Doc Savage: Fortress of Solitude / The Devil Genghis

Being a fan of Doc Savage has always been fun. But finding the original pulps was always another story, with some being way out of my price range as a kid, or just worn copies falling apart.

Fear not, readers! As it does with THE SHADOW, Nostalgia Ventures has the rights to publish the tales in their original pulp format, in two-for-one trade paperbacks, with the first being DOC SAVAGE: FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE / THE DEVIL GENGHIS. The stories are those written by Lester Dent himself (under the pen name of Kenneth Robeson), and not the later editions where things were padded or ghostwritten. You’re also treated to the original artwork that accompanied the adventures.

In the premiere volume, we get a first for Doc Savage: the only time Doc faced off against the same villain in two completely different novels, both from 1938. This was a huge no-no for the Street and Smith crowd back in the day.

FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE is about the famed Fortress hideout that we’ve read about, but have never seen it be such a central part of the story. Doc’s enemy here is a mad genius named John Sunlight, who thinks of himself as the next Napoléon. Sunlight first escapes a prison ship and then commandeers people on his expedition to the Arctic, where they come across a strange blue dome.

Pure escapism is what this story is all about. Even though you feel like that the inside of the Fortress is glanced over, it just adds to the suspense of what kinds of weapons and machines reside inside. Doc is sucked into it first by an attempt on his life, then the appearance of two giant women.

The second novel, THE DEVIL GENGHIS, picks up a few months later. Doc is set to perform at a concert, until a group of men make an attempt on his life again, trying to drug the Man of Bronze with a special bullet. The near-assassination intrigues Doc to the point of investigation, taking him to the far reaches, where he finds that Sunlight is still alive. And that he now calls himself Genghis.

This double-feature reprint blows away the ones another company was putting out until they got their cease-and-desist letter (cough Blackmask Online cough). Plus, as a bonus, you get introductions and essays about the pulps. This SAVAGE edition is well worth the hunt, and what makes me most excited is that they are committed to reprinting hard-to-find tales and not just putting out whatever they can get their hands on. –Bruce Grossman

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• DOC SAVAGE: THE CZAR OF FEAR by Kenneth Robeson
• DOC SAVAGE: THE SPOOK LEGION by Kenneth Robeson

About Bruce Grossman

Bruce writes the "Bullets, Broads, Blackmail and Bombs" weekly column. He lives in Massachusetts.