Wraiths of the Broken Land

S. Craig Zahler (born January 23, 1973, in Miami, Florida) is a multi-talented artist: a screenwriter, film director, composer, cinematographer, novelist, illustrator and heavy metal musician. After studying film at NYU, he built a career behind the camera and on the page. Zahler gained acclaim for hard‑bitten, violent dialogue‑driven films such as Bone Tomahawk (2015), Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017), and Dragged Across Concrete (2018), all of which he wrote, directed, and scored. Alongside his cinematic work, he’s penned several novels and graphic stories—his debut western, A Congregation of Jackals (2010), earned Spur and Peacemaker award nominations

2013’s Wraiths of the Broken Land stands as Zahler’s second western novel. It’s a relentless, genre-blending journey: half-pulp western and half-extreme horror. Beyond its popularity with readers, the novel drew Hollywood attention—20th Century Fox acquired film rights in 2016 for a film adaptation that has yet to happen.

It is 1902 and the book begins rather shockingly with an opium-addicted young woman named Yvette being held against her will as a forced prostitute in Mexico. The living conditions are grotesque, but resistance is futile due to her debilitating addiction. Soon thereafter, the reader meets her sister, Dolores, also an enslaved prostitute being held in a separate room by the same psycho Mexicans.

We then meet Nathaniel Stromler, age 26. He’s an erudite dandy of a gentleman in serious financial dire straits who has taken a job to ride along with the men of the Plugford family on a mission: recover the family daughters, Yvette and Dolores.

Nathanial is needed because he is bilingual and can pass for a gentleman john. He’s their ticket inside the kidnappers’ lair as a prospective client seeking to defile some captive white girls. The search for the sisters takes Nathanial and Team Plugford into the depths of Mexico from one promising lead to another in search of the brothel from Hell.

The scenes leading up to the rescue attempt are rather satisfying but the getaway’s immediate aftermath is less compelling. Pages upon pages of bickering among the Plugfords became tiresome as the novel’s secondary mystery of how the girls wound up as human sexual chattel is explored.

Things pick back up again with the backstory of the girls’ enslavement and a climactic confrontation between the opposing parties, but there was too much time on the road and scenes with characters waiting for something to happen.

To be clear, there’s plenty to enjoy about Wraiths of the Broken Land and Zahler is one of the great storytellers of our time. The problem is that this novel vastly pales in comparison to his other western, A Congregation of Jackals and his masterpiece crime novel, The Slanted Gutter. Those paperbacks spoiled me with their greatness while Wraiths was just good. If you’re trying to read them all (and I am), prioritize the other two first.

Get S. Craig Zahler books HERE.

The Shadow Guest

Hillary Waugh was a successful author that wrote numerous novels including a police procedural series starring a Connecticut Police Chief named Fred Fellows. His stories were published in mystery magazines like Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen and the slicks like Cosmopolitan. Like so many accomplished authors like Gil Brewer, Jon Messmann , and Dean Koontz, Waugh delved into the gothic-romance and suspense marketplace in the 1970s. His novel The Shadow Guest was originally published in 1971 by Victor Gollancz in the U.K. and Doubleday in the U.S. However, Dell capitalized on the book by marketing it as a gothic paperback in 1972.

Waugh introduces readers to a prosperous 34 year-old New York architect named Howard. He meets a 20 year-old actress, Angela, and the two develop a relationship and eventually marry. However, Angela develops a mental condition that spirals into paranoia and depression. After working through the debilitating condition, Angela begins to get well and Howard moves the couple to London to work on a large building contract. But, it is Howard's turn to become ill after suffering a heart attack.

Angela finds a seaside cottage on the western shore of England and convinces Howard, who's now in a rest and recovery mode, that the two should move there. Hesitantly, Howard agrees and the couple move in to a previously abandoned home titled Heather Cottage. But, the house has a haunting history.

According to various townsfolk, Heather Cottage is haunted by an “angry man”. Three years prior a young couple had died in a horrendous car wreck on the winding road leading to the house. Howard is quick to dismiss the claims, but the two have a housekeeper named Beverly that is a rumored psychic. She has an incident upon first entering the home. But, the bulk of Waugh's narrative concerns sinister events that haunt the couple.

Howard typically is awakened each night by the sounds of macabre laughter downstairs. There's also a mystery surrounding the home's attic with a light that consistently turns itself on. Angela is haunted by nightmares and visions of a bloody man wearing an Army coat. Howard eventually sees the same man on the couple's front lawn. What is happening at Heather Cottage?

It is debatable on whether The Shadow Guest is a genuine gothic. It has the familiar tropes – vulnerable people moving into a rural dwelling and experiencing supernatural or mysterious events that are difficult to explain to side characters that aren't eye witnesses to these events. That's the mainframe of gothic-suspense paperbacks. However, Waugh mixes it up by having two main characters instead of one. There's also the structure with Heather Cottage being a much smaller house than the typical vast estate or mansion. Additionally, instead of just having one character experiencing strange events, there are two. These make the book a little bit different and unique compared to the standard gothic fluff. 

Whether it is gothic or not doesn't influence the quality – The Shadow Guest is a wonderful reading experience with a prevalent mystery that left me guessing until the very end. The book's finale and afterthought left me fully satisfied. The narrative breezes by with Waugh's easily readable prose and each detail in the novel ultimately pays dividends in the book's finale. 

You can watch a video of me and Nick Anderson of The Book Graveyard reviewing the book in great detail HERE. Also, you can purchase the book HERE. 

Con & Ginty #01 - Coral Reef Castaway

British writer Arthur Catherall used his own name and a variety of pseudonyms to write adventure novels and stories marketed for young adults. One of those was Peter Hallard, a name Catherall used to write Coral Reef Castaway. The book was published in England by Phoenix House Ltd. in 1958 and in the U.S. by Criterion Books. The American edition, in hardcover, contains illustrations by Terence Greer.

As I've alluded to in my reviews, and discussed on a podcast feature, Catherall's writing was certainly marketed to teen boys, but in reality there's nothing that floats it too far from the adventure buoy established by the likes of Ace, Bantam, or Fawcett Gold Medal paperbacks. Often a younger character is featured as the protagonist which aligns with a teen consumer. That connection is prominent in Coral Reef Castaway.

The book begins with a young man named Con Murray aboard a pleasure schooner in the Pacific. With trade winds blowing from the Queensland Coast, the voyage is sailing peacefully northwards inside the Great Barrier Reef. Due to a whaling accident, Con is accidentally thrown overboard and left behind. When a search of the waters fails to discover Con the ship's crew assumes he is dead. But, little do they know that the ravaged and weary young man has found a cay for sanctuary.

On this small little island Con is saved by another castaway, an old man named Ginty. After nourishment and rest, Con learns that Ginty experienced a ship wreck 21 years ago and he's been on this island since. But, now that Con is there he has a plan to escape the island with hundreds of thousands of dollars in valuable pearls. Shortly before his shipwreck, Giny had invested his time in pearl culturing – deliberately placing a small pebble inside of an oyster so they grow the pearl. Pear farming is explained masterfully by Catherall through his character. I found it nothing short of fascinating and now I want pearls. 

Con and Ginty can now work together to dive to the ocean depths to harvest the pearls. One man to crank the air pump and another to dive. Also, the two can successfully paddle boat the 30+ miles to civilization. But, like any good rags to riches tale, the endeavor introduces a criminal element that shakes the narrative and spins the moral compass of key characters.

Coral Reef Castaway is an enjoyable diving adventure that includes some tense moments in deep water. There's the obligatory ordeal with sharks and razor-sharp coral, but Catherall's leading duo experience the most trouble on land fighting the two-legged predator. There's diving rivalries, gunfire, survival elements, and the aforementioned underseas adventure to keep readers engaged for 200 pages. The central highlight is the old man of the sea mentoring the next generation. Catherall is an experienced journeyman and lived an exciting life of adventure. His resume of fishing, diving, and surviving in exotic locales inserts itself intentionally into the makeup of these characters and how they behave in harsh conditions.

If you love Catherall's writing as much as I do then you'll find plenty to like here. Don't let the cover and young adult stigma fool you. This is a recommended read. If you like both of these characters, Catherall wrote at least one more book starring the duo, Barrier Reef Bandits, published in 1960. I can't locate enough information to determine if Guardian of the Reef from 1961 includes these same characters. You can get these books HERE.

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 123

In this episode, Eric explores the transition of vintage pulp stories and heroes from magazine format to mass market paperbacks in the 1960s and 1970s. He also celebrates GarbAugust by highlighting three of the worst books he’s ever read. Stream below, download HERE, or watch on YouTube HERE.

Listen to "Episode 123: Pulps in Paperback" on Spreaker.

Conan - Conan of Cimmeria

The tenth of the Lancer Conan paperbacks, Conan of Cimmeria, was published in 1969. The publisher reprinted it in 1970 through 1973. Ace took over the publication in 1977, after Lancer's bankruptcy. The paperback was also published by Sphere Books in England in 1974. The book's contents is disappointing considering that Robert E. Howard's sole work, “The Frost Giant's Daughter”, “Queen of the Black Coast”, and “The Vale of Lost Women” only make up three of the eight selections. The rest are written by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter either together, solely, or with the aid of Howard's prior unpublished work. However, Frank Frazetta's cover painting is one of the most iconic of Conan culture.

The book begins with the obligatory map of the world of Conan in the Hyborian Age followed by an introduction authored by de Camp regarding Howard's short-lived life, the pseudo-history of Conan's world, and the fictional biography of the titular hero.

The highlight of the paperback is “The Frost-Giant's Daughter”. This was originally published with different characters as “The Gods of the North” (The Fantasy Fan #7, March 1934) after being rejected as a Conan story by Weird Tales. “The Frost-Giant's Daughter” version was first published in The Coming of Conan (Gnome Press, 1953). 

In the story, the hero has returned to his homeland in Cimmeria, but grows a hunger for battle. He decides to participate in a raid into Vanaheim with his old barbaric friends the Aesirs. As the narrative begins, Conan is the last remaining combatant of the Aesirs and an enemy named Heimdul is the sole member left of Vanaheim's fighting forces. They both lock into battle and Conan kills Heimdul, but collapses from exhaustion on the hard frozen ground. Conan awakens to feminine laughter and then sees a beautiful ivory-skinned woman in front of him. She's naked and barefoot, yet dancing on the snow. Lusting for this cold-weather maiden, Conan trails the woman for miles through the frozen wastelands. Growing tired, he suddenly realizes that the woman has led him to her two brothers, savage frost giants. 

“The Frost-Giant's Daughter” has a special kind of frosty ambiance and a dreamlike presentation that is unique for a Conan story. I'm surprised it wasn't picked up by one of the publishers of that era in its original form, yet I can foresee how they may have perceived Conan in this odd sort of icy trance. In the end, it all worked out for readers and fans as this story is one of Howard's finest stories. 

The other iconic Howard story in this paperback edition is “Queen of the Black Coast”. It was originally published in Weird Tales (May 1934) and then reprinted in Avon Fantasy Reader (#8, Nov. 1948). It's ranked in the higher echelons of Howard's Conan offerings for a reason. 

The story begins with Conan fleeing the law in Argos. Conan, in an effort to avoid his pursuers, demands passage on the Argus, a trading barge. When the Argus crew refuses to allow Conan to board, he threatens to kill the captain and his crew. Conan then befriends the ship's captain, a guy named Tito. 

The story's title comes to fruition when Belit arrives, a gorgeous female pirate commanding the Tigress. Her clashing with Conan's crew in Kush is a violent, epic struggle as the Argos crew is annihilated by Belit's black pirates. However, she finds Conan's fighting skills to be superb, peaking her interest in the adventurer. Belit is sexually attracted to Conan and soon the two become lovers as they ravage Stygian coastlines.

On the river Zarkheba, Conan and Belit discover an ancient tower in the jungle. After rotating the tower, they find a wealth of treasures, including a cursed necklace for Belit. Soon, subhuman creatures (hyena men?) and a winged demon appear to slaughter the Tigress's crew. The necklace creates madness for Belit and after Conan's lone departure to kill a monster, he returns to find her corpse hanging from the ship. 

“Queen of the Black Coast” presents something unusual for Conan – a true love. While readers don't partake in the relationship itself, they are there for the beginning. Belit's attraction to Conan is nearly hypnotic, submitting to the hero despite the number of crewmen she commands and the overall superiority of her ship. Conan instantly feels the attraction and is magnetized by this “She-Devil” as are readers.

The other sole Howard offering here is “The Vale of Lost Women”, estimated to have been written in 1933. It was never published in Howard's lifetime, only seeing a release much later in Magazine of Horror (Spring 1967). There was never any indication that the story was submitted to the pulps.

“The Vale of Lost Women” takes place after the events of “Queen of the Black Coast” and Belit's death. Conan has joined the Bamula tribe in the jungles of Kush, becoming their new tribal king. In an effort to propose a possible truce, Conan visits a rival tribe called The Bakalah. It is here that he meets a white female prisoner named Livia. He learns that both Livia, and her brother, are scientists from Ophir that were captured by Bakalah warriors. Livia's brother was tortured to death, and she's certainly next to die. 

Livia suggests to Conan that she is a virgin, and after he refuses to free her, she offers him her body. Conan then agrees to help her escape. Later that day, she sees Conan walking towards her carrying the bloody severed head of the Bakalah's tribal chief. In fear that Conan, now drenched in crimson, is coming for her, she escapes on horseback into the jungle. 

Livia falls from her horse and discovers she's in a beautiful valley that is home to a tribe of black lesbians! But, the lesbians are using poisonous orchids to create a hallucinogenic effect, placing Livia in a trance. She finds that these lesbians are sacrificing her on an alter to a giant black bat! Thankfully, Conan has trailed Livia and fights off the giant bat thing. Livia, fearing that Conan will attempt to claim her, becomes frightened. However, Conan simply advises her that he made a mistake in accepting her proposal to give herself to him. Arguably, he is suggesting there is no honor in that. Instead, he agrees to guide her to the Stygian border where she can eventually find passage to Ophir. 

There isn't much to Howard's story, which probably contributes to the possibility that it was never submitted for publication during the author's lifetime. The imagery of Conan slowly walking through carnage holding a severed head is memorable, but aside from that there isn't a whole lot to highlight. But, the story does present a rarely seen moment of the hero's life as the Bamula leader.

The best of the de Camp and Carter stories featured in the paperback is “Lair of the Ice Worm”, an original story published for the first time here. 

The story picks up after the events of "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" as a twenty-something Conan is trudging through the snowfall in Aesir. A short distance away, Conan sees a young woman being attacked by savage men resembling Neanderthals. Soon, Conan is slicing his way to the woman's rescue, but his horse is killed in the battle. In an eerie premonition, the girl warns Conan of something ominous called a Yakhmar, but Conan (and readers) isn't sure what that is.

Finding shelter in a cave, Conan makes love to the girl by the firelight. He awakens to discover the girl is no longer in the cave. With the icy conditions outside, Conan fears something may have happened to her. Outside, he follows a trail that leads to two skeletons, one of the girl and another of his horse. Both have been picked clean of all flesh and oddly enveloped in ice. Conan begins to think that this Yakhmar thing is actually a Remora, a giant vampire-like worm. Feeling responsible for the girl's death, Conan tracks the worm's trail to an icy cave. Will he escape this fiendish assault of Remora?

An eerie atmosphere and ambiance prevails throughout this short fantasy story. There's the obvious elements of horror, complete with a worm-like creature squirming under the icy tundra. The early battle with the savages was written well and contained the sweeping adventure that REH's Conan stories frequently possessed. As an aside, the brawny hero had no resistance in bedding down the beauty of the story, another obvious trope of Conan storytelling. 

Other stories in the paperback:

“The Curse of the Monolith” - an original de Camp & Carter story
“The Bloodstained God” - originally an unpublished Kirby O' Donnell story, reworked by Carter & de Camp
“The Castle of Terror” - originally an unfinished Howard manuscript, completed by Carter
“The Snout in the Dark” - originally an untitled fragment not finished or published, completed by Carter & de Camp.

Johnny Liddell #02 - Green Light for Death

Frank Kane's private-eye character Johnny Liddell appeared in 29 novels and a number of short stories in the pulps and digests. The second Liddell full-length novel published in book format was Green Light for Death. The first magazine publication of the novel was Crack Detective Stories' July 1949 issue. In 1949 (could be 1950?) there was a Readers Choice Library (N.8) edition of the book with a cover by Wayne Blickenstaff. My version of the book is the 1956 Dell paperback with a cover by Victor Kalin.

The novel begins with Liddell arriving in a small town called Waterville. His client was named Nancy Hayes, a young woman recently found floating in the water. Her death is deemed a suicide by the local homicide detective, a guy named Happy Lewis. Liddell finds some discrepancies in the story and begins to fish around town for answers. 

His investigation leads to Nancy's roommate, a sexy lounge singer that Liddell refers to as “Red” through the narrative. Red reveals that Nancy was in a panic prior to calling Liddell and hints that she may have been in some trouble. By teaming up with the local press, Liddell hones in on clues that Nancy came to Waterville searching for her younger brother. When Liddell goes to Red's lounge he learns about a unique colored lighting system that identifies certain patrons. From the title, one can assume that the green spotlight is fatal. 

Frank Kane writes Liddell as the standard competent private-eye that loves trouble, sarcasm, and women. The mix thrusts the hero into precarious situations that outmatch the small town police force. In this case, Liddell suspects the town's Chief is paid to allow a criminal network to flourish, thus there's a good side story with Detective Lewis looking to overthrow the Chief to regain the town's trust. I particularly enjoyed the physical aspects of Liddell fighting a couple of Chief thugs in a jail cell. There's plenty of gunfire and fisticuffs to match Liddell's determination to honor Nancy even in death.

If you love this era's Mike Hammer and Mike Shayne then you will surely find plenty to enjoy about Green Light for Death. Get the original vintage edition HERE. Or, HERE in digital.

The Phantom Coach

Amelia Edwards (1831-1892) was a British writer and artist that was deemed the “Godmother of Egyptology”. Her fascination with Egyptian culture led to a successful travelogue titled A Thousand Miles up the Nile. Her most famous novel is Barbara's History, published in 1864. However, she appears in several horror anthologies and digests with her frightening tale “The Phantom Coach”. The story first appeared in All the Year Round in 1864 as “Another Past Lodger Relates His Own Ghost Story” with the author unnamed. My version of the story is in The Phantom Coach: Thirteen Journeys into the Unknown edited by Peter C. Smith and published by William Kimber in 1979. 

The story's narrator is a young attorney named Murray. He is relaying an event that happened to him twenty years ago, an event he has never disclosed until now. Murray, newly married, is vacationing in the English countryside. He goes hunting (against his new bride's wishes) in the rural moors and forests during a snowstorm. After a few hours, he realizes he has become lost as the snowfall increases. Thankfully, Murray flags down an older gentleman in the wild. This stranger isn't helpful, and advises Murray that the nearest town is twenty miles away. Murray, desperate to live, sort of forces his will upon this old man, Jacob, and accompanies him back to the cottage where Jacob's master lives.

The master of the manor isn't thrilled to find Jacob has returned with an unwanted guest. After a bit of a verbal tussle, Murray sits with Jacob's master to have some dinner. It is during this conversation that the master advises Murray that he has been away from society and his colleagues in the scientific and technological industry. He wants to learn more about Murray's worldly experiences and, in doing so, he reveals to Murray that he has a fascination with the supernatural.  

Eventually the master encourages Murray to leave that very night to meet the mailman's coach that will be within five miles of the cottage. The mailman can then return Murray back to his wife at the Inn. But, this requires five miles through the dark snowfall on an abandoned coach road. On the journey, Jacob explains to Murray that a horrible accident happened on the old coach road nine years prior. He then leaves Murray with instructions on how to find the mailman's coach at a type of crossroads between the old road and the new one. To reveal any other details would ruin the thrill of this Victorian ghost story.

Amelia Edwards writes with a heavy handed descriptive approach that steers clear of an archaic prose. This is a smooth atmospheric tale that uses the dark moors, forest, and isolation to present a ghost story. Edwards has the ability to reveal very little about Jacob and the master, yet still somehow marries the two characters to the reader flawlessly. Every word they speak in this story hinges on some soon-to-be revelation that will affect the unfortunate protagonist. There's a great deal of mystery on just what awaits Murray on this old coach road. Once the terror reveals itself, Murray and readers are plucked from this out-of-the-way seclusion into a stuffy and cramped space saturated in doom and death. It's a wonderful scene switch that sets the story's finale. 

The Phantom Coach should be easily accessible as a free read. It is worth the effort to hunt it down. Recommended!

Buy an ebook version of the story plus others HERE.