Mr. Calamity/The Valley of Eternity

TWO DOC SAVAGE ADVENTURES IN ONE VOLUME! Prospecting in the Wyoming badlands, Patricia Savage spies a man swimming in circles––high in a cloudless sky! After he falls to his death, the dead swimmer is discovered soaked to the skin. Who is he? How did he manage to swim through thin air? These are the questions Pat sets out to answer when her cousin, the famous scientist-adventurer Doc Savage, diagnoses her account as a hallucination caused by altitude sickness. But when the bronze-skinned girl vanishes, the Man of Bronze is forced to take action. A letter from Doc’s long-dead father presents him with a life-changing challenge that brings him to The Valley of Eternity….and the Man of Bronze does the unthinkable: he ditches his loyal aides in favor of his cousin, Patricia––the only one who can help him succeed in the most perilous quest of his entire career.

Mr. Calamity/The Valley of Eternity (Doc Savage)

Wild Adventures of Doc Savage

By Kenneth Robeson (William Patrick Murray)

ALTUS PRESS

ISBN #978-1618273185

Price $29.50 (Paperback)

Price $7.99 (Kindle)

Rating 5-Stars

“Another Exciting Adventure of The Man of Bronze”

In “Mr. Calamity” Long Tom Roberts has inherited a ranch in Wyoming. Not a particularly large one. But it does have a milk cow and some horses, and a crusty old foreman to go with it. Pat Savage learns that there might be gold and jade hidden in the mountains in Wyoming, and decides to become a guest of the Circle Bolt Ranch, even if it does irritate the famous electrical genius. For Long Tom is at the ranch to work on electrical experiments, and doesn’t want to be bothered.

In the meantime, Pat is doing some prospecting when she meets a fellow named Hud who’s on his way to a swimming hole. Later, she sees Hud swimming in circles in the sky, then see’s him fall out of the sky. Discovering his broken body, she rides into town and calls the ranch to get Long Tom as a witness to everything. She has a mystery to solve. Unfortunately, things start happening fast. The body disappears, and Long Tom is almost hanged by men wearing flour sacks over their heads, and Pat encounters a funny little guy who shoots at her with a double-barreled shotgun. When she awakes, her horse has a broken leg and they are high up a mountain where there were no paths for her or the horse.

With all the weirdness, it’s time she called her cousin, Doc Savage to help her solve the mystery. Wow, I don’t know if it’s just that I haven’t read a Doc Savage in a long time, or they are just getting better all the time, but this one captured me from the beginning and wouldn’t let me go.  This is definitely one of my favorites. It has great mystery, good action from start to finish, and great supporting characters, including a couple of cowgirls who sling lead before asking questions.

“The Valley of Eternity” is the second novel in this huge volume. It is definitely different. In fact, I’ve heard from some that they didn’t like this story, but I found it a fun romp, even if it was unlike most Doc Savage adventures. Doc receives a letter from his father long after his death, telling his son that he needs to marry and sire a son to carry the Savage name forward. This throws Doc for a loop, and he starts dating, which causes riots and legal problems, then he gives his detective a list of names of women he’s known in the past that might be suitable mates. While this is going on he receives word from the Valley of The Vanished that the last shipment of gold is on the way, and there will be no more to help him in his battle to save the world from evil. This requires a quick trip to see what’s what, and he takes Pat with him, after all there is lovely Monja waiting for him in the Valley of the Vanished. And Pat is going to play matchmaker.  The hi-jinx of the situation is what this story is about. No great adventure, but I think Doc fans will enjoy it. I know I did. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE GUNS OF THE BLACK GHOST

Empire of Doom

It began with the hijacking of a destroyer from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The stolen warship struck midtown Manhattan with its mighty guns, then vanished far out to sea.

         Who were the strange men wearing the golden uniforms of no known power who pulled off the daring highjacking? And who was their mysterious leader, a being of seemingly supernatural abilities?

         Doc Savage did not know. But The Shadow did! Combining forces, the Man of Bronze and the Dark Avenger follow the trail of a superfoe from The Shadow’s past.

But can they learn to trust one another?

         From fog-shrouded New York to a futuristic underground kingdom in the heart of Asia, the battle sprawls––with the world’s fate at stake!

Empire of Doom (Adventure)

“Wild Adventures of Doc Savage”

By Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray)

ALTUS PRESS www.altuspress.com

ISBN #978-1618272850

Price $24.95

460 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“A Classic Pulp Adventure.”

Shiwan Khan, The Golden Master, once thought dead after battling The Shadow in four pulp adventures, is back and gunning for The Shadow as he prepares to gather his Golden Horde for another try at world conquest. Stealing a destroyer  in the New York Navy Yard, he aims the big guns at a hotel in New York, hoping to destroy The Shadow while Kha Khan’s men steal scientific weapons The Shadow has stored in the Sanctum in the hotel basement. With these super weapons he then heads out to sea in his quest for Xanadu, his Mongol kingdom hidden beneath a mountain range in Asia. This time he believes himself unstoppable.

This novel starts off with action, bringing both The Shadow and Doc Savage into the fight from the start. The Shadow is driven with a passion to stop the self-claimed descendant of Ghanghis Khan before he can set up his kingdom and rule the world. Doc Savage just wants to stop the madman from killing more people. The trail leads Doc and his aides, Monk, Ham, Renny, and Long Tom on the trail of the stolen destroyer, while The Shadow is in hot pursuit of Shiwan Khan. Aiding The Shadow are Slade Farrow and Miles Crofton. Also present in the US is Senator Ross Releston and FBI agent, Vic Marquete. This was a highly action-packed novel featuring the two pulp heroes together for the second time, and I had the idea that Doc Savage wasn’t sure how to take The Shadow and his violent ways, but working together, Doc and The Shadow are also an awesome pair. A really fun story, but I am anxious for Will Murray to write a lone Shadow novel without Doc some day. Personally, I think he can do it with ease. Highly recommended

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

Glare of The Gorgon

Why did a desperate man shave his head before visiting Doc Savage headquarters, only to be struck down, his pulsing brain turned to inert stone? What sinister secret did his strange slaying silence? And how was a lizard-green shadow resembling Medusa branded on Doc’s office wall?

These are only some of the questions confronting the Man of Bronze as he pursues a grisly trail of petrified corpses to post-Prohibition Chicago, whose criminal underworld is being terrorized by a serpent-haired demon engaged in a seemingly senseless slaughter spree whose ultimate target will shake Doc Savage’s men to their core.

Suspects are many, clues baffling. Death and danger lurks everywhere they turn––symbolized by the silhouette of a faceless Gorgon.

From the concrete canyons of Manhattan to the coal fields of Illinois, Doc Savage tracks a phantom fiend the likes of which he has never before hunted. Or is he the one being hunted?

Glare of The Gorgon (Doc Savage Adventure)

The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage

By Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray)

Altus Press www.altuspress.com

ISBN #978-1618272386

Price $24.95

510 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Smoothly Written, Fast Paced, And Thrilling Adventure.”

Ned Gamble contacts Doc Savage from the train he’s arriving on from Chicago, to expect him. But he’s being followed, and before he reaches the safety of Doc’s headquarters, he is killed in the hallway and an odd green figure is found on the wall where he died. When Doc examines him, he finds the man’s brain calcified. Ned is carrying a newspaper with an article covering the death of a scientist in Chicago that appears to have a bearing on the case. At present, Long Tom Roberts is attending the Chicago Exposition of Science, and Doc notifies him to contact Janet Falcon, the last person Ned Gamble was in contact with. Finding the girl is easy, but Long Tom is quickly captured, and the case is running full steam with the Greek mythical Gorgons playing a hideous death note. The story quickly moves to Chicago where the Exposition becomes a backdrop for some of the action.

Although the cover isn’t one of my favorites, the author’s writing continues to mesmerize the reader from the first page onward. The writing is smooth, the plot fast-paced, and the adventure is filled with thrills. Doc’s aides, the five greatest minds in the world – next to Doc – have to be shown a little dumb in order for Doc to appear so smart, but these longer stories tend to make them even dumber than they would normally seem in a pulp-size adventure of 120 pages. In this novel we see that clearly. Not that it distracts from the novel, I just feel the author should give them a little more intelligence in these longer tomes. However, the author has another winner on his hands. Highly recommended to Doc Savage fans, as well as adventure lovers around the world.

Tom Johnson

Author of CARNIVAL OF DEATH

DOC SAVAGE: The Sinister Shadow

When millionaire Lamont Cranston and attorney Ham Brooks are kidnapped by gunmen driving a black hearse, it spells trouble for Doc Savage. Trouble with compound interest when Cranston’s personal lawyer is mysteriously murdered before he can consult with celebrated criminologist George Clarendon—who is secretly The Shadow! These strange events put the Man of Bronze and the Dark Avenger on a collision course that threatens to expose the deepest secrets of both supermen. The conflict intensifies when underworld figure Cliff Marsland is captured and shipped off to Doc’s secret Crime College! Will these legendary crimefighters join forces—or will the diabolical Funeral Director have the last laugh on Doc Savage and The Shadow?

“The Sinister Shadow” (Wild Adventures of Doc Savage)

By Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray)

ISBN #978-1618271983

ALTUS PRESS www.altuspress.com

Price $24.95

481 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Two of Pulps Greatest Heroes Finally Meet In Fantastic Adventure”

It’s Fall of 1933, and Lamont Cranston receives a threat for a quarter million dollars. If he doesn’t pay, the Funeral Director will murder him. Other millionaires have already died from mysterious heart attacks. Lamont makes an appointment to see Commissioner Weston, but when work keeps the police commissioner from their appointment at the Cobalt Club, Cranston seeks out Ham Brooks, a well-known attorney and asks for a meeting with Doc Savage, but the Funeral Director has them captured as they arrive on the street of Doc’s headquarters. This brings Doc Savage into the case, while The Shadow is already preparing to protect Cranston. Now, the two powerful forces are drawn together in the case; both seek the same ends, though through different means. Doc Savage prefers to solve cases through nonviolence, while The Shadow battles gangdom with blazing automatics and a taunting laugh. Can they set their differences aside long enough to save their people, or will war break out between these giants of pulpdom?

Fans have been waiting for this team-up between The Shadow and Doc Savage for a long time, and they won’t be disappointed in THE SINISTER SHADOW. Will Murray is the rightful heir to the Doc Savage adventures, and with this team-up of pulp heroes, it proves he is the likely choice to continue The Shadow series, as well. The 1933 setting was a perfect springboard to bring the two characters together. Doc Savage had begun in early 1933, several months before this novel takes place, and The Shadow had been around since 1931, but was still a mysterious crime fighter, his identity not known. The author brings back a super villain who escaped The Shadow twice before, but will he do so again? I hope we see more new Shadow novels under the pen of Will Murray in the future. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories