Review: Battleborn #1 - Sean C.W. Korsgaard, ed.

Right now, the sword-and-sorcery genre is in the best shape it’s been for long time. For further proof of that, look no further than the first issue of BATTLEBORN, a new magazine/anthology series that has launched with more than 200 pages of excellent work. I backed the Kickstarter for it and have been dipping into it for a while now. I’ve finished reading it and I’m happy to report that it’s a great debut.

The late Howard Andrew Jones, author of the Hanuvar Chronicles and other great novels, is listed as the Editor Emeritus, and fittingly, this first issue leads off with a Hanuvar short story by him. From there, we have these stories and poems:

“Blood of the Oni” by C.L. Werner

“Jaguar’s Children” by Gregory D. Mele

“Vengeance Vow” by TJ Marquis

“To Boast of Victory” by Erik Waag

“Temple of the River King” by Lee Patton

“The Fury’s Blade” by Robert Rhodes

“The Road of Kings” by Robert E. Howard

“Pearls of the Vampire Queen” by Michael Shea

THE LAST SPELL (Part 1 of 3) by Schuyler Hernstrom

Plus articles by Morgan Holmes on the origins of sword-and-sorcery, Jason M. Waltz on great opening lines, Jason Ray Carney on Michael Shea’s story, book reviews by Gregory D. Mele, and Sean C.W. Korsgaard on the Devil Dogs of Belleau Wood.

Every one of the stories is good, no doubt about that, but naturally I have some favorites. I was particularly partial to:

“Blood of the Oni” by C.L. Werner – This is a tale of Shintaro Oba, Werner’s wandering samurai series character. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of samurai fiction, but Werner always wins me over with these stories. Excellent action, appropriately creepy, and Shintaro Oba is a fine protagonist. I’ve read a couple of others in the series and really need to seek out the rest.

“To Boast of Victory” by Erik Waag – This story features Waag’s series character Skarde, a northern barbarian who serves as a mercenary soldier in the siege of a fortress. It’s fast-paced, funny, has some good action, and Skarde is a great character. He stars in several novels I’m eager to read, the first one of which is already waiting on my Kindle.

“Temple of the River King” by Lee Patton – Patton is a relatively new writer, but you’d never know it by this story, which reads like the polished work of an old pro. His protagonist, an undead mercenary known as Izrak the Deathless, has fought evil for centuries, and in this story he has to venture into a watery realm to rescue a princess. A standard plot, you say? Well, no, not in Patton’s hands. This is a beautifully written tale that lingers in the reader’s mind. It’s Izrak’s second appearance, and the first, the novella “A Valley of Shadow”, is also waiting on my Kindle.

My favorite story in this volume is “The Fury’s Blade” by Robert Rhodes, the debut tale of Gabriela de Quetar, a warrior nun (that’s ’way oversimplifying things) who’s sent with her mentor to an alternate version of the Spanish Main to recover a stolen religious icon, a cloak that makes the wearer invulnerable. This has the pace and color of a great historical novel, along with plenty of swashbuckling swordplay, and to make things even better, there’s a volcano looming in the background that just might be about to erupt . . . I love volcanoes in fiction. Maybe not quite as much as quicksand and fights on top of moving trains, but throw a good volcano eruption into a book and I’m happy. There are more stories about Gabriela de Quetar in the works, and I’m eager to read them.

Overall, BATTLEBORN #1 is a very impressive way to launch this series, and I plan to be on hand for every issue that comes out. Very highly recommended. The e-book edition is available on Amazon, and e-book and print editions appear to still be available on Indiegogo. If you’re a sword-and-sorcery fan, you need this one.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Sea Novel Magazine, November 1940

SEA NOVEL MAGAZINE was a Munsey pulp that lasted for only two issues. This is the first. You can't blame its brief run on Rudolph Belarski, who provided a great cover, and I'd be willing to bet that the novel by J. Allan Dunn that takes up almost the entire issue was pretty good, too, based on Dunn's track record. As far as I can tell, "Northwest to Mutiny" was never reprinted, and this issue doesn't appear to be posted anywhere on-line, so I doubt if I'll ever read the story, but dang, it sounds good, doesn't it? There are some poems and one short story in this issue, as well, by authors I've never heard of: Ethel Talbot Scheffauer, Bob Ferris, Thomas J. Murray, and William Slavens McNutt.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Big-Book Western Magazine, February 1949

This is a pulp that I own and read recently. That’s my battered copy in the scan. I thought at first the rather garish cover was by Robert Stanley, but the more I look at it, the less sure I am of that. The initials PKH are carved into the bar, and I’m wondering if those are the artist’s initials or if they’re there for some other reason. If they do belong to the artist, I can’t figure out who it is. But whoever painted it, it’s an action-packed, eye-catching cover.

Those four big novels mentioned on the cover are actually more like novelettes. The first one is “Colt-Cure for Woolly Fever” by Peter Dawson, who was actually Jonathan Glidden, brother of Fred Glidden, who was better known as Luke Short. Jon Glidden was an excellent Western author and has been one of my favorites for a long time. I believe I was in seventh grade when I first read one of his novels. Anyway, as you’re expect from the title, this story is a cattlemen-vs-sheepmen yarn, but that’s the only thing about it that’s standard. Instead of a range war tale, this is actually a clever bank heist story complete with multiple double-crosses and hidden identities, told in a fast-paced, breezy style that’s more humorous than most of the Peter Dawson stories. I figured this one would be good, but it’s even better than that. It’s a terrific story, one of the best I’ve read by Jonathan Glidden.

Everett M. Webber collaborated on some well-regarded historical novels with his wife Olga but also wrote quite a few Western, detective, and general fiction stories for the pulps and slicks. His story in this issue, “Those Who Have Eyes—” is about a small-town sheriff trying to solve a robbery in order to protect his friend, a Chinese man who owns a restaurant. There’s not much to it, but it’s reasonably well-written.

Clifton Adams is another long-time favorite of mine. Many of his stories are set in Oklahoma, where he lived, and deal with the oil business in the early days of the territory, as is the case with “Blood Buys a Black-Gold Empire”. (As I’ve mentioned before, I figure the editors at Popular Publications came up with many of these story titles.) In this story, a range detective from Texas rides north to Oklahoma in answer to a summons from an old friend, a sheriff who has more troubles than he can handle in an oidfield boomtown. Unfortunately, somebody tries to bushwhack our protagonist on his way there, and when he does arrive, it’s just as the sheriff is being murdered, a crime for which the Texan is framed. Convicted and sentenced to hang, he has to break out of jail in order to find out what’s really going on and clear his name. This is a top-notch Adams yarn, well-written, full of action and interesting characters, and I always enjoy oilfield stories. This is a very good one.

“Hell-on-the-Law!” by prolific Western pulpster Tom Roan is also a bank robbery story, and it’s pretty clever in its setup, too. But once the job is pulled, it becomes a really nice chase story as a veteran lawman with a secret of his own goes after the robbers. Roan’s work can be hit-or-miss with me, but this one has excellent characters, plenty of action, and a compelling pace. Another top-notch story in what’s shaping up to be a very good issue.

“Stranger on the Dodge” by Walker A. Tompkins, another old favorite of mine, is actually billed as a novelette, and it’s a good one. A fugitive from a bogus murder charge rides into the middle of a war between sodbusters and cattlemen. It’s a standard plot, but Tompkins puts the familiar elements into play with such skill that the story is a pure pleasure to read.

John Jo Carpenter was the pseudonym of John Reese, who went on to write a number of well-regarded Western and crime novels under his own name, several of which were filmed. His story in this issue, “Last of the Wild Fayettes”, is a romance in which an ambitious young cowboy clashes with a cattle baron over the rancher’s beautiful daughter. Despite being a little on the lighthearted side, there are a couple of brutal, well-written fistfights. This is very much in the vein of such John Wayne movies as McCLINTOCK! and NORTH TO ALASKA, and if it had more plot, it would have made a good movie, too.

William R. Cox was the author of the very first grown-up paperback I ever bought, the Gold Medal Western BIGGER THAN TEXAS, so I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for his work. His town-tamer novelette in this issue, “Hot Time at End-of-Track”, seems to have been loosely based on the early careers of Wild Bill Hickok and Bat Masterson, even though both of those historical characters are mentioned in the story. Marshal John Steel takes on the Texas trail drivers who have Wichita “treed”. For a fairly simple plot, Cox really gives this tale an epic feeling. John Steel, cool under fire but haunted by past tragedy, is a superb protagonist. This is just a great story with complex, well-developed characters.

I always think of Talmage Powell as a crime and detective writer, but he did a bunch of Westerns, as well. “Smoky Lesson” in this issue is about an old gunfighter who visits the town where the woman he once loved is buried, only to find himself mixed up in a war between a crooked saloon owner and a crusading young newspaperman. The twist in this one is pretty obvious but still effective, and Powell’s hardboiled prose is excellent, as usual.

This issue wraps up with the novelette “King of the Washoe Outcasts” by another old favorite, Harry F. Olmsted. This is set in Nevada during the silver boom and about a young, down-on-his-luck miner who decides to turn owlhoot, only to discover that he’s not ready to cross that line. Based on some actual history, this story features a lot of double dealing and characters with actual shades of gray to their personalities, as well as plenty of well-written action. This is another really good story in an issue full of good stories.

In fact, this issue of BIG-BOOK WESTERN MAGAZINE is one of the best Western pulps I’ve ever read. There’s not a bad story in the bunch, and several of them are in the top ranks of work I’ve encountered from their authors. If you happen to own a copy and haven’t read it yet, I give it a very high recommendation.

A Rough Edges Rerun Review: Hot Cargo - Orrie Hitt

HOT CARGO is a very different sort of book from PUSHOVER, the first Orrie Hitt novel I read. It’s the story of Hank Storms, a tough American sailor working on a boat that’s dredging out a channel in the river flowing through a port city in a Pacific island nation that seems to be loosely based on the Philippines. At one time, Hank was the captain of the boat, but he’s been replaced and demoted because of an accident that occurred while he was in charge.

That’s not all he has going on, though. It seems that there was a recent coup in the island’s government, and Hank is also smuggling guns to the followers of the deposed leader, who plans to stage a counter-revolution. Plus there’s the mistress of the guy who replaced Hank as captain. She’s actually more interested in Hank, and doesn’t mind proving it. And the beautiful native girl he meets in a bar who claims to be a virgin. And the mistress of the island’s current dictator, who’s also involved in the counter-revolution. And Hank’s beautiful but estranged wife, who shows up unexpectedly with a suitcase full of money. Throw in a sinister Dutchman, drug smuggling, pornography, blackmail, a lot of boozing, and a hurricane, and you can see that Hitt’s packed a heck of a lot into this yarn.

And “yarn” is a good description of this book. It’s definitely larger-than-life, an updated version of the sort of story that might have appeared in the pulp SPICY ADVENTURE during the Thirties. As such, although it’s plenty gritty, it lacks some of the realistic edge that can be found in PUSHOVER. However, the style is faster-paced and has a really nice terse rhythm to it, making it a prime example of what I’ve started calling hardboiled sleaze. Hank is a fine character, tough and definitely amoral about 99% of the time . . . but there’s that one per cent when he finds that he does have a sort of code after all and has to do the right thing even though he doesn’t really want to.

Several fans of Hitt’s work have told me that this isn’t one of his better books, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. That’s just me, of course. I have a fondness for South Seas yarns to start with, and a story can’t get too pulpy for my taste. From what I’ve seen, HOT CARGO isn’t really typical of most of Hitt’s novels, and it’s true that the ending isn’t really all it could be (endings seem to be a bit of a problem for Hitt, from what I’ve read and what other readers have told me). But it’s one of those books that resonated with me, for whatever reason, and I’m certainly glad that I read it.

(This was the second Orrie Hitt novel I read, and since this post first appeared on April 11, 2009, I've gone on to read many more of Hitt's books, of course. A commenter on the original post pointed out that the cover is by Howell Dodd and was used originally on the February 1958 issue of the men's adventure magazine Valor for Men. HOT CARGO has never been reprinted, possibly because it's really not very typical of Hitt's work, but I still think it's well worth reading if you come across a copy. I think it's a shame he didn't write more Spicy Adventure yarns like this.)

Review: Decision - J.E. Macdonnell

Recently, I really enjoyed J.E. Macdonnell’s novel THE BUFFER, part of a long series by him about naval warfare during World War II which follows an ensemble cast of officers and sailors in the Australian navy. I plan to go back to the beginning of the series and catch up, but in the meantime, the just-released novel DECISION is a direct sequel to THE BUFFER, so I picked it up next.

The tragic storyline begun in THE BUFFER comes to a conclusion fairly early on in DECISION, which focuses on Captain Peter Bentley, the captain of the destroyer Wind Rode and the commander of a flotilla of destroyers. That storyline places Bentley in the position where he has to make a difficult decision, a theme that continues throughout this book. Allied forces are invading the Japanese-held island of Truk, and Wind Rode is part of the fleet charged with protecting the invading forces and keeping enemy submarines at bay as the troop ships and supply ships converge on the island.

There’s a lot of strategy and tactics in this book, but of course, Macdonnell provides plenty of human drama, too, as well as a mixture of victory and losses for the Australians. Peter Bentley is a fine protagonist, and First Lieutenant Robert Randall and Chief Bosun’s Mate William “Hooky” Walker are on hand to provide support. (Hooky is a great character, and I’m hoping some of the other books will feature him more.)

Macdonnell’s fast-paced, straight-ahead prose isn’t flashy, but he’s a great storyteller and keeps me flipping the digital pages. I thoroughly enjoyed DECISION, and I’m excited that there are a bunch more books in this series to keep me entertained. You can find this one on Amazon and on all the other platforms, as well.

Review: Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, January 1972

I recently got my hands on a number of issues of MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE from the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties. I read the magazine regularly from cover to cover when I was writing for it in the late Seventies and early Eighties, right up until it ended in 1985. (The publisher at that time still owed me $242.00 when the magazine folded, $242.00 that I never got paid, but I’m not still bitter about that $242.00 41 years later, oh, no, of course not.) Anyway, since then I’ve read the occasional old issue, but now I have this nice big stack of them, so I thought it might be good to pull one out at random and read it. The lucky issue was from January 1972. That’s my copy in the scan.

As was common for most of the magazine’s run, this issue leads off with a 20,000 word Mike Shayne novella. “Shadow of Fear” is something of an offbeat tale in which the big redheaded private detective isn’t hired on a case and has no murder to solve. Instead, it’s more of an action thriller in which a New York mobster comes to Miami and kidnaps a friend of Lucy Hamilton (Shayne’s secretary) as leverage in forcing Shayne to set up a meeting with a Cuban refugee who’s rumored to be building a secret army in order to return to Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro. The mystery is what business this mobster has with a Cuban revolutionary, and will Shayne be able to untangle everything in time to save the young woman who’s being held prisoner.

It’s a fast-moving, hardboiled, reasonably well-plotted tale that flows well. The author does a decent job of capturing Shayne’s character most of the time, with a few missteps. In the novels by Davis Dresser, Shayne is always two and sometimes three steps ahead of all the other characters in his thinking, and in this novella, he’s not that smart. Nor would Shayne, in my mind, ever wear bell bottoms and a flowerdy shirt. (Well, the guy in those terrible photo covers on the late Dell editions of the novels might, but that guy isn’t Mike Shayne.) Those complaints aside, this novella’s version of Shayne is at least recognizable as the big redhead we all know and some of us love. That’s not always true in these ghostwritten stories.

And speaking of ghostwriters, “Shadow of Fear” has been attributed to Max Van Derveer, who also wrote the goofy, Shell Scott-like novels about private eye Tokey Wedge under the name Jack Lynn. That’s possible. Van Derveer wrote quite a few stories for MSMM under his own name, and the editors always had a habit of recruiting the Shayne ghosts from the magazine’s regular contributors. But unlike the Tokey Wedge novels, this grim, dour story has not a trace of humor in it. Like I said, it’s certainly possible Van Derveer wrote it, but since all I’ve read by him in the past has been his lighter stories, I just don’t know for sure. Either way, “Shadow of Fear” is okay, definitely not a stand-out Shayne yarn but perfectly readable.

Next up is the short story “Sagittarius” by Gary Brandner, the third of five stories by Brandner about Hollywood private eye Adam Dukane. Two Dukane stories appeared in MSMM, two in ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, and one in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE. In this one, Dukane is hired by an astrologer who counts among her clients movie stars and studio big-shots. Somebody is sending her threatening notes, and she wants Dukane to find out who and if it’s a serious threat. It is, of course, and Dukane solves the case (which, honestly, isn’t very difficult to do). Brandner is enough of an old pro to hold the reader’s interest and deliver an enjoyable story.

“Assignment—Murder” is an espionage novella by F.W. Nash. The narrator/protagonist, CIA agent Art Barrett, is sent to Beirut to investigate the suspicious death of an agent who happens to be an old friend of his. While he’s there, he has to set up the assassination of an enemy agent who’s causing a lot of trouble. Then there’s the matter of the beautiful blonde who, along with her brother, inherited some mining property in a fictional-but-real-sounding Middle Eastern nation. If you think that all these things might wind up being connected, well, there’s a good chance you’d be right. This story belongs in the same murky and dangerous realm of international intrigue as Matt Helm, Joe Gall, and Sam Durell, while not being as well-written as any of those series. Nor does it generate much unbearable suspense, as the cover claims. In fact, the middle section kind of plods along. However, the plot is interesting and the ending is pretty good and, yes, fairly suspenseful. Art Barrett is a good protagonist who probably could have carried a series. But this is his only appearance, and in fact, the only story listed in the Fictionmags Index by F.W. Nash.

Actually, as soon as I saw that name on the cover, I thought, “That’s a pseudonym.” Knowing from experience that the editors at MSMM had a habit of sticking a pen-name on a story without telling the author, I figured “F.W. Nash” was one of the other contributors to this issue. If “Assignment—Murder” was really by Max Van Derveer, they wouldn’t have needed to use a pseudonym since his other story is under the Brett Halliday house-name. Gary Brandner, maybe? Possible, but this story doesn’t read like Brandner’s work to me. Nobody else in the issue seems to be a likely suspect, either. Maybe it really is by F.W. Nash, who for some reason never sold another story. Stranger things have happened. Anyway, “Assignment—Murder” isn’t a great yarn, but I thought it was okay.

Several years before taking over the editorship of MSMM (and giving me my first steady writing job, I might add), Charles E. Fritch appears in this issue with the short story “Is There Wife After Death?”, a wry little tale that takes the premise of a famous Patricia Highsmith novel and Alfred Hitchcock film and gives it a different spin. It’s well-written, as Chuck’s work always was, and moves right along.

Miriam Allen deFord is best remembered for her science fiction and fantasy stories, but she wrote a lot of crime stories for the mystery digests, too. “The Incipient Corpse” in this issue is a lightweight tale about a professional burglar who unknowingly targets a house where a paranormal investigation is going on. This is a pretty good idea, but deFord does very little with it in a mildly amusing but very forgettable story.

M.G. Ogan was the pseudonym of husband and wife writing team Margaret and George Ogan. I seem to recall reading a few stories by them in the past and enjoying them. “The Truck-Snatchers” is the first in a short-lived series about Cole Stoddard, the owner of a security agency who specializes in cases related to the trucking industry. In this one, he’s trying to track down four highjacked trucks. With its straightforward prose and procedural elements, this reminds me a little of Joe Gores’ DKA novels and stories, although not as well-written. But it has some nice action and I enjoyed it.

The issue wraps up with a short-short by a forgotten author named Ed Dumonte, who turned out a couple dozen stories for the mystery digests. “Mrs. Becker’s Yarn” is about a little old lady who sits around various places in the city, knitting and observing life. But of course there’s more to it than that. This is a reasonably clever story.

Overall, I’d have to say this is a slightly below average issue of MSMM. None of the stories are terrible, but none of them rise above the level of okay, either. I’m going to keep working my way through the stack of them I have on hand, hopefully with better results.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Short Stories, October 25, 1928

I'm sure there must have been some other air war covers on SHORT STORIES, but this one by Edgar F. Wittmack is the only one I recall coming across. It's a good one, too, very dramatic and colorful with that red sun in the background. There's a fine group of authors in this issue including Ernest Haycox, Hulbert Footner, Robert Carse, Tom Roan, Kenneth Perkins, Frank L. Packard, and Carson Mowre.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Thrilling Western, December 1936

The excellent cover by Richard Lyon on this issue of THRILLING WESTERN is proof that, just like sitting down to a poker game or going to the barber shop, boarding a stagecoach was an invitation to a gunfight in the Old West! I like this one a lot, probably because this stalwart cowboy looks like Randolph Scott, one of my all-time favorite actors. The lineup of authors inside is top-notch as well: a novella by Leslie Scott writing as A. Leslie, novelettes by Tom Curry, Syl MacDowell, and Chuck Martin, and short stories by Lawrence A. Keating, Edward Parrish Ware, Buck Billings (probably Claude Rister), and Burt Stokes. Various real-life issues are pokin' their snouts in where they ain't wanted again, but I hope to get back to reading some Western pulps very soon!

Review: The Sheriff and the Widow - Chap O'Keefe (Keith Chapman)

Veteran author and editor Keith Chapman has just released a new edition of one of his early novels under the Chap O’Keefe pseudonym, THE SHERIFF AND THE WIDOW. This is excellent news for me, because while I’ve read most of Chapman’s Westerns, this is one I hadn’t read. So I dived in with great anticipation and was not disappointed.

The lawman of the title is Ross Kemp, sheriff of the cattle town of Cedar City. The widow isn’t actually a widow when the book begins. She’s Jessica Blackwood, the beautiful, scheming second wife of local cattle baron Boyd Blackwood. Also in the mix are Blackwood’s beautiful daughter by his first wife, a scheming gambler, and a no-account cowboy who fancies himself a fast gun.

Well, naturally, there’s a murder (the title kind of gives that away) and Ross Kemp winds up framed for it. He’s convicted and sent to prison, and the only way to clear his name is to bust out and hunt down the real killer.

Most hardboiled Westerns are crime novels, and THE SHERIFF AND THE WIDOW continues that tradition with characters and a plot that would have been right at home in a classic Gold Medal paperback. Ross Kemp is an excellent protagonist, plenty tough but far from superhuman, the widow is a fine femme fatale, and the other villains are plenty dastardly. The story races along in breakneck fashion, with the prison break being a particularly suspenseful and action-packed scene. I really enjoyed this one, and if you’re a fan of traditional Westerns, you can get the e-book right here for just about any platform you can think of, or the print edition here.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Marvel Tales, May 1940

MARVEL SCIENCE STORIES started as a science fiction pulp, as you'd expect from that title, but after five issues, it abruptly changed to a Weird Menace pulp under the name MARVEL TALES. That experiment last only two issues, then it switched back to MARVEL STORIES, then MARVEL SCIENCE STORIES (again), and finally MARVEL SCIENCE FICTION. None of them were successful, but it wasn't for lack of trying. This is the second and final issue under the MARVEL TALES name, with a cover by J.W. Scott that's certainly worth of a Weird Menace pulp. Most of the authors inside were top-notch, although they tended to use pseudonyms, maybe because of the generally disreputable air the whole enterprise gave off. The lead story in this issue is by Nils O. Sunderland, who was really Jack Williamson, and backing him up are Robert O. Wentworth (Edmond Hamilton), Russell Gray (Bruno Fischer), and a couple of guys using their real names, Frederic Arnold Kummer Jr. and George E. Clark. If you want to check out this pulp for yourself, the entire issue can be found here.