pulp style of the original series and are true to the characterization of those early books with Doc and his five friends solving global problems through their brilliant intellects—at least, that’s what’s supposed to be happening. Unfortunately, the only person who shows any intelligence in this novel is Doc Savage, himself. His friends go out of their way to prove they are incapable of bringing their allegedly keen minds to bear on their problems in any rational manner. They always jump into every situation with their fists, failing to think or plan ahead repeatedly even after the villains of the story have bested them multiple times. On top of this their dialogue is extraordinarily bad. It’s clearly intended to add comic relief to the story, but it succeeded only in making me cringe.

The villains are also subpar when compared to the typical Doc Savage experience. I just never understood why they were causing Doc and his men any trouble at all. And the way they finally cease to be a problem was totally unsatisfactory. There was no victory over evil—or if there was, it wasn’t Doc and his men who won the victory.

So that’s the bad part of the story, but it’s actually an enjoyable tale despite these problems. The mystery at the root of the novel—a missing civilization with interesting biblical roots—was worthy of the Doc Savage series. And the great buildup to the pythons of the title was completely satisfying. Doc Savage’s action scenes are also well done—it’s just the scenes involving the supporting cast that aren’t up to standard.

I read this book in its audio format. Narrator Michael McConnohie does a superb job of bringing the cast to life in the story. He has a range of voices that become instantly recognizable as the cast of the tale. On top of that, there are interesting interviews with author Will Murray at the end of the book that shed a lot of light on how Doc Savage was created. If you like the Doc Savage series, you’ll enjoy this book.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Robert D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually written by Will Murray using notes and unfinished manuscript information from Lester Dent. This is the second in the "All-New Doc Savage Adventures" that started coming out in the 1990's.

It's a bit convoluted with the introduction of the people (Tom Franklin and Queen Lha) that will eventually need Doc Savage's assistance being imprisoned by a group of diamond smugglers near South Africa. One of them manages to escape and finds out that John Renwick (Renny), one of Doc Savage's aids, is working on a dam in South Africa. The smugglers recapture their former prisoner and also Renny when he tries to intervene. These smugglers then contact another band in New York to try and stop Doc Savage from getting a telegram and becoming involved.

Andrew Blodgett Mayfair (Monk) and Theodore Marley Brooks (Ham) are manning the office, as Doc Savage is away in his fortress of solitude, when the telegram is delivered and quickly get into seperate traps as the New York gang attempts to reclaim the telegram. Doc returns only just in time to rescue Ham and Monk and then begin a chase as the New York gang flies to South Africa to join the diamond smugglers. Only after dealing with these men and rescuing (repeatedly) the Tom Franklin and Queen Lha of the diamond smugglers, can Doc begin to help them in restoring Queen Lha to her throne. The throne along with the fabled riches of Ophir has been usurped by a treacherous wizard.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually enjoy a Doc Savage pulp trash novel. They're quick, fun reads. Kind of like having a cracker between tastes of premium wines, they set my palette for something that'll require me to pay more attention.
I have no idea what happened with Python Isle. I believe (based on the "The Lester Dent Outline" appendix) Dent outlined the book but never wrote it. Will Murray found the outline while visiting Lester's wife Norma sometime in the early 1990s. The outline is a much better read than the novel. If indeed written by Murray, he's not familiar with the Doc Savage canon. The book contains so many character errors, so many convenient happenings, so many botched scenes as to be idiotic rather than entertaining.
Another challenge lay in reading an ePub version. Someone must have used OCR and never bothered to check the output. The formatting is bizarre and the mispelings are hilarious. Did you know Doc Savage and his tem traveled the Glove seeking adventura?
Must have been a short trip or a big glove.
And I hope his tem enjoyed the trip.
And that they found adventura.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Will Murray wrote close to two dozen Doc Savage novels, mostly using Lester Dent's outlines and ideas (but still under the Kenneth Robeson house name). This was his first, written from an outline the original publisher had rejected (readers don't like snakes! No snake stories!). A long-vanished pilot and a lost-race princess (Lha of Ophir — I suspect Dent was making a Tarzan joke) show up in South Africa in a battered plane; when a local gang of smugglers realizes the plane has been patched with pieces of gold, they set out on a hunt for the source. And of course, Doc Savage gets involved ...
Murray follows the beats of the story but he doesn't quite hear the music. It's nowhere near as bad as the worst of the original series but it's not better than "okay." The Ophir threat of the "invisible wrath" is a bland version of a threat Dent did better in other books and I wish he hadn't followed Dnet so faithfully in providing the long descriptions of Doc's awesomeness.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I appreciate anybody trying to bring Doc Savage back, most attempts end up being 'good, not great'.
The writer tries really hard to capture the energy of original pulps, and it feels like he doesn't get it until about the halfway mark.
Also, pulp is lean. Most Doc Savage books were 150 pages tops, this thing breaks the 200 page mark and I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have missed anything if they'd trimmed this down.

Doc and company feel right, but most of the supporting cast are just kind of there.
The bad guys range from slightly annoying to 'why are you even in this book'.

Enjoyed the stuff set in New York and Renny's solo adventure, but the rest felt flat and I ended up skimming the last 30 pages.

Also, for a bigger than usual pulp novel, why is the ending so rushed?

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will Murray captures a close pastiche of Lester Dent's style - minus Dent's frequent mangling of the English language and unintentional malapropisms (Dent's "his arm drifted outward at blinding speed" being a famous example), thus it reads like a 30s original with more care and time put into it.

Keeping to Dent's model on characterization, of course, means that most of the characters still talk and act like high school freshmen...

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

i wont seek out more of its kind. I do remember Ron Ely in Doc Savage Man of Bronze , a movie from my childhood. This book is not equal to my memories, and childhood memories are hard to beat. But this book doesn't meet my needs for entertainment or distraction as an adult either. Moving on.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this many years ago when it was first published and really enjoyed it. Enjoyed it more this time.

[Roger Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doc Savage

[Steven Brandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Python Isle: a small, uncharted island somewhere between Australia and Africa. Its inhabitants are the direct descendants of King Solomon, trapped here for many centuries, and effectively cut off from the world by the savage storms which encircle the island. Here they remain, faithfully guarding Solomon’s vast treasure. It was only a matter of time before their peaceful existence was disturbed.

In the year 1927, Australian aviator Tom Franklin set out to be the first man to fly non-stop from his home to the African mainland. Along the way, however, Franklin encountered severe storms and ended up crash landed on Python Isle, an island which, from the air, looks very much like a coiled snake. For seven years, Franklin was trapped on Python Isle until finally managing to repair his airplane. Now that he can leave, he has every intention of keeping the island’s secrets, but only until he can return with some hired help to steal Solomon’s treasure for himself.

But Franklin made one very big mistake. During his seven years on the island he spoke of a golden-skinned hero, a man of bronze, who made it his business to help people in trouble. Queen Lha, in order to save the treasure and her people from the outside world, knows that she will need the help of this extraordinary man. Somehow, she must reach, and enlist the aid of Doc Savage!

Before there was a man of steel, there was the man of bronze; Before there was a Dark Knight, there was a golden-skinned man of mystery. Doc Savage! Trained from early childhood to strengthen his mind and body, Doc travels the globe with his five companions righting wrongs and bringing justice to the unjust.

Lester Dent’s first Doc Savage story was published in 1933, pre-dating Superman by 5 years, and Batman by 6. I have to assume that Batman creator Bob Kane was influenced by Dent’s character. Just like Doc Savage, Batman trained his body and mind from a very early age, becoming a nearly perfect crime-fighting machine. Batman’s utility belt may also have had its origin in Doc’s many-pocketed utility vest, where he kept various devices and gadgets to aid his mission. And for you Superman fans out there, Doc Savage had a fortress of solitude in the arctic, when the man of steel was still just a gleam in Joe Shuster’s eye.

In 1934, Lester Dent wrote an outline for a story called Python Isle , which would have been the 21st book in the Doc Savage series. Street & Smith rejected the outline as previous stories involving snakes were not well received by the readers. Python Isle was filed away and forgotten until 1978, nearly twenty years after Dent’s death.

It was Will Murray who discovered the outline in Dent’s files and immediately recognized it for what it was, a lost piece of Doc Savage history. With the permission of Dent’s widow, Murray brought the story to life, and gave it to Bantam Books, who was at the time re-publishing the entire run of Doc Savage books. Bantam accepted Python Isle , but opted to hold onto it until they finished the current run. They eventually published it in 1990, making it the first new Doc Savage story since 1949.

Now, Doc Savage is conquering the audiobook world in Python Isle , the first Doc Savage story to be produced in an audio format. Radio Archives has taken the well-traveled hero, and brought him to life in this amazingly high-quality production. Michael McConnohie lends his voice talent to this adventure. His narration comes through the center channel as usual, but his character voices come from the left or right, putting the listener right in the middle of the action. I’ve heard this production method once before, and I like it a lot. McConnohie’s melodramatic voices are perfect for this recording as well, giving it kind of an old-time radio feel.

Also included in this recording are two brief interviews with the author, Will Murray. In the first, Murray discusses the origin of Doc Savage in the early 1930’s, and other pulp heroes of the era such as The Shadow. In the second interview, Murray talks about Python Isle specifically, filling us in on how he discovered the lost story idea and the process in which it became a published work. These interviews were interesting and, even better, were not long and drawn out.

Doc Savage is one more pulp fiction hero revived with modern technology. I’m liking this trend in audiobooks, and I hope Radio Archives will bring us many more Doc Savage stories.

Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

This first of the series of Doc Savage pastiches by Will Murray is truly dreadful. Murray writes with such intentional badness that I felt insulted, frankly. He handles Doc OK — he knows everything there is to know about the greatest pulp hero of the 1930s and 1940s — but as a work of modern-day pulp fiction, this is very weak stuff, and very tough sledding.

[Melissa Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Doc Savage. I wish I could find some of these books. I'd enjoy having them in my personal library. No used book stores within a 50 mile radius of my home have any copies. I suppose I could go Barnes and Noble route with their Used Books resources.....

[Graham Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I don't think it deserved 4 stars, but it was slightly better than 3. Perfect ham-and-cheese sandwich, a real 1930s pulp radio story. I am excited for a movie of this with The Rock but I doubt I will read the other 18 books in the series.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "new" adventure of Doc Savage by Will Murray, based on an unused outline from Kenneth Robeson. Murray does a wonderful job of recreating the tone and pacing of the original series, in particular the interplay between Ham and Monk. A welcome continuation of the classic series.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Python Isle is another one of the best Doc Savage adventures that Will Murray produced based on Lester Dent's leftover notes and notions. It's a bit longer than the magazine stories, but stays on course and is a fast-paced mystery/adventure.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

read some time in 1991

[David Stoneking · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's alright

[Normand Kosztko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love series of books of Doc Savage is all time adventure novel.