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The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril casts the rivalry between two of pulp fiction's most revered writers into its own saga, which bursts from the pages with blood, cruelty, fear, mystery, vengeance, courageous heroes, evil villains, dames in distress, secret identities and disguises, global schemes, hideous deaths, beautiful psychics, deadly superweapons, cliffhanging escapes, and other outrageous pulp lies that just might be completely true.
Ravaged by the devastation of the Great Depression, America turned to the pulp novels for relief, for hope, for heroes.
And the pulps delivered in spades.
The science fiction story, the hard-boiled detective, and the superhero were all born on these cheap yellow pages, found behind blood-drenched covers dripping with sex and violence. Return now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, enter at your own risk into the dark and dank lair known as the White Horse Tavern, and meet Walter Gibson, the mind behind The Shadow, and Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage, as they challenge one another to discover what is real and what is pulp.
For Gibson, writing a new novel about The Shadow every month is a way to evade his own dark past. For his rival, Dent, creating Doc Savage is an attempt to bring the light of better days to desperate millions. In their lives and loves they are as different from one another as the heroes they've created. But now the hideous murder of the fringe pulp writer H. P. Lovecraft - victim of a mysterious death that literally makes the skin crawl - will set these two men on a collision course with each other, and face to face with a terrifying and very real evil that could have sprung from the pages of their own pulps.
From the palaces and battlefields of warlord-plagued China to the seedy waterfronts of Providence, Rhode Island; from frozen seas and cursed islands to the labyrinthine tunnels and secret temples of New York's Chinatown, Dent and Gibson will find themselves in a dangerous race to stop a madman destined to create a new empire of pure evil. Together with the young pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard, a mysterious stranger, and a sexy psychic with a chicken, they will finally step out from behind their creations to take part in a heroic journey far greater than any story they have imagined. Their quest will force Gibson to look beyond the shadows and discover the true evil that lurks in the hearts of men, while Dent will learn that the nature of a true hero is not found in a fictional superman, but in the faith of the woman who challenges death itself to love him.
Ravaged by the devastation of the Great Depression, America turned to the pulp novels for relief, for hope, for heroes.
And the pulps delivered in spades.
The science fiction story, the hard-boiled detective, and the superhero were all born on these cheap yellow pages, found behind blood-drenched covers dripping with sex and violence. Return now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, enter at your own risk into the dark and dank lair known as the White Horse Tavern, and meet Walter Gibson, the mind behind The Shadow, and Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage, as they challenge one another to discover what is real and what is pulp.
For Gibson, writing a new novel about The Shadow every month is a way to evade his own dark past. For his rival, Dent, creating Doc Savage is an attempt to bring the light of better days to desperate millions. In their lives and loves they are as different from one another as the heroes they've created. But now the hideous murder of the fringe pulp writer H. P. Lovecraft - victim of a mysterious death that literally makes the skin crawl - will set these two men on a collision course with each other, and face to face with a terrifying and very real evil that could have sprung from the pages of their own pulps.
From the palaces and battlefields of warlord-plagued China to the seedy waterfronts of Providence, Rhode Island; from frozen seas and cursed islands to the labyrinthine tunnels and secret temples of New York's Chinatown, Dent and Gibson will find themselves in a dangerous race to stop a madman destined to create a new empire of pure evil. Together with the young pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard, a mysterious stranger, and a sexy psychic with a chicken, they will finally step out from behind their creations to take part in a heroic journey far greater than any story they have imagined. Their quest will force Gibson to look beyond the shadows and discover the true evil that lurks in the hearts of men, while Dent will learn that the nature of a true hero is not found in a fictional superman, but in the faith of the woman who challenges death itself to love him.
371 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 2006
31 people are currently reading
677 people want to read
About the author
Paul Malmont
14 books61 followersThe author of THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL and his latest, JACK LONDON IN PARADISE."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
February 6, 2011
Prior to reading this novel, my experience with pulp fiction was limited to a Tarantino movie and a few stories I read as part of a Master's course in crime and detective stories. I came to the book with no knowledge about Walter Gibson or Lester Dent and no real interest in pulps. How much of the novel is true? I'd say about 1/4 truth, 3/4 pulp. But truth is not the point--the story is everything in this novel and, as the narrator says, "never let the facts get in the way of a good story."
Set during the height of the pulp fiction era, the novel follows Walter Gibson (author of The Shadow) and Lester Dent (author of Doc Savage), two titans of the time period. In addition, authors L. Ron Hubbard (pre-Scientology freakishness), H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert Heinlein all make appearances as characters (even Orson Welles shows up). The book is unique in that it doesn't try to serve as a biography of these characters. Instead, it pays homage to these authors by setting them in a sensationalistic pulp in which they are the protagonists--a fitting tribute to authors who thrilled so many with tales of courage and adventure, unspeakable horror, and plot twists and turns that would give the reader whiplash. The story is full of pulp hallmarks--dashing cowboys, Chinese assassins, beautiful women just bad enough to be good, a maniacal villain willing to stop at nothing to seek revenge (and maybe just rule the world while he's at it), a military secret that threatens society as we know it, zombies, and even a psychic with a chicken. There are train rides, boat rides, and plane rides. There's treasure, treachery, and romance. The book is fun, which was what the pulps were meant to be and, in some ways, isn't that more important than all the highbrow literary snobbery that purports to reflect on the human experience?
The last chapter was pitch perfect and there's a nice twist concerning the narrator of the story. The narrator laments the fact that "The pulps, the pages where American myths had been born, were gone" as "decency and morality oozed across the nation like black tar and old blood" (leave it to decency and morality to ruin a good thing). By the novel's end, I, too, mourned the heyday of the pulps and was glad I got to spend some time in one.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and Shelf Inflicted
Set during the height of the pulp fiction era, the novel follows Walter Gibson (author of The Shadow) and Lester Dent (author of Doc Savage), two titans of the time period. In addition, authors L. Ron Hubbard (pre-Scientology freakishness), H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert Heinlein all make appearances as characters (even Orson Welles shows up). The book is unique in that it doesn't try to serve as a biography of these characters. Instead, it pays homage to these authors by setting them in a sensationalistic pulp in which they are the protagonists--a fitting tribute to authors who thrilled so many with tales of courage and adventure, unspeakable horror, and plot twists and turns that would give the reader whiplash. The story is full of pulp hallmarks--dashing cowboys, Chinese assassins, beautiful women just bad enough to be good, a maniacal villain willing to stop at nothing to seek revenge (and maybe just rule the world while he's at it), a military secret that threatens society as we know it, zombies, and even a psychic with a chicken. There are train rides, boat rides, and plane rides. There's treasure, treachery, and romance. The book is fun, which was what the pulps were meant to be and, in some ways, isn't that more important than all the highbrow literary snobbery that purports to reflect on the human experience?
The last chapter was pitch perfect and there's a nice twist concerning the narrator of the story. The narrator laments the fact that "The pulps, the pages where American myths had been born, were gone" as "decency and morality oozed across the nation like black tar and old blood" (leave it to decency and morality to ruin a good thing). By the novel's end, I, too, mourned the heyday of the pulps and was glad I got to spend some time in one.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and Shelf Inflicted
July 7, 2015
A rollicking old style – and yet somewhat post-modern – adventure story in which Walter Gibson (the writer of The Shadow), Lester Dent (the writer of Doc Savage) and the young L. Ron Hubbard investigate a mystery which starts – in part – at H.P. Lovecraft’s funeral.
Dent and Gibson are authors totally unfamiliar to me, and even though I know Hubbard’s name it isn’t really because of the books he wrote. Yet Malmont is able to conjure up what these men’s work was about, to make the reader understand what their fiction stood for and why the first two in particular were so important to America is the thirties. This is not biography so I have no idea how close he matches his fictional portrayals to the real people, but the characters who populate this novel are undoubtedly real and alive. Interestingly as well, although the villain of the piece is Chinese, the author doesn’t simply echo the works of Sax Rohmer (which would look uncomfortably out of place in the twenty first century). Instead the villain has a proper context in the world political situation and real motivation for what he’s doing.
The plot is an enjoyable piece of nonsense involving toxic gas, and there are points where it all drags a little, but this is an amusing and diverting yarn which brings back to life real figures who possibly don’t do deserve their current obscurity. It’s certainly more fun than I imagine any novel set in the thirties about Hemmingway and Fitzgerald would be.
Dent and Gibson are authors totally unfamiliar to me, and even though I know Hubbard’s name it isn’t really because of the books he wrote. Yet Malmont is able to conjure up what these men’s work was about, to make the reader understand what their fiction stood for and why the first two in particular were so important to America is the thirties. This is not biography so I have no idea how close he matches his fictional portrayals to the real people, but the characters who populate this novel are undoubtedly real and alive. Interestingly as well, although the villain of the piece is Chinese, the author doesn’t simply echo the works of Sax Rohmer (which would look uncomfortably out of place in the twenty first century). Instead the villain has a proper context in the world political situation and real motivation for what he’s doing.
The plot is an enjoyable piece of nonsense involving toxic gas, and there are points where it all drags a little, but this is an amusing and diverting yarn which brings back to life real figures who possibly don’t do deserve their current obscurity. It’s certainly more fun than I imagine any novel set in the thirties about Hemmingway and Fitzgerald would be.
January 7, 2008
“Look at this book!” He said as I was sitting in the break room.
He held it aloft, showing off his prize. CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL the book title read. It looked good. He knew I had a longstanding belief that you could indeed judge a book by its cover, and this cover looked good. It had the flair of CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL, which is a book I adore. It had the historical novel feel of THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY. And I wanted to read it.
This book was about pulp writers, which I know nothing about. I know about comic books, the stepchild of pulp novels, but I have never actually read any of the pulps themselves. In my head pulps were full of people who talked like this, “She was a dame, tall and smoky. She had gams that went all the way down to the floor. Her hair shimmered in the light, as if saying, ‘come on son, give me a shot.’ I knew she was trouble, and I was looking to get into some trouble.” And I guess they did have some of that… but mostly they were about superheroes that didn’t wear tights, fighting Ratzis and odd monsters from the Congo. They were more like comics without the pictures. So in a way I felt at home reading the book.
Michael Chabon ruined reading historical fiction for me. The first historical fiction novel I read happened to win the Pulitzer Prize? How can you top that? Everything I read (pulpy historical fiction wise) after seems to be an after thought. CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL was good, I really liked it. CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL was good. I didn’t really get into the characters as much- but whatever, it kept me entertained. IT’S SUPERMAN sucked. No one should have to read that book.
I did like the idea that the writer of The Shadow, and Doc Savage, and a young L. Ron Hubbard got together to solve a big murder mystery. It’s fantastical… much like a pulp novel should be. YAY!
He held it aloft, showing off his prize. CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL the book title read. It looked good. He knew I had a longstanding belief that you could indeed judge a book by its cover, and this cover looked good. It had the flair of CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL, which is a book I adore. It had the historical novel feel of THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY. And I wanted to read it.
This book was about pulp writers, which I know nothing about. I know about comic books, the stepchild of pulp novels, but I have never actually read any of the pulps themselves. In my head pulps were full of people who talked like this, “She was a dame, tall and smoky. She had gams that went all the way down to the floor. Her hair shimmered in the light, as if saying, ‘come on son, give me a shot.’ I knew she was trouble, and I was looking to get into some trouble.” And I guess they did have some of that… but mostly they were about superheroes that didn’t wear tights, fighting Ratzis and odd monsters from the Congo. They were more like comics without the pictures. So in a way I felt at home reading the book.
Michael Chabon ruined reading historical fiction for me. The first historical fiction novel I read happened to win the Pulitzer Prize? How can you top that? Everything I read (pulpy historical fiction wise) after seems to be an after thought. CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL was good, I really liked it. CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL was good. I didn’t really get into the characters as much- but whatever, it kept me entertained. IT’S SUPERMAN sucked. No one should have to read that book.
I did like the idea that the writer of The Shadow, and Doc Savage, and a young L. Ron Hubbard got together to solve a big murder mystery. It’s fantastical… much like a pulp novel should be. YAY!
May 7, 2010
A debut novel that casts the rivalry between two of pulp fiction's legendary writers...Walter Gibson (THE SHADOW) and Lester Dent (DOC SAVAGE) into an AMAZING STORY in its own right.
My own experience of the Pulps is limited to a collection of radio broadcasts of THE SHADOW from the 1930s and 1940s...on cassette tape. These tapes are rather fragile now (though I purchased them in the 1980s..i played them a lot) I still get a shiver when I hear that LAUGH..and the stories ain't half bad. I also recall seeing the Pulp Detective Magazines when I was a kid..the covers were a hoot...Scantily clad ladies a-languishing in "terror" whilst the square-jawed "dicks" let loose with their big "guns"...Jeesh ! Titillation sublime! And the stories were fun reading...
This story, as crafted by Mr Malmont has all the blood, cruelty, fear and vengeance of the old pulps..with a touch...just a touch...of Modern Day savvy. The courageous heroes, damsels in distress (with heaving bosoms and snappy repartee), evil villains, secret identities,are joined by global schemes, deadly superweapons (the Death Cloud of the title), and hideous deaths...which gives this tale a decidedly Modern twist (ouch!)..Full of outrageous lies that are all too true, this story also reminds one that these two fellows, Gibson and Dent, were writers working on deadline, even when they were facing the end of the world.
Where does real end and pulp begin? Maybe THE SHADOW is the only one to answer that. According to the end of this novel, he might just have more to say..another volume to add to his oeuvre....some day...
4 Stars (****)
My own experience of the Pulps is limited to a collection of radio broadcasts of THE SHADOW from the 1930s and 1940s...on cassette tape. These tapes are rather fragile now (though I purchased them in the 1980s..i played them a lot) I still get a shiver when I hear that LAUGH..and the stories ain't half bad. I also recall seeing the Pulp Detective Magazines when I was a kid..the covers were a hoot...Scantily clad ladies a-languishing in "terror" whilst the square-jawed "dicks" let loose with their big "guns"...Jeesh ! Titillation sublime! And the stories were fun reading...
This story, as crafted by Mr Malmont has all the blood, cruelty, fear and vengeance of the old pulps..with a touch...just a touch...of Modern Day savvy. The courageous heroes, damsels in distress (with heaving bosoms and snappy repartee), evil villains, secret identities,are joined by global schemes, deadly superweapons (the Death Cloud of the title), and hideous deaths...which gives this tale a decidedly Modern twist (ouch!)..Full of outrageous lies that are all too true, this story also reminds one that these two fellows, Gibson and Dent, were writers working on deadline, even when they were facing the end of the world.
Where does real end and pulp begin? Maybe THE SHADOW is the only one to answer that. According to the end of this novel, he might just have more to say..another volume to add to his oeuvre....some day...
4 Stars (****)
October 9, 2016
If you have ever been a fan of the great pre-World War II mystery/adventure/horror pulps, you'll love this.
The beloved authors of The Shadow and Doc Savage, Walter Gibson and Lester Dent team up with the infamous L. Ron Hubbard to fight a uniquely pulpish threat to the world.
Thrill-a-minute tribute to the Great Pulps with numerous cameos by some of your favorite authors from the Golden Era.
My hardback edition features an absolutely gorgeous pulp-art cover.
Wish I knew who the artist is.
Recommended!
Read
September 29, 2019It took me about 50-60 pages to get into this book, or maybe it took a mood shift. But once I got into it, I loved it. Great atmosphere.
March 5, 2008
This book exceeded my expections. I loved it. Gibson and Dent both made interesting characters. The best part was all the little easter eggs scattered throughout, references to golden age figures of pulp and comic books. The story got really tense near the end and I ended up staying up about an hour too late finishing it. I'm definitely digging some pulps out of the reserve stash after this one.
Read
August 13, 2011Saw that Scott and Jesse interviewed this author about his sequel to this book, which somehow had escaped my notice. I love the Dallas Library, I've gotta say. They got me a copy in a few days. So I'm dipping my toes in to see how I like it. So far it looks like a love letter to pulp fiction with L. Ron Hubbard as the young go-getter who is determined to make his fortune writing for John Campbell's Astounding Stories magazine. Also featured so far are Lester Dent (Doc Savage) and Walter Gibson (The Shadow) as the pros who Hubbard longs to best.
Here's the summary:
More later.
Final
Got to about page 100 of this but the author spends so much time filling in back story and author/pulp info that it gets tiring because the story is not moving along much. Plus, I already know most of that info, being a fan of the pulps. So ... sending this one back to the library where it may please someone else instead.
Here's the summary:
An astounding literary debut that brings a beloved genre of the past roaring into the twenty-first century, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril casts the rivalry between two of pulp fiction's most legendary writers into its own amazing saga, which bursts from the pages with blood, cruelty, fear, mystery, vengeance, courageous heroes, evil villains, dames in distress, secret identities and disguises, global schemes, hideous deaths, beautiful psychics, deadly superweapons, cliff-hanging escapes, and other outrageous pulp lies that are all completely true.
More later.
Final
Got to about page 100 of this but the author spends so much time filling in back story and author/pulp info that it gets tiring because the story is not moving along much. Plus, I already know most of that info, being a fan of the pulps. So ... sending this one back to the library where it may please someone else instead.
February 12, 2022
This is a "good" book, but not a "great" book. Not really ever being a reader of pulps, I didn't feel either way about the subject matter going in, but now I definitely want to go back and read some Shadow and Doc Savage novels. (In fact, I think Paul Malmont should write his own pulp style novel - it's very obvious he knows the genre backwards and forwards)
I didn't really ever feel "attached" to the characters - and it certainly wasn't a book that I couldn't put down. The story starts off pretty slowly, as a bunch of different slow running streams, but as the streams come together the pace picks up rapidly.
It was real tough in the last third of the book to really get a good sense of time - between the switching between the two main parties and how each was performing some extended actions. Coupled with flashbacks earlier in the book, it made me pause a few times to make sure I was thinking on the right time horizon. Maybe that doesn't bother other people, but I can be anal retentive that way.
If you are a pulp fan - absolutely read this. If you are a sci-fi / fantasy / mystery fan who doesn't know pulp, then try it out - you might find an old friend in an old genre.
I didn't really ever feel "attached" to the characters - and it certainly wasn't a book that I couldn't put down. The story starts off pretty slowly, as a bunch of different slow running streams, but as the streams come together the pace picks up rapidly.
It was real tough in the last third of the book to really get a good sense of time - between the switching between the two main parties and how each was performing some extended actions. Coupled with flashbacks earlier in the book, it made me pause a few times to make sure I was thinking on the right time horizon. Maybe that doesn't bother other people, but I can be anal retentive that way.
If you are a pulp fan - absolutely read this. If you are a sci-fi / fantasy / mystery fan who doesn't know pulp, then try it out - you might find an old friend in an old genre.
February 8, 2008
I welcome any new novels that follow in the pulp footsteps of Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," and Malmont's is a particularly fine example. Real-life authors Lester Dent and Walter Gibson, each as accomplished and fascinating as the dime-novel heroes they created, become the protagonists in a deliciously pulpy tale of diabolical plots and mysterious cults. Literary Easter eggs abound -- including a wonderfully appropriate use of H.P. Lovecraft -- and if they lean a bit toward the cutesy, they're nonetheless enjoyable. Most importantly, in all the chases and fistfights and scrambling about, Malmont never loses sight of his characters; Gibson's frustration and self-doubt, and the touching love between Dent and his wife, are some of the novel's best and most moving aspects. By the end of the book, the author has worked a quietly remarkable alchemy, stripping away the hokiness of the old pulp novels to reconnect readers to the purity of spirit that made them so compelling to begin with.
April 21, 2007
"That's pulp!"
It's a claim heard more than once in this impressive, but uneven meta-version of mid-20th Century adventure stories. H.P. Lovecraft, zombies, communists, death gods, and a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard all make an appearance. And yet the book doesn't really get going until the halfway point. That's an awfully long time to wait for a cliffhanger.
Recommended for fans of the genre.
It's a claim heard more than once in this impressive, but uneven meta-version of mid-20th Century adventure stories. H.P. Lovecraft, zombies, communists, death gods, and a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard all make an appearance. And yet the book doesn't really get going until the halfway point. That's an awfully long time to wait for a cliffhanger.
Recommended for fans of the genre.
April 4, 2019
Not the story I thought when I bought the book. I was looking for a pulp era story with pulp characters. Instead I get a pulp era adventure featuring a ton of the pulp writers from that time. Great adventure/mystery read. Recommended
December 8, 2008
Since I’ve essentially become obsessed with the Hard Case Crime book club, I was incredibly excited to find a book like The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril while I was perusing the bargain books at Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago. It looked like it had everything I was currently interested in as well as some really cool looking cover art work. This looked to be pulp adventures at their best. Unfortunately the saying “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” is very true in this case.
Chinatown starts out with such potential but ends up spending most of it’s time in mediocrity and a ho-hum story. Taking place during the era of pulp novels in the late 1930s / early 1940s, the novel takes a look at an adventure that spans half the country and parts of China and includes real life authors Walter Gibson, Lester Dent, and Robert Heinlein. There’s a weird conspiracy with a piece of chemical warfare, strange zombies, two knock-out dames, a cowboy, a mysterious Chinese warlord bent on revenge, and a couple of happy children.
As I mentioned, on the surface, this seemed like it would be a fun ride. I think that first-time author Paul Malmont struggled with what he wanted the book to be though. At times it’s an adventure book, then it’s a romance novel or a horror story or even a fairy tale or a history book. These jumps feel really disjointed and don’t help the story at all. When I got about halfway through the book, I realized that it wasn’t going to get much better. The characters were alright, but nothing special and certainly no one that I was invested in to the point that I actually cared about them.
Whether or not any of the story is true is up to you to figure out. After all, there’s a fine line between what’s pulp and what’s the truth, as Malmont points out on numerous occasions throughout the book. At the end of the day though, I don’t care enough to figure it out. Maybe my hopes were a little high for this book, but it certainly had some potential. Unfortunately it ends up being nothing special and will be quickly forgotten like so many of the pulps from back then.
Chinatown starts out with such potential but ends up spending most of it’s time in mediocrity and a ho-hum story. Taking place during the era of pulp novels in the late 1930s / early 1940s, the novel takes a look at an adventure that spans half the country and parts of China and includes real life authors Walter Gibson, Lester Dent, and Robert Heinlein. There’s a weird conspiracy with a piece of chemical warfare, strange zombies, two knock-out dames, a cowboy, a mysterious Chinese warlord bent on revenge, and a couple of happy children.
As I mentioned, on the surface, this seemed like it would be a fun ride. I think that first-time author Paul Malmont struggled with what he wanted the book to be though. At times it’s an adventure book, then it’s a romance novel or a horror story or even a fairy tale or a history book. These jumps feel really disjointed and don’t help the story at all. When I got about halfway through the book, I realized that it wasn’t going to get much better. The characters were alright, but nothing special and certainly no one that I was invested in to the point that I actually cared about them.
Whether or not any of the story is true is up to you to figure out. After all, there’s a fine line between what’s pulp and what’s the truth, as Malmont points out on numerous occasions throughout the book. At the end of the day though, I don’t care enough to figure it out. Maybe my hopes were a little high for this book, but it certainly had some potential. Unfortunately it ends up being nothing special and will be quickly forgotten like so many of the pulps from back then.
April 21, 2008
I really enjoyed this book; it's maybe not for everyone. If you like pulp fiction and/or comic books, you'll probably like it. And if you like or are interested in the history of those things, you might really like it. It's basically a somewhat meta pulp story where the heroes are all famous pulp fiction authors. It works, for me, because the story and the characters are clear and very fun and the referential stuff provides an occasional lagniappe that's amusing (Siegel & Shuster make an appearance, as does Joe Kavalier (who I'm pretty sure is actualy fictional, which is fun) -- there may be others I missed). It lost a bit of steam in its final stage, for me, but it's a good, fun read that seems to take its emotional cues from Malmont's complimentary and lovely take on Lester Dent's Doc Savage series: the story is about adventure, love, loyalty, and redemption.
March 14, 2015
I purchased this book some time ago and when I read it I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought Paul Malmont did a very good job writing it. I actually think what he did was rather clever. He wrote an actual pulp book and the characters were pulp writers. The book has real characters used fictionally. The heroes are Pulp Fiction icons -- Walter Gibson, Lester Dent being the main two. But also included are L. Ron Hubbard, H.P. Lovecraft and a surprise character that I don't want to give away. (I see many reviewers here have given it away and should hide their review as it is a spoiler.) I have read quite a few of the pulps written by Hubbard and this book reminds me of them. The story content is imaginative and well thought out. The book reads like a pulp book although it is somewhat longer. I liked the book a lot. I highly recommend it. Smart, humorous and imaginative.
January 16, 2008
For someone who's into the old pulp-era stuff, this is a wonderfully fun metafiction book. I think that the high-concept idea of having the two pillars of the "pulpateer" writer community star as the heroes in their own pulp adventure really works. The author generally pulls it off, though I thin that there are a few promises that he could have come through with a bit stronger. Maybe one or two too many "heroes of the day" showed up in the story, and my suspension of disbelief was shaken a bit. Still and all, the amount of crunchy era-specific detail is great, and it would have been worth the read simply to learn so much about The Shadow, my favorite radio adventure.
I recommend this one for anyone who's into the pulps (radio or written).
I recommend this one for anyone who's into the pulps (radio or written).
May 16, 2007
It is the 1930's. The writer of "The Shadow" and the writer of "Doc Savage" end up forming a team to stop a renegade army officer and a Chinese warlord from releasing the eponymous peril upon New York City.
H.P. Lovecraft knew the nature of the peril, but may have died before revealing the antidote. It falls to Walter Gibson (the Shadow) and Lester Dent (Doc Savage), along with a get-rich-quick schemer known as L. Ron Hubbard and some other figures you may have heard of (Robert Heinlein, Stanley Lieber) to save Chinatown, and maybe the world.
Is it over the top? Maybe a little. But it's AWESOME.
H.P. Lovecraft knew the nature of the peril, but may have died before revealing the antidote. It falls to Walter Gibson (the Shadow) and Lester Dent (Doc Savage), along with a get-rich-quick schemer known as L. Ron Hubbard and some other figures you may have heard of (Robert Heinlein, Stanley Lieber) to save Chinatown, and maybe the world.
Is it over the top? Maybe a little. But it's AWESOME.
June 10, 2007
I'm not sure whether to classify this as a mystery/thriller, action/adventure, sci-fi horror, historical fiction, or "pulp," which is what the author calls it. It features a cast of "real" characters -- people who actually existed -- the "pulp" writers of Dperession-era America (including a pre-scifi, pre-Dianetics L. Ron Hubbard) who band together to solve the mystery of their fried H.P. Lovecraft's mysterious death. It'n not great -- certainly no Kavalier and Clay -- but it's engaging and entertaining, lie watchingn a pretty good B-movie, and I found the descriptions of the 1930s pulp fiction (about which I know zip) interesting.
February 1, 2008
Malmont manages to pull off some neat tricks with this book. Using some of the classic pulp authors as his protagonists, he creates his own pulp about them -- a delicately over-the-top yarn full of larger-than-life villains, narrow escapes, square-jawed heroes, and a skin-of-their-teeth ending. And he does this all rather thoughtfully: he stays true (or true enough) to the pulp style while giving it his own, somewhat more modern spin.
And he manages to blur his own lines of "what's real and what's pulp?" a few times as well.
Overall? Entertaining.
And he manages to blur his own lines of "what's real and what's pulp?" a few times as well.
Overall? Entertaining.
November 23, 2007
As a big fan of hard-boiled fiction and the pulps, I'm really looking forward to this one. I've only read the first chapter, but how can you go wrong with a book that opens with Walter Gibson and Lester Dent debating pulp writing in the White Horse Tavern while Ron Hubbard looks on? And then the first sentence of the next chapter indicates it's told from the perspective of Howard Lovecraft. I have high hopes for the next 350 pages or so.
Update - Really enjoyed this one. The plot flew along, some loose ends, but overall a fun read.
Update - Really enjoyed this one. The plot flew along, some loose ends, but overall a fun read.
February 12, 2009
More of a 3.5. I have the affection for Paul Malmont that I have for anyone who has a true love about what he writes. That said this book would easily have been five stars if it had been a little more Kavilier and Clay and a little less Scooby Doo.
Still it's impossible for me not to love a book in which the men who invented Doc Savage and The Shadow teem up with El Ron Hubbard, Bob Heinlein, HP Lovecraft, and Louis Lamour to thwart a mad chinese warlord's plan for REVENGE!!!!
Still it's impossible for me not to love a book in which the men who invented Doc Savage and The Shadow teem up with El Ron Hubbard, Bob Heinlein, HP Lovecraft, and Louis Lamour to thwart a mad chinese warlord's plan for REVENGE!!!!
April 15, 2009
Great tribute novel to some of the major pulp writers of the Golden Age. Writing a novel about writers and the process of writing (the imagination) should not have worked -- especially for a first time novelist. Well, it does. Malmont captures a special time with all the enthusiasm of his subjects -- who are portrayed (good news) with some depth. (I really liked these characters.) Zombies, poison gas, China, intrigue, treasure, magic, and always, Pulp. This one is a lot of fun.
March 28, 2008
Fun book. Set in the 1930s among a group of real life pulp writers--one of which is the young L. Ron Hubbard before he creates his cult that celebrities flock to--as they go on an adventure. It's about pulp and kind of pulpy--violence, sex, magic, Chinatown, suspense, heroic action scenes...you know, pulp.
October 30, 2007
Great use of "real life" authors with all of the pulp themes that populated those same authors books -- Doc Savage, The Shadow, etc. All my childhood favorites and the accompanying themes put into a book an intelligent book for "grown ups".
May 5, 2008
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it over a more condensed period of time and had more of a background in the pulps. That said, I always enjoy a story with superfluous adverbs, magic, dastardly villains, and zombie boat cruises.
January 3, 2009
A book that is mostly history but partly fiction concerning the exploits of the original pulp novelists? Awesome! A great pulp novel starring the original pulp novelists and maybe even one of the great pulp heroes (sort of)? Even better. A great book? Absolutely.
February 13, 2011
This story is anti-climatic, which is why it only gets three stars. However, you can't have a story that stars REAL pulp fiction writers like H.P. Lovecraft and L. Ron Hubbard and not give it couple stars. The story was quite well done, until the end, very pulpy.
August 17, 2011
Hard to get into. Very aware if itself as "pulp". Didn't love the main characters being pulp writers...enuf already. But last act was a page turner. Tho by the end, just wanted it to end. More entertaining than others I've rated a two, but not as good as some of my other 3s. Thumbs sideways.
September 14, 2013
What do you get when you follow the pulp writers of the 30's like H.P. Lovecraft, L. Ron Hubbard, Will Gibson (creator of the Shadow) and Doc Savage writer Lester Dent?
Action! Mystery! Beautiful molls! Ghosts! Evil supercriminals! This book rocks from the first page to the last.
Action! Mystery! Beautiful molls! Ghosts! Evil supercriminals! This book rocks from the first page to the last.
July 6, 2014
Love the blend of reality and pulp . Think you need to be a fan of the pulps to get this although I am a relatively recent convert . A touch overlong and some parts lost my attention but overall a worthwhile read.
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