Sammy Update

It's been three weeks since Sammy's surgery, and he continues to do really well in his recovery. His incision is almost completely healed. You can barely see it in the picture above. He's been out of the dreaded cone for almost a week now, and we're all very glad he no longer has to wear it. His gait is nearly normal. Only occasionally does he favor the surgically repaired leg. I do think he's getting pretty bored with the whole thing and wants to go back to living his old life outside, but it's still going to be a while before he can do that.

My writing has rolled along fairly well this month, with my "editor" right here in the pen beside me. I've written about 90,000 words, and my current book, which I started on the 17th, hit the approximate one-third point yesterday. I'm on pace to finish it by the end of February, which is what I need to do.

Overlooked Movies: A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2012)

I generally enjoy Simon Pegg's movies, so when I came across this one from 2012 that I'd never heard of before, let alone seen, I figured I ought to watch it. Pegg plays a children's book author in England who's trying to sell a TV series about Victorian murders, and in the process of doing research for it, he reads about so many gruesome killings that he becomes paranoid and starts seeing murderers everywhere. It doesn't help that he's already plagued with several phobias, including (and this figures in the plot) going to the laundromat (or launderette, as those British folks call it). Things should start looking up for him when his agent arranges a meeting for him with a high-powered Hollywood mogul, but actually, they get even worse. Then, part of the way through, as often happens in Pegg's movies, the plot takes an unexpected 90-degree turn and it becomes a different sort of movie.

A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING is a dark, oddball, occasionally amusing but just as often wince-inducing little film. A lot of the time Pegg is on-screen by himself, so whether or not you like him will have a big influence on how you feel about the movie. I enjoyed it, but it's definitely weird. Bear that in mind if you decide to watch it. 

Dracula's Revenge - Charles R. Rutledge

DRACULA’S REVENGE is the latest novella (more like a short novel, really) from Charles R. Rutledge to feature occult detective Carter Decamp and homicide detective Jennifer Grail, as well as the first story I’ve read with these characters. One of Jennifer’s cases involves a bizarre murder in which the victim was drained of blood. That leads to a violent encounter in the morgue with a body that’s supposed to be dead, and faced with something like that, what else is she going to do but call on her old friend Decamp for help, since he’s an expert on supernatural matters.

Their investigation leads them to a small town on the Georgia coast. There’s a deserted mansion, an abandoned paper mill, a bunch of missing young women, and a guy who’s the descendant of an English couple who may have been the real people upon whom Bram Stoker based some of the characters in DRACULA. On top of that, you’ve got a mysterious giant who may be lacking the flat head and neck bolts, but he’s pretty clearly the Frankenstein monster . . .

You might not think that a blend of hardboiled police procedural and classic horror would work that well, but you’d be wrong. It works great. Rutledge takes a very interesting approach, establishing a world in which Dracula and Frankenstein are well known as fictional characters, but unknown to most, the original novels were based on actual events. As such, the monsters that show up in this yarn bear much more resemblance to their literary ancestors than they do to their movie counterparts.

In addition to that intriguing angle, Rutledge provides plenty of well-done action scenes and keeps the pace moving along at a very satisfying clip. Jennifer Grail and Carter Decamp are good characters, as well, and I want to read more about them. DRACULA’S REVENGE is a very entertaining tale, and I give it a high recommendation.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Planet Stories, May 1952

Another excellent Allen Anderson cover on this issue of PLANET STORIES. Why the War-Maid of Mars' raygun looks like an old-fashioned Western six-shooter at first glance, I don't know, but it's eye-catching, as are other, ah, attributes. Maybe Anderson adapted this from an unused painting he did for LARIAT STORY. Anyway, speaking of the War-Maid, I wouldn't mind reading that story by Poul Anderson. I'll have to check and see if it's ever been reprinted anywhere. The only other familiar names in the Table of Contents are Bryce Walton, Robert Moore Williams, and J.T. McIntosh.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Fifteen Western Tales, October 1947

What a great cover. I don't know the artist, but I love the expression on this guy's face. I may have to add an Injury to a Quirley category. And the line-up of authors inside this issue of FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES is top-notch, too: William Heuman, D.B. Newton, Joseph Chadwick, Leslie Ernenwein, Rolland Lynch, T.C. McClarey, Kenneth Fowler, and some lesser-known names and house-names. I love the title "Hell Fans These Guns!".

Forgotten Books: Walk Out of Hell - Brett Waring (Keith Hetherington)

Brett Waring is really Keith Hetherington, one of the most prolific writers of all time who has authored hundreds of books under several pseudonyms, mostly (but not all) Westerns and whose wordage total probably approaches 40 million. He’s also a very entertaining author, as WALK OUT OF HELL proves. This novel was published originally in Australia by Cleveland and reprinted by them in the past year or so, the edition I read.

This sounded to me like a good tough yarn, and I wasn’t disappointed. Frank Cain, wounded and battered, stumbles out of the Wildfire Mountains as the only survivor of a prospecting expedition that set out to find the Lost Spanish Mine. According to Cain, an avalanche wiped out the rest of his party, but certain things about his story don’t add up, and the situation becomes even more suspicious when the local lawman uncovers the fact that Cain spent time in prison for killing a previous prospecting partner of his—and originally claiming that an avalanche was responsible for that death, too.

Most people don’t believe Cain’s story, including his girlfriend Meg McGill, whose father was the leader of the expedition that disappeared in the Wildfires. Several local hardcases think that Cain knows where the lost mine is located and kidnap him to torture the information out of him. He gets away but is forced by the sheriff to go back into the mountains so that the lawman can get to the truth. Meg goes along as well, determined to find out what really happened to her father. And those gold-greedy outlaws are on the trail, too . . .

One of the best things about WALK OUT OF HELL is its noirish element. The reader doesn’t know until the end whether Frank Cain is hero or villain. There’s a lot of tough action along the way, and Hetherington, old pro that he is, knows how to keep a story moving at a very fast pace. His work is always worth reading, and I enjoyed this one a lot. If you’re looking for a good hardboiled Western, WALK OUT OF HELL is very much worth reading.

The Digest Enthusiast, Book Nine - Richard Krauss, ed.

Interviews

• Filmmaker and author Susan Emshwiller reveals the inside story on her films, the work of her parents, Ed Emshwiller and Carol Emshwiller, along with nearly two dozen rare photographs of her famous family.

• Senior Art Director Victoria Green takes us behind the scenes of the art department at AHMM, Analog, Asimov’s, and EQMM, complemented by artist’s confidentials from Tim Foley and Maurizio Manzieri.

Articles

• Vince Nowell, Sr. charts Ray Palmer’s digest dynasty from 1948 to 1958, followed by the bibliography of S.J. Byrne, one of Palmer’s go-to SF storytellers.

• Tom Brinkmann uncovers Benedict Canyon, where Elke Sommer and Joe Hyams joined “A Neighborhood of Ghosts” from 1964 to 1969.

• Steve Carper wraps “One-and-Dones” with a final, fascinating batch of obscure and/or rare collector’s treasures.

• Peter Enfantino delivers a story-by-story synopsis of Manhunt from January thru June 1954. Plus a report on the rare western digest paperback, Sunset Showdownby Steve Frazee.

Fiction

• Crime, espionage, and fantasy fiction by Michael Bracken, Josh Pachter, and Joe Wehrle, Jr., with art from Marc Myers, Michael Neno, and Joe.

Also includes

• News from all your favorite genre digest magazines, straight from their editors’ lips, including every newsstand stalwart, and the new generation of POD/digital stars.

• In-depth reviews of EconoClash Review, Nostalgia Digest, Occult Detective Quarterly, and Hot Lead.

• Plus over 100 digest magazine cover images, cartoons by Bob Vojtko and Clark Dissmeyer, first issue factoids, and more.

• Cover by Ed Emshwiller,

THE DIGEST ENTHUSIAST is one of the best publications out there, and the just-released Book Nine continues that tradition of excellence. I particularly enjoyed Vince Nowell Sr.'s article about Ray Palmer, Peter Infantino's continuing coverage of MANHUNT issues (I don't always agree with Infantino's opinions on individual stories, but they're always entertaining), the piece about Steve Frazee's SUNSET SHOWDOWN, the review of the great Western fanzine HOT LEAD, and Michael Bracken's short story. There's plenty of good reading here, and I give THE DIGEST ENTHUSIAST, BOOK NINE a high recommendation.

Sunday Morning Bonus Pulp: Dime Detective, August 1935

When it comes to covers, such as this one by Walter Baumhofer, and the authors inside, DIME DETECTIVE was a great pulp. Authors in this issue include Frederick Nebel (with a Cardigan story), William E. Barrett (with a Needle Mike story), Frederick C. Davis, and James P. Olsen. That's a fine line-up of top pulpsters.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Western Adventures, June 1942

There were always a lot of good authors in WESTERN ADVENTURES. In this issue, that includes Norman A. Fox, Giff Cheshire, S. Omar Barker, Gunnison Steele, Hapsburg Liebe, Rolland Lynch, C.K. Shaw, and Ralph Yergen. I've always found the covers on WESTERN ADVENTURES a little lacking, but the authors are consistently very good.

Forgotten Books: The Time Trap - Henry Kuttner

Archeologist Kent Mason is lost in the Arabian desert when he finds the ruins of the legendary lost city of Al Bekr, which is what he was looking for in the first place. However, all that’s left of Al Bekr are two tall, strange towers, and when Mason investigates them, he discovers that they’re made of metal, not stone, which shouldn’t be possible considering how old they are. But before he can figure out anything else, one of the towers is struck by lightning from an uncommon desert thunderstorm, and all kinds of special-effectsy stuff happens, and Mason finds himself cast back in time (because those two towers are really a time machine, of course) to ancient Al Bekr, which is ruled by an evil genius from the far future, Greddar Klon, also known as The Master. Also on hand are the beautiful Nirvor, the Silver Priestess, the beautiful young Queen Alasa, and Erech, the brawny Sumerian barbarian also trapped out of his own time.

This is the opening of THE TIME TRAP, a novel by Henry Kuttner that originally appeared in the November 1938 issue of the pulp MARVEL SCIENCE STORIES. Kuttner specialized in these “normal guy thrown into a bizarre and dangerous setting” yarns, and nobody did them better. Despite the science fiction trappings, the first half of the book reads very much like a sword-and-sorcery story set in ancient Al Bekr. But then the plot takes a left turn and THE TIME TRAP, appropriately enough, becomes a wild chase through time as Mason and his allies try to foil the dastardly plans of the despicable Greddar Klon in various eras, from the prehistoric past to the far future when Earth is a dying world.

I probably shouldn’t mention it, but in each of those eras, there’s at least one beautiful girl who has trouble keeping her clothes on for more than a page or two. This novel didn’t appear in one of the Spicy pulps, but it might as well have, although Mason does manage to resist temptation better than most of the protagonists in that line.

Kuttner piles on the action and keeps things galloping along, and that may be the biggest flaw in THE TIME TRAP. It’s almost too much of a kitchen sink book. But the writing is vivid and there are a lot of really striking scenes, not to mention a very satisfying climax. I’m a little surprised this was never reprinted as an Ace paperback during the Sixties, one of those smaller-sized editions with a cover by Frazetta or Krenkel. If it had been, I would have bought it and raced through it, I can guarantee that. Probably stretched out in a lawn chair on my parents’ front porch, because this is definitely a Front Porch Book.

There’s an e-book version available on Amazon (with some formatting problems, I might add; this is the edition I read), it appears in the Kuttner collection THUNDER IN THE VOID from Haffner Press, and there’s a paperback edition as half of one of the Armchair Fiction double volumes, along with THE LUNAR LICHEN by Hal Clement. While it’s not in the top rank of Kuttner’s work, THE TIME TRAP is an entertaining adventure and a good example of science-fantasy. I recommend it, especially if you’re still in touch with your inner 12-year-old like I am.