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Golden Amazon #7
World Beneath Ice
The sun is dying. Astronomers can see that the Earth will soon become a frozen planet. All life will vanish from the surface, and the sea and air will freeze, as the light of the sun dwindles to that of a full moon. Mankind is forced to retreat underground, there to try surviving in vast underground habitats--trapped in a World Beneath Ice. Only one person on Earth has the scientific knowledge to rekindle the sun--the incredible Golden Amazon, a woman changed by surgery and genetic engineering into a superwoman. But she's been missing for eighteen months, lost in space.... Is this the end of humankind? Book One in The Golden Amazon Saga, a fantastic new SF adventure series wrenched from the pages of the pulps.
- GenresScience FictionFantasy
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
About the author
John Russell Fearn
383 books7 followersA prolific author in various genres under his own name, John Francis Russell Fearn also used these pseudonyms: Astron del Martia, Brian Shaw, Conrad G. Holt, Dennis Clive, Frank Jones, Geoffrey Armstrong, Griff, Hugo Blayn, John Russell, K. Thomas Mark Denholm, Paul Lorraine, Polton Cross, Spike Gordon, Thornton Ayre, Vargo Statten, Volsted Gridban, Dom Passante, John Cotton, Ephriam Winiki, Lawrence F. Rose, Earl Titan, Ephraim Winiki.
John Russell Fearn was an extremely prolific and popular British writer, who began in the American pulps, then almost single-handedly drove the post-World War II boom in British publishing with a flood of science fiction, detective stories, westerns, and adventure fiction. He was so popular that one of his pseudonyms became the editor of Vargo Staten’s Science Fiction Magazine in the 1950’s! His work is noted for its vigor and wild imagination. He has always had a substantial cult following and has been popular in translation around the world.
John Russell Fearn was an extremely prolific and popular British writer, who began in the American pulps, then almost single-handedly drove the post-World War II boom in British publishing with a flood of science fiction, detective stories, westerns, and adventure fiction. He was so popular that one of his pseudonyms became the editor of Vargo Staten’s Science Fiction Magazine in the 1950’s! His work is noted for its vigor and wild imagination. He has always had a substantial cult following and has been popular in translation around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 1, 2023
The year is 2030-something and mankind has advanced to the stars. After conquering Mars, establishing a colony on the Moon, and mastering space travel, life is pretty good for us Earth dwellers until, the Sun starts to lose it’s power; dark spots on the surface spell doom for the entire planet and there’s only one person who can save humanity! Only, she’s not planet-side and isn’t in the good books of the collective world government…
Nevertheless, the genetically enhanced super being who is the Golden Amazon is made for heroism and won’t let anyone stand in her way of saving Earth, even if it means destroying other planets in the process, and brutally blowing apart sea monsters from the deep (just look at that cover!)!
Yeah – this is pretty farfetched but a hell of a lot of fun to read.
With these types of books you're not looking for deep and meaningful storytelling or high end literature, no, you want junk food for the mind and CONQUEST OF THE AMAZON delivers in spades.
Despite the super hero/semi villain character, being at the helm of her seventh story, CONQUEST OF THE AMAZON is very accessible to new readers (of which I am one), so if you come across this in a secondhand bookstore, I wouldn't hesitate in picking it up.
This review first appeared on my site: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
Nevertheless, the genetically enhanced super being who is the Golden Amazon is made for heroism and won’t let anyone stand in her way of saving Earth, even if it means destroying other planets in the process, and brutally blowing apart sea monsters from the deep (just look at that cover!)!
Yeah – this is pretty farfetched but a hell of a lot of fun to read.
With these types of books you're not looking for deep and meaningful storytelling or high end literature, no, you want junk food for the mind and CONQUEST OF THE AMAZON delivers in spades.
Despite the super hero/semi villain character, being at the helm of her seventh story, CONQUEST OF THE AMAZON is very accessible to new readers (of which I am one), so if you come across this in a secondhand bookstore, I wouldn't hesitate in picking it up.
This review first appeared on my site: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
April 30, 2011
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2010481.html[return][return]I have no idea why I got this book. The cover art is quite remarkable in its own right and possibly caught my eye. (My wife wondered how the nipple shields might be attached; myself I wonder how much practical use they are in combat.) It turns out to be the cover for the wrong book; the heroine of Conquest of the Amazon is blonde and wears a white suit, whereas this lady is dark-haired and not wearing anything much at all. More critically, the cover suggests a sword-and-sorcery romp, when in fact the Amazon is a near-future woman using her super-powers to keep the space lanes clear from marauding Martians and treacherous if handsome men from Jupiter. I'm sure it sold well anyway - heck, I must have bought it (or perhaps someone else bought it for me) - but I wonder how many early readers suffered buyer's remorse after realising that it wasn't the Conan ripoff they were expecting?[return][return]I vaguely knew of John Russell Fearn, of course, but I don't think I had read any of his works before. This turns out to be the seventh book in a series of twenty pulp adventures of the Amazon, who acquired super powers half a century ago at the age of three, and is exercising them in the cause of Good. It is, frankly, not a good book, yet I got through to the end after tossing Dagger Magic aside because it doesn't take itself too seriously. At first I was tweeting particularly eye-catching samples of Fearn's deathless prose -[return][return]"Book me a reservation on the next helicoliner following the Mount Everest route."[return][return]"The end of the world is within sight. I thought you should know that."[return][return]"This woman has always been a smooth talker. She can get out of any tight corner by using subtlety." [Subtlety, eh? The fiendish minx!][return][return]- but then I decided to just go with the flow, as the Amazon tries to simultaneously stop the Sun going out, hold back the glaciers, and resist the culture of the Great Red Spot. It's all utterly implausible, but it's a romantic portrayal of a future where a benevolent science rules and a superwoman saves the world. Short (126 pages) and rather sweet.
October 3, 2026
Never before had I heard of John Russel Fearn or the 'Golden Amazon', and after looking into it a little bit I'm beginning to wonder why. Fearn sounds like a man of some fame within the world of pulps and sci-fi, and the Golden Amazon, with a nice pile of books to her name, seems like a character who might have meshed seamlessly with any number of other interesting pulp heroes like Doc Savage, Superman, and the like. But I knew so little of her that i unknowingly picked up this, the seventh book of her series, without any regard for 1 through 6, so who is to say whether or not my opinions and impressions of this franchise would be different otherwise.
Conquest of the Amazon reminded me a lot of 'Ax Cop'. Ax Cop, written by a child and illustrated by his comic-book artist brother, is the ultimate, distilled essence of a power fantasy, untainted by morality. Anything that Ax Cop does, no matter how awful, is the right thing to do, because he is the good guy. His enemies and conundrums are solved with absolutes; he might face something like "The king of all bad guys", who is the most evil ever. Maybe Ax Cop attacks the king of bad guys by throwing his ax at him, but the king will say "Ha ha, I have a force field that stops the metal that axes are made from!" So Ax Cop will say "That's why I made an ax that NOT MADE of ax metal! I made it from KNIFE metal!" ...and it therefore penetrates the King of Bad Guy's anti-axe shield and kills him.
Such is often the FEELING of what's going on in Conquest of the Amazon. The biggest, most terrible thing will happen - in this case, the sun is going out - and the biggest, most awful glaciers will start to cover the world. The planet therefore has to turn to such people as "The guy who is in control of metal" and "The guy who is in control of food", and so on, who are obviously corrupt, evil businessmen because they're big, powerful businessmen.
But then The Amazon arrives! And she's got a car that's cool, and bullet-proof and stuff, and a gas-gun that knocks people out, and she's strong because her glands were tampered with by a scientist, turning her into a super-woman! She's also the most brilliant scientist ever, and only she can solve the problem of the sun going out! This is a problem, she realizes, can only be solved with the super-special material called atamonium, which only exists in space, so she's got to go to space to get it! But that's easy, because she's got her own space ship, with an atamonium-detecting detector on board!
...I could go on, but you probably get the idea.
The feeling that this was written stream-of-thought style aside, it was actually pretty interesting, particularly to see a female character like this written in the era she was. Usually women of the pulps are either swooning and useless or haughty and useless, making great boasts about their abilities, but folding when the chips are actually down. The Golden Amazon on the other hand, is a strong, powerful, and scientifically-minded individual who is second to none! ...Which is why it's sort of a shame that this book introduces an atlantean from jupiter who is the manliest man ever, and is so manly he even gives the Amazon (whom people SAY 'hates men', but maybe that's just because she doesn't want to get married and have kids) pause, and his genius for science outstrips even her, a fact that pointedly makes her annoyed and insecure once in a while. But, the super-manly atlantean put to the side, The Amazon is intriguing, if maybe a little bit of the author's experimentation with the idea of a 'benevolent dictator'. She wants to take over not only the world, but the whole solar system, and we are led to believe that this would be little but a good thing, with her only detractors being stupid idiots who would mishandle everything.
So, with an intriguing character, and a story that's actually kind of exciting, if perhaps lacking in any and all scientific accuracy, where does it come up short? Sadly, the action. John Russel Fearn is no Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard, and the scenes of punching, laser-shooting and other sorts of two-fisted excitement (even a thrilling bit where a giant fish attacks) lack the punch (pun sort of intended) that they should have.
In the end the lack of action-thrills wasn't too much of a problem; the excitement was there in the narrative anyway, and the the book was exceedingly short, finished in under 24 hours of decent reading. So I'd say check out the Golden Amazon sometime! ...but maybe start with the first book like I didn't.
((As a final PS, it must be noted: the copy of the book I bought was the 'Trojan 1998' edition, and the cover is absolutely ridiculous, showing a semi-nude woman in a fantastic, conan-style bikini pointing a sword at a man on the ground, a mystical brazier in the background giving off a whisp of eerie smoke. This cover could not possibly have less to do with the book, and was clearly slapped on in the hope that some rube would buy it because they were tantalized by amazonian boobs. Well, it worked, because I was that rube.))
Conquest of the Amazon reminded me a lot of 'Ax Cop'. Ax Cop, written by a child and illustrated by his comic-book artist brother, is the ultimate, distilled essence of a power fantasy, untainted by morality. Anything that Ax Cop does, no matter how awful, is the right thing to do, because he is the good guy. His enemies and conundrums are solved with absolutes; he might face something like "The king of all bad guys", who is the most evil ever. Maybe Ax Cop attacks the king of bad guys by throwing his ax at him, but the king will say "Ha ha, I have a force field that stops the metal that axes are made from!" So Ax Cop will say "That's why I made an ax that NOT MADE of ax metal! I made it from KNIFE metal!" ...and it therefore penetrates the King of Bad Guy's anti-axe shield and kills him.
Such is often the FEELING of what's going on in Conquest of the Amazon. The biggest, most terrible thing will happen - in this case, the sun is going out - and the biggest, most awful glaciers will start to cover the world. The planet therefore has to turn to such people as "The guy who is in control of metal" and "The guy who is in control of food", and so on, who are obviously corrupt, evil businessmen because they're big, powerful businessmen.
But then The Amazon arrives! And she's got a car that's cool, and bullet-proof and stuff, and a gas-gun that knocks people out, and she's strong because her glands were tampered with by a scientist, turning her into a super-woman! She's also the most brilliant scientist ever, and only she can solve the problem of the sun going out! This is a problem, she realizes, can only be solved with the super-special material called atamonium, which only exists in space, so she's got to go to space to get it! But that's easy, because she's got her own space ship, with an atamonium-detecting detector on board!
...I could go on, but you probably get the idea.
The feeling that this was written stream-of-thought style aside, it was actually pretty interesting, particularly to see a female character like this written in the era she was. Usually women of the pulps are either swooning and useless or haughty and useless, making great boasts about their abilities, but folding when the chips are actually down. The Golden Amazon on the other hand, is a strong, powerful, and scientifically-minded individual who is second to none! ...Which is why it's sort of a shame that this book introduces an atlantean from jupiter who is the manliest man ever, and is so manly he even gives the Amazon (whom people SAY 'hates men', but maybe that's just because she doesn't want to get married and have kids) pause, and his genius for science outstrips even her, a fact that pointedly makes her annoyed and insecure once in a while. But, the super-manly atlantean put to the side, The Amazon is intriguing, if maybe a little bit of the author's experimentation with the idea of a 'benevolent dictator'. She wants to take over not only the world, but the whole solar system, and we are led to believe that this would be little but a good thing, with her only detractors being stupid idiots who would mishandle everything.
So, with an intriguing character, and a story that's actually kind of exciting, if perhaps lacking in any and all scientific accuracy, where does it come up short? Sadly, the action. John Russel Fearn is no Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard, and the scenes of punching, laser-shooting and other sorts of two-fisted excitement (even a thrilling bit where a giant fish attacks) lack the punch (pun sort of intended) that they should have.
In the end the lack of action-thrills wasn't too much of a problem; the excitement was there in the narrative anyway, and the the book was exceedingly short, finished in under 24 hours of decent reading. So I'd say check out the Golden Amazon sometime! ...but maybe start with the first book like I didn't.
((As a final PS, it must be noted: the copy of the book I bought was the 'Trojan 1998' edition, and the cover is absolutely ridiculous, showing a semi-nude woman in a fantastic, conan-style bikini pointing a sword at a man on the ground, a mystical brazier in the background giving off a whisp of eerie smoke. This cover could not possibly have less to do with the book, and was clearly slapped on in the hope that some rube would buy it because they were tantalized by amazonian boobs. Well, it worked, because I was that rube.))
October 13, 2018
This was just so unbelievably bad that I loved it! It's really a comic book done as a pulp novel. I'm a sucker for these retro 'golden age' scifi things, but my god, the plot, the characters, the bad science, the retched, stiff dialogue! Everyone 'ejaculates'. I'm not kidding! But it's adorable. I have a copy with a different cover than the one featured. It shows the Amazon as an alluring dark-haired woman, scantily clad and standing over a muscled man (presumably the character Abna). But she's described as blonde in the book. I have absolutely no intention of selling or giving this away...
May 7, 2022
A fun little read. Of its era. The more that things change, certain (political) characteristics remain the same .. if not my way, then the end of the world. Arnside might not be a Putin, but then neither is Putin an Arnside. Surprisingly deeper than first might be expected.
December 20, 2016
This isn't #1 in the series, it's actually #7, but the current publisher decided to ignore the previous six books because they were too dated. Personally I enjoyed their whole retro esthetic, but then I really hated this one.
Now to start off, you have to understand that it's a sequel. In the previous book Violet tricks an alien space fleet into flying into the Sun. Now, in this volume, we find that action has had terrible consequences. Kind of. For a start, it's only speculation. There's no actual evidence provided for this claim. The Sun has gone wonky. The alien space fleet was sent into the Sun. Someone needs to explain that correlation is not causation and that the Sun is actually quite big and it would take more than a dozen space ships hitting it to have any effect at all.
But anyway, the Sun isn't working right and it's all Violet's fault, even though she was saving Earth from alien invaders, so lets execute her, even though she's the only one that can save all life from going extinct. Because that makes so much sense.
Help appears in the form of one of the most blatant Mary Sues I've ever encountered in professional fiction, the creepy stalker, Abna. Stronger than the Amazon! Cleverer than the Amazon!, More technologically advanced than the Amazon! Better at everything than anybody else and built like a god to boot! And doesn't he like reminding everyone. He has apparently fallen in love with her while spying on her through his telescope. Which is taken by everyone as "twoo wuv", rather than being a creepy stalker man. Anyway, he's here to help the Amazon save the day.
Thankfully, at the end, Violet sees through him and sends him packing, but he's listed in subsequent books so I fear he'll win her over. Ugh.
I have been reading the series from the beginning, but this entry ground me to a halt, and I'm not sure when I'll work up the enthusiasm to continue. The science is nonsensical, everyone is an idiot, and the detestable Abna is set to become a recurring character, probably relegating the Golden Amazon to becoming a secondary character in her own series.
My recommendation: see if you can track down a copy of the first couple of books in the series The Golden Amazon and The Golden Amazon Returns and read them instead. They are much more fun.
Now to start off, you have to understand that it's a sequel. In the previous book Violet tricks an alien space fleet into flying into the Sun. Now, in this volume, we find that action has had terrible consequences. Kind of. For a start, it's only speculation. There's no actual evidence provided for this claim. The Sun has gone wonky. The alien space fleet was sent into the Sun. Someone needs to explain that correlation is not causation and that the Sun is actually quite big and it would take more than a dozen space ships hitting it to have any effect at all.
But anyway, the Sun isn't working right and it's all Violet's fault, even though she was saving Earth from alien invaders, so lets execute her, even though she's the only one that can save all life from going extinct. Because that makes so much sense.
Help appears in the form of one of the most blatant Mary Sues I've ever encountered in professional fiction, the creepy stalker, Abna. Stronger than the Amazon! Cleverer than the Amazon!, More technologically advanced than the Amazon! Better at everything than anybody else and built like a god to boot! And doesn't he like reminding everyone. He has apparently fallen in love with her while spying on her through his telescope. Which is taken by everyone as "twoo wuv", rather than being a creepy stalker man. Anyway, he's here to help the Amazon save the day.
Thankfully, at the end, Violet sees through him and sends him packing, but he's listed in subsequent books so I fear he'll win her over. Ugh.
I have been reading the series from the beginning, but this entry ground me to a halt, and I'm not sure when I'll work up the enthusiasm to continue. The science is nonsensical, everyone is an idiot, and the detestable Abna is set to become a recurring character, probably relegating the Golden Amazon to becoming a secondary character in her own series.
My recommendation: see if you can track down a copy of the first couple of books in the series The Golden Amazon and The Golden Amazon Returns and read them instead. They are much more fun.
September 23, 2013
It was typical pulp science fiction from the 40s/50s. Not a bad read; light entertainment.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews