The Art of TOM ROBERTS (Part 1)

Here's one of eight covers (that I know of) that Tom did for Crippen & Landru. This book was published in 2006.

This painting was used for three different Battered Silicon Dispatch Box books, all published in 2011: Victorian Holmes by Michael Duke, Introducing Sherlock Holmes by William Hyder and Thinking Outside the Tin-Dispatch Box by William R. Cochran.

And here's one from Tom's own Black Dog Books, published in 2010. More great covers next Sunday!

New from BLACK DOG BOOKS !

DEATH HAS AN ESCORT by Roger Torrey
With an introduction by Richard A. Moore
     Crime comes in many forms, great and small—but no crime compares to murder!
     The floors runs red as Roger Torrey’s classic hard-drinking private eyes sleuth their way through eight short novels and one shorter work.
     With a ground-breaking introduction by Richard A. Moore, presenting a vast amount of new biographical information about Roger Torrey.
     Coming in at more than 300 pages, this collection is sure to find a place on your mystery shelf!

THE GARDEN OF TNT by William J. Makin
The Collected Adventures of the Red Wolf of Arabia
With an introduction by Mike Ashley
     Walking a tightrope of fragile alliances, undercover British Intelligence agent Paul Rodgers, aka the Red Wolf of Arabia, faces off against revolutionaries and foreign dignitaries, trying to sway the balance of power following the Arab revolt.
     Drawn from Makin’s personal travels and peppered with intimate color and background, it’s little wonder that the Red Wolf of Arabia stories were reader favorites when they first appeared.
     Now collected for the first time in book form are the complete thrilling adventures of the Red Wolf of Arabia—over 500 pages of action andespionage excitement in the shifting sands of international intrigue!

THE VOICE OF THE NIGHT by Hugh Pendexter
The Cases of Jeff Fanchon, Investigator
With an introduction by award-winning author Evan Lewis.
     A series of baffling robberies strike the high society of New York. What could be the purpose and who could be responsible for such odd crimes? The agents of the evil mastermind, Henri Bouchard, have infiltrated all levels of society. No precious item is safe from his criminal genius.
     Jefferson Fanchon, Inquirer, has been called in to decipher the events. Immediately he recognizes the hand of his old European adversary, Bouchard. But never before has Bouchard’s influence spanned the Atlantic. Why now?
     The game is afoot as the great Inquirer’s legendary powers of deduction are put to the test
in this series of astounding cases!
     Will Bouchard win? Or will Jeff Fanchon triumph?
     In the grand tradition of Sherlock Holmes, uncover the startling answers in The Voice of the Night.

TARRANO THE CONQUEROR by Ray Cummings
With a new introduction by Tom Roberts
     The year is 2430. The Earth awakens to find its leaders murdered! All major cities are in turmoil. It is rumored an interplanetary plot is underway. When the same situation arises on Mars, panic ensues. Who is responsible? The ruler of Venus sends word that he will protect the Earth if all its citizens will recognize and honor his supreme authority.
     A defiant Earth Council refuses to submit to such blatant tyranny. Then a second message arrives from the stars:
     Tarrano the Conqueror declares war on the Earth!

DYING COMES HARD by James P. Olsen
The Collected Cases of “Hard Guy” Dallas Duane
With an introduction by James Reasoner.
     They don’t call him Hard Guy for nothin’!
     Into the rough and tumble oil fields of Texas and the American southwest of the 1930s comes Dallas Duane, troubleshooter, freelance private dick and undercover investigator for the oil companies.
     “Hard and fast” is his motto! Watch as he works his way in and out of trouble—both with the wildcatters and wild women—knuckling a path through a series of bank robberies and payroll heists, murder and corrupt officials, crooked gambling and haunted graveyards.
     Here, for the first time are assembled the complete adventures of “Hard Guy” Dallas Duane, two-fisted troubleshooter!
     The appendix includes a nonfiction article about the wildcat oil booms of the Texas region that Olsen covered as a newspaper reporter. 

WINDY CITY PULP STORIES No.15 edited by Tom Roberts
Celebrating the 125th Birthday of H.P. Lovecraft and the 75th Anniversary of the Street & Smith comics. With cover art by Les Edwards.
      With contributions and rare articles by F. Paul Wilson, Robert Weinberg, Stephen Jones, S.T. Joshi, David H. Keller and others.

ALL BOOKS NOW AVAILABLE - HERE!

Forgotten Spicy Western Stories: TOO MANY MAVERICKS by James A. Lawson

When I reviewed the Black Dog Books collection Hard Guy here last month (HERE), I threatened to post "Too Many Mavericks" by the same author, a guy calling himself James A. Lawson. At the time, I wondered who Lawson might really be, and Mr. James Reasoner wrote with the dope: Lawson was actually western writer James P. Olsen. 

Now, I have just learned, Black Dog is preparing to release the complete adventures of Hard Guy, complete with a an all-new introduction by Mr. Reasoner himself. While Hard Guy had a mere five stories, Dying Comes Hard will have twenty! Publisher Tom Roberts hopes to unleash this fistful of dynamite upon the world no later than April. More details on that book are HERE. Meanwhile, here's a sample of Mr. Lawson/Olsen's work, from the August 1941 issue of Spicy Western. Great title. Do you suppose he was a Nero Wolfe fan?

 

Our thrilling tale continues at the bottom of the following page.

Your headquarters for Friday's Forgotten Books (and sometimes stories) is pattinase.

Black Dog Books After-Christmas Sale!

Two Nebels for $30. Save $15, HERE.

 

Over at the Black Dog Books site, Jolly old Tom Roberts is doing his dangdest to make your new year happy. In addition to the swell packages pictured here, he's even offering the option to roll your own. Pick any two $19.95 books for $30 (HERE), or any three for $45 (HERE).

Two Pendexters for $20. Save $10, HERE.

Three Rohmers for $40. Save $19, HERE.

Two Worts for $30. Save $10, HERE.

Two Best of Adventures for $44.95. Save $25, HERE.

 

Two Englands for $30. Save $20, HERE.

Forgotten Books: HARD GUY by James A. Lawson

Back in the Olden Days, before Tom Roberts started publishing those glitzy trade paperbacks, Black Dog Books were like this one -- a format he described as "saddle-stitched booklet, under single-color card stock cover." The trade paperbacks are great, of course, but I still have a special fondness for these chapbooks.

The hero of the five stories in Hard Guy, published way back in 2003, is a sometime private detective who shoots trouble in the Texas oil camps of the1930s. He calls himself Hard Guy, and other characters call him that too, as if that's his given name (and based on the content, it's tempting to speculate that his middle name is Dick). Actually, his given name is Dallas Duane, but it's mentioned so briefly it's easy to forget.

The "Dick" part springs from the fact that four of the tales were written for Spicy mags -- three for Spicy Western and one for Spicy Adventure. The fifth, a non-Spicy adventure, appeared in another Trojan magazine, Fighting Western. And yep, they're plenty spicy, spicier than what I'm used to in the Spicy Detective adventures of Dan Turner. While Turner never seems to go beyond smooching and fumbling about  with scantily-clad babes, Hard Guy leaves no doubt that his amorous appetites are fully satisfied.

The surprising thing is that these stories ran in western titles, when they seem much more suited to a detective mag. Yeah, the setting is Texas, and we occasionally meet a character who rides a horse, but calling these westerns is a big stretch.

Even more surprising, this James A. Lawson guy was a pretty good writer. His slang is every bit as creative as that of Robert Leslie Bellem, but when he's not aping Bellem, his style is truly unique, and shows real talent. When he describes the Texas oil camps, it's clear he's really been there, and knows what he's talking about. Makes me wonder who "Lawson" really was, and what else he might have written.

A search through my copies of Trojan publications (the Spicys, Speeds, Private Detective, Hollywood Detective and Super-Detective) turned up only one other story, an actual Old West western in the August 1941 issue of Spicy Western. I plan to post that entire story here sometime soon. Meanwhile, I'd recommend this book to fans of tough-guy detective fiction. spicy or not.

Forgotten Books: ALONG THE RIVER TRAIL by Hugh Pendexter (1920)

I've long had an itch to re-read The Long Rifle by Stewart Edward White and report on it here in Forgotten Books. The Long Rifle was the book that introduced mountain man and trapper Andy Burnett, and was the basis for the Disney series The Saga of Andy Burnett. 

Well, I still haven't returned to The Long Rifle, but Along the River Trail by Hugh Pendexter scratched that Andy Burnett itch in a big way. This one, too, is about a young man who heads west in the company of older, wiser hands, and learns the ins and outs of the trade. The difference here is that one of those wiser hands is also quite young, and such a prominent character that he's almost a co-protagonist. And that's a good thing, because he's Jim Bridger, and Bridger makes a fascinating hero. 

This book, one of five volumes (so far) in Black Dog Books' Hugh Pendexter Library, was serialized in Adventure in 1920, and is collected here for the first time. Our official POV character is Ralph Lander, a St. Louis store employee of the American Fur Company who gets sacked for falling in love with (and capturing the love of) the boss's daughter. After winning a duel with a rival, he finds it wise to get out of town, and heads for the mountains with Bridger, one of the leading lights of the AFC's chief rival, The Rocky Mountain Fur Company. All sorts of wilderness adventures follow, including (but not limited to) encounters with friendly Indians (the Crow), hostile Indians (the Blackfeet), friendly mountain men and hostile mountain men, all set against the background of a battle for supremacy between the American Fur and Rocky Mountain Fur outfits. 

         
While Ralph Lander stumbles around, making mistakes and sometimes learning from them (and giving the reader someone to identify with), Jim Bridger does the thinking and provides the heroics. They make a great pair.

Hugh Pendexter (above right) loved history and was a meticulous researcher, so I'm guessing the picture painted here is about as close to history as fiction can get. But this is fiction, and mighty entertaining reading, because Pendexter was also a master storyteller. As a bonus, the book has a fine introduction by Mr. Robert Randisi. You know you want it, and the best way to get it is direct from Black Dog Books, right HERE. 

 

Your weekly FB roundup is (I think) at pattinase.

Forgotten Books: THE SHADOW OF THE TOMAHAWK by Hugh Pendexter

The Shadow of the Tomahawk is a novel so forgotten it had to wait 93 years to be published in book form. It first ran as a serial in Adventure in 1920 and 21 and was finally given new life last year.

Members of the Western APA (Amateur Press Association) OWLHOOT (you know who you are) have raving about this Hugh Pendexter guy, but this was my introduction to his work, and I'll be eagerly looking for more. And thanks to Tom Roberts and Black Dog Books, it won't be hard to find. This book is one of five volumes now available in the Hugh Pendexter Library, and there are more on the way. 

Pendexter, I was pleased to learn, was the author of nearly eighty novels, so I have a lot to look forward to. The Shadow of the Tomahawk involves a time and place in American history that I know very little about, but the novel's narrator, frontier scout Basdel Morris, took me into his world, introduced me to the players, the conflicts and the landscape, and left me the wiser for it.

The story takes place on the Virginia frontier of 1774, with the British still trying to control their colonies and having very little luck. The guys back in Parliament want peace with the Indians, but folks on the frontier know that's no longer an option. There have been atrocities committed on both sides, and reasonably objective observers like Basdel Morris know there's plenty of blame to go around.

There are still settlers who just want to get along, and still some tribes that are friendly. But there are hotheads whose sole ambition is to exterminate all Indians, and warchiefs who are determined to eradicate all the colonists infesting their hereditary territory. Our hero Basdel represents the voice of reason, but when the pampered city girl he loves - and her know-it-all father - head toward the frontier preaching peace, he must turn to the fiercest of Indian killers in an attempt to save their scalps.

Pendexter was known for his historical research, and recreates a world that rings true in every respect. Through his characters and dialogue, he brought the past to vivid life. Based on my brief acquaintance with him, I'm tempted to call him the Bernard Cornwell of the last century. 

The other books now available in the Hugh Pendexter Library are Red Trails (a related novel set ten years after this one), The Shorthorn Kid (a collection of western stories), According to the Evidence (the collected adventures of The Bureau of Abnormal Litigation), and Along the River Trail (a novel featuring a mountain man at the time of Jim Bridger). For ordering and other info, visit the Black Dog Books site HERE. 

Flying Freebooters: A new Adventure collection by FREDERICK NEBEL

I’ve been waiting thirty years to read some of Frederick Nebel‘s air adventure fiction. And guess what? It was worth the wait.

In the first five years of his pulp writing career, Nebel sold dozens of air adventure tales, most to Air Stories and Wings. Several of those tales were full length novels, novels that were lost to the ages - until now.

Tom Roberts of Black Dog Books has collected two of those full length novels and one novella-length story in this first-ever collection of Nebel’s air fiction. This book focuses on Ben Cowan and Luke Lance, flying investigators for the Straights Agency, an outfit famous for shooting trouble all over the far East.

Here are a few words from the introduction by Evan Lewis (hey, that’s me!):

     At the time the stories in Flying Freebooters originally appeared, between March 1930 and January 1931, Nebel’s pulp career was on the upswing. His best markets were Air Stories, Action Stories, North-West Stories and the magazine where he would leave his greatest mark, Black Mask. 
     After a dozen warm-up appearances in Mask, Nebel brought out the big guns in September 1928, with the introduction of MacBride and Kennedy. 
     “The Isle of Lost Men,” “Flying Freebooters” and “Fighting Wings” came flying out of Nebel’s typewriter concurrently with several of those MacBride and Kennedy stories, and deliver the same brand of slam-bang action and crackling dialogue. 

The rest of that introduction, titled “Nebel on Writing,” collects almost everything I could find pertaining to the author’s thoughts on the craft and business of writing. There’s some insightful (and funny!) stuff here, a rare look behind the mask of this master pulp writer. And most of it is in Nebel's own words, so you know it's good.

Flying Freebooters is available right now, and you’ll find it HERE.

Two more volumes of Nebel’s air adventures, Sky Blazers and Wolves of the Wind, will be coming soon, but in the meantime I suggest you pick up Black Dog’s collection of earth-bound adventures, Empire of the Devil, available HERE.

Friday's Forgotten Books: THE LINKS - plus - "East of Singapore" by Frederick Nebel

Yep, I'm back on the FFB beat, as Todd Mason and I take turns filling in (temporarily) for your official hostess, Patti Abbott. Todd will gather the links next week (Feb. 8) and I'll be back on duty Feb. 15.

Here are the reviews I've located so far. I'll be adding more throughout the day as I find them. If I miss yours please advise me via comment here or at delewis1@hotmail.com!

LATE ADDITION! (MY BAD)
Neer: The Case of Lucy Bending by Lawrence Sanders

Patti Abbott: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Sergio Angelini: The Girl Who Had to Die by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

Joe Barone: Cop Hater by Ed McBain 

Brian Busby: The House of Windows by Isabel Ecclestone Mackay
Bill Crider: The Only Girl in the Game by John D. MacDonald
Martin Edwards: Snap by Jacqueline Wilson

Curt Evans: Murder in the Hospital by Josephine Bell
Ed Gorman: The first two Matt Helm novels by Donald Hamilton
Jerry House: 333: A Bibliography of the Science-Fantasy Novel
Randy Johnson: Thunder Gorge by Ben Bridges
Nick Jones: The King's English by Kingley Amis
George Kelley: John Brunner (Modern Masters of Science Fiction) by Jad Smith
BV Lawson: Death in the Old Country by Eric Wright
Todd Mason: Ten Tales Calculated to Give You Shudders, Ross Olney, ed.
John Norris: The Desert Moon Mystery by Kay Cleaver Strahan
James Reasoner: Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine May 1968
Richard Robinson: The Case of the Substitute Face by Erle Stanley Gardner
Ron Scheer: The Passin-On Party by Effie Graham
Mike Sind: Call the Next Witness by Philip Mason
Kevin Tipple: Mr. Monk is Miserable by Lee Goldberg
Prashant Trikannad: Commando, Love Stories and all-girl comics

EAST OF SINGAPORE by Frederick Nebel

When this 68-page chapbook was published back in 2004, Black Dog Books' current (and amazing) line of trade paperbacks was merely a gleam in Tom Roberts' eye. At the time, Tom had been churning out these great little books for at least six years and the covers had progressed from colored cardstock with line art to full-color beauties like this one.

East of Singapore provided a rare opportunity to see Black Mask writer Frederick Nebel applying his talents to exotic adventure in the Far East. That Nebel wrote such tales was only natural, because when this one first appeared, as "Somewhere East of Singapore," in the July 1926 issue of Action Stories, the market for adventure stories was much larger than that for mysteries.

Our hero here is Jack Berk, a one-time engineering student who fought with Teddy Roosevelt on San Juan Hill, traveled the jungles of the Amazon, and finally signed on to build a bridge in New Guinea. When the bridge project flopped, he found himself adrift in the East, and made his way to Singapore, where this adventure begins.

There aren't many Americans in town at the time, so when one of them finds trouble, others come to their aid. In rescuing an American lady held against her will, Jack puts a bullet through a Chinese prince, who just happens to be a member of a secret crime society. He'd have been sunk if not for still another American - a hardy knockabout named Marty Young - coming to his aid.

Jack and Marty, now a team, discover that the lady - a looker named June Starr - is on the hunt for a treasure in lost jewels, and the three join forces to go after it. Together, they plunge into the dark heart of Borneo, battling Malay warriors and secret society killers every step of the way. Along with the action, Nebel delivers plenty of exotic atmosphere, so we never forget we're in the Far East, and not on the mean streets of a noirish American city.

Want a copy of East of Singapore? I don't blame you. But they're hard to come by these days. Thanks to Tom Roberts, though, the story is still in print, as the lead-off adventure in the Black Dog collection Empire of the Devil. Along with this tale, you also get seven other Nebel adventures, and the most detailed Nebel bibliography ever assembled. Empire of the Devil is one the many fine Black Dog books available HERE.