The Eternal Champion #01 - The Eternal Champion

Michael Moorcock is a British science-fiction and fantasy author that began writing novels and stories in the late 1950s. His literary work is mostly composed of series titles that all links to an epic multiverse of various worlds and time periods. I'm familiar with Moorcock through his musical contributions to Blue Oyster Cult and Hawkwind, but haven't seriously dissected his bibliography. To sample his work, I decided to try The Eternal Champion, often referred to as the Erekose series. The trilogy's eponymous debut, originally appeared as a novella in Science Fantasy #53 in 1962. After Moorcock modified and expanded the story, it was published by Dell in 1970 with a Frank Frazetta cover.

The novel is presented in the first-person by John Daker, a man from present day Earth who has been summoned by King Regenos to become a supernatural swordsman known as Erekose, meaning the one who is always there. Daker can remember bits and pieces of his past life, including the various incarnations of himself under names like Elric, Cornelius, Corum, Hawkmoon, and others. Regenos explains that the human race is facing genocide from a race of beings called Eldren. With Erekose's tactical strategy and battleground prowess, mankind can be saved by this messiah. 

The sword-and-sorcery adventure places Erekose on a wooden long-ship sailing to the Eldren capital city. En-route, Erekose witnesses Regenos' unethical tactics when he strikes down an Eldren leader during a truce. Later, the humans wipe out the Eldren's seaport city, slaughtering everyone other than their princess, a woman named Ermizhad. With her as a prisoner, Erekose begins to see a different perspective of the Eldren. As the action shifts to the kingdom commanded by Regeno, Erekose questions his purpose and fate.

If you are a casual sword-and-sorcery fan, or just enjoy a great adventure, then you will easily become enthralled in The Eternal Champion. It can be enjoyed as a simple, yet exciting, action yarn without any deep analysis. The formula is somewhat elementary from a sky-level interpretation – hero is born from the ashes, leads the humans to fight the invaders, questions the motives, then becomes an ally of the invaders. It is a fast-paced, swift action-adventure that is absolutely top-notch. 

However, Moorcock never goes with the grain. He is always questioning the realms of fantasy and the stereotypical flavors and trappings of the genre. As a deep dive, The Eternal Champion positions Erekose as questioning his cursed fatalism. Why is he destined to live out these tragic lifespans in a cycle of the future becoming the past? Is he mankind's savior in a physical sense? The idea that Erekos arrives in an empty tomb places him in a Christ-like position of immense power. As an authority figure, Erekos must decide who needs saving and if warfare truly has rules. Questions of nobility in war, humanity's self-destruction, and the concept of human exceptionalism arise over the course of the narrative. Moorcock's prose, both ultra-smooth and ripe with imagery, presents an appealing and durable protagonist.

The Eternal Champion proves to be timeless classic and worthy of all the critical acclaim and accolades it receives. As a newbie to Moorcock, I think this book may be the welcome drug into an unparalleled library of epic, thought-provoking literature created by a revolutionary scribe. This is sheer perfection, and I want more. 

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Flanagan's Run

Tom McNab was born in Glasgow in 1933 where he held the Scottish national triple jump record. He coached the British Olympic bobsled team at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics and was also a technical advisor on the film Chariots of Fire. Most importantly, he wrote a 1982 historical novel called Flanagan's Run about a 3,000-mile foot race from Los Angeles to New York with a big-money prize during the Great Depression. The premise was so cool, I was sold immediately.

The year is 1931 and C.C. Flanagan is a P.T. Barnum-styled huckster organizing “C. C. Flanagan’s Great Trans-America Race”. Distance running was a spectacle back then, and the prospect of winning a $150,000 prize brings 2,000 athletic anomalies out of the woodwork.

Runners from all over the world — including 121 ladies — travel to Los Angeles to compete in the race. The daily distance quota is about 50 miles, and it’s expected that the race will end three months thereafter. The winner is the finisher with the lowest aggregate time over the entire course. En route, the runners live in specially-constructed tents with 100 bunks each.

Some countries send teams of runners. The German racers are from a new political movement known the “Hitler Youth” or “Nazis.” Other characters in the paperback are the kind of colorful eccentrics you’d see in a Coen Brothers movie or the madcap paperbacks of Donald Westlake:

There’s a 19 year-old Mexican running to save his village from starvation.

A British Olympian places a giant wager with aristocrats at home that he’ll finish in the first six places.

You’ll get to know a Scottish runner who was an unemployed riveter in the Glasgow shipyards before the jobs disappeared.

One of the runners is a bare-knuckle boxer from Pennsylvania with an origin story that will please any fan of boxing fiction.

There’s also a medicine-show con-man everyone calls Doc who is an encyclopedia of knowledge regarding distance running.

And don’t forget Kate Sheridan, the sexy New York burlesque dancer seeking to prove that a woman can make it to the money.

Once the race starts, the fun really begins. Flanagan’s carny sensibilities drives him to bring an entire crew worth of bizarre attractions along the route, including a talking mule who doesn’t say much. There’s camaraderie, teamwork, romance and thrills in every chapter as hungry men (and the Beautiful Kate) push themselves beyond their limits in search of glory and money. Along the way, there are literal and figurative barriers to finishing the race as planned. Flanagan’s constant problem solving and the ways he outsmarts his enemies at every turn are a pleasure to read.

I loved Flanagan’s Run, and if you like the triumph of the human spirit sports stories, you’ll love it as well. The book reminded me of a less-insidious version of Stephen King’s The Long Walk. The movie rights to the novel are owned by Miramax. Part of me would love to see the paperback adapted for a film or streaming series, but a bigger part of me doesn’t want the joy of this thick novel sullied by Hollywood’s interpretation. It occurs to me, that’s the biggest endorsement for a book I can muster: Just let it be. 

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A Woman on the Place

A Woman on the Place was a 1956 Ace paperback by Florida’s “King of Paperbacks” Harry Whittington (1915-1989). The book has been reprinted over the years and remains available as an affordable ebook from Prologue Press.

The Johnsons are simple, struggling orange farmers living in the scrub country of Central Florida. Will is the father fighting to survive with his handicapped wife and stepson in tow. Debts are mounting and a rare freeze may kill this season’s crop. Will’s creditors aren’t interested in excuses, they just want to be paid. There’s disagreement among family members about whether a harvest for the orange juice concentrate company is the right business move.

A pair of uninvited — and undesired — house guests suddenly arrive from Alabama. Tom is the white-trash, deadbeat cousin of Will’s wife, and he brought his abused ragamuffin bride Rosanne with him. Of course, Rosanne is a real looker, and the relationship with her domineering husband is super-dysfunctional. Naturally, Will is intrigued by the Alabama girl, especially when compared to his wheelchair-bound shrew of a wife.

A Woman on the Place is a weird novel for Harry Whittington as it doesn’t fit nicely into any of his normal genres. My theory is that in 1956, paperback editions of novels of hardscrabble life in the rural south by Erskine Caldwell, William Faulkner and John Faulkner were selling quite well. This was Whittington’s attempt to take a crack at an agrarian melodrama with literary aspirations. As a result, the pacing is really, really slow with none of the noir snappiness readers of his crime-fiction have come to expect.

To be clear, there is a killing and stuff happens, but it was all too boring to generate much interest in the characters’ well-being This is what happens when a writer abandons his strengths and chases the marketplace over originality. Harry Whittington was better than this novel, and you deserve more. Don’t bother. 

Buy a copy of the eBook HERE.

House of Stairs

William Sleator (1945-2011) was a Harvard graduate that authored science-fiction and young adult novels from 1970 through 2011. I wasn't aware of his literary work, but was happy to discover House of Stairs at a local used bookstore. It was originally published by Avon in 1974 and has since been reprinted numerous times in multiple formats.

The book consists of five sixteen-year old kids being taken from various orphanages and state institutions and placed in a seemingly endless world of stairs. There are no walls or rails, just platforms connected by stairs that lead in different directions to more stairs. The first to arrive is Peter, blindfolded and shoved from an elevator into this stairway nightmare. Inside the maze, he finds a girl named Lola. Together, the duo stumbles upon another stairway resident, a girl named Blossom. She has found a small, disc-shaped machine that releases a small food pellet each time she sticks out her tongue.

The three are later joined by Abigail and Oliver, and collectively the five of them share a small backstory of how they came to arrive in the maze. Like any novel that places ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, alliances are formed and enemies are made. In this case, Lola and Peter form a partnership and attempt to exist “upstairs” away from the others. The motivation for alienation is that the food machine changes its preferences on when to deliver the pellets. As the hours morph into days, the group soon becomes starved and forced to abuse each other in order for the food pellets to be delivered. You see, physical and verbal abuse awards the group with food while kindness and generosity produces starvation. The horror!

At 156 pages, House of Stairs is a brisk, macabre little novel that says so much about humanity's will to survive. It was interesting to watch the deterioration of human kindness when pushed to the breaking point physically and emotionally. With the idea that time isn't a factor, a rescue isn't feasible, and escape is impossible, these kids spiral into madness and depravity. It's a young adult novel, but there are some violent scenes and sadistic overtones.

I enjoyed this book a lot and found the central mystery as a propulsive, consistent plot development. I will say it is a bit dated with some situations and the ending left me a bit underwhelmed. If you love survival horror like The Mist or The Ruins, then House of Stairs should provide just enough literary terror to quench your thirst. Recommended. 

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Cody's War #01 - Dragonfire!

Between 1982 and 1986, Stephen Mertz authored a number of gritty Mack Bolan installments that are considered some of the best of the series. He also created and authored installments of the M.I.A. Hunter series as well as the Kilroy mysteries and music-based novels like Hank and Muddy and Jimi After Dark. Recently, he launched a brand new action-adventure title called Cody's War. I'm always up for a rip-roaring, Mertz mule-kicker, so I chose to read the series debut, Dragonfire!. It's out now through Wolfpack Publishing.

Readers learn through backstory that CIA Agent Jack Cody experienced a personal tragedy when his family was killed by a terrorist bomb. Now, Cody seeks out the most perilous jobs in a quest to kill himself in the line of duty. Thus, his unconventional methods have earned him the nickname “Suicide Cody”.

In the book's opening chapters, Mertz introduces readers to his newest paperback warrior by placing Cody on a small, U.S. submarine en route to the Ocean Song, a recreational yacht containing a wanted Islamic terrorist named Hadi Abu. As Cody emerges from the tiny craft, there is a prophetic message in one simple line of text: “Cody lifted himself through the hatch, into the storm.” It kicks off the novel, the character's mission, this series debut, and puts readers in the harness seat as the author thrusts readers into the action.

On the Ocean Song, Cody disposes of the baddies, captures a valuable female accomplice, and faces off with one of the early Final Bosses. Abu, refusing to go quietly into submission, gets the 'ole one-two punch - a shotgun amputation and decapitation. Cody then thrusts the captive over his shoulder to ascend a swinging ladder to a helicopter spewing out M60 rounds into the Ocean Song's violent, but foolish crew. Wham! Bam! Thank you Uncle Sam.

After the fast-paced opening scene, Dragonfire! settles into a brisk pace as the next mission unfolds. A Chinese scientist is attempting to defect to America and is receiving assistance from a covert CIA agent. As one can imagine, the defection requires stealth support from resistance cells within Red China, an underground pathway that has already smuggled out the scientist's wife. This resistance cell, oddly enough, is backed by the Triad, China's version of the Mob. 

The exchange is set that will place the scientist on a road to freedom. However, when the final deal goes down, the CIA man is killed and the scientist is taken captive by a Major Zhao. It turns out, Zhao is working on a coup attempt from within the Chinese military. He will use Dragonfire, the scientist's deadly weapon, to shift the momentum and overthrow the Chinese government in a quest for world dominance. It's a pulp-fiction “take over the world with the biggest bomb” strategy that isn't far removed from an Ian Fleming (James Bond) or Michael Avallone (Nick Carter, Ed Noon) styled plot. 

U.S. President Harwood informs his close cabinet that Cody is The President's Man and has been for the three predecessors before him. Harwood elaborates, “He's as well-known in this office as he's unknown to the general public.” So, Harwood gives the orders to Cody's CIA controller and possible love interest, Sara Durell (an obvious ode to Mertz's favorite spy hero in Sam Durell). She meets with Cody, provides the rundown, and hooks him up with an embassy handler named Beth in Hong Kong. The mission is to locate the scientist while investigating the disappearances of an American fighter-jet and submarine, which readers already know were targeted, zapped, fried, and vaporized by Dragonfire. Cody's ultimate goal is to prevent Earth from falling under the bombastic spell of an even viler Chinese dictator.

Needless to say, Mertz is in full rock 'n roll mode with Cody's War. Dragonfire!, while being a modern, sophisticated shoot 'em up, is a throwback to the two-fisted, barrel-chested, bullet-belted heroes of the 1970s through the 1990s. Cody isn't completely exposed in this book, leaving a lot of his past in the dark. But, I love the madness to his motive and the idea that he is longing for his own death while fighting to save the lives of others. There's very little humor (if any) as Cody drills down to the bone marrow to find and eliminate targets. This keeps the book on the rails and moving towards a destination. Readers know the stops. I also love literary-longevity. Mertz has created a durable series hero that he can simply drop into the endless abundance of current Earthly war-zones. Plus, there's the whole “Sara 'n Cody” romance that can build up over time. 

In the introduction to Conan of the Isles, L. Sprague de Camp wrote about a lecture he attended on writers. I think this sort of sentiment describes talented authors like Stephen Mertz:

“A lecturer lately has said that, if a fiction writer wants sales, he should write exclusively either about politics or sex. A novel like The President's Boyfriend ought to be a lead-pipe cinch. There are still, however, many readers who read, not to be enlightened, improved, uplifted, reformed, baffled by the writer's obscurity, amazed by his cleverness, nauseated by his scatology, or reduced to tears by the plight of some mistreated person, class, or caste, but to be entertained.”

Whether he's throwing rounds downrange with a literary creation or blowin' the blues harp in a smoky dive, Mertz is an entertainer. With his newest fictional hero, this remarkable scribe ventures down another pathway to offer up another enjoyable, rock-solid good guy during a time when humanity needs more good guys. Jack Cody is that guy.

Cody's War Checklist

1 Dragonfire!
2 Camp David Has Fallen!
3 The Fires of Allah
4 Day of Reckoning
5 The Last Refuge
6 Cody's Return
7 Lethal Assault
8 Final Strike
9 Afghanistan Payback

10 Hellfire in Syria 

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Tightrope Men, The

British resident Giles Denison awakens in an unfamiliar place with vague memories of his past. When he stumbles into the bathroom, he is shocked to see the face staring back at him is not his own. The mirror's reflection, and wallet, prove that Denison is a doctor named Harold Meyrick. Upon further inspection, Denison discovers that he is in a hotel room in Oslo, Norway. Going with the flow, and hoping sanity returns, Denison heads to the front desk and learns that he's been a guest of the hotel for three weeks. Finding his car, Denison is further perplexed when he finds a small doll inside with an invitation for a meeting at a nearby popular tourist spot.

When Denison arrives at the rural, forested attraction, he's immediately attacked by three men. Barely surviving the encounter, Denison escapes with his life and is soon arrested by the Norwegian police. Thankfully, Denison finds some solace when men from the British embassy arrive to spring him from jail. They attempt to explain the bizarre circumstances surrounding Denison's newfound identity. It turns out that Dr. Meyrick was assisting British intelligence in locating hidden papers regarding a top-secret weapon. Some red agency captured Meyrick and the perfectly pedestrian Denison. Meyrick is either dead or undergoing torture, while Denison has been brain-scooped and surgically rendered to resemble Meyrick. 

Desmond Bagley's The Tightrope Men (1973) is a clever, high-speed espionage thriller with the obligatory suit 'n tie good guys fighting global terror with an unlikely hero. Denison's transformation from unwilling, shocked suburbanite into the willing and capable spy was really enjoyable. The author injects some humor and a lot of fun banter with Denison, as Meyrick, forced to engage in relationships with Meyrick's friends and a beautiful daughter. The latter becomes a real mess for Denison as he is falling in love with the woman that is supposed to be his daughter. There's reader speculation on who's in the know and who isn't when it comes to Denison's facade as Meyrick, which made for a great mystery. Of course, there's gunplay and action-adventure in the deep, rural wilderness of Finland (similar to Bagley's Running Blind taking place in the remote wilds of Iceland).    

Needless to say, Bagley rarely disappoints. The Tightrope Men is a well-crafted, superb spy-thriller with danger, intrigue, and romance at the forefront. If you love Ian Fleming, Hammond Innes, and Alistair MacLean, then you are probably already familiar with Desmond Bagley. If not, this is a perfect representation of his work. Highly, highly recommended.

Fun Fact about Paperback Warrior – I'm a bit of a Finland history buff and Bagley provides an excellent, digestible history on Finland's relationship with Russia. There's also passages regarding the Karelian Isthmus, an area in northwestern Russia, where the Finnish population was seemingly replaced with Russian. In particular, I've read poems and stories associated with Finland's National epic Kalevala. There's a great Finnish band called Amorphis that writes and performs songs associated with Finnish history and the Kalevala poems. 

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Atlantic Fury

Author Hammond Innes would spend months researching and visiting obscure parts of the world in preparation for his adventure novels. Typically, Innes likes to keep things frosty, evident with his novels The White South, The Land God Gave to Cain, and Fire in the Snow. Thus, the northern hemisphere was a popular destination, including the rocky Outer Hebrides islands, positioned off the west coast of mainland Scotland. This rugged, rural terrain is the backdrop for Atlantic Fury, a mid-career novel originally published by Collins in 1962. 

The first thing you need to realize about Atlantic Fury is that the book's ending is revealed in the novel's first few pages. The account is written in first-person perspective by Donald Ross, an artist and former seaman who explains that a major military disaster occurred at sea and courtroom drama transpired. Ross's narrative reveals the results of his investigation into the wreck and what prompted his participation.

In the novel's first act, Ross is unexpectedly visited by a Canadian gentleman named Lane. He explains that his wife is running in second-place to inherit a ton of money from a deceased relative. The current leader is a guy named Major Braddock, but all attempts to reach him have been met with cold silence. It appears that Braddock just isn't that interested in the will, but can't be excluded without proof of death. Interestingly enough, Lane explains to Ross that he has evidence that proves that the real Braddock actually died years ago in a boating disaster. The man pretending to be Braddock now is Ross's brother Iain. That's a real pitch, but what makes it a curveball is that Ross's brother died years ago. Did Iain fake his own death and become the deceased Braddock to fool authorities?

I would imagine that this type of story has been told before, the one where the guy condemned to the gallows figures out a way to swap identities. However, Innes does what he does best by incorporating all of the harrowing elements to create the perfect escapism – roaring storms, nautical disaster, brutal survival, and the obligatory harsh and unforgiving landscape. Innes understood his audience and what was needed to delight his loyal fan base. It's like Lionel White providing thieves and bank jobs to please the readers of his riveting heist novels. But, Innes captures a certain lonely and tragic essence with the characters he creates.

Ross exhibits a deep longing for the fictional Laerg, an island making up a part of the Outer Hebrides chain. His attempts to reach it is either counter or parallel to his minimalist lifestyle depending on perspective. Ross is a single starving artist living in a small apartment, yet longs for Laerg's isolated, uninhabitable landscape of perilous rocks and beaches. It's also a trip into his past to determine his brother's connection to the island. If Laerg is a solitary confinement, then Ross is just bringing his sheltered lifestyle to another place. Or, does the island represent some sort of artistic freedom, liberating Ross from his confined space? Examining the other novel's strengths may reveal certain characters that would rob you of reading pleasure. 

Atlantic Fury isn't top shelf Innes, but for any other high-adventure author it probably is. Innes was simply that good and proves it with a stellar catalog. There's plenty to like about the novel considering the central mystery, as revealed as it is, and the abstract, unique adventurers. Recommended. 

Buy the book HERE.