Batman - Dead White

John Shirley (The Specialist, Traveler) has experience writing movie, game, comic, and television tie-in novels. He has authored books in the Alien, Predator, Hellblazer universe as well as gaming platforms like BioShock, Borderlands, Resident Evil, and Halo. I learned about his Batman novel, Dead White, when interviewing one of Shirley's writing protegees, David Agranoff. Dead White was published in paperback by Del Rey in 2006.

The plot concerns a white supremacist deemed White Eyes amassing a cult following through a network of high-tech weapons. When these weapons appear on the streets of Gotham, Batman swoops in to investigate. The novel's informative first-half hones in on Batman's search for the weapons and the various tentacles operating from White Eyes' operation. With this being a sort of “ret con” approach, Shirley is careful to explain that despite the year of 2006, Wayne is fairly new in the role of Batman. He's experimenting with what works, how to improve various technologies and systems, and the importance of maintaining a day/night contrast of the Wayne/Batman persona.

While Dead White is a Batman novel, it easily could have been one of Shirley's The Specialist adventures. I kept visualizing Jack Sullivan in place of Bruce Wayne. As the first-half closes, some of the book's action takes place in San Francisco through the eyes of a former Gotham policeman named Cormac. He's in California searching for his missing son. His investigation leads to a rural Pennsylvania mining town in the fictitious Hatchet Mountains. Cormac's arrival in the small town aligns with Batman's own arrival there to track down White Eyes' and his operation center.

While Batman purists may object to the body count, the high-rise levels of violence, and the overall mythology of the character, I felt that Shirley's novel was enjoyable and provided a sort of action-adventure fantasy that placed the Dark Knight in a type of vigilante Mack Bolan adventure. I did enjoy Shirley's introspective analysis of Batman hypnotically seeing the costume in various places, a representation that he's not only the suit, but the embodiment of justice. The costume appearing in the dark recesses of the cave, and at the height of battle scenes, was a neat admission that emphasizes the character's ambiguous struggle. 

Dead White is a men's action-adventure paperback worth pursuing no matter if you are a casual Batman fan or a hardcore Batfanatic. Recommended! Get the book HERE.

Conversations - The Book Graveyard

In this month’s installment of Guide to Gothics, Paperback Warrior teams up once again with Nick Anderson of The Book Graveyard to unearth a paperback relic: Dorothy Daniel’s The Tormented, a 1969 gothic suspense novel from Paperback Library. 

The book was successful enough to warrant two printings, one in 1971 and another in 1974. Since then, this book has lingered for decades in the shadowy corners of vintage gothic collections.

But does it earn its place among the genre’s atmospheric greats?

Together, we dissect the novel through our Gothic Litmus Test.

Stream the audio below, or watch the video on YouTube HERE.

Listen to "Conversations - The Book Graveyard" on Spreaker.

Sinister House of Secret Love #2

As I alluded to in my review of the debut in this DC Comics' title, The Sinister House of Secret Love, the concept was to create an ongoing gothic suspense publication that would capture the same market flavor as the genre's booming paperback business at the time. The first issue was published in September/October 1971, with this second installment hitting shelves in December/January of 1972. 

"To Wed the Devil", the lead story, is plotted by veteran comic illustrator Joe Orlando, and written by Len Wein (Batman, Superman). The artwork was created by Tony Dezuniga, a prolific artist that helped create the characters Jonah Hex and Black Orchid. This offers a little different flavor, compared to the prior issue's artist Don Heck and writer Mary Skrenes. 

In the opening chapter, a young woman named Sarah walks through a large mansion and descends a staircase to confront her father's dearest servant, an elderly woman named Agatha. In the confrontation, Sarah discovers that Agatha has been practicing witchcraft. Agatha defends her practice by stating the ritual is for Sarah to find true love. It is clear that Sarah despises Agatha and wants her removed from the mansion. Agatha seems sincere in her efforts, yet Sarah is possessing a seasoned hatred.

In the next chapters, readers are introduced to Sarah's charming boyfriend Justin, a man she hopes to marry. Yet, Sarah's father has another idea. He explains that the family fortune is in ruins, and that the only way to keep the mansion and business is a bank loan. Yet, the only financial institution that may provide funding to this failing family business is a man named Baron Dumont. The price? Sarah's hand in marriage. Sarah hesitantly agrees to go and live with Dumont and take his hand in marriage to save her father's legacy. To salt Sarah's emotional wounds, she's forced to bring Agatha along as her servant.

On the coach road to Dumont's estate, the caravan is robbed and Agatha is shot and killed. A masked rescuer appears and kills the robbers and takes Sarah safely to Dumont's mansion. Yet, things are really quite bizarre there. Dumont turns out to be the rescuer she encountered in the robbery. He degrades Sarah, kills her cat, and then offers her a life of servitude to his desires. When Sarah attempts to escape she is surprised to find Agatha alive. But, there's a plot twist here too delicious to spoil with my review.

As you can imagine, I was quite pleased with this issue. I loved the chemistry between Sarah and Agatha, an emotional relationship that builds throughout the issue – in life and death. Additionally, Sarah is a rather complex character, one that seems to be unjustified in her early motives to dismiss Agatha. The atmosphere in this genre is the main event, and Dezuniga's artwork using deep blues and bright yellow contrasts nicely with the setting's grand rooms and hallways. The twist caught me off guard, providing a Devilish climax. I also enjoyed the written Epilogue.

If you love a good gothic romp...this one is a riot. 

The One

What if your soulmate could be found with a simple DNA test? That’s the high-concept hook behind 2017’s The One, a fast-moving British thriller that fuses speculative science fiction with a dozen shades of psychological suspense. Marrs, a journalist turned novelist, imagines a near-future world where a company called Match Your DNA promises genetic certainty in love and then shows how that certainty detonates lives like hand grenades.

Marrs runs the story through multiple point-of-view characters, each with a “perfect match” that turns out to be anything but. There’s the lonely tech CEO who falls for a charming everyman, the guy who takes the test despite being in a committed relationship, and the woman whose “soulmate” is half a world away. Most interesting to Paperback Warrior readers will be Christopher, a London serial killer trying to break Jack the Ripper’s record. His match? A London police officer. Every chapter ends like a commercial break cliffhanger, pushing you to read just one more. The short chapters, alternating POVs, and cruel little reversals make this a straight shot of page-turning dopamine. 

Unlike most thrillers that hang everything on one big twist, The One delivers a dozen small detonations that build to a chilling moral: biology might find you the right partner, but it can’t fix what’s broken inside. This all leads to a giant twist that will leave your jaw on the floor. Marrs writes with the clean efficiency of a crime reporter and the dark curiosity of a pulp novelist. If Black Mirror spawned a relationship-drama baby, it would look a lot like this book. There are logic problems with the premise and plot holes you could drive a truck through, but if you turn off your brain and enjoy the ride, the payoffs are there.

Amazon classifies The One as the first book in his “Dark Future” series, but it’s not a series as much as three independent novels taking place in the same broad literary universe. Originally published in the U.K., The One was adapted into a poorly-reviewed Netflix miniseries in 2021. Don’t bother with the adaptation. The book remains the sharper weapon. For readers who like their speculative fiction spiked with graphic murders, forbidden romantic obsession, and ironic social satire, John Marrs’ The One is a modern-era pulp paperback worth your time. Match with this one HERE.

Planet of the Apes #02 - Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel Monkey Planet, published in French as Le Planete des singes, is the catalyst for a booming blockbuster franchise of movies, tie-in books, comics, magazines, and toys. The book's adaptation in 1968, Planet of the Apes, sparked 20th Century-Fox into creating original sequels to the film. In 1970, Beneath the Planet of the Apes was released to mixed  reviews, yet stirred up a $19 million dollar box office off of a budget of $2.5. 

The film was originally shopped to Rod Serling as a possible writer, then to Boulle, who wrote a draft that was later declined by producers. The end result was a group initiative led by director Ted Post, the film's actor James Franciscus, and a robust contribution from British writer Paul Dehn, who drew inspiration from the 1945 atomic bombings. Charlton Heston, the star of Planet of the Apes, hesitantly agreed to return briefly for Beneath, and offered script revisions and an apocalyptic approach to destroy the planet. That ending was scrapped by producers fearing it offered “no hope” in its conclusion. Yet, that version of the script made it to author Michael Avallone's box.

Film producers offered Avallone the opportunity to write a novelization of the film. Although his novel mostly stays consistent to the film we all know (aside from a weird ice thing at the beginning), the book's ending possesses the apocalyptic theme as an atomic bomb is detonated in the finale. It's an enjoyable book, and offers something a little different than the movie, but not a necessity. If you are an ape-man collector then this paperback is probably already in your collection. If not, don't bother. If you don't care about my opinion, get the book HERE. 

Conversations - John Shirley

Legendary writer John Shirley blasts into Paperback Warrior to talk crime, cyberpunk, and chaos. From his hard-boiled new novel The Silver Revolver to the upcoming streaming revival of his ’80s action series The Specialist, Shirley pulls no punches.

He opens up about writing for Blue Öyster Cult, collaborating with Todd McFarlane on Spawn, penning the darkly brilliant Batman novel Dead White, and crafting post-apocalyptic classics like Traveler and the futuristic thriller Stormland.

It’s a wild ride through the mind of one of fiction’s boldest visionaries—a must-listen for fans of pulp, punk, and pure storytelling power.

Stream the audio version on any podcasting platform. You can watch the video edition below or directly on YouTube HERE.

Sinister House of Secret Love #01

DC Comics flirted with the gothic romance/suspense genre with a couple of titles in 1971. The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love was originally published in September/October 1971. The comic ran four issues before abandoning the gothic romance feel for more of a horror anthology flavor under the new title Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion. DC's other venture into the genre was The Sinister House of Secret Love, which also launched September/October 1971. Again, it ran four issues before abandoning the gothic romance tropes with its new title Secrets of Sinister House. I wanted to give The Sinister House of Secret Love (what a name!) a try, so I read the first issue.

This debut is titled “The Curse of the Macintyres”. It was written by Mary Skrenes, a veteran scripter that also contributed to The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Young Love, and Detective Comics. The artwork is by the famed Don Heck, a talent that just about touched every comic title imaginable throughout his career. 

In the opening pages, Rachel's father is dying. On his deathbed, he tells Rachel he has a formula that will make her rich, but he stresses that she hide his journal, go live with her cousin Blair, and to beware of the Macintyres Curse. Included in the first chapter is the initial meeting between Rachel and Blair at her father's funeral service, Blair's explanation that his wife died, and that he has a young son named Jamie. He asks that Rachel be the boy's tutor and she accepts.

Days later, as Rachel is traveling to Blare's dilapidated mansion, she receives ominous warnings from the train conductor and the coachman. Inside the mansion, Rachel meets Blare's dwarf cousin, Jamie, and the family maid. She's warned to never go to the third floor, which is a bold invitation in any gothic romance paperback. Eventually, Rachel learns that Blare may have a split personality and his sister may be a giant lunatic living upstairs.

The book's narrative features several attacks on Rachel, her romantic involvement with Blare, and the inevitable origins of the family's curse stemming from genetic deformity. I enjoyed the homage to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the gothic romance overtones that saturate nearly every page – new job, stranger in a strange land, atmosphere, supernatural rumors, the giant mansion, and of course, the vulnerable beauty striving to escape her newfound prison. 

This was a lot of fun, and now I'm strapped in to read more of this series. Stay tuned for more sinister and secret love!

Bones on Black Spruce Mountain

David Budbill (1940-2016) wrote ten books of poetry, eight plays, an opera, two novels, and a short story collection. Back in 1984, when I was just eight years old, his Bantam-Skylark paperback Bones on Black Spruce Mountain (1978) miraculously found its way into my mother's shopping cart at our local Hill's Department Store. I'm sure I had read other books prior to this one, but my most vivid memory is this paperback being my first actual book purchase. My mother was skeptical about the title and colorful cover (Ramon Gonzalez Vicente), but she allowed me to buy it with my allowance money. Thank God she never read the three curse words inside. Books may have been banned during my childhood, and Paperback Warrior would have never come to fruition. 

At the time, I never realized that Bones on Black Spruce Mountain was a novel featuring characters that appeared in Budbill's short story collection, Snowshoe Trek to Otter River (1976). In the collection, 12-year-old buddies Seth and Daniel take part in three short wilderness tales. In the novel, Seth and Daniel are now 13 years of age and want to tackle a long camping trip into a nearby mountain range. Seth and Daniel convince their parents to allow them a full week alone in the wilderness hiking. When I was their age, my parents wouldn't allow me to find my way to the Sunday School class at church without chaperoning. These kids are off in the wild for a week with no supervision!

There are rumors that a young orphan boy ran away from his abusive parents and died on the mountain. Supposedly, his bones are resting in a cave on top of Black Spruce Mountain. The two boys want to locate the bones...because that's just what young boys do. Stand By Me, anyone?

At 134 pages, Bones on Black Spruce Mountain isn't the rowdy action-adventure novel that I remember. In fact, it's a really bizarre psychological character study about Daniel adjusting to his adopted parents and coming to grips with his horrific childhood bouncing between orphanages and foster families. Daniel is clearly suffering some PTSD, and gaslights Seth often. Their emotional friendship is challenging, and often the two nearly come to blows. Daniel's quest to find the boy's bones is paramount to his own self-discovery and healing from abandonment.

Bones on Black Spruce Mountain is way heavier than any juvenile fiction paperback I've experienced. Proceed with caution; it's a slippery slope to climb. Get it HERE.

Trapped in Death Cave

Oklahoma native Bill Wallace began his storytelling career by engaging his students as an elementary school teacher. He became a popular juvenile fiction author, writing 38 total novels before he died in 2012. Many of his novels, like A Dog Called Kitty, Red Dog, and Coyote Autumn, are still in print today and have permanent homes in school libraries. I can fondly remember seeing his boy's adventure paperbacks like Danger on Panther Creek and Blackwater Swamp at the school book fairs when I was a kid. The one that really grabbed my attention was his 1984 Archway Paperback (Pocket Books), Trapped in Death Cave. Martin Hoffman's vivid cover connected with me, probably because of Raiders of the Lost Ark, released three years before this book's release. Regardless, I don't remember ever reading the book, but it's never too late. I grabbed a copy and settled into 164 pages of juvenile adventure. 

Brian's family travels to rural Oklahoma every year for Easter break. This is a long weekend that allows Brian to hang out with his best friend Seth, a local kid who lives near the family's tiny cabin. This year, Seth is mourning the death of his grandfather. However, Seth reveals to Brian that he believes his grandfather was murdered. Seth explains that there are rumors of hidden gold in the nearby mountain range and that his grandfather was obsessed in locating it. After he discovered it, as evidenced on some maps left behind for Seth, he was murdered by someone hoping to cash in on the discovery. 

Like any good treasure hunt, Trapped in Death Cave provides a stereotypical legend of Native Americans possessing magic. In their wars with the U.S. Army and white men devouring their homes, the natives were able to trap people in a “death cave” as a type of sacred curse. The original gold handlers were supposedly trapped/killed in this cave with the loot they stole. It's all mostly juvenile nonsense, but it makes for a fun story.

As Brian and Seth prepare to search the mountains for the gold and to locate the murderer, Seth is captured by a man. Brian, with the help of a local widowed woman (rumored to be a witch), heads to the mountains to save Seth and solve the mystery.

As a middle-grade boys' adventure, Trapped in Death Cave is a lot of fun and quickly breezes by within an hour. I enjoyed the three main characters, the brief escapism, and the book's alluring cover brought to life on page 105. However, the finale was a bit ridiculous with cavernous plot holes too large to overlook. But, considering the age and market, these types of illogical perplexities are to be expected. 

Trapped in Death Cave is a nostalgic, rip-roaring adventure sure to please readers of any age. Get your copy HERE.

The Silver Revolver

I've covered a number of John Shirley's books here at Paperback Warrior. From series entries in the Traveler and The Specialist, to politically-charged stand-alone novels like The Brigade. I've read Shirley's stories for a long time, predating Paperback Warrior's humble beginnings in 2013. I wanted to refocus my efforts on reading more of his stories, series titles, and stand-alone novels. I was emailed his newest novel, The Silver Revolver, published by Rough Edges Press in October 2025. 

“That humid summer morning, I brushed my teeth, showered, consumed bran cereal, drank some coffee while reading the lead paragraphs on the front page of the Chronicle, and took the Muni to work in downtown San Francisco. A little later that day, I was going to the emergency room to see my son. A little later yet, I was getting drunk beside a pool of  blood.”

Just like that, Shirley invites readers into a complex criminal underworld through his conduit, a divorced father from Texas named Slim Purdoux. After his son dies from a fatal drug concoction, Slim enters a feral underworld of pimp overseers and drug servants to hunt the man responsible. Yet, his entrance into this violent, vengeful reverie is surprising. 

In the book's first two chapters, which may be the best one-two punch of recent memory, Slim patiently sits as his corporate overseer, a publishing manager, carefully explains that AI will consume most of his job for the foreseeable future. An hour or two later, Slim finds himself ankle deep in blood as the survivor of a mass shooting. This uncanny intrusion of life's unexpectedness permanently scars Slim and propels him into action. It's rudimentary cause and effect, but in the hands of John Shirley, it's an unceremonious approach to upend crime noir's most effective plot device – the man on the run.

The novel plunges both Slim and the reader into a narcotic wasteland of pimps, whores, drug runners, and their makeshift masters. It's a noxious journey for Slim, a likable ex-con gone-good forced to fast-draw (literally) his way through a twisty labyrinth of painted ladies and shady men. Shirley's inclusion of Dulcet, a sexy, enigmatic hooker, uplifts Slim's violent mission and adds a sexy exuberance to the story. It reminded me of crime fiction's most dangerous couple, Dan J. Marlowe's Drake and Hazel, albeit less affectionate. 

The Silver Revolver is a testament to John Shirley's blunt-force storytelling ability. It's an intense crime noir that transforms not only the characters, but the reader. Make this your next absolute page-turner! Highly recommended.

Get the book HERE.