Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson was an interesting character in his own right: Military officer, prolific pulp author, and an important player in the creation of the whole danged comic book industry. I’m most interested in him as a pulpster who turned out scores of adventure and Western yarns. Given his background, it’s not surprising that his stories often had a military angle to them. For example, “The Green God of Terror”, his novella that’s one of the featured stories in the November 1933 issue of ACE-HIGH MAGAZINE.
The protagonist of “The Green God of Terror” is army intelligence officer Barry
O’Neil, who is stationed in the Philippines. His investigation into the
disappearance of a mining engineer leads him to the missing man’s beautiful
sister, a fabulous emerald, a sinister Russian, and an isolated island where
the Green God of Terror of the title supposedly lurks.
I’ve read several of Wheeler-Nicholson’s stories, but this one may be my
favorite so far. He never takes his foot off the gas pedal, racing
along from action scene to action scene, from the dark alleys of Manila to
several shipboard battles to a final showdown in a hidden island temple.
No matter how over-the-top Wheeler-Nicholson’s plots get, his stories always
have an air of authenticity about them. Again, not a surprise considering his
background. This one is a very good example of that. His work reminds me
a little of H. Bedford-Jones, although his prose isn’t quite as smooth and
polished as HB-J’s.
If you’re a fan of pure, breakneck pulp adventure yarns, I give “The Green God
of Terror” a very high recommendation. It’s been reprinted in HIGH ADVENTURE#194, a special issue of that long-running publication that also includes
several more Wheeler-Nicholson stories. I have a copy and plan to read those
stories soon. I’m looking forward to it.
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