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Stories from the Golden Age
The Carnival of Death
The detective is deep undercover at Shreve's Mammoth Carnival, when he discovers first one and then another headless body. While others believe the gruesome murders are solved after four tribal headhunters working for the show suddenly disappear, Bob Clark suspects someone else is the real killer. When he finds himself seized by the very same headhunters, Clark sincerely hopes his hunch is right, since the point of a very sharp knife is aimed at his neck! The Death Can history be reversed to save a beautiful girl on the ghost train? Long before the Source Code movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, Jim Bellamy boards a ghost train, screaming through the night as he tries to save the life of a young lady who died in its wreckage ten years ago. A love story of an impossible nature, Jim tries to reverse time, on a train of phantoms long forgotten, yet stuck in time. “...For pulp-fiction fans.” —Booklist
136 pages, Paperback
Published February 21, 2011
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341 people want to read
About the author
L. Ron Hubbard
1,933 books651 followersL. Ron Hubbard is universally acclaimed as the single most influential author and humanitarian of this modern age. His definitive works on the mind and spirit—comprising over 350 million copies in circulation and more than 40 international bestsellers—have resulted in a legacy benefiting millions and a movement spanning all cultures.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
November 6, 2016
The two L. Ron Hubbard pulp stories from the 1930s in this collection are quite fun. The first has Detective Bob Clark working undercover at Shreve’s Mammoth Carnival to expose a dope ring. What he finds is a carnival barker’s headless corpse, and discovers that some headhunters from one of the carnival’s sideshows have broken out. Or were they let loose? Does the gruesome scene tie into the dope ring? It’s pretty fun finding out, and there is a ton of action in this whiz-bang style pulp story that is very Norvell Page-like in both pacing and presentation. It moves so fast there’s no time to be bored, and there is plenty of seedy carnival atmosphere — pulp style, nothing deeper — to augment the fights and chases and headless bodies. As if that weren’t enough, there are some fun illustrations of the action along the way. If I have a caveat for this one, it’s only that it moves so quickly that there is barely time to enjoy the atmosphere, so it’s a minor one.
For this reader, it is the second story which is the real gem! Since I can’t describe how good it is without giving a bit away, please read no further if you have an aversion to SPOILERS! In The Death Flyer a man is walking along some old train tracks on the anniversary of a flyer’s wreck, and suddenly on this lonely night he is swept onto the train from the past. The train is filled with ghosts, including a pretty girl in red who appears to know him. Unlike the others, who attack him and desire to throw him off the train, she has been expecting him! There is a wonderful little ending which suggests he might be riding the Death Flyer over and over, until he gets it right!
While this is nothing more than pulp, I found these two short stories to be great fun. My review is for the Kindle edition.
For this reader, it is the second story which is the real gem! Since I can’t describe how good it is without giving a bit away, please read no further if you have an aversion to SPOILERS! In The Death Flyer a man is walking along some old train tracks on the anniversary of a flyer’s wreck, and suddenly on this lonely night he is swept onto the train from the past. The train is filled with ghosts, including a pretty girl in red who appears to know him. Unlike the others, who attack him and desire to throw him off the train, she has been expecting him! There is a wonderful little ending which suggests he might be riding the Death Flyer over and over, until he gets it right!
While this is nothing more than pulp, I found these two short stories to be great fun. My review is for the Kindle edition.
June 27, 2017
This book collects two stories from the early part of Hubbard's pulp career, the title story from the November, 1934, issue of Popular Detective magazine, and The Death Flyer from the April, 1936, issue of Mystery Novels Magazine. I didn't much care for the badly-dated The Carnival of Death, which is a drug-smuggling investigation set at a carnival; it seemed a little clumsy with stock characters and unfortunate clichés like head-hunting cannibals from Nigeria. A criminal escapes from jail when his sister smuggles him a hacksaw in a loaf of bread and a file in a banana. The Death Flyer, the shorter of the pair, is a very good fantasy ghost story that seemed to me to foreshadow his later classic works from John W. Campbell's Unknown magazine. This is another volume in the Galaxy Press series of Hubbard's pulp tales, all of which are very pleasingly presented with the original illustrations, a glossary, and nice hard-stock uniformly designed covers.
March 9, 2021
I got this for free at a conference ages ago. It features a foreword by Kevin J. Anderson, two stories by L. Ron Hubbard ("The Carnival of Death" and "The Death Flyer" - both of which are accompanied by black and white illustrations), a brief preview of Hubbard's "Mouthpiece," a glossary of 1930s and 1940s words and expression used in the stories, and a 9-page overview of L. Ron Hubbard's writing life (nothing negative, and not a single mention of Scientology).
Kevin J. Anderson's foreword had nothing but glowing praise for pulp fiction, which I suppose would have been fine if it hadn't been for the implication that pulp fiction of the 1930s and 1940s was better and more enjoyable than most fiction published today. "These tales will return you to a time when fiction was good clean entertainment and the most fun a kid could have on a rainy afternoon or the best thing an adult could enjoy after a long day at work" (x-xi). That kid and adult are almost certainly white and male, and their "good clean entertainment" has a high concentration of violence and death.
I'd probably have disliked "The Carnival of Death" regardless, but Anderson's foreword certainly didn't help.
"The Carnival of Death"
The longest of the two stories, at almost 70 pages. Bob Clark has been hired as a carnival detective, tasked with investigating a cocaine smuggling ring operating somewhere within the carnival. His work is complicated by the discovery of a decapitated body - the barker who oversaw four captive African headhunters (later specified to be Nigerians). The headhunters are gone, and the initial assumption is that they escaped and killed their captor, but Clark isn't so sure. A little hair left behind at the crime scene leads him to think that the true culprit is a white man who freed the headhunters as a diversion.
This was almost purely action, and it wasn't even very good action. Clark would do a tiny bit of investigating, get attacked or otherwise get in a fight, and then do a little more investigating. It seemed odd to me that Clark kept thinking the blond guy had something to do with the decapitated body when the text specifically referred to the hair he found as "white" rather than "blond," but I'm guessing readers weren't supposed to be thinking about things like that.
Granted, I only have this story and "The Death Flyer" to go off of, but I wonder if any of the women in Hubbard's pulp fiction stories were ever referred to as "women"? I'm guessing only if they were older and/or unattractive. The one in this story was always a "girl." Meanwhile, the young man who I assumed was probably about the same age as her was either "the blond youth" or "the man called Jack."
The Nigerian headhunter aspect was painfully dated, and I cringed every time they were mentioned, which thankfully wasn't quite as much as I expected. Not a single character in this story saw any problems with four Black people held captive and put on display for a white audience (incidentally, Anderson's fawning foreword didn't discuss pulp fiction's handling of race at all).
"The Death Flyer"
A civil engineer named Jim Bellamy is walking along a train track back to his camp one evening, cursing himself for being out so late, when he almost gets run over by a train. The conductor pulls over and offers him a ride, which he accepts, only to discover that he's stepped into a strange, spooky, and probably dangerous situation.
This little ghost story was actually sort of okay, at least in comparison to "The Carnival of Death." Granted, trains can't just casually pull over to take on random passengers, but the supernatural element makes me slightly more willing to let than one slide.
There wasn't much to it - the whole thing was only 20 or so pages. It was a little confusing, and it featured yet another instance of a young woman who I assume was at least in her twenties being referred to as a "girl." I've read and watched better supernatural train stories. Still, it wasn't bad.
Overall, this book wasn't for me, and I have no intention of reading more of Hubbard's works.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Kevin J. Anderson's foreword had nothing but glowing praise for pulp fiction, which I suppose would have been fine if it hadn't been for the implication that pulp fiction of the 1930s and 1940s was better and more enjoyable than most fiction published today. "These tales will return you to a time when fiction was good clean entertainment and the most fun a kid could have on a rainy afternoon or the best thing an adult could enjoy after a long day at work" (x-xi). That kid and adult are almost certainly white and male, and their "good clean entertainment" has a high concentration of violence and death.
I'd probably have disliked "The Carnival of Death" regardless, but Anderson's foreword certainly didn't help.
"The Carnival of Death"
The longest of the two stories, at almost 70 pages. Bob Clark has been hired as a carnival detective, tasked with investigating a cocaine smuggling ring operating somewhere within the carnival. His work is complicated by the discovery of a decapitated body - the barker who oversaw four captive African headhunters (later specified to be Nigerians). The headhunters are gone, and the initial assumption is that they escaped and killed their captor, but Clark isn't so sure. A little hair left behind at the crime scene leads him to think that the true culprit is a white man who freed the headhunters as a diversion.
This was almost purely action, and it wasn't even very good action. Clark would do a tiny bit of investigating, get attacked or otherwise get in a fight, and then do a little more investigating. It seemed odd to me that Clark kept thinking the blond guy had something to do with the decapitated body when the text specifically referred to the hair he found as "white" rather than "blond," but I'm guessing readers weren't supposed to be thinking about things like that.
Granted, I only have this story and "The Death Flyer" to go off of, but I wonder if any of the women in Hubbard's pulp fiction stories were ever referred to as "women"? I'm guessing only if they were older and/or unattractive. The one in this story was always a "girl." Meanwhile, the young man who I assumed was probably about the same age as her was either "the blond youth" or "the man called Jack."
The Nigerian headhunter aspect was painfully dated, and I cringed every time they were mentioned, which thankfully wasn't quite as much as I expected. Not a single character in this story saw any problems with four Black people held captive and put on display for a white audience (incidentally, Anderson's fawning foreword didn't discuss pulp fiction's handling of race at all).
"The Death Flyer"
A civil engineer named Jim Bellamy is walking along a train track back to his camp one evening, cursing himself for being out so late, when he almost gets run over by a train. The conductor pulls over and offers him a ride, which he accepts, only to discover that he's stepped into a strange, spooky, and probably dangerous situation.
This little ghost story was actually sort of okay, at least in comparison to "The Carnival of Death." Granted, trains can't just casually pull over to take on random passengers, but the supernatural element makes me slightly more willing to let than one slide.
There wasn't much to it - the whole thing was only 20 or so pages. It was a little confusing, and it featured yet another instance of a young woman who I assume was at least in her twenties being referred to as a "girl." I've read and watched better supernatural train stories. Still, it wasn't bad.
Overall, this book wasn't for me, and I have no intention of reading more of Hubbard's works.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
March 14, 2011
This is about a series of murders at a carnival. Fortunately, a private detective is there, hoping to solve a reported dope smuggling case. The corpses were beheaded and there are lots of action sequences (including ones at a haunted house and mirror maze).
This is probably my least favorite of the Hubbard stories I’ve read, which is weird. I love carnivals and haunted houses and I find mirror mazes insanely creepy. (Also people who behead other people.) So I don’t know why this one didn’t work for me, except that it all felt very rushed. (Which may be because the story is 69 pages long, so there’s not much time for things like nuance and character development.)
This is probably my least favorite of the Hubbard stories I’ve read, which is weird. I love carnivals and haunted houses and I find mirror mazes insanely creepy. (Also people who behead other people.) So I don’t know why this one didn’t work for me, except that it all felt very rushed. (Which may be because the story is 69 pages long, so there’s not much time for things like nuance and character development.)
January 15, 2013
Two stories: "Carnival of Death" and "The Death Flyer." Both are wildly different examples of pulp fiction. The first is a quick-and-dirty two-fisted detective story, written fast and on the cheap with all the exclamation points, plot holes, and questionable sentiments one might expect from pulp of the time. The second is a story that — while still cheap and fast — has aspirations to be more and focuses more on suspense and mood than bare-knuckles action.
December 21, 2012
L. Ron Hubbard wrote hundreds of these potboilers. Not great literature, by any means, they are time capsules of American idioms of the 1930's and 40's. They're the literary equivalent of WAMU's Big Broadcast on Sunday evenings, loaded with tough-guy jargon and purple prose. I like them, and they are downloadable for free!!
July 29, 2024
THE CARNIVAL OF DEATH is a novella-length mystery from L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, written long before he became involved in founding his own religion. Before then he was a pulp magazine author who wrote millions of words throughout a lengthy career. Hollywood publisher Galaxy Press have made it their business to reprint many of his stories in all kinds of genres, preserving the original illustrations and even the style of paper cutting from the era.
This one flits between genres, with gruesome horror-style murders against a carnival backdrop. There are prowling headhunters, a drug peddling conspiracy, and a two-fisted G-man hunting for a murderer. It's suspenseful stuff, exciting throughout, and well written in that tough, sparse, reticent style of the era. The plotting is thin and the characterisation non-existent, but you don't go expecting that stuff anyway.
This book includes the short story THE DEATH FLYER as a bonus; it's about a railway worker in rural Maine who finds himself reliving a train disaster and is brief but engaging, with more explicitly supernatural antics. This attractive volume is bookended by an introduction and lengthy biographical section at the back. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This one flits between genres, with gruesome horror-style murders against a carnival backdrop. There are prowling headhunters, a drug peddling conspiracy, and a two-fisted G-man hunting for a murderer. It's suspenseful stuff, exciting throughout, and well written in that tough, sparse, reticent style of the era. The plotting is thin and the characterisation non-existent, but you don't go expecting that stuff anyway.
This book includes the short story THE DEATH FLYER as a bonus; it's about a railway worker in rural Maine who finds himself reliving a train disaster and is brief but engaging, with more explicitly supernatural antics. This attractive volume is bookended by an introduction and lengthy biographical section at the back. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
June 19, 2018
Sometimes a short and simple story is necessary and this one fit the bill. This was my first L. Ron Hubbard book and I enjoyed his writing. It was short, had a lot of action, didn't have a long drug out ending that wasn't really an ending. I've always liked books like this one. I can't wait to read more of his books.
October 28, 2017
A great, quick listen-perfect for the car!
July 18, 2018
Meh. Scooby Doo-ish. Didn't excite me or give me any real emotion. Just kinda zombied thru it.
January 12, 2023
Pretty good read. The cover is far more outrageous than any of the writing. Quite an ingenious twist at the end.
This volume includes the story, "The Death Flyer", too.
This volume includes the story, "The Death Flyer", too.
August 13, 2024
2.5 stars.
August 28, 2024
Thank god Scientology freaks pump so much money into his old pulp fiction and produce expert level audiobooks otherwise I’d never listen to this but it feels like old timey radio. Story itself, meh.
January 27, 2025
Good for what it was. This was admittedly my first foray into pulp fiction, and I think I enjoyed The Death Flyer more.
March 17, 2017
My library has a whole bunch of these and I was immediately drawn to their garish covers. "Carnival of Death"... Oh my... the writing is so... pulpy. It was rather fun reading this through a historical viewpoint into pulp fiction, but it was really only fun for that reason. It was a quick read, but I thought it was rather poorly written. However, it's obvious why pulp fiction was such a thing because it was fast-paced, full of action, and quick to read. "Death Flyer", the second story in this, was (I thought) much better but a great deal shorter.
November 7, 2013
Goodreads First Reads Giveaway Book.
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For those fascinated in a quick-paced crime drama, The Carnival of Death is a book to read. It’s an audiobook with a collection of two short stories, the latter one being a tale of ghosts. The first with the same name (1934) revolves around an undercover Government agent investigating a drug ring at a carnival. It contains an interesting action-filled storyline involving headhunters and headless corpses.
The second story, The Death Flyer (1936), was a short story about a ghost train filled with dozens of ghosts. Somehow on the anniversary of the train wreck, an innocent man finds himself on the train. But, he doesn’t really know why. Although a cute tale, I wasn’t able to determine the underlying purpose of this either, even after the story ended. Maybe, it was just a simple ghost story with no underlying moral meaning. Yet, it was well written.
The author, L. Ron Hubbard, is best known for his research on the subject of Dianetics and later Scientology . What most people may not realize is that he was a prolific fiction writer from 1932 to 1950. And, this story was from that era. With over 300 works, Hubbard wrote in different story genre, including Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Western. He was also known to have used various pseudonyms, including Legionnaire 148, Lieutenant Scott Morgan, John Seabrook, Tom Esterbrook, and Mister Spectator. The three stories in this set were probably influenced from this own military service in the US Navy in the 1940s, including World War II. Although he served, much of it was spent ashore in the continental US. And, his claims of what he did in the military conflicts with the official records.
With a multicast presentation, this audiobook provides the listener a good cinematic experience. The narrators from Golden Age Stories allowed me to lose myself in this book with no noticeable problems that pulled me out of the story. In addition to the different voices this book was peppered with music and sound effects, including fist fights and train sounds. All, making this an enjoyable experience.
Even though these adventure stories were first published almost 80 years ago, I enjoyed listening to them today while believing that they could have just as easily been written within the last few years. A great listen for anyone wanting to enjoy good short stories on a long road-trip. Overall, if you like adventure stories, this audiobook is probably worth listening. It’s quick and definitely entertaining.
------------------------------------
For those fascinated in a quick-paced crime drama, The Carnival of Death is a book to read. It’s an audiobook with a collection of two short stories, the latter one being a tale of ghosts. The first with the same name (1934) revolves around an undercover Government agent investigating a drug ring at a carnival. It contains an interesting action-filled storyline involving headhunters and headless corpses.
The second story, The Death Flyer (1936), was a short story about a ghost train filled with dozens of ghosts. Somehow on the anniversary of the train wreck, an innocent man finds himself on the train. But, he doesn’t really know why. Although a cute tale, I wasn’t able to determine the underlying purpose of this either, even after the story ended. Maybe, it was just a simple ghost story with no underlying moral meaning. Yet, it was well written.
The author, L. Ron Hubbard, is best known for his research on the subject of Dianetics and later Scientology . What most people may not realize is that he was a prolific fiction writer from 1932 to 1950. And, this story was from that era. With over 300 works, Hubbard wrote in different story genre, including Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Western. He was also known to have used various pseudonyms, including Legionnaire 148, Lieutenant Scott Morgan, John Seabrook, Tom Esterbrook, and Mister Spectator. The three stories in this set were probably influenced from this own military service in the US Navy in the 1940s, including World War II. Although he served, much of it was spent ashore in the continental US. And, his claims of what he did in the military conflicts with the official records.
With a multicast presentation, this audiobook provides the listener a good cinematic experience. The narrators from Golden Age Stories allowed me to lose myself in this book with no noticeable problems that pulled me out of the story. In addition to the different voices this book was peppered with music and sound effects, including fist fights and train sounds. All, making this an enjoyable experience.
Even though these adventure stories were first published almost 80 years ago, I enjoyed listening to them today while believing that they could have just as easily been written within the last few years. A great listen for anyone wanting to enjoy good short stories on a long road-trip. Overall, if you like adventure stories, this audiobook is probably worth listening. It’s quick and definitely entertaining.
August 13, 2016
[I received this free copy via the Goodreads Giveaway]
I don't think I've ever really been a fan of the Pulp...erm...detective novels or stories. I don't know. The Carnival of Death by L.Ron Hubbard was long just not my type of entertainment. I guess these stories were played by radio for people's enjoyment 70 or even 80 years ago and I guess it goes to show how much times have indeed changed.
I enjoyed the performances of the voice actors in The Headless Corpse, which was the first story I listened to. I also liked the sound effects. It seemed like there was a fight breaking out in the story every few minutes, with gunshots and yelling. I liked the ending of Headless Corpse, but as I listened to the stories I wondered how L. Ron Hubbard became a bestselling author. I couldn't BELIEVE he sold over a hundred million copies of his work (from what the jacket cover said). But, I just don't have the 1935 tastes to really enjoy this like I wanted to.
Also, I'm a black woman, so I couldn't help but notice certain elements of the story. There were the mythical African Headhunters that decapitated white people & ate human flesh. They were described as "squatting" in a crowd & the main character saw "a splash of brown color" that was "ugly". Those words are spoken in the narrative.
Also, I didn't see any kind of track list or chapter list anywhere in the audio booklet or even on the CD's themselves. So I had no idea what story would come on next, how many stories there were, their duration, or anything else. I didn't really like that.
All-in-all, I'm glad I didn't have to actually read this in book format, so the audio came in handy. Aside from that, I thought was...okay. I wish I could give this a higher rating. I only listened to The Headless Corpse so maybe the other story was better. If I listen to it I'll re-evaluate this 3 star rating.
Thank you very much to Galaxy & Goodreads for the opportunity to honestly review this work.
I don't think I've ever really been a fan of the Pulp...erm...detective novels or stories. I don't know. The Carnival of Death by L.Ron Hubbard was long just not my type of entertainment. I guess these stories were played by radio for people's enjoyment 70 or even 80 years ago and I guess it goes to show how much times have indeed changed.
I enjoyed the performances of the voice actors in The Headless Corpse, which was the first story I listened to. I also liked the sound effects. It seemed like there was a fight breaking out in the story every few minutes, with gunshots and yelling. I liked the ending of Headless Corpse, but as I listened to the stories I wondered how L. Ron Hubbard became a bestselling author. I couldn't BELIEVE he sold over a hundred million copies of his work (from what the jacket cover said). But, I just don't have the 1935 tastes to really enjoy this like I wanted to.
Also, I'm a black woman, so I couldn't help but notice certain elements of the story. There were the mythical African Headhunters that decapitated white people & ate human flesh. They were described as "squatting" in a crowd & the main character saw "a splash of brown color" that was "ugly". Those words are spoken in the narrative.
Also, I didn't see any kind of track list or chapter list anywhere in the audio booklet or even on the CD's themselves. So I had no idea what story would come on next, how many stories there were, their duration, or anything else. I didn't really like that.
All-in-all, I'm glad I didn't have to actually read this in book format, so the audio came in handy. Aside from that, I thought was...okay. I wish I could give this a higher rating. I only listened to The Headless Corpse so maybe the other story was better. If I listen to it I'll re-evaluate this 3 star rating.
Thank you very much to Galaxy & Goodreads for the opportunity to honestly review this work.
December 22, 2015
This book actually contains two stories by L. Ron Hubbard: THE CARNIVAL OF DEATH, originally published in the 11/34 Popular Detective, and THE DEATH FLYER, originally published in the 4/36 Fantasy Magazine.
In THE CARNIVAL OF DEATH, Henry Shreve contacts the government asking for help, as he believes his carnival, SHREVE’S MAMMOTH CARNIVAL is being used to distribute drugs. The Secret Service sends agent Robert W. Clark to act as the carnival detective, and discover the drug connection. Instead, Bob Clark discovers several murders. Men with their heads decapitated, and four African headhunters are missing from the show. Does this have anything to do with the drugs? And who is the young blond man that keeps getting in his way?
In THE DEATH FLYER, civil engineer Jim Bellamy is returning to camp after working late one night. Following a set of railroad tracks, he’s suddenly caught in them as a train approaches. But the train stops and the train engineer tells him to get on board. But something is amiss. He’s among a train of ghosts. He doesn’t have a ticket, but a pretty young girl approaches and gives him one, then tells him she’s been waiting for him. Ten years ago this train ran off the tracks and fell into a river, killing all on board. It’s up to Jim to stop the train this time, if he can. If not, he might join the dead passengers.
This was a fun book, both stories topnotch, and though I enjoyed the mystery, I loved the ghost story best. I just haven’t read a ghost story in years, and this one was so much fun, it made me want to read more of them. Guess I’ve been missing something in my reading. Regardless, I highly recommend this to mystery – and ghost – lovers.
In THE CARNIVAL OF DEATH, Henry Shreve contacts the government asking for help, as he believes his carnival, SHREVE’S MAMMOTH CARNIVAL is being used to distribute drugs. The Secret Service sends agent Robert W. Clark to act as the carnival detective, and discover the drug connection. Instead, Bob Clark discovers several murders. Men with their heads decapitated, and four African headhunters are missing from the show. Does this have anything to do with the drugs? And who is the young blond man that keeps getting in his way?
In THE DEATH FLYER, civil engineer Jim Bellamy is returning to camp after working late one night. Following a set of railroad tracks, he’s suddenly caught in them as a train approaches. But the train stops and the train engineer tells him to get on board. But something is amiss. He’s among a train of ghosts. He doesn’t have a ticket, but a pretty young girl approaches and gives him one, then tells him she’s been waiting for him. Ten years ago this train ran off the tracks and fell into a river, killing all on board. It’s up to Jim to stop the train this time, if he can. If not, he might join the dead passengers.
This was a fun book, both stories topnotch, and though I enjoyed the mystery, I loved the ghost story best. I just haven’t read a ghost story in years, and this one was so much fun, it made me want to read more of them. Guess I’ve been missing something in my reading. Regardless, I highly recommend this to mystery – and ghost – lovers.
November 1, 2013
**I won this audio book through the First Reads Giveaway program**
Let's be honest, L. Ron Hubbard needs no introduction, and truthfully, writing a review for an L. Ron Hubbard book just seems silly because who DOESN'T know L. Ron Hubbard? And for lovers of reading, who among us hasn't read at least ONE L. Ron Hubbard book at one time or another? However, since I was fortunate enough to have won this book-on-cd, I will do my due diligence and review it.
IT'S L. RON HUBBARD!!!! Ha. The original pulp fiction master. It was hugely entertaining, and I enjoyed it immensely. The audio-book side of it was new to me, however, since I haven't listened to any books on tape since I had a Teddy Ruxpin. At first I was a little hesitant, since part of the fun for me is just curling up with a book and a blanket and reading to my heart's content. However, my work/school obligations DO require me to drive almost four hours each day, so I thought, "Hey, I'll give it a try."
Well, I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to "read" while driving down the interstate. I also really liked the narrator's voice; it is perfect for reading Hubbard. The sound effects and multiple actors for the characters are both minimal, but it works. It really does give off that gritty pulp vibe. I really had a lot of fun listening to the book in this way.
Furthermore, at the end of this one, there is a bonus tale -- just a short one -- but it was great. I'd never read it before, and I REALLY enjoyed it. It was more supernaturally centered than The Carnival of Death, so in truth, I almost liked it even better.
Definitely worth the time.
Let's be honest, L. Ron Hubbard needs no introduction, and truthfully, writing a review for an L. Ron Hubbard book just seems silly because who DOESN'T know L. Ron Hubbard? And for lovers of reading, who among us hasn't read at least ONE L. Ron Hubbard book at one time or another? However, since I was fortunate enough to have won this book-on-cd, I will do my due diligence and review it.
IT'S L. RON HUBBARD!!!! Ha. The original pulp fiction master. It was hugely entertaining, and I enjoyed it immensely. The audio-book side of it was new to me, however, since I haven't listened to any books on tape since I had a Teddy Ruxpin. At first I was a little hesitant, since part of the fun for me is just curling up with a book and a blanket and reading to my heart's content. However, my work/school obligations DO require me to drive almost four hours each day, so I thought, "Hey, I'll give it a try."
Well, I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to "read" while driving down the interstate. I also really liked the narrator's voice; it is perfect for reading Hubbard. The sound effects and multiple actors for the characters are both minimal, but it works. It really does give off that gritty pulp vibe. I really had a lot of fun listening to the book in this way.
Furthermore, at the end of this one, there is a bonus tale -- just a short one -- but it was great. I'd never read it before, and I REALLY enjoyed it. It was more supernaturally centered than The Carnival of Death, so in truth, I almost liked it even better.
Definitely worth the time.
December 6, 2013
This is my nineteenth goodreads,and my very first audio. The first story on the audio Is about an undercover narcotic agent Bob Clark,who is envoled in a murder mystery in a carnival. This story takes place in the 1930s. On the audio their is alot of fist fighting and shootings. This story has a really interesting action type story with headhunters and headless corpses. The story was really interesting but I had trouble hearing parts of the audio.
The second story on the audio The Death Flyer takes place on a ghost train filled with all kinds of ghosts. This is a story about a man that finds himself on a train that history has already been determined,this train has already wrecked and the people he comes in contact with are already dead and what ever he does he cannot change the outcome of what happened with this train wreck.
I have already mentioned that this is my first audio book. I found that this is a great way to read a book if you are going to be in the car any distance, but for me I'd rather have a book in my hand. I enjoyed reading this authors books and will be reading more.
The second story on the audio The Death Flyer takes place on a ghost train filled with all kinds of ghosts. This is a story about a man that finds himself on a train that history has already been determined,this train has already wrecked and the people he comes in contact with are already dead and what ever he does he cannot change the outcome of what happened with this train wreck.
I have already mentioned that this is my first audio book. I found that this is a great way to read a book if you are going to be in the car any distance, but for me I'd rather have a book in my hand. I enjoyed reading this authors books and will be reading more.
November 13, 2013
Carnival of Death is a short story from the Pulp Fiction era. It's about an undercover U.S. narcotics agent Bob Clark who's been working with a Carnival, trying to find the person behind the cocaine ring going on at the carnival. This story begins with a scream, as people discover a headless corpse, which is only the first of several beheadings that will happen that night. He has to figure out who's really behind it all and if they are connected, or if the loosed African Head Hunters are actually doing the killing or not. Clark works hard to figure out who's behind it all while trying to avoid his own beheading and death.
Carnival of Death is a fast-paced book, full of mystery and questions, but honestly, it's just isn't my type of book. I'm not much of a murder mystery book reader, and this book had me often confused as the detective wrestled this person or another, went into this mirror maze and subsequent pit, and more. I wasn't always so sure of what was going on or who was who as the story was so short. I also don't care much for gruesome details or blood. I'd give it a 2 out of 5 stars.
*I was given a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.*
Carnival of Death is a fast-paced book, full of mystery and questions, but honestly, it's just isn't my type of book. I'm not much of a murder mystery book reader, and this book had me often confused as the detective wrestled this person or another, went into this mirror maze and subsequent pit, and more. I wasn't always so sure of what was going on or who was who as the story was so short. I also don't care much for gruesome details or blood. I'd give it a 2 out of 5 stars.
*I was given a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.*
February 2, 2013
Two stories in this one, "Carnival of Death" and "The Death Flyer." First is a murder mystery set (you guessed it) in a carnival. Secret Service agent Bob Clark is undercover investigating a dope ring. Lots of shooting and fisticuffs. In the end it works out like a murder mystery, but it's pretty way out. Sort of like when you cram pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together to make them fit. Unsubtle and unsophisticated, but I didn't expect it to not be and it was a decent read and fairly representative of pulp stories of the time. Coming from a modern-day sensibility, I found it amusing that this carnival kept "headhunters" from Nigeria manacled and on display. I mean, isn't that sort of a human rights violation or something?
"The Death Flyer" was the better story here. A ghost story, it managed to have its creepy moments although the ending . Otherwise it was okay. All in all, an unremarkable but fair.
"The Death Flyer" was the better story here. A ghost story, it managed to have its creepy moments although the ending . Otherwise it was okay. All in all, an unremarkable but fair.
October 16, 2013
I haven't received my copy yet, just received notice I had won. 10/16/13
Received my copy and was dismayed to see it was an audio book. Not sure if the giveaway said that or not, but these take me forever because I am not in the car that often. Oh well, started today. 11/5/13
Finished 11/13/13
Bob Clark is undercover at a carnival/circus to find out how and who is smuggling drugs. When the African "head hunters" suddenly get loose and their handler is found beheaded, the story grows grimmer. Can he solve the case he was sent to solve while also trying to solve the murders?
Okay, again, I am not an audio book fan. This was better than other audio books I have listened to, but I still feel paper books are so superior. I like to give my own thoughts on how a person acts, talks, etc. The story was interesting enough, I just don't know how much I missed listening to it in 5 minutes here and maybe 10 minutes there.
Received my copy and was dismayed to see it was an audio book. Not sure if the giveaway said that or not, but these take me forever because I am not in the car that often. Oh well, started today. 11/5/13
Finished 11/13/13
Bob Clark is undercover at a carnival/circus to find out how and who is smuggling drugs. When the African "head hunters" suddenly get loose and their handler is found beheaded, the story grows grimmer. Can he solve the case he was sent to solve while also trying to solve the murders?
Okay, again, I am not an audio book fan. This was better than other audio books I have listened to, but I still feel paper books are so superior. I like to give my own thoughts on how a person acts, talks, etc. The story was interesting enough, I just don't know how much I missed listening to it in 5 minutes here and maybe 10 minutes there.
December 20, 2013
This is the second book I read as the title intrigued me from the very beginning of my collaboration with galaxy Press, so I was able to finally have the chance to scratch that itch.
Although it has all the ingredient for a L.Ron Hubbard "classic" - the handsome,sentimental and always honest hero, the pretty girl, the mystery and suspence, the gruesome deaths - I must confess that I was a little disappointent is the story itself because I found hard to believe that one single law agent - one man - was able to solve a very intricate case without the help of anybody else. I mean, come on, even 50 years ago, which police officer would go by himself, without back up, and be able to gather and process forensic evidence and clues and run suspects interviews, get captured and escape all by himself, without stopping to eat and sleep???
I honestly found it hard to believe. So, a little artifact, but still a good story nonetheless.
Although it has all the ingredient for a L.Ron Hubbard "classic" - the handsome,sentimental and always honest hero, the pretty girl, the mystery and suspence, the gruesome deaths - I must confess that I was a little disappointent is the story itself because I found hard to believe that one single law agent - one man - was able to solve a very intricate case without the help of anybody else. I mean, come on, even 50 years ago, which police officer would go by himself, without back up, and be able to gather and process forensic evidence and clues and run suspects interviews, get captured and escape all by himself, without stopping to eat and sleep???
I honestly found it hard to believe. So, a little artifact, but still a good story nonetheless.
January 4, 2014
Dramatic, old-fashioned detective story with a little bit of head-hunter legend thrown in it, this story reminds me of the newsreels of people gathered around their radio listening to the popular radio shows. This story includes sound effects, reading in different voices to help listeners differentiate between characters, lots of fighting, lots of drama, and constant action. The only thing I didn't care for was it was read so damn fast. We listened in the car though, and sometimes people talk and interrupt!! LoL! Yes, I recommend people try out one of these CDs for nostalgia sake or for a history lesson. Teach the kids to get away from the television! Keep reading my fellow bookworms!!
March 28, 2014
Audiobooks were a huge staple for me when commuting for an hour and a half each day, and I must say this one does not disappoint. L.Ron Hubbard is a genius at the pulp storytelling and I almost feel that having the book read to me on tape was like one of those old timey radio programs. The storyline was quick-paced and full of action and suspense. As an added bonus there was The Death Flyer, with a multiple cast and special effects. It definitely reinforced the air of the 1930s and 40s. Definitely worth a listen and I will likely pop it into the CD player again when I run out of new material to hear.
October 1, 2013
I won this Audio CD book from Galaxy through GoodReads, first-reads giveaway. I should also fairly mention that this was my first attempt at reading via an Audio CD book so I don't know if I am just not an audio reader or what but I had a real hard time following along with the book. While I love both murder mysteries and carnivals and was excited to read a story that was a combination of both elements, it just wasn't working for me. On a positive note the sound effects mixed in with the story were very helpful at capturing my attention and were a good addition to the reading of the story.
November 1, 2013
I won this from First Reads Giveaways.
I really liked listening to this book on tape. I can't see as well as I used to, so listening to the book on my cd player -- in my car, or at home while I'm cooking -- is pretty perfect for me. Lots of suspense, lots of death, African head-hunters, a gypsy fortune teller, and lots of L. Ron Hubbard grit. What could be better?
The Death Flyer by Hubbard is also on this audiobook. I had read it a long time ago, but it was nice to hear it again. It always breaks my heart just a little.
I really liked listening to this book on tape. I can't see as well as I used to, so listening to the book on my cd player -- in my car, or at home while I'm cooking -- is pretty perfect for me. Lots of suspense, lots of death, African head-hunters, a gypsy fortune teller, and lots of L. Ron Hubbard grit. What could be better?
The Death Flyer by Hubbard is also on this audiobook. I had read it a long time ago, but it was nice to hear it again. It always breaks my heart just a little.
October 30, 2013
I won this Audio CD book from Galaxy through GoodReads, first-reads giveaway. Thank you.
I like the action, murder and mayhem plus the music and sound effects added a lot to the story which is great. I also really liked The Death Flyer, a mystery story which is included. They are both a smooth, well written, fast read, flawlessly read and directed with feeling and emotions by Jim Meskimen and Tait Ruppert along with the rest of the cast. I think my grandchildren will like these stories as well.
I like the action, murder and mayhem plus the music and sound effects added a lot to the story which is great. I also really liked The Death Flyer, a mystery story which is included. They are both a smooth, well written, fast read, flawlessly read and directed with feeling and emotions by Jim Meskimen and Tait Ruppert along with the rest of the cast. I think my grandchildren will like these stories as well.
February 4, 2014
This is my first audiobook, which I also won from LibraryThing. I plan to try more audiobooks real soon!
The walk through the carnival of death was a treat for me. Huge fan of Carnivals, Dark and eerie settings. Really enjoyed the music before chapters. The cast of characters and voice overs I think they did a great job. Oh and L Ron Hubbard is a kickass writer.
Almost forgot about. The other short on this audiobook "Death Flyer" was well told. A train ride with the lurking dead, a whisper in the ear. Another eerie tale, that gives the golden era a thumbs up.
The walk through the carnival of death was a treat for me. Huge fan of Carnivals, Dark and eerie settings. Really enjoyed the music before chapters. The cast of characters and voice overs I think they did a great job. Oh and L Ron Hubbard is a kickass writer.
Almost forgot about. The other short on this audiobook "Death Flyer" was well told. A train ride with the lurking dead, a whisper in the ear. Another eerie tale, that gives the golden era a thumbs up.
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