Pulp Magazine Authors and Literature Fans discussion

Anyone ever read any of the Avenger books by Kenneth Robeson? I have the first one but haven't read it yet.

I've read four or five of the reprints. I actually have them on the shelf as possible re-reads in the next month. They are much more akin to the Shadow than to Doc Savage ... they have that more crime than adventure feel. Not as violent or grim as the Spider, but definitely on that side. I mean, what can you really say about a hero whose face muscles are frozen because he saw his family ... well, I'll let you read that part for yourself...

I also have read several of The Avenger novels. "Kenneth Robeson" was a Street and Smith Company house pseudonym; the authors is not the same "Kenneth Robeson" who wrote Doc Savage.

The first eight or nine books are the best; they are reprints from the original pulp series. Some of the later ones were written in the 1970's based on the same character; they are also okay but have a different "feel".

Like Doc Savage, Richard Benson, The Avenger, was not a one man band--he also had a varied group of assistants. I enjoyed the series were much. They are well worth trying for any pulp fan.

All the episodes of the The Avenger radio show are widely available online, if anyone's interested. The show was very similar to The Shadow. I believe 26 episodes were recorded and syndicated in 1945.

I read quite a few of the Bantam editions in my teens - my Uncle had sent me a package of them, which I received the same day my mom went down with a severe migraine. I must have gotten through 5 or 6 of them that night and the next day - I was too worried about mom to sleep (she wasn't prone to migraines) and when I wasn't carefully checking on her, the escapist adventure was exactly what I desperately needed.
Besides, how can you not love a fatalistic, suffering hero who calls his sleeve gun and throwing knife (actually worn in sheaths on his calves) 'Ike' and 'Mike'?

Silver, I wonder if the "Nick Carter: Killmaster" series ripped off the "Ike & Mike" concept when they decided that Nick Carter called his Luger "Wilhelmina" and his pearl-handled stiletto "Hugo."

Adam - That probably comes under the heading 'there's nothing new under the sun'. Those who are violent or must deal with a violent world have probably been giving nicknames to their preferred weapons since David called his sling 'Bob'. (Yes, folks, I just made that up from whole cloth.)

Silver, that's definitely true. "This is my rifle and her name is Jenny" probably goes back to the first man to own a rifle.

But the combination of a knife and gun worn tightly on the body, both with cute names, just made me think of the Nick Carter books of the '60s.

Adam - Yeah, I see what you mean. Now that you point it out, that's pretty specific and unusual. Where did Nick Carter wear Wilhelmina and Hugo? Mike was basically a one-shot deringer, but Benson could dependably 'crease' his target to knock them cold with that one shot. His accuracy with the throwing knife was of course comparable.

Silver, I couldn't remember, so I looked it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Carter-Killmaster He wore Hugo in a wrist sheath (O.S.S. style). Doesn't say anything about where he wore Wilhelmina, but I think it was probably a concealed shoulder rig.

I also forgot about "Pierre," his poison gas bomb, carried as a third testicle. Ha!

Okay, you just made me snort coffee out my nose, dude!

Adam wrote: "...I also forgot about "Pierre," his poison gas bomb, carried as a third testicle. Ha!"

OMG, he was really loaded for bear, wasn't he? I don't recall reading any of these. I might have to pick one up.

When we were first dating, my wife gave me a copy of "Nick Carter #4: Safari for Spies." As an inscription, she wrote "You're so cool" on the first page.

After that, it was all over.

That remains the only Nick Carter book I ever read, and obviously I have fond personal feelings for it that have nothing to do with the actual content of the book, but objectively I still think it was a pretty fun read.

The interesting thing about Nick Carter was that he was originally a traditional detective (and the radio show with Lon Clark was one of the longest running detective shows on the air), but after James Bond became popular, they completely revamped the character as a superspy. So in truth, there are really two Nick Carters -- Nick Carter, Master Detective, and Nick Carter, Killmaster.

I think 'Nick Carter' has actually gone through a long series of incarnations. Many years ago I read a Nick Carter story that was very much in the style of the 20's and 30's pulp adventures. Maybe the first incarnation of Nick Carter, Master Detective?

The '20s and '30s pulps from Street & Smith are what I was talking about when I termed them "Nick Carter, Master Detective" (which was really the name of the radio show ... I think the pulps were just called "Nick Carter").

The first incarnation of Nick Carter is from an 1886 dime novel. That character evolved over the course of the first half of the 20th century, but the Killmaster spy series in the early '60s was a major departure. Really, only the character's name was the same.

Cool, dude. Are any of the pulps available online these days. And come to think of it, I did know about the dime novels. Totally slipped my mind.

A bunch of the old Street & Smith pulps, like the Shadow, Doc Savage, and the Avenger are getting reprinted, but I haven't seen any Nick Carters, and I don't think they're available online -- at least legally -- but I could be wrong.

I didn't find any Nick Carters at Gutenberg.org.