East Indiaman #02 - The Tiger & the Thief

With 150 books of historical fiction, including over 25 series titles, author Griff Hosker has certainly discovered a new life after teaching English and Drama for 35 years. I've sampled his Dragon Heart saga and enjoyed it, but I found his newest title, East Indiaman, the most enjoyable of my experiences thus far. I reviewed and praised the series debut, East Indiaman, published in 2024. I was delighted to discover a second installment had released earlier this year.

In the series debut, set in the late 1700s, Bill Smith is a young thief who avoids capture by becoming a stowaway on a ship. Through first-person perspective, Bill tells of his life at sea and his transition from unruly criminal to an admirable shipmate. He eventually finds himself in a type of special-forces commando unit serving the British empire in the East Indies. It's a type of Dirty Dozen force that completes challenging tasks that the official British Army can't perform for fear of community hostilities. Think of a 1700s S.O.B.s.

In this book, The Tiger & the Thief, it is 1799 and Smith is involved in the Siege of Seringapatam (real thing). In the book's opening adventure, Smith alone must break into a fortified compound, meet with an informer and determine the best time for the British forces to siege the place. But, he is quickly captured, interrogated, and must find a way to escape.

After this adventure the book dives into one adventure after another like a video game where Smith hops from checkpoint to checkpoint clicking off tasks. Typically these missions involve transporting various things or people across hundreds of miles of dense uninhabitable foliage or quelling various uprisings that distract the British (and French) forces. There's a bit of peacekeeping involved that made the action sequences less lethal.

Overall, The Tiger & the Thief was okay but it failed to deliver the same enjoyment as the predecessor. The rhythmic formula of jumping from task to task became a boring exercise with few surprises. The predictability and lethargic pace (at 240 pages) bogged this installment down. It is debatable on whether I'll continue on with the series. Lukewarm recommendation. Get it HERE.

52 Weeks 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels

Paul Bishop is a 35-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. He's authored 15 novels and numerous scripts for TV and feature films. He co-hosted the excellent award-winning podcast Six-Gun Justice alongside fellow scribe Richard Prosch and currently serves as an acquisitions editor for Wolfpack Publishing. 

His newest endeavor is based on his childhood hero and literary influence, the great Sherlock Holmes. Bishop, born in England, came to the U.S. with a copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to accompany him on his voyage. Over the years, Bishop has consistently been passionate about the Sherlockian society, from television show and film fandom to all the various nuances of this character's flavorful pop-culture. To celebrate his love for the eternal sleuth, Bishop has compiled a comprehensive collection of essays and reviews celebrating Sherlock Holmes pastiche fiction, 52 Weeks 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels (Genius Publishing). 

It is said that a staggering 25,000 documented works starring Holmes (written by authors outside of character creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) are in existence. Collecting 52 scholarly essays and expert commentary about these works is a large undertaking, but thankfully Bishop was able to edit and accomplish this task in a fun and desirable way. This book, available in both print (400+ pages) and digital (300+), contains a “coffee table” approach allowing readers and fans to simply dive in and out of these high-quality critiques.  

The book is strategically organized into five separate parts that ultimately begins with Bishop's self-reflective "Introduction" and insightful "A Word About Sherlockian Pastiches". In no particular order, each essay is presented with the cover of the chosen pastiche, the author's name, year published, and the essay's contributor. The template, a thorough fixture throughout, concisely provides the “book facts”, “author facts”, “beyond the facts”, and “fun facts”. 

With over 29 of these essays related to works published in the 2000s, this book won't likely be pigeon-holed as a “bunch of old book talk”, complaints often made from new readers when when discussing a Golden Age of Detective Fiction character or work. Many of these books, stories, comics, manga, and television tie-in novels are contemporary ideas that possess the spirit and culture of this iconic character.  

Separating the parts are introspective Intermissions that focus on things like publishing, collecting, and illustrating Sherlock Holmes. In one of these Intermissions, “An Imperfect Hero: My Life, My Disability, and Sherlock Holmes”, contributor Amy Thomas discusses her permanent disability and how she uses Holmes as a positive coping mechanism. She has authored at least three pastiche novels featuring what she describes as an “...iconoclastic, self-directed character...” 

The book's hardcover edition features an additional set of essays about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original Holmes stories and novels. This edition also includes bonus essays that examine the character in international fiction, the female gender, and an interesting commentary on race relations.

With an unmatched awareness, intimacy, and expertise, Paul Bishop's Sherlockian cyclopedia is a must-own. If you are a fan of crime-fiction, detection, classic literature, and of course, the iconic sleuth himself, then 52 Weeks 52 Sherlock Holmes Novels is the next essential part of your book collection. Get it HERE. 

Free Audiobook - Guns Drawn by Thomas Hyland

It's a book premier right here on Paperback Warrior! I narrate the new 75-page novella Guns Drawn by Thomas Hyland, a violent, tightly-knit character piece involving bad guys, sexy women, gunplay, and bloodshed. It's a stylish 1950ish potboiler...and it's free for you.

SYNOPSIS:

Daisy Mae married mob accountant Abner Little to escape the wrong side of the tracks. Her escape turned into a short-cut to Hell. Abner prefers other women. He rubs it in her face. So Daisy opens her heart to handsome Dwayne Duncan, who agrees to kill Abner for her. Has Daisy Mae gone from the frying pan to the fire?

Dwayne Duncan turns out may have some baggage of his own. Dwayne is  right hand man to big shot Harvey Bishop, Abner's boss. Dwayne decides to frame Abner and one of his girlfriends.

 Easy peasy, right? Abner's girlfriend is seeing the boss' volatile son Flynn. Simple goes out the door. As Dwayne connives, Bishop dies creating a power vacuum that turns the city into a bloodbath.

C'est la vie. 

Stream below via YouTube, listen on any streaming platform, or download HERE.

Paperback Warrior Primer - William P. McGivern

William P. McGivern was a successful pulp writer that specialized in crime-fiction, mystery, and science-fiction. He was also an accomplished novelist that found his fortune in the early 1950s as the original paperback novel concept became a marketing triumph. He also wrote screenplays for Hollywood and partnered with his wife to write a number of novels and non-fiction travel logs. We've covered his life and literary work on Episode 59 of the podcast (HERE) but wanted to offer an easy-to-read primer on his life and literary work.

William was born in Chicago in 1922 but at a young age, his family moved to Mobile, Alabama where he was raised. His father was a farmer and his mother was employed as a dress-maker. Despite dropping out of high school, William loved to read as a teenager. His favorite authors were Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner. 

Like a lot of the authors we cover here at PW, William joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and rose to the rank of Line Sergeant. At one point he was aboard a tanker that was being bombed. Exercising quick thinking, William opened the valves and released the explosive gas from the tanker saving the crew who were trapped aboard. For that courageous feat, William received the prestigious Soldier’s Medal and honorably left the Army in 1946. At some point after his military career he enrolled in studies at the University of Birmingham in England. 

Returning to the U.S., William was employed for the Pullman Company, a manufacture of locomotive rail cars. Later, he earned a position as a police reporter with the Philadelphia Inquirer, which touched off his fascination with police work and police culture – a theme that ran through his 23 mystery novels. He worked as a police reporter for two years and then jumped ship to become a reporter and reviewer for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 

He sold his first short story, “John Brown's Body”, to the pulp magazine Amazing Stories in 1940, and continued to sell short stories throughout his career to magazines including the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Cosmopolitan. During the pulp magazine era, his early 1940s emphasis was on science-fiction short stories for pulps like Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures. Wildside Press has compiled 25 of these stories into an ebook volume (HERE). William's pulp career can be identified through a variety of pseudonyms he employed – P.F. Costello, Gerald Vance, Clee Garson, and Bill Peters.  

While William was working as a reporter he also wrote his first novel, But Death Runs Faster, published by Dodd Mead & Co. as a hardcover in 1948. When paperbacks took off in 1950, the novel was reprinted as The Whispering Corpse by Pocket. 

In 1947, McGivern married Maureen Daly, a journalist and published author. She enjoyed success with her 1942 bestseller Seventh Summer. Margaret and William collaborated on a handful of non-genre books throughout their lives, including a non-fiction book about their world travels.

During the second half of the 1940s, it is evident that William's passion for storytelling transformed into crime-fiction and mysteries. His pulp output transitioned from galaxies far, far way to that of inner-city racketeering and the hardboiled detectives destined to stop them. He wrote over 20 crime-fiction stories for pulps like Mammoth Detective, Mammoth Mystery, F.B.I. Detective Stories, and Dime Detective. He also sprinkled in some western stories as well for Mammoth Western. 

As the paperback original became the biggest publishing enterprise, William was there to cash in. Beginning in 1950, he wrote at least one novel every year through 1963. Five of those novels, Shield for Murder, The Big Heat, Rogue Cop, The Darkest Hour, and Odds Against Tomorrow, were all adapted to film. Over the course of his career, William saw 14 of his 23 novels adapted to screen. 

As I alluded to earlier, we have covered a great deal of William's literary work. Here are some of our descriptions of the books we've sampled:

Rogue Cop (1954) - More than just a kick-ass tale of cops and crooks. It’s also a story of a man fighting for his own redemption - both professionally and spiritually. There’s a lot going on in this short novel, and it’s way smarter than most genre paperbacks.

Odds Against Tomorrow (1957) - Fans of heist paperbacks would rightly cite Lionel White and Donald Westlake as the high-water marks in the genre. The book doesn’t quite reach those heights, but it’s a worthwhile effort and a fun ride. Recommended.

Killer on the Turnpike (1961) - A fun way to kill some time with an old, crumbling paperback. Don’t spend a fortune on it, and you won’t be let down. Recommended.

Night Extra (1957) - It doesn’t reinvent the hardboiled formula, but the author certainly showcases his talents and strengths in perfecting it. This was a fast-paced narrative with some touching characters in which readers will invest.

In the early 1960s, William moved to Los Angeles to write for film and television. His credits include the TV series Ben Casey, Adam-12, and Kojak. While it was a cinematic disappointment, William is also credited for writing the screenplay for The Wrecking Crew, a film loosely based on the Matt Helm installment by Donald Hamilton.  

William continued writing novels throughout the 1960s. His books began to take on international settings as the author and his wife became seasoned travelers. His last crime novel was Night of the Juggler, published in 1975.  

After finding a robust career in California, the couple stayed there until William died from cancer in 1982 in Palm Desert. 

You can get William's books HERE.

Savages

Like many of Greg F. Gifune's books, Savages originally began publication life with a small publisher, Sinister Grin Press, in 2016. Beginning in 2022, Savages was reprinted in both physical and digital editions by Cemetery Dance Publications. 

There's something to be said about islands in horror fiction. Richard Laymon played with the idea in his 1995 slasher bloodbath Island. Brian Keene did it twice – once in 2009 with Castaways and again in 2023 with the aptly titled Island of the Dead. The idea certainly isn't a new one, not even for those guys. H.G. Wells created the ultimate island literary luau with his terrifying classic The Island of Dr. Moreau. So, it was just a matter of time before a horror mastermind like Greg F. Gifune (Judas Goat, Oasis of the Damned) took his shot at this little subgenre of horror.

A man named Dallas awakens on a sandy beach. With blurred memories, he recalls that he and his wife Quinn, along with several friends, chartered a yacht to take them out into the Pacific ocean. The captain unfortunately ran aground on some reefs and the ship sunk. Eight people were able to get away on a raft and they drifted at sea, in and out of consciousness, for three days and nights. They saw no signs of land, no planes, and no rescue ships. Dallas, thinking he had died, is astounded that he has somehow washed ashore on a beach....somewhere.

Dallas is able to reunite with his wife and a few of their surviving friends. One of their pals is a guy named Gino, one of those survivor-type prepper dudes that shops at REI every weekend. He explores their tiny island initially and determines it's a few square miles with nothing but thick jungles and a small lagoon. He also positively believes this island isn't on any major maps and that help will never arrive. Mr. Positive. 

The book begins with the typical survivor stuff – gathering supplies, finding water, creating little factions. As if things couldn't possibly become worse, the group stumbles on a severed arm that may have been attached to one of their friends from the boat. Also, it appears from a blood trail in the trampled foliage that a body was dragged. Soon the group discover an old Japanese military base. Gifune's description of this dilapidated base with three or four crumbling buildings is just so atmospheric. He sets the tone and mood by describing the jungle seemingly eating up these abandoned buildings. Inside, the survivors find hospital beds and medical supplies along with some really bizarre evidence that something supernatural occurred here. Then the killings begin. And the slaughter. And deadly things that live in an underground tunnel system on the island. 

Savages is like a popcorn horror flick with disposable characters being mauled by a supernatural killer. The author's smooth prose and propulsive action sequences drive the narrative into a frenzied kill-or-be-killed story saturated in blood and guts. Gifune may be one of my favorite horror storytellers in terms of combining quick character development, a suffocating atmosphere (usually with weather-related phenomenon) and a supercharged panic that seemingly lives and breathes in the character's behavior and dialogue. The exotic locale, brutal killings, and macabre infrastructure of this horrifying research facility elevate the book into an extremely entertaining read. Like Gifune's Oasis of the Damned, Savages is survival horror at its finest. Highest recommendation. Get it HERE.

Cold Hazard (aka Danger Rock)

Richard Armstrong (1903-1986) was a British novelist that wrote adult and young-adult fiction that mostly centered around nautical adventure. He sailed for 17 years in the Merchant Service so his writing contains a great deal of validity. That experience shines through with his 1955 British novel Danger Rock. It was published in the U.S. under the title Cold Hazard.

This 200-page book begins by introducing the protagonist, 18-year old ship apprentice Jim Naylor. He's in charge of a large shipping trawler when it crashes into a floating iceberg. As the ship sinks into the frosty Atlantic, the crew begins to divvy out lifeboats. In the commotion of clearing the decks Jim and four other apprentices are left behind. They manage to get a small craft off and begin a perilous float for survival.

Jim and his fellow apprentices float overnight and eventually find a large island somewhere near Newfoundland. But, this island is nearly drowning in fog and seems to possess no life whatsoever. Saturated in cold mist, razor sharp rocks, and a harsh terrain, it is the last place on Earth the tiny crew wants to beach. But, with no other options available they push their tiny craft onto the rocks and begin weeks of intense struggle that test their endurance and internal fortitude. 

I really enjoy a good shipwreck story and Armstrong's writing is brimming over with atmosphere and desperation. These young men fear that death is within reach as they lay out their meager supply of food and water. Doom and gloom settles in when the group begins to argue politically on who's in charge and what awaits them. Jim's nemesis is a younger man named Pipworthy, a selfish guy who seemingly steals from every man. Over the course of weeks the small group must forage for supplies, build shelter, and create a crafty beacon system to alert any passing ships. 

Like Robb White, Frank Bonham, and Arthur Catherall, Richard Armstrong proves he can write with the best of them. While this book is geared for young adults, there are technical nuances and adult decisions foisted on the group as they strive to survive their Hellish predicament. This was also a mid-career book for Armstrong and I feel like the writing and prose shows him at the peak of his writing career. Highly recommended. Get the book HERE.

Uptown Shopping

Eric visits a two-story store filled with comics, vintage hardcovers, CDs, magazines, and old maps. He shares highlights from his big shopping trip, showcasing paperback book covers and sharing publication histories, fun facts, and insights about obscure authors. It's an informative and entertaining recap for book lovers. Stream below or watch on the YouTube channel HERE.