The Beast of Nightfall Lodge by S.A. Sidor

The follow-up to Fury From the Tomb begins in 1920, almost 35 years after the events of that first book. A mature Rom Hardy and Evangeline Waterson of the Institute for Singular Antiquities are reminiscing about prior adventures when Evangeline decides she wants to hear Rom’s version of one particular adventure having to do with a Beast at Nightfall Lodge back in 1890 in the mountains surrounding Raton New Mexico. The rest of the book describes that adventure in full detail.

This is a solid sequel to the first book, continuing the over-the-top plot and style. The main story involves a wealthy big-game hunter who seeks the ultimate kill. No not a human being…that’s been done to death. Instead, he hunts “the Beast”, a supernatural wendigo-type monster. To aid him in the hunt, he invites a number of guests to join in, including a huge hulking mountain man with a trained grizzly bear, a wild west gunslinger, a snake-oil salesman/inventor, a mute Native American, and a man claiming to be Billy the Kid (although the Kid had been killed by Pat Garrett several years previously -- sure looks like him though...). And of course, all four of Rom Hardy’s team from book one are invited as well. The prize for who can capture the Beast? The true and authentic golden calf idol from when Moses went up Mt Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. Wouldn’t that be a fine addition to the Institute for Singular Antiquities!

What follows is a rollicking adventure mixed with gruesome horror, humor and supernatural injections of lycanthropy, séances, and resurrecting the dead. Once again, there is a lot of plot packed in to this one novel but somehow the author manages to make it a coherent story. It blends the best of Indiana Jones, the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, the weird-west genre, and classic Universal monster movies.

This is modern pulp adventure done right. It’s fun reading all the way through and I certainly hope there are more to come in this series.

Fury From the Tomb by S.A. Sidor

Romulus “Rom” Hardy is a young Egyptologist in 1886, working out of New York, and has just received an endowment to lead a team of discovery to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.  Once there, the team makes a startling discovery including five coffins and an over-large sarcophagus.  But upon returning to the US, it is clear that a fabled curse is all too real.

Thus begins this first-in-a-series novel that strives to blend the best of Indiana Jones, the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, the weird-west genre, and classic Universal monster movies.  And, for the most part, it succeeds.  I love all these sorts of adventure fiction themes and styles so I may be a bit prejudice towards liking this book.  Throw in cursed Egyptian mummies, Mexican banditos, Chinese vampires, bloated slickened worms the size of silos, asps, killer train wrecks, horseback-riding grave eaters – one with a flamenco guitar! and much more and you start to get the idea of what a mash-up story this is.  About the only thing missing is a gang of undead Caribbean pirates.  Perhaps in book two…

One might think this was all just too much to cram into a single novel but I didn’t feel that way at all.  It’s written in a style that reminds me a lot of Lovecraft, especially the horror aspects, and I thought it all held together quite well.  But the addition of three other main characters really brings out the emotional humanity of the plot.  A pretty occultist librarian, a gun-toting rebel of the old west, and an orphaned Chinese busboy round out the cast and their teamwork is fun to watch develop.

I recognize this sort of over-the-top adventure novel is not for everyone.  But if you want to take a chance on a pulpy throwback to the classics of yesteryear, this would be a good one to try.  The main story does conclude in this volume but it is easy to see how other books could flow forth. 

I’m looking forward to number two in the series.