Monday, February 12th, 2018
The Terror in the Navy by Kenneth Robeson
Let us set the way back machine to 1937 for this classic Doc Savage adventure. Bonus points for his cousin Patrica being involved! U.S. Navy ships are being destroyed in a mysterious fashion. A fellow named Braun says he can protect the Navy’s ships for a cool hundred million dollars (That’s $1.7 Billon in 2018 dollars). The action is fast and dangerous. So much so that even Patrica says it may too rough.
Monday Book Pick Archive
Tags: book, Doc Savage, Monday Book Pick, Pulp
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Monday, September 19th, 2016
Quest of the Spider by Kenneth Robenson
Setting the Wayback Machine to May 1933 for this chunk of crunchy pulp goodness. The third published Doc Savage adventure, and an important change in the series. After killing bad guys left and right in the first two books, Doc returns from his Fortress of Solitude (just where did you think Superman got the idea from?), and vowed not to take human life (directly) again. This is where he and his team start using the “mercy” bullets that just render people unconscious, the introduction of his “Crime College” in upstate New York for turning criminals into honest citizens. There is plenty of action, pulp style, and plenty of bad guys dying in horrible fashions. It’s just not Doc and his five companions dealing death directly anymore.
Monday Book Pick Archive
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Monday, October 5th, 2015
Doc Savage: The Sinister Shadow by Kenneth Robeson and Lester Dent
As my gentle readers may know, I’m a big pulp fan, especially of the Doc Savage novels. Most written by Lester Dent, under the house name of Kenneth Robeson. Will Murray proves himself as the modern master of the classic pulp with this mash up with Doc Savage and The Shadow. While I’m a huge Doc fan, I’ve read enough Shadow novels to do more than just hum the tune. Murray skillfully blends the styles of Walter Gibson and Lester Dent in this book. Stir in an over the top villain, who is completely and utterly ruthless, as an evil villain of the era should be, you have a story that Smith & Street would have proudly published.
Monday Book Pick Archive
Tags: book, Doc Savage, Monday Book Pick, Pulp, The Shadow
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Monday, October 7th, 2013
The Evil in Pemberley House by Philip Jose Farmer and Win Scott Eckert
Win Scott Eckert finishes an unpublished Farmer novel set deep in Farmer’s Wold Newton settings. Half the fun of this book is spotting all the references. Some are obvious, others require a Farmerphile, such as myself, to spot. Overall, a nice bit of pulp set in the early 70s. Patricia Clarke Wildman, the daughter of the Pulp Hero known as “Doc Savage”, is in a rough emotional spot, after the death of her parents, and her recent husband. Then she discovers that she is inheriting an English estate, made famous in the Jane Austin novel, “Pride and Prejudice.” Of course there is a ghost involved, and some shady characters among the living up to no good. With only minor spoilers, let me say that good mystery and spot of adventure is just what Patricia needed to get her out of her funk. She is her father’s daughter after all. Mild warning about the sex scenes. Very risque by 1970’s standards, but not so much today. Milder than what you would find in John Ringo’s Ghost series. A good read for the Farmer fan, but perhaps a bit too much ‘inside baseball’ references for someone not familiar with Farmer’s body of work.
Monday Book Pick Archive
Tags: book, Doc Savage, Monday Book Pick, Philip Jose Farmer, Pulp, Science Fiction, SciFi
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Sunday, September 8th, 2013
I read my first Doc Savage novel, The Land of Terror, somewhere between mid 1970 and mid 1972. I was living in Curundu at the time, and I remember buying it in Panama City. Since then I’ve read most of the original 181 novels, PJF’s Escape From Loki, and a number of the newer ones written by Will Murry. I have two well read copies of Farmer’s Doc Savage: His Apocalypic Life. I have comics from both the Marvel and DC series. I also own the George Pal “Man of Bronze” movie in glorious VHS.
Needless to say, I’m looking forward to a well done Doc Savage movie. Shane Black, of Iron Man 3 fame, has obtained a green light for a Doc Savage movie. So, high hopes for a really cool movie here. Have to say, I’m more interested in who he is going to cast as Doc’s cousin Patrica than Doc at this point.
Update: According to IMDB, Chris Hemsworth is rumored to play Clark Savage, Jr. This would be fornicating awesome.
Update: IMDB now lists Dwayne Johnson as playing Doc Savage. Which is also fornicating awesome.
Tags: Doc Savage, Pulp, Science Fiction, SciFi, Sunday SciFi
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Monday, February 4th, 2013
The Mad Goblin by Philip Jose Farmer
I’m seeing a lot of Philip Jose Farmer’s work come back into print, which is a good thing. The Mad Goblin is one of two parallel sequels to A Feast Unknown. This one focuses on James “Doc” Caliban (yes, based on Doc Savage), half brother of the fellow Tarzan was based on. Both are former agents of “The Nine.” A group that discovered the secret to extremely prolonged life thirty thousand years ago and has ruled the Earth from behind the scenes since then. This is adventure pulp at its finest, with Farmer paying tribute to one of his favorite fictional characters.
Monday Book Pick Archive
Tags: Adventure, book, Doc Savage, Monday Book Pick, Philip Jose Farmer, PJF, Pulp, Science Fiction, SciFi
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Monday, September 5th, 2011
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont
The book is crack for pulp fans. Really, I’m not kidding. The heroes include Lester and Norma Dent, Walter Gibson, L. Ron Hubbard, Robert Heinlein and a merchant ship working cowboy who goes by “Lew” (Louis L’Amour I’m betting, perhaps Malmont couldn’t get his estate to release the use of his name). Additional appearances by H.P. Lovecraft and E.E. “Doc” Smith. It’s pulp writing, done by someone who loves pulp and wrote a big, wet, sloppy kiss to pulp.
Monday Book Pick Archive
Tags: book, Doc Savage, Monday Book Pick, Pulp, Science Fiction, SciFi, The Shadow
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Monday, January 11th, 2010
The Man of Bronze and The Land of Terror by Lester Dent.
The first two Doc Savage novels.
The first Doc Savage novel I read was The Land of Terror back in either 1971 or 1972. It was a Bantam reprint that I picked up at store in Panama City just outside the Balboa Gate. Since then, I have read over 160 of the original 181 Doc Savage novels, as well as several by Philip Jose Farmer (licensed or otherwise) and Will Murray. IMNSHO, Doc Savage was the greatest of the Pulp Era Heros.
Monday Book Pick Archive
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Monday, January 4th, 2010
Melody of Vengeance by Michael A. Black.
A rousing good pulp adventure that pays tribute to the two greatest pulp heros, Doc Savage and the Shadow!
Monday Book Pick Archive
Tags: Adventure, book, Doc Savage, Monday Book Pick, Pulp
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