Art Gallery: Savage Sword II

Boris Vallejo

Boris Vallejo

Alex Nino & Frank Magsino

Skyler Hobbs goes to Japan

OR

スカイラー・ホッブスと転売詐欺事件

In the wake of reviewing the Sept/Oct EQMM story "Skyler Hobbs and the Garden Gnome Bandit" (among others) on his blog (as reported HERE), Japanese writer Toshiji Kawagoe has done me the honor of translating my first Hobbs flash fiction tale, "Skyler Hobbs and the Rollback Bandit," into Japanese.

For those of you who read Japanese (or just like looking at it, because it does look pretty cool), that's HERE.

For those of you who read Google Translate and enjoy scratching your head and wondering what the heck it means, that version is HERE.

This tale originally appeared here on the Almanack in November 2009, in answer to Patti Abbott's "Walmart, We Love You" challenge. The story was then collected in the Untreed Reads eBook Discount Noir, where the English version resides today. That's available HERE.

My thanks to Mr. Kawagoe for making Mr. Hobbs accessible to Japanese readers. More flash translations are coming soon.

Not-so-Overlooked Films: The Gunfighter (1950)

Sadlly, The Gunfighter is not about gunfighting. It's a about a gunfighter regretting the life he's led and losing everything he's ever wanted. And if that's not depressing enough, all the other characters are helping him regret, and helping him lose. It's what you might call an anti-gunfighter film.

The trouble is, the producers of this one were so intent on making a "grown up" western that they forgot what makes a western good. Despite the smoking six-guns depicted on the posters, this one has almost no shooting, dang little action, and not a lick of fun. Gregory Peck spends most of his screen time fretting and regretting in a near-empty saloon. And just to prove how grown up the film is, it delivers a totally predictable downbeat ending.

I ain't saying grown-up themes or emotions are bad, even in westerns, but they're a lot easier to take when balanced with a little raucous humor and gratuitous violence. If this is an "A" western, I'll take a "B" every time.

Punk Kid #1 challenges Gunfighter. 

Punk Kid #1 bites the dust. (Yeah, this is the same scene, but the lobby cards for the rerelease were colorized differently than the originals.)

Punk Kid #1's brothers come looking for trouble.

In the next town, Gunfighter discovers an old pal packing a star.

An ex-father tries to bushwhack Gunfighter, believing G killed his son. 

Ex-Father is invited to cool his heels.

Punk Kid #2 tries (and fails) to pick a fight.

Ex-girlfriend declines G's invitation to visit South America.

The downbeat denouement.

More Overlooked Films await you at SWEET FREEDOM. 

Devil Wings Over France: An Air War Thriller by James Reasoner

Back in the 1930s, Air War pulps were hugely popular. Writers like Frederick Nebel, Raoul Whitfield, Lester Dent and David Goodis, among many others, churned out millions of words detailing the thrilling battles between American aces and German pilots in the skies over Europe.

Several air fighters even got their own magazines, including The Lone Eagle, Dusty Ayres, and the most popular air war hero of them all, G-8. The magazine G-8 and his Battle Aces ran for 110 issues, and the secret of its longevity was that he wasn't fighting just Germans. Like other great Hero Pulp heroes, G-8 went up against threats that crossed the line into the worlds of fantasy, science fiction and the supernatural.

Well. Fast-forward eighty years, and we find James Reasoner, who's written tales in just about every other pulp genre, introducing his own air war hero, American ace Dave "Dead-Stick" Malloy, in Devil Wings Over France. I can't say much about the plot of this adventure without giving too much away, but suffice it to say that Malloy is a worthy successor to G-8, and I'm hoping more tales of his WWI heroics will be coming soon.

Forgotten (and FREE) Race Williams Stories: "The Wrong Corpse" by Carroll John Daly

Here's the sixth in our ongoing series of the Lost Adventures of Race Williams - tales that have never been reprinted, and ain't likely to be anytime soon.

"The Wrong Corpse," from the February 1949 issue of Thrilling Detective, comes to us courtesy of Kim Anderson, who scanned this baby and sent it in. Thanks, Kim. We're all in your debt.

This time Race goes up against a shyster lawyer, a shifty private detective and the cop he loves to hate - Inspector Nelson - in a case involving two dangerous dames. One of those dames is dead, but Race has a heck of a time figuring out which one.

If you're already a member of Race's Fighting Legion, I'll be emailing you scans of this adventure. If not, shoot me an email at delewis1@hotmail.com, and I'll send you this and the previous five stories, detailed HERE.

For those of you not yet acquainted with our man Race, the sample below offers a good introduction to his character.

Forgotten Books is a revered Friday institution engineered by pattinase.

And coming in October, this new collection from Black Dog Books features five more Race Williams adventures, a Satan Hall story, and three other Daly gems . . .

A Skyler Hobbs Review - Japanese style

I have a Google Alert on my recently published EQMM story, "Skyler Hobbs and the Garden Gnome Bandit," and it turned up this review by Japanese writer/blogger Toshiji Kawagoe.

Now, thanks to the magic Google Translate, we are able to almost decipher what it says. Read on, if you dare.

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An excerpt from the post "Critique of the work published EQMM 9 / October (first half)"

Evan Lewis "Skyler Hobbs and the Garden Gnome Bandit" 
Hobbs has crowded believe reincarnation of Holmes himself is chasing robbery continuous figurine precision reminiscent of Jason and Wilder decided the role of Watson himself, the "Napoleon of Six", of land for gardening. Holmes parody of things like work. Continuous theft figurine gnomes, we will eventually lead to theft bike continuous. Baritsu to attack or defend themselves with the villain, but funny Rocchi Ann Shah, it was amusing Cozy Mystery. Evan Lewis, this is what Hobbes Schuyler will be published in the first post of department EQMM, seems to have its debut short story takes a further Newcomer Award.
The rating B +

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"Cozy Mystery"? Ouch. But I'll take the B+.

As proof I didn't make this up, the Google Translate version of the full review of seven stories is HERE.

The original Japanese blog post is HERE.

"Blood Kin" at BEAT to a PULP: Is is Prosch, or is it REH?

Okay, I know Richard Prosch actually wrote this himself. It says so here on the "cover," doesn't it? But Robert E. Howard (who wrote both westerns and horror stories) also wrote some western horror stories, and "Blood Kin" fits right into that Howard western horror groove. That's high praise, I know, but well-deserved. Check it out right HERE at BEAT to a PULP!

(Should Be) Overlooked Films: Frontier Marshal (1939)

With all the wildly inaccurate films about the life and times and Wyatt Earp (in other words, all of them), I figured that one purportedly based on the book Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake (based on conversations with Wyatt himself) would be closer to the mark.

Boy, was I wrong!

Frontier Marshal is, in fact, the most historically silly Earp film I've seen, and I've seen a lot of them.

So I have to warn you. In picking this turkey apart, I can't help unloading a few SPOILERS. If you're allergic to those, this might be a good time to bop over to BEAT to a PULP and check out Richard Prosch's new weird western, "Blood Kin." That's HERE.

First, the good news. Randolph Scott, as always, is playing Randolph Scott, but his Earp is as good as anyone's. Cesar Romero makes a fine Doc Holliday. And the supporting cast includes John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr. and Ward Bond. We even get Eddie Foy Jr. playing the role of his father.

There's one great scene, where Wyatt trees Indian Charley and drags him into the street by the heels (see lobby cards below) and a couple of other decent (but too brief) action scenes.

Now the bad news. This film is only marginally about Wyatt Earp. The real story revolves around Doc Holliday's completely fictional love life. Doc, so the story goes, abandoned his good girl fiance because he didn't want to saddle her with a lunger. In Tombstone, he dallies with the bad girl saloon dancer, who naturally falls for him, and resents it (as does Doc) when Good Girl finally tracks him down. The rest of the film is mostly about Wyatt trying to help Doc choose Good Girl. Ho hum.

Then there's the slap in the face of history. Remember what I said about SPOILERS? Here they come. There's some silly talk early on about Doc's medical practice back in Virginia, and him birthing a lot of babies (Doc, of course, was actually a dentist). The reason for this tomfoolery becomes clear when the saloon keeper's kid is shot, and Doc is called upon to perform emergency surgery (Yeah, I know - an emergency root canal would've had less emotional impact).

Throughout the film, Wyatt has a hate-hate relationship going with Curly Bill. That, of course, is as it should be. But after Doc's love triangle finally works itself out (guess who he choses?), Curly Bill rides into town and shoots Doc dead. Bill then tells Wyatt he and his gang will await him at the OK Corral. So Wyatt marches off to the shootout alone, without his brothers (who are absent from the film) and without Doc (who dies six years before his time).

At the corral, which in this case appears to be more of a livery stable (a far cry from the vacant lot next to Fly's Photography Studio), Wyatt battles Curly Bill and his boys, including Indian Charley, who appears to have risen from the dead - instead of Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers (also not in the film). And it takes place at night instead of the afternoon. And when Curly Bill runs away, he's shot down in the center of town by Bad Girl, who thereby redeems herself and gets vengeance for Doc at the same time.

The film ends with the camera zooming on Boot Hill, where a new tombstone reads, John Halliday (sic) M.D. (should be D.D.S.), 1848-1880 (should be 1851-1887), Beloved and Respected Citizen of Tombstone (should read Hated and Feared Interloper).

Here's the play-by-play:

When Ward Bond (center) wimps out as marshal, Wyatt steps in to handle an emergency. 

The emergency is Indian Charley, who's shooting up the Bella Union. Until Wyatt shoots him. 

Wyatt drags Charley into the street. Looks mighty dead, don't he?

Wyatt braces Curly Bill (seated center) and the boys.

New marshal Wyatt catches Bad Girl helping a card cheat and dumps her in the horse trough.

Doc arrives in town. This is a staged photo, not in the film. Bad Girl tries to pit Doc and Wyatt against against each, not keep them apart. And Wyatt never wears a suit.

After chasing Doc all over the West, his ex arrives.

Another staged photo, but a good look at Good Girl.

When Curly Bill's gang comes hoorahing the town, Doc saves Wyatt from a backshooter.

Sadly, there are no lobby cards depicting Doc's demise or the debacle at the OK Corral.

Overlooked Films is a SWEET FREEDOM presentation.