Adventure in the Skies! Aviation Pulp Fiction

Hello friends and welcome to the Book Graveyard, where we talk about all things vintage genre fiction. In this installment I wanted to talk about some pulpy aviation fiction that I’ve read and do a general timeline of the sub-genre in comparison with the history of flying and what was happening in the world. What attracts me most about these stories is that it’s a world of the past. Not only is it exciting adventure pulp but it is historical. The pilots of these first planes became the equivalent of the dime novel cowboy.

Timeline:

December 17, 1903: The Wright brothers become airborne—briefly

“Flying from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled, sustained flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft. Each brother flew their wooden, gasoline-powered propeller biplane, the “Wright Flyer,” twice (four flights total), with the shortest lasting 12 seconds and the longest sustaining flight for about 59 seconds. Considered a historic event today, the feat was largely ignored by newspapers of the time, who believed the flights were too short to be important.”- From the History.com website

1914: World War One accelerates the militarization of aircraft

World War I became the first major conflict to use aircraft on a large scale, expanding their use in active combat. Nations appointed high-ranking generals to oversee air strategy, and a new breed of war hero emerged: the fighter pilot or “Flying Ace.” - From the History.com website

The Flying Ace pilot phenomenon is everything in aviation pulp fiction and the first two stories I will be talking about featuring Flying Aces.

The Flying Ace sensation is what inspired many of the war aviation pulps to take the archetype pulp hero character and mixing him with real world figures like Germany’s Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen or as you probably know him - thanks to Snoopy- The Red Baron.

Two of the planes which are featured in the G-8 issue we will be talking about are the Blériot (BLAIR-ee-oh)SPAD S.510 and the Fokker Dr. I. (fock-er dray-deck-er)

The Red Baron flew the Fokker Dr. I triplane which was a German plane based off of the British Sopwith triplane. The first Fokker Dr. I appeared over the Western Front in August 1917. Pilots were impressed with its agility, and several scored victories with the highly maneuverable triplane. Von Richthofen scored 19 of his last 21 victories were achieved while he was flying the Dr. I. By May 1918, however, the Dr. I was being replaced by the newer and faster Fokker D. VII (7). - From the National Museum of the United States Air Force

Since the United States entered World War I without a combat-ready fighter of its own, the U.S. Army Air Service obtained fighters built by the Allies. After the Nieuport 28 proved unsuitable, the Air Service adopted the SPAD XIII as its primary fighter. By the war's end, the Air Service had accepted 893 SPAD XIIIs from the French, and these aircraft equipped 15 of the 16 American fighter squadrons. Today, Americans are most familiar with the SPAD XIII because many of our aces -- like Rickenbacker and Luke -- flew them during WWI. - From the National Museum of the United States Air Force

1918: World War ends and with all of the surplus of planes built for the war governments use the planes to start carrying mail. In the Mitch Mayhew book, Unwanted Passenger that we will be talking about Mitch is a pilot that works for an agency that has an airmail contract.

The now skilled battle pilots with no more use for their fighting flying skills bring the excitement back home with barnstorming daredevil air shows.

May 1927 Charles Lindbergh- solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. This is big news in the world and was prime for pulp adventure. One man defeating all odds and in the face of danger comes out at the end a hero.

August 1927 Air Stories is the first aviation pulp published- pulpmags.org

1930s-40s Passenger airlines existed but were only accessible to the wealthy. A trip from New York to Los Angelas cost half the price of an automobile. - From the National Museum of the United States Air Force

1940s-70s non-scheduled airlines first appeared in significant numbers in the United States after the Second World War, as returning pilots purchased discount surplus planes from the government and set up their own uncertificated air services under the non-scheduled charter service exemption in the 1938 Civil Aviation Act. Low overhead and fewer regulations allowed the non-scheduled airlines to offer considerably lower fares than the national scheduled carriers, inaugurating the immensely popular air coach service which attracted millions of Americans unable to afford tickets on the regular airlines. Though the regulatory actions of the Civil Aeronautics Board ultimately extinguished the burgeoning non-scheduled industry, the idea of cheap, efficient air transport endured and by the passage of the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act nearly all civil airlines had transitioned to an air coach model. - Wikipedia

This is where our final story comes in with our protagonist working for Air cargo and independent transport service. This is like a wild west time for pilots. Think Han Solo archetype: loner adventurers taking odd jobs that cross the lines between legal and illegal who themselves are morally grey anti-heroes.

The first story we will be talking about is the very first issue of G- 8 and his Battle Aces which was originally published October 1933. The series was a re-imagining of sorts of the aviation pulp series Battle Aces which ran from 1930 to 1932. The publisher was Popular Publications which was created by Harry Steeger and Harold Goldsmith.

In 1931 rival publications Street and Smith had extreme success when it released the first issue of The Shadow. Jumping on the bandwagon Popular Publications came up with its own pulp hero characters; The Spider and G-8. The Spider was a crime fighter similar to the Shadow but G-8 was something different. It took Popular’s literal high adventure excitement World War One Battle Aces and added in the pulp hero element but instead of a vigilante crime fighter he was a Flying Ace super spy.

The series had 110 issues. Each issue was a single contained novel, and each issue was written by Robert J. Hogan.

Hogan was a prolific pulp author who wrote the series G-8 along with the yellow peril pulp title The Mysterious Wu Fang and a vigilante crew pulp series called Secret 6 which I had not heard of until researching this video and looks to be a proto-men’s adventure series that almost sounds exactly like the A-Team. After the pulps he mostly wrote western fiction.

G-8 and his Battle Aces #1 The Bat Staffel (German for squadron)

Our introduction to G-8 is him being held prison in the Freidburg Castle in Germany awaiting his execution. The Germans think he is a common spy but if they knew he was the legendary thorn in their sides, G-8 they would lose their minds. Unbeknownst to them this moderate size young pilot is not only the super spy known as G-8 but he was captured on purpose in order to get close to Herr Docktor Krueger the German’s diabolical idea man.

After some fast talking G-8 gets taken to Herr Docktor where he tricks him into divulging his master plan. And what is his master plan? Well, inside of an enormous mountain that had been sealed off for years, Herr Docktor has found the mythical giant poisonous bats. He intends to dig a tunnel from the mountain to the edges of France where he will send the bats out over the countryside, spraying their poison and killing millions. And from there, world domination. Obviously.

In a scene straight out of Indiana Jones G-8 escapes through a hole in the ceiling after throwing the poison gas that was to kill him against a wall.

He gets to his SPAD and takes off. But what’s this? He spots two other SPADS flying around. He can see from the insignia that they are US forces. No time to think though because a small squadron of German Fokkers are headed their way. We get a great dog-fight scene and the introduction of the two co-stars of the series, Nippy Weston and Bull Martin.

From here we get G-8, Nippy and Bull going up against the Germans. We get some Mission Impossible makeup, costumes and undercover work, tons of sky-high fighting action, and some serious James Bond villainy.

I know it’s been said many times before but everything we love in our post WW2 story telling started in the pulps. I mean just here in this first issue of G-8 we can see the influences on Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, James Bond and even Snoopy.

G-8 is a good title for people who aren’t necessarily into aviation but wouldn’t mind a little of that flavor in the story. It is very much a hero pulp and over the top. I mean, Germans controlling giant bats to rule the world isn’t exactly historical fiction. I think this makes G-8 standout amongst some of the other aviation pulps. Like I have read some stories in the Lone Eagle series, and they are rooted in reality; less fantastical than G-8. In fact, I would say that G-8 is geared toward a young adult audience though still completely enjoyable for old adults, like us.

Next up I wanted to talk about the Mitch Mayhew series written by Terrance Layhew. These are two modern day pulp stories in the tradition of classic adventure pulp fiction. Available for purchase here!

First off, I want to take a second to gush on the look and packaging of these books. They are published by Veritas Entertainment. There are two Veritas Entertainment companies. One did the Bob Dylan movie etc. This Veritas Entertainment is an independent publisher, promotor and film producer out of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

You will notice that they are published in not-dead-at-all mass market paperback size. I love the page count on these. One is 84 and the other is 104. I could read a hundred of these things. They completely nailed the look of pulp adventure. They seem like something from the past. Like I’m going to open it and there is going to be a Babe Ruth baseball card folded up inside a Liberty Bond as a bookmark in there.

Unwanted Passenger is the first in a series starring Mitch Mayhew, former WW1 pilot now turned mail carrier. But not a mailman. Think more like an independent trucker that takes what hauls he can get. So, as you can see per our history lesson, Terrance did his homework also as the history is on point which makes this even more enjoyable.

Mitch is hired by the Chicago DA to fly to Denver to deliver a certified envelope containing the evidence needed to put the Meadows Gang behind bars. Mitch has a bit of curmudgeon in his coffee and is not really thrilled about making the extra flight to Denver but the man who owns the delivery service says tough titties, you’re doing it, and by the way, you’ll be taking a passenger.

The unwanted passenger on this trip is Kathleen Dumont, beautiful and mysterious and nothing that Mitch wants to deal with.

We jump into Mitch’s DH-4 Liberty plane and head to our first stop in Omaha. We get some Han Solo vibes as Kathleen tries to start up a conversation. I like the reluctant romance and it’s no surprise as I know Terrance is a big fan of Romancing the Stone.

Back in the air to Denver Mitch spots a German Fokker headed his way. Strange but not impossible. Some US pilots prefer the Fokker. But then machine gun fire explodes and Mitch has to use evasive maneuvers, putting his WW1 experience to use. Unfortunately, his DH-4 has been converted to civilian use so no more gun turrets.

This has to be the Meadows Gang who got wind of him carrying the evidence to put them behind bars, right? Who else would be taking shots at a mail carrier?

And there is the set up. It doesn’t all take place in the air; we get some exciting action down on the ground in the Rocky Mountains. The pacing is quick and workman like. Terrence did a lot of work to not only get the historical aspects right but terrain detail, flying know-how, and artillery and he writes it all with punch perfect pulp flavor that would have fit right in with any of the Adventure pulps from back in the day.

The sequel or second installment finds us in Denver Colorado. It would seem Mitch makes it out of the first one alive. That’s good news. In this one we lean more into the ground adventure and criminal underworld. Every character is resourceful and it’s not forced. Though this was written in our modern times, I believe, the characters draw heavily from 80s action-adventure movies. Think Marion from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Damsel in distress but not really.

These books are so much fun and a testament to modern day writers still having the pulp chops.

The last book I wanted to talk about is:

The Wrong Side of the Sky by Gavin Lyall

First published in 1961 by Hodder and Stoughton and then published by PAN in 1966. This is the 7th printing.

Gavin Lyall was a British journalist turned author. In 1951 to 1953 he served as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force. Drawing on his experiences in Libya and Greece to write his first novel, The Wrong Side of the Sky. It was a hit and he quit his day job to become a full-time author cranking out aviation flavored action-adventure novels.

The Wrong Side of the Sky starts in Greece. It’s never stated but from the historical aspects mention in the narrative I would say it takes place when it was written in 1961.

The story is written in a first-person narrative told from our man, Captain Jack Clay, a pilot of a Douglas DC-3 who works for the transport service, Aircargo. He has a copilot that is more like a coworker than a blood brother which emphasizes his solo nature.

While on the ground he spots a Piaggio 160 Italian twin-engine plane whose pilot is so slick that it could only be one of a few pilots he knew that had that skill. Later in the bar he walks in and is not surprised to see his friend and former co-pilot from the war, Ken Kitson. Kitson has been working as a private pilot for the Nawab of Tungabhadra. It looks like the job pays well because Clay describes Kitson as “dressed like the inside of a millionaires wallet.” Good line!

After a few drinks Ken spills the beans on what the Nawab is doing in this part of the world. We get a backstory of extreme violence and stolen jewelry. It’s an entertaining story but Clay has other things to worry about. Mikkos the local shipping agent wants Clay to take a shipment to Libya. Tonight. Clay knows when something is rotten, so he requests more money. Flying an illegal shipment of guns to Libya is a risk that he should be paid for.

This book, the narrative, the plot, the writing style is rich; a heavy and thick craft beer. You can’t just chug this like a 12 pack of High Life. It’s tough, colorful and muscular, packed full of verbal protein. The glass is poured to the brim so you have to go slow not to spill it. Sometimes I'd have to read a paragraph twice but it was never a bummer. It was always worthwhile.

There is so much going on in this book that even if I did a regular full-length review, I wouldn’t be able to properly lay it all out so I’ll just list some of the facets of the story. We have obviously lots of sky aviation action. Foxy ladies including a woman described as looking like a middle eastern version of Salma Hayek. We travel from Greece to the Libya and over the ocean to tiny islands. There is treasure hunting. Smuggling. Violent gangsters and corrupt cops. Shootouts. Prison breaks. Murders. History. Conspiracies.

Speaking of Romancing the Stone there is a scene almost exactly like in the movie where they come upon a wrecked plane in the jungle completely taken over by the environment. This book is romantically adventure. It’s hardboiled, tough-talking and full of so much macho that a bullet would bounce off of it’s iron hard nuts.

In a way it reminds me of the 1947 Alan Ladd movie Calcutta where he and his pal William Bendix are pilots whose friend is murdered and it leads the duo into a crime filled underworld of international jewel thieves and nefarious femme fatales. Actually yeah, if you want the film version of these kinds of stories go hunt that down. It’s one of my favorites.

Countdown from Worst to Best- every book read in 2024- all vintage genre fiction

I had a great time this year doing this here book blog thing. I started the Youtube channel on Oct 20th 2023 so like 14 months ago. I made quite a lot of friends which is something I didn’t expect; fellow channels, people in the comments who at first I thought didn’t like me but then ended up sending me books and being my pal- thanks Stiv. I got invited by Jake at Pulp Mortem to be a collaborator/cohost along with Tim at Secret Fire Books, on his book show, The Elusive Exclusive Book Society. Our last guest of the year was Eric from the Paperback Warrior which is crazy to me because their podcast was the reason I started this blog/ YouTube channel. So that was kind of surreal and then also in the past year I got mentioned in the Paperback Fanatic. It’s crazy. I don’t know anything. I’m not an expert. Hell, I barely graduated high school (because I was a JD, not because I was dumb.) I can’t believe people actually want to hear me stumble and bumble my way through these videos and watch as I learn this seemingly endless world of exploitive, explosive, sleazy and most of all fun vintage genre fiction.

I also wanted to give a shout to Bob from Menspulpmags.com and Justin from Fathompress.com for sending me their releases to review. I appreciate it immensely.

I made some shirts, by the way. I have a screen printing business so I printed these myself. The art was done by my good friend Bryan Brady. They are available on my business website streetlightprinting.com

If you don't feel like reading, I did make a video for this one:

For the list we’re not including new releases as this is primarily a vintage genre fiction blog. Though we will give a shout out to Terrance Layhew and his book One Man’s Treasure- it was incredibly enjoyable. We’re also not including art books, or magazines but we’ll mention them all here because I love them and everyone should support them by buying a copy; Paperback Parade, Paperback Fanatic and the MAQ. We will, however, be including the Men’s Adventure Library series collections as they are entirely reprinted fiction from the past.

We read 68 books:

17 horror

16 crime/mystery

9 sci-fi

8 spy

8 men’s adventure

5 westerns

4 S&s/fantasy

1 gothic

68. Deathworld 2- first book we read for EEBS. It was less a plot and more a vehicle for HH to speak at us about how religious people are horrible. I’m not religious in the slightest but this was totally unfair and the worst crime of all is it was boring. It was repetitive, lazy, pretentious and insulting. It’s one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

67. Vortex- this is a book about a huge tornado ripping through a town and the people fighting to survive! Just kidding. It’s a book about some dusty old politician visiting his dying side chick in a rural town where a tornado should be coming any minute now. Lots of dry reminiscing. Lots of republican/democrat BS. A very luke warm murder mystery side plot and two pages of tornado action at the end.

66. Stallion- if this was a cover art list this thing would be in the top five. Unfortunately, the book isn’t anywhere near as good. A horse-riding farm in the sticks in the UK. A giant horse next door. A sort of possessed horny teenage girl. Nervous breakdown mom. Hints of the supernatural but no follow through. Honestly, not much horror at all.

65. Rogue Agent no 1- started off kind of cool with an undercover spy which then leads to sneaking into West Germany to grab this defector scientist and then on the way out it all falls apart and it looks like the spy guy has been set up. Great premise but then he just kind of hangs out for most of the rest of the book. He goes to the beach. Visits some friends. It gets a little more spy toward the end but it has zero climax.

64. Ghostbusters- imagine the script of the movie and now take out all of the jokes and actors charm.

63. Aftershock- underground mutant monster comes to the surface to eat human brains after an earthquake. The monster is depressed and spends most of the book sulking. The humans up top spend most of the time talking biology and medicine. Not nearly enough brain eating. The kills were splendid though. Heads ripped off with attached spines.

62. The Last Rangers- Post apocalypse Texas ranger takes on all manner of bad doers in the pretty much lawless wasteland that is Texas. I remember this having a really solid middle. Like it was a short story and they tacked on an awkward beginning and ending.

61. 13 Horrors of Halloween- This is a case of wanting one thing and getting another. I wanted a spooky book to read during Halloween. What I got was a genre mash up of stories that happened to take place on Halloween but have zero spook factor.

60. Blue Sunshine- one of my favorite B movies. It’s about some bad acid that people took in the 60s that is making them psycho killers in the 80s. And lose all of their hair. This suffers the same fate as Ghostbusters. Pretty much the script and missing the actor’s performances.

59. Foxx no 1- This is an adult western about a Railroad detective who is a manly man named Foxx who goes after some guys that tried to blow up a train. This had lots of detail descriptions of the old west setting. It was impressive but dragged it down and made it feel very dry. The dialogue was basic, the writing was at a 5th grade level. Pretty bland all around.

58. Sliders- one of my favorite tv shows. This one was pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, I was under the assumption that it was a new story but it was just a novelization of the pilot episode. So, for that it lands towards the bottom. Unlike Blue Sunshine and Ghostbusters though, it was written way better with lots of extra panache added.

57. Caviar- a collection of short stories by Theodore Sturgeon originally published in the pulps. I had high hopes for this when I picked it up because I really enjoyed his story in another collection coming up much later in this list. These were pretty disappointing though. Some a little too cheeky. Some flat out boring. Out of the 8 I really only liked 1.

56. Deathworld 3- the final installment in the Deathworld trilogy. Coming right after the trudge through the second one, this one didn’t stand much of a chance. The crew end up on a brutish Conan type world and instead of just giving us some hack and slash release after the preaching of the second one we instead do lots of sneaking around and undercover work. If this was a standalone it might have been rated better but I just couldn’t shake number 2.

55. Bumsider- another EEBS books. A lackluster noirish mystery lightly sprinkled with some sci-fi stuff. This books main issue was that the main character didn’t want to be there and it made you feel like you didn’t want to be there either. I was into it at first. The world was very Soylent Greenish. It unfortunately meandered too much.

54. Operation Atlantis- French author writes a French spy book where the actual hero is a US spy. This had moments of 60s schlocky spy fun, but I really wanted it to be more about the French hero.

53. Badman- the cover states, “he was an outlaw out for revenge.” This had some great shoot outs and action scenes as the main character is on the run from the law after getting set up for a train robbery gone wrong. It read like parables as he travels from place to place getting into morally grey encounters. He spends a lot of time reevaluating his life and it was smart and insightful but a little too deep for what I was hoping for.

52. Dead Man Dead- beautiful Robert Maguire cover. I love the Exotica theme of Calypso and voodoo and mix it with crime and a murder mystery, and I’ll be buying that book in a second. This was just average. Nothing mind blowing. The fact that it had almost zero calypso or voodoo as the cover suggests drops it a little further down the list.

51. Hunger- a group of killer biologically enhanced mako sharks escape their government testing pin and head out to the open ocean to eat people. This was pretty enjoyable but had too much padding. Too much filler not enough killer…sharks.

50. Cherry Delight no 14 In a Pinch- Cherry is a super sexy agent of NYMPHO- New York mafia Prosecution and Harassment Organization. In this one she helps a fellow busty lady take out some mafia button men who were responsible for killing the girl’s brother. As far as Cherry’s go, this one was pretty meh. The sleaze wasn’t that sleazy and the plot got a bit repetitive.

49. Drowning Pool- an entry in the Lew Archer PI series. He investigates a wealthy family because the wife is being black mailed for cheating and they have dirty pictures. This was a pretty good read. It reminded me of Chinatown a lot. Nothing really stuck out as mind blowing but nothing stuck out as bad either.

48. Deathworld- a psychic gambler gets hired to figure out why a planet is trying to kill it’s people. When this first started I loved it. It made me excited to read more sci-fi. But then it just comes off the rails. Plot points are thrown to the side. The reasoning behind the conflict was meh. It did have lots of action though and the world was fun, brutal and interesting.

47. Nine Princes in Amber- one of the princes of the real world of Amber tries to take the throne from his brother. I had no idea this was such a well-loved series when we covered it on an episode of EEBS and if I had I probably wouldn’t have been so harsh on it. Ultimately though, what can I say, I still feel the same. It was a bit too dreamy and loose for me and I just felt like the ho hum motivation of the characters infected me as a reader. Not to say that there weren’t great parts in this; I loved the tarot card idea, the accessible other worlds, one of the coolest fight scenes ever where two armies fight through a single file line…but yeah I don’t know, I am going to try out the second in the series. It really bothers me that so many people who I usually agree with loved it so I’m going in for another round. I hated Lost Highway when I first watched it and now it’s one of my favorite movies. Now THAT’S a nonsensical plot.

46. Devil World- a star trek book featuring the original characters. Kirk and co go to a Forbidden Planet- quite literally it’s just like the movie Forbidden Planet to help a young looker find her dad. This was fun and essentially feels like a lost episode from the original run.

45. Hawk no 1 The Deadly Crusader- Reporter playboy Michael Hawk’s humble beginnings. This is before he inherits his fortune and is just a working reporter. I was surprised by how different this was than the later entries. It’s written really well. Like functionally well. The plot is wishy washy though and it just didn’t have that 80s action b-movie feel that the other Hawk books have.

44. The Golden Stag- I was in the mood for some treasure hunting which is what this was selling but instead it turned out to be a run of the mill men’s adventure which would have been great if they would have thrown in the treasure hunting as mentioned but it was like five pages of the entire book and that’s what I was there for.

43. Ninja Master no 1- we went over this in EEBS so just briefly, I read a later entry in the ninja master series and loved it so I wanted to see how it all began. It began with a whimper. Not enough fighting, not enough ninja. It did however nail the low budget vigilante movie in tone and for that I enjoyed it.

42. The Executioner no 2- the series that started off the one-man-versus-the-mob genre. I had never read one before and wanted to start at the beginning, but I found number 2 for $1 so we started there. Lots of action. Gun fights. Action. Military talkin. Killin. Guns. Action. Bombs. Missiles. Buddy comrade. Guns and action. No plot. No tension. Just shootin.

41. Cosa Nostra- Small town Maine sheriff takes on the mob as they try and infiltrate his small town. Sleazy and kind of ridiculous plot about the mob wanting to set up a spot close to the border of Canada so they can connect with gangsters in Montreal. It’s more like a PI story as you follow the main cop character in trying to figure out what the mob is even doing there. It’s really tough talking. Politically incorrect. Violent and gritty. It was a little slow though and kinda meh plot wise.

40. Hawk no 12 Virgin Stealers- later era style Mike Hawk that we’re used to and love. This one was mid-teir Hawk only because it had all this snuff stuff in it and I just hate that shit. I hate the idea of it. I hate torture. If you took the snuff out it would have gotten much higher.

39. Angel Eyes- E Howard Hunt’s hardboiled CPA character Steve Bentley got the number one spot last year with the Calypso Caper. In Angel Eyes Bentley is back in DC and it just didn’t stand out as much as Calypso Caper. I think this is the case of loving the last one so much that the bar was raised high. This was still enjoyable but I wanted another home run.

38. Hook no 5 Corpses in the Celler- Insurance investigator and former boxer, The Hook, kicks ass, beds ladies and denies you your insurance claim on the fire at your nightclub. This was ridiculous. Which made it fun. It had some decent fist fights and a decent little mystery.

37. Gun Code- A young man returns to the town is father was murdered in 15 years after him and his mother were chased out. He wants the land that is still in their name and half of his fathers business but the other half is owned by the man everyone says killed his father. So what actually happened? A pretty decent cold case murder mystery that pulls you back and forth between the two possible killers.

36. The Walking Dead- sequel to the Sinking Pit. A supernatural pit in the woods that hypnotizes people into killing their loved ones. I mean...

35. The Book of Skulls- four college bros traveling from NY to Arizona to find a cult who one of the lads believes will make you live forever. The only problem is, they will only accept groups of four and one of them must die. What an incredibly original novel. When they get to the cult it was eerie and filled with tension. I NEEDED to know what was going to happen!! So why wasn’t it higher? Most of the book is a road trip of college bros doing college bro things. I get that the end doesn’t work if we don’t know the guys well but man, it was a little too much. Still. What a memorable book.

34. Brood of the Witch Queen- A serialized novel originally published in the pulps. Black magic. Ancient Egypt. 1930s occult out the yin yang. This was in three parts. The first was a little better than good. The middle was outstanding. The third was forgettable. Which places it right in the middle of the list.

33. Black Canaan- REH’s horror stories. This is a short story collection also originally published in the pulps. The Black Canaan story was the main standout. Completely memorable. It takes place in the swamps. There are voodoo zombies and atmosphere galore. The rest of the stories were just ok. Fun horror pulp stories but nowhere near as good as Howards action and adventure stuff. I think this is another case of the bar set high.

32. None of Maigret’s Business- Maigret’s are my comfort read. If I’m feeling stressed, overwhelmed or depressed I read one of these and it never fails to completely take me in. I love this series. LOVE IT. If you don’t know, Jules Maigret is a chief inspector in Paris France. He solves puzzling mysteries. I always say he is the bridge between Sherlock Holmes and those early hard-boiled novels. This one was different. Basically, Maigret takes a vacation and solves the mystery by reading the articles of the murder in the newspaper.

31. Texas Israeli War 1999- We read this one on EEBS and Jake picked it because he thought it was going to be a hilarious shit fire. Turns out it was actually pretty great. A mix of post apocalypse, alternative future history, and a war novel. After the world has been nuked, everything is in disarray. Texas succeeds. They kidnap the US president. Israeli mercenaries are brought in to rescue him.

30. The Face of Night- This was an odd one. It comes out of the gate as an ultra grimy 70s urban crime novel. Lots of heroin and pimps and crooked cops etc. As it goes on it becomes less about an exact crime or plotline and more about the psychological destruction of the main character. This guy starts off as the shining knight and by the end just an absolutely hateful piece of shit.

29. Crown no 1 The Sweet and Sour Kill- Ridiculously fun kung fu cop exploitation novel about a detective in Hong Kong getting revenge for the murder of his grandparents. Look. It’s dumb. I know. I have it above REH. That’s just not right but the thing is I was loving it. I looked forward to it every night.

28. Overkill- I read a book by Dorothy Daniels and while doing research for the review I saw that her husband was also an author and I happened to own one of his books. This is a great spy book that takes place in Albania and involves Russians and Chinese and big surprise a nuclear bomb. Classic Cold War era espionage.

27. Shanghai Incident- Another great cold War era spy book. This one takes place in China and has an ex-soldier returning to find a missing geologist. What was great about this book is it was a spy plot but the style was classic hardboiled detective. It wasn’t a straight narrow mystery but more of a conspiracy mystery.

26. Maigret Sets a Trap- a serial killer is loose on the streets of Paris and Chief Inspector Maigret is tracking him down. This one probably would have been higher but they had made a movie out of it and not only have I watched it like twenty times but the movie was actually better. They didn’t just add scenes but really fleshed out the killers motivation. Regardless, it’s a great entry in the Maigret series.

25. Nighthunter no 1- Part one in a six part series about a psychic killer who uses supernatural elemental forces. What a well researched occult horror novel. The lore in this thing was incredibly on point and the kills were brutal. My biggest complaint is I would have rather just had the story in one book and not stretched out over six. But who knows, maybe it’s worth it to read all six. It’s pretty great as just one though.

24. The Quick Red Fox- this is my third in the Travis McGee series and so far my favorite. Florida houseboat lovin PI Travis McGee is hired by a famous actress to hunt down the guy who is blackmailing her with scandalous photos taken at an orgy she attended. Like other TM entries, the mystery in depth, with many layers and the outlook is bleak.

23. Tight Case- cop book about hunting down the mob. The cops are drunk and willing to break the law to catch the mob. This was written by a real world FBI man who took on the mob. One of the grimiest books I’ve ever read. Everyone in this is a shit heel.

22. To Renew the Ages- Laser books no 26- Post Apocalyptic sci-fi about a man and woman who band together to travel across the wasteland. They get into inventive random encounters and fall in love. This was action and romance and I loved it.

21. The Running Gun- A man is set up as the fall guy in a murder and must travel to the rugged deserts of Mexico to clear his name. Much like the last book this is about a man and woman who band together to travel across a wasteland and fall in love. Sci-fi or Western apparently this is a plot line I enjoy.

20. Panic- Halloween horror book about a boy and then man haunted by a group of wispy imps who only he can see. This was recommended to me by odditypardonme on Instagram and he was right. It rules. No filler. Great Scottish folklore. The main villain is unsettling. And it delivers on the Halloween.

19. Silverglass no 1- sword and sorcery with a female lead written by two female authors. It was tough and exciting. Sleazy. Lots of sex scenes. These ladies get their freak on and they are in control of it. Conan esque type main character who is quick with the sword and hates magic. Reminiscent of a great D&D campaign. Just a lot of fun.

18. Shadow Over Innsmouth- this was a reread so I dropped it lower than it should be. Lovecraft’s haunting story of a town of fish people who made a deal with the old gods.

17. Nolan no 1- Heist novel. Retired thief anti-hero Nolan is being hunted by the mob and is forced to do one last last job to get out from under their scopes. Strong characters. Well written. Exciting which is weird because a lot of it is planning the robbery.

16. The Mexican Connection- Another book where the “bad guy” is the hero. A group of drug runners are trying to do one last big run of quaaludes, so they can retire. A walking hard-on of a cop is on their trail. Someone is snitching. Who is the weak link, can they get away with it? I had no idea the drug dealers were the good guys until the halfway point and it blew my mind when it dawned on me. I think that made me rate it higher.

15. The Night Stalker- The original novel the TV movie was based on. What’s great about this is that the book was actually first even though it wasn’t published until after the movie. It’s different but not in a bad way. Kolchak isn’t the main hero here. He’s the vehicle for telling the story. He gathers together a network of people, so we get lots of other great characters which only adds to the enjoyment.

14. The Maya Temple- the one and only gothic on the list. A woman travels to the jungles of Mexico to find her missing archaeologist father. I loved the setting. The mystery. The Mayan folklore. It was so fun and completely grabs you. Plus, there is a hilarious scene where the main character eats some magic mushrooms and trips out.

13. Atomic Werewolves and Man Eating Plants- I’ve read a few of the Men’s Adventure Library collections and this one has been my favorite. It’s all Weird Tales-ish horror type stories that originally appeared in the pages of Men’s Adventure mags from the 50s-70s. So many great selections that really stick in your mind. In fact, since I’ve read this I have been judging all other short story collections on how great this was.

12. The Golden Child- ok this guy’s trippin. He’s putting the golden child novelization at number 12. Look man. Number one, I love that movie. And even though it doesn’t have Eddie Murphy’s charm and humor it was great but in a different way. This was an entirely different monster. Hardboiled occult detective steeped in Eastern folklore. I looked forward to reading this every night.

11. Monster from Earths End- learned about this book from the Paperback Warrior blog when they reviewed it. Reminscent of The Thing/Who Goes There. Classic b monster horror movie.

10. Sorcerers- spy book with a black magic cult written by E Howard Hunt. This has cold war political intrigue, world traveling, undercover and action scenes. It’s romantically spy and it has a witchcraft cult.

9. A Stir of Echoes- I loved the movie so I decided to go back and read the book. It’s just as eerie but not in your face. There were moments in it that genuinely creeped me out. Excellent haunted house story.

8. Black is the Color- John Brunner writing spy fiction. He takes all of this South African political strife and moves into the swinging hip jazz scene of 60s London and spices it up with voodoo. And he does it well.

7. The Dead of Winter- A group of buddies find one of their own murdered in a strange and violent way. They dig through his life and uncover some shady connections. I thought this was going to be a straight vigilante action book and instead was floored by this complex but understandable mystery novel and they didn’t forget to bring along the vigilante action.

6. The Seth Papers- This is an entry in the occult detective series Dr Owen Orient. He is hired by a woman as a translator for the locals as her and her partner do and archeology dig. They find the Hand of Seth which is a mummified hand that gives prophetic powers. Dr Owen realizes these people are in an evil secret society and must stop them. Halfway through a female CIA agent comes in and takes over the narrative and it’s equally as fun as it turns into a spy novel.

5. Jirel of Joiry- Early sword and sorcery starring a female warrior written by a female. Jirel of Joiry is different from Conan in that she goes about defeating her enemies in other ways. The worlds, creatures and scenarios are completely one of a kind. It borders on horror a lot of the time.

4. Crime Partners- Donald Goines Kenyatta series entry with two hitman who team up with a black militia group to take on cops and drug dealers. Low down and gritty. This is the hardest novel I’ve ever read. This is from the street, written by an author who was in and out of prison.

3. The Gang Girls- I got this for the wonderful juvenile delinquit exploitive cover art and was surprised to find a completely engrossing story. A young lady and her drunk prostitute mom move from Ohio to New York City. The girl gets jumped by a girl gang. Fights back. They invite her to join and from then on its fight, drugs, violence and crime.

2. Assignment Burma Girl- another exciting entry in the Sam Durell spy series. When you read one of these books you not only get an enjoyable history lesson but you get to experience exotic locations from the comfort of your home. Sam Durell is stern and serious but not dry bureaucratic spy fiction. He’s also not martini’s and poonanny. It’s always a great mystery with exciting action and realistic with a tinge of pulpy fun.

1. The Hanging Stones- Manly Wade Wellman comes in at number one on my list this year with this Silver John entry. Someone is building a replica Stone Henge on top of Teatray Mountain. Being a curious fellow John heads up the mountain. We get werewolves, druid folklore, ghosts, fist fights, greed, philosophy, Christian mysticism, occult detecting and songs as John is a travelling folk singer. Such an incredibly inventive and different idea Manly Wade Wellman had come up with. He really brings this world to life.