Weird Heroes Volume 6

Weird Heroes #6

by Byron Preiss, Steve Hickman (Cover Artist), Tom Sutton (Artist)

SHINBET
The slithering star of an interplanetary mystery, Goulart's latest and possibly most exotic hero!

ORION
From the pen of Ben Bova- a classic fantasy combining mythic fiction with hard science fiction.

GALACTIC GUMSHOE
Art Cover's incredible mix of high-fantasy heroics, low-budget monsters, and— hard. boiled fiction!

• Six! - Byron Preiss
• Shinbet Investigates - artwork by Carl Potts and Terry Austin
• Shinbet Investigates - Ron Goulart
• Orion - artwork by Craig P. Russell
• Orion - Ben Bova
• Fifty Years of Heroes - Edmond Hamilton
• Edmond Hamilton: The Word-Saver - Forrest J. Ackerman
• Memoir on Edmond Hamilton - Robert Bloch
• Greatheart Silver in The First Command, or Inglories Galore - artwork by Tom Sutton
• Greatheart Silver in The First Command, or Inglories Galore - Philip José Farmer
• Galactic Gumshoe - artwork by Ralph Reese
• Galactic Gumshoe - Arthur Byron Cover

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Anthologies

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Byron Preiss was the president of Byron Preiss Visual Publications and Ibooks, and was recognized as a pioneer in digital publishing. He was among the first publishers to release CD-ROM's and electronic books.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Preiss graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972 and earned a master's degree in communications from Stanford University. He produced The Words of Gandhi, an audio book that won a Grammy Award in 1985. He was also the co-author of Dragonworld, a novel he co-wrote with J. Michael Reaves that was published by Bantam Books in 1979.

A proponent of illustrated books, as well as comics and graphic novels, Preiss also published works by celebrity authors including Jane Goodall, Billy Crystal, Jerry Seinfeld, LeAnn Rimes and Jay Leno.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third anthology of short fiction in a series that's stated intent was to bring back the spirit of the superhero pulps for the modern (the book appeared in 1977) age. It's the third anthology but volume six in the series because numbers three through five were full-length individual novels. It was a nifty concept that was executed with a lot of verve and enthusiasm, but the results weren't as good as one might have wished. Philip Jose Farmer's Greatheart Silver is the only repeater from the first pair of books, and it was more enjoyable than the debut but still didn't really grab me. I enjoyed the biographical section on the great pulp writer Edmond Hamilton, but I'm not too sure it really fit the theme. Ron Goulart's Shinbet was all right, but I liked his Gypsy from the earlier volumes better. Ben Bova's Orion was good, not your typical Bova hard-science kind of rigorous thing at all, but fun. My favorite story was Galactic by Arthur Byron Cover, a terrific (as the cover blurb says): "incredible mix of high-fantasy heroics, low-budget monsters, and-- hard-boiled fiction!" All of the art was very good and added a lot to the book, especially the work of Alex Nino, Ralph Reese, Terrry Austin, and the Steve Hickman cover of the Cover. I liked this volume more than the first books, but it didn't quite live up to what it might've been.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK collection of short stories. As in the first volume the gem is the Greatheart Silver story by Philip Jose Farmer. Recommended

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard fare for short story anthologies, but I liked this collection. I thought the best story was "Greatheart" by Phillip Jose Farmer about the captain of a dirigible full of wealthy passengers, rare cargo, and a couple of trouble-making, disaster- creating groups. Lots of activity, exciting adventure--I had trouble putting it down. Another good story was "Galactic" by Arthur Byron Cover. This was a tongue-in-cheek story about a private eye who solves mysteries and slays monsters. His encounters in a kingdom plagued by a noise-sensitive monster and the monster's mother and father, were comical yet interesting. The book is fully illustrated like many pulp series, and the illustrations are well done.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. A weak entry in the series. Although Ron Goulart's Shinbet is amusing, by and large only Ben Bova's Orion (one of the few characters to graduate beyond the series) really clicked with me.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty solid volume in the series.