Whistle Stop in Space: Further Adventures of Manning Draco, Volume 2

by Kendell Foster Crossen, Kendra Crossen Burroughs (Foreword)

Great Fomalhaut! Manning Draco is back! In Once Upon a Star, the interstellar insurance detective tackled a variety of weird con men and scammers throughout the 35th-century Galactic Federation. Now he returns in three further adventures, as a government agent sent to foil an anti-Federationist plot. The concluding story features a spoof of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, and reveals how Manning became the only Terran to develop a secondary mind shield against the telepathic powers of other races in the Federation.

Kendell Foster Crossen, a mainstay of the science fiction pulps in the 1950s, also published over forty-five detective and spy novels under a variety of pseudonyms, including M.E. Chaber, Christopher Monig, Richard Foster, and others.

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2014

About the author

aka Richard Foster , Kendell F. Crossen , Kendall Foster Crossen , Ken Crossen , Christopher Monig

Kendell Foster Crossen was a mainstay of American pulp fiction and science fiction of the 1950s. He was the creator and writer of stories about the Green Lama (a pulp and comic book hero) and the Milo March detective novels.

Reviews

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following the first four novelettes that feature Manning Draco, the interstellar insurance detective in the year 3470, (published in "Once Upon a Star: The Adventures of Manning Draco, Volume 1), this second volume includes the remaining three stories. They are all still fun romps in space with strange aliens and clever plots but to my mind they aren’t quite as good as the first set. That is due in large part, I believe, to the events at the very end of the fourth story in volume one wherein our playboy hero actually gets married to the boss’s daughter. That means that in the next two stories Draco has to behave in a more gentlemanly manner even though having to work with the most beautiful alien females he can imagine. Add to that the fact that his now father-in-law boss has become a high ranking official in government and so Draco’s assignments are now politically motivated instead of financial. Somehow, Draco seems to lose his edge just a bit.

The final story in this volume “The Agile Algolian” is perhaps the most interesting. It is actually a prequel to the whole series back when Draco was just starting out (not married of course) and shows how he gets to where we first meet him in the very first story. It also provides a nice send-up of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer via the character of "Mickey Hatchet".

All stories first appeared in “Thrilling Wonder Stories” in the early 1950s. Recommended for those who enjoy clever, fun, pulp-style sci-fi adventure.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Volume 1 but still a landmark in science fiction.