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Death Stalks the Night
First edition, one of 1900 Trade copies bound in black cloth. Inscribed by Cave on the front flyleaf. Fine in a Fine DJ.
- GenresHorror
569 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1995
61 people want to read
About the author
Hugh B. Cave
248 books34 followersHugh Barnett Cave was a prolific writer of pulp fiction who also excelled in other genres.
Sources differ as to when Cave sold his first story: some say it was while he still attended Brookline High School, others cite "Island Ordeal", written at age 19 in 1929 while still working for the vanity press.
In his early career he contributed to such pulp magazines as Astounding, Black Mask, and Weird Tales. By his own estimate, in the 1930s alone, he published roughly 800 short stories in nearly 100 periodicals under a number of pseudonyms. Of particular interest during this time was his series featuring an independent gentleman of courageous action and questionable morals called simply The Eel. These adventures appeared in the late 1930s and early 40s under the pen name Justin Case. Cave was also one of the most successful contributors to the weird menace or "shudder pulps" of the 1930s.
In 1943, drawing on his experience as a war reporter, he authored one of his most highly regarded novels, Long Were the Nights, telling of the first PT boats at Guadalcanal. He also wrote a number of other books on the war in the Pacific during this period.
During his post-war sojourn in Haiti, he became so familiar with the religion of Voodoo that he published Haiti: High Road to Adventure, a nonfiction work critically acclaimed as the "best report on voodoo in English." His Caribbean experiences led to his best-selling Voodoo-themed novel, The Cross On The Drum (1959), an interracial story in which a white Christian missionary falls in love with a black Voodoo priest's sister.
During this midpoint in his career Cave advanced his writing to the "slick" magazines, including Collier's, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. It was in this latter publication, in 1959, that "The Mission," his most popular short story, appeared—subsequently issued in hardcover by Doubleday, reprinted in textbooks, and translated into a number of languages.
But his career took a dip in the early 1970s. According to The Guardian, with the golden era of pulp fiction now in the past, Cave's "only regular market was writing romance for women's magazines." He was rediscovered, however, by Karl Edward Wagner, who published Murgunstrumm and Others, a horror story collection that won Cave the 1978 World Fantasy Award. Other collections followed and Cave also published new horror fiction.
His later career included the publication in the late 1970s and early 1980s of four successful fantasy novels: Legion of the Dead (1979), The Nebulon Horror (1980), The Evil (1981), and Shades of Evil (1982). Two other notable late works are Lucifer's Eye (1991) and The Mountains of Madness (2004). Moreover, Cave took naturally to the Internet, championing the e-book to such an extent that electronic versions of his stories can readily be purchased online.
Over his entire career he wrote more than 1,000 short stories in nearly all genres (though he is best remembered for his horror and crime pieces), approximately forty novels, and a notable body of nonfiction. He received the Phoenix Award as well as lifetime achievement awards from the International Horror Guild, the Horror Writers Association, and the World Fantasy Convention. (From Wikipedia.)
Used the pseudonyms John Starr and Justin Case
Sources differ as to when Cave sold his first story: some say it was while he still attended Brookline High School, others cite "Island Ordeal", written at age 19 in 1929 while still working for the vanity press.
In his early career he contributed to such pulp magazines as Astounding, Black Mask, and Weird Tales. By his own estimate, in the 1930s alone, he published roughly 800 short stories in nearly 100 periodicals under a number of pseudonyms. Of particular interest during this time was his series featuring an independent gentleman of courageous action and questionable morals called simply The Eel. These adventures appeared in the late 1930s and early 40s under the pen name Justin Case. Cave was also one of the most successful contributors to the weird menace or "shudder pulps" of the 1930s.
In 1943, drawing on his experience as a war reporter, he authored one of his most highly regarded novels, Long Were the Nights, telling of the first PT boats at Guadalcanal. He also wrote a number of other books on the war in the Pacific during this period.
During his post-war sojourn in Haiti, he became so familiar with the religion of Voodoo that he published Haiti: High Road to Adventure, a nonfiction work critically acclaimed as the "best report on voodoo in English." His Caribbean experiences led to his best-selling Voodoo-themed novel, The Cross On The Drum (1959), an interracial story in which a white Christian missionary falls in love with a black Voodoo priest's sister.
During this midpoint in his career Cave advanced his writing to the "slick" magazines, including Collier's, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. It was in this latter publication, in 1959, that "The Mission," his most popular short story, appeared—subsequently issued in hardcover by Doubleday, reprinted in textbooks, and translated into a number of languages.
But his career took a dip in the early 1970s. According to The Guardian, with the golden era of pulp fiction now in the past, Cave's "only regular market was writing romance for women's magazines." He was rediscovered, however, by Karl Edward Wagner, who published Murgunstrumm and Others, a horror story collection that won Cave the 1978 World Fantasy Award. Other collections followed and Cave also published new horror fiction.
His later career included the publication in the late 1970s and early 1980s of four successful fantasy novels: Legion of the Dead (1979), The Nebulon Horror (1980), The Evil (1981), and Shades of Evil (1982). Two other notable late works are Lucifer's Eye (1991) and The Mountains of Madness (2004). Moreover, Cave took naturally to the Internet, championing the e-book to such an extent that electronic versions of his stories can readily be purchased online.
Over his entire career he wrote more than 1,000 short stories in nearly all genres (though he is best remembered for his horror and crime pieces), approximately forty novels, and a notable body of nonfiction. He received the Phoenix Award as well as lifetime achievement awards from the International Horror Guild, the Horror Writers Association, and the World Fantasy Convention. (From Wikipedia.)
Used the pseudonyms John Starr and Justin Case
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 2, 2011
For pulp fans. This is a collection of 17 "weird menace" tales from DIME MYSTERY MAGAZINE, TERROR TALES, SPICY MYSTERY and other like-minded pulps compiled by Karl Edward Wagner. These stories were all published in the mid-1930's (except one in 1940) and all follow the format dictated by these specific pulp magazines. That is, a tenacious hero, a beautiful mostly-nude babe (nearly always helpless), a maniacal villain with seemingly supernatural origins, a drooling mutant "assistant", lust, torture, rescue, and a happy ending where the hero crushes the evil plot. For their time these stories were pretty hot stuff. Cave was one of the best at delivering this type of yarn. Given their formulaic structures the pace is always feverish and it often seems as though Cave wrote these while his chair was on fire. They'll never be mistaken for fine literature, but they are fun in small doses. Timid, they are not. These were the "splatter" horror of their day.
June 6, 2019
In this case, death is a guy with a freaky deformed face who murders people by spraying acid on them from a tube. Although it is a horrific murder weapon, it also reminded me of Dr. Clayton Forester's Mace Mousse invention exchange from the “Teenage Crime Wave” episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (it's silly string that burns TV's Frank).
Our hero is a wealthy former police detective, Justin Wayne, who robs the safes of greedy rich guys to return their funds to the innocent. He's kinda like a Robin Hood, and like other 30s pulp Robin Hoods, Wayne leaves a calling card marked “Justice” to let them know they've been robbed by the mysterious “Scarlet Thief.” Just like with The Spider and The Green Hornet, Justin Wayne gets into trouble because of the calling cards. The acid murderer kills one of the rich guys after the card is in the safe and the police decided that the Scarlet Thief is also The Acid Murderer.
Cave has Wayne dogged at every turn by a taunting killer who leaves threatening phonecalls, and of course by the police. There is a decent sized list of suspects, a love interest, jealous detectives, and all the necessary ingredients.
The Scarlet Thief is not a series, at least as far as I can tell. Justin Wayne is in it for this one adventure, and he never gets to wear a cool costume. He does have an ethnic disguise at one point, and a hideout.
While hardly perfect and limited by the murderer's gimmick, “Death Stalks the Night” was a great and quick piece of pulp entertainment which managed to satisfy both the mystery and action ingredients very successfully. I'm looking forward to more of Hugh B. Cave.
Our hero is a wealthy former police detective, Justin Wayne, who robs the safes of greedy rich guys to return their funds to the innocent. He's kinda like a Robin Hood, and like other 30s pulp Robin Hoods, Wayne leaves a calling card marked “Justice” to let them know they've been robbed by the mysterious “Scarlet Thief.” Just like with The Spider and The Green Hornet, Justin Wayne gets into trouble because of the calling cards. The acid murderer kills one of the rich guys after the card is in the safe and the police decided that the Scarlet Thief is also The Acid Murderer.
Cave has Wayne dogged at every turn by a taunting killer who leaves threatening phonecalls, and of course by the police. There is a decent sized list of suspects, a love interest, jealous detectives, and all the necessary ingredients.
The Scarlet Thief is not a series, at least as far as I can tell. Justin Wayne is in it for this one adventure, and he never gets to wear a cool costume. He does have an ethnic disguise at one point, and a hideout.
While hardly perfect and limited by the murderer's gimmick, “Death Stalks the Night” was a great and quick piece of pulp entertainment which managed to satisfy both the mystery and action ingredients very successfully. I'm looking forward to more of Hugh B. Cave.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews