Review: Misfit Lil Robs the Bank - Chap O'Keefe (Keith Chapman)

I’m a long-time fan of the Misfit Lil series by Chap O’Keefe (who’s really our old friend, writer and editor Keith Chapman, of course), so it’s a real pleasure when I come across one that I haven’t read before. MISFIT LIL ROBS THE BANK was published originally in hardcover by Robert Hale as part of the Black Horse Westerns series in 2009. It was reprinted in a large print edition by Ulverscroft in 2010, and now it’s available again in e-book and paperback editions.

Lilian Goodnight’s friend and mentor, army scout Jackson Farraday, is out of town guiding a scientific expedition, so there’s no one around to provide wise counsel when Lil takes up with reckless, hotheaded cowboy Lucky M’Cline. Their misadventures get them in trouble with the law, and some of the upright citizens of Silver Vein, Utah (including a young woman who’s jealous because she thinks Lil took Lucky away from her) convince her father, rancher Ben Goodnight, to turn her over to the care of a French physician visiting the area, Dr. Francois Guiscard. Guiscard, you see, is famous for using hypnotism and other new-fangled treatments to cure females of hysteria and other psychological ailments. Dr. Guiscard, it is hoped, will be able to cure Lil of her troublemaking ways.

I think we all know what’s going to happen here. Guiscard isn’t the brilliant doctor he pretends to be, although he is a master hypnotist. Lil winds up in more trouble than ever and back behind bars, charged with bank robbery and murder. She and Lucky have to break out of jail and track down the real villain to clear Lil’s name.

One of the great things about Keith Chapman’s Westerns is that his writing has a distinctive voice. Nobody else would write these books exactly the way he does. As a result, he always comes up with great characters and plots that spin traditional elements in fresh and compelling ways. MISFIT LIL ROBS THE BANK races along in a fast, entertaining fashion, and I had a great time reading it. If you’re looking for an enjoyable, somewhat offbeat Western, I give it a high recommendation.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Ace G-Man Stories, October 1942

This issue of ACE G-MAN STORIES features a striking cover by Rafael De Soto. The lead story is a Suicide Squad novelette by Emile C. Tepperman. I've read several stories in this series and really enjoyed all of them. Kerrigan, Murdoch, and Klaw make quite a team, and Tepperman's stories are always fast moving. Another top-notch writer, Day Keene, has a story in this issue, and rounding things out are yarns by lesser-known but prolific pulpsters Don James, Harry Lee Fellinge, and Edward S. Williams.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Fifteen Western Tales, March 1944

Smoking isn't good for you, especially when you have to pause in the middle of a gunfight to roll a quirley. This fine, slightly humorous cover is by Sam Cherry, who always delivered the goods. There are some good authors in this issue of FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES. William R. Cox has two stories, one as himself and one under the name Joel Reeve. Also on hand are C. William Harrison, Theodore J. Roemer, Al Storm, James Shaffer, M. Howard Lane, and four house-names: Lance Kermit, David Crewe, Ray P. Shotwell, and Logan C. Claybourne. Often when I'm stuck for the name of a minor character in a manuscript, I'll use a pulp house-name or pseudonym. Or I'll mix and match the real names of pulp authors. Obscure little references like that always entertain me, help keep me sane, and help keep the pages rolling along.

A Rough Edges Rerun Review: Dirt Farm - Orrie Hitt

The protagonist of this fine yarn is Butch Hagen, a former carnival worker and truck driver who really prefers working on farms. He’s been shacking up in a small town with another former carny, the beautiful stripper Lucy Ellis, when he finds work on the very misnamed Friendly Farms, owned by brutal Clay Billings. Butch leaves Lucy to go work on the farm, where he finds that Billings has a beautiful niece named Candy. There’s another farmhand who has a beautiful redheaded girlfriend named Sherry, and on the next farm over there’s a hot-to-trot farmer’s daughter named Mae who happens to be a little underage . . .

Well, if you’ve read very many of these softcore sleaze novels, you’ll know how most of these plot elements are going to intertwine. And if you’re read much of Orrie Hitt’s work, you’ll find some of his familiar themes in DIRT FARM. But there are several things about this one that make it an excellent novel and well worth reading. For one, Hitt’s writing is really smooth and fast in DIRT FARM. He was a master at keeping the reader flipping the pages and this book is a prime example of that. For another, he throws in a noirish crime element reminiscent of James M. Cain and then proceeds to milk it for all the suspense it’s worth. Despite the predictability of some of the plot, I really didn’t have any idea how this book was going to end, and that’s rare. And finally, Hitt was among the best ever at writing about the desperation that fills most people, even the seemingly successful ones. Everybody in a Hitt novel wants something, needs something, is missing something. A lucky few find whatever it is that they’re seeking, but plenty of others don’t.

DIRT FARM isn’t as personal a book as some of Hitt’s other novels, so you don’t get his digressions about censorship and government, and not much about morality. But it reads like the wind and tells a compelling, if slightly formulaic, story. I had a great time reading it and recommend it for fans of hardboiled sleaze in general and Orrie Hitt in particular.

(This post originally appeared on August 31, 2009. I'm a little surprised that in the years since, DIRT FARM hasn't been reprinted. It's a good one.)

Review: The Pawn - J.E. Macdonnell

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve gotten hooked on this series of World War II naval adventures by J.E. Macdonnell. THE PAWN is the third one I’ve read in the past few months, and it’s my favorite so far.

Commander Peter Bentley, captain of the Australian destroyer Wind Rode, is the protagonist of this one, although all the usual members of the supporting cast, most notably First Lt. Robert Randall and bosun’s mate William “Hooky” Walker, are also on hand. Bentley and Wind Rode tend to get the dirty jobs, and their assignment this time is the trickiest so far. The ship is supposed to hide out among some islands extremely close to the Japanese mainland so they can spy on a new super-battleship that’s supposed to be launched soon. Whenever they observe that the battleship has put out to sea, they’re supposed to break radio silence, transmit the code word PAWN, and then get out of there as fast as they can.

Naturally, things do not go as planned.

In fact, between Japanese submarines, natives who may or may not be hostile on one of the islands Wind Rode uses for concealment, and a terrible storm at sea, Bentley has his hands full just keeping the ship going and getting where he’s supposed to be. And then, Bentley and his crew find the biggest surprise of all waiting for them.

I don’t know what it is about Macdonnell’s prose. There’s nothing the least bit fancy about it. The writing just goes about its business in workmanlike fashion, but before you know it, you’ve read half the book. He really had the storyteller’s knack. Then you get to the last chapter of this one and it’s not only incredibly suspenseful, there are two stand-up-and-cheer moments.

I found THE PAWN to be hugely enjoyable, and if you enjoy war and/or naval adventure fiction, I give it a great big recommendation. You don’t have to have read any of the others in the series to know what’s going on. Even after only three books, I feel like these characters are old friends already. Published originally in paperback in Australia by Horwitz Publications, it’s available these days in an e-book edition from Piccadilly Publishing.

Review: Jangar! Beastlord of Muu Book 1: Slaves of the Mind Mage - L.D. Whitney

First of all, if I’d seen a book called JANGAR! BEASTLORD OF MUU, BOOK 1: SLAVES OF THE MIND MAGE on the paperback spinner rack when I was a kid, I’d have been all over that sucker. I’d have grabbed it, hurried up to the counter with a handful of quarters to pay for it, and as soon as I got home, I would have headed to one of my regular reading spots to tear into it.

I wouldn’t have been disappointed, either.

This is actually an e-book novella, not a paperback, and I’m a long, long way past being a kid (at least physically), but I had a fine time reading this yarn anyway. Author L.D. Whitney drops us right down in the middle of the action, a technique I always enjoy, as our hero, the stalwart Jangar, who’s a human raised by panthers, rescues Yala, a nearly naked runaway priestess who’s about to be sacrificed by a bunch of beast-men to a lizard god that bears a distinct resemblance to a tyrannosaurus rex. Then, while fleeing through the jungle from the beast-men, Jangar and Yala encounter another threat that turns rather Lovecraftian before it’s all over. As you can guess, Whitney packs enough good stuff into this tale that the pace never has a chance to slow down for more than a breath or two, which is just the way I like it.

That breakneck pace doesn’t allow much time for world-building or back-stories, either, but that’s all right. Whitney gives us enough of both to know what’s going on without any trouble, and since SLAVES OF THE MIND MAGE is just the first in a series of Jangar novellas, I’m sure he’ll flesh things out just fine as we go along. I also like the fact that he gives Yala equal time in the story, too. Despite the title, it’s her story as much as his, and she’s a good character. The cover by Mike Hoffman, the editing, and the production are all top-notch.

In addition to the obvious Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs influence, in his foreword Whitney credits Steve Dilks, a very good contemporary sword-and-sorcery author, and Lin Carter for inspiring him to write this series. I can see some Gardner Fox influence, as well. I enjoy the work of all those authors, so it’s a cinch I’d like this one, too.

Now for a brief rant: many times I’ll see something on Facebook about a new novel that’s supposed to be inspired and influenced by the pulps. That usually intrigues me enough to go to Amazon and check it out. Often, the cover looks good, the description does indeed sound very pulpish, and then I look down and see “Print Length – 437 pages”.

No. Absolutely not. A series might run to 400+ pages or even more, but a single story? Again, no. That’s enough to tell me the author probably doesn’t understand pulp after all. Undoubtedly, that’s not always true and I’m painting with too broad a brush, and I’ve probably missed some good yarns because of feeling that way, but I can’t help it.

Then I look at the print length on SLAVES OF THE MIND MAGE. 56 pages, according to Amazon. Yep, L.D. Whitney gets it. And he’s going to get my money for the rest of the books in this series. I've already bought the second one, and it's waiting on my Kindle.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Air Stories, January 1930

I really need to read more by George Bruce. The one novella I read by him was excellent. He's the headliner in this issue of AIR STORIES, but there are plenty of other good authors in this one as well, such as Frederick C. Davis, Arthur J. Burks, James P. Olsen, Andrew A. Caffrey, Jack Smalley, and Gil Brewer (not the hardboiled crime author, but rather his father, the author of the immortal "Gorilla of the Gasbags"). I've developed a fondness for aviation pulp, but sadly, there's just not enough time in the day to work in everything that interests me.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: New Western Magazine, November 1948

The Popular Publications Western pulps usually had the roughest, toughest-lookin' hombres on their covers, in contrast to the clean-cut, stalwart types who showed up on most of the competition's covers. This varmint is a prime example of that. Picking your teeth with a knife while wearing a hat with a bullet hole in it (Injury to a Hat alert!) and blood drips from your forehead where a slug grazed it, all while looking completely nonchalant . . . He may be a bad guy, but you can't help but admire how cool he is! The lineup of authors in this issue of NEW WESTERN MAGAZINE is pretty admirable, too. Peter Dawson (Jonathan Glidden), Tom W. Blackburn, William R. Cox, Talmage Powell, and Ray Townsend are the biggest names, solid, dependable pulpsters, all of them. Also on hand are Max Kesler, Kenneth Fowler, Clint Young, and James Propp. 

A Rough Edges Rerun Review: Hell to Pay - J. Lee Butts

I’ve known Jimmy Butts for several years and have read and enjoyed some of his house-name Westerns, but I’d never read one of the novels under his own name until now. The subtitle of HELL TO PAY is “The Life and Violent Times of Eli Gault”, and that’s a pretty good description of the book. It’s a first-person account of a Texas badman, the son of a crazed itinerant preacher who winds up killing his father in self-defense. Eli doesn’t necessarily set out to become an outlaw and a murderer, but circumstances continue forcing him in that direction.

Then he meets up with a gunfighter named Cutter Sharpe, who becomes a sort of surrogate father to him, teaching him how to handle a gun (for which Eli has a natural talent) and also how to play poker, which becomes Eli’s principal means of support. Eventually Eli and Sharpe go their separate ways, and Eli continues drifting. He even tries to settle down and lead a law-abiding life at times, going so far as to become a deputy marshal at one point, as well as joining a cattle drive to the railhead in Kansas, but sooner or later trouble crops up again and Eli’s natural tendency is to shoot his way out of it.

Butts really delivers the goods in this novel: colorful characters, headlong narrative drive, and plenty of gritty action, all told in a stripped down, distinctive style that reminded me of the hardboiled crime writer Paul Cain (FAST ONE, SEVEN SLAYERS). Eli Gault is a great character, reminiscent of Jim Thompson’s Lou Ford. He’s as friendly and likable as he can be, until it comes time for him to gun down somebody else in cold blood. His story builds up to a powerful ending, and after finishing it, I can say definitely that I’ll be reading more by J. Lee Butts. If you enjoy hardboiled Westerns, HELL TO PAY comes highly recommended by me.

(As often happens, despite my good intentions I haven't read any more novels by J. Lee Butts since this post originally appeared on August 23, 2009. I own copies of most of them, mind you, and I still plan to get around to reading at least some of them. One thing I didn't elaborate on in this review is that Jimmy's style really was distinctive, to the point you couldn't mistake his work for that of anybody else. This caused him a problem because after he had written a number of Longarms, the series got a new editor who didn't understand or like the way Jimmy wrote and tried to get him to change it. This effort was not successful. All it succeeded in doing was running Jimmy off from the series, which was a shame. Jimmy passed away, rather unexpectedly, as I recall, in 2022, having written several volumes of Western non-fiction in addition to his novels. HELL TO PAY is no longer in print, but affordable used copies are easy to come by. It's still one of the best Western noir novels I've ever read.)

Review: Bronze Star: The Damnation of Harley Brogden - Mike Baron

Mike Baron is one of those writers whose work I read and enjoyed long before we became friends on-line. His work as a comic book scripter in the Eighties, Nineties, and beyond is legendary. In the past decade he’s turned to writing novels, producing the great private eye series Biker, the hilarious Florida Man novels, and some top-notch horror thrillers. He’s also turned his hand to Westerns, and I’ve just read the first in his new series Bronze Star, THE DAMNATION OF HARLEY BROGDEN.

Not surprisingly, the protagonist of this novel is Harley Brogden, a former Confederate soldier who turned irregular and rode with Quantrell’s Raiders. The war is over now, and Harley earns his living providing meat to the army. He also likes to gamble, though, and a poker game goes wrong when the son of the richest man in the territory takes offense at losing and goes for his gun. Harley beats him to the draw and kills him, but even though he survives this shootout, he knows the man’s father and an army of hired guns will be after him, seeking vengeance.

Having no choice but to take off for the tall and uncut, Harley rides across the border into the western reaches of Canada, where he winds up in a town full of eccentric characters, many of them immigrants from Croatia. Some of them possess odd powers. There’s a silver mine nearby, but it’s not being worked anymore because something evil lives inside it and has claimed numerous lives. Harley makes friends and starts a romance with the widow who runs the local boarding house, but before he can settle down to any sort of life, he has to deal with the supernatural menace hanging over the town. Oh, and the vengeful cattle baron and his hired gun-wolves show up, too, of course.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of most Weird Westerns. In too many of them, the author knows how to write horror or knows how to write Westerns, but not both. That’s not the case in THE DAMNATION OF HARLEY BROGDEN, which is excellent in both respects. Not that I expected anything less from Mike Baron. He brings his own unique touch to everything he writes, and nobody in the business today comes up with better protagonists. Harley Brogden is a complex character, deadly proficient when it comes to violence but at the same time possessing a likable, gentle touch with those he befriends, especially animals and children. Haunted by some of his past actions, he’s genuinely trying to become a better man, and most of the time he succeeds. You still don’t want to make an enemy out of him, though.

I had a very good time reading this novel and give it a high recommendation for Weird Western fans. I think most traditional Western fans would enjoy it, too. I’m pretty sure there are sequels on the way, but for now, you can pick this up in e-book and paperback editions on Amazon. It’s another winner from Mike Baron.