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The Guardians #1
The Killing Bone
Sorcery, Voodoo, Satanism, Witchcraft, Necromancy, Vampirism
...wherever and whatever the agents of occult evil are, The Guardians are there to combat them with their own more-than-mortal powers.
In this eerie fantasy adventure, first in a thrilling series, the leader of The Guardians crosses the world for an incredible encounter with a primitive witchdoctor...perhaps the most powerful adept of the black arts in the world!
...wherever and whatever the agents of occult evil are, The Guardians are there to combat them with their own more-than-mortal powers.
In this eerie fantasy adventure, first in a thrilling series, the leader of The Guardians crosses the world for an incredible encounter with a primitive witchdoctor...perhaps the most powerful adept of the black arts in the world!
159 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
Peter Saxon
41 books31 followersPeter Saxon was a house pseudonym used by various authors of British pulp fiction, among them W Howard Baker (Danger Ahead 1958, The Killing Bone 1968 and Vampire's Moon 1972); Rex Dolphin (The Vampires of Finistère 1968); Stephen D Frances (The Disorientated Man aka Scream and Scream Again 1966, Black Honey 1968, and Corruption 1968); Wilfred McNeilly (The Darkest Night 1966, Dark Ways to Death 1966, Satan's Child 1967, The Torturer 1967, and The Haunting of Alan Mais 1969); Ross Richards (Through the Dark Curtain 1968); and Martin Thomas (The Curse of Rathlaw 1968).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 28, 2015
This was *almost* so-bad-its-good. You know how sometimes you're in the mood for a ridiculous b-movie? This book is like that; except, part of the appeal of crap films is either turning off your brain, or watching with friends and MST3King the film, and neither of those really work with books.
I can't critique the plot -- I was laughing so hard at the prose that I couldn't follow the action. However, I should add that it was still better than lots of self-pubbed stuff I've seen recently, in that it was free of egregious errors and clearly written by someone (W. Howard Baker) who knew what he was doing. A potboiler, in short.
I can't critique the plot -- I was laughing so hard at the prose that I couldn't follow the action. However, I should add that it was still better than lots of self-pubbed stuff I've seen recently, in that it was free of egregious errors and clearly written by someone (W. Howard Baker) who knew what he was doing. A potboiler, in short.
April 11, 2026
The Guardians were a group of do-gooders who fought Evil from their London headquarters face-to-face as well as on the astral plane in a series of six books published 1968 - '73. Confusingly, the first two were unnumbered, and this third one was published as #1. It appeared from Berkley in 1969 with a Jeff Jones cover that would have been far more at home on a sword & sorcery Conan pastiche. The back cover has a list of occult evil the Guardians oppose with their own supernatural powers, including sorcery, voodoo, satanism, witchcraft, necromancy, and vampirism. In this one, a tribe of Australian aborigines is punishing a trio of white men who have stolen their treasure of gems. The Guardians come to their psychic rescue, though the book does point out that the aborigines have more than a bit of right on their side and that colonialism has resulted in nothing but misery for the natives. It's a very English book, and I kept thinking that it would have made a terrific Hammer film. A few of the terms and phrases were unfamiliar to me, and I had to look up Harold Wilson to see who he was. There's a particularly gruesome scene in which the natives place a thief inside of a giant ant hill to be consumed, and the final battle is pretty amusing as the head Guardian and the evil shaman change from one animal to another in the battle, reminding me of a game of rock-paper-scissors. (Spoiler; the rock won.) The titular bone is from a white woman (the book is very race-conscious) who died in a fiery car crash; a native saved her arm so the evil tribal shaman could perform evil magical deeds with it. Waste not - want not, I guess. It ends with a hearty "Merry Christmas!"
My father, who was a vastly intelligent man and an English professor and a connoisseur of fine literature (among other things), was a big fan of Peter Saxon. I never really understood why he liked these silly-looking little horror paperbacks, which he would enthuse about just as he would about T.S. Eliot or Karol Capek or Kierkegaard... or sometimes Doc Smith and Emil Petaja. I wonder what he would have said if he'd found out that Peter Saxon was a house pseudonym for half-a-dozen different writers of occult adventures. This one was written by W. Howard Baker. I'm glad I finally got around to reading one of them. It was pretty good/all right. I'd give it three stars, and he would have said five, so I'll split the difference.
My father, who was a vastly intelligent man and an English professor and a connoisseur of fine literature (among other things), was a big fan of Peter Saxon. I never really understood why he liked these silly-looking little horror paperbacks, which he would enthuse about just as he would about T.S. Eliot or Karol Capek or Kierkegaard... or sometimes Doc Smith and Emil Petaja. I wonder what he would have said if he'd found out that Peter Saxon was a house pseudonym for half-a-dozen different writers of occult adventures. This one was written by W. Howard Baker. I'm glad I finally got around to reading one of them. It was pretty good/all right. I'd give it three stars, and he would have said five, so I'll split the difference.
June 1, 2015
No, this isn't a John Holmes biography. It's, I believe, the third entry of The Guardians series (it says #1, but there were two before, labeled A and B, tricky like Run DMC). It focuses on an aborigine seeking revenge on three smuggler pilots who have stolen pearls from sacred land. He uses hypnosis to transport their astral bodies to a desolate area of Australia for torture. It's up to the Guardians to figure it out and stop it. Sounds awesome? It is in a way, but the execution in prose is extremely dry and can be a drudgery to wade through. Written by Peter Saxon, an alias used for all Guardians books, regardless of the actual writer. I was hoping for something more pulpy with the "umph" of Robert E Howard, but this author writes like he's dictating a travel book. No style. Oh well, I hope to read another soon, and perhaps it will be better.
December 24, 2008
This is the first in the "Guardians" series, as by Peter Saxon. Not as good as "The Curse of Rathlaw," but pretty enjoyable. The real author of this one seems to be W. Howard Baker.
July 19, 2020
Definitely written by men for men, and I mean, manly men. Studdly, hard-drinking, morally superior, physically powerful men.
Other than that, it's an interesting read. Oddly self-aware, critical of the racism between white Europeans and Australian Aboriningls. Don't go into this expecting a woke-left leaning modern commentary of race and class. Its form 1968, and reads that way. Still, impressively aware that things aren't always black and white, and sometimes the good guys aren't all that good.
Other than that, it's an interesting read. Oddly self-aware, critical of the racism between white Europeans and Australian Aboriningls. Don't go into this expecting a woke-left leaning modern commentary of race and class. Its form 1968, and reads that way. Still, impressively aware that things aren't always black and white, and sometimes the good guys aren't all that good.
January 11, 2023
First Guardians novel was a little underwhelming. The story of Aboriginal black magic - still believed in and practiced today - had potential, but felt rushed and sloppy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews