Forgotten Books: Dead Men Singing - H. Bedford-Jones

I've enjoyed nearly everything I've read by H. Bedford-Jones, and DEAD MEN SINGING: THE MEN WHO FOUGHT FOR TEXAS is no exception. This volume from Altus Press reprints six stories that Bedford-Jones wrote for the pulp SHORT STORIES in 1935 and 1936 to mark the Texas Centennial. Unlike the two serials he wrote for ARGOSY on the same subject, "Bowie Knife" and "Texas Shall be Free!", which featured fictional characters as the leads whose storylines tied in with the history, the tales in this book involve only historical characters and are only light fictionalizations of the actual events.

The time period covered ranges from the early days of the Texas Revolution to the decisive Battle of San Jacinto and focuses on such figures as Ben Milam, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, James Fannin, and Sam Houston. Bedford-Jones gets the history right and does a fine job of making it understandable. Some modern-day revisionists might disagree with him on a few points, but that's fine with me since I tend to be a traditionalist.

I don't think this one is quite as good as those two ARGOSY serials, which are some of Bedford-Jones' best work, in my opinion, largely because he had more room to work with in those novel-length tales. But DEAD MEN SINGING is still excellent and as a long-time Texas history buff, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now Available for Pre-Order: Blaze! Red Rock Rampage - Ben Boulden

J.D. and Kate Blaze ride into the settlement of Small Basin, Utah, on the trail of train robbers but soon discover that the town and the surrounding area are ruled by the iron fist of a renegade Mormon patriarch—and he has his eye on two beautiful young women he intends to make unwilling brides. Hired killers, corrupt lawmen, and brutal kidnappers mean a heap of trouble for the Old West's only husband-and-wife gunfighters. Forced to split up, Kate and J.D. have to battle their way back to each other to survive!

The debut novel from acclaimed young author Ben Boulden is a fast-action gem, full of intriguing characters, gritty violence, and vividly realized settings. Get in on today's bestselling original Adult Western series with BLAZE! RED ROCK RAMPAGE.

Flame and Thunder - Ben Bridges

Ben Bridges (also known as David Whitehead) has been writing about the adventures of fighting man for hire Carter O'Brien for a long time, and I've read and enjoyed most of those novels. In FLAME AND THUNDER, the latest of these top-notch Western yarns, O'Brien is hired to protect an oil wildcatter who's trying to strike it rich with a drilling rig on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. The wildcatter's lease is about to run out, and if he doesn't bring in a gusher before it does, a gang of outlaws led by the local saloonkeeper will take it over. Those hardcases will resort to anything to keep the well from coming in, including sabotage and murder.

I've always had a fondness for oilfield stories, and this is a very good one. Bridges does a fine job of capturing the rough-and-tumble setting, and as always, he writes some of the best action scenes in the business and populates his tale with interesting characters. The big battle at the end is spectacular, and the final showdown between O'Brien and the leader of the villains is very satisfying. I really enjoyed FLAME AND THUNDER, and if you're a reader of traditional Western novels, you probably will, too.

Tuesday's Overlooked Movies: The Shallows

The premise of THE SHALLOWS is about as simple as you can get: Blake Lively plays a surfer who's attacked by a shark off an isolated Mexican beach and has to take shelter on some rocks that are only exposed at low tide. She has to figure out a way to get to shore a couple of hundred yards away before the tide comes back in, without getting eaten by the shark. There's a little bit of back-story for the character, but not much. Otherwise this is a pure woman-against-nature yarn. If the protagonist was a guy instead of a girl, it could have been a story in a men's adventure magazine from the Sixties.

THE SHALLOWS is a really suspenseful movie. It's not quite an hour and a half long, but it seems longer because it's so intense. At one point Livia said, "This is worse than JAWS!" I replied, "Yeah, at least they had a boat—although they needed a bigger one." It's not a better film than JAWS, mind you, but it is pretty darned good. When we go to the coast, I generally don't get in any water deeper than my ankles anyway, and I think I'll continue that.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Weird Tales, July 1940

I used to own this issue of WEIRD TALES and read it many years ago, but I'm afraid I don't remember much about it except the H. Bedford-Jones story. But elsewhere in the issue are stories by Frank Gruber, Robert Bloch, Seabury Quinn, Manly Wade Wellman (writing as Gans T. Field), and Frank Owen, so I'm sure there's plenty of good reading there.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Star Western, June 1936

This issue of STAR WESTERN has a variation on the cowboy/wounded geezer/girl with a gun trio that appears on so many Western pulp covers. (The girl's not a redhead, and she doesn't appear that angry.) The art is attributed to H.W. Scott, and it may well be his work, but it's a different style than what I'm used to on his many covers for WESTERN STORY.

Inside, this is almost an all-star issue, with stories by T.T. Flynn, Harry F. Olmsted, Ray Nafziger, Oliver King (really Thomas Mount, better known as Stone Cody), C.K. Shaw, John G. Pearsol, and George Armin Shaftel. That's a very solid line-up.

Forgotten Books: Angel's Flight - Lou Cameron

The first novel by Lou Cameron I ever read was probably THE OUTSIDER, a tie-in novel to the TV show of the same name that starred Darren McGavin as private detective David Ross. The TV series lasted only one year, but it was excellent, and I recall that Cameron's novel based on it was very good, too. Years later, Cameron played an important role in my own career by creating the Longarm series for Berkley. He came up with a great character, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing about ol' Custis for 47 books spread out over 18 years. Along the way I read a number of Longarms and other novels by Cameron, including a couple of top-notch Westerns, DOC TRAVIS and NORTH TO DURANGO.

But his best book of all may well be his very first novel, ANGEL'S FLIGHT, published by Gold Medal in 1960.

ANGEL'S FLIGHT is an epic of jazz and the music business encompassing twenty years from the late Thirties to the late Fifties. The narrator/protagonist is Ben Parker, a bass player who as the book opens is part of the jazz combo Daddy Halloway and His Hot Babies. An ambitious young drummer who calls himself Johnny Angel works his way into the band, and it doesn't take Ben very long to realize that Johnny is pure evil and will lie, cheat, steal, seduce, and maybe even murder to get ahead.

The two men clash again and again over the years, through World War II, the post-war era, and then the turbulent Fifties. Ben Parker struggles to succeed while staying relatively honest, even though it makes him some dangerous enemies in the Mob, while Johnny Angel's star continues to rise as it seems he gets rewarded no matter how low he sinks. But finally, even Johnny Angel can sink too low to get away with it . . .

ANGEL'S FLIGHT is a great book. It's raw and mean and just thunders along with some fine storytelling. In its scope and its vivid portrait of American society over a couple of decades, it reminds me a little of Irwin Shaw's RICH MAN, POOR MAN. I've always enjoyed Cameron's work, but I didn't know he had a novel like this in him. I used to have a copy of the Gold Medal edition on my shelves, but I never got around to reading it.

Luckily, Black Gat Books, an imprint of Stark House, is bringing out a reprint edition in March, and I was fortunate enough to read an early copy. This edition features the same Mitchell Hooks cover painting as the original and a fine introduction by Gary Lovisi. It's available for pre-order now, and I give it my highest recommendation. ANGEL'S FLIGHT is the best book I read in 2016, and it might just be the best book you'll read in 2017.

Ulterior Objectives - Scott Dennis Parker

I always enjoy a good World War II espionage yarn, and Scott Dennis Parker's latest novel, ULTERIOR OBJECTIVES, fits neatly into that category. Lillian Saxton, a supporting character in Parker's earlier novel WADING INTO WAR, takes center stage this time as she's sent to England on a top-secret mission for Army Intelligence in 1940. A former lover and classmate at Oxford is in Germany and wants to pass along some no doubt vital information to her. Needless to say, the mission does not go as planned . . .

Parker keeps things perking along nicely with good action scenes and some twists in the plot that I didn't see coming. Lillian is a fine protagonist, tough when she needs to be but hardly a super-agent. The ending of ULTERIOR OBJECTIVES makes me think we'll be seeing her again, and I certainly hope so. Recommended.

Tuesday's Overlooked Movies: True Memoirs of an International Assassin

Like GENIUS last week, TRUE MEMOIRS OF AN INTERNATIONAL ASSASSIN seems like a movie designed to appeal to me, although it's very, very different from that film about Thomas Wolfe and Max Perkins.

This one's a comedy starring Kevin James, who I tend to like quite a bit, and it's another movie about writing. In this case, James is a failed thriller novelist who works for an insurance company. When he finally manages to sell a manuscript about an assassin known only as The Ghost to a small-press publisher, the book is published as non-fiction instead of fiction, and of course you can make a pretty good guess how that's going to work out. James's character is taken for a real assassin, and before you know it, he's kidnapped and dumped down in the middle of a three-cornered war in a Central American country where the head of each faction wants to hire him to kill the other two rivals. Much running, shooting, and mildly amusing dialogue ensues.

Yes, it's all as silly as it can be, but I enjoyed it anyway. A lot of the publishing stuff is wrong, but the scenes where James is working on his manuscript, continually deleting and rewriting, ring true and are pretty funny. The supporting cast led by Andy Garcia as a revolutionary known as El Toro does decent work, and the plot has enough twists and turns to be interesting (although the final twist is really predictable).

I fully expect that many of you wouldn't care for this film. Kevin James's friendship with Adam Sandler and appearances in many of his movies might well be enough to predispose you not to like TRUE MEMOIRS OF AN INTERNATIONAL ASSASSIN. But if that's not the case, you could certainly find worse ways to spend a couple of hours. I had a good time watching it, that's all I can say.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Thrilling Detective, October 1937

What better way to start off the new year than with a Norman Saunders cover? This one's not as action-packed as some of his covers but still very effective. And "Hell's Brew at Gumbo Point" is one of the great goofy titles. Other authors in this issue besides Westmoreland Gray are Robert Sidney Bowen, Jean Francis Webb, and George Bruce.