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Title: Crime, Insured (The Shadow Double Novel Vol #1)
Author: Walter B. Gibson
ISBN: 1-932806-48-2
Format: Oversized Paperback
60 Pages (pages 7 - 66)
Overall Concept 8
Execution 8

Having been a fan of The Shadow in the movies (the 1994 movie starring Alec Baldwin in the titular role), comic books (The Shadow series by Howard Chaykin), and radio dramas (the snibbets of the various shows I've gotten to hear over the years), I was quite pleased to find out that Nostalgia Ventures had secured the rights to begin to reprint the 1930's novels that were originally published by Street and Smith in The Shadow magazine.

It was very refreshing to finally get to read some of the original pulp adventure stories from that era, as I've heard so much over the years.

I was very pleased to see that despite the fact that these stories take place over 70 years ago, the style and substance of the stories are not lost. One can easily see how these stories could be adapted to the modern television or movie screen. Actually, Sam Raimi the director of SpiderMan 1-3 is reputed to having secured the rights to make a movie version of The Shadow.

Pulp is often known for its over the top adventure and suspense, and I did see some of that here. However, not near enough to be considered trite or unenjoyable. Actually, I found the story to be very well told and quite the good read.

According to wikipedia.org, there were 325 Shadow novels almost exclusively written by Walter B. Gibson between the years of 1931 and 1949. Considering these were published at an average rate of 1 and a half per month, and had a word count of >50000 words each, Mr. Gibson deserves some serious respect for the speed and quality of what he was producing during this time. I am no longer in awe at the quantity of books some authors have and do produce, and if anything I wonder more towards why some authors don't produce more.

I would whole heartly suggest this read to any lovers of action movies or good mystery tales, and perhaps more people should read these stories as a way of understanding and appreciating a dead/dying genre, the adventure pulp.

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Title: Crossroads (Shadowrun #30)
Author: Stephen Kenson
ISBN: 0-451-45742-0
Format: Paperback
273 Pages
Overall Concept 7
Execution 6

As I've mentioned a few times in this blog, I am a big fan of the Shadowrun RPG and its novel series.

This is another example of the typical fare from this franchise, it is some entertaining 'mental bubble gum'.

The book does have some interesting concepts and ideas, but overall it is fairly formulaic.

If you are a fan of the cyberpunk or sci-fantasy genres, I would suggest you give this book a read, just don't expect an amazing book but an alright one.

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Series: Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter
Title: Guity Pleasures (Book #1)
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
ISBN: 0-515-13449-X
Format: Paperback
265 Pages
Overall Concept 7
Execution 5

Okay, one of my 'guilty pleasures' is that I am a vampire-phile and usually gobble up most things that have to do with fangs, blood and sensuality. Hence, after all the press this series has been getting, the fact that Marvel is now publishing a line of comics that serializes this novel and that the back cover boasts "An R-Rated Buffy the Vampire Slayer...the action never stops." - The New York Review of Science Fiction, I thought I would give this series a try.

Well, after reading the book I will say the following.

1) it is obviously an early novel from this author as she hasn't truly found their polish
2) the situations are contrived and often presented unecessarily
3) several points in the characters 'history' are never explained despite being mentioned often
4) the author used, and the editor(s) didn't correct, the use of the word 'tireder', which I could excuse if it was being said by an uneducated lout, but I believe neither the author nor her character to be such

Overall the book was an acceptable distraction, and barely piques my interest to see where the 'series' goes from here. But considering the following this series has, I can only assume that the tastes of the general public, with regards to this genre (crime-horror), are not as discerning as mine.

Tireder indeed!!!