When you write a fictional account of a real event, you better have the facts straight. With SNOWBOUND, Richard S. Wheeler is definitely up for the challenge. The story is based on not only a real person, explorer John Charles Frémont, but one of his darkest episodes in his life.
That episode can only be described as a disaster of epic proportions. For those unfamiliar, Frémont’s fourth expedition dealt with trying to find a railway route on the 38th parallel, but got stuck in the snowy Colorado mountains. It seems Frémont was definitely a man who could not be swayed from what he thought was a brilliant idea, even if it wasn’t.
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You know what kind of science fiction never disappoints in it sheer dumbness? The post-apocalyptic type, where the world has become a radiated wasteland populated by fearsome characters out to make things right in their own way. So settle back and enjoy three books that define dumb fun … and reveal what our futures hold.
TRAVELER #9: THE STALKING TIME by D.B. Drumm — This 1986 book is 24 years old, and boy, does it show with references to THE A-TEAM, MIAMI VICE and DALLAS. For those unfamiliar, the Traveler is a lone wolf/former government super-soldier who is now on his own and searching for signs of communities that still exist.
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Stark House Press casts the two novels in IT’S ALWAYS FOUR O’CLOCK / IRON MAN under the noir banner. But let me clarify: This is not bang-bang/shoot-’em-up noir. W.R. Burnett’s works more fall into the like-minded world of David Goodis and Charles Willeford.
An introductory essay by David Laurence Wilson gives a history of Burnett and his compatriots of his time, like William Faulkner and Dashiell Hammett, which is none too shabby. Burnett’s debut was the groundbreaking LITTLE CAESAR, which had readers rooting for the bad guy throughout. That was not the norm at the time, to say the least.
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Search this site and you’ll find we are big fans of F. Paul Wilson, for his short stories, standalone novels and his-soon-to-be-finishing Repairman Jack series. But there is a set of books on my shelf which I’ve been staring at for close to three years. I’m referring to “The Adversary Cycle,” which starts off with THE KEEP and then the first Repairman Jack book THE TOMB. The early titles are slowly being revised and reissued, mainly to update the stories with the current times, but in this column, I’ll be reviewing the older editions. Be forewarned: Spoilers abound.
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It’s the column that was sure to happen at some point: nothing but books about one Steven Urkel. And if you believe that, then have I got a bridge for sale in Brooklyn. All right, enough of this joshing around and onto this week’s theme. All the titles have some connection to family life, be it sons, daughters or a unit as a whole.
TRUE SON OF THE BEAST! by Carter Brown — This 1970 effort really shows what happens to a writer grabbing at straws to continue his output. No longer do the novels feature light and fun travelogue-like mysteries. Now, they’ve become very graphic in their depiction of sex and bizarre situations, like some bizarre mash-up of Gothic stories and a PENTHOUSE FORUM letter.
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