D'Artagnan: A Sequel to The Three Musketeers

by H. Bedford-Jones

Henry James O'Brien Bedford-Jones (1887-1949) was a prolific author of science fiction and historical adventure novels and stories. He contributed to many of the pulp magazines of the time.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Classics

230 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Henry James O'Brien Bedford-Jones (1887–1949) was a Canadian historical, adventure fantasy, science fiction, crime and Western writer who became a naturalized United States citizen in 1908. After being encouraged to try writing by his friend, writer William Wallace Cook, Bedford-Jones began writing dime novels and pulp magazine stories. Bedford-Jones was an enormously prolific writer; the pulp editor Harold Hersey once recalled meeting Bedford-Jones in Paris, where he was working on two novels simultaneously, each story on its own separate typewriter. Bedford-Jones cited Alexandre Dumas as his main influence, and wrote a sequel to Dumas' The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan (1928). He wrote over 100 novels, earning the nickname "King of the Pulps". His works appeared in a number of pulp magazines. Bedford-Jones' main publisher was Blue Book magazine; he also appeared in Adventure, All-Story Weekly, Argosy, Short Stories, Top-Notch Magazine, The Magic Carpet, Golden Fleece, Ace-High Magazine, People's Story Magazine, Hutchinson's Adventure-Story Magazine, Detective Fiction Weekly, Western Story Magazine, and Weird Tales.

In addition to writing fiction, Bedford-Jones also worked as a journalist for the Boston Globe, and wrote poetry. Bedford-Jones was a friend of Erle Stanley Gardner and Vincent Starrett.

Reviews

[Papercuts1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun ride back into the Muskeverse! Who knew fanfiction already existed back in 1928? At least it reads as such, but in a good, old-fashioned, true-to-the-source-material manner.

Bedford-Jones, while lacking Dumas mellifluous elegance and love for detail, delivers a swashbuckling adventure that checks all the Musketeer boxes: duels and damsels in distress, spies and assassins, musket balls and flying fists, horseback chases and secret letters, scandal and shenanigans and lots of drama.

“D’Artagnan” is a wonderful re-encounter with our four beloved Inseparables, set in the time gap between “The Three Musketeers” and “Twenty Years After” and doing its best to fill in a few blanks - plot twists included.

Aside from Aramis getting conveniently sidelined for most of the book, I have little to complain: a confuzzeled first chapter, a few continuity errors and as many typos as you would expect from a very cheap ebook edition that doesn’t even have a proper cover.

A warning to canon sticklers: Bedford-Jones gives a different spin to one of the character’s backstories, veering off Dumas’ path. While some will mind, I didn’t. I felt it was an interesting alternative that might just as well have happened, shedding an interesting new light on one of the Musketeers that I found disconcertingly fitting. Those who’ve read the complete Musketeers saga, including The Man In The Iron Mask, will know what I mean.

All in all, a lovely, exciting, fun pastiche! Highly recommended for everyone who fell in love with these unforgettable characters and needs an encore.

[Kevin Kamphaus · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTASTIC book! I recommend it for any fan of Dumas' Musketeer novels. Jones does an amazing job of capturing the characters we grew to love in the D'Artagnan Romances. ...and not to mention, he's a GREAT story teller.

[Marko · Rating 4 out of 5]

H. Bedford-Jones' D'Artagnan: A Sequel to The Three Musketeers is a fast-paced adventure set after the events of The Three Musketeers, in the year 1630, when Cardinal Richelieu was fighting for his position against powerful enemies - and eventually solidified his power. The novel features all the familiar musketeers and several new characters in a relatively simple but fun adventure. The author uses the traditional gimmick of the time, claiming that the story is based on Dumas' lost papers, just like Dumas based his story on earlier documents.

Overall, this was a surprisingly entertaining find and makes me want to look deeper into H. Bedford-Jones' works - perhaps Robert E. Howard is not the only worthwhile pulp era author to follow.

Read the full review here:
http://susimetsa.blogspot.fi/2015/07/...

[The Crow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leído: 5,5/10. En 1928, H. Bedford-Jones empezó a publicar un serial en revistas Pulp, basadas en un manuscrito no finalizado de Dumas. Sin embargo, no era cierto. No había ningún manuscrito. El autor (y más probablemente su editor), hábil imitando estilos literarios, hizo pasar su serial por obra póstuma de A. Dumas, y coló.

Leído "Los tres mosqueteros" hace cosa de un mes, sin ser una obra maestra, lo disfruté mucho. "D'Artagnan" se sitúa después, 1-2 años después del original de Dumas, así que cuando lo vi lo compré emocionado.

Sin embargo, se me ha hecho aburrido. Una segunda parte que no hacía falta. Como cuando una película lo peta y hacen la segunda parte, sin el guionista y sin el director: "Del productor de 'El guacamole podrido' llega 'El guacamole podrido II'". Y la ves, y son los mismos personajes, la misma historia, pero contada peor, y SIN ALMA.

Y este es el problema de este libro. No tiene ALMA. Así que... Este no lo recomiendo.

[Benji · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun Three Musketeers pastiche. It takes place in between Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. There's some interesting overlap with Dumas' The Red Sphinx and the introduction to the book fictitiously claims it's based on a lost Dumas manuscript which makes me think that either Bedford-Jones had read or was familiar with Le Comte de Moret or else it's a fascinating coincidence. The book is more violent than the Dumas novels but it works. There's a scene I loved where Porthos, believing D'Artagnan and Athos to have been killed in combat, enters something of a berserker rage and massacres a group of would be assassins with a large roasting spit. Not necessarily 100% in line with Porthos as we see him in the books but I really enjoyed it. The book also makes an odd choice to retcon Raoul as the son of Aramis and not Athos, with Athos choosing to adopt him. The story also talks up Marie Michon/Madame de Chevreuse quite a bit, and she has more 'screen time' than she does in any of Dumas' books, which I enjoyed. I always thought she was a fascinating, enigmatic personality that I wanted to see more of.

Good swashbucklin' action. Worth a read if Musketeers Pastiche sounds up your alley.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun romp, set in between Dumas' novels.
Isn't as dense with history and politics of the novels, but captures the feel and atmosphere of Dumas.

and the gag about D'artagan needing to find a pair of pants worked way better than has any right to.