Pulp Gallery: ADVENTURE

1935

1939

1925

1935

1943

Pulp Gallery: COMPLETE STORIES

1929

1931

1932

1929

1932

Forgotten Books: D'ARTAGNAN by H. Bedford-Jones (1928)

I’m a longtime Musketeers fan. I read The Three in junior high, discovered in Twenty Years After high school, and liked every movie I’ve seen since, including the ones starring the Ritz Brothers and the Brat Pack. The recent three-season BBC series was one of my favorite TV productions of all time. (I also grokked on Richard Sale’s Revolutionary War version of the tale, “The Rogue,” discussed HERE.)

So, I admit I was predisposed to enjoy this sequel by H. “The King of the Pulps” Bedord-Jones. So I read it. And what happened? It was every bit as good as I’d hoped, and I just enjoyed the hell out of it. And I’m pretty sure I’d be saying that even if I didn’t have Musketmania.

Bedford-Jones, who cranked out reams of adventure fiction in multiple genres, sited Dumas as one of his major influences, and it’s plain to see that this book was a labor of love. That action here takes place four or five year after the first book, featuring most of the major characters who survived the story. It also provides a nice bridge to Dumas’ first official sequel, Twenty Years After, and lays the groundwork for the sequel to that one, The Vicomte of Brageleonne.

But most important, it provides the reader a great time. Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d’Artagnan are just plain fun to hang out with, and it’s a shame Dumas, Bedford-Jones or someone else (like maybe Rafael Sabatini or even Richard Sale) didn’t write more about them. (Bedford-Jones did follow up the novel with The King’s Passport, in which d’Artagnan meets Cyrano de Bergerac, and that’s a good thing, but it’s not quite the same).

Bedford-Jones displays the sort of humor that made the original novel so much fun:

     “I must warn you, monsieur,” he stated, “that I have been taking lessons from the Italian fencing-master of the Prince of Wales, in London.”

     “And I,” said d’Artagnan, “have been killing those who give lessons. En garde, monsieur!”

After killing the guy, d’Artagnan feels regret,

     He had been successful in his mission. The document was destroyed, the queen was saved—but d’Artagnan felt no exultation. On the contrary, he vowed that upon returning to Paris he would have ten masses said at the St. Sulpice for the repose of the soul of Comte de Riberac, who had been a gallant gentleman. Upon reflection, however, he changed this vow to one mass only; for one would undoubtedly be as efficient as ten, and at one-tenth the cost.

We owe Mr. Altus Press, Matt Moring, a great debt for bringing this—and many other Bedford-Jones classics—back to life.

The H. Bedford-Jones Library from Altus Press

The H. Bedford-Jones Library continues

The H. Bedford-Jones Library from Altus Press

Altus Gallery: More Adventures of H. Bedord-Jones

Altus Gallery: The Adventures of H. Bedford-Jones

Black Dog Library: H. BEDFORD-JONES

FLOOD SALE from Black Dog Books

Black Dog Books publisher Tom Roberts had a flood in his basement the other day. To raise funds, he's marking down the prices of these four new releases.
NOTE: These books are NOT water-damaged!

BRING ‘EM BACK DEAD
by George Fielding Eliot
     Meet Dan Fowler, ace operative of the FBI!
     When organized crime rears its ugly head, the FBI turns to its best operative, Dan Fowler, to track down kidnappers, bust a smuggling ring, and spill the blood of a band of international counterfeiters in these three action-charged novels . . .
- Snatch!
- Bring 'Em Back Dead!
- Hot Money
- With an introduction by Matt Hilton, author of the HarperCollins best-selling Joe Hunter action series
Trade paperback/290 pages. Published at $29.95. Now $20.95

IN THE NAME OF HONOR
by Albert Payson Terhune
     A Prisoner of Honor!
     Pleading desperate need to settle a matter of his family's honor, Civil War hero Guy Bruce wins special dispensation from President Abraham Lincoln for a 90-day furlough to England. Just as a final resolution of the affair is in his grasp, Bruce finds himself framed for a crime, humiliated and disgraced before the woman of his dreams, and deported as a common criminal to a brutal Australian penal colony.
     Now he must fight his way back—to regain his personal honor—to honor his commitment to President Lincoln—and to once more win the heart of the woman he loves.
Trade paperback/289 pages. Published at $16.95. Now $11.95

THE RAJAH FROM HELL
by H. Bedford-Jones
     A Hindu prince seeks retribution for an ancient offense. Now four men have been marked for murder! Does the prince carry out his threat? Or can his revenge be thwarted? Find out the thrilling answers in The Rajah From Hell!
     Included are:
- The Thunderbolt of Indra
- The Diamond Death
- The Devil's Fire
- He Who Sets A Trap (novelette)
- With an introduction by James Reasoner.
Trade paperback/100 pages. Published at $10.00. Now $7.00

DUSTY AYRES: INVASION OF THE BLACK LIGHTNING
by Robert Sidney Bowen
     Three Exciting Novels of America’s Battle Ace!
     A steel fist pounded against the gates of Paris, battering to ruin the last stronghold of freedom on the continent. For three long years all Asia and Europe has been a seething inferno of war. The great wave of destruction makes its sweep westward. Rising up from Central Asia, the Black Lightning invaders, under the command of the mysterious Fire-Eyes, seek to annihilate the civilized world.
     Now the path across the Atlantic is open. The United States will be the next to fall unless its troops can rally behind Dusty Ayres, America's Battle Ace, and stop—the Invasion of the Black Lightning!
     For the first time, the initial three novel-length adventures of Dusty Ayres are brought together in one unparalleled volume. Packed with thrills and excitement, this is sure to be the "don't miss" item of the season!
     Included are:
- Black Lightning
- Crimson Doom
- Purple Tornado
- With an Introduction by Tom Roberts
Trade paperback / 266 pages. Published at $24.95. Now $17.50

Click on each title for a link, or view the entire Black Dog line HERE.