Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 109

Into the woods we go! In this episode, Eric takes a journey through a popular niche genre of men's action-adventure novels - Deer Hunter Horror. Capsule reviews are presented for novels like Shoot, Open Season, Deer Hunt, High Hunt, and more. Also, a contemporary novel is reviewed titled East Indianman by Griff Hosker. Stream on any podcasting platform, stream below or download HERE. Be sure to check out the companion video HERE featuring a deep dive into an obscure book store in central Florida with loads of vintage paperbacks and appealing pop-culture. 

Listen to "Episode 109: Deer Hunter Horror" on Spreaker.

The Yellow Wallpaper

Author Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) mostly concentrated on writing non-fiction, magazine articles, poetry, and social theory. Her most famous work is a short story titled “The Yellow Wallpaper”, originally published in The New England Magazine in 1892. In 2015, Stephen King stated that the story terrified him. I have read numerous references to the work from influential writers citing it as an influence on their writing. Over the years I've never bothered to give it a whirl. Until today.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is an epistolary story presented through journal entries that are narrated by the unnamed main character. For simplicity, I'll just refer to her as Jane. After giving birth to her baby, Jane descends into postpartum depression. In this Victorian age the best cure was thought to be extended rest. Jane's husband John rents a mansion for the summer in hopes this will cure her of her psychosis. 

Oddly, when the two arrive, alongside a housekeeper and John's sister Jennie, the narrator says that she is confined to a spacious upstairs nursery. Her descriptions of the room, which change over time, dominate the bulk of the narrative. Jane describes the living space as having metal rings in the walls, a floor that seems to have claw marks in it, barred windows, and a bed bolted to the floor. Seems suspicious.

The focus of course is the yellow wallpaper. Jane begins to see patterns and designs on the walls. Over the course of many days she believes the patterns are bending and being reshaped into new forms by a woman crawling inside the wall.

Needless to say “The Yellow Wallpaper” is disturbing. After the story's publication the author stated that her writing wasn't intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy. Gilman's motivation to write the story stems from her own mental anguish through postnatal depression and the treatment involved.

From the perspective of a horror or mystery fan, the story is wildly entertaining in its abstract style and open interpretation. No one really can provide a definitive answer on who the narrator is, if her baby is indeed alive, and if she is really in a summer home or a sanitarium. The possibilities are endless which is a testament to the story's secretive storytelling and the legacy it carries. Recommended. 

Stainless Steel Rat #01 - The Stainless Steel Rat

One of Harry Harrison's most successful series titles was the Stainless Steel Rat. The first published Stainless Steel Rat novel occurred in 1961. The series ran through 2010 with a total of 12 installments. Loving Harrison's series To the Stars as well as his Brion Brandd hero, I decided I needed to explore another of Harrison's titles. As a newbie to SSR, I decided to read the series debut simply titled The Stainless Steel Rat.

In a far-flung future world, James di Griz operates as a smooth criminal traveling solar systems and planetscapes searching for the next heist. In many ways he's no different than any criminal found in the books by Dan Marlowe, Donald Westlake, or Lionel White. He's a cool operator with a penchant for highly stressful and highly productive payoffs. But, where does the rat thing come from exactly? Here's how Harrison cleverly describes the series title and structure:

“Some don't show their weakness until they are adults, they are the ones who try their hand at petty crime – burglary, shoplifting, or such. They get away with it for a week or two or a month or two, depending on the degree of their native intelligence. But sure as atomic decay – and just as predestined – the police reach out and pull them in. That is almost the full extent of crime in our organized dandified society. Ninety-nice percent of it, let's say. It is that last and vital one percent that keeps the police departments in business. That one percent is me, and a handful of men scattered around the galaxy. Theoretically we can't exist, and if we do exist we can't operate – but we do. We are the rats in the wainscoting of society – we operate outside of their barriers and outside of their rules. Society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as the old wooden buildings had more rats than the concrete buildings that came later. But they still had rats. Now that society is all ferronconcrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps between the joints, and it takes a smart rat to find them. A stainless steel rat is right at home in this environment.”

The beginning of the novel has diGriz knocking over an armored car full of money. Just when he thinks he has perfected the heist he is nabbed by the cops. They appreciate his criminal mind so much, and his historical reign of terror, that they make him a free man in exchange for working for The Special Corps. This is a branch of the League (that's space law) that takes care of the troubles that individual planets can't solve. What better asset to the cause than a criminal?

The first assignment for diGriz is the investigation of a mysterious battleship that is being secretly constructed on a peaceful planet in a tranquil part of space. diGriz's attempts to stop the construction leads to a conflict with a female mastermind of equal dexterity – a sexy seductress named Angelina. She's in the midst of creating a unheard of revolution on a peaceful planet free from problems. When diGriz abandons the Corps to go after Angelina alone it sets off a wild series of interstellar adventures that are perfectly penned by Harrison. 

Anyone worth their salt can see rave reviews online for the Stainless Steel Rat series. I'm here to tell you that all of their applause and approval is justified. This novel is just delightful in its simple plot, furious action, hilarious political intrigue, and the introduction of a marvelous literary character. The Stainless Steel Rat rings a crime-fiction bell complete with genre tropes made bigger and more outlandish with spaceships and planetary travels. If this debut is any indication, then this series is going to be a fantastic reading experience. I'm distancing myself from reading them all back to back. Good things come to those who...well you know what I mean. Highly recommended! Get the book HERE.

Paperback Warrior Primer - Steve Fisher

Steve Gould Fisher (1912-1980) was a prolific author of westerns, crime-fiction, and pulp stories in the early to mid 20th century. We've reviewed a number of Fisher's literary work including both shorts and full-length original novels. Today's primer looks at Fisher's military career and his contributions to all of the genres we adore here at Paperback Warrior.

Fisher was born on August 29th, 1912 in Marine City, Michigan. At some point his family relocated to Los Angeles so his mother could pursue an acting career. Fisher was enrolled into Oneonta Military Academy. It was there that he apparently sold a story to a small magazine as a teenager. But, he had enough of school and his personal life and ran away at age 16. He would later join the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Fisher's writing career took off with two articles that he wrote for the Navy's magazines – Our Navy and U.S. Navy. When he was discharged in 1932, Fisher returned to Los Angeles to continue writing for U.S. Navy. His work was so closely aligned with the Navy that they officially advertised Fisher as “The Navy's Foremost Writer”. 

Outside of the Navy publication, Fisher also started writing original short erotic fiction stories, which was published in 1933 and 1934 in magazine format. Sometime in the late 20s or early 30s, Fisher became married. In 1933, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York and lived close to the offices of Street and Smith, the dominant pulp publisher at that time. Friends and contemporaries stated that Fisher had a rough time as a New Yorker and was evicted several times. It became known that he even pawned his typewriter and used rejected manuscripts at lunch wagons promising that someday he would make it.

Author Frank Gruber moved to New York around the same time so the two of them became lifelong close friends. The friendship pushed Fisher in the right direction. Later, the two became friends with Cornell Woolrich. In 1934, Fisher's first non-erotic or romance story was published. It was a nautical story called “Authorized Mutiny” and it was published in the February 1934 issue of Top Notch. Some resources show his first non-erotic story was “Hell’s Scoop” and it was included in the March 1934 issue of Sure-Fire Detective Magazine. In 1935, lowly publisher Phoenix Press published his romance novel Spend the Night. They also bought and published two more of his novels - Satan's Angel and Forever Glory. 

By 1936 Fisher had become divorced. He then married a Popular Publications Inc. editor named Edythe Syme. By 1937, Fisher was really hitting his stride and providing stories regularly for Black Mask. In 1938, Fisher also refined his romance stories and sold them to the slick magazines like Empire, Cosmopolitan, and Liberty. 

Fisher's pulp career is often highlighted by the characters he created and wrote about. I've highlighted some of the prominent characters:

Captain Baby Face – This character's name is Jed Garrett but he's known as Captain Babyface and he works for the American Special Agent's Corps. His mission in the series is to kill Mr. Death, an evil genius working for Germany. There were ten total stories and they ran January through November of 1936 in the Dare-Devil Aces pulp magazine. The publisher Age of Aces has all ten stories combined into one awesome, 230-page volume and you can obtain it through Amazon HERE. 

Sheridan Doome - Doome is a Lieutenant Commander and chief detective for U.S. Naval Intelligence. His job is to investigate crimes committed on Naval bases and ships. Doome flies a special black airplane and his face is monstrously disfigured from a WW1 explosion. These stories appeared in the back pages of The Shadow Magazine beginning on May 1st of 1935. There were six Sheridan Doome stories in The Shadow Magazine in 1935. These six were the only Sheridan Doome stories published under Steve Fisher's real name. Beginning in 1937, they were all written under the pseudonym Stephen Gould. In the pulp magazine The Shadow, there were 54 total Sheridan Doome stories between 1935 and 1943. Fisher also placed Sheridan Doome in two full length novels - 1936's Murder of the Admiral and 1937's Murder of the Pigboat Skipper.

Big Red Brennan – This character is a U.S. Naval Intelligence agent fighting enemy spies in the U.S. and in Shanghai. Accoring to Spy Guys and Gals, who gather information from The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes by Jeff Nevins, Big Red Brennan's adversary is a former American Naval Lieutenant who sold out to a spy ring of Chinese and Mongolians. There are 24 Big Red Brennan stories and they ran from October 1936 through December 1937 in a pulp magazine called The Feds. The rest of the series was in the magazine Crime Busters and that ran from February 1938 through May 1939.

Danny Garrett – Garrett is a 13-year old shoe shine boy in New York City that solves crimes and catches criminals. His nickmane is Shoeshine Kid Detective. There were 65 of these stories from 1936 through 1946. Nearly all of these are in The Shadow. Two were in Crack Detective Stories and one in Mammoth Detective. There were even more Danny Garrett stories during that time written by both William G. Bogart and Fisher under the house pseudonym Grant Lane. The character was so popular that it spawned 18 appearances in comic book form beginning with Doc Savage Comics #1 in 1940. 

Tony Key – This character appeared in 12 stories in Detective Fiction Weekly and Black Mask from 1937 to 1941, beginning with “Murder Game–With Mirrors” in Detective Fiction Weekly, May 15, 1937. Key works in Hollywood and poses as a film and television agent. But, his real job is a detective for the film studios. He solves crimes involving producers, actors, and writers. He's described as always wearing flannels, white shoes, a white sweater, and a black coat. He has “patent leather hair.” His secretary and lover is the smart, pretty platinum blonde Betty Gale, and his ally is Mickey Ryan on the Homicide Squad. You can purchase the Tony Key stories in a collection from Black Mask HERE.

Mark Turner – Turner works as captain of the detectives in Honolulu, HI. He’s described as having red hair and a red Vandyke styled beard. Because of his brown eyes offset by red hair, the natives call him Red Eyes. Turner appeared in five stories. They were published in The Mysterious Wu Fang, Mystery Adventure Magazine, and Ten Detective Aces from 1935 to 1937. 

Johnny Connel – Perhaps the shortest lived character, Connel only appears in two stories. The first was “Murder Melody” and it was in Detective Tales June 1941. That same character is in “Blues for a Dead Lady”, which was in Detective Tales March 1951. I couldn't locate any information about this character. 

Fisher wrote about 500 stories for the magazines and pulps but he also wrote a number of full-length novels. His most popular book is probably the 1941 novel I Wake Up Screaming. It's about a promoter who is a suspect in the murder of a starlet. The book was compared to Cornell Woolrich, which makes sense considering Fisher and Woolrich were friends. He even has a character in the book named Cornell as a tribute to his friend. The book became a hit film the same year and kick-started the crime-noir film era. It was even filmed again in 1953 under the same title. With I Woke Up Screaming, Fisher really made a statement that he had moved on from the pulps.    

Fisher authored 16 total full-length novels including No House Limit in 1958, which was later reprinted by Hard Case Crime. 

Fisher moved to Hollywood, CA and began a long-running, highly successful career writing and producing films and television shows. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1944 for his screenplay Destination Tokyo, which was adapted from his novel. He wrote and produced seemingly hundreds of shows and films up until his death on March 27th, 1980 in Canoga Park, CA.

Island of the Dead

It would be difficult to discuss zombie novels without including a cornerstone of the genre, Brian Keene. Many consider his novel The Rising (2003), along with Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead, as catalysts for zombie pop-culture of the 2000s. Keene's novel spawned a sequel, City of the Walking Dead, and two additional entries that live in the very undead world of The Rising. Additionally, Keene authored stand-alone "zombie" novels like Dead Sea (2007), Entombed (2011), and The Complex (2016). Now, in 2024, he returns with another living dead novel in Island of the Dead, published by independent publisher Apex Book Company with glorious artwork by Mikio Murikami (Silent Q Design). The book flips the narrative by placing zombies in a sword-and-sorcery environment, an ambitious hybrid described by Keene as Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian) meets George Romero (Night of the Living Dead).

In the book's opening pages, slaves aboard a galley ship learn that Einar is from the northern barbarian tribes. But Einar, who has worked as a thief, mercenary, pirate, and a bodyguard across sweltering deserts, mountain peaks, and jungles, is quick to explain to his fellow captives that his tribe doesn't call themselves barbarians. As introductions are made, readers learn that Einar was arrested after a tavern brawl that left several people dead. He now serves as a slave on a ship lifting, pushing, and pulling oars across the sea to a war-torn land. 

Einar hesitantly advises a charismatic slave named Chuy that he plans on escaping the ship. After convincing the guards that he must relieve himself at the head, Einar is able to overtake the guards and free the slaves. However, a freak storm has appeared that creates a disaster for the ship and crew. While the fight for liberation ensues, monstrous tidal waves thrust the men into the depths of the ocean as the ship is destroyed. When Einar awakens he discovers he has washed ashore on an island alongside a few fellow slaves and a number of guards. What is this mysterious island? What horrors does it host? These are all enjoyable surprises that await readers as they explore the Island of the Dead.

Keene makes a valid reference to Robert E. Howard with his Conan-styled hero Einar. The barbarian often speaks like the Cimmerian, referring to friend and foe as “dogs” while expertly wielding a sword to hack and decapitate enemy hordes. His diverse background parallels Conan's own experiences as a pirate, thief, and mercenary. In fact, in terms of Conan lore, Island of the Dead's early premise is similar to Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp's 1967 story “The City of Skulls”, which was adapted to comic form in Savage Sword of Conan #59, Conan the Barbarian #37, and even the “Blood Brother” episode of the Conan: The Adventurer animated show. 

The placement of this barbaric hero in a zombie-styled universe is an exhilarating concept enhanced by the violence, gore, and temperament of Keene's unique storytelling. In a horror sense, this story delivers the goods in grand fashion. However, looking beyond the zombie dangers, the story also possesses a cagey human element that presents both the slave and ruler's eternal dilemma and the political strife that ignites a powder keg. These apocalyptic stories always prove that human design and the quest for power leads to chaos and ruin. As scary as they may be, the zombies are just the innocent weapons of man's destruction.

Island of the Dead is out now and you can get your copy HERE.

Conclave

Robert Harris (born: 1957) is a contemporary British novelist with several books adapted for the screen, including his 2016 Vatican intrigue novel, Conclave.

The Pope is dead, and it’s time to pick a new one. This is done through a secretive process among the College of Cardinals in an election done away from the eyes of the world. The conclave is held by the Cardinals locked in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. Harris’ novel takes the reader behind the scenes among the politics and backstabbing in this fictionalized (but, I imagine, realistic) political convention.

The paperback tracks the Dean of the Cardinals, Jacopo Lomelei, who is tasked with administering the conclave event and the secret voting that takes place among the participants and candidates. We meet the conservative cardinals and the liberal cardinals jockeying to be the next pope. There are mysteries and revelations that take place along the way as well as an enigmatic Cardinal that no one has ever heard of before.

In many ways, the novel reminded me of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians where the candidates are being (figuratively) knocked off one at a time by the other attendees. Lomelei is portrayed as a humble and godly servant fighting hard to herd these ambitious cats vying for infallible papal supremacy.

Mostly, the novel worked quite well and was genuinely interesting and suspenseful. That said, I can't imagine anyone being captivated by the book without a personal history rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition. Otherwise, they might as well be choosing the head of a beer-swilling college fraternity. The book is devoid of any physical action, and the suspense derives solely from high-stakes political jockeying and gamesmanship. 

After a satisfying ending, Harris throws in a final-page curve ball twist ending that was just bonkers. I can’t decide if it was a good twist or a bad twist, but you’ll never see it coming, and it may ruin the book for some readers. Consider yourself warned. It was certainly an audacious literary choice. 

With the stipulations outlined above, this was a great – and very readable – novel. By now you should know if it sounds like your thing or not. It definitely made me want to read more of Harris’ works. Highly recommended. Get it HERE.

Johnny Hawk #03 - Fast Riders

The fictional character Johnny Hawk first appeared in publication in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine's November 1968 issue. The character appeared the following year in the magazine's April and June issues. The character then appeared 10 additional times in the pages of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine between 1970 and 1976. The character was created and written by Edward Y. Breese, a New Jersey author that also wrote short Mike Shayne stories. He also contributed shorts to other magazines like Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Zane Grey Mystery Magazine. My first experience with the author and the Johnny Hawk character was the third appearance, found in the novelette Fast Riders from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine's June 1969 issue.

Due to not having access to the other Hawk stories, and what little information exists online, I was able to determine that Hawk is sort of an action-man, described as an “adjuster” who sometimes finds himself at odds with the law. He lives in Miami, Florida and enjoys short vacations that involve fishing in central southern Florida, a rural swampland that is ruled by deadly wildlife. It is on a fishing trip that Hawk discovers a different type of threat. 

The beginning of the story explains that Hawk is in the back-country fishing. He has a six-shot .22 revolver, a knife, and a fishing pole. These things are important. Hawk's elderly African-American friend Pop lives about a mile away in a swamp shack that was built by his grandfather in 1895. Hawk originally met Pop when he saved him from some thieves in a bar four years ago, so the two have a close friendship. Pop has an 18 year old beautiful girl named Marabelle.

Preparing to fish in different holes, Hawk walks to Pop's shack and from a distance can see complete carnage. Three bikers with swastikas have killed Pop and nailed him to the walls of his shack. They are beginning to rape Marabelle. Hawk's issue is he has a .22 pistol that won't do much damage. He walks up to the trio, carefully aims the .22 and puts a shot between the eyes of the first biker. Another biker has a .38 that he uses recklessly. Thankfully, Hawk is able to throw his knife and kill him. The other biker quickly leaves during the fight and steals Hawk's vehicle. 

Marabelle thanks Hawk for saving her and the two take Pop from the wall and place him inside. Marabelle informs Hawk that the violence is just beginning. Neither of them have a car or boat and the biker is on his way back to town to get the rest of his gang. Marabelle and Hawk know they only have one path – run to the swamp and hope to outrun them on foot. But, Hawk only has 4 shots left in his .22 and he has 3 bullets in the biker's discarded .38. Not much firepower against an armed biker gang. 

Man, this story was incredible. I am a sucker for “outgunned with low ammo” stories and books and this one fit that particular niche quite well. Fast Riders features Hawk trying to save Marabelle by killing off the bikers one by one in the swamp. The goal is to kill a biker, get his bullets or weapon, then rinse and repeat. Eventually, the numbers are too great and Hawk has to make a life or death decision. Breese's writing was ultra-violent and gritty and he provided me so many reasons to cheer for Hawk and Marabelle. The villains are evil, the good guy is admirable. Oddly, sometimes it isn't clearly defined enough, but Breese avoids the confusion. Fast Riders is highly recommended.