CADS 2: Tech Battleground by John Sievert

CADS 2
Tech Battleground
by John Sievert

1986, Zebra

The CADS are Computerized Attack/Defense System, troops in eight foot tall battlesuits who are trying to take back America from the Russians after a nuclear attack. The first installment was jam packed; this one has a lot of milling around at their underground base. They fight cannibal hordes, a weapons contractor and his gang, a Russian submarine base, and Florida swamp gangs, mending the Hatfield/McCoy feud along the way.

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WWX US Title: Dillon vs D&D

 

The ref has declared a double count out! Neither competitor claims the belt, which remains vacant.

The Vril Agenda by Derrick Ferguson and Joshua Reynolds

The Vril Agenda
By Derrick Ferguson and Joshua Reynolds
2014, Airship 27

Young Dillon seeks out Jim Anthony, Super Detective, to train him on the ways of Pulp Heroing. Anthony's headquarters are attacked, we get a lengthy flashback, then Anthony and Dillon face off against Sun Koh's quest to reinstate the glory of Atlantis.

The highlight here is the presence of various public domain pulp figures - Dan Fowler is the head of the FBI, Anthony's daughter leads Louis Feuillade's Vampires. Sun Koh was the Nazi Doc Savage, and his team are all German pulp figures.

All of these characters are largely lifeless and interchangeable. Alaska Jim acts like an old prospector, and this is the closest we get to a distinct personality. Other than background details, you could have swapped out Operator #5 or Thunder Jim Wade and barely noticed. Even Dillon felt generic. Some of this may be inherent in genre, given that this is the story of two Doc Savage pastiches facing off. Mostly just led me to wonder how there were so many guys over a century old running around.

I didn't care for the audiobook narration, half the characters had a goofy affectation that I found distracting.

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Forgotten Realms: Crypt of the Shadowking by Mark Anthony

Forgotten Realms
Crypt of the Shadowking
by Mark Anthony
1993, TSR

A former Harper, a kind of benevolent bard secret society, Caledan Caldorien is brought back into action to stop an evil takeover of a city. Little action and lines so cliché I wondered if this was supposed to be postmodern. To be fair almost none of the story managed to lodge itself in my memory - the only thing I remember from the story is it involved people who can control shadows. There is a monster - a shadevar - which is barely described. I looked it up online, assuming that it wasn't fleshed out because it would already be familiar to D&D players, but they originated with this book.

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WWX US Title: Dillon vs D&D

Dungeons and Dragons has defended the TV Tile. Derrick Ferguson has faced off challengers to the Young Guns title. Now both move up the ranks to fight for the vacant US Title!

Blood and Honour by Wolf Kruger

Blood and Honour
by Wolf Kruger (Shaun Hutson)
1981, Robert Hale Limited

Sergeant Herzog is a German soldier court martialed and sent to the Eastern Front for refusing to wear his Iron Cross. He received the cross for massacring helpless civilians and refuses to wear it until he thinks he earns it. Herzog is a man of principle - not principled enough to not massacre civilians or stop fighting for Hitler, but principled enough to grumble about it.

The book alternates between frontline battles and officials yelling at each other. It takes over half the book to settle into a typical squad based war novel. The most notable characters are a katana swinging Japanese soldier speaking broken English and a chronic masturbator.

Hutson saves up for the final battle, a massacre in a Russian churchyard, which plays out like a Peckinpah film. It's listed as part of a series, but this first installment is set after the others with different characters.

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The Crusader 2: The Passionate Princess by John Cleve

The Crusader 2
The Passionate Princess
by John Cleve (Andrew J. Offutt)
1974, Dell

Set after the Battle of Acres in the Third Crusades, Crusaders are harassed by skirmishing forces as King Richard and Saladin negotiate. Knight and archer Guy Kingsaver faces off with the Butcher, the mysterious figure slaughtering knights. But mostly boffing.

Less an historical adventure piece and more a full blown porno novel, which happens to historical detail and excellent action sequences.

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The Shadow 2: Eyes of the Shadow by Grant Maxwell

The Shadow 2
Eyes of the Shadow
by Grant Maxwell
1931

Gangsters with a pet man-ape try to steal a hidden czarist treasure. Mostly it's Shadow operative Harry Vincent hanging around a cabin receiving orders over the radio. There's a squishing room death trap and an excellent shootout between the Shadow and a bar full of thugs shoehorned in to liven things up.

The first appearance of the Shadow as Lamont Cranston - I believe later it's revealed he took over the real Cranston's identity. His ability to melt into the shadows is unexplained, and he appears to have supernatural strength. He's not invulnerable - he takes a few bullets and is bed ridden for a couple scenes.

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Floater by Gary Brandner

Floater
by Gary Brandner
1988 Fawcett

Twenty years after a high school tragedy, three people are sent mysterious messages about a class reunion they're compelled to attend. One of the more shameless It knockoffs, down to a clown theme.

The titular floater is the astral spirit of their classmate who is able to possess bodies, control car engines, and check credit records from beyond the grave. A good chunk of the book is supposed to be the terror of their inability to leave their hometown, but came across as just frustration with rural shops being closed on weekends.

A hint of creepiness with flashbacks of the floater learning to possess bodies, and I like Brandner's writing, but not much of anything going on here. At least it wasn't 1100 pages.

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Seductions by Ray Garton

Seductions
by Ray Garton
1984, Pinnacle

An alcoholic teacher with the power of precognition stumble across a series of disappearances where the victim only leaves behind a pile of blood. Shapeshifting succubi/incubi that take the form of their victim's desire. Shades of Dead Zone meets The Thing and prefiguring Yuzna's Society with erotic body horror. Garton's first, lean and mean.

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Cade 1: Darksiders by Mike Linaker

Cade 1
Darksiders
by Mike Linaker
1992, Gold Eagle

Cade is a Justice Marshal of the faraway future where hardcore pornography is transmitted by satellite. Cade and his cyborg (really an android) partner Janek uncover a scheme to kidnap homeless people living underground and force them to work in off-world mining colonies. The story alternated between lifeless shootouts, cop who plays by his own rules clichés, and android schtick.

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Sam Durell 27 - Assignment: Nuclear Nude by Edward J. Aarons

Sam Durell 27
Assignment: Nuclear Nude
by Edward J. Aarons

1970, Fawcett Gold Medal

Sam Durell is after a painting that conceals a neutrino formula written on the canvas. The four richest men in the world have formed a consortium around the formula, and their hippie daughters have decided to follow Sam around and not have sex with him. Sam just kind of goes to a place, acts tough, and is told where to go for the next scene. Got halfway through - not much had happened at this point and the book had pivoted almost completely to cheap anti-Chinese racism.

For me, Aarons' stuff is like if you took a low budget Bond knockoff, removed all the sex, action, and style, and maybe dumbed down the plot a little. No camp value, but also not serious or complex enough to go the le Carré direction.

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Nazi Degenerate by Jack Madden

Nazi Degenerate
by Jack Madden
~1976, Prison Camp Books (Stag)

Julia Schmidt is an artist pacifist who is rounded up with her friends and sent to Dachau. She's defiled and tortured by Nazis, but it turns out that's her jam. She's put in a cell with her captured fiancé, Hans, who brings a German shepherd into the mix for some reason, before being handed back to Nazi soldiers. Julia and Hans go back to their cell and are gassed, the end.

Repetitive and anatomically implausible, the only innovation being cunnilingus by rat.