Review: The Albino Ogre - Anthony M. Rud (Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 3, 1928)

Pulp author and editor Anthony M. Rud is almost forgotten today, other than maybe for the fact that his novella “Ooze” was the cover-featured story on the very first issue of WEIRD TALES. I admire him because he worked in a number of different genres and was a pretty solid author in all of them.

His novella “The Albino Ogre” is the cover story on the November 3, 1928 issue of ARGOSY ALL-STORY WEEKLY, said cover being painted by Howard Brown. It’s a South Seas adventure, all right, just as the cover copy claims. The tale is narrated by an American named Spark Starke (terrible name), a former boxer who is on the run from a murder charge because he killed a guy (unintentionally) in the ring. He falls in with Denmark Ordway Treleaven, a British secret agent of some sort who is in love with Jessie Seagrue, the beautiful owner of a copra plantation whose beautiful redheaded niece Pat O’Hearn also lives with her. Got all that? Den Treleaven wants to save Jessie from the clutches of Pappas the Pink, a giant albino pirate/slaver who has his sights set on not only Jessie but also the plantation she owns. He enlists Spark to help him in this battle against Pappas, and Spark is more than happy to throw in with him, especially after some of Pappas’s minions try to wipe them out in a machine gun attack. Treleaven’s romance with Jessie is complicated by the fact that she’s married, and Pappas has kidnapped her husband and young son to use as leverage against her.

The whole thing is complicated and, yes, a little silly and melodramatic. But that’s in keeping with the times in which it was written, and Rud makes it work by giving the reader interesting characters and almost non-stop action. Chattering machine guns, savage natives with spears, captures, escapes, rescues, sneaking around the jungle, taking over ships, he throws all that stuff in, and as a long-time pulp adventure reader, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Pappas even gets more character development than most despicable villains, and I kind of wish we’d learned more about him.

Speaking of the times in which it was written, “The Albino Ogre” might well offend some readers with modern sensibilities, so consider yourself warned. I’ve never had any trouble accepting fiction for what it is and when it was written, so it didn’t bother me. There’s an inexpensive e-book edition of this available on Amazon, and you can find it for free on-line as well, if you know where to look. It’s the sort of story that H. Bedford-Jones did so well (although HB-J was a considerably better writer than Rud, if I’m being honest) and I had a good time reading it.