Behind the pseudonym Louis Masterson was really Norwegian author Kjell Hallbing (1934 - 2004), who wrote over eighty Western novels about U.S. Marshal Morgan Kane. For many years the market for American-style Westerns was quite strong in Norway and the other Scandanavian countries, and Hallbing was probably the most popular Western author in that part of the world. The Morgan Kane series was reprinted in English translations by the British publisher Corgi Books. Over the years I've run across a handful of the Corgi editions of the Kane novels. APACHE BREAKOUT is the final one I own that I hadn't read until now.
I didn't really like the other Morgan Kane books that I've read. The historical and geographic accuracy in them was pretty lacking. APACHE BREAKOUT is a significant improvement, though, a decent, action-packed Western about Kane's attempt to find out who is smuggling guns and liquor to renegade Apaches led by Geronimo. His job is complicated along the way by a beautiful redheaded female reporter and assorted villains. The plot is standard stuff, but the book moves along briskly and has good action scenes. The translation is by veteran American paperbacker Jeff Wallmann, which probably helped matters. I'm no expert on translating novels from one language to another, but Wallmann knows his way around a Western.
I've been told that there is strong book-to-book continuity in the Kane series and that they're best read in order. Having read only scattered titles, I can't say whether that's true or not. I can say that Kane is an interesting character. He suffers some physically but even more so emotionally, and is plagued by more self-doubts and other human failings than many Western heroes are. I'm glad I finally read this one. I probably won't be searching out more Morgan Kane books, but if I happen to find any, I'll certainly pick them up and read them.
7 comments:
Was this translated by Jeffrey Wallmann? I've been told that they are not very good and that he loses almost all of the potential of the series.
Mind you, I've never read any of the series, but it's very much liked here in Finland, raised almost to a cult status, so you might like it more if you could read it in Norwegian! (The other translator, whose name escapes me at the moment, did better job with these. Or so I've heard.)
Yes, this is a Wallmann translation, at least according to the copyright page. I've read a couple by him and a couple by the other translator, whose name is Phil Neuman (or something like that; the books aren't handy to check). I thought Wallmann's translations were better books, but of course I have no idea how they compare to the originals.
Hello
I really enjoy to read your blog altough i have never read your books.
I read a lot of Kjell Hallbings books in the late 70's and 80's, i read them translated to swedish which is a language very close to norwegian, I liked them a lot especially the later ones where Morgan Kane had a hard time with the Wild Bunch and other "famous" bandits, he also went to Alaska and also was in Cuba as a bodygard for Roosevelt
Kjell Hallbing died last year.
Tomas
The other translator did the job from the original Norwegian, but Wallmann had first a rough translation by someone else and then he mostly rewrote the stuff by himself, which caused some misunderstandings etc.
So the books Wallmann worked on are actually more like adaptations than true translations? Interesting. Maybe I'll have to try to find some more by the other translator.
That's what I've gathered from several sources.
I have really enjoied the Morgan Kane books over the years. About 90 are regular Morgan Kane. There is the Morgan Kane Specials (5 I think), and don't forget his paperbacks "Metzgar" about a hunter/trapper in North America (USA and Canada)in the early 18 hundreds. And finally, the Paco books. About a boy with a passion for bull fighting, who is swallowed up by the Mexican revolution lead by Pancho Villa. I heard that Kjell Hallbing received a littary award for these books. One of the characters is a man called El Hombre. Guess who that is... Klaus from Denmark
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