Crawlspace

Occasionally, books just gut us, right? Not in a bad way. I'm referring to the way talented authors can weave compelling stories that just suck you right in. Throughout the reading experience you get this bond with the characters and you become emotionally invested. When events happen in the story you feel personally connected in some sort of literary spiritual way. Just as you become comfortable with the trick – that's the writer 's magic – the crucial plot development and engaging characters get tossed to the wind. It's a bouncy, temporarily unsafe place swooshed into the funnel cloud that quickly appeared from nowhere. If the author did their job effectively (genre plays a partial role), the aftermath is the wreckage descending from the sky to surprises the reader and crush all previous assumptions about the characters or story. Or something like that. 

Herbert Lieberman's 1971 novel Crawlspace manages to check all of the boxes. The author specialized in crime-fiction and horror, churning out 14 novels between 1967 and 2003. Crawlspace was originally published by David McKay, but was later published multiple times by Pocket Books. The book sold well and was adapted into a made-for-television film that broadcast on CBS in 1972. 

Crawlspace is a difficult novel to review for fear of giving away too much of the story. The book is a character study, and a deep psychological dive, into severe social anxiety as an elderly couple experience domestic turbulence in their quaint New England farmhouse. At over 300 pages, the book's momentum shifts from a slow character development into a more sporadic frenzy as the story changes dynamics. There are crime-fiction elements, some vigilantism, and a focal point on a corrupt sheriff. However, Lieberman's story doesn't have a convincing “bad guy”. It isn't as specific in the storytelling to assign heroism or dastardliness. That's the hook.

If you are looking for a terrific novel look no further than Crawlspace. It is a potboiler that builds in intensity as the couple's fears and suspicious grow. I've never read a book quite like it...and probably never will. Track down a copy of this one. Highly recommended. Get a copy of the book HERE. 

Houses of Horror

When I was a kid, on the third of each month I would spend long days at the grocery store and pharmacy. This was the day my grandmother, aunt, and uncle received their Social Security checks, an event celebrated by my mother driving the three of them "into town" to spend Uncle Sam's dough. My part in this parade, besides being squished into the car, was a dollar's worth of quarters for the arcade machines in the grocery store. At .25 cent a game, the money bought about eight minutes of enjoyment. The rest of the time I would camp out in the magazine aisle, which had some books, and read until the shopping finished. The grocery store at the time preyed on the lower-income, Bible-belt consumers that would believe anything. The stocked books were on UFOs, alien abductions, the Bermuda Triangle, ghosts, and of course, thick books that analyzed and dissected all of the facts about Elvis to determine he was still alive and living on a tropical island off the coast of Africa. 

I would imagine, based on popularity, that I read or thumbed through a book by shock-writer Richard Winer (1925-2016). He edited or authored a handful of spooky non-fiction books about "real" supernatural events. His books, published by Bantam, included three works on the Bermuda Triangle (The Devil's Triangle 1 & 2, From the Devil's Triangle to the Devil's Jaw) and three books on haunted houses and happenings, Haunted Houses, More Haunted Houses, and today's subject for review, Houses of Horror. It was published in 1983 with cover art by David Passalacqua Jr. (Black Christmas). 

As you can see in the photo, Houses of Horror consists of 20 short articles or tales concerning a supposed ghost, haunted house, or supernatural event. I chose three of these to cover in this review:

"The Ghosts of the Wolf House"

The ghost of Jack London? News to me. But, apparently this was a common myth in California's Sonoma Valley. In this tale, Winer outlines bestselling author Jack London's Wolf House. London, who authored the beloved Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf, and White Fang, designed the house to have 23 rooms and a dining room large enough to seat fifty guests. The plan was to move into the house in September, 1913, but the month before the nearly-complete house burned up. London had planned to rebuild the house but died three years later. The ruins of Wolf House was acquired by Jack London State Park and visitors at the ruins claimed to hear voices and see apparitions. London's widow claimed her brother Jack refused to live in the ranch house that was on the same property. He claimed London's ghost walked the halls and watched visitors. The article also documents some of the spiritual readings that supposedly caught London's voice after his death. Spooky, and creative, stuff. 

"Wisconsin's House of Curses"

The haunted house here is the Hille Farm in Waukesha, Wisconsin, a two-hundred-acre spread that was built in 1848 by German-American John Hille. Hille died around 1900, but his two sons and daughter took over the farm. In 1916, one of the sons was killed by a bull in the barn. In 1917, a stranger came to the house and convinced the Hilles to hire him as a farmhand. After a few weeks he advised the Hilles he was really a United States Secret Service agent that was investigating reports that the Hilles were German sympathizers. This was all a ruse to extort the Hilles out of money. A confrontation occurred and all of the Hilles died. The man was later arrested for extortion. In 1927 a couple bought the farm and after a few years went bankrupt. A couple then moved in to rent the place and they experiened the death of their two children. In 1932 a man named Pratt bought the place and then accidentally blew himself up blasting trees and rocks. A Chicago couple moved into the farm house in 1948 and restored it. However, the couple's son drowned in the nearby lake and a few years later the couple separated and moved away. In 1972 the next owner's young son fell from the barn's hayloft and was impaled on an auger. Coincidental events? I think not. Something is seriously wrong with that place. This was disturbing.

"Just Like One of the Family"

May, 1968. Mac Goldfinch and his family move into a house in Conway, South Carolina. Mac was an undertaker and didn't believe in ghosts. His business is the dead and he had never experienced anything unusual. Until now. A little girl with brown hair is seen moving around the house. From outside, visitors claim to have seen her moving in front of the window. Also, loud noises of banging and crashing was often heard, but nothing to source the sounds. The television would flip channels by itself, cries of "Help Me!" were heard multiple times, and the little girl's hand could be seen holding doors. Eventually, after discovering the child meant no harm, they accepted her as just one of the family. 

The book also includes eight pages of black and white photos of various haunted places examined in the book's chapters. As a harmless, enjoyable look at the supernatural, I found it a delightful read. If you treat it as horror-fiction, and not buy into the "real" idea, then there is plenty to like here. Recommended!

Note

According to The Washington Post, Winer campaigned to have Fort Lauderdale cleared of drugs and prostitutes. On July 19, 1980, an unidentified person rigged a bomb to Winer's truck ignition. Winer tragically lost his right leg in the fiery explosion.

Torture Tomb

According to Goodreads, C. Dean Andersson (1946-2021) wrote science-fiction, fantasy, and horror novels for a variety of publishers. He authored a three-book series of sword-and-sorcery novels known as the Bloodsong Saga under the pseudonym Asa Drake. He also penned two horror novels dedicated to the icons, I am Dracula and I am Frankenstein. I decided to try one of the author's stand-alone horror novels, Torture Tomb. It was originally published by Popular Library in 1987 with a cover by Sonja Lamut (who weirdly enough does children's books).

Torture Tomb is void of a main character, instead the narrative shifts around a half-dozen characters in the third-person. First off is Jim Brock, a Vietnam Veteran and former prisoner-of-war that was tortured by the enemy before a miraculous rescue. He writes computer software manuals for a living while typing away the night as a part-time novelist. His genre is dark fantasy with an emphasis on bondage. Due to Jim's torture he now has a fascination with bondage – collects the magazines, displays the posters, watches the movies. But, he's sort of the good guy here. Weird.

Jim's ex-girlfriend Gina shows up at his office. It turns out her sister is missing, so instead of calling law-enforcement she seeks out a guy she hasn't spoken to in ten years. That specializes in writing tech language instead of finding missing people. But, she drags him into finding her sister. What does he do? He doesn't get the police either! Instead, the best hope in finding her beloved sister is consulting a group of witches. What the Hell!?!

In the meantime, Andersson spends three-fourths of the narrative describing intense torture to get his rocks off. This guy goes completely Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum for the reader. Gina's sister Bernice is kidnapped in a parking lot by a group of mobsters. They rape her and fling her into a pit that contains some sort of zombie. When they finish with that nonsense they sell her to two guys named Jock and Jack. They place her in a soundproof basement and go medieval - filming themselves torturing her for a snuff movie. They use the Middle-Ages devices like the rack, the sawhorse, thumbscrews, whips, knives, pliers, hot tongs, fire, and of course ropes. Lots of ropes. There is pages and pages of rape and torture for Bernice but also for one of the torturer's soon-to-be ex-wives. I thought divorce court was bad enough.

After skipping whole chapters of torture, I finally got to the part where Jim and Gina are surely going to align, ask some questions, interview an underground network of snuff film producers, and maybe, just maybe, smash some skulls. Jim doesn't go Mack Bolan. He doesn't even go Deputy Fife. Instead, Jim, Gina, and the circle of crazy witches get captured by the torturers and guess what...they get tortured too! 

Listen, Torture Tomb is absolutely horrible. I'd rather sign up for 50 time-share presentations than read one more page of this drivel. Do yourself a favor and absolutely avoid the Torture Tomb...unless you really like to be tortured with literary awfulness. In that case, C. Dean Andersson is your new master. Pass the ball gag bub. 

Simon Ark #06 - The Wolves of Werclaw

I reviewed a novel called Murder's Old Maid by Donald Bayne Hobart. It was published in the October 1956 issue of Famous Detective. I was happy to find a digital scan of the issue online and even more delighted when I saw that the sixth Simon Ark story, “The Wolves of Werclaw”, was included in this same issue. 

Simon Ark, written and created by Edward D. Hoch, may or may not be a 2,000 year old occult detective who is endlessly searching for Satan. He teams with an unnamed narrator who normally presents each Simon Ark story in first-person perspective. These stories have Ark and the narrator somewhere on Earth investigating a weird menace that typically has more in common with crime-fiction than the supernatural. But, Hoch writes the stories subjectively with the reader still thinking something creepy really happened long after the last page is read. That is sort of the Ark gimmick with these tales.

In “The Wolves of Werclaw” novelet, the narrator is now serving as vice-president of a major New York publishing firm. He journeys to Poland to witness firsthand the gradual lifting of the Iron Curtain. In the Polish city of Werclaw (not to be confused with the real Polish city of Wroclaw) the narrator is joined by a co-worker named Franklin Fangler. A celebration is occurring to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of a historic battle in which the tiny town held off a thousand Nazi troops. The survivors are being honored for their achievements and patriotism.

That night the narrator and Fangler are invited to the cavernous home of Berza, the town's Chief of Police. Later, the two are awakened by a frantic Berza claiming that giant wolves are savagely attacking the town. The narrator witnesses three large grey wolves running through the streets and a rifle crack as police officers attempt to stop the bloody carnage. The next morning Berza calls for a wolf expert. 

Simon Ark appears with an introduction and is pleased to discover his friend from years ago in the unnamed narrator. The two catch up and then discuss the pesky wolves. As the narrative tightens the two friends are thrust into protecting a man named Otto from the town's vigilantes. The people feel that Otto is an actual werewolf and may be behind the brutal murders (or a pack leader). But, as usual, Ark has a different theory that may suggest the real killers are the communists hoping to keep a firm foothold on Poland's throat. 

This story was just terrific with plenty of action, foul play, murder, and violence. With so much carnage and mayhem the author was still able to create an imposing chilly ambiance to the storytelling. While certainly maintaining a political vibe, this tale had more of a supernatural feeling to it than any other Ark story I've read. The white-knuckled hatred from the town combined with the innocent nature of Otto was such a great blend. The story was clever, entrancing, and just excellent. I'm loving these Simon Ark stories. Get a lot of stories starring Simon Ark HERE.

The Tent

The few stories and novellas I've read by Kealan Patrick Burke were exceptional. Burke is a veteran Irish author that won a 2004 Bram Stoker Award for his novella The Turtle Boy, a work that kicked off a series of novellas starring a character named Timmy Quinn. His work has appeared in publications by Cemetery Dance and the collections Shivers, Grave Tales, and Inhuman. I've slacked off a bit on horror but wanted to read a few of the “newish” authors that I've enjoyed in the past to get back into the genre more. I chose Burke's 2015 self-published novella The Tent as a good camping spot.

Mike and Emma are a married couple on the tattered fringes of divorce. In an effort to restore synergy back into their failing relationship the couple decide to try camping in rural Ohio with their son. When Mike's cheap tent fails to provide adequate shelter the three very-bad-campers head to the car to call it a night. However, Mike gets the family lost in the woods - in the dark in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone service. 

While Mike and Emma turn on each other they discover that their son has vanished. They conduct a frantic search for their boy and find a weird tent that seems to have been made from flesh and bone. Is the tent hiding a body? A psychotic killer? Or, is the tent itself a monster?

At roughly 63 pages The Tent delivers a spooky atmosphere, unlikable characters, and a terrifying menace to consume the unlikable characters. It is easy to compare horror fiction with horror films, so I venture to say The Tent sort of works like Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets The Blob with a companion in Jeepers Creepers. Burke changes the presentation to different characters and scenarios to give readers a break from all the shrubbery. If you need a light horror fix then this is a fun hour. Get your ebook HERE.

Oasis of the Damned

Massachusetts author Greg F. Gifune (b. 1963) has earned many accolades, highlighted by winning Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and International Horror Guild awards. I've enjoyed reading his novels like Midnight Solitaire, Children of Chaos, and Apartment Seven. It has been a long time since I've picked up one of his books so I decided to read a military-styled horror novella called Oasis of the Damned. It was originally published in 2014 by the now defunct DarkFuse and now exists as the first half of a twofer titled Oasis of the Damned & Heretics: A Novella Double-Shot. 

The novella begins with a woman named Richter awakening from a helicopter crash. Readers learn she is a U.S. Army Transport Helicopter Pilot that has been downed somewhere in the middle of a vast scorching desert. Miraculously, a man named Owens arrives quickly on the scene and helps her gather some belongings for a long walk to a really odd place. 

Owens leads Richter to an old WWII camp that consists of one small square building and a larger tower-styled building. As Richter gets closer she sees sandbags stacked up near the entrance of the tower. Owens is fairly discreet and doesn't provide many details other than the place exists in the middle of nowhere, the chances of rescue are non-existent, and the only thing keeping him alive are the leftover rations from decades ago and the oasis of fresh water inside the camp. 

After a quick introduction Owens begins preparing for some sort of invasion. But what could possibly be happening in this doomed and desolate place? As night falls Richter learns that zombie-like creatures with razor sharp talons and teeth descend onto the camp in an effort to kill Owens. Through the battle, which includes both of them fighting hordes of monsters with guns, grenades, and swords, Richter discovers that Owens is the last survivor of a large crew of refinery engineers. Every night these creatures emerge and a battle of willpower and determination ensues. The key to success is decapitating the creatures and then burning the bodies. However, the creatures can also appear in other forms including hyenas and the bodies of the people they have killed. Needless to say these are some truly terrifying creatures.

Gifune's novella is like a cross between any first-person creature-shooter game and a deranged episode of Lost. This desolate military camp isn't all that it seems to be. When Richter decides to leave the facility the end result is something out of an old Twilight Zone episode – all roads out of town just lead back to town. To spruce up the one-dimensional “1-2-3-Kill!” action, there is a terrific backstory as Richter recalls the tragedy that befell her younger brother in their childhood home. These flashback sequences explain Richter's fighting spirit and her battles in Iraq during two years of active duty. 

Oasis of the Damned was a quick enjoyable read at roughly 90 pages, give or take a large font or two. Gifune's style has always been “hit 'em hard” while still embracing a smooth calculated delivery to spook his reader. I've never read a bad book by this author and Oasis of the Damned is another testimony to his storytelling talent. Recommended. 

Get a copy of the book HERE 

Ranking My September 2024 Reads

I rank my Top 10 reads of September 2024 with capsule reviews and photos of the books. Check it out HERE or stream below:

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 106

In this episode, Eric delves into the career of author Jack Finney. He wrote science-fiction and crime-fiction novels that included time-travel, heists, and prison breaks. Eric reviews Finney's most famous novel, The Body Snatchers, which was the basis for the Invasion of the Body Snatchers film franchise. In addition, Eric discusses his antique mall paperback shopping and reviews a horror story titled Nightmare on Ice from the newest issue of Bold Venture Press's Pulp Adventures. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Facebook, X, and YouTube. Check the Paperback Warrior blog daily for new reviews and articles. A companion video is available HERE that ties into this episode.

Listen to "Episode 106: Jack Finney" on Spreaker.

Simon Ark #04 - The Man from Nowhere

The fourth Simon Ark appearance was in the June 1956 issue of Famous Detective Stories. It was also reprinted in Startling Mystery Stories' Summer 1967 issue. The story, written by Edward D. Hoch, is titled “The Man from Nowhere” and features an enticing premise of “...the story of Douglas Zadig's last day on Earth and the people who were with him when he died.”

The story begins with occult detective (who may be 2,000 years of age) Simon Ark telephoning the unnamed narrator in November 1940ish. Ark asks if the narrator would like to join him on a weekend trip to Maine. In first-person narrative, the narrator explains that any trip with Simon Ark is never as casual as it sounds. He's delighted to unearth some criminal activity with the bizarre detective. 

Ark, who is presented in the series as searching for “Ultimate Evil”, is in Maine to interview an overnight sensation named Douglas Zadig. The 20-yr old man appeared out of the mist one day claiming to have no memory of his past life. He spoke English very poorly, wore clothes that were rags, and possessed a copy of Voltaire's novel Zadig, thus his name was created. However, since the man appeared he has managed to write a book titled “On the Eternal War Between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Evil” that contains word-for-word teachings from a religious leader named Zoroaster – a man that lived seven centuries before Christ. 

When Ark and the narrator arrive to visit Zadig they discover that he has been attacked twice by an unknown entity while sitting alone in his room. There's talk that Zadig may be a target for the Devil himself. Through an investgation both Ark and the narrator learn about a similar man named Kaspar Hauser that also appeared “out of thin air” in 1829. He also remembered nothing of his past and was dressed like a peasant. What is the correlation between these two bizarre men and their outwardly appearance of being from another century? Needless to say the story escalates with a murder mystery. 

“The Man from Nowhere” is an excellent representation of what this series is all about – the perfect cocktail of traditional detective-fiction mixed with a dose of Victorian horror and draped in the hints of a supernatural explanation. Like other weird-menace stories in the pulps there is always a logical explanation. But, what I love about Hoch's resolution to these cases is that he leaves it subjective. There is always a brief possibility that the abnormal things happening are really supernatural. That is evident with Ark's last spoken words in this story: “...there are some things better left unexplained, at least in this world.” 

In this world, you can get a copy of the Simon Ark stories HERE.

Hammer of the Dogs

Jarret Keene has recently basked in the western spotlight, spurred into action with his Kid Crimson series of wild-west adventures. Those books – Gunpowder Mountain, The Guns of Goblin Valley, Stagecoach to Oblivion – are available from WolfpackPublishing. My first experience with Keene was the debut Crimson novel, an entertaining fast-paced hero tale laced with colorful characters and creative violence. I was excited to observe Keene's craft outside of the western genre. I was delighted to receive his 2023 novel Hammer of the Dogs. It was published by University of Nevada Press and is described as a post-apocalyptic adventure set in war-torn Las Vegas.

The novel's heroine is iron-headed Lash, an intelligent Dystopian warrior that attends a makeshift educational facility aptly titled Academy. With her mother dead and her father missing, Lash relies on the strict behavioral teachings of Professor, a brilliant tech-head that may be a festering warmonger with a penchant for religious fanaticism (think Cyber-Christ). Lash's skillset is an advanced high-level awareness of droids, a technology that is draped over the bombed and revamped Las Vegas strip. There are colorful varieties of drones (and droids) that can cook, heal, interact, screw, and dive-bomb humanity with a plethora of deadly killing devices that would give terrorists nightmares. The victor must control the drones and successfully operate jammer devices to stop the enemy drones.

The book's premise is partly enriched by a feud between the Academy and a warlord named Richter. His mission is to seemingly kill Academy students and continue the downfall and decline of Las Vegas. Needless to say, Lash's mentor and friends all buy into the propaganda that Richter is the real enemy. However, after a terrifying conflict with Richter's forces, Lash becomes a prisoner and learns the real and awful truth that has been withheld from her for years. Additionally, she learns the whereabouts of her enslaved father.

First, from an action-adventure perspective, this is a doomsday feast of energized firefights, drone battles, fisticuffs, and heroic missions that are equally mind-boggling and entertaining. While I didn't always know what a “VAMPIR-launched TBG-29V thermobaric antipersonnel round” was, it never spoiled the fun when that same round splattered a drone's intestinal optical fibers into stringy sparklers. The book was reminiscent of Robert Tine's outrageous 1980s paperback series Outrider, complete with hero Bonner facing a sworn enemy in Leatherman – just replace drones with armed-to-the-teeth dune buggies and inferior prose. But, Keene's nightmarish post-apocalypse is more advanced and contains characters that should appeal to every age group. There's gun porn, but that all plays into Keene's social message.

Keene is never preachy or one-sided, but he delivers some stark social awareness through these downtrodden desperate kids with advanced technology. If that statement alone isn't the real message, then he spells it out quite clearly. Too much technology alienates humanity and feeds the combat quota of Americans versus Americans in fruitless endeavors to outrace, overbuy, overeat, overreach, and overtake each other to prove one side is better than the other – "better than, different than, less than" played out with bone-chilling drones and their insta-killer devices. It rips the population of post-nuke Earth apart in the same ways that it shreds the pre-nuke Earth today. It's by design and we're fools for buying into it. Keene's message concerns too many weapons touted by youth. It also showcases the horror of cold-blooded remote murder that happens today across endless battlefields – mourning and human compassion disappears through a touch screen arsenal of ballistic catastrophe. Keene totally gets it and I applaud him for combining modern fears (and education) with an entertaining action-adventure novel.

Hammer of the Dogs wins across all fronts and I'm hoping I see more of Lash in the future. Highly recommended. Get your copy HERE.

Sam Durell #13 - Assignment-Lowlands

The 13th adventure starring CIA troubleshooter Sam Durell was Assignment-Lowlands from 1961. By this point in the series, author Edward S. Aarons had fully embraced the character that would carry him to his death in 1975 after authoring 42 installments starring the Cajun spy.

A romantic weekend with his girlfriend on the Chesapeake Bay is cut short by a phone call summoning Sam to a meeting in a London pub to accept his next assignment. Two days earlier, every CIA operative around the world was put on high alert and told to be ready for something big. That time is now.

After a brief stop in London that provides the reader no insight into the crisis, Sam continues to Amsterdam. Upon meeting his CIA safehouse host, Sam finds the man dying of a rare virus. Before he expires, he sends Sam to the Northern Holland island of Scheersplaat (not on Google Maps - possibly fictional?) to meet a man who unleashed this virus upon the world from a bunker. Naturally, the CIA’s man in Amsterdam dies before providing any pertinent details - just a map to the target location in the Frisian Islands in Northern Holland.

"Operation Cassandra” was an undeployed Nazi bioweapons program during WW2 that has been unearthed and somehow released from an underground lab on a remote island in Holland. This is the kind of thing that would make the Bubonic Plague look like a head cold, and Sam needs to contain it without becoming infected along the way.

Neither Sam nor his CIA colleagues knows who unearthed this buried laboratory of the Nazi virologists, but whoever is behind this is trying to blackmail the USA for money to keep the disease from spreading worldwide. This creates a mystery for Sam to solve while on the ground in Holland. Think Jack Bauer meets Sam Spade.

Sam finds himself face-to-face with the terrorist behind this plot fairly early in the paperback, and he’s one of the best villains I can recall in ages. Menacing and unhinged - but not cartoonish. There are further layers of adversaries baked into the plot - each one better than the last.

I’ve read a handful of Aaron’s Sam Durell Assignment adventures, and this one is by far the best thus far. The plot moves at a great pace akin to an episode of 24 and Sam shows way more personality than usual. The setting was great, and the aspirations of the characters were always logical.

The paperback had elements of a maritime adventure, a hardboiled mystery, and a treasure hunt - all the wrapping of a 1960s spy adventure. If these types of stories broadly appeal to you, you’re gonna love this Assignment. You can get Edward S. Aarons books HERE.

Antique Store Crime-Fiction

In this video, Eric journeys north to St. Mary's Georgia to locate a lone bookshelf buried in an old antique store. This video shows the vintage crime-fiction hardbacks stored there by authors Richard and Frances Lockridge. Eric presents a brief overview of the Mr. & Mrs. North, Lieutenant Heimrich, and Detective Nathan Shapiro crime-fiction titles. Stream on the YouTube app HERE or watch below:

Unboxing Operation Hang Ten

In today's video, Eric unboxes the entire Operation Hang Ten series. This was a title created by Lyle Keynon Engel and published between 1969 and 1973. Eric has a brief history of the title and author and examines each paperback in the collection. Stream the video HERE or watch below. Be sure to subscribe for weekly videos.

Simon Ark #03 - The Witch is Dead

“The Witch is Dead” was the third Simon Ark story, and it appeared in Famous Detective Stories' April 1956 issue. It was reprinted in the Fall 1966 issue of Startling Mystery Stories. There were a total of at least 45 Ark stories, and they are all penned by Edward D. Hoch. The concept is that Ark travels the globe searching for Satan while also solving crimes that possess a weird menace. Most of the stories include an unnamed narrator presenting the story in first-person. 

The story begins with the narrator describing a woman named Marie Carrio and her career as a fortune-teller named Mother Fortune (how original). She operates her mammoth crystal ball in Westchester County, New York. The narrator states that Mother Fortune died in a burst of flames and that her death proved even more fantastic than her life. 

The narrator then describes the events leading up to Mother Fortune's fiery demise, which is the story. He says it was October in 1950 and he was now working for Neptune Books, a paperback publisher (great nod to the era). He is now married to a woman named Shelly. He meets Simon Ark unexpectedly at a train station. Ark catches up with the narrator on the last couple of years since they had worked together. He says, “There is evil everywhere these days, and it is most difficult to separate the man-made evil from the more ancient type.” This statement pretty much sums up the Simon Ark series – deciphering supernatural or simple logic. 

Ark explains to the narrator that he is in Westchester County to investigate weird happenings at the Hudsonville College for Women. The narrator laughs when Ark advises that the college has somehow become cursed by Mother Fortune. Three students are near death and another forty are critically ill. Ark is there to determine the real cause of the outbreak and if it is somehow linked to an unfortunate event that occurred between Mother Fortune and the school years ago.

This was probably my least favorite of the Simon Ark stories thus far. The plot development was a bit murky and the final solution to the school's epidemic was hard to believe. I enjoyed the exchanges between Ark and the narrator and appreciated the PI-esque investigation. The story just moved a little too slow with such a limp payoff. With this many stories across four decades the output is certainly going to vary. You could skip this one.

Paperback Warrior Primer - Jon Messmann

Whether you enjoy men's action-adventure, adult westerns, comics, mysteries, vigilante sagas, or gothic romance, there's something for everyone when it comes to author Jon Messmann (1920-2004). We have covered so many of his books and titles thanks to publishers like Cutting Edge Books reprinting his work for modern readers. Hopefully, today's primer will shine a light on his life and literary work.

Jon Messmann was born in 1920. His parents forced him to play violin and some sources stated he really disliked playing music and preferred writing. In 1940, he began writing for the up-and-coming comic industry, a period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. His first gig was for Fawcett Comics, an early, successful comic book publisher of that era. His co-workers were a dream-team of comic book icons such as Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Chic Stone. Messmann wrote for a decade on titles like Captain Marvel Jr., Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Gabby Hayes, Don Winslow of the Navy, Tex Ritter, and Nyoka: The Jungle Girl.

In 1950, Messmann, co-created Carousel, an 8-page tabloid comics section in the Pittsburg Courier. This featured many of Messmann's comic ideas like secret agents, historical romance, sea adventure, private-eyes, jungle girls and even fairy tales. Carousel lasted five years and was distributed by New York's Smith-Mann Syndicate. But, Messmann wanted to get into writing full-length, paperback originals.

Beginning in the 1960s, Messmann’s transition into paperback full-length novels began with Lyle KenyonEngel’s star franchise, Nick Carter: Killmaster. Messmann’s first contribution to that series was it's 37th installment, 14 Seconds to Hell, published in 1968. The series, authored by a selection of ghost writers under the name Nick Carter, was a firm stepping stone for Messmann. The series paralleled the pulp industry in terms of campy, over-the-top secret-agent action. Messmann’s experience writing comics and comic strips made him a viable workhorse for Engel to rely on. The author contributed 14 more installments through 1970 before departing the series. Most Nick Carter fans will list Messmann in the highest tier of series contributors.

Engel, pleased with Messmann’s production, paired him with another Killmaster author named George Snyder for a series called Hot Line in 1970. The series lasted only three installments with Messmann only contributing to the debut, Our Spacecraft is Missing!. Again, this allowed Messmann to develop a modern secret-agent, in this case a President’s Man type of hero named Fowler.

Also in 1970, while writing Killmaster novels Messman wrote two books starring a vagabond hero named Logan. They were inspired by John D. MacDonald’s successful character Travis McGee. The books are Logan and Killers at Sea and were authored under the pseudonym Alan Joseph. Both books have been reprinted as new editions under Messmann's name. You can obtain them HERE.

Just like Gil Brewer, Dean R. Koontz, Hillary Waugh, and Gardner F. Fox, Jon Messmann also authored gothic romance paperbacks. The pseudonyms he used for these novels was Claudette Nicole and Claud Nicole.

After Mack Bolan's saga was unveiled in the hit series The Executioner in the late 1960s and early 70s, publishers began searching for vigilante fiction. In 1973, Signet began publishing a vigilante series called The Revenger, written by Jon Messmann. He crafted these novels through 1975 while also creating and writing another character, Jefferson Boone: Handyman. The sexual escapades of The Revenger's Ben Martin, Jefferson Boone: Handyman, and the Nick Carter series before that, led Messmann to what would ultimately become his meal ticket – Skye Fargo.

By 1978, adult western fiction rose to prominence and was led by a series heavyweight in Lou Cameron's Longarm. The concept was simply to incorporate two to three graphic sex scenes into a traditional western. The main character fights the bad guys and pleases the bad girls. Messmann, following the trend, created The Trailsman series in 1980 for Signet. Like Don Pendleton's The Executioner, Messmann had created an iconic hero in Skye Fargo – lake blue eyes/bed mattress Olympian – and placed him in nearly 400 total installments. Of those, Messmann wrote nearly half up until his retirement using the pseudonym Jon Sharpe. The publisher then handed the series over to a rotation of ghost writers using the Sharpe house name.

Messmann also created the short-lived Canyon 'O Grady western series in 1989 and authored three installments. It was rumored that Messmann had never been to the western regions of the U.S., instead writing every Trailsman and Canyon 'O Grady novel from the comfort of his Manhattan apartment.

Messmann even dipped his typewriter in the romance waters. Using the pseudonym Pamela Windsor, he wrote three romance novels for Jove from 1977 through 1980. He also authored a horror novel called The Deadly Deep in 1976 for New American Library, and thrillers like Phone Call for Signet in 1979, Jogger's Moon in 1980 for Penguin, and the western The Last Snow in 1989 for Random House. He also authored the stand-alone crime-fiction mystery novel A Bullet for the Bride in 1972 for Pyramid.

Jon Messmann died in 2004 at the age of 84 in a New York nursing home. His books are widely circulated and can often be found in just about any used bookstore across America. The fact that fans like myself are still discussing his literature is a true testament of his storytelling talent. Get many of his books and titles right HERE.

Joe Bain #02 - The Pleasant Grove Murders

Sheriff Joe Bain serves fictitious San Rodrigo County, California. He is a Korean War vet with an estranged wife and a teenage daughter. Bain is also a by-the-books guy, but is a little more elementary and basic when it comes to your average police procedural. He's what I describe as barnyard dumb, rough around the edges, and has a unique likability that may compare to Hoke Moseley. The character was created by John Holbrook Vance, a science-fiction and fantasy author that dipped his toes in mystery fiction with a handful of novels. There were only two published Joe Bain books. The first, The Fox Valley Murders, I reviewed HERE and discussed on the podcast HERE. But, I also read the series second and last installment, The Pleasant Grove Murders.

The premise for the novel is the murder of a young mailman named Ken. Bain must determine if someone murdered a mailman, who just happened to be Ken that day, or if they were intentionally killing Ken, who just happened to be the mailman that day. You see the mystery here? However, when more murders begin to pile up the mystery expands into some pretty posh places. 

Like the first Bain book, this novel introduces a small backstory on events that happened to a high school kid named Sam, Ken's best friend. Vance introduces a proposed marriage between two prominent families, a who-can-outdo-who class clash, and some scandalous neighborhood affairs. It all washes out in the end but the real joy is just sorting through the suspects in a befuddled Bain sort of way. 

Vance included a campaign election to entertain readers between bodies hitting the floor in Bain's debut. This novel also offers an enjoyable time-waster as well. Bain and his mother are flirting with the idea of running a country hotel complete with a dive bar and alcohol. The town questions the Sheriff dealing with the town's riffraff on a personal level but also the fact that he learned about the hotel sale through his professional endeavors. Should a Sheriff be able to gain insider information for his own gain? It is a good debate between the town. In some ways it reminds me of those outlandish scenarios presented on the old 90s television show Picket Fences. 

I really enjoy the Joe Bain character and hated to learn that this is really it. Two published books. However, there is an unfinished and unedited loose outline of a third Bain book out there too. I've never read it because I just don't consider it to be a finished product suitable for public consumption. It is a shame that Vance never wrote anything else about this crazy little community. Buy a copy of the book HERE.

Paperback Warrior Podcast - Episode 105

Today's brand-new episode focuses on one of the most polarizing authors of the early to mid 20th century, Sydney Horler. He wrote 150 books and authored over 1,000 short stories while waging a headline war with his contemporaries. We dive into his life, his involvement in London's criminal underworld, and the many series titles and characters he created. Eric also reviews a private-eye novel from 1984 and discusses a heated marital dispute in the parking lot of a Jacksonville bookstore. Play the episode below or on any streaming platform. Download the episode HERE. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Facebook, X, and YouTube. 

Listen to "Episode 105: The Crazy Career of Sydney Horler" on Spreaker.

Simon Ark #02 - Hoofs of Satan

The Famous Detective Stories February 1956 issue includes “Hoofs of Satan”, the second appearance of occult detective Simon Ark. He first appeared in the magazine a few months earlier. Those of you unaware of the character there were at least 45 Simon Ark stories and they were all authored by series creator Edward D. Hoch. Ark travels the world searching for the Devil while investigating bizarre occurrences that suggest an evil presence. He teams with an unnamed narrator that progresses from a reporter to a publisher and then a partner with Ark in a detective agency. 

“The Hoofs of Satan” takes place in the winter of 1945 in North Bradshire, a village that lies on the edge of a forest on one of the main highways from London to the coast. The narrator, in third-person this time, describes it as a relic of the Middle Ages that somehow survived the 20th century. Simon Ark is there to investigate the village and later explains to a Chief Inspector that a hundred years ago several villages in that area discovered strange cloven hoof-prints in the snow. The villagers followed the path of the prints through the forest but came to a certain point where the dogs would just howl but go no further. 

Simon Ark, the Inspector, and the village mayor examine new hoof-prints that have appeared in North Bradshire. The trio interview the owner of a house where the majority of the hoof-prints appear. A man named Summers agrees to help the group find answers on who – or what – is making these tracks. Ark has some suspicions and meets with a neighbor named Hunt, a strikingly beautiful married woman that was a popular actress before her retirement a couple of years ago. Ark believes there may be some connection between Hunt, her husband, and Summers. A love triangle? But, what does that have to do with hoof-prints?

Despite Ark's explanation of the weird happenings in North Bradshire, the story eventually drifts into familiar territory in these Ark stories. There is a logical explanation, a murder, and a central mystery on who the killer is. The prints in the snow are unusual but explained in the story's conclusion. As the story ends there is a dark tone as readers discover that Ark may have dished out vigilante justice. The ending suggests that maybe there was a supernatural element marked by Ark leaving an ankh behind. 

This was a fun bit of escapism that puts Ark into the role of leading a mystery investigation. The story is more procedural and follows a well-worn template but it still works well. Readers gain a few tidbits about Ark along the way which contributes to the grand mystery of who the heck Ark really is. As usual, suspend your disbelief and have fun with it. That's what the Simon Ark stories are really about. 

You can obtain this story by purchasing City of Brass: And Other Simon Ark Stories. It is a collection published by Mysterious Press and it features three Ark stories. You can buy it HERE.

Friday the 13th - Friday the 13th Part 3

In one of the more bizarre occurrences in paperback history, two film novelizations occurred for Paramount's Friday the 13th Part 3 (often listed with III). The first was authored by Michael Avallone, a crime-fiction author that wrote the popular Ed Noon series of detective fiction as well as early installments in the Nick Carter: Killmaster series. Avallone wasn't a complete stranger to spookville. He also wrote gothic romance novels that possessed a familiar supernatural scent that appealed to 1970s readers. His F13 novelization was timed perfectly for the release of the film to theaters in 1982. However, Signet hired Simon Hawke, who had previously penned the prior two Friday the 13th novelizations, to write his own novelization of Friday the 13th Part 3 in 1988. Weird, right?

I like Avallone's writing so I chose to read his take on the film first. As a kid, I rented Friday the 13th films so much that the tapes were at my house more than the rental store. I also camped in front of cable television in the late 80s watching the USA Network air the films every Saturday on the Captain USA show or their Saturday Nightmares prime-time spot. Needless to say, I knew what the next page was going to offer. 

Avallone mostly sticks to the script for 90% of the book. If you haven't seen the film, this one has Jason attacking teen visitors at a nearby farm called Higgins Haven, which is adjacent to the Camp Crystal Lake original battleground. Many fans call this film “the barn one” because the action and body count intensifies in that dwelling. Plus, there's plenty of sharp things in there to penetrate soft bodies.

The hero of the film/book is Chris, a young woman that lived a horrifying ordeal as a child when she saw Jason Voorhees face to face in the woods. While she's dealing with repressed memories of that night, she orchestrates an outing to visit the lake where the murders occurred. She brings friends along that just make for easy slasher fodder – two potheads, a horny couple, a creepy lunatic nerd, and another sensible girl. She also brings her boyfriend Andy along for the massacre as well.

Jason begins hacking his way through the characters, including three black bikers, until Chris is the proverbial last girl. Avallone's writing borders on satire at times as if he is secretly rolling his eyes at the ludicrous concept of the undead killer killing...again and again. The perfect example is his take on the imbecile police in the third chapter, aptly titled “Give Him the Axe!”. Avallone is such a great storyteller that he is able to draw out some of the tension and cat-and-mouse intrigue to heights that even rival Harry Manfredini's intense musical score. 

The book's ending drifts into a different version than what is seen on film. In this book's ending Chris completely decapitates Jason whereas in the film she simply cleaves him in the head with an axe. Big difference. She also awakens in bed with the doctors and police outside in the hallway questioning her sanity. She escapes the room and journeys back to the barn to search for clues that the murders actually happened. She wants to prove that she didn't make all of this up. She finds a leg, a foot, and an arm in the hay before Jason decapitates her. The police then go check on Chris and find her still in bed. The whole scene was a nightmare. 

In the film, one of the best segments is when Chris escapes to the canoe and at dawn she sees Jason peering from a window before Mrs. Voorhees corpse erupts out of the water, which is later proved to just be a nightmare. Avallone omits this segment. I took a peek at Simon Hawke's treatment and he kept his novelization strictly to the film version, which may be why he was hired to do another novelization of the film in the first place. 

I love the Friday the 13th films in the same way that any old timer will tell you they loved all of the Hammer and Universal horror films when they were a kid. Jason, Michael, Freddy, and Leatherface have become the new Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy. This book is a nostalgic trip through time but also showcases a superb writer doing the most he can with an unrealistic story. For that, I applaud the effort. This is an entertaining read.

Joe Bain #01 - The Fox Valley Murders

John Holbrook Vance (1916-2013) published most of his literary work under the name Jack Vance. As a respected science-fiction and fantasy author, Vance wrote many series titles like Dying Earth, Lyonesse, Demon Prince, and Durdane. While those two genres occupied most of Vance's career, he still wrote mystery novels as Ellery Queen, Peter Held, and Alan Wade. My first experience with the author is his two-book series of mysteries starring Sheriff Joe Bain. I started with the first novel, The Fox Valley Murders, originally published in hardcover in 1966. 

In the fictitious California locale of San Rodrigo County, the long-serving Sheriff dies in a freak swimming accident. His replacement is deputy Joe Bain, a one-time troublemaker that has worked his way through the ranks to become a semi-respectable lawman. However Bain is serving in interim role until the county elects a new Sheriff. Bain, enjoying the freedom of a supervisory role, throws his hat in the pool as a nominee. A protagonist running a tight political race may not be an electrifying read. To combat the boredom the author throws in a riveting murder mystery with a robust body count. Now we're talking.

The author offers an explanatory – and disturbing – flashback highlighting events that transpired in San Rodrigo 16 years ago when a young man named Ausley was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a middle school girl. There were a half-dozen residents that testified they saw Ausley at the scene of the crime. However, those residents are now being murdered one-by-one after Ausley is released from prison for good conduct. 16 years have passed and Ausley now says he is a changed person and isn't committing murders or any crime whatsoever.

Vance inserts Joe Bain's brief history to build validity to the character. He joined the U.S. Army after high school and saw action in the Korean War. He was then transferred to the Military Police and wound up as a sergeant. He used his GI benefits to attend the Chapman Institute of Criminology which resulted in his position as county deputy. Bain has an estranged wife somewhere and he lives with his mother and teenage daughter. Bain is rough around the edges and comes across as barnyard dumb in a likable way. His pleas for a vote come at the most inopportune time and his problem solving skills are a little late for the dance. But, these are purposeful characteristics that set Bain apart from the cookie-cutter good guy with a badge that dominated media of that era.

If you are looking for a police procedural that is a little unusual then Joe Bain is the man for the job. He's the star of this quirky small-town murder mystery with a bite. Your only disappointment will be coping with the fact that only two of these Joe Bain books were published. You get a copy of the reprint HERE and listen to our podcast episode about the series HERE.