Showing posts with label anthology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anthology. Show all posts

Friday, November 17, 2023

The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team & Other Stories by Joe R. Lansdale

Joe R. Lansdale has always been one of my go-to authors when I need something “different.” In this book, he mentions that he likes writing both novels and short stories but if he had to choose, he would write only short stories. His love for the form is on full display here and this collection offers some of his best.

Contrary to other reviews I’ve seen for this book, these are not all new stories. Most, according to the information at the back of the book, details where and when the stories first appeared. They range from horror ‘zines like “Fangoria” to popular anthologies to fairly obscure places like “Ferrari Magazine”. Quite a few, including the titular story, were originally published in various anthologies edited by Lawrence Block, which is where I first encountered them. Almost all the stories originated in the last five years.

As for the stories themselves, they vary widely in subject matter, scope, and from serious to silly. Some are gruesome horror pieces, some are intense crime stories, while others can best be described as fables. It’s hard for me to pick favorites but I think I’ll go with the weird westerns due to my own love for that sub-genre. By the way, I owe that love to Joe Lansdale who was among the first writers to delve into such tales back in the 1980s when such stories were still rare. As with any anthology, I enjoyed some of these stories more than others, but I can honestly say, there isn’t a stinker in the bunch. 

Lansdale fans will love this collection from Subterranean Press while those looking for a nice variety of high-quality, thoroughly enjoyable stories should absolutely check it out. It is due to be published in January, 2024.

Sunday, October 22, 2023

The Living Dead - Edited by John Joseph Adams

For zombie literature neophytes, this is an excellent place to start because reading these stories can make one realize there are far more ways to think about zombies than what you may have experienced from George Romero or The Walking Dead. 

John Joseph Adams, as usual has put together a good mix of tales here.  Many are what I would term “literary” while others are heavier on action or the fear factor.  Like most anthologies, some stories are better than others but each one belongs here and serves to round out the sub-sub-genre of zombie horror.  Major authors like Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dan Simmons, Laurell K. Hamilton, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, and George RR Martin offer stories in this anthology but for my money, I tended to prefer the entries by those authors that were new to me.  There are a total of 34 stories included and it is difficult to name my favorites but among them are “This Year’s Class Picture” by Dan Simmons, “Followed” by Will McIntosh, and “How the Day Runs Down” by John Langan.

I read these stories at the rate of one per week, early on Saturday mornings before the rest of my family gets up which is always a good time for me to really get into a story.  I think if I had read one right after another, it would have grown tiresome pretty quickly.  For me this sort of story is best enjoyed in small doses. 

Overall a fairly nice collection of zombie fiction, especially if you prefer a more philosophical approach to the apocalypse. 

Friday, September 22, 2023

West of Dodge - A Western Anthology from Saddlebag Dispatches Magazine

Full Disclosure: I have a story ("Vigilance Committee") published in this volume. My review is based on the entire anthology, taken as a whole.

Saddlebag Dispatches has been publishing western-themed magazines since 2014 and has racked up numerous accolades for the quality of their content, both fiction and non-fiction. For many, it has become the go-to source for up-to-date information on all things western. Happily, they've decided to expand their frontiers by publishing a series of western fiction short-story anthologies. This very first one, published this summer of 2023, features the theme of Dodge City, coinciding with the Summer 2023 edition of the magazine. Future themed anthologies are planned for every six months.

West of Dodge contains short stories from 20 contemporary authors, ranging from vastly experienced writers such as Dusty Richards and Velda Brotherton to the neophyte author. Having read them all, I can honestly say that it's difficult to tell which ones are which.

As expected, several stories take place in Dodge City itself, featuring different time periods in that town's turbulent history. Often, we come across historical characters from Wyatt Earp to Charlie Bassett but more often the stories are about regular folks faced with difficult, if not insurmountable circumstances. Many of the stories do not, however take place in Dodge City but rather roam across the West, fulfilling the title's promise, "West of Dodge". These 20 stories provide a full range of styles, but I can honestly say I enjoyed every one of them. As I do for most anthologies, I chose to read one of these stories between each novel, letting them act as a sort of pallet cleanser. That also keeps these stories fresh for me.

It's great to see new Western-themed anthologies being published once again. This one certainly deserves your further attention.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Faceoff - Edited by David Baldacci

Back in 2013/14, the International Thriller Writers came up with a way to earn money to finance their organization and eliminate dues from members. The result is this first anthology of eleven stories, written by 23 world-class thriller writers for zero compensation. All proceeds of the sale of this book go directly to support the activities of ITW. The idea must have worked because they followed up with MatchUp in 2017.

It’s a cool idea. Each story pairs up two iconic characters from different series. Even though the title is “Faceoff”, they tend to work together during the story, almost always coming away with a healthy respect for the other. That’s good because I would hate to read a story where Repairman Jack actually works against Jack Reacher, for example.

I’ve read most of these authors and feel like I know the characters well. The few I hadn’t read…well, of course now I want to read them too. Most were pretty good tales although a couple of times the plot just to get the two characters to meet each other in the first place was a little too contrived. I listened to this one on audio while driving on a lengthy road trip this past week and the format worked well. Just one story or two at a time depending on what I was in the mood for. David Baldacci served as editor for the book and also read the introductions to each story for the audio version.

For completeness, here is a list of the stories, characters, and authors included in the book:

1) Harry Bosch vs. Patrick Kenzie in “Red Eye,” by Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane

2) John Rebus vs. Roy Grace in “In the Nick of Time,” by Ian Rankin and Peter James

3) Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy vs. Aloysius Pendergast in “Gaslighted,” by R.L. Stine, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child

4) Malachai Samuels vs. D.D. Warren in “The Laughing Buddha,” by M.J. Rose and Lisa Gardner

5) Paul Madriani vs. Alexandra Cooper in “Surfing the Panther,” by Steve Martini and Linda Fairstein

6) Lincoln Rhyme vs. Lucas Davenport in “Rhymes With Prey,” by Jeffery Deaver and John Sandford

7) Michael Quinn vs. Repairman Jack in “Infernal Night,” by Heather Graham and F. Paul Wilson

8) Sean Reilly vs. Glen Garber in “Pit Stop,” by Raymond Khoury and Linwood Barclay

9) Wyatt Hunt vs. Joe Trona in “Silent Hunt,” by John Lescroart and T. Jefferson Parker

10) Cotton Malone vs. Gray Pierce in “The Devil’s Bones,” by Steve Berry and James Rollins

11) Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller in “Good and Valuable Consideration,” by Lee Child and Joseph Finder

Sunday, June 18, 2023

The Green Hornet Casefiles - Edited by Joe Gentile & Win Scott Eckert

Moonstone Books has been putting out some fun and interesting anthologies for quite a while now. After reading the first Green Hornet anthology last year I knew I wanted more of the same, so this second collection has filled my need nicely. There are 18 stories included here as well as a nice introduction by Green Hornet comics writer Ron Fortier.

Authors include both editors, Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert as well as Deborah Chester, Bobby Nash, Bradley Sinor, Paul Storrie, John Everson, Eric Fein, Howard Hopkins (Lance Howard), Joe McKinney and more. Many of these authors are long-time contributors to the comic industry in one form or another but they all share a healthy respect for Green Hornet lore, as evidenced by their work here. Of course, as with most anthologies there were a couple of duds but on the whole, I am very pleased with this collection.

As always, I tend to read one short story between each novel so it will take me a few weeks to go through a volume of this many stories. But it serves well as a palate cleanser and keeps them from being in any way repetitive. Thankfully, there is a third volume out which I already own so I look forward to devouring that as well, sooner rather than later.

Saturday, March 25, 2023

The Fortunes of Brak by John Jakes

John Jakes is well known as the best-selling author of such grand historical fiction series as the Kent Family Chronicles (The Bicentennial series), the North and South trilogy, the Crown Family Saga, and several others.  He was a perineal chart topper of the 1970s and 80s and most of his works seemed destined to be adapted as TV mini-series. But fewer people know that his writing career began in the science fiction and fantasy arena.

Brak the Barbarian is John Jakes’ tribute to the great Robert E. Howard and specifically to the Conan stories.  Jakes wrote these stories in a similar style but perhaps a little more modernized. They are slightly more politically correct than the original Conan stories with the damsels still being in distress but not always quite so dependent on the strong male to rescue them.  Evil magicians, swashbuckling sword fights, narrow escapes…you get the idea.

The Brak series includes both novels as well as short stories.  This particular title is a collection of 5 stories, all of which were first published in various magazines and anthologies:

"Devils in the Walls" (from Fantastic Stories of Imagination v. 12, no. 5, May 1963)

"Ghoul's Garden" (from Flashing Swords! #2, Sep. 1973)

"The Girl in the Gem" (from Fantastic Stories of Imagination v. 14, no. 1, Jan. 1965)

"Brak in Chains" (originally "Storm in a Bottle," from Flashing Swords! #4: Barbarians and Black Magicians, Spring 1977)

"The Mirror of Wizardry" (from Worlds of Fantasy v. 1, no. 1, Sep. 1968)

These stories are not world-changing, thought-provoking, pieces of art, nor are they meant to be. They are, however, fun stories to read and I recommend them to those who enjoy pulp-era sword and sorcery.

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook - Edited by Howard Hopkins

This is a fun collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. They are all crossover cases, meaning prominent figures of fiction and history “crossover” into a Sherlock story and work with Holmes and Watson to solve a case. Guest stars include Professor Challenger, Sexton Blake, Harry Houdini, Dr. Moreau, Arsene Lupin, Lawrence of Arabia, Colonel Savage and more. Contributing authors include giants of the crossover genre like Win Scott Eckert, Will Murray, and Joe Gentile. 

Most of the stories are written along the traditional Sherlockian lines but the final one, “The Adventure of the Lost Specialist” penned by Christopher Sequeira strays into the realm of the weird and strange. Nothing wrong with that and I did like it, but it seems a bit out of place among the rest. My favorite story in the collection is the humorous yarn entitled, “The Haunted Manor” written by Howard Hopkins and featuring Calamity Jane.

I read these over time, not back to back which is the best way for me to avoid burnout on one particular genre. As with all anthologies some stories are more enjoyable than others, but I genuinely liked every tale presented.  Some authors were new to me and so, of course, I now have more stories to seek out.

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Once Upon a Star: The Adventures of Manning Draco, Volume 1 by Kendell Foster Crossen

Manning Draco is the chief insurance investigator for the Greater Solarian Insurance Company, "Monopolated", in the 35th century.  He is called upon to work the most difficult cases of fraud, scams, and circumvent con artists of all types.  This book contains four sequential novellas that feature humorous/zany situations where Draco must exercise his considerable intellect to come up with creative solutions in order to prevent huge inappropriate monetary payouts from his company.  Frequently he rescues his company from poor decisions.

These stories are filled with funny situations and Draco’s snarky, yet friendly personality makes these stories really fun to read.  Since they take place in the far future, the author pulls out all the stops when creating alien species and planetary/cultural governments and cultures.  In fact, it often goes to the point of being absurd but that’s entirely consistent with the zany tone of the stories and just adds to the fun. It’s a bit like combining The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with the Flashman novels but with an insurance investigator plot.  Fun stuff indeed.

These stories were originally published in the early 1950’s in “Thrilling Wonder Stories”.  Author Kendell Foster Crossen may be familiar to readers as the author of the Milo March detective novels under the pseudonym M.E. Chaber. Crossen was incredibly prolific and actually wrote over 400 radio and television dramas, some 300 short stories, 250 non-fiction articles and approximately forty-five novels. He also found the time to write reviews, edit several science fiction collections, and serve as editor for Detective Fiction Weekly.  He was responsible for the creation of  private eyes Brian Brett and Pete Draco, although he's probably best known for creating “The Green Lama”, a costumed vigilante who appeared in the pulps from the forties.

Saturday, October 29, 2022

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard

Another fine collection of short stories from Robert E. Howard accompanied by some truly amazing artwork by Greg Staples. As I always do with these Del Rey collections, I read one story per week (with a few exceptions when I couldn’t resist the urge to read just one more) and thus it has taken me five full months to get through the collection. No doubt I will go into withdrawal now until I start the next set.

There are 60 items within, counting stories, poems, and unfinished fragments. There are, of course, horror elements in all 60 but the range of “horror” is quite vast. We are treated to everything from traditional supernatural tales, to occult horror, to psychological scares. Occasionally we encounter characters we’ve come across before, including Solomon Kane and Steve Costigan but for the most part these are all unique, stand-alone stories that demonstrate the amazing versatility of this gifted writer. There is even a story that ties in to HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos (not surprising given the pair’s well-known long-term correspondence).

No doubt I will return to these stories from time to time, just like my other REH collections. They never seem to get old.

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

The Hunter From the Woods by Robert McCammon

Having read Robert McCammon’s outstanding WWII/adventure/thriller/werewolf/spy novel The Wolf's Hour earlier this month I knew I had to find and read the “sequel” as soon as possible.  The character of Michael Gallatin and his story was just so rich with possibilities that I was thrilled to discover there was another book.  And, still, to this day, I have yet to read a disappointing book by Robert McCammon.

This book is not another novel, however. It is a collection of 6 stories, all very much connected to one another (as well as with the original novel) but each depicting a different episode in Michael’s intriguing life.  Essentially all six stories fill in his background, mostly taking place during the war itself and just prior to the current events of the first novel. The second story here, ‘The Man From London’ is fairly short but serves to illustrate how Michael is recruited by the British Secret Service for his unique talents. Three of the stories are fairly long, novellas really, and were easily my favorites due to the depth that the longer form allows the author to take the plot and the character. In addition, the answer to a burning, unanswered question from the original novel is answered in the last story of this book.

A definite must-read for McCammon fans. 

Saturday, September 3, 2022

The Green Hornet Chronicles, edited by Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert

Contrary to a lot of readers of this book, I was not a Green Hornet fan growing up.  The 60s TV series was before my time and even though I’ve been on a sort of retro kick for the past several years, the character never really entered my orbit.  But a few months ago I listened to a few of the old Green Hornet radio show broadcasts of the late 1930s and really started to get into it.

This book collects a number of stories written by contemporary authors that pay homage to the Green Hornet mythos.  Edited by Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert, these stories are based on the TV show version, with most of the tales taking place in that decade.  Authors include such luminaries as James Reasoner, Win Scott Eckert, Will Murray, and Greg Cox as well as a whole host of others that tackle the character from different angles. There are 18 stories packed in this one volume. Also included is an essay by Harlan Ellison himself explaining the start of a Green Hornet story that he abandoned, and the reasons why.  And finally, we get a nice intro by Van Williams, (the TV actor who played him) and an interview with Dean Jeffries, the man who designed the Black Beauty, (Green Hornet’s car) for the show.

I now feel like I know Britt Reid (editor of the Daily Sentinel and Green Hornet), Kato (masked chauffeur/bodyguard/enforcer, who was also Reid's valet), Britt Reid's secretary Lenore "Casey" Case, reporter Mike Axford, and others.  I tend to get sucked into these sorts of characters and like to experience them in all forms of media, so I’ve already purchased the original two serials from the early 1940s and plan to start watching the TV series at some point too.  Oh, and I also will soon be diving into The Green Hornet: Still at Large, (edited by these same two gentlemen) as well. Sigh…just not enough time in the day.

Saturday, June 25, 2022

The Best of Manhunt (Volume One)

Manhunt was acknowledged as the successor to Black Mask, which had stopped publishing the year before in 1951. It was a venue for high-quality crime fiction and by April of 1956 it was being billed as the "World's Best-Selling Crime-Fiction Magazine." This volume of stories is representative of Manhunt's contents and a must-read for fans of this genre.  The editor, Jeff Vorzimmer, chose to replicate the contents of the 1958 paperback "The Best from Manhunt", edited by Scott and Sidney Meredith, and of the 1959 British volume "The Bloodhound Anthology". Together these stories represent over a third of the overall content of this volume. 

The authors included in this single book reads like a rogue’s gallery of postwar mystery and mid-twentieth century short fiction giants, including: Lawrence Block, Nelson Algren, Evan Hunter (Ed McBain), Gil Brewer, Richard S. Prather, Erskine Caldwell, Donald Westlake, Frank Kane, Harlan Ellison, Mickey Spillane, David Goodis, John D. MacDonald, and Harry Whittington…and that’s only about a third of the roster.

Some stories include familiar private eye series characters including Richard S Prather’s Shell Scott and Frank Kane’s Johnny Liddell. But these are not the focus of this collection and are not indicative of the creatively diverse stories to be found here. This is a fantastic collection of stories accompanied by several essays about the history of Manhunt, including an interesting introductory piece by Lawrence Block wherein he describes his experiences with the publisher early in his phenomenal career. I enjoyed almost every one of these stories and that in itself speaks volumes considering there are 39 stories here. I chose to read one story between each novel I read so as to appreciate each on its own merits and not risk burnout from the whole batch at once. After all, most of these stories have pretty grim plots and endings with rather sordid characters.

Thankfully, there is a Volume 2 (which I am currently enjoying) along with plenty of pressure on Stark House Publishers, I’m sure, to add even more. I certainly hope so.

Saturday, April 23, 2022

Dick Tracy - The Secret Files by Max Allan Collins & Martin H. Greenberg (ed)

In 1990, the film “Dick Tracy” was released. It starred Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Madonna, and a bunch of other big-name stars. I have no evidence to support this, but it seems likely that this anthology, also published in 1990, was commissioned as a way to help market the film. Regardless, the choice of Max Allan Collins to edit the collection, along with prolific anthologist Martin H. Greenberg, could not have been a better one. Collins had taken over the writing of the Dick Tracy comic strip in 1977 when Chester Gould retired and had been at it for the 13 years prior to this book’s appearance. As a life-long fan of Dick Tracy, there can’t be many humans out there with a better understanding of what makes the world of Dick Tracy what it is.

Rarely have I read an anthology that I have enjoyed more than this one. Usually, they include some fine stories, some mediocre, and some best left on the cutting room floor. Not so with this one. I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed all but one of the stories included here and that one is by an author that is often troublesome for me anyway. But even then, it wasn’t “bad”. Hats off to Max Allan Collins and Martin Greenberg for their selections. The order in which the stories are presented is also well thought out. The very first story is entitled, “Origins” and written by Mike Resnick. It’s actually told from the point of view of a young, struggling writer named Chester Gould who meets a real-life detective who ultimately becomes a model for his new idea for a comic strip.

From there we have stories from the early Dick Tracy years in the 30s and 40s but also including more contemporary versions in a more modern age. We get to revisit villains from the strips such as Mumbles, Blowtop, B.O. Plenty, Gravel Gerty, Vitamin Flintheart, and Putty Puss but also read about brand new villains created just for this anthology. Some are written from some POV character other than Tracy himself. In addition to the aforementioned opening story featuring Chester Gould there is also one from the viewpoint of his wife, Tess Trueheart Tracy, and one from son "Junior".

The authors here are a real who’s who of speculative fiction and include Ed Gorman, F. Paul Wilson, Wayne D. Dundee, Barry N. Malzberg, Ric Myers, Stephen Mertz, Edward D. Hoch, Rex Miller, Mike Resnick, Ron Goulart, Barbara Collins, Henry Slesar, John Lutz, Terry Beatty, Wendi Lee, Francis M. Nevins Jr., Josh Pachter, and Max Allan Collins himself.

For fans of the original Dick Tracy comic strips or for those new to the character and just want a flavor for what it was all about, this collection is an ideal read. Highly recommended.

Saturday, April 9, 2022

The Exotic Adventures of Robert Silverberg by Robert Deis, Wyatt Doyle & Robert Silverberg

I’ve been a long-time fan of Robert Silverberg but have almost always limited myself to his science fiction novels and short stories. He has been incredibly prolific for many years and has won just about every award out there for sci-fi. I also knew he wrote in other genres, and I even knew he wrote a lot in the men’s adventure genre for the MAMs (Men’s Adventure Magazines). However, up until now I’ve never run across any such stories or anthologies so never got to sample them.

Thankfully, as is so often the case, it is Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle to the rescue. The years 1958-59 saw the publication of a short-lived MAM called “Exotic Adventures”. While Silverberg only had one story included in the first issue, his ability to write different stories in a variety of locales and do it very quickly resulted in him gaining more and more of the authorship in future volumes, under different pseudonyms. By the final issue of the magazine, he was writing almost the entire content.

Every one of Silverberg’s stories written for “Exotic Adventures” is included here for a total of 17 tales. They are all pulpy stories that include adventure, sexy girls, exotic locations, and more sexy girls. Some are written as pseudo-real stories, as if they are factual events with by lines such as in “Island of Exiled Women” by “Lin Charles as told by Sam Mallory”. All are told from a male character’s point of view with the exception of the final tale, “I Escaped from the Soviet Slave Camp”, told from a female’s POV. Every story includes some form of sexual adventures although the level of detail is quite tame by today’s standards.

Additionally, original advertisements are included, sprinkled throughout, just as in the original MAMs. It’s fun to peruse opportunities to acquire fine products such as “40 of the most sensational and exciting scenes and poses ever photographed of Bridgette Bardot”. Or perhaps learn how to “Run your car, half on gas, half on air”. I was certainly tempted to send in my $4.98 right now for “A Real Mobile Tank over 6 feet long”, or perhaps the “Genuine Stuffed Alligator for only $1.98”.

All in all, this is a dandy collection of stories, accompanied by the wonderful artwork of the original magazine. The introduction by Deis and Doyle provides a great background, not only on Silverberg himself, but also on the artwork and the original “Exotic Adventures” magazine. I’m very happy to have this volume in my collection.

Saturday, January 29, 2022

The Suicide Squad/Secret 6 by Emile C. Tepperman

Most readers today, when they think of “The Suicide Squad”, think of the supervillain team appearing in DC Comics, first launched in 1959.  But long before that, in the late 1930s and 40s, a different sort of Suicide Squad was published by Ace G-Man Stories.

A total of 22 stories featuring the surviving three members of the team, Dan Murdoch, Johnny Kerrigan, and Stephen Klaw, saw print and this volume includes six of them, including their very first story, “Mr. Zero and the FBI Suicide Squad”. These three men are FBI agents but have skirted the edges of their authority a time or two in the past and so have been brought together to take on cases so dangerous that they are unlikely to survive.  While all three agents have equal rank, Steve Klaw tends to be the protagonist in all of the stories and certainly gets the most scenes.

This is good ol’ fashioned G-men pulp, with bad guys bullying their way to power and innocent citizens in peril.  Only the Suicide Squad can stop them because it takes their brand of fearless and even eager gun-play to win the day.  The stories are fast-paced and exciting and certainly got my blood pumping with mental pictures of tommy-guns blazing, punches thrown, dames with questionable loyalties, and diabolical villains in need of stopping.

Emile C. Tepperman had a lengthy career as an author of pulp stories, most notably for the Purple Invasion Series for Operator 5, but he also wrote a number of Spider novels, Secret Agent X stories as well as these Suicide Squad stories for Ace G-Man Magazine.  I have two more volumes of Suicide Squad stories on my shelf but am also eager to read some of his other stuff too. 

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Reincarnal & Other Dark Tales by Max Allen Collins

I’ve read a fair number of Max Allan Collin’s crime and/or mystery novels and always enjoyed them but this is the first time I realized he wrote some horror as well, so naturally, I had to jump on this collection. Included here are 8 stories plus two radio play scripts. I enjoyed every one of them, an unusual thing for an anthology of any stripe. 

Several of these are MAC’s take on traditional horror stories. There’s a couple of vampire tales, a Frankenstein’s monster type of story, a werewolf story and at least two haunted house yarns. But the author brings a unique perspective to each of the stories, dropping clues along the way as to which traditional story you’re reading. For example, the Frankenstein story isn’t a mad scientist creating a creature from dead body parts, exactly, but rather about a mob kingpin. There are other tales here as well, not tied into any previous works. Some tend towards hard core horror while others have a definite sense of humor about them. Most of them offer explicit sexual content so be aware of that before diving in.

All these stories were previously published as contributions to previous anthologies, mostly in the 1990s. All are pretty quick reads and thoroughly enjoyable.  Here are the stories included:

- “Reincarnal” - 1994
- “The Night of Their Lives” – 1995
- “A Good Head on his Shoulders” – 1993
- “Wolf” – 1999
- “Not a Creature Was Stirring” – 1990, revised in 2020
- “Open House” – 2011
- “Traces of Red” – 1995
- “Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die” – 1994
- “Interstate 666” – 1997
- “House of Blood” Radio Play – 2012
- “Mercy” Radio Play - 2012

Sunday, June 6, 2021

The Bloody Crown of Conan by Robert E. Howard

This book compiles three of Robert E. Howard's longer Conan works, including the only full length Conan novel that he ever wrote, "The Hour of the Dragon."  It also contains "The People of the Black Circle" as well as "A Witch Shall Be Born" which contains probably the most famous scene in all of Conan literature: the one where he gets nailed to a tree, crucified really, and left to the mercy of the hungry vultures and the elements.  As the title implies, all three stories are from Conan's later days, when he is king.  

As in all of these Del Rey editions of Howard's work, the book also contains several untitled synopsis (synopses? synopsizes?), fragments, etc. as well as a thought-provoking essay on Howard and his life and times as it pertains to the included stories.

I think the noble nature of Conan really comes out in these stories, particularly in "The Hour of the Dragon".  When Conan has the opportunity to conquer a neighboring kingdom he says, "Let others dream imperial dreams. I but wish to hold what is mine.  I have no desire to rule an empire welded together by blood and fire.  It's one thing to seize a throne with the aid of its subjects and rule them with their consent.  It's another to subjugate a foreign realm and rule it by fear."  As Patrice Louinet says in the essay, "Whoever had the idea of retitling Howard's novel, 'Conan the Conqueror' had evidently not understood its theme: Conan is anything but a conqueror by nature."

Enjoyable reading and, of course, absolutely required reading for Conan enthusiasts.

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

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.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Bran Mak Morn - The Last King by Robert E. Howard

Before Conan, before Solomon Kane, and even before Kull of Atlantis, there was Bran Mak Morn, King of the Picts.  In fact, Bran was the second main character ever developed by Robert E. Howard, second only to Francis X. Gordon (El Borak).  This book contains several stories about Bran as well as numerous fragments, untitled/unsold stories, essays, letters (most notably to and from Weird Tales magazine and Howard’s buddy, H.P. Lovecraft), etc. that help to define REH’s life-long interest in the Picts.

The more pulp fiction that I read, the more I have come to appreciate Howard’s work.  His historical research and in-depth understanding of history, its peoples and cultures, all led to stories that have a genuine ring of actual historical texture to them, even for those stories that are part of his imaginary history.  The Picts are a perfect example, described in this book in an authentic manner while also appearing in Conan’s Hyborian age stories.  Often, they are the enemy race and easily maligned so for Howard to create a character such as Bran Mak Morn that will lead such a people, was perhaps risky but also admirable. 

These stories were written early in Howard’s career and as such there is inconsistency among them.  I wish Howard had developed Bran more thoroughly through additional stories but alas, Conan came along and that market drove Howard’s output for several years and put an end to Bran.  A couple of the stories in this volume have very small roles for Bran himself and tend to concentrate on co-characters or take a wide-angle lens approach to the history of the era.  It seems as if Howard’s penchant for research was translating itself directly into the story, rather than developing a typical plot structure that we might expect.  This book includes those stories for the sake of completeness, even though the pulp magazines didn’t buy them. As such, while I heartily recommend this book to Howard readers (indeed, necessary reading), for others who are simply looking for another Conan-style character, I would still encourage diving into these stories simply on their own merits…just expect a different experience.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

The Collected Raffles Stories by E.W. Hornung

This volume collects all of the AJ Raffles short stories written by the original author, E.W. Hornung, combining the works previously published in Raffles: "The Amateur Cracksman" (1899), “The Black Mask” (1901), and "A Thief in the Night" (1905). The only thing missing is the 1909 novel, "Mr. Justice Raffles". So, a total of 26 short stories included as well as an in-depth introduction written by Clive Bloom.

For the uninitiated, Raffles is  "the classic gentleman thief". The character defines the archetype of the gentleman criminal who has a code of honor, steals only from the rich, and is drawn to burglary for the sport as much as for the money. By day he is a well-known amateur cricket player, a useful tool to distract from his other profession. He is accompanied in his thieving practices by  Harry "Bunny" Manders who “writes” the stories much like Watson “writes” the Sherlock Holmes stories. The comparisons don’t stop there considering that the author, E.W. Hornung was the brother-in-law to Arthur Conan Doyle. There are a number of similar plot devices and character quirks that are similar as well.

While I enjoyed the characters of both Raffles and Bunny, the stories are clearly from another time. They are heavy on Bunny’s observations and full of description. The action, particularly the thievery, Raffles' disguises, etc. is subdued compared to today’s style and thus can be difficult to stick with. I keep coming across references to the character of Raffles in other books so I’m glad I’ve read them. I would be interested to read some more recent stories or crossovers by other authors if I can find any.