October - Horror Month (2013)

[j d worthington]

The racism is very much of the time, but Robeson (or at least, that "Robeson" who was actually Lester Dent) tended more often than not to treat his ethnic characters with considerably more sympathy than they usually received, and actually inserted some editorializing at times challenging the prevailing views (as in Pirate of the Pacific, where he brought up the predominantly law-abiding inhabitants of Chinatown, in contrast to the decidedly non-law-abiding activities of his "Oriental" antagonist). Wilkie (if memory serves, the porter's name in Brand of the Werewolf), despite the stereotypical speech patterns (which would continue in popular literature at least well into the 1950s), is treated as a somewhat amusing but very human character, and what happens to him is handled with a surprising amount of pathos.

Not sure I'd class this one as particularly "Halloweeny", though, among the Savage canon. For that, I'd probably suggest something like Mad Eyes, The Thousand-Headed Man, The Squeaking Goblin, The Majii, The Green Death, The Sea Angel, The Giggling Ghosts, Hex, The Laugh of Death, According to Plan of a One-Eyed Mystic, or the final Savage adventure, Up From Earth's Center. Several of these have a genuinely effective eerie atmosphere here and there, as well as an (apparently) supernatural menace....

 

[dask]

Oh man, J.D., you were so close! If you were a hand grenade I'd be blown to bits. Wilkie is the conductor, the poor guy who got all chopped up. The porter is unnamed as far as I can tell.

Of course it's hard to tell exactly how a book will turn out until you read it. I selected this one solely on title and cover art for my Halloween fix. Half way through and I still can't figure out how the werewolf is going to fit in. Or Henry Morgan's treasure for that matter.

 

[j d worthington]

Ah, yes... the conductor. It's been a while on this one, which I chiefly like for its introduction of Pat (a female character I fell in love with when I was quite young...). Though she does have to be rescued a fair amount in various stories (though certainly no more so than Doc's five friends), she also does some rescuing herself; and is a very strong character who actually gets the better of her famous cousin on more than one occasion. Certainly not the one-dimensional screaming mimi so decried in pulp fiction....

As for the rest... oh, it does all tie together, eventually, though the werewolf angle is considerably less tenable than in many of these stories.

 

[dask]

Pat, or Patricia, is pretty cool, at least so far, but her dialog with the hired hands was getting to be heap big annoying.

 

[j d worthington]

No argument there. That, unfortunately, is very much in line with the views of the time....

Interestingly, Phil Farmer (in his "biography" of Savage) brought attention to the fact that Dent was one of the pulp writers who tended to present his Native American characters with a great deal of sympathy, almost entirely eschewing the view of them as those "heathenish", brutal savages... in fact, if memory serves, Doc voices the view (in the first story, The Man of Bronze) that they "got a raw deal" pretty much all 'round....

 

[Randy M.]

Read the first four stories in House of Fear (ed. by Jonathan Oliver), all quite good, but on seeing a new novel on the stands -- Reanimators by Pete Rawlick -- was reminded that I never read HPL's "Herbert West, Reanimator." I've decided to remedy that and just started it over my lunch hour.


Randy M.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Thanks for reminding me J-Sun.
I read "Fevre Dream" some years ago, a very good book, well worth a go.
Have just finished reading Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars".
Very good collection, he's still on top form!