Killer in the House

Borden Deal (1922-1985) was born in Mississippi and died in Florida. Between those two events, he attended University of Alabama and wrote 21 books under his own name as well as pseudonyms including Loyse Deal, Lee Borden, Leigh Borden, and Michael Sunga. Most of his work was mainstream fiction depicting the New South, but he delved into the world of crime fiction in a 1957 Signet paperback original titled, “Killer in the House.”

Paul and Karen are a married couple - very much in love - living an idyllic rural life with their young daughter when their world gets turned upside-down by an unexpected houseguest. The guest is fresh-out-of-prison Syd, and while Paul greets him warmly, he’s not excited to see his old friend. You see, Paul has a checkered past of his own involving a period of incarceration and successful parole. He’s been honest with Karen about his criminal history, and he’s a new man now - one with a job, a house, and a family.

While in the joint, Syd helped Paul to survive, one day at a time, without going nuts or getting killed during his decade behind bars. By anyone’s estimation, Paul owes Syd a favor, and Syd is back in Paul’s life to collect. As you can imagine, Karen is not thrilled about Paul’s prison mentor staying in their house for any amount of time, but Paul insists and here we are.

It doesn’t take long before Syd pitches Paul on a heist opportunity with a sizable payday. Paul can provide for his family, and Syd can skate off to Mexico to live comfortably forever. Of course, Paul wants to straighten up and fly right, but Syd is a menacing fellow who can be quite persuasive. As the novel progresses, secrets are revealed that make it harder and harder for Paul to decline Syd’s offer.

Aside from a double-barreled, climactic ending there’s not much action throughout the paperback, but the tension and suspense run thick. You’ll need to suspend your disbelief that law enforcement officers are willing to defer tactical police decisions to civilians on several occasions in the book, but that shouldn’t be a deal breaker. After all, this is fiction.

“Killer in the House” is a terrific suspense thriller, and the author does an admirable job of turning up the heat slowly. Two strong characters locked into a test of wills made for an extremely tense page-turner. I’d you like crime novels with a sizable dose of moral dilemma, you’ll love this one, too.

Fun Fact:

My Hollywood sources inform me that Borden Deal’s “Killer in the House” was adapted into a TV episode of “The Dick Powell Theater” airing on October 10, 1961. It was episode three of the first season, and it started Earl Holliman and Edmond O’Brien as the two jailbirds. The TV script changed the characters into brothers. 

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Doomsday Warrior #01 - Doomsday Warrior

Jan Stacy (The Last Ranger) and Ryder Syvertsen (C.A.D.S.) originally met in the 1960s at Washington Square Park in New York City. Caught up in the beatnik cultural movement, the lifelong friends began swapping story and book ideas as well as songs. After working together on two non-fiction novels, Great Book of Movie Monsters (1983) and Great Book of Movie Villains (1984), the two collaborated on a post-apocalyptic series titled Doomsday Warrior under the pseudonym of Ryder Stacy. The series was published by Zebra and ran for a total of 19 installments between 1984 through 1991. The first four novels, Doomsday Warrior, Red America, The Last American and Bloody America were authored by both Stacy and Syvertsen. The remainder of the series was penned solely by Syvertsen. My review is for the series' debut, Doomsday Warrior.

The first installment is set in the year of 2089 where most of the world is either controlled by the Soviet Union or in a widely contested battle with the communist country. Most of the U.S. was decimated by nuclear bombs and the survivors maintain a meager living either as slaves or wretched scavengers that have succumbed to radiation's side-effects. With the nuclear attack occurring in 1984, the book's characters are all second to third generation survivors, a unique approach that mirrors another popular doomsday series, Deathlands.

The series stars Ted Rockson, an action-oriented adventurer that leads an American resistance group called the American Free Cities. While most of the U.S. is controlled and enslaved by the Soviet Union, underground cities still remain that are free and liberated from communist control. Rockson resides in Century City, an expansive free society that exists under a section of Colorado's Rocky Mountains (similar to Jan Stacy's character Martin Stone in The Last Ranger). Rockson's role is to lead reconnaissance patrols on missions to discover new supplies, weapons and enemy patrols. It's during one of these missions that readers are first introduced to Rockson and his Firefighter Team.

After blowing up a large bridge and a number of Soviet personnel carriers, Rockson's team comes under heavy fire from communist forces. After numerous casualties, the team retreats back to Century City to formulate a new plan of attack. The intense battle is reported back to three Soviet leaders – Killov, Zhabnov and Vassily. The trio, who compete for political power, begin an expeditionary patrol to find more resistance fighters. After locating a few underground cities, the Soviets are able to capture a number of American prisoners. Using an advanced technology called a Mind Breaker, the Soviets are able to pull pertinent information from American prisoners. Soon, the captives begin revealing locations of more underground cities that the Soviets hope to nuke.

The first 189 pages of Doomsday Warrior is clearly a debut novel that focuses on Rockson's attempts to break into a Soviet stronghold in Denver to rescue prisoners. His mission is to retrieve the captives, destroy the Mind Breaker units and prevent the Soviets from gaining the location of Century City. It's a riveting, explosive narrative that rivals and exceeds most of the 1980s post-apocalyptic novels (Wasteworld, Deathlands, Survivalist, Phoenix, Outrider, etc.). While that was enjoyable, the logic behind the book's second half is puzzling.

It is immediately clear that a new book begins at page 189. At 347 total pages, one would think Zebra would have capitalized on this and released the book's second half as second installment. These books were retailing for $2.95 each, essentially Zebra would have been doubling their money from avid consumers. Regardless of the publisher's marketing strategy, Doomsday Warrior's second narrative explores Rockson's attempts to locate a technologically advanced race in America's Pacific Northwest region.

The narrative begins with an expeditionary unit returning to Century City to report a strange mutant male they found near the Pacific coast line. This area remains vastly unexplored and the team was surprised to find people, evolved animals and a swath of jungle and wilderness that remains nearly intact despite the Soviet Union's devastating nuclear attack. Rockson, hoping to journey even further than the former team, recruits three men to assist him in exploring this new, untapped resource.

Stacy and Syvertsen really hit their stride in this second story arc. The narrative finds the crew battling mutant monsters, deadly quicksand, Soviet KGB forces and mutant, Neanderthal men. The team's exploration of a shopping mall was extremely enjoyable with just the right amount of humor to keep me laughing throughout. While the military style tactics utilized in the book's opening narrative are missing, Doomsday Warrior's second half is surprisingly far superior. The epic adventure, fast-paced writing, character development and action was absolutely top-notch.

The Doomsday Warrior series is off to a tremendous start with this rock-solid debut installment. As the series continues, I understand the quality begins to decline. However, knowing what the future holds for the series doesn't spoil the fun of this early volume. If you read nothing else by Stacy or Syvertsen, at least sample this novel. I think it represents everything that fans and readers loved about 1980s post-apocalyptic pop-culture. Recommended.

Buy a copy of Doomsday Warrior HERE

Paperback Warrior Unmasking – Jan Stacy’s End of the World

Beginning in 1986, Popular Library published a 10-book series of men's action-adventure novels titled The Last Ranger. It catered to pop-culture's fascination with the post-apocalypse and was fueled by blockbuster films like Mad Max and The Road Warrior. The books starred a lone hero named Martin Stone, a rugged journeyman searching for his sister after a Soviet nuclear attack destroyed most of North America. The over-the-top action featured zany villains, beautiful women, mutants and monsters all competing for authority in American's wastelands. Each novel of this enjoyable series is credited to an author named Craig Sargent. A deep dive online reveals that Sargent was actually Jan Stacy, a rather unknown author that contributed to other post-apocalyptic novels including Doomsday Warrior and C.A.D.S.

Unfortunately, Jan Stacy died in 1989 and his life has remained a mystery to readers, fans and scholars....until now. Paperback Warrior was able to locate Jan Stacy's only known living relative, his stepbrother Samuel Claiborne. In a lengthy interview, Paperback Warrior was able to piece together Stacy's short but remarkable life including his inspiration for writing, his fascination with doomsday fiction and his talented musicianship. Our latest Unmasking article hopes to answer questions that have been posed for decades about this mysterious author.

The end of the world leads us to the beginning...

Left: Jan Stacy / Right: Samuel Claiborne

Jan Stacy was born in New York City in 1948 and grew up during the “duck and cover” time-frame of Post War hysteria between the communist Soviet Union and the U.S., an era that reached a fevered pitch during 1962's Cuban Missile Crisis. Stacy was just a teenager when his father succumbed to alcoholism. His death eventually led to Stacy's dependence on heroin as a teenager. To break the addiction, his mother sent him to Africa to reside with his uncle, an ambassador. As a testament to overcoming drug addiction, Stacy later started a drug rehab program for teens called Encounter.

After attending the liberal arts college Sarah Lawrence, Stacy found himself as a mainstay in the beatnik culture surrounding New York City's Washington Square Park. It's here that Stacy began his artistic and politically charged endeavors.

“Jan began as a folk singer in Washington Square and it was like a really big network with people like Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. This hippie culture is where Jan's artwork and his music came from despite the masculine novels that he would later write. Jan's mother was extremely involved in the War Resisters League and worked a lot in The Village counseling young people on how to avoid the Vietnam War draft. I haven't been able to locate it but there is a photo somewhere of Jan burning his draft card in Washington Square in 1966,” explained Claiborne.

In addition to music, the early 1970s found Stacy exploring Xerox Artwork, an artistic trend that had become a staple in the punk music scene.

Claiborne recalls, “I can remember Jan and I would cut the labels off of Campbell's soup cans and he would make these custom labels with odd artwork and put them on the cans. It became a huge hit and Jan would sell them on the street. Campbell's threatened to sue Jan for $16-million over it so he stopped. Later, Jan opened an art gallery in Soho called Fear of Art and it was just around the corner from Talking Heads' singer-songwriter David Byrne. We used to always think that Byrne got the inspiration for the album Fear of Music from Jan's Fear of Art gallery,”

It was in Washington Square that Stacy met his longtime writing partner, Ryder Syvertsen. After Stacy obtained a job working at the New York Times' Classified Advertising Department, both Stacy and Syvertsen began writing music with Claiborne and coming up with book and story ideas. In 1983, the two collaborated on a non-fiction book titled Great Books of Movie Monsters, published by Columbus Books. The two followed a year later with the Great Book of Movie Villains. In 1984, Stacy produced his first solo book titled Rockin' Reels: An Illustrated History of Rock and Roll Movies.

“Jan loved pulp and movie monsters and we shot a music video involving monsters and quite possibly the most cheesy stop-action movie monster of all-time. We loved the cheesy movies where you can practically see the strings. We did band rehearsals every Saturday and then that afternoon we would watch Kung Fu double-features. We would rehearse, then watch 4-hours of Kung Fu movies and then go smoke pot. But Jan loved horror movies and was a fan of Night of the Living Dead,” explained Claiborne.

Beginning in 1984, Stacy and Syvertsen collaborated on a post-apocalyptic series titled Doomsday Warrior under the pseudonym Ryder Stacy. The eponymous first novel is set in the year of 2089 where most of the world is either controlled by the Soviet Union or in a widely contested battle with the communist country. Most of the U.S. was decimated by nuclear bombs and the survivors maintain a meager living either as slaves or wretched scavengers who have succumbed to radiation's side-effects. The series was published by Zebra and ran for a total of 19 installments between 1984 through 1991. The first four novels, Doomsday Warrior, Red America, The Last American and Bloody America were authored by both Stacy and Syvertsen. The remainder of the series was penned solely by Syvertsen.

In 1985, another post-apocalyptic series emerged from Zebra titled C.A.D.S. (Computerized Attack Defense System). It also ran from 1984 through 1991 and consisted of 12 total novels. The house name given was John Sievert but this was a combination of different authors. The first novel, Nuke First Strike, was authored by both Jan Stacy and Ryder Syvertsen. Installments 2-8 were penned solely by Syvertsen with books 9-12 authored by David Alexander (Phoenix).

Jan Stacy's most prominent literary work would emerge in 1986. The Last Ranger series was published by Popular Library and ran for 10 total installments through 1989 (and ultimately Jan's death). The series protagonist, Martin Stone, is introduced to readers as an athletic, cocky teen who defies his father, a stern and conservative military leader. When the Soviet Union begins a nuclear assault on the U.S., Stone and his family retreat to an underground mountain fortress where Stone's father teaches him survival, martial arts and weapons for a number of years. Once his father dies, Stone emerges from the compound only to witness his mother being murdered and his sister abducted. The monomyth series emphasizes Stone's struggles with authority as he searches the wasteland for his sister. It was Stacy's third consecutive post-apocalyptic series of novels, a trend that may have been formulating at a young age.

“The doomsday thing was really a culmination of things. Jan growing up in the 1960s during the Cold War scare. His mom was Jewish and you have to remember that the European Jewish attitude is that God is out to get them. The idea that you just can't rely on anything was prevalent. Think of Woody Allen, a paranoid guy who thought the world was out to get him. Jan was like that and he loved Doctor Strangelove [1964 black comedy film]. Jan and his mom were also at odds and had a strained relationship. She was a committed pacifist and I think sometimes Jan would write these macho books as a way of defying her,” says Claiborne.

The Last Ranger's Martin Stone paralleled Stacy's own life in many ways. Stacy's strained relationship with his alcoholic father and his avoidance of the Vietnam War mirror events in the series self-titled debut. As the series continues, Native American mysticism is introduced as well as Stone's fighting skills in the martial arts.

“When Jan went to Africa to break his heroin addiction, he brought back these gorgeous African spears. I still have one of them. He also brought back a lot of Asian martial arts stuff. Jan was a great martial artist. He studied Chi Kung, Ba Gua, Hsing Yi and Tai Chi. Jan moved Chi around instead of just using brute strength. He was interested in internal martial arts. He also boxed at the famed Wu Tang Physical Culture Association. It was this crazy squatter place in The Village ran by Frank ‘The Snake’ Allen. Jan started training there and was a really short, fast wiry martial artist,” explained Claiborne.

Stacy was in a lot of musical acts from 1978-1988 and when he was age 29 he asked the younger Claiborne to join his band. The two formed a trio with Peter Ford called Things Fall Apart, which Stacy named after the novel by Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart existed from 1983 to 1987 and had started to find their own sound and audience. The act began opening on Saturday nights at the famed CBGB club in New York City. Just as the band had begun making strides, Stacy surprisingly told the members he didn't want to play gigs anymore.

Left to Right: Samuel Claiborne, Peter Ford, Jan Stacy
Photo Credit: Peter Ford

Claiborne said, “I can remember Jan acting different by 1987. He stopped sharing his drinks or food with me and told me to start rolling my own. That sort of thing. When he said he didn't want to gig any longer we sort of became apart for a couple of years. I remember my daughter being born in May of 1989 and seeing Jan's mother at the hospital. I told her I had ran into Jan a little while back and he looked like death. She got so upset and I was later told that Jan had tested HIV-positive, but I knew right then he had AIDS. Jan was a bi-sexual in New York City and at the time they didn't know how to treat it. They tried AZT on him but Jan just couldn't tolerate the drug.”

In February of 1989, Zebra published the only stand-alone novel Jan Stacy wrote, a vigilante novel called Body Smasher. Claiborne explains the idea behind the novel:

“The book's cover features the real-life professional wrestler Captain Lou Albano. Jan got to meet the wrestler and talk to him about the book. The idea was the book was going to tie into a wrestling promotion. It was a whole cross marketing idea that was to be a successful series of books.”

Stacy's later installments of The Last Ranger were written in a dark, negative tone with Martin Stone facing extreme adversity. In 1988's The Damned Disciples, the series' ninth novel, Stone is enslaved by a religious cult, drugged and forced to stir an enormous pot containing a sedative called Golden Nectar for weeks. I think this novel best orchestrates Stacy's endless cycle of AIDS medications. His body's resistance to AZT could have been Stone's own resistance to the forced drugs provided by his jailer. Claiborne seems to think this was a case of life imitating art. In fact, Stacy may have been on his deathbed when he authored The Last Ranger series finale, aptly titled Is This The End?

Claiborne remembers Stacy's last days:

“Jan was still working at the New York Times when he got sick. I am speculating that he made about $5K per book for the adventure novels. St. Martin's Press was involved with the non-fiction books and they paid more. Jan also had received an advance on a memoir he was going to write about getting off heroin. But Jan did what a lot of people did with AIDS and just stayed distant. Didn't want to hang out. Didn't want to talk about AIDS or anything. I remember calling Ryder Syvertsen maybe in July or August of 1989 and he told me if I wanted to see Jan to go to the Cabrini Medical Center in New York City because he was in a coma. One of Jan's martial arts teachers, Mr. Chen, was this unbelievable World War 2 veteran and he gave Jan some Chi and was able to wake him up from the coma. Jan left the hospital and wanted to go to Cape Cod, Massachusetts to live with his mother and my father. I drove him up in a Dodge Astro Van and I remember he was so small at the time and he had difficulty getting up the steps. We got to the house and Jan was reserved. He motioned for me to come over and he told me he loved me. That was a rare thing and he told me he didn't want to die. His health got really bad at the house and my father and his mother put him back in the hospital where he eventually succumbed to his illness.”

Stone suddenly knew he'd be seeing his mother and father again real soon. Well, that would be nice. He wondered in a strangely calm way within the storm of his fear just what it would be like to die. And suddenly he wished with a burst of incredible force that surged through his body right up from the depths of his libido that he could get laid once more before he died. - Excerpt from Is This The End?

Jan Stacy Bibliography:

Non-Fiction

Great Book of Movie Monsters (1983) w/Ryder Syvertsen
Great Book of Movie Villains (1984) w/ Ryder Syvertsen
Rockin' Reels: An Illustrated History of Rock and Roll (1984)

Fiction
Body Smasher #1: Body Smasher
Body Smasher #2: Death March
Doomsday Warrior #1: Doomsday Warrior (1984) w/Ryder Syvertsen
Doomsday Warrior #2: Red America (1984) w/Ryder Syvertsen
Doomsday Warrior #3: The Last America (1984) w/Ryder Syvertsen
Doomsday Warrior #4: Bloody America (1985) w/Ryder Syvertsen
C.A.D.S. #1: Nuke First Strike (1985) w/Ryder Syvertsen
Last Ranger #1: Last Ranger (1986)
Last Ranger #2: Savage Stronghold (1986)
Last Ranger #3: Madman's Mansion (1986)
Last Ranger #4: Rabid Brigadier (1987)
Last Ranger #5: War Weapons (1987)
Last Ranger #6: The Warlord's Revenge (1988)
Last Ranger #7: The Vile Village (1988)
Last Ranger #8: The Cutthroat Cannibals (1988)
Last Ranger #9: The Damned Disciples (1988)
Last Ranger #10: Is This The End? (1989)

Buy a copy of The Last Ranger HERE

Bugles West

Frank Gruber (1904-1969) authored 18 crime-fiction novels starring the clumsy and destitute New Yorker Johnny Fletcher. Along with writing 300 short-stories, Gruber also brought the world over 30 westerns written under his own name and pseudonyms like John K. Vedder and Charles K. Boston. Looking for a solid western this week, I sought out another of Gruber's frontier westerns, Bugles West. It was originally published in 1954 and has been reprinted numerous times, most notably by Bantam in 1982 with a cover painting by Lou Feck (known for his men's magazine artwork in Argosy and Adventure).

Tom Logan and Jim Dressen grew up as friends in Michigan. While serving as officers in the Union Army during the American Civil War, the two were captured by the Confederacy. They were placed in Andersonville, a notorious prisoner-of-war camp in Georgia. While there, the two collaborated with 28-other prisoners to escape. The prisoners were quickly caught and most were executed. It was Logan's belief that Dressen was a traitor and he was directly responsible for the soldiers' deaths. After the war, Dressen rose in the ranks to Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Logan became an accessory in bank robbery, and at one point rode with the famed James-Younger gang consisting of the outlaws Jesse James and Cole Younger.

The book opens with a furious gunfight in Montana as a stagecoach is assaulted by the Sioux. Logan, who's on his way to Fort Abraham Lincoln to enlist, comes to the aid of the coach and helps repel the Sioux. This opening scene is a whirlwind of action that Gruber would later re-imagine in his 1967 novel This Gun is Still. When the Army arrives, Logan learns that one of the passengers is a beautiful woman named Alice. After a few early sparks, the two strike up a bond and follow each other to the fort. But once Logan arrives, he learns that Alice's sister is married to....Jim Dressen!

Gruber injects a plethora of story ideas into this short, 120-page western novel. American history buffs can probably gather that Logan and Dressen are both serving in the area that hosted Andrew Custer's Last Stand, otherwise known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In fact, through the book's exciting middle pages the events leading to the epic confrontation between Native Americans and the U.S. Army is brought to life through Andrew's younger brother Thomas and his efforts to arrest a tribal chief named Rain-in-the-Face.

Logan's efforts to avoid his involvement in the James-Younger gang led to his enlistment in the U.S. Army. But once there, the narrative explores his meeting with Dressen and the fallout – Dressen attempting to kill Logan to silence their history and Logan appealing to ranking officers to trial Dressen for treason. There's a number of subplots involving Logan's confrontation with another officer as well as his romantic attraction to Alice. Gruber envelopes the narrative with sympathetic nods to the Native American struggles and their resistance to the “enemy” U.S. troops while showcasing Captian Thomas Custer as an arrogant, bumbling senior officer.

Bugles West is a rip-roaring tour de force. Frank Gruber, while tragically underrated, remains as one of history's best western storytellers. I can't say enough good things about his action-oriented writing style and the literary legacy he created. Bugles West is highly recommended.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Aground

Charles Williams was a phenomenal crime-noir author who often set his stories in rural small towns. Many of his books included a tramp or a statuesque beauty who wreaks havoc on the male protagonist's moral compass. Like his contemporary John D. MacDonald, Williams also wrote a handful of men's action-adventure novels with nautical themes.

Scorpion Reef (aka Gulf Coast Girl), The Sailcloth Shroud, And the Deep Blue Sea were all hits with crime-noir enthusiasts and the author's fans. One of Williams' most respected works is the 1963 suspenseful sea-thriller Dead Calm. The novel was adapted for cinema in 1989 and featured Nicole Kidman and Sam Neil. However, some readers may not realize that Dead Calm is actually a sequel to Williams' 1960 novel Aground, so I’m beginning at the beginning.

The author introduces readers to WW2 veteran John Ingram. Through flashbacks we learn that John's wife tragically died in an auto accident and that his former business, a port harbor, was destroyed in a fire that also killed his business partner. Now, John works as a boat broker, a profession that has him inspecting boats and assessing their value to lower the cost for his perspective clients. In the book's opening chapters, readers learn that John has been hired by a man named Hollister who wants to purchase a boat for business purposes. After surveying a schooner called The Dragoon in Key West, John calls Hollister and reports that the yacht is in great condition and ready for purchase. John then returns to Miami where he is met by the police.

Unbeknownst to him, John was tricked into participating in stealing The Dragoon from its port. The owner reports that the inspection routine was really just a way to scout the boat for his accomplices. On the night of John's departure, the boat was stolen by three men including Hollister. The whole purchasing routine was really just a ploy to find a suitable yacht worth stealing. John was conned.

After talking with the boat’s owner, a widow named Rae, the two team up to try and locate the missing yacht. Rae wants her property returned and John, feeling partly responsible for the crime, agrees to assist. The police find a dinghy containing Hollister's watch and clothes, yet there's no sign of the Dragoon. Hiring a pilot, Rae and John eventually locate the yacht on a sandy knoll. During high tide, an inexperienced operator ran the boat into a sandy knoll where it remained aground. But once John and Rae board the Dragoon, they discover why the ship was  stolen.

Like Williams' rural crime-novels, Aground features a likable male protagonist who finds himself in an extreme situation. While Rae could be viewed as the suitable replacement for the author's obligatory sexy seductress, she's presented as a more intelligent, brave addition to the story's twists and turns instead of a cunning swamp nymph. As a nautical adventure tale, Williams doesn't quite do the genre justice. Aground seems to be a high-seas clash as the prey attempts to outwit the predator, but the narrative is more effective as a variant on the home-invasion sub-genre of suspense-thrillers. I can't reveal too many details, but John and Rae are forced to fight criminals in a very confined location. It's this edgy, tightrope anxiety that makes Aground so entertaining.

By keeping your expectations geared towards the survival/invasion prose, this book should provide plenty of entertainment. The novel is available as an affordable e-book by Mysterious Press and you can purchase a copy HERE

Cinderella Sims

At the very beginning of his career, Lawrence Block was barely making a living writing surprisingly readable paperbacks for sleaze paperback publishing houses. His 1958 meal ticket was originally published by Nightstand Books under the title $20 Lust under the pseudonym Andrew Shaw. Later, Nightstand recycled the novel as Cinderella Sims, a title that stuck for a handful of reprints under Block’s own name. The book remains available today as a reprint title released on Block’s own publishing imprint for his historical oddities.

Former police reporter Ted Linsdsay is a recovering drunk from Louisville, Kentucky whose wife left him for another man and died in a car accident soon thereafter. Ted left his old life behind and moved to New York City in search of a new start, a reset. He lands a job slinging hash on the graveyard shift of an all-night diner and falls into a predictable, if dull, pattern of life. All that changes one day when Ted sees a stacked babe living in the apartment house across the street. He is immediately smitten and stalks her to learn that her name is Cinderella “Cindy” Sims.

It takes awhile for much of anything to happen in this paperback. Fortunately, Ted is an interesting enough character and Block is a talented enough writer that reading the novel’s first third wasn’t too much of a chore. Once things get rolling, you have an honest-to -goodness crime story to read and enjoy. Without spoiling too much, it involves a crew of con artists, a casino gambling scam, and a satchel full of cash. With those ingredients and Lawrence Block driving the narrative, you’re in good hands.

It really was a different world back in 1958, and some of the scenes in Cinderella Sims really drive that home. Marital rape and unprovoked violence against women are shrugged off and the plot never pauses to consider what just occurred. In another scene, the narrator describes the gays of Greenwich Village in terms that we don’t use today in polite company. I actually like these elements of vintage fiction, not because of some anti-PC crusade, but because they place a work of fiction in a particular time an underscore how far we’ve traveled in the culture today. It’s also interesting to consider what societal norms we exhibit today that will be seen as jaw-dropping and inappropriate 60 years from now.

Because Cinderella Sims is a Nightstand Book, the promise of several erotic sex scenes are fulfilled, but it’s nothing terribly graphic. This is a sexy femme fatale crime novel rather than a porno book with a crime story pretext. If you read enough of these, you can tell the difference. There’s also a compelling plot and lots of bone-crunching violence as the paperback veers toward its satisfying conclusion.

In short, there’s nothing not to like about Cinderella Sims. It’s an outstanding little crime novel with a boatload of titillation and thrilling action. Lawrence Block was smart to rescue this one from obscurity and make it available today. It’s a real winner. 

Buy a copy of this book HERE

The Ruthless Range

Lewis B. Patten authored nearly 100 western novels during his four-decades of literary work. Using the pseudonyms of Lee Leighton and Joseph Wayne, Patten collaborated with his contemporary in Wayne D. Overholser for a handful of westerns. His 1968 novel, Death of a Gunfighter, was adapted into a film starring Richard Widmark. Six of his novels were published in 1963 including The Ruthless Range, a book originally published by Berkley that has been reprinted numerous times since.

The novel introduces readers to Jase Mellor, a fictional famed gunslinger. In his youth, Mellor's fast-draw prowess allowed him to kill a notorious outlaw. But since that fateful day, Mellor has found himself challenged by gunfighters throughout the southwestern U.S. Over the course of many bitter, blood-drenched years, Mellor has attempted to flee into obscurity, a tactic that cost him his marriage with Edie.

As The Ruthless Range opens, Mellor is provoked into a gunfight with a loud-mouthed, arrogant man at a bar. After fatally shooting him, Mellor leaves town only to find ten men in pursuit. The author's opening chapters have Mellor facing these men from some high rocks. After being wounded in the battle, Mellor awakens to find that he is being cared for by a man named Sandoval, owner of the sprawling Grandee Range. Over the course of many days, Sandoval informs Mellor that the land's dry conditions have forced nearby ranchers to illegally push steer onto his land. After heated skirmishes, Sandoval fears for his life and knows that he's outnumbered. Can Mellor help?

Patten weaves a number of story-lines together to create a pretty formulaic western yarn. There are thousands of range-war stories within western fiction and The Ruthless Range is just another one. Although it's a fairly standard story, the author injects two love interests for Mellor – one is his former wife Edie and the other is Sandoval's wife. There's also a small mystery to uncover, but experienced readers should be able to figure it out long before the hero does.

At 120-pages, The Ruthless Range is a short, enjoyable western tale but nothing special or particularly innovative. Jase Mellor is immediately likable and readers will find plenty of reason to rally behind this tragic hero. Just control your expectations if you are looking for something remarkable or outstanding. The Ruthless Range is just pretty good, and sometimes that’s enough.

Buy a copy of this book HERE

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 38

Episode 38 of the Paperback Warrior Podcast presents a feature on the life and work of post-apocalyptic fiction author Jan Stacy including a review of the first installment in his Doomsday Warrior series. We also discuss some recent purchases as well as a review of the Harry Whittington classic, A Night for Screaming. Please check us out on any podcast app, streaming below or direct download HERE

Listen to "Episode 38 - Jan Stacy and the End of the World" on Spreaker.

Murder Money

New Yorker Jay Bennett (1912-2009) primarily made a living writing scripts for radio serial adventures starring Bulldog Drummond and early television programs such as “Alfred Hitchcock Presents. As an author, many of his mystery books were geared toward a juvenile audience - a niche that won him back-to-back Edgar awards in 1974 and 1975. He only wrote three books geared toward adults, including the 1963 Fawcett Crest paperback, “Murder Money.” The short novel has been reprinted by Wildside Press as an ebook and paperback.

Eddie Doran is a washed-up boxer, over-the-hill at age 35. After fighting for 20 years, Eddie’s career is over with nothing to show for it. He wanders the streets of the city depressed in a manner reminiscent of the losers populating the fictional world of author Davis Goodis from the same era. A confrontation and mix-up between Eddie and a stranger attempting to enter a taxicab at the same time finds Eddie in possession of the stranger’s briefcase. Inside the case? $100,000 cash.

The problem with finding $100,000 cash is that the owners often want the money back, and sometimes those owners aren’t honorable fellows. Eddie knows this and enlists his boxing manager Al to help him get away with the dough in exchange for half the loot. Nervous about staying in New York, the pair hop on a plane to Miami accompanied by Al’s alluring girlfriend, Laura.

Eddie is scared to death, and Laura ads some spice to the plot by repeatedly trying to seduce Eddie behind Al’s back. That’s not a good recipe for a larcenous partnership. Meanwhile, another woman from Eddie’s past resurfaces into his life while he’s laying low in Miami. Coincidence? The action and twists progress at a nice pace until the bloody climax in the Florida Keys where the truth is laid bare and the cash finds a home.

“Murder Money” is a simple novel drawing on a plot template that’s been done dozens of times. Despite the tired set-up, the book really works because Bennett was a solid author who understood pacing, raw emotions and narrative tension. “Murder Money” (awful title, by the way) is a sexy, violent and twisty ride. Recommended.

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The Enforcer

Maine native and US Army veteran Ovid Demaris (1919-1998) dedicated a majority of his literary work to non-fiction accounts of Mafia operations. Between 1957 and 1988, Demaris also authored a number of crime-fiction novels, two of which were adapted to film - “Hoods Take Over” as the film “Gang War” and “Candyleg” as “Machine Gun McCain”. Based on the author's research on organized crime, it's no surprise to find “The Enforcer” in his published works, a mob-themed crime-noir originally released by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1960 and now available as an affordable reprint through Cutting Edge.

Bender is a ruthless mob enforcer living in a bright and cheery apartment complex in Hollywood. When he's not breaking the legs of debtors and traitors, Bender spends his time with a stripper named Nicki while also lusting over a nearby resident named Eileen. However, the police are on to Bender and have him under investigation for a neighborhood double-homicide. To finalize their case, the police ask Detective Mark Condon to go undercover as a resident at the apartment complex. While it's never really explained what Condon is hoping to discover, readers will forget the story-line due to the narrative's abundant sleaze and sexy oscillation. The apartment complex’s pool is like the porn palace of Los Angeles. Resembling a dirty episode of “Friends”, roommates spend 127-pages attempting to get laid. There's also the sex-starved whacko who observes from afar with one hand on his...windowsill.

“The Enforcer” was my first experience with author Ovid Demaris and by all rights should be the last. I'm a sucker for punishment and unfortunately bought a four-pack of his vintage novels on Ebay. But just to be fair, Demaris may have intended this to be a smutty romance novel and Fawcett just dressed it up to resemble a vengeful crime-fiction offering. Even the book's title may have been something entirely different. We'll never know. But that doesn't dismiss the notion that Demaris is a good author. His fragmented, multilayered narrative has way too many shallow characters. The author spends multiple pages on poolside antics and immature jokes that hinder the pace. Nothing is remarkable, and Demaris doesn't have a story to tell. It's just a random amount of nonsense about young hotheads stripping, dancing and boning.

It goes without saying, but I'll state for the record that “The Enforcer” has joined the Hall of Shame. Avoid this one like a scorching case of California Clap. 

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Caleb Thorn #01 - The First Shot

With a wide variety of pen names under his belt, Laurence James was a British author who wrote a ton of violent paperback original series titles set in the American West (Edge, Apache) as well as in a post-apocalyptic USA (Deathlands, Wasteworld). In 1978, James authored a four-book series of bloody Civil War adventures using the pen name L.J. Coburn starring Union soldier Caleb Thorn and his team of misfit irregulars kicking Confederate ass. The series is available today as super-cheap ebooks, and the first installment is titled The First Shot.

The year is 1861 and the U.S. Civil War is in its infancy. Caleb Thorn is a cocky, 21 year-old northerner from a wealthy Washington, DC family. He’s engaged to a psychotic young southerner named Rachel who gets off on whipping her slaves to death on trumped-up sexual assault charges. The fact that Caleb routinely kills his rivals in duels is a plus for his blood-thirsty fiancé.

As the war between the states intensifies, Caleb is mostly a disinterested observer. He eventually kills rebels with a flourish for recreation but cares nothing of the freedom and well-being of enslaved blacks. In fact, other than bloodlust, it’s hard to put a finger on what motivates Caleb. He’s not a particularly likable protagonist, and you need to be comfortable with this fact before setting on the road with such and imperfect - and at times loathsome - character. If you can accept Caleb on his own terms, the reader gets to have a front seat as Caleb bears witness to the Battle of Bull Run and other significant moments of the war’s early days.

Eventually, Caleb suffers a personal tragedy that crystallizes his hate for Confederate soldiers. He is placed in a Union infantry unit unattached to any regiment giving him the freedom to kill rebs when he encounters them without any wartime red tape. The men of Caleb’s unit are all of poor character released from a death row stockade to ride with Caleb. It’s a less-than-magnificent group of seven killers and criminals assembled for a brief mission to end this novel and set up the action for the rest of the series.

In addition to several scenes of shocking violence, the author wove in some bizarre and head-scratching details into this debut. For example, it’s implied that Caleb has an ongoing sexual relationship with his own mother. There are other non-familial sex scenes in the novel with other partners that are every bit as graphic as an edition of the Longarm series of adult westerns.

Overall, The First Shot is a darn fine series debut, and I’m very excited to dive into subsequent installments. If you liked the Civil War flashbacks in the Edge series, you’ll feel right at home with Caleb Thorn.

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The Stench of Poppies

Roger Erskine Longrigg (1929-2000) authored novels for a number of different genres including historical, romance, mystery and espionage. Writing under the pseudonym of Rosalind Erskine, the British author found literary success with the erotic novel The Passion Flower Hotel. Under the name Frank Parrish, Longrigg wrote an eight-book series starring a poacher and thief named Dan Mallett. As Laura Black, Longrigg authored a number of Scottish historical novels. In reviewing Longrigg's robust literary catalog, the novels that interest me the most are the spy-fiction books written under the pseudonym Ivor Drummond.

Drummond's nine novels star three wealthy individuals who simply fight crime together. While the team's creation isn't fully explained, nor is an official series name given, these books are of the spy or espionage variety. The trio is led by Jenny Norrington, a beautiful British woman and wealthy heiress. Her co-members are a rich Texan named Colleride “Colly” Tucker and a brute named Count Allessandro di Ganzarello. Thankfully, this wealthy Italian answers to the name of Sandro. The series was launched in 1969 with The Man with the Tiny Head. The first five novels were published by Pyramid with the rest of the series published by Dell. My first sampling of Longrigg and this series is the eight installment, 1978's The Stench of Poppies.

The book begins within a laboratory as a Turkish scientist has mistakenly discovered a method of making a deadlier strain of heroin.  By attempting to maximize the growth of poppy seeds (the main ingredient in morphine and heroin) using less land resources, the scientist modifies the seeds. In doing so, he makes a “super” version that makes the morphine or heroin user a raving, suicidal maniac within minutes of its use. The laboratory, in conjunction with government representatives, launch a new project of growing these deadly poppy seeds and selling them to governments that want to cleanse their streets and neighborhoods of heroin junkies. By providing this deadly drug, they feel that their drug epidemic will correct itself through mass suicides among users and addicts.

Jenny, Colly and Sandro meet with a high-level bank administrator who wants the trio to investigate a Turkish carpet retailer, Mustafa Algan, who is making large deposits in various currencies. The author shares with readers the fact that Algan has inherited the distribution duties for these new, modified forms of heroin and morphine. It is up to the trio to learn who Algan is and how his carpets are netting extraordinary profits. At 224-pages, I was hoping this procedural investigation would lead to gunplay, high-adventure or some sexy undercover romps. Unfortunately, The Stench of Poppies never really gained much traction.

The author utilizes dozens of cities for his three protagonists to explore. As the trio tour the countryside, Longrigg uses lengthy portions of the book to explain mythology or famous medieval battles that occurred at each location (borrowing too much from his historical fiction written as Laura Black). The dialogue between the three main characters was entertaining and often humorous. There is an outrageous scene in the opening pages as the trio decide if they want to kill a man trapped in the back of their truck. Another fun scene has Jenny faking an epileptic seizure before luring a victim to his death. But aside from these scenes, the author just spins his wheels on dull, uninspiring travel sequences that find the heroes searching for red poppy fields all over the Middle East. Near the book's end, I was hoping someone was able to find a plant so the story would end...and I could stop counting pages.

A Stench of Poppies would have been better received at 150-pages, less travel and more action. I've read great reviews of this series and I'm not dismissing the entire lot based on this one novel. At some point I'd like to explore the first few installments in hopes of higher quality.

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I Watched Them Eat Me Alive

I was born in 1976 and grew up in the 80s watching horror movies from the 60s and 70s on Cable networks like TBS, WGN and USA. One of my favorite sub-genres was the killer creature features that were incredibly popular in the mid to late-1970s. Films like “Grizzly” (1976), “Empire of the Ants” (1977), “Willard” (1971) and “Day of the Animals” (1977) were popular selections for weekend television and brick and mortar video rental stores.

Perhaps the most successful of the genre was 1975's blockbuster shark flick “Jaws”, leading to three sequels and a slew of similar aquatic horror movies like “Piranha” (1978) and “Orca” (1977). There were even a number of paperback titles like “Croc” (David Hagberg; 1976) and “The Long Dark Night” (David Fisher; 1976) that ran the gamut from deadly subway crocodiles to packs of rabid dogs. When it came to deadly animal attacks, nothing was off the table.

Until most recently, I had assumed that the killer animal/creature sensation was simply a product of the 1970s. However, Men's Adventure Library's 2017 book “I Watched Them Eat Me Alive” (New Texture), edited by adventure magazine scholars Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, showcases a myriad of horrific stories and grizzly paintings that dominated “most of the 160 different pulp magazines between the 1940s-1970s”. While skirting the line between horror and adventure (and even science-fiction), there are no boundaries in terms of savage, bloody action.

In 120+ pages, Robert and Wyatt present hundreds of magazine covers and panels, complete with issue dates and artist and author credits. The two historians also present separate essays compiled as “Funny as Hell: Killer Creatures in Men's Adventure Mags”. These essays not only explain the origins of the literary phenomenon, but also who the publisher's target audiences were. In thought provoking analysis, Wyatt metaphorically links the violent animals attacks to blue collar men's struggles with “life's hassles, adjustments, responsibilities and the uncertainties of life”. By connecting the two, it's easy to envision the tired, blue-collar working man finding enjoyment and similarities with each claw mark and animal bite.

The book begins with stories by Stan Smith and Robert Silverberg and focus on the killer or monster crab sensation. I found both of these enjoyable and was fond of Silverberg's inclusion as I enjoyed his crime-noir novel “Blood On the Mink” (reviewed HERE). After the brief “Flying Rodents Ripped My Flesh” story by Lloyd Parker (the only Sugar Glider horror story I know of), the sensational deadly gorilla short “Terror Safari” by Lester Hutton was presented from the January 1961 issue of Rage. The book finished with terror in two American locales - “Strange Revenge of Wyoming's Most Hunted Giant Puma”, by Robert F. Dorr and “Trapped in the Bayou's Pit of a Million Snakes” by Walter Kaylin, the best stories in the compilation.

From vivid, horrifying paintings and illustrations to genre analysis, “I Watched Them Eat Me Alive” was an eye-opening (and sometimes eye-closing) reading experience. Like the duo's other historic chronicles of pulp adventure magazines, this is a mandatory inclusion for any vintage action-adventure or pulp collector. As I've mentioned in an earlier review of their “Barbarians on Bikes”, the idea of actually owning these antiquarian, vintage magazines is a fool's errand. It's an expensive hobby considering the secondhand market pricing combined with product shortage. Robert and Wyatt have ultimately paid the price for all of us by compiling hundreds and hundreds of high quality scans for future generations to enjoy. It's a labor of love that's appreciated by all. Godspeed ahead!

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Sacketts #02 - To the Far Blue Mountains

After 80+ western novels of range-wars and quick-draw gunslingers, iconic author Louis L'Amour decided to branch out and try a different type of frontier storytelling. Beginning in 1974, L'Amour authored “Sackett's Land”,  the first of four novels that presented the origins of his critically-acclaimed 'Sacketts' family. The entire series encompasses 17 total works with 13 set in the mid to late 1800s. Using a time period of 1599-1620, L'Amour describes pioneer life in early America. “To the Far Blue Mountains”, published in 1976, is a direct continuation of the remarkable story told in “Sackett's Land,” a novel that set the bar at a nearly insurmountable height. Could this subsequent episode deliver the same stellar result?

In the novel's opening act, we once again find main character Barnabas Sackett in England. After defeating the Earl and his men in the prior novel, Barnabas is eager to set sail for America. However, the Queen still wants Barnabas in chains hoping that he will confess to discovering the Crown Jewels (an early mix-up in the first novel). In a crescendo of galloping horses, Barnabas avoids the law and eventually makes his way to Ireland before catching a ship to America.

In a wild chain of events, Barnabas is shanghaied at sea and taken back to a cold, brutal English prison called Newgate. Facing severe punishment and torture on the rack, Barnabas eventually escapes only to struggle reaching America. As the book's first half comes to a satisfying close, I could sense that the author's swashbuckling adventure writing had reached its finale.

The novel's second half is a portrait of survival in a hostile new land. Settling somewhere in what would eventually be central Virginia, Barnabas and his friends begin farming and trading goods with neighboring Indians. But the peace and serenity doesn't last long when Barnabas, and his family, are marked for death by numerous tribes. L'Amour's storytelling is at its absolute peak as wave after wave of Indians assault Barnabas. Will he ever make it to the “Far Blue Mountains”?

In a lot of ways, this book comes full circle. Not only does it continue the early adventures of Barnabas in both England and the New World, but it extends into his old age. The author utilizes this time period to begin branching off the family through Barnabas' sons Kin-Ring, Jubal, Yance and Brian. This isn't a surprise considering the next two installments focus on the mid-1600s, with the fourth and final chapter of this early saga simply titled “Jubal Sackett”.

As an exceptional storyteller, it's hard to imagine L'Amour improving beyond “Sackett's Land”. Yet, “To the Far Blue Mountains” is the gold standard. I've read this novel multiple times and still get goosebumps during the final pages. Adventure and western authors would be hard pressed to deliver another literary work this sweeping, compelling and satisfying. This epic presentation, from shore to shore, is a grand spectacle and an absolutely riveting experience for the reader. It simply doesn't get any better than this.  

Notes:

- The first Chantry character appears briefly in this book. His story would continue in 1978's “Fair Blows the Wind”. Later 'Chantry' books state that the Chantry and Sackett family fought side by side during the Revolutionary War.

- In the Bantam paperback edition of “Jubal Sackett”, L'Amour writes that his plans at the time were to explore the Sackett family history during America's Revolutionary and Civil War. Unfortunately, those novels never came to fruition as L'Amour would die afterwards in 1988.

- L'Amour would continue more adventure stories with his novel “The Walking Drum” (1984) set in 12th century Europe.

- There's some loose supernatural elements within “To the Far Blue Mountains”. In one scene Barnabas sees what he thinks is another city (or world) in the shoreline mist. L'Amour would experiment more with these elements in his science-fiction novel “Haunted Mesa” (1987).

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The Mexico Run

Lionel White was a successful crime-noir writer and journalist. From 1952 through 1978, the New York City native authored 36 novels, some of which have been adapted to international cinema. While crime-fiction was certainly his forte, White specialized in an entertaining sub-genre – the heist. The New York Times deemed White as the “king of capers” and noirish filmmaker Quentin Tarantino credited the author as an influence on his cult crime classic “Reservoir Dogs”. While the author's 1950s work is substantially the best of his career, the talented scribe proved that he still had some literary strength in the 70s. At age 69, White authored “The Mexico Run”, a clever twist on the caper novel published by Fawcett Gold Medal in 1974.

Mark Johns is a Vietnam vet who's fresh out of the service. Saving $18,000, Johns was encouraged by a fellow soldier to start running marijuana from Mexico into southern California. As the book begins, Johns is making the arrangements to meet a distributor of Acapulco Gold (a popular 1960s high class grass). His plan is to buy several kilos from a Mexican wholesaler and transport it using his friend Angel's fishing boat. After all of the planning and prepping, Johns is ready for the real thing. However, once he meets 17-year old Sharon, the whole thing begins to crumble.

After saving her from a savage boyfriend, Johns is forced to drag Sharon into his Mexican drug run. Using his Army buddy's contacts, Johns meets up with a crooked police officer named Captain Morales. The plan comes together that Morales gets 25% of the profit and will help smooth things over – as a respected officer of the law – so Johns can make the run. But, it's only after Johns successfully transports the dope that he finally realizes he's caught in a wicked trap – Morales wants Sharon badly and promises to keep her safe as long as Johns will start running narcotics. When Angel is imprisoned on a fake murder charge, Johns must either accept his fate as a drug-running mule for Morales or somehow escape from the game and still save Sharon and Angel.

Instead of dwelling on one bank heist, White expands the narrative with a complex game of drug running missions through customs. It's a fresh and enjoyable prose that left me breathless with possible outcomes. There's a remarkable twist at the end that hit me like a lead pipe, a feat that is next to impossible considering the volume of fiction I'm digesting weekly. From seedy motels to abandoned coastal villas, White takes advantage of atmosphere and environment to create his riveting portrait of betrayal and intrigue.

As of this writing, “The Mexico Run” isn't available as an e-book. That could be the biggest crime of all. Buy a used copy and breathe new life into a long lost classic.

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Paul Chavasse #03 - The Keys of Hell

Before Jack Higgins (real name Henry Patterson) became a household name with 1975's runaway bestseller The Eagle Has Landed, the British author authored a number of action-adventure novels under pseudonyms including James Graham and Hugh Marlow. Utilizing the name Martin Fallon, Higgins wrote a six-book series of novels starring British spy Paul Chavasse. After enjoying the debut, The Testament of Caspar Schultz (1962), and the series' fourth title, Midnight Never Comes (1966), I was able to acquire the series' third book, The Keys of Hell, originally published in hardcover in 1965.

The book begins with Chavasse entering the British Embassy to request some time off. While there, he meets an attractive woman named Francesca Minetti who confesses to him that she was his radio operative on his last mission. Surprised, the two strike up a friendship and Chavasse is granted his two-week holiday...after he completes the assassination of a double-agent working in Albania.

During the opening chapters, Chavasse quickly completes his assignment but runs into Francesca in Albania. In sobbing fashion she advises Chavasse that her family has been persecuted by Albania's brutal communist regime. After the government began forcibly removing the public churches, her brother attempted to preserve a religious statue called The Black Madonna in the city of Scutari. Before communist forces could seize and destroy it, Francesca and her brother attempted to move the statue to a rural, coastal location ten miles away. During the transport, her brother was fatally shot and Francesca escaped. The beloved statue, which brought hope to thousands of persecuted villagers, sank into the deep marshes.

Like an espionage treasure hunt, Higgins' narrative is brimming with nautical chases, gunboat fights and the obligatory prison break. Chavasse and Francesca have a romantic connection, but the author ignites the spark when the heroic spy comes to the aid of a 20-year old female farmer. Once the statue was located, the narrative propelled into brisk action with a few twists and turns in Chavasse's circle of friends. Regretfully I had a sense that by skipping the series' second installment, The Year of the Tiger, I missed a key plot development in this novel. It didn't hamper my enjoyment, but perhaps the ending would have had a bigger impact.

I've never read a bad Jack Higgins novel and The Keys of Hell is no different. While the Paul Chavasse series is tragically underrated, spy and espionage readers should find plenty to like about it. Buy your copy of the book HERE.

Doc Savage #183 - Escape from Loki

The idea of retroactive continuity, commonly referred to as retcon or retconning, is a popular method for new writers to add additional elements or facts to a previously published work. It's been utilized by comic writers for decades and can often be found in early pulp magazines as a way to modernize the heroes for a new generation. The most recent retcon novel I've read and reviewed was Stephen Mertz's fantastic take on Mack Bolan's pre-Executioner life in Super Bolan #04: “Dirty War”. On Paperback Warrior Podcast Episode 25, I talked about Nick Carter's retroactive continuity (erasing, ignoring or contradicting prior events) from early pulp detective to international paperback spy. So it's no surprise to find that author Philip Jose Farmer utilized this same technique for his 1991 retcon 'Doc Savage' novel “Escape from Loki” (Bantam).

Philip Jose Farmer (1918-2009) was a highly respected science-fiction and fantasy author noted for his series 'Riverworld' and 'World of Tiers'. Farmer had a fondness for reworking existing fictional heroes into new novels and stories. From “Moby-Dick” and “Wizard of Oz” to “Around the World in Eighty Days”, Farmer would often fill in missing time periods or create sequels to literary works that were created by other authors. Farmer created two mock biographies of famed literary characters, “Tarzan Alive” and “Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life”. As a fan of the Doc Savage novels since 1933, Farmer chose to author one original series novel, “Escape from Loki”, which showcases the character at the age of 16 during WW1. By retconning what original author Lester Dent presented in “The Man of Bronze” (1933), Farmer is able to present an origin story explaining how Doc Savage originally met his beloved team members.

“Escape from Loki” races out of the gate as the young Doc Savage pilots one of his first aviation missions. It's explained to readers that Savage was hoping to pilot for the U.S. Air Service, but due to their planes needing machine gun installations, Savage's Colonel assigned him to a French aerial combat unit. Farmer uses this as an exciting sequence of events where Savage is shot down during dogfights over Germany. Making his way through the forest, Savage finds shelter in an abandoned farmhouse with two American soldiers. When the two immediately begin squabbling with one other, it's apparent that these men are Ham and Monk. While Savage's introduction to both of them is brief, it's a rewarding experience for Doc Savage fans to pinpoint where he met two of his most trusted allies.

After he's captured by German soldiers, Savage is subjected to a strange dinner party hosted by Von Hessel and Countess Idivzhopu. After escaping Hessel's fortified home, Savage manages to steal a German aircraft but once again finds himself captured by Germans and placed on a train of POWs. After escaping a third time, Farmer's novel reaches a heightened frenzy as Savage is forced to fight a pack of wild dogs inside a bombed out farmhouse. In what could be considered a series abomination to some fans, this 10-12 page portion of the book was an absolute highlight for me personally. Savage's violent battle with the dogs is a bloody carnage of broken legs, sliced throats and stabbings. Then, the starved, crimson-smeared Savage sits on a rooftop prepared to eat the raw carcass of a dead dog. Thankfully, there's another dog battle that leads him into a secret room where he finds that the prior owners were sacrificing infants on a Satanic altar! 

I can't help but think that Farmer was venturing off into a different style of storytelling, one that was wildly obscene yet mesmerizing. I was as equally entertained as horrified by the author's stark contrast to Dent's original work. Savage is caught for the final time and shipped to the notorious and supposedly impenetrable Loki prison camp, thus curbing Farmer's penchant for the peculiar.

The book's second-half explores Savage's life at the prison camp and his strategizing an escape from the facility. It's here that he is reunited with both Ham and Monk and the two continue there hilarious insults and banter. It's only a matter of time before Renny, Johnny and Long Tom make their introductions. Together, Savage and the five men form an escape plan while learning that Von Hessel may be performing terrifying experiments on the prisoners. In the book's finale, readers experience a small amount of pulp-fantasy that is reminiscent of Doc Savage's typical “super-powered” villains.

“Escape from Loki” receives an equal amount of love and disdain from Doc Savage fans. Some are alienated by Farmer's writing style and his attempts to capture the original style of Doc Savage storytelling. At the same time, fans appreciate this origin story and find that Farmer's characterization is spot-on (although universally everyone seems to agree that Farmer's treatment of both Monk and Ham was exceptional). For me personally, I've always had an average experience with Dent's original Doc Savage stories. The first half of “Escape from Loki” was remarkable and surpasses the better Savage narratives I've read. The second half wasn't quite as impressive with some sluggish scenes, a rushed (or even botched) ending and a halfhearted attempt at introducing Savage to his future colleagues.

Overall, “Escape from Loki” should be a mandatory read for Savage fans. It is clear that Farmer adored the series and attempted to treat the characters and fans with care and respect. While not perfect, the book was exhilarating at its best and easily acceptable at its worst. You deserve the opportunity to be your own judge.

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Ambush Bay

Jacques Bain Pearl (1923-1992), better known as Jack Pearl, was a talented author that thrived on writing movie and television novelizations. Along with novelizations of “Funny Girl” (1968), “Our Man Flint” (1966) and “The Yellow Rolls-Royce” (1964), Pearl also wrote a number of successful stand-alone titles and a well-received science-fiction series called “The Space Eagle” (1967). After reading his novel tie-in of the “Dirty Dozen” styled television show “Garrison's Guerrillas” (1967), I was curious about another of his film novelizations, “Ambush Bay” (1962).

The film was released by United Artists and featured a cast starring Mickey Rooney, James Mitchum and Hugh O' Brian, who accepted the role after Charleston Heston declined it. The film was directed by Ron Winston, a Michigan native who spent most of his career working on television series' like “Hawaii Five-O”, “Branded” and “The Twilight Zone”. The film was shot on location in the Philippines, an important factor considering all of the action is centralized in that region.

Pearl's book introduces us to nine battle-scarred U.S. Marines and a goofy Air Force radio-man who is vital to the narrative. The mission is to penetrate enemy lines in Mindanao, a rural landscape in the Philippines. Once there, the group must locate a U.S. intelligence officer who  has been submerged in the Japanese military as a spy. General MacArthur has scheduled a full invasion of a portion of the island, yet the U.S. has received chatter that the Japanese may already know about the invasion and have planted sophisticated mines along their heavily fortified coastal position. The secret agent has key details on where the Japanese have planned for the assault. If the men can rendezvous with the spy, they can obtain the information and then radio it to MacArthur so he can prepare an alternate strategy if needed.

I struggled in the book's opening chapter with the number of characters. However, my confusion quickly subsided as most of the team is killed in furious jungle firefights. The book's main character is Private First Class Air Crewman radio specialist Jim Grenier, a young soldier who is taunted by the hardened Marines. Grenier is just six-months into his military career having spent his entire life on a chicken farm. Grenier's sole purpose is to stay clear of the fighting and protect the radio at all costs. Unfortunately, with the team's ranks thinning, the inexperienced rookie is forced into the fight.

Pearl is a great storyteller and despite working from a script, I imagine he's adding dynamic details to make the two-dimensional characters come alive for the reader. The unbalanced relationship between Grenier and the iron-fisted Sergeant Corey is the novel's first half focus, yet as the novel progresses, the two men become closer allies. While Pearl spends a great deal of time on gunplay, the book's second half presents an entirely different mission. I won't spoil the fun, but I was surprised when the spy was eventually revealed. It's this change of pace that elevated the entertainment factor for me.

Despite the film's lukewarm reviews, Jack Pearl's novel was an entertaining blend of action, adventure and humanity that should please genre fans. As a Signet paperback, hopefully you can locate a used copy somewhere.

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