Inspector Allhoff is a brilliant but twisted detective who had his legs blown off by a tommy gun, thanks to the cowardly actions of rookie flatfoot Battersly.
Allhoff is kept on the force as a consultant on his condition that Battersly act as his assistant. Battersly stays on out of a sense of guilt, joined by our narrator Simmonds, a cop near retirement who acts as a buffer between the two.
Allhoff is a miserable wreck and constantly torments the man responsible for the loss of his legs. I've seen the relationship described as sadomasochistic and Allhoff as psychopathic but for me this is oversold. Allhoff is such a ham, after a while it has all the passive aggressive power of your mom trying to get a ride to the airport.
This would be good as the background of a more developed mystery or detective story, but the whining is about all there is room for in the short word count. A typical story goes as such:
"Allhoff, there's been a murder."
"I'll solve it. Go and get me clues. I'd go, but I have no leeeeeegs, wah!"
Simmonds and Battersly get clues.
"I've solved the case now. Please confess, as I don't have any real evidence."
"I did it!"
The first story I read was solved with a clue they didn't reveal and the second had the suspect from page one and the rest was tricking someone into confessing by convoluted means. The action never left the apartment in either story.
Inspector Allhoff was created by D.L. Champion and appeared in Dime Detective Magazine from 1938-1945.
Showing posts with label Overview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Overview. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
African American Men's Adventure
Men's Adventure paperbacks cashed in on the Blaxploitation craze just like James Bond did with Live and Let Die and Marvel did with Luke Cage. Most of these books fed directly off this trend, and a few fed back into it.
First, here's what I'm not going to talk about -
I'm purposely leaving out some masters in AA crime fiction, such as Chester Himes, Iceberg Slim, and Donald Goines. These are the class acts, the Ian Flemings and Mickey Spillanes to the Nick Carters and Don Pendletons.
I'm also leaving out some more straightforward detective and cop fiction.
Several of the series below have AA authors, some most definitely don't. This is more about the genre, not the creators.
Superspade by BB Johnson
6 books 1970-1
This one seems to predate the Blaxploitation film craze, but seems to have the same vibe.
Shaft by Ernest Tidyman
7 books 1971-5
Yeah, that Shaft. The one that started (or at least popularized) it all. Too bad they didn't make a movie out of "Shaft Among the Jews".
Iceman by Joseph Nazel
7 books 1973-5
A pimp and casino owner that fought the mob. Gotta get me some of these.
Nazel also wrote several stand-alone books that would fit here - I'll have to do some more research to give him justice. Some appear to be novelizations of films such as Black Gestapo and Black Exorcist - I think the movies came first, Nazel doesn't have any screen credits in IMDB.
Murder Master by Joseph Rosenberger
3 books 1973-4
Haven't read these, but I desperately want to. I'm sure they handle race relations and dialogue in the sensitivity and respectful manner we've come to expect from Rosenberger. I kid - he's a horrible racist and I'm sure these are horrible. Still want to read them.
Black Samurai by Marc Olden
8 books 1974-5
American GI Robert Sand gets trained by Japanese Samurai and becomes a secret agent. Made into an Al Adamson film with Jim Kelly in 1977. This is the only series here available in ebook.
Black Angel by James D. Laurence
4 books 1975
The only female AA Men's Adventure character I know of. I have no idea if she's like Pam Grier, but I'm hoping yes.
Aubrey Knight by Stephen Barnes
3 books 1983-93
Outside the genre, but I wanted to mention it. This is a scifi action series about a null-gravity boxer in the future or something.
Am I missing anything?
First, here's what I'm not going to talk about -
I'm purposely leaving out some masters in AA crime fiction, such as Chester Himes, Iceberg Slim, and Donald Goines. These are the class acts, the Ian Flemings and Mickey Spillanes to the Nick Carters and Don Pendletons.
I'm also leaving out some more straightforward detective and cop fiction.
Several of the series below have AA authors, some most definitely don't. This is more about the genre, not the creators.
Superspade by BB Johnson
6 books 1970-1
This one seems to predate the Blaxploitation film craze, but seems to have the same vibe.
Shaft by Ernest Tidyman
7 books 1971-5
Yeah, that Shaft. The one that started (or at least popularized) it all. Too bad they didn't make a movie out of "Shaft Among the Jews".
Iceman by Joseph Nazel
7 books 1973-5
A pimp and casino owner that fought the mob. Gotta get me some of these.
Nazel also wrote several stand-alone books that would fit here - I'll have to do some more research to give him justice. Some appear to be novelizations of films such as Black Gestapo and Black Exorcist - I think the movies came first, Nazel doesn't have any screen credits in IMDB.
Murder Master by Joseph Rosenberger
3 books 1973-4
Haven't read these, but I desperately want to. I'm sure they handle race relations and dialogue in the sensitivity and respectful manner we've come to expect from Rosenberger. I kid - he's a horrible racist and I'm sure these are horrible. Still want to read them.
Black Samurai by Marc Olden
8 books 1974-5
American GI Robert Sand gets trained by Japanese Samurai and becomes a secret agent. Made into an Al Adamson film with Jim Kelly in 1977. This is the only series here available in ebook.
Black Angel by James D. Laurence
4 books 1975
The only female AA Men's Adventure character I know of. I have no idea if she's like Pam Grier, but I'm hoping yes.
Aubrey Knight by Stephen Barnes
3 books 1983-93
Outside the genre, but I wanted to mention it. This is a scifi action series about a null-gravity boxer in the future or something.
Am I missing anything?
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
The Butcher
The Butcher
35 Books
Pinnacle Books 1971-1982
by Stuart Jason (house name): James Dockery 1-9,12-26; Lee Floren 10-11; Michael Avallone 27-35
The Butcher is Bucher, who only has one name like Cher or Sting, and is pronounced more like "booker", so it doesn't really work. He was left on the doorsteps of a Knoxville church and named after a 16th century theologian. He fell asleep in a train car at the age of ten and ended up on the streets of Chicago. He befriended a mobster's kid and was adopted into the family after the child dies of leukemia. He worked his way up to heading the East Coast division of the Syndicate.
Bucher has an attack of conscience and quits the Syndicate, resulting in a bounty on his head. He was approached by the mysterious government agency White Hat and given an offer to use his skills against the Syndicate. He agrees under the condition that he plays by the Syndicate rules, because having an attack of conscience shouldn't mean you have to stop murdering people.
The Butcher is the first (I think) cash-in on the success of the Executioner, but it has a closer feel to the James Bond knock offs that preceded it, with a bit of Matt Helm and Mike Hammer. I've only read two so far, and they have a weird, almost beat poet vibe to them. They also followed a very specific formula.
In the first chapter Bucher dispatches a team of two Syndicate hitmen, both with depraved back stories. No real action, he just takes them out cowboy style. There is then a country threatening menace that ties into the Syndicate, although the Syndicate doesn't actually make another appearance. In both of the books I read, there is a red herring about scientists creating body doubles.
Reading the Butcher I'm reminded of some of the riffs in the MST3K version of Agent From H.A.R.M.
Mainly about how there are big budget ambitions done on a shoestring. Things like setting and location cost money when you're making a movie, not so much for a book. If anything, I would think it would be easier to write a giant underground base than it would getting into the minutiae of rural Alaska. The Butcher books I've read start off with large scale menaces, but Bucher mainly ends up puttering around and failing to keep people around him from being murdered.
The Stuart Jason name was also attached to several Mandingo style plantation exploiters, presumably also written by Dockery. I've heard the Avallone books are an improvement, so we'll see.
Much more at Spy Guys and Gals.
35 Books
Pinnacle Books 1971-1982
by Stuart Jason (house name): James Dockery 1-9,12-26; Lee Floren 10-11; Michael Avallone 27-35
The Butcher is Bucher, who only has one name like Cher or Sting, and is pronounced more like "booker", so it doesn't really work. He was left on the doorsteps of a Knoxville church and named after a 16th century theologian. He fell asleep in a train car at the age of ten and ended up on the streets of Chicago. He befriended a mobster's kid and was adopted into the family after the child dies of leukemia. He worked his way up to heading the East Coast division of the Syndicate.
Bucher has an attack of conscience and quits the Syndicate, resulting in a bounty on his head. He was approached by the mysterious government agency White Hat and given an offer to use his skills against the Syndicate. He agrees under the condition that he plays by the Syndicate rules, because having an attack of conscience shouldn't mean you have to stop murdering people.
The Butcher is the first (I think) cash-in on the success of the Executioner, but it has a closer feel to the James Bond knock offs that preceded it, with a bit of Matt Helm and Mike Hammer. I've only read two so far, and they have a weird, almost beat poet vibe to them. They also followed a very specific formula.
In the first chapter Bucher dispatches a team of two Syndicate hitmen, both with depraved back stories. No real action, he just takes them out cowboy style. There is then a country threatening menace that ties into the Syndicate, although the Syndicate doesn't actually make another appearance. In both of the books I read, there is a red herring about scientists creating body doubles.
Reading the Butcher I'm reminded of some of the riffs in the MST3K version of Agent From H.A.R.M.
Mainly about how there are big budget ambitions done on a shoestring. Things like setting and location cost money when you're making a movie, not so much for a book. If anything, I would think it would be easier to write a giant underground base than it would getting into the minutiae of rural Alaska. The Butcher books I've read start off with large scale menaces, but Bucher mainly ends up puttering around and failing to keep people around him from being murdered.
The Stuart Jason name was also attached to several Mandingo style plantation exploiters, presumably also written by Dockery. I've heard the Avallone books are an improvement, so we'll see.
Much more at Spy Guys and Gals.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Author Overview - Richard Laymon
Richard Laymon began his horror career with 1980s The Cellar and produced some 50 novels and tons of short stories before his untimely death in 2001. I'd only heard of him relatively recently - for some reason he missed his place with other 80s horror paperback greats, though he reportedly found more success in England than in his native US.
His books are known for their over the top sex and violence, but it's the way he does it that stands out. While other authors seem to relish pushing or crossing boundaries like a rebellious child, with Laymon it's more like he innocently didn't know these boundaries existed. Like he didn't know you're supposed to have the child rape happen off page, or that it's silly to have the women fleeing said child rapist hook up with a hit man at a house where monster's live.
This is a good thing. There's all the gore and depravity of your typical splatterpunk outing, but it's more matter of fact than in your face.
This is Laymon at his best. At his worst, there are hundreds of pages of padded out interior monologues of annoying people. The characters are supposed to be annoying, or petty, or in frustrating situations, but he just goes on and on. This seems to get worse further down his career, if the trajectory of his Beast House Chronicles is any indication. By the last installment, there is hundred pages of a guy wanting to ditch his girlfriend and ask out a tour guide for every one page of monster penis biting (that's a monster with a penis that bites, not a monster that bites penises).
With the monologues comes another Laymon standby - juvenile sexuality. A lot of voyeurism and copping sneaky feels, not so much actual doing it. This is perfectly at home in this setting, and supports his atmosphere of being innocent and depraved at the same time.
More at Richard Laymon Kills
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Weird Menace
During the thirties and early forties, peaking from 1934-7, there was a glorious period in the pulps where the promises of the lurid pulp covers came true in the content of the stories. Weird Menace, also called the Shudder Pulps, evolved out of the detective pulps and influenced by Grand Guignol theater. The stories were formulaic in the extreme, and reading these tales in collections by author can get very repetitive.
They're told almost exclusively in first person by an average Joe. He, usually accompanied by his fiance, visit some small town to cash in on an inheritance or such. Some kind of supernatural menace threatens them, with a variation having the hero thinking he is responsible. The hero is captured or knocked out, his girl is disrobed and faces a grisly end, before the villain is revealed to be mortal and after land/inheritance/the girl, in what is now known as the Scooby Doo ending.
There is a surprising amount of gore and violence for the time in these titles, which is what led to their inevitable downfall. Some elements seeped into pulp hero titles like G-4 and the Spider.
The biggest Weird Menace titles were Dime Mystery, Terror Tales, Horror Tales, and Thrilling Mystery. Other smaller titles include Strange Tales, Uncanny Tales, Mystery Novels, and Marvel Tales. There was a brief revival in the 1960s with Web Terror Stories and Shock Mystery.
As with other pulps, the Weird Menace writers wrote in several genres under several different names. For some reason, my favorite tales were written by writers better known for science fiction. Authors include: Henry Kuttner, John H. Knox, Arthur Leo Zagat, Hugh Cave, Nat Schachner, Arthur J. Burks, Wyatt Blassingame, Novell Page, Emile Tepperman, Russell Gray, HM Appel and Robert E Howard
Author collections are available at Ramblehouse. These are excellent collections, though it requires ordering via paypal.
Radioarchives.com also has several ebook collections, including single titles, available on their website and Amazon.com. There are a few at Altus Press.
Other places to look include Pulpgen, Munseys, Mobileread, Gutenberg Australia, and Archive.org
They're told almost exclusively in first person by an average Joe. He, usually accompanied by his fiance, visit some small town to cash in on an inheritance or such. Some kind of supernatural menace threatens them, with a variation having the hero thinking he is responsible. The hero is captured or knocked out, his girl is disrobed and faces a grisly end, before the villain is revealed to be mortal and after land/inheritance/the girl, in what is now known as the Scooby Doo ending.
There is a surprising amount of gore and violence for the time in these titles, which is what led to their inevitable downfall. Some elements seeped into pulp hero titles like G-4 and the Spider.
The biggest Weird Menace titles were Dime Mystery, Terror Tales, Horror Tales, and Thrilling Mystery. Other smaller titles include Strange Tales, Uncanny Tales, Mystery Novels, and Marvel Tales. There was a brief revival in the 1960s with Web Terror Stories and Shock Mystery.
As with other pulps, the Weird Menace writers wrote in several genres under several different names. For some reason, my favorite tales were written by writers better known for science fiction. Authors include: Henry Kuttner, John H. Knox, Arthur Leo Zagat, Hugh Cave, Nat Schachner, Arthur J. Burks, Wyatt Blassingame, Novell Page, Emile Tepperman, Russell Gray, HM Appel and Robert E Howard
Author collections are available at Ramblehouse. These are excellent collections, though it requires ordering via paypal.
Radioarchives.com also has several ebook collections, including single titles, available on their website and Amazon.com. There are a few at Altus Press.
Other places to look include Pulpgen, Munseys, Mobileread, Gutenberg Australia, and Archive.org
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
The Bounty Hunter Series
The Bounty Hunter by Tiny Boyles and Hank Nuwer
The Bounty Hunter series grew out of a 1979 article in soft porn mag Oui magazine about Tiny Boyles, a fat, hairy, tough guy bounty hunter who evidently has a habit of embellishment.
Playboy Paperbacks got non-fiction writer and journalist Hank Nuwer to ride along with Tiny and write a series of action novels very, very loosely based on his exploits.
The hero of the series is Tiny Ryder, the fat hairy ex-biker bounty hunter. He's assisted by the near mute Hammer and two of his friends from the orphanage: country western musician Jerry Jeffers and journalist Foster Foster. Tiny works for Hollywood bondsman and Mormon Joey Hudson, although he spends little time actually tracking fugitives.
Most of the wordage is spent on banter and anecdotes amongst the gang, which is very well done, making me wish that Nuwer did more fiction - he specializes in non-fiction about sports and hazing. There's a decent amount of action, but Nuwer tends to rush through it, ending action sequences within a page or two. Also, lots of sex, probably at the demand of Playboy Paperbacks.
This is the most unsettling part, as it shift in tone from friendly good-ol'-boy rutting to brutal underage rape within a few pages, making this possibly the sleaziest Men's Adventure series.
1 The Deadliest Profession 1981
2 A Killing Trade 1981
3 Wild Ride 1982
4 Blood Mountain 1982
Here's Mr. Nuwer's recollections on his website.
The Bounty Hunter series grew out of a 1979 article in soft porn mag Oui magazine about Tiny Boyles, a fat, hairy, tough guy bounty hunter who evidently has a habit of embellishment.
Playboy Paperbacks got non-fiction writer and journalist Hank Nuwer to ride along with Tiny and write a series of action novels very, very loosely based on his exploits.
The hero of the series is Tiny Ryder, the fat hairy ex-biker bounty hunter. He's assisted by the near mute Hammer and two of his friends from the orphanage: country western musician Jerry Jeffers and journalist Foster Foster. Tiny works for Hollywood bondsman and Mormon Joey Hudson, although he spends little time actually tracking fugitives.
Most of the wordage is spent on banter and anecdotes amongst the gang, which is very well done, making me wish that Nuwer did more fiction - he specializes in non-fiction about sports and hazing. There's a decent amount of action, but Nuwer tends to rush through it, ending action sequences within a page or two. Also, lots of sex, probably at the demand of Playboy Paperbacks.
This is the most unsettling part, as it shift in tone from friendly good-ol'-boy rutting to brutal underage rape within a few pages, making this possibly the sleaziest Men's Adventure series.
1 The Deadliest Profession 1981
2 A Killing Trade 1981
3 Wild Ride 1982
4 Blood Mountain 1982
Here's Mr. Nuwer's recollections on his website.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
The Phantom Detective
The Phantom Detective
The Phantom Detective was the second pulp hero, the first to come in the wake of the Shadow and just barely beating out Doc Savage. It's one of the most numerous in installments (170 issues) and the longest lasting (1933-53). He was written by a variety of authors under the house names G. Wayman Jones and Robert Wallace.
The Phantom, as he was called in the text, is Richard Curtis Van Loan, a wealthy playboy who trained his body and mind to be a world famous detective when he couldn't return to his idle life after World War One. He's an expert in disguise, ventriloquy, forensics, and escape. He has the unerring ability to detect if someone is lying, except for all the times that he doesn't. He carries a miniature disguise kit, has a badge to prove his identity to law enforcement, and the authorities use a rooftop spotlight to contact him. He's depicted on the cover in a domino mask, tuxedo, and top hat, but he spends most of his adventures in disguise.
A bit tamer than the Shadow or Doc Savage, but more flavorful than the usual amateur detective.
The Phantom Detective was the second pulp hero, the first to come in the wake of the Shadow and just barely beating out Doc Savage. It's one of the most numerous in installments (170 issues) and the longest lasting (1933-53). He was written by a variety of authors under the house names G. Wayman Jones and Robert Wallace.
The Phantom, as he was called in the text, is Richard Curtis Van Loan, a wealthy playboy who trained his body and mind to be a world famous detective when he couldn't return to his idle life after World War One. He's an expert in disguise, ventriloquy, forensics, and escape. He has the unerring ability to detect if someone is lying, except for all the times that he doesn't. He carries a miniature disguise kit, has a badge to prove his identity to law enforcement, and the authorities use a rooftop spotlight to contact him. He's depicted on the cover in a domino mask, tuxedo, and top hat, but he spends most of his adventures in disguise.
A bit tamer than the Shadow or Doc Savage, but more flavorful than the usual amateur detective.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Jerry Ahern
Jerry Ahern (1946-2012) was a Men's Adventure author best known for the Survivalist series. His fiction was workmanlike - well plotted with well crafted action scenes, but he was just too restrained for my taste. He excelled in plotting stories over a series - each book worked when read individually as they carried out a long term story.
Some characteristics:
Not too much gun porn, but a ton of holster porn. Holsters, sheaths, and scabbards mentioned by brand and described in detail every time a weapon went in or out.
Ahern mentioned Detonics weapons like he had stock in the company. Which, seeing as he was their president for several years, he probably did.
Ahern is a great example of writing right-wing fantasies without being a bigot. If anything his books had a forced multi-racialism, with every color of the rainbow being represented.
When making up names of tertiary characters, Ahern usually went Polish. There are like five "-ski"s in the Defender series alone.
Ahern had strong female characters, at least for the genre. I assume the credit goes to the influence of his wife and co-author Sharon Ahern. A lot of little female touches, mainly having to do with periods or bra straps and stuff.
The following non-series books were all co-authored with Sharon Ahern:
Non-fiction:
Additionally, Ahern was a columnist for several firearm magazines.
Learn more at http://www.jerryahern.com/, still updated by Sharon Ahern.
Some characteristics:
Not too much gun porn, but a ton of holster porn. Holsters, sheaths, and scabbards mentioned by brand and described in detail every time a weapon went in or out.
Ahern mentioned Detonics weapons like he had stock in the company. Which, seeing as he was their president for several years, he probably did.
Ahern is a great example of writing right-wing fantasies without being a bigot. If anything his books had a forced multi-racialism, with every color of the rainbow being represented.
When making up names of tertiary characters, Ahern usually went Polish. There are like five "-ski"s in the Defender series alone.
Ahern had strong female characters, at least for the genre. I assume the credit goes to the influence of his wife and co-author Sharon Ahern. A lot of little female touches, mainly having to do with periods or bra straps and stuff.
- They Call Me the Mercenary (as Axel Kilgor, 18 books, 1980-4)
- The Survivalist (34ish books, 1981-1993,2013-)
- Track (10 books, 1984-5)
- Takers (3 books, with Sharon Ahern, 1984-2001)
- Defender (12 books, 1988-90)
- Surgical Strike (3 books, 1988-90)
The following non-series books were all co-authored with Sharon Ahern:
- The Freeman (1986)
- Miamigrad (1987)
- Brandywine (1988)
- The Yakusa Tattoo (1988)
- WerewolveSS (1990)
- The Kamikaze Legacy (1990)
- The Golden Shield of the IBF (1999)
- The Illegal Man (2004)
- Written in Time (2010)
Non-fiction:
- CCW: Carrying Concealed Weapons: How to Carry Concealed Weapons and Know When Others Are (1996)
- Survive!: The Disaster, Crisis and Emergency Handbook (2010)
- Armed for Personal Defense (2010)
- Gun Digest Buyer's Guide to Concealed-Carry Handguns (2010)
- Defend Your Home (2011)
Additionally, Ahern was a columnist for several firearm magazines.
Learn more at http://www.jerryahern.com/, still updated by Sharon Ahern.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Post-Apocalyptic Men's Adventure
In the 1980s, Men's Adventure fiction began to move away from vigilantism and crime and towards militarism and anti-terrorism. Another direction it took was towards post-apocalyptic and survivalist fiction. Post-apocalyptic fiction is a much broader category, but within that umbrella there were several series of Men's Adventure paperbacks that were oriented more towards action than science fiction.
Many, such as The Survivalist and Ashes, start before the apocalypse, while others like Deathlands and Doomsday Warrior are set in a future wasteland. Many are Road Warrior knock offs. Cold War paranoia is in full bloom here, and the Russians often remain the enemy.
Some recurring themes:
Blaming liberals: America was destroyed because liberals were too cowardly to preemptively murder the entire eastern hemisphere.
Showing up the exes: So, you left me because I spent the kids' college fund on dried MREs and boxes of gold I buried in the woods? Now who wants in my nuclear bunker, huh?
Rape Gangs: The mushroom clouds are still hovering in the air when the survivors divide themselves into competing themed rape gangs. Food and clean water can come later.
My more or less exhaustive list. Of these, Deathlands and Endworld have survived as of 2014.
- Ashes by William J Johnstone
- Blade by David Robbins
- CADS by John Sievert
- Deathlands by James Axler
- Doomsday Warrior by Ryder Stacy
- Eagleheart by CT Westcott
- Endworld by David Robbins
- Freeway Warrior by Joe Dever
- The Guardians by Richard Austin
- Last Ranger by Craig Sargent
- Last Rangers by Jake Davis
- The Marauders by Michael McGann
- Mutants Amok by Mark Grant
- Outrider by Richard Harding
- Phoenix by David Alexander
- Roadblaster by Paul Hofrichter
- Steele by JD Masters
- The Survivalist by Jerry Ahern
- Swampmaster by Jake Spencer
- Traveler by DB Drumm
- Warlord by Jason Frost
- Wingman by Mark Maloney
- The Zone by James Rouch
More, in broader strokes, at http://www.apocalypsebooks.com/
Friday, February 28, 2014
Piccadilly Cowboys
The Picadilly Cowboys were a group of British writers who gathered in a pub in Picadilly in London and wrote a series of violent, brutal western paperbacks in the 1970s and 80s. Writing under various house names, they were Terry Harknett, Laurence James, Mike Linaker, Angus Wells, Ken Bulmer, John Harvey and Fred Nolan.
Much like the serial vigilante genre is a collection of copies, knock offs, and permutations of Don Pendleton's Executioner series, the Picadilly Cowboy genre spun off of the successful Edge series by George Gilman (Terry Harknett).
These ran parallel to other Men's Adventure paperbacks of the era, and had the same feel. They drew their tone from the spaghetti western films, only much more brutal. The protagonists were not anti-heroes, or amoral drifters with their own personal code. They were at their kindest violent bullies, and at their worst outright villains.
The plots were incredibly cliche, but the stories stood out for the massive amounts of gore and violence, which puts most horror novels to shame. It was obvious the writers were having a lot of fun with it, and were likely trying to outdo each other. It wasn't unusual for a single gunshot wound to be described over the course of a full page.
Titles are easy to get in used bookstores, though it can be difficult to wade through the Western section to find these gems. Many have been recently reprinted in cheap ebook editions by Piccadilly Publishing.
Here are the series titles with their credited author name. There may be a couple of yanks mixed in here that share the same vibe.
Much like the serial vigilante genre is a collection of copies, knock offs, and permutations of Don Pendleton's Executioner series, the Picadilly Cowboy genre spun off of the successful Edge series by George Gilman (Terry Harknett).
These ran parallel to other Men's Adventure paperbacks of the era, and had the same feel. They drew their tone from the spaghetti western films, only much more brutal. The protagonists were not anti-heroes, or amoral drifters with their own personal code. They were at their kindest violent bullies, and at their worst outright villains.
The plots were incredibly cliche, but the stories stood out for the massive amounts of gore and violence, which puts most horror novels to shame. It was obvious the writers were having a lot of fun with it, and were likely trying to outdo each other. It wasn't unusual for a single gunshot wound to be described over the course of a full page.
Titles are easy to get in used bookstores, though it can be difficult to wade through the Western section to find these gems. Many have been recently reprinted in cheap ebook editions by Piccadilly Publishing.
Here are the series titles with their credited author name. There may be a couple of yanks mixed in here that share the same vibe.
- Edge by George G Gilman
- Steele by George G Gilman
- Angel by Frederick H Christian
- Apache by William M. James
- Breed by James A. Muir
- Bodie by Neil Hunter
- Caleb Thorn by LJ Coburn
- Claw by Mathew Kirk
- Crow by James W Marvin
- Cutter by Duff McCoy
- Gringos by JD Sandon
- Gunslinger by Charles C Garrett
- Hart by John B Harvey
- Hawk by William S Brady
- Herne the Hunter by John McLaglen
- Jubal Cade by Charles R Pike
- Lawmen by JB Dancer
- Peacemaker by William S Brady
- Six-Gun Samurai by Patrick Lee
- Undertaker by George G Gilman
More at Vault of Evil.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Mack Bolan, the Executioner
Mack Bolan, the Executioner
The grandaddy of the Men's Adventure genre, the series that started it all, and the only one still in print.
The series was started by Don Pendleton in 1969 with War Against the Mafia. Pendleton wrote 37 of the first 38 installments, though he may have contracted out some of the writing duties. These, the best of the series, had Bolan as lone vigilante fighting the mafia.
Bolan is a Vietnam vet who comes home for leave when most of his family is killed. His father had gone into debt to the mafia, and his sister had turned to prostitution to pay it off. Shamed, his father killed his daughter, wife, and himself, leaving Mack and his high school aged brother (who is promptly forgotten about).
Bolan goes AWOL and begins his war on the mafia, usually with a combination of sniper attacks and infiltrating their ranks. It becomes a running joke that anyone that aids Bolan ends up as "turkey meat", a made up slang term for the bodies left over from mafia torturers.
Bolan avoids Bruce Wayne syndrome and quickly admits to himself that he isn't doing any of this for his dead family. Once the war starts and there's a price on his head, he figures he's a dead man, and that fatalism gives him a boldness and carefree attitude at times. This is helped by Pendleton's occasional poetic flourishes.
Bolan wears a tight black outfit, has a war journal, and drives a tricked out van called his war wagon. If any of this sounds familiar to Marvel fans, the Punisher is a shameless copy.
Pendleton's Bolan also had regular one night stands (ala James Bond) who more often than not met a bad end (ala James Bond). Many of these encounters were with mafia prostitutes. Like, you know, his sister.
Then the 80s happened. Pendleton left, Bolan sold out and joined a shadowy government agency Stony Man and turned his attention to terrorism and communism. The focus went from vigilantism to military fiction, as did Men's Adventure in general.
There were two spin offs, Phoenix Force (51 books, 4 SuperPhoenix Force books) and Able Team (51 books, 2 Super Able Team books), both military group titles. They were kind of combined into Stony Man (130+ books), which is still ongoing.
Bolan himself still headlines two titles, Executioner (425+ books) and SuperBolan aka Mack Bolan aka Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan (165+ books).
While I prefer the original Mafia Wars installments, it's good to see some remnant of serial Men's Adventure survive long enough to take advantage of the 21st century. Reasonable digital editions are available at Amazon
.
More at the official Gold Eagle site and a superior fan site Mackbolan.com
The grandaddy of the Men's Adventure genre, the series that started it all, and the only one still in print.
The series was started by Don Pendleton in 1969 with War Against the Mafia. Pendleton wrote 37 of the first 38 installments, though he may have contracted out some of the writing duties. These, the best of the series, had Bolan as lone vigilante fighting the mafia.
Bolan is a Vietnam vet who comes home for leave when most of his family is killed. His father had gone into debt to the mafia, and his sister had turned to prostitution to pay it off. Shamed, his father killed his daughter, wife, and himself, leaving Mack and his high school aged brother (who is promptly forgotten about).
Bolan goes AWOL and begins his war on the mafia, usually with a combination of sniper attacks and infiltrating their ranks. It becomes a running joke that anyone that aids Bolan ends up as "turkey meat", a made up slang term for the bodies left over from mafia torturers.
Bolan avoids Bruce Wayne syndrome and quickly admits to himself that he isn't doing any of this for his dead family. Once the war starts and there's a price on his head, he figures he's a dead man, and that fatalism gives him a boldness and carefree attitude at times. This is helped by Pendleton's occasional poetic flourishes.
Bolan wears a tight black outfit, has a war journal, and drives a tricked out van called his war wagon. If any of this sounds familiar to Marvel fans, the Punisher is a shameless copy.
Pendleton's Bolan also had regular one night stands (ala James Bond) who more often than not met a bad end (ala James Bond). Many of these encounters were with mafia prostitutes. Like, you know, his sister.
Then the 80s happened. Pendleton left, Bolan sold out and joined a shadowy government agency Stony Man and turned his attention to terrorism and communism. The focus went from vigilantism to military fiction, as did Men's Adventure in general.
There were two spin offs, Phoenix Force (51 books, 4 SuperPhoenix Force books) and Able Team (51 books, 2 Super Able Team books), both military group titles. They were kind of combined into Stony Man (130+ books), which is still ongoing.
Bolan himself still headlines two titles, Executioner (425+ books) and SuperBolan aka Mack Bolan aka Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan (165+ books).
While I prefer the original Mafia Wars installments, it's good to see some remnant of serial Men's Adventure survive long enough to take advantage of the 21st century. Reasonable digital editions are available at Amazon
.More at the official Gold Eagle site and a superior fan site Mackbolan.com
Author Overview: Joseph Rosenberger
Joseph Rosenberger (1925-1993)
aka Joseph R. Rosenberger PhD; Joe Rosenberger; Jose Rosenberger; Lee Chang
Joseph Rosenberger is best known for the Death Merchant series, and for writing like a bigoted, drunken reactionary. To modern audiences his rants against the evils of communism such as the metric system seem like parody, but no, I'm afraid he's the real deal.
He's known for convoluted and sometimes poetic descriptions of physical violence (lines like "the bullet hole in his forehead made him look stupid for forgetting not to get killed") as well as the occasional mystical bent.
He claims to have written for the original Weird Tales, but if he did it was under an unknown pseudonym.
He wrote some non-fiction articles for Fate Magazine. One I read was a standard pole-shift, meteor strike cataclysm piece with a slight Christian angle.
Some other 60s non-fiction oddities of his include:
Smoke Without Panic: The Truth About the Smoking Scare (1966)
Bestiality (1968)
Sex Kicks of the Watchers (1968)
Confessions of the Pain Seekers (1969)
The Demon Lovers: A Psychosexual Study of Witchcraft and Demonology (1969)
The Young Deviates
His bread and butter for the next two decades was the Death Merchant (70 books plus one super sized special, 1972-88). Other series include:
Kung Fu starring Mace (5 books, 1973-4)
Murder Master (3 books, 1973-4): Blaxploitation fiction from the man who called Mr. T a bur-head. I'm sure that went over well.
He evidently wrote some non-fiction "how to kill people" type books for Paladin Press under the name Richard Camellion, the character name of the Death Merchant.
Shadow Warrior (4 books, 1988)
Geneva Force (one off 1988)
and one book of Killmaster Nick Carter, #125
Much more, including interviews, at Glorious Trash.
Joseph Rosenberger at Amazon
aka Joseph R. Rosenberger PhD; Joe Rosenberger; Jose Rosenberger; Lee Chang
Joseph Rosenberger is best known for the Death Merchant series, and for writing like a bigoted, drunken reactionary. To modern audiences his rants against the evils of communism such as the metric system seem like parody, but no, I'm afraid he's the real deal.
He's known for convoluted and sometimes poetic descriptions of physical violence (lines like "the bullet hole in his forehead made him look stupid for forgetting not to get killed") as well as the occasional mystical bent.
He claims to have written for the original Weird Tales, but if he did it was under an unknown pseudonym.
He wrote some non-fiction articles for Fate Magazine. One I read was a standard pole-shift, meteor strike cataclysm piece with a slight Christian angle.
Some other 60s non-fiction oddities of his include:
Smoke Without Panic: The Truth About the Smoking Scare (1966)
Bestiality (1968)
Sex Kicks of the Watchers (1968)
Confessions of the Pain Seekers (1969)
The Demon Lovers: A Psychosexual Study of Witchcraft and Demonology (1969)
The Young Deviates
His bread and butter for the next two decades was the Death Merchant (70 books plus one super sized special, 1972-88). Other series include:
Kung Fu starring Mace (5 books, 1973-4)
Murder Master (3 books, 1973-4): Blaxploitation fiction from the man who called Mr. T a bur-head. I'm sure that went over well.
He evidently wrote some non-fiction "how to kill people" type books for Paladin Press under the name Richard Camellion, the character name of the Death Merchant.
Shadow Warrior (4 books, 1988)
Geneva Force (one off 1988)
and one book of Killmaster Nick Carter, #125
Much more, including interviews, at Glorious Trash.
Joseph Rosenberger at Amazon
Friday, November 22, 2013
Pulp Hero - Dusty Ayres
Pulp Hero: Dusty Ayres
Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds 1934-5
by Robert Sidney Bowen
12 issues
 |
| pulpcovers.com |
While superficially a cash in of the success of G-8 and his Battle Aces, Dusty Ayres, the structure more closely resemble Operator 5. The series is set in the unspecified future, but could just as easily have been set in the present. The Black Invaders have taken over Europe and Asia, and at the begin of the series invade Canada with an eye of invading our border.
They are led by Fire-Eyes, who I picture from his description as basically Bison from Street Fighter. His top pilot is the Black Hawk, which are actually a cadre of similar looking pilots, with a new one filling the top rank as the old are defeated, something Bowen should have probably kept up his sleeve for a later reveal.
The series follows pilot Dusty Ayres and his state of the art plane the Silver Flash. Ayres is refreshing as a pulp hero. Next to the practically-perfect-in-every-way Doc Savage or Operator 5, Ayres is just a pretty good pilot with a lot of spirit. He's also plagued by insecurities of failing missions and letting America down - not quite at Peter Parker levels, but a nice change from the smug confidence of most other pulp heroes.
And whereas Operator 5 has a letter from the president and everyone in the country will do exactly what he wants, Ayres spends as much time fighting military bureaucracy as much as the Black Invaders.
The plots are formulaic to the extreme, at least in the first three issues I've read. Ayres follows orders to fly somewhere. Something goes wrong. Ayres gains information about the Black Invaders new strategy or weapon. Ayres is captured, questioned, and escapes with the help of deep cover Agent 10. Ayres fights to get some general to believe him, and his intel is valuable in repelling an invasion attempt.
The villains and their sci-fi weapons such as mini-tanks and giant poison gas curtains aren't all that particularly out there, but the action is serviceable, and doesn't get as monotonous as I would expect aerial dogfights to be.
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