Where Bolan Hunts for Treasure

Ambush on Blood River by Don Pendleton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(4 stars ranked on the pulp fiction scale, that is.)

This is a pretty good Mack Bolan novel. I liked his fights against the mafia more than his later books, fighting against terrorists and assorted bad guys, for reasons I'm still musing on. But this is pretty good, too. I was leaning toward a lower score, but the last two chapters jumped up, with a final act that wouldn't be out of place in a decent action movie.

A man convinces Bolan that sensitive papers, originally stored in a safe deposit box, were accidentally stolen along with a lot of treasure, then hidden and abandoned for years somewhere in the Congo. They needed to be located and removed, with the stolen gold and silver as well, before a local warlord found it. The papers contained some US secrets that could be damaging if exposed, making the matter significant enough that Bolan would take it on.

Though it's quickly-written pulp fiction, the kind that demands lots of action and not a ton of research, the author (journalist Alan Bomack, writing under the collective pseudonym of Don Pendleton) demonstrates a decent command of the facts regarding the history and status of countries in that part of Africa in the 1980s, especially the intervention of the US and other countries in government and business, as well as providing a convincing description of settings and local conditions. This type of novel doesn't usually demand much verisimilitude beyond the proper description of guns and explosives; it seems like his pride demanded a little more.

It's still an action novel, meant just to entertain with a fast-paced plot, and though it lags a bit in the middle I think it works well overall. And at about 60K words, it doesn't overstay its welcome. I feel like the modern publishing universe could use a lot more books in the 160-200 page range, which seemed much more common in the 70s and 80s. It takes a lot of energy to commit to 800-page books. :)

This is a somewhat better than average example of the genre. Recommended for readers who are looking for that.

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Where the Bad Guys Take Your Breath Away. Literally.

Merchants of Disaster by Kenneth Robeson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As always with Doc Savage, the book was okay. Three stars.

For personal and biographical reasons, I have more affection for the series and the characters than the novels really warrant. The cool covers help, too. In truth, there's a little fun to be had reading these books--the "advanced" science from the 30's is kinda fun, and we usually have exotic settings (though not in this one), and there's an advantage to knowing the characters before you open the book. (Star Trek novels, for example, have the same advantage.) But you can tell these books are quickly written and barely edited. In a way, that's part of the charm. This is pulp fiction; that's how they're supposed to sound.

This particular novel has no supernatural trappings, no supposed werewolf or ghost or goblins. In fact none (almost none? not sure) of the books really do--they just tease something supernatural that ends up being explained another way, like Scooby Doo. But even that is skipped here. From the start, it's clear there's some sort of weapon being used by bad guys, and it's clear they're gonna sell it to other bad actors. That plot is not too different from many movies and tv shows out right now--just a straightforward action story with criminal arms dealers. It works fine, tbh.

They're short, moderately entertaining novels, and they give me a jolt of nostalgia when I read them, so even if I almost never give them a 4 (and never a 5) I keep picking one up from time to time. And I've got a couple more on the shelves, so eventually I'll get to those as well.

Just recommended for people who already read old pulp fiction. But anybody might try one, once.

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Where Maddock Follows Clues in the American Southwest

Cibola by David Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Pretty good. Not my favorite, but I'll read another by this author.

This is a pulp fiction adventure, like a modern-day Doc Savage or something, and it works pretty well. I've liked two previous books by this author. Somehow, this book didn't work as well for me, and I read it sporadically. Too much stopping and starting makes it hard to love a book, and this is probably more entertaining if read straight through, but it didn't hold my interest that well.

It's a good setup for a story--a genuine lead on Cíbola and the seven cities of gold--taking the story to the American southwest and a quest for lost artifacts, both aboveground and below. To a large extent, it works, but I don't really like sequential stories like this, where they find one thing which leads to another and another, like a shopping list. The last third is pretty fun again, as is so often the case, and I bet if I'd read it in bigger chunks closer together I'd have liked it more.

I often like digging up 1920s or 1930s pulp fiction, and that's pretty fun, and this is probably better than that in just about every way, so it's still recommended if you have a taste for such stories. Many readers gave it a 5, so I might be the wrong guy for this particular title.

Anyway, a 3 is still a recommendation--if cautious. Take a look for yourself.

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Knights Against Monks

The Templar Detective and the Unholy Exorcist by J. Robert Kennedy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My first book by this prolific author.

I liked it okay. I'd say this was a pretty good 3, even a 3 1/2, but it's too much a pulp-fiction novel for me to bump it to a 4 or 5. The language makes it a quick read, but it doesn't evoke Medieval France in any way. (It kinda reads as if modern Americans were dropped into the story.) There's a pretty good attempt at being accurate about history, about knights and the Church and so on, but I don't think much of the history would stand up to rigorous criticism. And all that's okay, as it's just supposed to be fun and quick and full of action, which it is. Good pacing. Straightforward language. Decent stakes. It's entertaining, which is what I hoped for.

The characters are mostly sketched rather than fully developed, but it works for the genre, and the writer (who's sold a bunch of books) is genuinely good at keeping the prose punchy and the plot moving along. The chapters are short at about three pages usually, with lots of POV characters, and even if one POV or part of the story doesn't interest you, the scene jumps every few pages, keeping it rolling. The premise of the series is fun, too, with a group of Templars who solve mysteries. In this one, young women are being abducted by a priest and some monks, supposedly to exorcise demons, and it's the Templars' job to track down a young woman they know, along with others, and determine who is behind the abductions and why.

A good novel? Not really, not in my opinion. A fun read, though? Yeah, I'd say so.

Recommended for readers of action and pulp fiction.

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Where Dane Maddock Channels Pitt and Reacher

Dourado by David Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very entertaining action adventure novel.

A little Dirk Pitt, a little Indiana Jones, a bit of Reacher--this has good bones. It's more pulp fiction than bestseller, but I like it fine that way.

The main characters, Dane Maddock and his SEAL friend Bones, take on a mystery presented by the daughter of an old Navy friend. Her late father had clues leading to an old shipwreck supposed to contain an artifact that went missing about 200 years earlier. Other people are searching for it and want to stop Maddock from finding it. The search takes them underwater, to old libraries, and to Petra, with unknown enemies dogging them the whole way.

It has brisk pace and is filled with exciting action. The prose can be a bit jagged, which is all that kept me from giving it a 5, but it's a fun 4. There's a bit underground that got a little repetitious, but then it rocked again. I can't remember if I got this signed at Comicon in Phoenix or at the Doc Savage convention I visited once, but either way, I liked it better than Doc Savage. The copy I bought has 3 other short-ish novels in it, and I'm hyped to read them. And the guy has a huge catalog, so I'm pretty hopeful after this introduction.

Not to oversell. It's just a solid, entertaining action story (with some cool fantasy stuff at the end) intended to be gulped in a short time. Recommended for that kind of reader.

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Where Annja Almost Gets Frozen

Sacred Ground by Alex Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title #23 in a long-running pulp fiction series, this is an entertaining novel that works great if you just want to read for fun. Especially if you want a character you already know, so you can skip the long exposition that is necessary in stand-alone novels. Annja is an attractive character--intelligent, capable, broad-minded, principled, brave, and empathetic--which makes it a pleasure to jump into another adventure with her.

This one takes place in Canada among the Inuit, with Annja being asked to help facilitate the removal of relics from a burial ground. The tribe has sold some of their land--they needed the cash--and the sacred site is in the way. Legends and myths get involved, the bad guys are hiding their true intentions, and Annja gets caught in the middle.

There are a few plot holes and trouble spots. The biggest is about 2/3 through, when it feels like we're at the end of the story, and the action kinda stops. We pause until the characters decide to go off in another direction and it feels like a separate story. The two parts end up being connected, but it could have used a bit of editing so that the transition made more sense. And the bit about Annja interacting with a polar bear, a scene that was very meaningful but unexplained, felt like it would have a call-back, something putting it into context, but we never saw the bear again. I think the author forgot.

But you turn the page and go on, because these books are about the action. The ending here could have been written by Edgar Rice Burroughs or H. Rider Haggard or Robert E. Howard--pure pulp. And I'm here for it.

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Where Tarzan Teams Up with Some Scary Beasts

The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like the first novel, and unlike the second, this works quite well as a novel with a single, straight-forward, unique plot. At about 75,000 words, it's a good length for a pulp novel--not too long, I mean--and it makes good use of the skills and attributes of the character Burroughs created.

I sort of like urban Tarzan, Lord Greystoke. If nothing else, it's a good palate-cleanser for the jungle scenes. But Tarzan in the wilderness, with animals, with trees to swing from, well, that's the reason you read Tarzan, right?

Like Superman with Lois or Jimmy, Tarzan is only vulnerable with his wife and child, so this story has his nemesis, Rokoff, kidnapping them from their London home and promising to leave them forever in the worst possible situation. His need to get revenge on Tarzan means that, instead of killing him when he has the chance, he keeps him alive to witness or at least know about the horrible life they will be trapped in. Of course, with Tarzan still alive, even marooned on an island, there's still hope.

The title lets you know part of the story. He befriends a panther and dominates a group of gorillas, making them into a kind of tribe or army, and some of the best scenes in the story include them going after the bad guys. With a little tweaking, this could all be converted to fantasy; it's very close.

There is a nice conclusion to the novel, which I'm glad for. I was afraid we were going out on a cliffhanger. Nope. Good ending. All made sense. Satisfying and self-contained, this is about as successful as this type of novel can be.

[*There's tons wrong with these books, especially the harmful stereotypes and casual racism, and maybe I should write a review just on that and then link it every time I mention it. For now, let me just refer to ~all of that~ with a sort of asterisk, reminding the reader that the flaws in society, in every period, inevitably keep showing up in books like a stain on every page. Whether that means one reads those stories with a cautious awareness of the flaws or one avoids reading them altogether I leave to others to decide for themselves. I get it either way.]

In terms of action, though, and creativity, and intrigue, Burroughs is an amazing storyteller. His golden era is well behind us, with movies and TV shows, and future generations may forget him altogether, the way we have done with so many authors of earlier periods, but he might well rebound. These titles of more than a century ago have become something of a niche read, but Tarzan, and some version of his stories, continues to be profitable and famous for good reason.

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Where Annja Gets a Rival

The Golden Elephant by Alex Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this is a pretty good example of pulp fiction, which is why I give this a 4 (even though I'd score it lower if it were a stand-alone novel). Except for a few lulls, there's lots of Indiana-Jones type action. The setup for the plot--the search for a possibly-legendary relic--is pretty typical, but it works, and it's made to feel as realistic as any action movie of the same type. The characters are as round and believable as most genre fiction, and there are moments of deeper reflection than one might expect from this category of book. The exotic (to a Western audience) settings are fleshed out quite well. And though the stakes don't seem as high here as they might in other kinds of novels, reading a little bit more like a comic book, they are as high as you'd like them for this genre.

(That's a lot of caveats, I realize. But I feel like pulp is a different kind of writing and reading, with specific genre expectations, and I want to be clear about the rubric in my head.)

Annja is hunting for a golden elephant rumored to be somewhere in Southeast Asia. Her search becomes dangerous, and it's complicated by the interference of another young, capable, resourceful adventurer, Easy Ngwenya, who becomes a kind of rival to Annja. Their interactions become the most entertaining part of the story. Because Easy pushes her, Annja has to do some soul-searching about the ethicality of her whole relic-hunting lifestyle. She'd convinced herself she was saving important historical objects from treasure hunters, but she's forced to consider whether she isn't doing exactly that thing.

There's a good amount of philosophical musing taking place in the jungle while bullets are flying overhead, and I think it added something to the story.

Though it dragged in the middle and was headed toward a 3-star rating (in my mind), it pulled it out toward the end, especially the very end, and overall was breezy fun, both entertaining enough and satisfying enough to deserve four stars.

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Where It Was Particularly Pulpy

Homeward Bound by James Axler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was close to a 2 for me--and I usually don't finish books like that. However, it picked up a lot in the final quarter of the book, and I enjoyed reading the rest of the way to the end. I'll give it a 3.

I've been checking out various kinds of pulp fiction, most from the 70s, some a bit more recent, and this series popped up. The setup is pretty great--a post-apocalyptic America filled with mutated humans and every kind of danger. Everyone carries weapons, mostly handguns and rifles, and here and there people are trying to civilize the place again. I wondered what made this series work, and I'm not too sure right now.

I kind of understand the appeal of others, like Doc Savage and Tarzan, The Executioner and The Destroyer, Hellboy and Rogue Angel. They all have some hooks to catch your attention, some superhero mojo and some beat-the-bad-guys adrenaline bringing the reader back. This series, though, doesn't have any of that that I can see. I've only read one so far, but it reads like a typical science fiction story, mostly derivative and uninspired, and not only is it long for pulp, I found big chunks of it tough to wade through. I'm a little surprised it was good enough to publish at all. However, I realize I'm probably overlooking some fun stuff. It's got a couple hooks, I guess, depending on the interest of the reader, and it does pick up toward the end. In any case, the series was successful enough that it stretched out past 150 titles. Somebody was buying it. Something drew them in.

So I didn't love it, but it was good enough to finish and good enough to look into some of the other titles. I bought 5 or 6 used ones all at once, so I hope I enjoy the next one more. Those more familiar with the series might be able to tell me what to look for, which titles work best, how to get the most fun out of the books.

After I've read a few more, we'll see what kind of recommendations I have.

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Goodbye, Flash Gordon; I Hardly Knew Ye

The Space Circus by Con Steffanson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm just glad to be done, really.

I bought the first three novels online about 4 years ago. I was curious about the old-timey pulp fiction of Flash Gordon. I wasn't expecting much, and yet I still overestimated the quality of these books.

I finished the first, gave it a compassionate 3 stars when it really was about a 1-1.5, then for some reason read the second a few months later. Not any better. I get it; the novels are based on actual comics, the type found in the newspaper, which meander in weird ways and have very different expectations from most novels. You hope there'll be some other charm to make up for the really terrible plot, but nope. Nope.

After 4 years, I finally decided to finish the third book (so that I can sell them or give them away as a starter set for someone else) and I have to admit it deserves, or nearly deserves, the 3 stars I gave all of them. It's still a terrible plot, but it's at least moderately entertaining. Reads quick. The good guys win. The plot holes are so thick on the ground they aren't worth thinking about, in any of these books, and the character development is so rudimentary that it doesn't deserve the term, but at least this felt more like an action story. Or maybe my expectations had just been lowered enough. I dunno.

All of these books have one of my top 3 (or bottom 3, I guess) least favorite tropes--where the very capable, brilliant, amazing main characters get caught over and over and then escape (or are rescued) over and over. They are in the hands of their enemies most of the book, completely at their mercy, and probably should be dead many times over. (Doc Savage uses this same trope, and it always makes me sigh.)

I guess Star Trek does it, too. Getting caught flat-footed so often takes a lot of the shine off of the super-capable characters, making them seem like just regular joes getting fumbled around by fate. I don't like it.

I won't read any more of these, but I still like pulp, for some reason, and I want to find more good stuff. I'll read a few more Doc Savage books, probably. I'll read a few more Tarzans and Princess of Mars type books by Burroughs. I'll track down some more of Howard's Solomon Kane and El Borak. And I'll read a few more Rogue Angel books, which are actually pretty well done. Probably find some other interesting pulp novels.

But Flash Gordon, for me, is all done.

Unless I find a collection of the actual comics, because that sounds pretty cool...... :-)

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Where Doc Savage Just Called Them Monsters

The Monsters by Kenneth Robeson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This Doc Savage novel was, for me, somewhat more fun to read than many. I usually give a 3 for these books, but this had a more complete plot and somewhat better pacing.

Part of the charm of these novels, and one of the reasons I keep reading them, is that they're short--probably half the size of most novels--and so you get a complete story without a huge investment of time. I also like the settings, taking place all over the world in the 1930s, mixed in with some gee-whiz electronics-punk inventions. Another attraction in this one is that the danger is actually a monster, not just a Scooby-Doo fakeout. A number of monsters. That gives it more of a fantasy vibe, which I prefer.

You might wince a little, however. The whole series suffers at times--especially a few places in this title--from thoughtless racism. It's kinda shocking when you hit it, though it's mostly just a line or two, found in a few spots. You wanna ask if grandpa meant to be hurtful, because it doesn't seem like it. It seems more like his unenlightened mindset just leaks out. Intended or not, though, it definitely mars the book, making it hard to recommend to others.

Aside from such flaws, this offers lots of old-fashioned pulp entertainment. Pretty consistent action. And, as always, a cool cover.

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Where Annja Finds the Clues

Gabriel's Horn by Alex Archer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is an entertaining example of pulp fiction. I could almost have given it a 4, especially in that particular category, but 3 stars feels more fair. Kinda fun; a few slow bits; a fun new character; an ending that came abruptly. Good, then, not great. 3 stars.

Part of the pleasure of these books, like any series, is stepping immediately into a story with characters you know. It makes the early parts of the book more fun than other books. Less work. That easy entrance is one of the main attractions of this series.

Annja Creed is always a fun character, too. She's reasonably believable (certainly within the bounds of the genre) and resorts to violence only where necessary. So she finds herself in lots of action, though not gratuitous violence. (Compare to, say, Mack Bolan, which is also entertaining, but includes a lot more killing.) In this episode, she's tracking down a painting that both of her mentors want, but it is also being pursued by two separate groups of murderous bad guys and their henchmen. The painting, once located, leads to another object that is very dangerous.

So, I guess it's two maguffins. Maguffi. I don't know. But it works fine.

Some of it is less thrilling. TBH, I have little interest in what Roux and Garin are doing. Their scenes are always slow. But a new character, old Charlie, is interesting, and may have a cool backstory. I wonder if we'll see more of him. I hope so.

Anyway, this is a decent entry in the series. It takes itself just about as seriously as you'd like it to, and it has plenty of ancient riddles and the like. Recommended for those already reading the series, primarily.

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Where Mack Does It Again

San Diego Siege by Don Pendleton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not a lot to say....

This is straightforward 70s pulp fiction, with all that entails. It's the 4th book in the series I've read (I bought 5 old ratty copies all at once a few months ago) and I keep finding them surprisingly entertaining, this one included.

The bad guys are really bad. The good guys are good (Mack has a couple friends in this one), but they have emotions about the war they're taking part in. Innocent people are getting hurt, and it's our protagonist's job to help them out. And from time to time, there's some beautiful woman walking around without a top on. (70s, recall.)

This one, like the ones before, is sufficiently unique that I'm a bit surprised. It has the same main idea, Mack Bolan fighting the mafia in one city or another, but the contours of the story are all pretty different. It's more creative than I expected. And, as I think I noted after the first one I read, the writing is pretty good. It's not crazy this author got his books published; he knows what he's doing. This one has Mack in San Diego, looking into less established mafiosos who are trying to move into a city quieter than LA or Boston. Pretty good story, good pace, lots of action--the way such novels are supposed to go. I swear when you read one of these you can smell the cigarette smoke and beer. (I was a kid. That's what the 70s smelled like to me.)

In sum--it's more fun to read one of these books than I thought, and it's better than many other pulp fiction books I've tried to get into. (More entertaining, for example, than Doc Savage; a little more fun than the Tarzan books I've read; quite a bit better than the Cthulhu stories; and way, way better than the awful Flash Gordon books.)

Well, IMO.

There's one more I haven't read that I own. I'll probably read one, and chances are good I'll buy more, just for grins. We'll see.

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Where Mack Bolan Loses It a Little

Boston Blitz by Don Pendleton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These 70s books remind me of bloody, brutal 80s movies (which I liked, actually, to a point). The violence in both can be shocking, especially if you let yourself believe it could really be happening somewhere. However, as bloody as it is, and despite the main character's frequent, ambivalent musings about the ethical implications of his horrific crusade, the reader feels that he is justified in everything he does. It's a black and white world with good guys and bad guys, a world where he can ambush and murder people as long as they're bad guys, and everything is just fine. They deserve it. No harm done.

That's the logic of the books, anyway, and if you go along with it, at least as part of the general suspension of disbelief, it works fine. Very fun, in fact. It's like a grimdark fantasy except it's based in our real world...

(Here's my current theory: there's an alternate world similar to ours, one where guns and explosives aren't possible, maybe where the people have evolved beyond violence, but they still like their terrifying stories, and these novels--a kind of grimdark fantasy set in an incomprehensible society where such violence is possible--were written there to shock and entertain the good people. Then copies somehow were brought over into our universe.)

(I can't prove it. It just feels true.)

Anyway, remembering that different kinds of writing serve different purposes, and that the purpose of pulp fiction is definitely to tell a brisk, entertaining story, I have to give this 4/5 stars.

Not for all readers. But if they have movies in that alternate universe, this story would be a blockbuster.

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Where the Cover Is the Best Part, Again

Mad Mesa by Kenneth Robeson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's alright.

Not a bad book. I feel like the writing is actually better here than in many other Doc Savage novels; smoother, with fewer awkward phrases. More modern, maybe? And the story is about okay, though it's nothing amazing.

So it's kinda fun, with a straightforward crime to solve. This is the second Doc Savage I've read recently that has no supernatural angle even in the beginning. Well, maybe; a character thinks his identity has been changed, so that probably counts.

I keep thinking there will be a little more wonder or magic or excitement in these books than there ends up being. I'm reading through them like somebody eating their way through a box of chocolates, finding nothing too good or too bad, hoping for an amazing surprise that never materializes. Meanwhile--

It's alright.

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Where It's Two Books in One

The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like the first Tarzan book, this is more fun to read than I expected. I could almost give it a 4--but it is in other ways a poorly written book, so I'll compromise with a 3.

The beginning feels like an Agatha Christie mystery or something, with Tarzan traveling on a ship across the Atlantic and getting involved with a young woman and her husband being harassed and intimidated by her brother, who is the villain of the novel. I enjoyed the urbane version of Tarzan, the cultured man who can turn it up a notch if he needs to. Good fun. This plot is working very well until about halfway through, when we are jerked back to Africa, in and around the place Tarzan's parents were shipwrecked. This requires Tarzan to be thrown overboard, supposedly to his death, and Jane to be in a shipwreck.

I mean, come on! First of all, the odds of Tarzan surviving and then ending up in exactly that spot are so ridiculously tiny, but for Jane to end up there, too, on that same stretch of coast, is just so unlikely it's goofy. Laughable. This was bad planning. But second, it makes the book split right down the middle. The author could have made a whole novel about Tarzan protecting a young woman from a bad guy on a ship and in Paris, which I was up for. Then he could have made a whole other novel set back in the jungle. Trying to mix the two plots was a mess.

But as I said, it was pretty fun to read. A super-competent protagonist who is also highly moral is my favorite. I don't think I'm alone here. So if you read Tarzan novels, you just allow the outrageous coincidences and let yourself enjoy the story.

I've seen these books in libraries and used books stores my whole life and never really wanted to read them, but I see the appeal now. They're still not for everybody--especially those who, quite understandably, can't stomach the casual racism that was so prevalent at the time. (I personally would like to see that changed with suitable edits, but I realize that most people hate seeing Roald Dahl's books, and others', being changed in that way.)

Anyway, flawed, for sure, but still fun.

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Where Annja Creed Hunts for Thor's Hammer

God of Thunder by Alex Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 7th in a long-running pulp series written by multiple authors (Mel Odom for this one) and I liked it quite a bit. Entertaining. Annja Creed and the whole Rogue Angel series is like an updated version of men's adventure fiction, like Doc Savage or Mack Bolan or Remo Williams, and though there's still a lot of hand-to-hand fighting, globetrotting, and gun-wielding bad guys the protagonist has to face, the violence feels a bit toned down and secondary. She's interested in history and artifacts, and that focus leads to cool connections with hidden or little-known bits of history that are a pleasure to read about.

The history in this one leads her from the US to Venice, then finally to Latvia, where there is a legend about an ancient viking who once joined a Baltic tribe and protected them with a device that can only be described as Thor's hammer. The usual bad guys get involved and try to beat her to it, and the usual regular folk get in the middle and need protected. Despite the genuine supernatural elements (including a sword that Annja can summon at will) the story and series seems realistic in most ways, like urban fantasy that leans more toward urban than fantasy. It's a mix that works well.

The action plot serves the purpose here, and the writing is quite good, IMO; better than Doc Savage, anyway. The pacing leans toward quick, moving along like an action movie (which it resembles in almost every way) and it makes it a perfectly fun read. (Some people would call these books a guilty pleasure, but my position is that there is no guilt in reading entertaining books. They are produced by Harlequin, the long-time romance publishers, and they know how to make a fortune off books that people enjoy but feel like they shouldn't!)

Anyway, for those who enjoy action books or other pulp fiction, this is a fun series, and this is a good title. Recommended for those readers.

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Where Sherlock Fights the Martians. For Reals

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Martian Menace by Eric Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fun Sherlock/War of the Worlds crossover, and I really enjoyed it. It's a couple decades after the first failed invasion, and supposedly the Martians are trying to make up for their ill-advised attack. The truth, though, is they are still at it (which is kind of a spoiler except that it's in the title) and they want to remove Sherlock (older here) from the picture. It's silly, of course; the science fiction part, with a thriving civilization on Mars, is impossible, as we know, but the story still works, IMO.

Watson and Sherlock are still the men we know, and so this is still sufficiently plausible in their world to make the plot hold together. We get only a couple new minor characters and a couple call-backs from vintage stories, but it's enough, with the action plot, to make it a fun read. In fact, I almost gave it all 5 stars (which for me means "enjoyed reading," not necessarily "our grandchildren will read this book"), except there are a couple slower parts that dragged it down just a bit. Overall, though, it's clever and entertaining, and the conclusion is satisfying. I would definitely look for other books penned by this author.

I wouldn't recommend this for Sherlock readers who prefer traditional stories, as they'd likely find it too silly to enjoy. Honestly, they're not likely to read past the title anyway. But Sherlock readers who are intrigued by the premise and enjoy pulp fiction would probably find a lot to like here.

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Central Asian Adventures from Conan's Creator

El Borak and Other Desert Adventures by Robert E. Howard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This collection is great fun, full of incredible action and amazing settings. I never got started on Conan, but I may have to give that a second try, because Robert E. Howard's writing here is brilliant.

Most of the stories are about an American in the Middle East who is known as El Borak, though there are a few stories with other heroes. El Borak is an admirable character--one who is fearless, capable, intelligent, and honorable (in a certain way). Most of the people in these stories are rogues and bandits, and El Borak often allies himself with them for various reasons, even if they were trying to kill him a page earlier, but he never betrays or abandons them once he's made a deal. He'll kill an enemy in an instant, but if they agree to work together he can be completely trusted.

It's "honor among thieves"--except he really has it.

Central Asia provides fantastic settings for these stories. Wide open lands, towering mountains, and hidden valleys are home to a variety of ethnicities with long histories filled with legends and mysteries. It's perfect for a sort of wild West tale told even bigger, and Howard makes the most of it. The action in his stories is intense, the characters are ambitious, and the plots are just complex enough to make it all work.

The language, sparse in action scenes but luxuriant elsewhere, is alive with color and energy, and there is so much life in these stories. It may be pulp writing, but it shows genuine genius, a skill much to be envied. He only lived to be 30--imagine if he had enjoyed a few more decades of life and writing.

(Yes, the writing is problematic in some places, as one might expect to find in pulp fiction of the era. Still--it was less than I anticipated. I found it very entertaining in spite of certain failings that probably are more awkward than offensive, but readers will judge for themselves.)

Recommended for adventure readers and Robert E. Howard fans.

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Ancient relics, Magic swords, and Angry Warlords

The Spider Stone by Alex Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fun series, and it keeps getting better. My favorite title out of the first three.

Annja Creed, an archaeologist, becomes something of a hero in the first book when she acquires a mystic sword that materializes when she needs it with just a thought and meets two (possibly immortal) men who teach her a little about the magic still residing in the world. Here in the third novel, she's called in to a mass gravesite dating from pre-Civil War times and becomes involved in the search for an artifact and the treasure it points to on the African continent.

This is a pulp series, with much greater emphasis on action and mystery than character development, which makes it more like an episode in a long-running tv show than, say, a stand-alone movie. But that's cool; those are the expectations I have when I pick up the book, and this is no guilty pleasure. The author worked hard to make a book that's fun to read and succeeded.

Overall, the novel is an excellent mix of real-world danger, ancient mystery, dialogue, and action, and is recommended for readers of this type of series.

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