Pulp Apocalypse by Justin Marriott

Once again, the Justin Marriott team has produced an in-depth look at a specific sub-genre of men’s adventure fiction, this time with an edition devoted entirely to post-apocalyptic fiction. There is a wonderful mix of topics in here, covering the full gamut and will serve as a must-have companion volume for those readers who dig this stuff. 

Features include articles covering entire series such as Traveler, Roadmaster, Endworld, Deathlands, Wasteworld, Phoenix, Swampmaster and many more. There are in depth interviews with leading authors such as Laurence James (the original James Axler who launched Deathlands), Jan Stacy (author behind The Last Ranger series and co-author of The Doomsday Warrior series), David Robbins (author of the Endworld series and Blade series not to mention the lengthy Wilderness western series). I could go on and on. Rounding things out are a look at the Prepper movement, several apocalyptic comics, and a number of single novel reviews. 

Fans will want to snatch this up but I think one of the major benefits of these kind of publications are the way they can entice those readers who are unfamiliar with the sub-genre or perhaps have been flirting with diving in but are not sure where to start. There are plenty of opinions offered within these pages by knowledgeable readers and authors, and of course opinions may differ. But just to read through them provides a nice education in the subject matter.

Full disclosure: I have a few reviews included in this volume but a tiny percentage of the overall content.

Second Generation by Howard Fast

Another page-turner by Howard Fast. Following up the first book in the series, (The Immigrants), as the title would imply, this is about the children of the Lavette family, particularly Barbara, that takes center stage this time. She makes for a good protagonist because she has trouble deciding what to do with her life and therefore tries everything under the sun. The novel takes place during the depression-era 1930s and on through World War II, so there is plenty of adventure to attract her, including several lengthy trips to foreign countries as part of her budding writing and journalism career.

But it’s not all about the younger set. There is still plenty of drama for the first generation to go through as well, particularly Dan, the main protagonist of book one. Additionally, I was surprised to see the turn that his first wife, the aristocratic Jean took, turning from a rather boilerplate character into a really interesting one.

This series continues to be a well-done portrayal of a family saga of immigrants wrestling with the tumultuous events of America in the 20th century.  Some seek wealth or power while others seek purpose in life. Some achieve their goals while others miss the mark. Some lives are cut short. But always, the plot remains unpredictable.

Happily, there are several more books in the series, as I’ve become attached to the characters and am anxious to see what happens next. For me that's just about the highest praise I can offer.

The Loner (Edge Series) by George G. Gilman

Being the first novel of the lengthy "Edge" series I suppose you could look at this as the origin story for the rest of the books. But really that is covered in the first couple of chapters as Captain Josiah Hedges returns from the Civil War to his family farm in Iowa only to discover that his little brother had been brutally murdered.  Josiah's vendetta towards the five men who did it (who also served under his command in the Union Army) drives him into becoming the killer character we all know and love as "Edge".

Most of the novel is, predictably, about Edge following the trail of the five men, getting into brief bits of trouble along the way, and eventually catching up to them in Arizona Territory. The finale is a nice payoff and serves well to set up the rest of the series. 

This is my first "Piccadilly Cowboy" western, a moniker shared by a handful of British authors in the 1970's and 80's who themselves never set foot in America. Terry Harknett, the author behind the George G. Gilman pseudonym was the most successful of all. I'm happy I finally took the plunge into the Edge series. More will certainly follow.

Ambush! by Steve Mackenzie

Kevin D. Randle has more than 80 books to his credit, mostly in the field of UFOs where today, he is considered a prominent expert. But in the 1980’s he wrote a series of 14 novels about US Navy SEALS in Vietnam under the pseudonym, Steve MacKenzie. In Vietnam, Randle piloted UH-1 helicopters based at Cu Chi, and Tay Ninh. His knowledge and experience in Vietnam and later in Iraq is evident in this series.

This first novel in the series opens with US Navy Lieutenant Mark Tynan having trained up a new group of SEALs in preparation for action during the Vietnam conflict. But he knows there is no substitute for real combat in a wartime situation so he prepares a sort of “final exam”, infiltrating enemy lines and ambushing a small group of VC. While their mission is a success, they uncover what appears to be a large surprise operation in Hobo Woods to take out Fire-Support Base Crockett. Tynan’s attempts to warn his superiors fall on deaf ears; seems the intel folks don’t like to pass on unsubstantiated rumors. So Tynan takes his squad of rookies along with a couple of experienced SEALS and attempt to scuttle the surprise VC action before it can get started.

I really enjoyed this novel, far more than I expected to. LT Tynan demonstrates excellent leadership skills time and again and his SEALS are extremely competent warriors, although they aren’t perfect. In typical SEAL fashion, they implement creative solutions rather than brute force firepower. But when it’s called for, the military action is intense. Not all of the characters make it through the culminating battle but I’m looking forward to book two to see what’s next for the survivors.

Voyagers: Twelve Journeys Through Space and Time by Robert Silverberg

Robert Silverberg is well known as a grand master of science fiction and while he has written in other genres, it is his science fiction tales that have made him a legend. With a career spanning more than 60 years, his longevity is matched only by his productivity. From 1956 to 1959, he routinely averaged five published stories a month, and he had over 80 stories published in 1958 alone. While his novels have garnered much acclaim, I believe it is his short stories and novellas (his favorite form) that have propelled him into the stratosphere. 

This collection of 12 stories provides excellent examples from his body of work, traversing most of his career.  The theme is, obviously “voyaging” or “traveling” in one form or another. Silverberg himself is an experienced world traveler, and many of these tales reflect ideas he first garnered on his own journeys. These stories reflect various concepts of “voyaging” such as travelling to the far corners of the universe, time travelling, or even travelling into the depths of one’s own soul. They have all appeared in published form before, often in magazines such as “Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine”, “Amazing Stories”, or in various anthologies. Each story includes a nice introduction by the author describing how and when it came to be.

Over the past few years, I have been straying further and further away from my youthful love of science fiction. Lured away by other interesting genres perhaps or maybe just choosing poor samples. Often, I seem to run into science fiction stories that sacrifice good storytelling (characterization, plotting, pacing, etc.) in favor of too much detail. Many times, it seems authors are more interested in trying to show how smart they are than in telling a good story. Happily, this collection is not like that. Here, Silverberg displays his range, showing different styles, different levels of “hard science”. There are a couple of ‘literary’ examples here as well as less serious yarns but always, always, there is a good, compelling story that kept me turning the pages. I am pleased to say that it has reignited that feeling I once had about science fiction and I plan to dive into the genre more readily in the future than I have for quite some time.

Highly recommended.