What do you think?
Rate this book
Weird Heroes #4
Weird Heroes: Nightshade
American pulp fiction. Terror with gothic black and white illustrations
An internationally famous magician--a voodoo legend in the backfields of Haiti--an obsessed ceature of the night! These are but three faces of the haunting, beautiful enigma called Nightshade!
An internationally famous magician--a voodoo legend in the backfields of Haiti--an obsessed ceature of the night! These are but three faces of the haunting, beautiful enigma called Nightshade!
- GenresScience FictionFantasy
238 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 6, 2023
This is the fourth book in a series that lasted for eight volumes comprised of four anthologies and four novels from various writers and artists under Preiss's overall editorial direction. The stated intent was to bring back the spirit of the superhero pulps for the modern (the book appeared in 1976) age. It was a nifty concept that was executed with a lot of verve and enthusiasm, but the results weren't always as good as one might have wished. This was one of the better novels of the four, featuring a female protagonist who shifts from voodoo priestess to creature of the night to famous magician in her crime-fighting efforts against a powerful global cartel involved in terrorist activities in the Caribbean. There was more of a comic book than pulp vibe, but it was fun. The writing is not great but all right, and the story has become a bit dated; I don't think the voodoo aspect would be considered acceptable anymore, but fifty years ago people weren't as easily offended. I thought it was a fun adventure, and it's a shame that the sequel that was set-up in this novel never appeared. There's a cool introduction by Walter Gibson, creator of The Shadow, and excellent, lavish illustrations by Rudy Nebres that add a whole lot to the book.
May 12, 2016
Not a bad superhero novel. Somehow it's doesn't quite get across the action a comic book does. Recommended
February 14, 2023
Nightshade is part of a series of mid-70’s pulp revivals, wherein publisher Byron Preiss endeavoured to create a new line of novels and stories in the tradition of the pulp heroes of the 1930’s, many of whom starred in their own fiction magazines.
In “Terror, Inc.” (the actual title of the story in this volume) Beth Meacham and Tappan King attempted to integrate the two-fisted, businesslike writing style of the pulps with a then-modern sense of worldliness. While Nightshade the character uses magician’s tricks and false identities, tropes that will be recognized by anyone that has read a story of The Shadow, The Phantom Detective, and others of their ilk, the plot is more akin to something you would find in one of the mercenary stories that were so popular in contemporary men’s paperback fiction. A global conglomerate called “World Transport” is conspiring with a group of mercenaries to sway the tide of revolution in the Caribbean (specifically Haiti). Nightshade, also known as the famous stage magician Doctor Black, senses the presence of the man who destroyed her life behind this scheme and infiltrates the organization in order to sabotage the operation. But she soon has to decide whether she wants to seek revenge for herself or true justice for the common people.
Nightshade is an interesting artifact of its time. While it touches on themes such as corporate espionage, government corruption, and, to a degree, feminism of the 1970’s, it still gets stuck in some awkward situations. Much of the novel sees Nightshade taking on the guise of Mama Dimanche, an embarrassingly stock voodo witch woman, and essentially spending quite a bit of time in sort-of-but-not-really blackface. The book itself has just enough typographical errors to be distracting, and the authors, a pair of college academics, are both first time novelists. As a result, the final product feels adequate if somewhat less than totally professional. The biggest problem is that the climax does not feel very impactful and the ending is very unsatisfying. The book ends up straying from its pulp novel roots by concluding with a sequel hook rather than closing off the current adventure.
Unfortunately, Nightshade did not make a return, and thus we’ve been left with a promising but abandoned action hero, which is unfortunate. Given additional experience for the writers and further development of the character, there was potential for some fun stories.
In “Terror, Inc.” (the actual title of the story in this volume) Beth Meacham and Tappan King attempted to integrate the two-fisted, businesslike writing style of the pulps with a then-modern sense of worldliness. While Nightshade the character uses magician’s tricks and false identities, tropes that will be recognized by anyone that has read a story of The Shadow, The Phantom Detective, and others of their ilk, the plot is more akin to something you would find in one of the mercenary stories that were so popular in contemporary men’s paperback fiction. A global conglomerate called “World Transport” is conspiring with a group of mercenaries to sway the tide of revolution in the Caribbean (specifically Haiti). Nightshade, also known as the famous stage magician Doctor Black, senses the presence of the man who destroyed her life behind this scheme and infiltrates the organization in order to sabotage the operation. But she soon has to decide whether she wants to seek revenge for herself or true justice for the common people.
Nightshade is an interesting artifact of its time. While it touches on themes such as corporate espionage, government corruption, and, to a degree, feminism of the 1970’s, it still gets stuck in some awkward situations. Much of the novel sees Nightshade taking on the guise of Mama Dimanche, an embarrassingly stock voodo witch woman, and essentially spending quite a bit of time in sort-of-but-not-really blackface. The book itself has just enough typographical errors to be distracting, and the authors, a pair of college academics, are both first time novelists. As a result, the final product feels adequate if somewhat less than totally professional. The biggest problem is that the climax does not feel very impactful and the ending is very unsatisfying. The book ends up straying from its pulp novel roots by concluding with a sequel hook rather than closing off the current adventure.
Unfortunately, Nightshade did not make a return, and thus we’ve been left with a promising but abandoned action hero, which is unfortunate. Given additional experience for the writers and further development of the character, there was potential for some fun stories.
July 20, 2016
Like the other books in this series, the book design and illustrations were excellent, with artwork by comic artist Rudy Nebres. The story, however, is average, and the writing is very methodical, nothing really wrong with it, it just wasn't engaging. I found this book overlong, it would have worked much better condensed into two or three issues of a comic book mini-series. As a novel, it is plodding and uninspired. Not on the same level as the other books I have read in this series.
June 24, 2015
The Weird Heroes neo-pulp label takes its shot at a Shadow for the seventies—Nightshade, a stage magician by day, a mysterious avenger by night, taking on a SPECTRE like terrorist cartel as it attempts its first big coup. Good, though like most of the WH line, it didn't spawn any sequels.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews