George Chance-The Green Ghost Volume 1

by Michael Panush, Greg Hatcher, B.C. Bell

Former stage magician George Chance, by various twists of fate, becomes an eerie vigilante to help the police solve baffling, unique mysteries. He is aided by his loyal crew made up of former glamour girl, Merry White, circus little man, Tiny Tim Terry, former bookmaker and gambler Joe Harper and Glenn Saunders, a novice magician who is his identical double.Created by writer G.T. Fleming-Roberts, the Green Ghost and his team battled all manner of villainy in some of the most macabre pulp adventures ever recorded. Now Chance & Company are back in four brand new tales as chronicled by a quartet of today’s finest New Pulp writers; Michael Panush, Greg Hatcher, B.C. Bell and Erwin K. Roberts. In these pages the Green Ghost will face a giant mechanical monster on a long abandoned boardwalk, attempt to solve the murder of his old mentor and uncover a ring of foreign saboteurs using radio frequencies to carry out their missions of terror and destruction.Here are pulp thrills and spills showcasing one of the most original classic pulp heroes ever invented. Brought to you by Airship 27 Productions, the new home of High Adventure.

172 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 2014

About the author

Michael Panush is a lifelong writer and Sacramento native.
A born storyteller since childhood, Panush is the author of over a dozen books in numerous different genres. He’s crafted Weird Westerns such the El Mosaico and Mark Justice’s The Dead Sheriff: A Cold and Lonesome Grave, Urban Fantasies like the Stein and Candle and Clay Shamus series, Woodland Medieval Fantasy with the Dark Forest series, and numerous stories that play with history in unique and wild ways such as the talking animal mystery Ape’s Honor and The Stone Law, the tales of a Stone Age caveman detective.
With Charles Santino, he’s created Metropolis: Resurrection—a prequel to the famous German Expressionist Sci-Fi Classic.
He lives and teaches in Sacramento.
Follow him on the web at https://michaelpanush.com/ and on twitter at https://twitter.com/Michael_Panush

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of a magician solving crimes has fascinated me ever since I had got hold of the comics involving Mandrake the Magician. Of course, Mandrake had used “real” magic, involving hypnotisms to great effect, which appeared indigestible in real life. Therefore, with the passage of days, as I ‘grew up’ (I’m not sure if my better half would agree, but waistline & hairline indicate passage of lots of years), I turned towards more conventional mystery-solving, as well as towards the tales of Occult Detectives, where rational & irrational fused amicably and (if done well) seamlessly. And then, in the website of Airship 27, I found out that the good people there have resurrected another Pulp character, this one being a Magician named George Chance who helps Police by extending his professional inputs not as a consultant, but as a vigilante named (& looking like) Green Ghost, who had been apparently licensed even to kill! It sounded outrageous, and really interesting. Hence, the book was procured, and read.

The contents of this typo-marred but atmospherically illustrated (by Zachary Brunner) slick volume are:
1. “The Phantom Elephant of the Coney Island” by Michael Panush: This action-packed story uses the sordid saga of the so-called Pleasure Parks in the early days of 20th Century New York as the backdrop as well as the driving force of the narrative. It’s macabre, violent, and not a good place to get introduced to George Chance who, despite using all sorts of violence, doesn’t solve the problem in this case. However, once you get through this story, it’s better if you forget about this persona, because the other stories are decidedly better.
2. “The Case of the Ectoplasmic Escapist” by Greg Hatcher: Brilliantly evocative of the Daniel Stashower series about Harry Houdini solving murders, this story is all about the world of illusions & betrayal. It also builds the character of both George Chance and the Green Ghost quite nicely.
3. “The Case of the Rocketeer Ripper” by B.C. Bell: Another superior story that allows Chance’s associates to occupy substantial space, while giving him scope to do the work of a proper detective, in the backdrop of wartime America, with red herrings thrown in for good measure.
4. “Murder in Sound Effects” by Erwin K. Roberts: Despite a nice beginning and a superior build-up, the ‘mystery’ wasn’t anything worthy of applying the Grey Matter, and the reason for murder turned out to be farcically inane.

Overall, I would follow the literary career of Greg Hatcher, read stuff written by B.C. Bell, may also read stuff written by Michael Panush and Erwin K. Roberts, but I think I’m done with Green Ghost and his activities.

[Edo Bosnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this whole "new pulp" movement (for lack of a better term), i.e., using obscure old pulp magazine heroes from the 1930s and '40s in new stories, or creating new heroes in new stories that exude that old pulp fiction style (the publisher of this book, Airship 27, pretty much exclusively offers this type of new pulp material).
You don't really have to know anything about the Green Ghost (I didn't) to appreciate the stories in this volume: everything you need to know about the character is concisely explained by each of the four authors.
And the fact that there are different writers means that one problem that sometimes marred the old pulp tales - i.e., repetitive, formulaic writing - is avoided here. My personal favorites are the stories by Hatcher (in particular) and Bell, but that doesn't mean the other two are any less enjoyable.
I warmly recommend this book to anyone who likes the old pulps, comics or just fun adventure and/or suspense stories.