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Jimgrim/Ramsden/Ommony #16
The Devil's Guard - Ramsden
Talbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon) (April 23, 1879 – August 5, 1940) was an English writer. He also wrote under the pseudonym Walter Galt.Born in London, at age 16 he ran away from home and began an odyssey in India, Africa, and other parts of the Near and Far East. By age 29, he had begun using the name Talbot Mundy, and a year later arrived in the United States, starting his writing career in 1911.
His first published work was the short story "Pig-sticking in India", which describes a popular, though now outlawed, sport practiced by British forces. Mundy went on to become a regular contributor to the pulp magazines, especially Adventure and Argosy.
Many of his novels, including his first novel Rung Ho!, and his most famous work King of the Khyber Rifles, are set in India during the British Raj in which the loyal British officers encounter ancient Indian mysticism. The novels portray the citizens of Imperial India as enigmatic, romantic and powerful. His British characters have many encounters with the mysterious Thugee Cults. The long buildup to the introduction of his Indian Princess Yasmini and the scenes among the outlaws in the Khinjan Caves clearly influenced fantasy writers Robert E. Howard and Leigh Brackett. Other science-fiction and fantasy writers who cited Mundy as an influence included Robert A. Heinlein, E. Hoffmann Price, Fritz Leiber, Andre Norton,H. Warner Munn, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Daniel Easterman.James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon was partly inspired by Mundy's work.
His related Jimgrim series, which has mystical overtones and part of which is available over the web from theosophical sites, ran in Adventure magazine before book publication. Mundy was associated with Theosophy's movement, a friend of Katherine Tingley.
Beginning in the late 1920s Mundy wrote a number of stories about Tros of Samothrace, a Greek freedom fighter who aided Britons and Druids in their fight against Julius Caesar.
His first published work was the short story "Pig-sticking in India", which describes a popular, though now outlawed, sport practiced by British forces. Mundy went on to become a regular contributor to the pulp magazines, especially Adventure and Argosy.
Many of his novels, including his first novel Rung Ho!, and his most famous work King of the Khyber Rifles, are set in India during the British Raj in which the loyal British officers encounter ancient Indian mysticism. The novels portray the citizens of Imperial India as enigmatic, romantic and powerful. His British characters have many encounters with the mysterious Thugee Cults. The long buildup to the introduction of his Indian Princess Yasmini and the scenes among the outlaws in the Khinjan Caves clearly influenced fantasy writers Robert E. Howard and Leigh Brackett. Other science-fiction and fantasy writers who cited Mundy as an influence included Robert A. Heinlein, E. Hoffmann Price, Fritz Leiber, Andre Norton,H. Warner Munn, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Daniel Easterman.James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon was partly inspired by Mundy's work.
His related Jimgrim series, which has mystical overtones and part of which is available over the web from theosophical sites, ran in Adventure magazine before book publication. Mundy was associated with Theosophy's movement, a friend of Katherine Tingley.
Beginning in the late 1920s Mundy wrote a number of stories about Tros of Samothrace, a Greek freedom fighter who aided Britons and Druids in their fight against Julius Caesar.
360 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1926
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About the author
Talbot Mundy
472 books56 followersTalbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon) was an English-born American writer of adventure fiction. Based for most of his life in the United States, he also wrote under the pseudonym of Walter Galt. Best known as the author of King of the Khyber Rifles and the Jimgrim series, much of his work was published in pulp magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 21, 2013
Like what I imagine the majority of the readers who pick this book up today, I began "The Devil's Guard" because of its connection to "Twin Peaks." Unlike many of the other readers I found Mundy's novel entertaining and a fine example of occult fiction. While some of his attitudes are uncomfortable to the modern reader he's better than many; he's certainly more refined and sensitive than the contemporary pulp authors who are still widely read today.
Since I've already written a bit about this novel I'll just borrow from myself: "This particular novel takes place in the continuity of Mundy’s Jimgrim and Ramsden series which were published during the nineteen twenties and thirties. Jimgrim is the nickname of an adventurer, an Allan Quatermain type, whose excursions into the Orient draw him into encounters with mysterious immortals and secret societies. Mundy himself was involved with the Theosophical Society, the occult group started by the marvelously disreputable Madam Blavatsky and responsible for much of the magical revival of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. During the time he authored The Devil’s Guard he was not only a member of the Society according to this one nice website but a “prominent and leading member.” Whilst discussing the resurrection of pulp adventure during the second magical revival of the twentieth century, Gary Lachman describes Mundy as an ex-confidence man (oh well, Blavatsky and Gurdjieff were both implicated in very mundane confidence schemes at points), who was the “master of the mystical adventure” with his tales constituting the main precursor of Indiana Jones.
In Mundy’s novel the explorers are drawn through the Himalayas where a battle is taking place between two rival Lodges. The narrator, Ramsden is a proto-Agent Cooper as he upholds morality and loyalty and searches for his onetime compatriot Elmer Rait whose lust for knowledge and association with the the Black Lodge with its dugpa sorcerers makes him a nice analog for Windom Earle. Naturally the Black Lodge is at war with the White Lodge. Much of the lore about dugpas is derived from this book.
Note: On further consideration Cooper, with his career excellence and abundance of wisdom, is much more akin to Jimgrim than Ramsden. Ramsden, who is a stolid friend, simple, but pure is much more like Sheriff Truman. By reading The Devil’s Guard and drawing obvious conjectures, obvious upon a little bit of meditation that is, I feel that one can find where Twin Peaks would have ended up if it had been continued.
If this interests you I would recommend Alexandra David-Neel's romantic "Magic and Mystery in Tibet."
Since I've already written a bit about this novel I'll just borrow from myself: "This particular novel takes place in the continuity of Mundy’s Jimgrim and Ramsden series which were published during the nineteen twenties and thirties. Jimgrim is the nickname of an adventurer, an Allan Quatermain type, whose excursions into the Orient draw him into encounters with mysterious immortals and secret societies. Mundy himself was involved with the Theosophical Society, the occult group started by the marvelously disreputable Madam Blavatsky and responsible for much of the magical revival of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. During the time he authored The Devil’s Guard he was not only a member of the Society according to this one nice website but a “prominent and leading member.” Whilst discussing the resurrection of pulp adventure during the second magical revival of the twentieth century, Gary Lachman describes Mundy as an ex-confidence man (oh well, Blavatsky and Gurdjieff were both implicated in very mundane confidence schemes at points), who was the “master of the mystical adventure” with his tales constituting the main precursor of Indiana Jones.
In Mundy’s novel the explorers are drawn through the Himalayas where a battle is taking place between two rival Lodges. The narrator, Ramsden is a proto-Agent Cooper as he upholds morality and loyalty and searches for his onetime compatriot Elmer Rait whose lust for knowledge and association with the the Black Lodge with its dugpa sorcerers makes him a nice analog for Windom Earle. Naturally the Black Lodge is at war with the White Lodge. Much of the lore about dugpas is derived from this book.
Note: On further consideration Cooper, with his career excellence and abundance of wisdom, is much more akin to Jimgrim than Ramsden. Ramsden, who is a stolid friend, simple, but pure is much more like Sheriff Truman. By reading The Devil’s Guard and drawing obvious conjectures, obvious upon a little bit of meditation that is, I feel that one can find where Twin Peaks would have ended up if it had been continued.
If this interests you I would recommend Alexandra David-Neel's romantic "Magic and Mystery in Tibet."
March 5, 2010
I only picked up this book because I read somewhere that David Lynch's whole "Black Lodge/White Lodge" concept in Twin Peaks was inspired by this story. It's a bit difficult to follow, fairly boring, and irksome due to its dated, fetishized notion of Indian mysticism. Mundy pales in comparison to a somewhat contemporary British travel writer like Robert Louis Stevenson.
March 26, 2019
Did Talbot Mundy intend to pen a sort of Theosophical Bible? I begin to wonder, especially with The Devil's Guard. It is a follow up piece to Om: The Secret of the Ahbor Valley. Unlike the the latter, which followed Cottswold Ommony's temporal and philosophical journey across northern India, The Devil's Guard returns to an action adventure, with Ramsden, Jimgrim, Narayan Singh, and one of Mundy's favorite secondary characters, Chullunder Ghose, the babu. There are some philosophical ingredients, here, but the majority of the novel seems like a sort of Theosophical version of Numbers, where Ramsden, Ghose, and Singh are denied entry into the Promised Land. In each case, it is because of a flaw, as was the case with Moses' sin at the Waters of Maribah. Maybe that is pushing it too much. Still, it is plain that Mundy is bringing his Jimgrim series towards a close with Devil's Guard and the Promised Land of Sham-bha-la now in sight. And the action has moved to involve the core three only, plus the babu. Gone are Ross, King, Ommony, Strange, Leich, and a host of secondary characters that have filled the series.
In keeping with his want to experiment continually, however, Mundy does undertake one interesting detour. Because we know so much of Ramsden, Singh, and Jimgrim by this point, little is left to develop them psychologically, although there is some additional insight gained into Ramsden, here. But the true case of character exploration in Devil's Guard comes with Mundy's portrayal of the babu. His motivations, fears, and loyalty come under examination. Seen against his past action, it is a much more sympathetic view. The shift in Mundy's attitude is reflected in the dialog. No longer is Chullender Ghose's speech so filled with broken English. No longer is it merely comic. Here, Mundy takes him seriously. It is one of the biggest payoffs at the end.
In keeping with his want to experiment continually, however, Mundy does undertake one interesting detour. Because we know so much of Ramsden, Singh, and Jimgrim by this point, little is left to develop them psychologically, although there is some additional insight gained into Ramsden, here. But the true case of character exploration in Devil's Guard comes with Mundy's portrayal of the babu. His motivations, fears, and loyalty come under examination. Seen against his past action, it is a much more sympathetic view. The shift in Mundy's attitude is reflected in the dialog. No longer is Chullender Ghose's speech so filled with broken English. No longer is it merely comic. Here, Mundy takes him seriously. It is one of the biggest payoffs at the end.
June 5, 2019
A good book but the ending is immensely dissatisfying.
The reader is waiting to get to Shambhala, as in Lost Horizon, and you never arrive.
The adventure is quite good but the ending ruins much of this.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
The reader is waiting to get to Shambhala, as in Lost Horizon, and you never arrive.
The adventure is quite good but the ending ruins much of this.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
October 21, 2008
good story once you get into it; great fun.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews