RADIO BY THE BOOK available for pre-order

My next book is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. It's scheduled for release on November 30. Everyone please make sure that civilization does NOT collapse (thus interfering with distribution of my book) prior to that date.

Here's the link to Amazon:

Radio by the Book: Adaptations of Literature and Fiction on the Airwaves

Desert warfare, commando raids and books for children

Western Publishing came into existance in 1910 and had a long and fun history before it was bought out, picked apart and absorbed into the bigger publishing houses over the course of the 1980s & 1990s. Western produced comic books (mostly based on characters licensed from movies, cartoons and television) that were distributed first by Dell Comics and later by Gold Key Comics. Western's subsidiary Whitman Publishing produced the wonderful Little Big Books.

When I was a kid, I owned the Fantastic Four Little Big Book (with great art by Jack Kirby throughout) and one featuring Major Matt Mason, an astronaut action figure that was popular at the time. But it was another pair of Whitman books, hard covers based on television shows airing at the time, that really caught my fancy.

Both books were based on World War II-themed shows. Both managed to totally enthrall my 8-year-old mind. I read them over and over until they just fell apart.

One was based on The Rat Patrol, a silly but exciting TV show about commandos battling the Nazis in North Africa. Sgt. Sam Troy and his three men rode around in a pair of jeeps, each with a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on the back. When those jeeps came jumping over sand dunes in the opening credits, it looked awesome.




The book, written by I.G. Edmunds, is titled The Iron Monster Raid. It starts with the Rat Patrol returning from a tough mission. They've only one jeep left and almost no ammo for their few remaining weapons. They stumble into the middle of a tank battle and lose their last jeep. They also get a glimpse of the German's newest weapon--the massive Tiger tank.

Soon after, the Patrol is assigned to escort a couple of officers behind German lines, intending to link up with a secret agent and get some microfilm showing the weak spots on the Tiger tank.


When I acquired this book as an adult, I was curious to how well it would hold up. Looking at re-runs of the TV show as a grown-up, I found it was still visually fun, but marred by poor plot construction and historically inaccurate equipment. (Details that I would have been less aware of as a child.)

The book, though, was still a lot of fun. I'm sure nostalgia was a factor in this, but it turns out that the overall plot was solid, with a fair degree of historical accuracy in its portrayal of weapons and geography.

Of particular note is a couple of the action sequences. One takes place near the beginning, when the Rat Patrol is trying to get home on foot after losing their last jeep. They stumble across a German command post and get temporarily seperated from one another. This leads to a very tense sequence in which they sneak into the command post to steal a vehicle.

Later in the novel, they have sneaked about a German train to get to the occupied city of Tunis. Events force them to try to take over the train while its stopped in a narrow canyon. At the same time, the train is attacked by American fighter planes, forcing our heroes to dodge friendly machine gun bullets while they shoot it out with the Germans. It was an exciting, well-described set piece.

The other Whitman novel was based on a short-lived TV show called Garrison's Gorillas. I don't think I ever saw an episode of this. Using the same concept as the movie The Dirty Dozen, it featured an OSS officer named Garrison who uses a group of reformed criminals on behind-the-lines missions, using their unique skills to fight the Nazis.

The Whitman version of the show, titled The Fear Formula and written by Jack Pearl, had a science fiction element to it: the Germans have gotten hold of a formula that can be placed in drinking water supplies. Once you drink the tainted water, you become helpless with fear and panic.

Once again, when I returned to this book as an adult, I discovered yet another well-constructed plot. The Gorillas are assigned to rescue the Czech scientist who created the Fear Formula from a German prison camp. There are a couple of fun plot twists and the action sequences are exciting.

Whitman did quite a few of the TV books during the 1960s. Occasionally, I run across one in a used book store and snap it up. So far, I've read The Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Man from UNCLE, and Combat. Surprisingly, Combat, easily the highest quality TV show of all of these, was the dullest of the Whitman books. The others, though, were all pretty good. None qualify as great literature, but nearly all managed to spin an entertaining yarn.

AN "I'M ON VACATION" ALERT: I have no idea if anyone is reading my blog on a regular basis. On the off-chance there is, though, I wanted to let you know that I'll be on vacation through most of May. New posts will appear infrequently (if at all) throughout the rest of this month. I'll go back to posting twice a week in June.

They aren't real--but by golly, they should be: Part 5: Nick & Nora Charles and Ralph & Sue Dibny

NICK AND NORA CHARLES:

They’re in love with each other—they’re rich—they’re witty—and (perhaps most importantly) they’re prone to practically trip over corpses pretty much everywhere they go. What else can two people ask for out of a relationship?

Nick Charles was a successful private investigator until he married the beautiful heiress Nora. He left the detective business after that, devoting his time to (as he once tells Nora) “taking care of all that money I married you for.”

But Nick can’t get away from the sleuth racket. We first meet him in Dashiell Hammett’s 1933 novel The Thin Man, in which he reluctantly becomes involved in a murder investigation.

Hammett never wrote anything else involving Nick and Nora, but the couple took on a life of their own when William Powell and Myrna Loy played them in a series of wonderful movies made during the 1930s and 1940s. Again and again, the pair would trade casual barbs and witticisms as Nora insisted that Nick look into the latest murder case they’ve once again stumbled across. Good storytelling meshes perfectly with sharp humor tbroughout all these films.

The couple took their wonderful relationship to radio as well during the 1940s, with actress Claudia Morgan pretty much channeling Myrna Loy in her portrayal of Nora. I’ve no idea what Claudia Morgan looked like, but she sure as heck sounded beautiful.

But Nick and Nora aren’t the only husband-and-wife detective team on the block. In fact, in 1960, in The Flash #112, DC comics gave us a really nifty variation on the same theme.

RALPH & SUE DIBNY

By drinking an elixir made from an exotic fruit, Ralph Dibny discovered he had gained the ability to stretch his body and assumed fantastic shapes. He makes a fortune as a circus performer, marries a wealthy and beautiful heiress, then retires to travel the world with his new wife.

Naturally, they stumble across a crime at nearly ever town or city they visit. Ralph (also known as the Elongated Man) loves a good mystery more than anything other than his wife Sue. And Sue understands this—though she might get a little annoyed with him when he stands her up in order to stake out some jewel thieves, it is always clear that the two love each other dearly.

Elongated Man stories ran regularly through much of 1960s as a back up in Detective Comics. Ralph used sharp deductive skills, but also made good use of his stretching powers to gather clues. With art usually supplied by Carmine Infantino, images of Ralph stretching an ear down a chimney to eavesdrop on the bad guys—or stretching his neck up several hundred feet to search a wide area with a single glance—or suddenly stretching out his elbows or earlobes to knock a gun out of a villain’s hands—were delightful silly without ever spoiling the mystery aspect of the stories.

It was all these elements taken together—Ralph and Sue’s happy marriage, good mystery plots and the images of Ralph using his powers—that made the original Elongated Man stories so much fun. Sadly, in modern comics, the idea of a happy marriage seems to have become a bizarre anathema to writers and editors. Ralph and Sue have both been killed off.

But, like Nick and Nora Charles, a good husband-and-wife detective team can never truly die. Not as long as we can return to their novels, comics and movies whenever we wish to do so. Nick and Nora and Ralph and Sue—they’re not real, but by golly they oughta be.

Happy Birthday, Alistair Maclean

If he were still alive, author Alistair Maclean would have been 86 years old today.

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His stuff seems to be mostly out of print today, which is really a pity. His wonderful suspense and adventure novels were once deservedly popular. Full of action, humor and edge-of-your-seat tension, his best novels are as good as anything else in the same genre.

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He also produced of the best plot twists ever, perhaps most notably in Where Eagles Dare and Force 10 from Navarone.

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He did write a few clunkers, most of them (such as Goodbye, California) late in his career. But when he was at his prime as a writer (during the 1950s and 1960s), he was great. If you've never read any of his stuff, check out your library or used book stores. See if you can find Where Eagles Dare, South by Java Head, The Guns of Navarone, Force 10 from Navarone, When Eight Bells Toll, Ice Station Zebra, or HMS Ulysses. These represent the best of his best.

They aren't real--but by golly, they should be: Part 4: Jonny Quest and Terry Lee

JONNY QUEST:

Actually, it’s not just Jonny whom I would like to move into the real world, but his entire extended family. That includes his dad, brilliant scientist Benton Quest; his best friend Hadji; and the family bodyguard Roger “Race” Bannon.

The original 1964-65 animated adventure series is a true classic. Like all Hanna-Barbara TV entries, it used somewhat limited animation. But great characters designs (by artist Doug Wildey) and nifty locations, vehicles and scientific devices were all combined with solid storytelling. The results were 26 half-hour episodes that still entertain over 4 decades later.

Images from several episodes are, in fact, practically iconic. The giant mechanical spider-thing in “The Robot Spy,” for instance, is a magnificent visual. The sequence in “Turu the Terrible,” in which Dr. Quest and Race don jet packs and grab a bazooka in order to hunt down a pteranadon, is easily one of the coolest things ever.

Dr. Quest, in fact, was the go-to guy for just about any sort of strange situation. Whether the problem was ships being mysteriously destroyed at sea, recovering an experimental missile from its crash point in the Arctic, or dealing with an apparent werewolf in the Canadian woods, Dr. Q was your man.

Race and the two kids would inevitably tag along and end up playing a key role in the adventure. Race handled the heaviest of the strong arm stuff—though both Dr. Quest and the boys were no slouches in that area. (Watching Jonny and Hadji judo-throw thugs was always fun.)

Jonny was the sort of kid we all (as kids) wished we could be. His life consisted of travel to exotic places, highlighted by one adventure after another. If he had to tolerate the occasional assassin sticking a tarantula in his bed while he slept—well, that seemed to be a more-than-fair trade-off.

TERRY LEE (from Terry and the Pirates):

One of the admitted influences for Jonny Quest, Milt Caniff’s newspaper strip Terry and the Pirates is arguable the finest adventure strip ever.

When it began in 1934, Terry Lee and his guardian Pat Ryan arrive in China, looking for an old mine left to Terry by his grandfather. The ensuing adventure, involving a bandit base secreted in the tunnels of the mine, was slam-bang exciting right from the start.

Caniff proved to be a masterful storyteller. As the strip progressed, his art became more refined and realistic. The characterizations were wonderful, while the storylines always enthralling and often complex. Terry was maybe twelve-years-old when the strip premiered and, like Jonny Quest, he had one heck of a childhood. He encountered pirates, bandits, invading Japanese soldiers, murderers and con artists. Villains came at him with fists, knives and guns, but he took it all in stride. Like Jonny, he was wish-fulfillment personified.

He also met the absolutely best-lookin’ gals ever to grace a comics page. The Dragon Lady, Burma, April Kane, Raven Sherman—just to name a few. Caniff had a real talent for drawing a pretty lady.

Terry aged normally as the strip progressed and was old enough to serve as a fighter pilot during World War II. By the time Caniff left the strip in 1946, Terry was flying a cargo plane around China while working undercover for Military Intelligence.

But whether man or boy, Terry Lee was one heck of a guy. Neither he nor Jonny Quest are real—but, by golly, they should be.

A better image of my next book

Here's a bigger and better image of the cover of my upcoming book. Once again, here's the link to the summary of its contents:

Radio by the Book

They aren't real--but by golly, they should be: Part 3: Tarzan and Conan

TARZAN OF THE APES:

Tarzan of the Apes—chief of the tribe of Kerchak—Lord of the Jungle:

He’s one of the most popular and best-known characters ever. There probably isn’t a single member of Western civilization who doesn’t recognize the name—and a fair percentage of the rest of the world would know who he is as well.

Tarzan is popular first and foremost because his creator—Edgar Rice Burroughs—was a magnificent storyteller. In Tarzan of the Apes (1912), Burroughs gave us an enthralling adventure story with a fascinating and archetypal protagonist.

One interesting thing about Tarzan’s origin is that Burroughs’ didn’t know squat about Africa. In fact, he originally had Tarzan fighting tigers—not realizing there are no tigers on the Dark Continent. But all the same, he creates a fantasy version of Africa that we can easily accept as real. The tribe of apes that adopt the orphaned baby and raise him as one of their own don’t match up to any real-life simians, but their behavior (both as individuals and as a tribe) are logical and self-consistent.

Tarzan eventually learns about the rest of the world and spends time in both Europe and America, but he never really cares for civilization, preferring the honest savagery of the jungle to the hypocrisy of modern man. Throughout the original twenty-four novels, he travels extensively throughout Africa, stumbling across a number of lost cities, often remnants of ancient civilizations. There was, for instance, a city left over from the Roman Empire, where Tarzan eventually ended up in the gladiatorial arena. Then there was a city populated by descendants of Crusaders who had gotten really, really lost on their way to the Holy Land centuries earlier.

Danger, captures, escapes and many battles would ensue, but Tarzan’s high intelligence and matchless fighting skills would always see him through. Tarzan is the ultimate in wish-fulfillment, living exactly the life he wants to, without fear and always acting capably in all situations.


CONAN THE BARBARIAN:

Conan was created in the 1930s by pulp writer Robert E. Howard. The big barbarian, who lived in an age before the beginning of recorded history, starred in 20 short stories and one novel. The best of these are among the most visceral and purely entertaining sword-and-sorcery stories.

art by Frank Frazetta

Like Tarzan, Conan was disdainful of the hypocrisies of civilization. Conan, though, chose to leave his northern homeland of Cimmeria to spent most of his time in civilization, never hesitating to enjoy its pleasures.

Conan had a varied career, starting out as a thief, then later working as a mercenary, treasure-seeker, bandit leader, and pirate before eventually leading a revolt and becoming king of a powerful nation. Along the way, he ran into countless dangers, both natural and supernatural. He slew more than his share of giant snakes and oversized ape figures. He rescued quite a few beautiful women from fates worse than death. He encountered more than one evil sorcerer, just about all of whom met their doom on the edge of Conan’s sword.

Robert E. Howard committed suicide in 1936, while still a young man. Conan was nearly forgotten for a couple of decades, but then the stories once again found a publisher and his popularity surged. Since the 1970s, there have been countless new adventures appearing in prose, comic books, computer games and movies. Of these, few achieve the same level of quality as Howard’s original yarns. His best tales, such as “Tower of the Elephant” or “Beyond the Black River,” remain masterpieces of good storytelling to this day.

Like Tarzan, Conan was pretty close to unbeatable in hand-to-hand combat. When comparing the two, it’s interesting to speculate who would win a fight if they went at it. Personally, I have no idea which of them would win—but, boy, it’d be cool to watch.

Tarzan of the Apes and Conan of Cimmeria: They aren’t real, but by golly, they should be.