Sunday, August 16, 2015

The Butcher #31 Death in Yellow - Michael Avallone

The black marble eyes held only cruelty. Savoring the moment. "The arms, dear man, are forced into a cauldron of boiling water. Water so hot as to scald a man to death. But this is only for the arms--and when those arms are removed from the water, one can literally peel the skin from them as one peels a tender grape in the field. You see? So like the taking off of gloves from one's hands. Hence, The Gloves. Chinese riverboat pirates discovered this gem of torment in the middle of the fifteenth century, I think. It has been a staple of punishment ever since. You will not be able to shout out your agony loud enough, Butcher. Wait and see."

Pinnacle Book, June 1981, cover artist Fred Love
Yikes! Things look bad for The Butcher! As you can see by this explosive cover, The Butcher is up against a modern (sort of ) version of "The Yellow Peril" in his 31st adventure Death In Yellow.

This one is pure pulp adventure! Written by Michael Avallone under the house name Stuart Jason, this is the type of adventure that Doc Savage or The Spider might have gotten mixed up in. Minus the hot sex of course. The chick in the cover presents some major trouble for The Butcher, the kind of trouble ol' Doc Savage wouldn't have fallen for.

What happens is Butcher is hired by The White Hat agency (a branch of the government so secret that not even the President knows of its existence!) to look into a plot that involves a nerve gas being experimented on somewhere in the wilds of Florida. Butcher arrives in Miami and before he can hail a cab he's recognized by a hit man known as Needle Nick Olivier. Readers of the series know that The Butcher is a former mafia boss who bailed out of the criminal underworld. In effort to make amends he now works for "the good guys" as an operative of White Hat. Only, as we're reminded of in the beginning of every Butcher adventure, no one leaves the Mafia and lives! So part of the fun of this series is the Butcher having deadly run-ins with various hit-man goons looking to cash in on the open million dollar bounty for his head.

So where was I? Oh yeah, in Miami as the Butcher dispatches another goon who's recognized him. Needles Olivier is barely cooling on the carpet when Butcher hires a cab to chase after a sedan that appears to have been waiting for Needles. Turns out it's Butcher's lucky day, because the sedan belongs to an odd pair of ne'er-do-wells named Rollo Lewinson and his hot-to-trot sidekick Gorgeous Jean Johanesson. Seeing how easily Butcher dispatched Needles Olivier, Rollo Lewinson offers Butcher an opportunity to team up with him and Gorgeous Jean on a caper with millions. A caper involving a secret government project involved with a weapon to end all weapons. See what I mean by luck? Just like that The Butcher has hooked up with a couple of crooks going after the same thing he is. And besides, Gorgeous Jean is a major league nympho!

The flaming red sweater rose to half-mast, pulled to the crest of twin breasts which rose like howitzers from her chest. Bending, she cupped his head once more and urged herself forward until his face was buried in the spill of her ample flesh. There was nothing he could do but play her wild game. "Bite me--" she murmured huskily, swaying as she stood before him, gently crushing herself into him. "---go on--they're yours...suck, Butcher, me, Baby..."

Enough to make a southern gentleman stand up and whoop a rebel yell!

There is more S&M sex, and a whole lot of chop-socky Kung-Fu fighting with cats as fast as lightening to come for the Butcher as he tangles with a villain who models himself after Fu Manchu himself. There are beatings, sex, explosions, a femme fatale or two, guns, chases, tortures, double-crosses, flying fists, feet and teeth, It's some crazy shit going down and it's all a ton of pulpy good fun.

And you know you're in for a good time when you got breasts compared to howitzers!

Sunday, August 2, 2015

The Dreaming Jewels - Theodore Sturgeon

They caught the kid doing something disgusting out under the bleachers at the high-school stadium, and he was sent home from the grammar school across the street. He was eight years old then. He'd been doing it for years. 

1st Edition 1950
I'm not sure how anyone can put down a novel with a terrific opening line like that. It's famous with S-F fans and Theodore Sturgeon aficionados from what many consider his best novel. I haven't read enough to call anything a classic over anything anything else. I'll let others do that for me. But I have read plenty of Sturgeon's short stories to assume that I'd enjoy one of his novels. The Dreaming Jewels was a good one to start with.

The kid in the opening sentence is Horton Bluett, referred to throughout as Horty. I'm going to leave what he's caught doing under the bleachers a mystery so as not to spoil the fun for those who haven't read this novel. In brief, Horty Bluett has a miserable home-life as the adopted son of a couple of despicable parents who only took him in to improve their political standing among the community. Horty has no friends except another little girl, Kay Hallowell, who is nice to him in school. At home, his only companion is a jack-in-the-box toy he names Junky. Junky has been with Horty since his first year in the orphanage, Junky also has these two crystals for eyes...and Horty has developed a strange, otherworldly symbiotic bond with Junky.

After a terrifying beating and injury at the hands of his father, Armand Bluett, Horty takes Junky and escapes his home for a life on the road. He's quickly picked up by a group of sympathetic carnies named Havana, and his companions Bunny and Zena. All three are little people, and are returning from an errand in Horty's hometown. Seeing Horty's injury, Zena decides to take Horty back to their carnival and let him stay there as part of their act. To accomplish this, Horty will disguise himself as a female little person. The carnival is run by the intimidating Pierre Monetre, known as Maneater by the carnies who work for him. Monetre was once a brilliant young doctor and surgeon, until he fell into disgrace thanks to a tragic death under his care, followed by unjust accusations. Since then, Monetre has formed a deep hatred for mankind, in addition to pursuing some strange and secret experiments of his own involving some crystals he found once years before in a forest. Crystals that have remarkable powers. Crystals just like the ones that serve as Junky's eyes.

And with that setup, readers of The Dreaming Jewels are tossed into a blend of dark fantasy, science fiction and horror. There are moments here that reminded me of Ray Bradbury, but Sturgeon is perhaps more fearless and daring than Bradbury. There are themes of abuse, adultry, obsession and murder here that, while found in Bradbury's work as well, are revealed in disturbing tones. Much like those found in Sturgeon's short fiction.

The Dreaming Jewels has been reprinted dozen's of times and is probably easy enough to find out there. If you haven't read it, you're in for a good time.