A Science-Adventure Story!

No matter how I delude myself into thinking I'm something of an expert on Pre-Digital Pop Culture, I find that I often stumble over something really cool that I didn't even know about.

A few months ago, my sister-in-law texted me a picture of some Rick Brant Science-Adventure novels she saw in a used book store in South Carolina. I thought they looked neat and asked her to buy one and send it to me.

I'm glad I did and, in fact, I'm sorry I didn't ask her to pick up several more as well. The Pirates of Shan (1958) is a lot of fun.

The Rick Brant books were written from 1947 until 1968. John Blaine was a pen name. The books were actually written by Harold L. Goodwin. Peter J. Harkins co-authored the first three. In 1990, an unpublished adventure was published, topping off the series at 24 books.

Rick was the son of a scientist who lived on Spindrift Island, off the coast of New Jersey. The island is the home of the Spindrift Foundation, so Rick is growing up among a community of scientists. So it's probably no surprise that he turns out to be pretty smart himself. Rick himself is a teenager, but his partner in adventure is Don "Scotty" Scott, an ex-marine whom I assume must be a few years older. The one book I've read didn't make that clear to me.

I've never read anywhere that the Rick Brant series were an influence on the classic Johnny Quest cartoon, but its hard not to make comparisons. Rick ends up going on dangerous adventures, despite his young age. He has a Hindu friend named Chahda, who is also smart and resourceful. And he has an older combat-trained friend who looks after him. Sounds like Johnny, Hadji and Race Bannon to me.

But then, science-adventure stories with young protagonists (designed to appeal to young readers) were not uncommon, so the simularities to Johnny Quest can easily be coincidental.

The Pirates of Shan starts off when it is learned that two scientists attached to the Spindrift Foundation have gone missing while in the Phillippines. Everyone in the Foundation has long-since thought of the others as family rather than just co-workers, so this is personal. Rick and Scotty accompany one of the adult scientists to the Phillippines to investigate. They are joined there by Chahda.

Chahda is a great character, by the way. Because of the time frame in which these books were written, it would not be surprising to find him portrayed as a stereotype. But he's a fully-fleshed out person who is respected and treated as a equal by the Spindrifters. They depend on him to gather information and trust him completely at the climax when he is improvising wildly to get the others out of danger.

The Pirates of Shah is paced a little too slowly for the first few chapters, but once the Spindrifters get a line on a group of pirates who are likely responsible for kidnapping their friends, the story really takes off. Then the book earns huge points with me when Rick and friends have to take to the sea and end up renting a World War II-era surplus PT Boat. PT Boats are cool!

They get jumped several times by pirates using small sailing craft, but manage to defend themselves successfully. Scotty is quite adept with a rifle, while Rick proves to be handy with a bow and arrow.

They finally backtrack the pirates to a volcanic island, where the two kidnapped scientists are being held. So the next thing to do is sneak onto the island and smuggle a radio to the captives. Then an actual rescue attempt needs to be planned.

All through the adventure, the emphasis is on the good guys thinking through the situation, considering facts, discussing theories, taking their resources into account and then making intelligent plans. Though this particular novel emphasizes adventure over science, the idea of the protagonists using their intelligence to deal with situations is a prime theme.

And the final rescue is truly exciting, involving an escape across the island while carrying an injuried man, a wild shoot-out at a cove filled with pirate vessels and Chahdra essentially weaponizing the pure speed of the PT Boat to pull everyone out of the frying pan.

Fortunately, most of the Rick Brant novels are available electronically for a very cheap price, so I'll be able to visit him again. I'm looking forward to it.