Book Review: The Ghost Ninja of Hong Kong Island

Book Review: The Ghost Ninja of Hong Kong Island by Lukas Krueger Johnathan Zhang isn’t content with being a crimelord. True, he has substantial power in the underworld of Hong Kong, and has never been arrested for his many murders due to his habit of leaving no witnesses. But he wants more, and a certain… Continue reading Book Review: The Ghost Ninja of Hong Kong Island

Book Review: Deck the Pulps

Book Review: Deck the Pulps published by Brick Pickle Media Pulp magazines, like most forms of media, liked to celebrate holidays. Such as, you know, Christmas. But being the pulps, they leavened the usual sentimentality of the season with more of their usual action and excitement. This set of nine tales covers a variety of… Continue reading Book Review: Deck the Pulps

Book Review: Dick Tracy: The Secret Files

Book Review: Dick Tracy: The Secret Files edited by Max Allan Collins and Martin H. Greenberg In 1990, the venerable Dick Tracy comic strip got a movie adaptation, Dick Tracy, starring Warren Beatty and Madonna. To cash in on the publicity, the then-writer of the strip, Max Allan Collins, was asked to do both a… Continue reading Book Review: Dick Tracy: The Secret Files

Book Review: Twelve

Book Review: Twelve by Joan Marie Verba Once upon a time, there was a soldier named Alden. He had traveled far and wide, and fought in many battles, though he avoided fighting when possible. War has a way of eating at a man, stealing his composure and making him less than he was. So when… Continue reading Book Review: Twelve

Book Review: Costigan’s Needle

Book Review: Costigan’s Needle by Jerry Sohl The time: the very near future of 1953. The place, Chicago, Illinois. Engineer Devan Traylor would rather be at his Florida winter home with his wife and children for their first long break in years, but he’s just learned that Inland Electronics, the company he’s on the board… Continue reading Book Review: Costigan’s Needle

Book Review: Enter the Jackal

Cover by Krocker Klaus

Book Review: Enter the Jackal by Jonathan W. Sweet As you may have noticed by now, I’m a fan of the pulps. But I’m certainly not the most enthusiastic one, or most knowledgeable. Some folks have made the pulp magazines their main focus. Jonathan W. Sweet runs a reprint press, Brick Pickle Pulp, and does… Continue reading Book Review: Enter the Jackal

Book Review: The Destroyer #26: In Enemy Hands

Book Review: The Destroyer #26: In Enemy Hands by Richard Sapir & Warren Murphy When JFK realized that there were certain threats to America and the world that could not be handled by normal government agencies and it wasn’t wise to rely on random good people stepping up, he turned to bureaucrat and former CIA… Continue reading Book Review: The Destroyer #26: In Enemy Hands

Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II

Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II edited by Ross E. Lockhart It’s spooky stuff month again, so I sat down with this thick volume (24 stories) of tales inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft for a couple of weeks. This is a sequel to The Book of Cthulhu that I reviewed earlier on… Continue reading Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II

Book Review: The Warlords

Book Review: The Warlords by Matt Braun It is 1915, and in Europe, World War One is at something of a stalemate. The troops are entrenched, warplanes are still in their infancy, and while the new weapons of war mean far more deaths per capita, both sides have them. Kaizer Wilhelm’s military fears that despite… Continue reading Book Review: The Warlords

Book Review: Away and Beyond

Book Review: Away and Beyond by A.E. van Vogt This paperback anthology is a partial reprint of the first hardcover collection of A.E. van Vogt short stories from 1952, with 7 of the 9 1940s tales. It’s not explained why two stories were dropped, but my research suggests they were lesser works. “The Great Engine”… Continue reading Book Review: Away and Beyond