The Adventure Novella MEGAPACK®

by Robert Moore Williams, Johnston McCulley, Murray Leinster

With The Adventure Novella MEGAPACK(R), we launch a new line of anthologies consisting of longer stories that don't quite make it to novel length. Novellas and novelets are often considered superior to the short story format by authors because there is more room to develop plot and character. The 8 adventures in this volume span continents as well as time and space, offering a selection of great stories by top pulp authors. Included SECRET OF THE GOLDEN JAGUAR, by Robert Moore Williams
SANDED IN SAN DIEGO, by Johnston McCulley
GRIST, by Murray Leinster
BOMBS FOR THE GENERAL, by Horace McCoy
THE EARTHQUAKE GIRL, by Joseph J. Millard
THE GREAT CIRCLE, by Henry S. Whitehead
HOK VISITS THE LAND OF LEGENDS, by Manly Wade Wellman
THE PIRATE OF SHELL CASTLE

If you enjoy this ebook, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more of the 300+ volumes in this series, covering adventure, historical fiction, mysteries, westerns, ghost stories, science fiction -- and much, much more!

428 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 22, 2016

About the author

The prolific author Robert Moore Williams published more than 150 novels and short stories under his given name as well as a variety of pseudonyms including John S. Browning, H.H. Harmon, Robert Moore, Russell Storm and E.K. Jarvis.

Williams was born in Farmington, Missouri and earned a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia. He had a full-time writing career from 1937 through 1972 and cut his teeth on such publications as Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures, Astounding, Thrilling Wonder and Startling.

In 1955 Williams cranked out The Chaos Fighters, the first of 30 novels he would write over the next 15 years. These novels include the Jongor and ,Zanthar series. His most unusual book, however, is one that is labeled as fiction, but is actually an autobiography: Love is Forever - We Are for Tonight (Curtis 06101, 1970). In this short, 141-page work Williams presents a description of his childhood and then discusses his experimentation with hallucinogenic gasses, Dianetics and 1950s-era communes.

Williams married Margaret Jelley in 1938 and they had one child. The couple divorced in 1958. According to the Social Security Death Index, Williams died in May of 1977 in Dateland, Arizona.

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another very nice collection of adventure stories, stretching from 1914 to 1978. These are lengthier than the usual Megapack adventure editions, novellas as the title indicates or novelettes as they were frequently termed during the first half of the last century. A good variety, too. Things start off strongly with a lost city in the Amazon story, "Secret of the Golden Jaguar," which quite actually expresses just about every convention you would expect from a tale told at 1942 (I've seen several Johnny Weismuller Tarzan films that reflected the very same mood and atmosphere). The follow up, "Sanded in San Diego," manages to exude exoticism as well. But it does so from the perspective of its time of composition, 1914, where "Old San Diego" takes on the characteristics of small twisting lanes, sea caves, and desert brush surrounding the house of a secret order whose leadership could either enhance world development or lead to anarchy. "Grist," taking place in the frozen north seems heavily influenced by Jack London, while "Bombs for the General," a World War I aviation tale details the thin line between the heroic and insubordination. Two of the longest novellas take place in unknown regions of Mexico. The lesser of the two, "The Earthquake Girl," seems written for a readership that is a clear cut below the other entries in the collection--think Mu/Lamuria, ray guns, teleportation, etc. But "The Great Circle," filled with mysticism, also makes room for a commentary on the forgotten human relations with the earth, fire, water, and, ominously wind, as elemental forces shaping human destiny. Surprisingly good is "Hok Visits the Land of Legend," which belongs, I suppose, in the prehistoric cave man genre. I've occasionally encountered these type stories, always expecting disappointment but finding that there is the genesis of the quest, the foundation of all true adventure, in their telling. Never mind the anachronisms, cave men, triceratops, mammoths, and pterodactyls all thrown together. Finally, a good nautical adventure, "The Pirate of Shell Castle, concludes the book. While written in 1978, the story takes place a couple of decades after the US Civil War. A nice supernatural twist comes along with the very last sentence.