The Sea Magician

Doc Savage (Bantam) #44

by Kenneth Robeson (House Name), Lester Dent

King John’s ghost was stalking The Wash, a vast marshy area in England, terrorizing and maiming the inhabitants. Then the mighty Man of Bronze investigated — and discovered the impossible. The Wash was producing real gold … from nowhere!

Genres: Adventure, Pulp, Fiction, Mystery, Action, Science Fiction

137 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Kenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular character Doc Savage and later The Avenger. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:

William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson

Lester Dent is usually considered to be the creator of Doc Savage. In the 1990s Philip José Farmer wrote a new Doc Savage adventure, but it was published under his own name and not by Robeson. Will Murray has since taken up the pseudonym and continued writing Doc Savage books as Robeson.

All 24 of the original stories featuring The Avenger were written by Paul Ernst, using the Robeson house name. In order to encourage sales Kenneth Robeson was credited on the cover of The Avenger magazine as "the creator of Doc Savage" even though Lester Dent had nothing to do with The Avenger series. In the 1970s, when the series was extended with 12 additional novels, Ron Goulart was hired to become Robeson.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the pulp era heroes few stand out above the crowd, Doc Savage is one of these. With his 5 aides and cousin he adventures across the world. Fighting weird menaces, master criminals and evil scientists Doc and the Fab 5 never let you down for a great read. These stories have all you need; fast paced action, weird mystery, and some humor as the aides spat with each other. My highest recommendation.

[Duane Olds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going into this adventure there was lots of Sea, but no magic tricks, so that was disappointing. But my first thought was, great, more stupidly spelt accented speech to try to make sense of. After reading the description of how handsome Doc is in person now I want to date him! Great, it's seems like every other character has a different stupidity spelled accent to try and understand. Ugh! Are journalists really sarcastic A-holes like that? If they keep inturrupting with wise cracks every 5 seconds how do they get any work done? If the island dude didn't want the specifics about what he was doing published in the papers, why did he tell the reporters everything? Seems it would have been a better idea not to tell them anything so that way he'd KNOW they wouldn't publish what he didn't want.

As with every adventure we did get some literary jewels, such as :------------------------------------

Johnny was carrying his shoes, socks and trousers under an arm. (Nothing like a half naked romp through the English bog, am I right guv'nor?)

Seizing his foe's arms, Johnny tried to hold the fellow. (There, there big guy, let's hug it out)

They were weird eyes (Yeah, he had two of them and used them to see with.. Weird)

Garnished with a mouth so huge that it seemed his maker had had an accident. (Don't you talk about his mama like that!)

This man was a thin-faced fellow with the neck of a turkey and the round body of a stunted ostrich. (But he made up for it by having a great personality and was a hell of a kisser to boot)

Another hand found the fellow's mouth, gathering his lips together tightly so that he could not cry out. (Doc created the selfie duck face!)

Doc was a silent ghost of bronze. (Who you gonna call? GHOST BRONZER!)

But how did you know that?"."The newspapers," Doc told him. (And Wikipedia)

His white hair was mussed and stood out like the wig of an elderly circus wild man. (on an unrelated note, I can't find my elderly circus wild man wig, I know it was here somewhere...)

and rapped on the door. (Yo, yo yo, M.C. Ham in the hiz-ouse!)

"A fact!" insisted Giltstein. (See, it says so on the internet)

"I cannot reveal that," said Giltstein. "It is the invention, the secret." (Is it love? I bet it's love... It's love isn't it?)

"Damn me!" he muttered. (OK, you're damned.)

The bobbie promised to broadcast an immediate alarm for the vehicle. (Don't tell Bobbie Doc, tell a cop!)

He coughed and the explosion blew loosened teeth past his lips. (That's a hell of a cold!)

We also can't forget our (insert your own joke here) lines:------------------------------------

The guard gave one tremendous jerk, then became quite stiff.

jerking it awry, making a furrow of splinters.


Lastly, for the first time in a while we were Superamalgamated, with a count of 2.

Oh well, on to the next one.....

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sea Magician is a "Doc Savage" novel by Kenneth Robeson. Kenneth Robeson was the house name Street and Smith Publications used as the author of their popular Doc Savage novels. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including: William G. Bogart, Evelyn Coulson, Harold A. Davis, Lawrence Donovan, Alan Hathway, and W. Ryerson Johnson.
I love reading these old pulp novels from time to time. I read about 80%+ of the Doc Savage novels when I was a teenager but that was a very long time ago. I have been trying to find them again in the Bantam editions I read in my youth. I have found several of them in used bookstores and have bought several from online aftermarket bookstores.
In this one, Doc Savage and his men are in the thick of it again. The action is classic Doc Savage, filled with good old-fashioned adventure and gadgets that always seem to be there when the hero needs them. You can relax and escape for a little while. A good read in the Doc Savage series.

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a bit bizarre, and kind of felt thrown together at the last minute. It starts with Johnny in an extended sequence, and the balance of the book likely has as much Monk and Ham as it does Doc Savage. Savage comes across as a secondary player in his own book. Considerable time is spent with the side characters.

There was, as per usual, no doubt as to who the hidden villain was. I mean, it's usually obvious, but this one pretty much screamed it.

Overall, definitely not one of the better Savage yarns.

[J.L. Rallios · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun Doc Savage adventure, in which he and his team set out to unravel the plot behind the King John ghost on the moor and the gold-making scheme of some criminals on Magna Island. A lot of action and decent writing and likeable characters. I guessed who was the mastermind behind it, but it did not spoil this actioner yarn.

[Keith B · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 for nostalgia. I remember reading this one at least 32 yrs back!!

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this Doc Savage adventure in the 70s.

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable. Full of explosive Doc Savage action.

[Devin Coryell · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 / 5

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first Doc Savage story appeared in 1933 and the series ran in pulp and later digest format into 1949. Bantam reprinted the entire series in paperback with wonderful, iconic covers starting in the 1960's. Doc was arguably the first great modern superhero with a rich background, continuity, and mythos. The characterizations were far richer than was common for the pulps; his five associates and their sometimes-auxiliary, Doc's cousin Pat, and the pets Chemistry and Habeas Corpus, all had very distinctive characteristics and their byplay was frequently more entertaining that the current adventure-of-the-month. The settings were also fascinating: Doc's Fortress of Solitude, the Hidalgo Trading Company (which served as a front for his armada of vehicles), and especially the mysterious 86th floor headquarters all became familiar haunts to the reader, and the far-flung adventures took the intrepid band to exotic and richly-described locations all over the world. The adventures were always fast-paced and exciting, from the early apocalyptic world-saving extravaganzas of the early days to the latter scientific-detective style shorter works of the post-World War Two years. There were always a few points that it was difficult to believe along the way, but there were always more ups than downs, and there was never, ever a dull moment. The Doc Savage books have always been my favorite entertainments... I was always, as Johnny would say, superamalgamated!

[Steph]

Everything about the Doc Savage series is predictable, but this isn't a bad thing. Sometimes you want to read something like cotton candy: simple, entertaining, and probably not terribly good for you. This delightful bundle of kitsch and unadulterated "manliness" is a decidedly fun experience, and a splendid example of pulp lit at its prime.

Also, word has it that looking up a list of Doc Savage titles and replacing one word in each title with the word "pants" (or something more inappropriate) is a hilarious pastime. *Ahem*

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps it was that I had just finished "Death in Silver," but this didn't seem as strong a story as the last three or four books in the series. The villains were weak, the plot was shaky and I just never really warmed to the characters. Even Monk and Ham seemed strangely subdued. And why did the author end the story by having Monk point out that no one died in the story at all? I'll bet Lester Dent made some kind of bet that he could write one of these without killing anyone, or something similar. Anyway, it's fun, but not the best of the series.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An adventure in merry ole England with good King John’s ghost haunting and terrorizing The Wash. This saga begins with Johnny in England for scientific conferences but ends hen is drawn in to investigate a mystery that brings Doc, Monk and Ham into the investigation.

Btw, I had to Google automatic revolver. Turns out that there really was such a thing.

This book has Doc Savage and three members of his elite crew being Monk, Ham and Johnny.

Authored by Lester Dent. Published November, 1934.

[Forrest · Rating 3 out of 5]

A middle of the road Doc Savage tale from 1934, with Doc largely on the side and no appearance by Long Tom or Renny. Instead, the spotlight shines brightest on Johnny (who kicks off the trouble) and Monk (who gets a terrific fight scene). The set-up felt a bit too Scooby-Doo and I was disappointed by the ending, but The Sea Magician was breezy and entertaining overall.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doc Savage's aide Johnny investigates a supposed ghost of King John and stumbles into (of course) a criminal scheme. Trouble (and Doc Savage) follow. This one reads almost like a straight pulp novel, with Doc relatively low-profile--his sidekick Monk gets the big fight scene for instance.

[Dale Rosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good entry in the Doc Savage Series.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

reread SOMETIME in 2011

[Ronald]

read some time in 1985

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Der Gespensterkoenig