Kathleen E. Woodiwiss's The Flame and the Flower

The Flame and the Flower is a 1972 romance novel by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.

I’ve read most genres of fiction but I must confess that I have read virtually no romance fiction. I do however think that if one claims to be interested in genre fiction one should sample as many genres as possible, and while this novel is clearly aimed almost exclusively at a female readership I thought it was worth taking a look at it.

This is considered to be one of the most important romance novels ever written. It more or less established a whole new sub-genre, the erotic historical romance. It is regarded as the first full-blown “bodice ripper” and the first modern steamy romance with much stronger erotic content compared to earlier romance novels. As the story unfolds bodices will be ripped and bosoms will heave. By the end of the 70s it had sold four-and-a-half million copies and it’s still in print and still selling steadily.

It’s also interesting in being quite controversial and it has many over-sensitive modern reviewers clutching their pearls. 1972 was a more enlightened time. It was a time when women were beginning to be open and honest about their sexual desires. It is the author’s honesty about such matters that leads to so much pearl-clutching.

It begins in the year 1799, in England. Heather Simmons is a well-bred girl but since her father’s death she has lived in poverty, grievously mistreated by her vindictive aunt. She thinks her luck has changed for the better when her aunt’s brother invites her to London where he assures her he can find her a respectable position in a school. Heather is rather innocent and discovers that her Uncle William and his associate Mr Hint are scoundrels. She escapes with her virtue intact but she leaves a corpse behind her. She flees, convinced that she will be pursued by the law and hanged as a murderess although she acted in self-defence.

Wandering in a state of confusion on the dockside she encounters two friendly sailors who assure her that the captain of the Fleetwood, an American trading ship, will be overjoyed to receive her. She is naïve and she thinks that taking ship for America might be the only way to avoid the hangman’s noose.

Captain Brandon Birmingham is indeed overjoyed to receive her and this time she does not escape with her virtue intact. It is important to note that he is absolutely convinced that she is a prostitute. He had asked his crewmen to fetch a whore for him. It does not for one moment cross his mind that she is anything other than a whore. He assumes that her unwillingness is feigned - that she is playing hard to get in order to increase his ardour. If one can avoid having a knee-jerk reaction to this scene then one has to admit that Brandon has no reason to suspect that she is in fact a naïve virgin.

As a result of this encounter Brandon finds himself forced to marry the girl. He is very unhappy about this. To complicate matters Heather is now pregnant.

Everything in this story hinges on misunderstandings, misunderstandings that could easily be cleared up if only these two people were not both so proud and so stubborn and so determined not to reveal the way their feelings towards each other are changing. Heather is determined not to allow Brandon to share her bed. He is determined that Heather will be his wife in name only - that he will give her neither the love nor the physical intimacy that marriage entails.

They hate each other, but it’s the kind of hate that can just as easily become love. And there is strong physical attraction on both sides. Sharing a small cabin on his ship they get to see each other at very close quarters. He cannot help noticing her luscious body. She thinks he is a monster, but a very handsome tall well-muscled monster and she is very impressed by his manliness. He is very manly indeed. Soon he is climbing the walls in sexual frustration but he still will not do anything about it even when she seems keen for him to do so. She is also climbing the walls in sexual frustration but will not admit that she wants him in her bed.

The author manages to make all this fairly believable.

There’s a mystery thriller plot here as well, which simmers in the background and eventually takes centre stage. There are several murders, wild accusations, some fairly decent suspense and some action.

It’s all very overheated and melodramatic but it’s entertaining. Brandon and Heather both have their faults and they’re complex and contradictory characters. They may not be immediately likeable but this is doubtless intentional - as their mutual affection grows and they learn to appreciate each other’s good points so the readers’ affection for them grows as well.

The Flame and the Flower is rather enjoyable. Recommended.

Malko 8: Death on the River Kwai

SAS L’Or de la Rivière Kwai, published in French in 1971, is one of just a handful of the 200 hugely popular Malko novels written by French former newspaper reporter Gérard de Villiers to be translated into English. That English edition, Malko 8: Death on the River Kwai, came out in 1975.

The hero of this spy series is His Serene Highness Prince Malko Ligne, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Knight of the Black Eagle, Knight of the Order of Landgrave Seraphim of Kletgaus, Knight of the Order of Malta. This Austrian prince works for the CIA. He does it for the money. He owns a castle and castles cost a fortune to maintain. Despite his mercenary motivations the CIA regards him as absolutely reliable.

The jobs he does for the CIA are the tricky ones that require a certain amount of flair. They can at times be a bit morally murky.

He’s currently in Thailand investigating the disappearance of his espionage mentor Jim Stanford. Stanford is retired from the CIA but spies can never really retire. Their pasts are always likely to catch up to them. Stanford may have been killed or he may have been abducted. And, oddly enough, back in the States his sister is murdered.

The local CIA station chief has given Malko an assistant - his pretty Thai secretary (who turns out to be from an incredibly rich family). Tepin is efficient and helpful. She is a virgin. She makes sure that Malko knows this. Tepin intends to defend her virtue. On the other hand she can’t help noticing that Malko is terribly brave and handsome and he has such sexy eyes. But she’s a good girl.

There are plenty of leads but they just leave Malko more bewildered. Stanford had a beautiful Thai wife, a thriving silk business, a luxurious house and an impressive art collection. But clearly he had secrets. His wife is not saying anything. Her attitude is puzzling and she seems just a little scared.

He discovers that Stanford was a regular customer at a Bangkok massage parlour where he got special favours (very special) from a very cute masseuse. Malko gets the same treatment from her and he can well understand why Stanford was such a loyal customer. She introduces Malko to pleasures he had never even imagined.

Stanford also has a mistress, a Chinese singer/whore. Malko doesn’t get much useful information from her but she teaches him a thing or two as well. Malko finds that the most effective place to interrogate pretty female witnesses is in bed. Even if they don’t reveal useful information the interrogations are still rewarding.

The problem is that while he now knows that Jim Stanford was no Boy Scout none of this offers Malko any clues as to why someone would want to liquidate or kidnap him. Stanford chased women but there are no indications that he was mixed up in anything political. On the other hand, taking into account that his sister was targeted as well, he had to have been involved in something big and something sinister.

Meanwhile Tepin is starting to reconsider this whole defending her virginity thing.

A major strength of this novel is the female characters. They are of course dangerous and sexy but they also have complex and believably feminine motivations. Malko is smart enough to know that one of these women is the key to the mystery but he has no idea which of them it might be.

And after he’s been beaten up several times he’s sure he must be getting close to some answers.

Malko has a tendency to be careless. He gets himself into scrapes that could have been avoided. It’s not that he isn’t a good intelligence agent, but he is not an infallible super-spy.

There’s plenty of action, there’s a well-crafted plot with effective twists, there’s an exotic setting and there are those beautiful dangerous women. It all adds up to a fine spy thriller and it’s highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed five of the other English-translated Malko books - West of Jerusalem, Operation New York, Man from Kabul, Malko versus the CIA and Malko: Angel of Vengence. They're all very much worth reading.

Mickey Spillane’s The Erection Set

Mickey Spillane’s The Erection Set was published in 1972. It’s one of his non-Mike Hammer crime thrillers.

It certainly has a memorable protagonist. Dogeron Kelly (always known simply as Dog) would have been heir to the vast Barrin industrial fortune but for one minor detail - he was born on the wrong side of the blanket. Instead of inheriting millions he stands to inherit a mere $10,000. And the family is going to make sure he doesn’t get even that - his grandfather’s will contains a morals cause. If he cannot prove that his life has been morally untainted he doesn’t get a dime. And Dog’s life has been far from morally spotless.

Dog served in the U.S. Air Force during the Second World War, as a fighter pilot in Europe. He took his discharge and remained in Europe and then vanished. There have been rumours of his colourful and varied activities but nothing concrete.

Now he’s back stateside, in Manhattan, staying with his old flying buddy Lee. And Dog wants his ten grand. Now we, the readers, know from the start that he doesn’t need a lousy ten grand. We knew that when Lee took a peak into Dog’s suitcase. Lots of money. Lots and lots of money. Lee is in a panic - where is Dog going to stash millions of dollars safely? Dog tells him not to worry. He’ll put it in the bank. Amazingly this is clean money.

We know that Dog is confident he’ll get his ten thousand. What we don’t know is why he wants it. We assume he has plans to revenge himself on his family but it soon becomes apparent that Dog’s motivations are much more complex and his plans much more devious.

Then he meets Sharon. She works for a media tycoon. Her job is to persuade men to make deals. She’s a kind of professional seductress. Oddly enough although she definitely likes men and seduces them for a living at 32 she is still a virgin. This is regarded by those who know her as evidence that the age of miracles is not yet past. Sharon has a link with Dog - years earlier her father had worked for his grandfather. That link buried in the past will be important.

Dog’s arrival in New York is the result of a decision he made which is going to lead to multiple murders and general mayhem. It’s a decision that is not related to his family or his inheritance.

Dog soon has people trying to kill him. Lots of people. Professionals. Dog isn’t too worried and we soon find out why. He is one very tough hombre.

If you’re going to have an anti-hero (and Dog certainly qualifies for that status) you have to make him interesting and Spillane does that effectively. He’s a very enigmatic individual. He’s a tough guy who kills when he has to and does so without remorse, and with considerable savagery. But he doesn’t want to kill.

And with women, in his own individualistic way he’s a gentleman. There are three important female characters and they’re all complicated but sympathetic. Sheila is dangerous because of her husband and she has a problem. Dog knows what it is and how to fix it, if she’ll let him. Lee’s friend Rose isn’t quite a Whore With a Heart of Gold but she’s a good-natured cheerful hooker and Dog thinks she’s a sweet kid.

Sharon is really complicated. Dog has never met a girl quite like her and he’s intrigued. She’s never met a man like Dog and she’s not sure if she’s horrified by him or crazy about him.

There’s a major twist at the end but it does make sense.

The Erection Set is top-tier Spillane and it’s plenty tough and it's highly recommended.

I enjoy Spillane’s surprisingly varied non-Mike Hammer output, ranging from the exuberance of The Delta Factor to the high-octane thrills of Day of the Guns to the brooding darkness of The Erection Set.

Robert Tralins' Android Armageddon

Android Armageddon is a 1974 dystopian science fiction novel by Robert Tralins.

Sandor Robert Tralins (1926-2010) was an immensely prolific American writer of pulp novels, published under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms.

The story takes place on Earth’s colony planet Pulsar 143, in the city of Mnemosyne, several centuries in the future. Mnemosyne was the classical goddess of memory and that’s important.

It begins with an attempted alien invasion. The hero of the successful resistance, Doyle, is given a plum job as commandant of the Orrery. But is this a reward or a punishment? Or a means of controlling him? Mnemosyne is ruled by the Secretariat. It’s a totalitarian regime in which supreme power is vested in a super-computer. An artificial intelligence.

Dissent is brutally suppressed. As Commandant of the Orrery Doyle has his thoughts probed. He must agree to show unswerving unquestioning loyalty to the Secretariat. In reality Doyle abhors the Secretariat and everything it stands for. He has reluctantly accepted this post since it might offer possibilities for undermining the totalitarian regime in Mnemosyne. The post gives him some powers but involves huge risks.

Perhaps there are other rebels. Perhaps there is hope.

Firstly he needs to now if he can trust his girlfriend Petra. She’s been getting very close to Kagan and Kagan is definitely a man not to be trusted.

There is a secret concealed in the Orrery, a secret Doyle needs to discover. Memory is the key. An important part of the training of leaders like Doyle is mnemonics, specifically the mnemonic technique of the memory room in which objects in a room are the mnemonic code keys. Which is cool because this is a very ancient technique not used for centuries but Tralins uses it in a far future high-tech setting. In this story it’s part of the mind code, the mental training given to the elites. It’s one of a number of very cool touches in this novel.

Doyle will need to find a way to destroy, disable or neutralise the central computer but in the meantime he has to stay alive and stay out of trouble. Dissenters in this world face worse fates than prison.

There are several nice little touches. The building housing the master computer is called the Orrery, an orrery being a mechanical model of the solar system.

There are android servants everywhere, known as servomen and servomaids. Only they’re not androids. They’re human beings who have been modified to reduce their intelligence dramatically so they can function as mindless zombie drones. It’s creepy, but then this is a sinister future dystopia.

Having spent much of his career in spaceships on the Frontier, traveling at near light speed, Doyle has aged only seventeen years in the past century. This is significant because it means that Doyle remembers the past, he remembers Earth before the space colonisation began. This is one of the reasons he is determined to oppose the Secretariat. He knows from personal experience that the past was better.

For an obscure book by an obscure author Android Armageddon is a lot more complex and clever and interesting than you might expect. This is not a shoot ’em up space opera. There’s not much action but there’s suspense, lots of paranoia and a well-realised future world. The ending has a few odd touches.

Android Armageddon is above-average pulp science fiction. Highly recommended.

I’ve also reviewed Tralins’ fairly interesting 1966 sci-fi novel The Cosmozoids which deals with aliens and the paranormal and his hugely enjoyable 1966 sexy lady spy romp The Chic Chick Spy.

Valerian Complete Collection vol 1

The French Valérian and Laureline science fiction comic book series was written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières. The series was immensely popular and ran from 1967 to 2010. It was inspired to some extent by the success of Jean-Claude Forest's Barbarella comics, but without the erotic overtones.

The setting is the 28th century. The city of Galaxity is the capital of Earth’s galactic empire. Science and technology have created unlimited prosperity. Government is in the hands of technocrats and scientists. In 1967 that sounded utopian. Today of course the idea of rule by technocrats and scientists sounds like a recipe for a dystopian nightmare.

The overwhelming majority of people do no work at all. They spend their entire lives in artificially induced dreams. Which also sounds a bit dystopian!

Valérian and Laureline are among the tiny majority who still do useful work. They are spatio-temporal secret agents who travel through space and time and act to prevent any tampering with time and space. Like Time Lords.

Bad Dreams was the first Valérian and Laureline adventure, published in the magazine Pilote in 1967. Valérian is sent back to the 11th century to apprehend a mad scientist, Xombul, who is making use of sorcery with the intention of taking over people’s dreams. He wants to shock them out of their dream existence (which might be a good thing but might be dangerous). And of course he wants supreme power for himself (which is definitely a bad thing).

Valérian meets a cute 11th century forest girl named Laureline. In the course of the adventure she is temporarily tuned into a unicorn and since as everybody knows unicorns can read minds she now knows that the world of the 28th century exists and she knows what it’s like. This means that she can no longer be permitted to remain in the Middle Ages, so she is recruited as a spatio-temporal agent. She and Valérian will henceforth operate as a team.

This first adventure is as much fantasy as science fiction with perhaps just a hint of the French concept of le fantastique. Magic is introduced without the least embarrassment.

The City of Shifting Waters and Earth in Flames, written in 1968, form a single adventure in two parts. Valérian and Laureline are sent to New York in 1986. Nobody really knows what happened in those times, prior to the 23rd century. That time period is a dangerous forbidden zone. They find a flooded Manhattan being looted by feral hippies.

Xombul has come up with another nefarious plan which has something to do with a lost scientific library. There are two scientific geniuses is this tale, Xombul the mad scientist and Schroeder the eccentric but certainly not evil young scientist who is on the verge of discovering the secret of time travel. Given that nothing is known of this time period perhaps at some stage he really did unlock the secret.

The American setting was not chosen randomly. Christin and Mézières had spent some considerable time in the United States and had picked up a love of the American landscape.

The third story, Empire of a Thousand Planets (dating from 1971), moves us into full-blown space opera territory. The planet Sirte is the centre of an interplanetary empire but the Sirtean had never discovered spatio-temporal travel. Now their empire is decaying. The prince’s rule is fragile and perhaps mostly illusory. The Merchants’ Guild is hatching conspiracies. And then there are the mysterious Enlighteneds, possibly a priestly caste with great powers but possibly something stranger.

It’s a confusing situation with no clearcut good guys and bad guys.

The first two stories are fun but a little tentative but by the third story the series has really hit its stride. Mézières’ visual style is becoming more confident and more flamboyant and Christin’s storytelling is becoming more ambitious. This is the European approach to comic books which is quite unconcerned with genre boundaries but very concerned with aesthetic style. Highly recommended.

In 2017 Luc Besson brought Valérian and Laureline to the big screen in the underrated Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Besson drops the time travel angle (which would have added too many complications) but he captures the overall feel of the comic wonderfully well.

Kingsley Amis's Girl, 20

Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) was at one time a very big deal indeed in the literary world. He now seems to have fallen very much out of fashion which is a great pity. Among other things he was one of the great comic writers, at his best the equal of Evelyn Waugh. Kingsley Amis also had the knack of pleasing both critics and the book-buying public.

Girl, 20 was published in 1971, to considerable critical acclaim.

The narrator is 33-year-old music critic Douglas Yandell but the book is dominated by the larger-than-life 54-year-old conductor Sir Roy Vandervane. Roy is both appalling and fascinating. He has achieved success and is a well-known public figure although the suspicion does attach itself to him that perhaps he has never lived up to his early promise and he has never quite reached the top rank as a conductor. He is a champagne socialist, an inveterate liar and an outrageous hypocrite. He has been a poor husband and a dismal father to his three children.

Douglas likes Roy but disapproves of him. Douglas is serious minded and fairly conventional in outlook and despises Roy’s political posturing.

Now Roy’s wife Kitty wants Douglas’s help. She fears that Roy has embarked on another of his “goes” this being her term for his affairs with younger women. He has had a long series of “goes” with progressively younger women. Kitty has at one time been one of his “goes” and she had succeeded in stealing him from his first wife. She fear that sooner or later one of these girls will steal Roy away from her for good.

Douglas becomes embroiled in Kitty’s plottings and in Roy’s. Roy has a way of manipulating people to do what he wants them to do. Even when you know what he is up to, and Douglas is most certainly aware, somehow you get sucked into his schemes anyway.

There are countless complications. There’s Douglas’s girlfriend Vivienne. There’s nothing serious between them but she suits him. There’s Roy’s eldest daughter Penny, whom Douglas tried to seduce a couple of years earlier. There’s Penny’s boyfriend.

And there’s Roy’s increasing involvement in hare-brained political activities. Roy is in danger of making a fool of himself in multiple ways. Douglas feels he has to save Roy from himself. That is not going to be easy and may prove to be impossible.

Amis was a great comic writer and this is a very funny book. It’s perhaps a satire but if so Amis has a large collection of targets in his sights.

I think it’s important not to fall into the trap that so many readers today fall into, of assuming that the narrator’s opinions coincide precisely with the author’s. Douglas Yandell is what would later come to be known as a “young fogey” - a young intellectual who ostentatiously adopts old-fashioned attitudes and outlooks and aesthetic tastes. Douglas is also an intellectual snob. His field is music and he has nothing but contempt for current pop music but this contempt extends to all 20th century music, including Mahler! Amis may have had some such tendencies but it would be a mistake to assume that Douglas is merely an authorial mouthpiece.

Douglas is saddened by Roy’s desperate attempts to ingratiate himself with the younger generation. Roy is certainly an absurd figure, but Douglas is somewhat absurd as well.

And while he disapproves of Roy’s womanising that doesn’t stop Douglas from doing his best to get into Roy’s daughter Penny’s pants. He is a bit of a hypocrite as well. Perhaps Douglas mostly disapproves not of Roy’s womanising, but of the clumsiness with which he goes about it.

Douglas despises Roy as a champagne socialist. Amis himself was at one time a communist. From the mid-50s onwards he moved steadily towards much more conservative views (bearing in mind that such words had totally different meanings in 1971) but what makes Roy ridiculous is the shallowness and opportunism of his views.

Amis cannot be accused of having a limited stereotypical view of women. The female characters cover a broad spectrum. Kitty is neurotic and manipulative. Vivienne is basically a nice girl. Penny is a bit of a mess but given the utter chaos of the Vandervane household that’s hardly surprising. Sylvia, the object of Roy’s lusts, is a horror but she’s young so she has some excuse.

Girl, 20 is definitely takes an acerbic view of the emerging hippie culture, but Amis’s views of the arty-intellectual elite are every bit as acerbic.

This is a very very funny book by one of the four great humorous writers of the 20th century (the others being P.G. Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh and Norman Lindsay). Very highly recommended.

Fritz Leiber’s Swords and Deviltry

Swords and Deviltry, published in 1970, is a collection of three of Fritz Leiber’s sword-and-sorcery tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

Leiber wrote a vast number of these stories beginning in 1939, with the final story being written in 1988. In 1970 the stories were collected in seven paperback volumes arranged in internal chronological order (which was wildly different from the publication order). Swords and Deviltry was the first of the seven volumes.

In these three tales we see two young men discovering their destinies, but this is sword-and-sorcery not high fantasy so while their destinies will involve deeds of heroism they’ll also involve a good deal of thieving. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are not exactly law-abiding citizens. In fact they’re rogues and criminals, but rogues not entirely lacking in honour.

Leiber was determined that if he was going to write sword-and-sorcery he was not going to write mere Conan pastiches. He created his own distinctive style of sword-and-sorcery.

Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were perhaps the single most important influence on the development of Dungeons and Dragons. The world of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser is the world of D&D, created by Leiber thirty years before anyone had thought of role-playing games.

The first story in this collection, the novella The Snow Women, was written in 1970 and it introduces us to Fafhrd. He is eighteen years old, a young giant, still dominated by his mother but chafing at this domination. Home for the Snow Clan is the frozen northern wastes. The Snow Women are witches.

Each year a travelling show arrives, much to the delight of the men and the horror of the women who strongly disapprove of fun of any sort.

Fafhrd has rescued a female dancer, Vlana, from the jealous wrath of the Snow Women and that is likely to cause a breach with his mother. Fafhrd is captivated by the free-spirited slightly wicked Vlana but he has been courting a local girl, Mara. He is caught between these two very different women.

This is a tale that give us a very detailed backstory on Fafhrd. I’m not necessarily a fan of detailed backstories but this one does set up some of the important themes of this story cycle. The clash between barbarian and civilised societies is a perennial theme of sword-and-sorcery with, usually, a contrast being drawn between the freedom, bravery and nobility of barbarians and the corruption and wickedness of civilisation. In this story Leiber turns that on its head. The Snow Clan is a society run entirely by women. It is a repressive stifling rules-obsessed pleasure-hating society. The Snow Women ruthlessly crush anyone who defies the rules.

Vlana comes from the world of civilisation, a world of freedom and pleasure and opportunity, a world to which Fafhrd longs to escape. Fafhrd wants to breathe free city air. This is the story of Fafhrd’s first steps on the road to adventure.

The short story The Unholy Grail had originally been published in 1962. This gives us the Gray Mouser’s backstory. He was a young man known as Mouse, an apprentice wizard. An apprentice to a very humble country wizard named Glavas Rho. He is teaching Mouse white magic although he suspects that the young man may well be tempted to dabble in darker forms of magic.

The cruel and ruthless local lord abhors wizards, for reasons connected to his now deceased wife - a woman he feared greatly. The duke both fears and hates his daughter Ivrian. And the daughter has formed a secret tentative romantic attachment to Mouse. This is a situation that is likely to end badly, and it does. 

This is a story of jealousy, betrayal, suspicion and revenge and the meek young man known as Mouse becomes a more morally ambiguous but much more formidable figure, the Gray Mouser.

In the third story, the novella Ill Met in Lankhmar, we find out how these two slightly disreputable adventurers meet. They are, independently, doing some freelance thieving in Lankhmar. A dangerous thing to do - the Thieves’ Guild deals ruthlessly with outsiders. Fafhrd is living with Vlana while the Mouser is shacked up with Ivrian.

Fafhrd had made an unwise vow to Vlana, to aid her in revenging herself on the Thieves’ Guild. And now Fafhrd and his new friend the Gray Mouser, having had rather too much to drink, have foolishly decided on a head-on clash with the Guild.

Leiber handles the sorcery elements extremely well. The Snow Women’s snow magic consists entirely of a mastery of the power of coldness. And you can be in the grip of sorcerous power without being aware of it.

Leiber’s sword-and-sorcery can switch very quickly between lighthearted adventure and real darkness. 

These three stories tell you all you need to know about what makes these two slightly disreputable slightly cynical heroes tick and will leave you thirsting for more of their adventures. Highly recommended.

Whitley Strieber's The Wolfen

The Wolfen is a 1978 horror novel by Whitley Strieber. The title suggests that this is going to be a werewolf story but it isn’t really. Or rather it is, but it’s a very very unconventional werewolf tale. And it’s unconventional in extremely interesting ways.

It starts with two New York cops on a routine duty in the auto pound. It’s very boring duty but it’s about the safest job in the whole NYPD. Or so they these two cops thought. Within minutes they’re torn to pieces. And eaten.

The detectives assigned to the case are Wilson and Becky Neff. Wilson is middle-aged, irascible, embittered, doesn’t approve of lady cops but he’s a brilliant detective. He doesn’t approve of Becky Neff until he has to grudgingly admit that she really does have a fine investigative brain. They bicker constantly, but they’re a great team. They hate each other, and they love each other.

This case is puzzling to say the least. The two dead cops were clearly killed by animals. Large powerful animals. Animals such as dogs. But they could not have been killed by dogs. Nothing about the way they were killed is consistent with a dog attack. Dogs just don’t operate that way. The department wants the case buried.

Then more bodies turn up. Wilson and Neff have found out a few things that make the case more puzzling. The animal tracks found nearby belong to no known species. It’s more and more obvious that it was an attack by a pack of animals, but a pack that behaves nothing like a pack of dogs. And nothing like a pack of wolves.

And then Wilson and Neff realise they’re being hunted. This is a story in which both sets of antagonists are both hunters and hunted.

The Chief Medical Examiner is baffled. Wilson and Neff turn to scientific experts for help. Dr Ferguson has a theory but he’s reluctant to reveal it. It’s too outlandish. The ridicule it would attract would end his career. But Wilson and Neff suspect his crazy theory is pretty close to the truth.

The Commissioner and the Chief of Detectives are too intent on playing politics to offer any assistance. In fact they’re planning to offer up the two detectives as scapegoats.

Becky Neff’s marital problems complicate things.

I’m not going to reveal what is really going on. It becomes clear quite early on but it’s more fun if you figure out it out at the same as the two detectives do so. It’s a very clever and original variation on the werewolf idea.

As in The Hunger Strieber gets us into the minds of non-human creatures. In this case the more we know about these creatures the more terrifying they are. And as in The Hunger he’s interested in the mindset of predators.

It’s also similar to The Hunger in its cynicism about power structures and the murky motivations of institutions.

The two cops are flawed but interesting. Becky Neff has a crooked cop husband to worry about but he’s not a crook in a straightforward way. Wilson isn’t conventionally likeable but we develop a certain respect for him and the relationship between the two detectives develops in intriguing ways.

There’s plenty of visceral horror but it isn’t gratuitous. We need to be appalled by the killings.

I haven’t read any of the UFO novels for which Strieber is best known but so far I’m very impressed by his horror fiction. The Wolfen is highly recommended.

I’ve also reviewed The Hunger.

Michael Crichton’s Binary

Binary, published in 1972, was Michael Crichton’s eleventh novel and the last that he wrote using the John Lange pseudonym. By this time Crichton was already a bestselling author following the huge success of The Andromeda Strain in 1969.

This is very much a techno-thriller. Technology plays a significant role but it’s all technology that actually existed in 1972. There’s a lot of fascinating stuff about the computer technology of that time. It deals with hacking. Hacking certainly went on at that time but it was a concept that had not yet entered public consciousness in a major way. Crichton always loved dealing with cutting-edge current technology rather than futuristic tech. He liked to be just a little ahead of the curve.

A State Department intelligence officer named John Graves has been in charge of a major surveillance operation. The target is John Wright. Wright is very wealthy and he’s a brilliant man but he does not appear to have broken any laws. This is something that makes Graves uncomfortable - he is not at ease with the idea of the American Government spying on its own citizens especially when they appear to be law-abiding citizens. Wright is under suspicion merely because he is the kind of man who might conceivably be a threat.

Wright is a political activist but like so many political activists his ideas are muddled and inconsistent. He seems to see himself as a political messiah. And while he has been careful to stay within the law there is now reason to suspect that he has now been involved at least indirectly in something illegal and genuinely worrying. Wright has a close associate, a man named Drew, who has been engaging in computer hacking. What’s worrying is that he has been hacking Defence Department computers. More worrying is that nobody can say for sure exactly what files he has been accessing, or why. When Graves figures that out it’s obvious that there is a very big problem indeed - Wright may be in possession of huge quantities of a terrifyingly potent nerve gas.

This is a political thriller but mostly it’s a psychological thriller. One of the files that has been hacked is Graves’ personal file. Graves realises that Wright’s primary motivation is game-playing. He is challenging Graves to a deadly game. Wright has been looking for a worthy opponent and Graves, a brilliant intelligence agent, qualifies on that count.

It’s possible that Wright doesn’t actually have any coherent political motive at all. He’s like a megalomaniac without a cause. What matters to Wright is winning the game and proving his towering genius to the world. He is probably quite insane. That could make Graves’ job extremely difficult except for the fortunate fact that Graves understands Wright’s madness. Graves is not insane, but in many ways his mind works the same way.

Wright has conceived a grandiose plan which consists of endless layers of complexity. Graves can never be sure how many further levels of fiendish complexity remain to be unraveled. And he can never be sure whether Wright is simply leading him on.

It’s a tense exciting story with plenty of fear but it’s Crichton’s handling of the psychological game-playing that makes it a great thriller. Graves and Wright are both great characters.

The nerve gas stuff is fascinating but it’s the 1972 computer tech that is most fun.

And there’s plenty of focus on bureaucratic madness, inter-agency rivalries and the catastrophic effects of the politicisation of every aspect of law enforcement and security.

Binary is superb entertainment. Very highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed quite a few of Crichton’s novels - The Andromeda Strain, Scratch One and The Terminal Man. I recommend these books very highly.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s Roadside Picnic

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s 1972 novel Roadside Picnic is one of the most important works of Soviet science fiction.

It’s a first contact story, but a very unconventional one.

The Visit only lasted a very short time. Aliens visited six sites on Earth and then departed as mysteriously as they had appeared. Those sites are known as the Zones. There was no communication whatsoever between humans and the aliens. There were casualties among the human populations but it was never clear that the aliens actually had hostile intentions.

The Zones are littered with alien artefacts. Visiting the Zones is very very dangerous. No-one understands the nature of the dangers but they are very real. Governments have successfully suppressed all knowledge of what went on in the Zones and of what the Zones contain. The truth is that scientists do not have the remotest idea of what the Visit meant or why it took place.

Uses have been found for some of the alien artefacts (such as batteries providing limitless energy) but nobody knows the real purposes for which these devices were intended.

Entering the Zones might be incredibly hazardous but where there’s a profit to be made there will be people wiling to take the risks. Such people are known as Stalkers. The scientists do not care to take such risks but they are willing to buy artefacts from Stalkers. And there is a thriving black market.

Redrick Schuhart is a Stalker. Redrick is an ambiguous hero with complex motivations. Money is one of his motivations, but not the most important.

One of his Redrick’s forays into the Zone almost ended in disaster. He managed to save his companion, Burbridge. Burbridge claims to know the location of the Holy Grail of artefacts, the Golden Sphere. Maybe he will tell Redrick how to find it. The rumour is that the Golden Sphere can grant wishes. That might be mere rumour, but some of these artefacts really can do impossible things.

Close contact with the Zones can have unexpected consequences. Children who are not quite normal. Even more frightening and puzzling, when people who were in the vicinity of the Visit movie away to other cities very strange things happen. Strange inexplicable impossible things.

There are some wild, bizarre and very imaginative ideas in this novel. It’s a novel that exists on the fringes of conventional science fiction.

There is also a certain amount of excitement and suspense. Death can come quickly and unexpectedly in the Zone. And maybe worse things.

You find yourself hoping that the authors will be able to come up with an ending worthy of all the cool ideas that they’ve thrown into the story. Sadly they do not do so. I found the ending to be bitterly disappointing.

The authors ran into considerable censorship proems in the Soviet Union even though they had gone to great lengths to avoid taking any ideological positions. There is a rather cynical tone to the novel, which might explain the censors’ hostility. The Visit is after all the subject of government cover-ups throughout the world.

Roadside Picnic was filmed in 1979 by Andrei Tarkovsky, as Stalker.

Roadside Picnic is extremely interesting and imaginative but the feeble ending robs it of true greatness. Still worth a read. Recommended.

Michael Crichton’s The Terminal Man

Michael Crichton’s science fiction techno-thriller The Terminal Man was published in 1972.

Michael Crichton (1942–2008) had broken through as a bestselling author with The Andromeda Strain in 1969. The Terminal Man sees Crichton once again drawing on his medical training (he qualified as a doctor but never practised). The Terminal Man is also the sort of thing Crichton really enjoyed doing - dealing with science and technology that already existed or was very very likely to exist in the near future.

Harry Benson suffers from psychomotor epilepsy. He has seizures but they affect his behaviour rather than having physical manifestations. He has blackouts lasting several hours and during those times he becomes extreme violent. He has already been in trouble with the police and now he has committed a brutal assault that could land him in prison. The University Hospital Neuro-Psychiatric Service (NPS) has offered him experimental brain surgery that will probably prevent these seizures.

The team at NPS believe that it’s the seizures that lead Benson, an otherwise peaceable man, to commit acts of extreme violence.

Benson will be the first human to undergo the procedure. The head surgeon, Dr Ellis, is very confident.

The team’s head psychiatrist, Dr Janet Ross, is not so sure. Benson has other problems. He has delusions. He is a brilliant but unstable computer technician and he believes that the machines are taking over. He is borderline psychotic. Dr Ross fear that as a result the results of the operation will be unpredictable. It might make Benson worse.

The operation involves planting electrodes in the brain, then later monitoring the brain waves to find out which electrodes will prevent seizures. When a seizure is coming on the electrode stimulates the appropriate area of the brain and the seizure is halted in its tracks.

The doctors overlooked a couple of things. These electrical stimulations can be pleasant. Very pleasant. Like an orgasm. And they overlooked the possibility that Benson could learn to provoke those stimulations. Which would mean he could just go on continually giving himself these stimuli. Which would in turn lead to a kind of brain overload which would provoke a seizure. And those seizures cause Benson to become uncontrollably and brutally violent. The NPS computer experts are confident none of these things can actually happen. Then they look at Benson’s brain waves and realise it is already happening.

And then Benson escapes from the hospital. Another thing that was overlooked was that Benson is a very very smart guy.

Now it’s a race against time. The computer predicts that within six hours Benson will reach that tip-over point and have a major seizure. Somebody could get very seriously hurt. The police will almost certainly become involved. There will be a public outcry about irresponsible scientists playing around with mind control. Dr Ellis’s career will be in ruins. The NPS may be shut down.

And Benson is psychotic. He has paranoid delusions about machines taking over the world. It is impossible to predict where he might go and what he might do. And he’s smart enough to cover his tracks.

This is not a mad scientist tale or even a warning about scientists playing God. Crichton was certainly not anti-science. It’s more a warning that the future can be predicted only up to a point. Society is too complex and human beings are too complex to allow accurate predictions. Any complex system is inherently unpredictable. Crichton isn’t suggesting that scientific and technological progress is bad but he is suggesting that a considerable degree of caution is required.

There’s also some fascinating and remarkably prescient speculation about machine intelligence being a dead end. It might turn out that genuine artificial intelligence will have to be biologically based rather than electronic. That’s one of the themes of the book - enhancing or modifying the brain has more potential than mere machines. That’s what Benson has done - he has learnt to modify his own brain function. Unfortunately he’s done in a chaotic manner that may lead to disaster.

This is classic Crichton - lots of fascinating technical stuff presented in an understandable manner, some ethical quandaries and a tense fast-moving thriller plot. Highly recommended.

I’ve also reviewed Crichton's The Andromeda Strain and Scratch One.

Malko 4: Malko versus the CIA

Malko 4: Malko versus the CIA is one of the handful of Malko spy thrillers by Gerard de Villiers that have been translated into English. It was originally published in French in 1965 as S.A.S. contre C.I.A. and the English translation dates from 1974.

His Serene Highness Prince Malko Ligne, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Knight of the Black Eagle, Knight of the Order of Landgrave Seraphim of Kletgaus, Knight of the Order of Malta works on a semi-official basis for the C.I.A. - semi-official so that the C.I.A. can plausibly deny everything afterwards. They trust Malko because he’s reliably anti-communist. Malko has no great interest in causes and he regards the C.I.A. with a certain amount of European aristocratic disdain but they pay well and he needs the money to repair his crumbling ancestral castle. He also likes women, the sorts of women who cost as much to maintain as a decaying castle.

French spy fiction of this period is interesting because the C.I.A. are not automatically the good guys and the Soviets are not automatically the bad guys. In this book the Russians are more or less good guys but mostly they just want to avoid getting mixed up in a mess that the Americans have created.

The mess is in Iran. This novel was written in 1965, years before the Islamic Revolution. Iran is under the control of the Shah, who was installed in power by the C.I.A. some years before. The Shah is little more than Washington’s puppet.

In this novel Malko is working for the C.I.A. to foil a plot by - the C.I.A. More specifically they have information that the C.I.A.’s Iranian bureau chief General Schalberg has hatched a plan to overthrow the government of Iran, on his own initiative. Given that Iran is a reliable U.S. puppet state this information is very upsetting. The worst thing is that the C.I.A. really don’t know exactly what is going on. General Schalberg might be the instigator of the crazy plot. The head of the Iranian secret police, General Khadjar, might be involved. The Russians might have fed the Americans phoney information about this plot. The Iranian communists are probably not involved since the Shah has had almost all of them killed.

The plot might involve the assassination of the Shah. And revolution. Revolutions are easy to set off but not so easy to control.

It doesn’t matter who originated the plot, it must be stopped. If Malko needs to do some killing that’s OK. That’s why the C.I.A. gives him these jobs - dirty jobs are his specialty. If he has to kill the rogue C.I.A. guy that’s OK as well.

Of course you know that Malko is going to get mixed up wth beautiful dangerous women. Beautiful Iranian women can be very dangerous - they tend to have husbands, fathers or brothers who don’t approve of decadent European aristocrats bedding their women. But you know Malko won’t be able to help himself.

There’s plenty of action including a wild aerial climax. There’s a full-scale gun battle. There is mayhem in the streets. Malko has narrow escapes. He is up against people for whom torture is not just a policy but an absorbing hobby.

In this adventure Malko doesn’t have to worry too much about the morality of any of the people or factions involved. They’re all equally amoral. It doesn’t matter if revolution against the Shah is justified or not - if the country explodes it will be a disaster for everybody. All Malko has to worry about is preventing that explosion.

I’m becoming a major fan of the Malko thrillers. They feature a hero who’s a bit morally ambiguous and somewhat ruthless but charming and deadly. Plenty of thrills. Some sexiness. Exotic settings. Interesting historical backgrounds. Morally complex stories. What’s not to love? Malko versus the CIA is an above-average spy thriller and it’s highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed three other Malko novels - West of Jerusalem, The Man from Kabul and Angel of Vengeance.

Modesty Blaise: The Iron God and The Wicked Gnomes

Two more Modesty Blaise comic-strip adventures by Peter O’Donnell from 1973 and 1974, The Wicked Gnomes and The Iron God, reprinted by Titan Books in 1989.

By this time Enrique Badía Romero was well established as the Modesty Blaise artist (the original artist Jim Holdaway having passed away in 1970). Apparently O’Donnell would write the comic strips accompanied by crude stick-figure illustrations to give an idea of the action. They would then be sent to Spain where Romero would do the art work. The arrangement worked because right from the start Romero “got” Modesty Blaise. He knew exactly what O’Donnell wanted.

Romero’s style was subtly different from Holdaway’s but Romero maintained the essential feel.

The Wicked Gnomes was published in the Evening Standard from May to September 1973. Maude Tiller is a cute British spy who worked on a previous case with Modesty and Willie. Now she and Willie are having a romantic weekend together, until Maude is kidnapped by Salamander Four. Salamander Four is a freelance International espionage group, very efficient, very ruthless and totally without ethics. Modesty has crossed swords with them before. In this case the Salamander Four operatives are two very creepy killers.

Their plan is to exchange Maude for Pauline Brown, a communist spy currently serving a prison sentence in Britain. Tarrant, the British secret service chief for whom Modesty and Willie often work on a freelance basis, knows that there’s no way to stop Modesty and Willie from being involved. He assumes they’ll do the logical thing and start trying to find Maude to rescue here but Modesty has a much more unconventional plan in mind. Tarrant would not approve, so she doesn’t tell him.

Modesty ends up in a magic grotto dressed as a fairy queen. She’s done crazier things.

A good story with some nice touches and some decent action and Maude Tiller is a fun character. You don’t want to make Maude angry. She’s a sweet girl but she is after all a trained killer.

The Iron God appeared in the Evening Standard between October 1973 and February 1974. Both Modesty and Willie are in Papua where their light plane has to make a forced landing. They encounter a Papuan nurse who is in a lot of trouble. The local tribe isn’t very friendly. They’re head hunters, and they’re being led by a mad bad Irishman, O’Mara.

O’Mara is there because of the Iron God. I won’t spoil things by telling you what the Iron God is but you can see why O’Mara is so interested in it. And he has need of certain skills that Modesty and Willie possess.

Modesty and Willie have to do some quick thinking.

There’s quite a clever little plot here. If Modesty and Willie do what O’Mara wants he will then kill them so they have to play for time and that’s quite a challenge.

A very good story.

In fact they’re both fine stories. The Modesty Blaise formula was well and truly established by this time - exotic locales, colourful villains, outlandish criminal schemes, plenty of action, a hint of romance and a touch of sexiness. And plots that invariably hinge on the extraordinary communication and understanding between Modesty and Willie. Modesty Blaise fans will enjoy these tales. Highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed other early Modesty Blaise comic-strip collections, The Gabriel Set-Up, Warlords of Phoenix and The Black Pearl, as well as the first three novels - Modesty Blaise, Sabre-Tooth and I, Lucifer.

John Norman's Assassin of Gor

Assassin of Gor, published in 1970, is the fifth of John Norman’s Gor novels. The Gor series needs to be read in publication order so I’m going to be very careful not to hint at any spoilers for the earlier books.

Tarl Cabot is from Earth. He ends up on Gor, a hitherto unknown planet in out solar system. Gorean society is quite primitive. The technological level seems to be roughly equivalent to that of the classical world. There are no cars or aircraft or firearms or radio. But it’s actually more complicated than that. There is high technology on Gor. Very advanced technology indeed. But the Goreans do not have access to it

There are competing and often warring city-states. The Goreans are human but the animals are not those of the Earth. The animals include tarns - gigantic carnivorous birds that can be tamed (up to a point) and ridden. They constitute a kind of flying mediaeval heavy cavalry.

Tarl Cabot is in the city of Ar. He has gone there to kill a man, but he has another more important mission. He is accompanied by Elizabeth Caldwell, an Earth girl who appeared in an earlier Gor novel. Tarl and Elizabeth have to infiltrate themselves into the retinue of the current ruler of the city.

The situation in Ar is in reality not quite as it appears to Tarl and Elizabeth. They’re in more danger than they think. And they haven’t been quite as clever as they thought.

There will be lots of betrayals and lots of mayhem including an epic blood-drenched tarn race which is a bit like the chariot races in Ancient Rome but with gigantic flying birds.

John Norman (born John Frederick Lange Jr in 1931) is a philosophy professor. With the Gor novels he created a thrilling world of sword-and-planet adventure owing quite a bit to Edgar Rice Burroughs but he was also sneaking in various philosophical and cultural influences. Norman cited Homer, Freud, and Nietzsche as his major influences.

There’s more to these novels than there appears to be on the surface.

It is also very important not to be tempted into knee-jerk reactions by the controversial elements. It’s also important not to take these books at face value and jump to the conclusion that Norman was advocating the cultural practices he described. If you avoid those knee-jerk reactions it’s obvious that Tarl Cabot is very ambivalent indeed about Gorean culture.

One of the things Norman was trying to do was to create fictional societies that are genuinely alien. In this series there are two - the Goreans (who are human) and the Priest-Kings (who are very very non-human). Both societies are culturally very different from societies on Earth. He was intent on examining Gorean society in a great deal of detail. We get a huge amount of information about the taming of the tarns and their use in both sport and war. And having created culturally different fictional societies he was prepared to explore the ramifications of those cultural differences.

Which brings us to the slavery issue. In Gor female slavery is taken for granted. Of course in most human societies for most of human history slavery was taken for granted but on Gor the female slaves are unequivocally sex slaves. It’s the suggestion that some (not most, but some) are not entirely unhappy about the arrangement that shocks many people. Norman explains the workings of slavery on Gor in enormous detail. In this book Elizabeth has to play the role of Tarl’s slave. And he really does, to an extent, train her as a slave. They both enjoy it, and she certainly enjoys being tied up. But of course they are in fact playing a game.

Norman is exploring some of the sides of both masculinity and femininity that make people today so uncomfortable.

The Gor books are certainly provocative but sometimes we need provocative fiction. Assassin of Gor is highly recommended but you must read the earlier books first.

I’ve reviewed all the earlier books in this series - Tarnsman of Gor, Outlaw of Gor, Priest-Kings of Gor and Nomads of Gor.

Paul Tabori's Demons of Sandorra

Demons of Sandorra is a 1970 science fiction novel by Paul Tabori.

Paul Tabori (1908- 1974) was a prolific Hungarian-born British writer who also occasionally used the pseudonym Peter Stafford.

There’s quite a bit of sexual content in Demons of Sandorra but this is definitely not a sci-fi sleaze novel. It’s a dystopian novel with some post-apocalyptic overtones. The setting is one of those utopias that is really a dystopia (of course all utopias inevitably become dystopias) but no-one will admit that their society is dystopian.

The setting is Sandorra, a tiny independent country only it isn’t really independent because there’s a single global government, but nobody admits that. Everybody pretends that independent nations still exist.

This is the story of an attractive young woman named Yolanda Vernon who seems to have a bright future in front of her. She has however started to display disturbing and distressing signs of sanity. Sanity is of course a disorder that usually responds well to therapy. The important thing is to spot the symptoms early and seek treatment immediately.

This is a world that, in the wake of a nuclear war, proceeded to build a perfect new society. The basis of this society would be Synthetism, a psychological theory which rejects reason entirely. Instinct rather than reason should be the guiding principle of both individual and group behaviour. This is also a society that has rejected normality. In this society sanity and normality are regarded as serious mental illnesses.

Marriage and monogamy are also regarded as dangerous deviations. Heterosexuality is tolerated although exclusive heterosexuality is considered dangerously eccentric.

The Synthetists have created a society in which all sexual pleasures can be indulged. Even sexual predation is permitted although you do have to buy a licence. The Synthetist have found ways in which all citizens can open the Gates, the Gates being the pathway to fulfilment. This includes the ultimate Gate.

The end result is a soft totalitarian society in which non-conformism has become compulsory, so non-conformism is now conformism. Sanity is insanity and insanity is sanity. Normality is abnormal and abnormality is normal.

This is a world of therapy, but the therapy is intended to keep people insane.

Privacy has been abolished. It’s considered undemocratic.

Yolanda has a good job at the Lethe Institute. It’s very satisfying being able to help people. Her job is to open the ultimate Gate to those who have passed the appropriate tests and have waited patiently for their turn. The ultimate Gate is of course Death.

This is clearly satire. It’s meant to be amusing and it is. But there’s a serious purpose as well. It does raise all kinds of questions about conformity and authoritarianism and social engineering, and sexual indulgence versus sexual repression. And what it means to be sane or insane, and the conflict between the overwhelming human desires for both freedom and conformity. Also the ticklish problem that there is a need for order but order always leads to repression.

And it develops these ideas in surprisingly complex and nuanced ways. It doesn’t present the various opposing concepts in a simplistic black-and-white manner. Readers are left to make up their own minds. Life is messy and every attempt to reduce the messiness of life just creates new problems. And revolutions don’t always turn out they way you’d hoped, and you can’t predict where they’ll lead.

As the story progresses it becomes crazier, but in interesting ways.

This future society does of course have some unsettling resemblances to the world of today.

Demons of Sandorra is wild stuff but it’s inspired wildness and I was sufficiently impressed to order several more of Tabori’s books. Highly recommended.

The author’s witchcraft potboiler, The Wild White Witch (written as Peter Stafford), has a similar deceptive feel - it seems trashy on the surface but has more substance to it than you’re expecting. I recommend it as well.

Peter O’Donnell’s Pieces of Modesty

Pieces of Modesty, published in 1972, was Peter O’Donnell’s first Modesty Blaise short story collection. By this time he had already written five extremely popular Modesty Blaise novels.

There are six short stories in this collection and they’re rather varied in tone and approach.

The first story, A Better Day To Die, begins on a bus on a remote road somewhere in Latin America. For the whole trip Modesty has been subjected to a lecture by a clergyman on the evils of violence, and on her own wickedness in resorting so often to violence. The reverend gentleman is escorting a party of schoolgirls.

A shot rings out, the bus driver is dead, and Modesty and her fellow passengers are now prisoners of a rag-tag but trigger-happy party of guerrillas, although really they’re not much more than glorified bandits. Modesty would be a lot happier if the clergyman had not seized her little .25 automatic and tossed it into the bushes. The clergyman assures her that it is always wrong to meet violence with violence.

This story is interesting in showing a very ruthless side to both Modesty and Willie Garvin. They don’t enjoy killing (Modesty does end up respecting the clergyman’s courage in sticking to his non-violent principles). But when it’s clear to them that lethal force is justified they become merciless and efficient killing machines.

Modesty also displays some slightly shocking touches of cynicism. Or perhaps not cynicism - perhaps merely an acceptance of brutal realities. An excellent story.

The Giggle-wrecker is outlandish and even whimsical. It starts in a straightforward manner. A Japanese scientist who defected to the Soviets a decade earlier now wants to defect back to the West. He’s now in hiding in East Berlin. Getting him out is quite possible but would involve a major operation which would put the British espionage network in East Germany at risk. Tarrant, the British spymaster for whom Modesty often does jobs, doesn’t want to take that risk.

The alternative to a major operation would be to get a couple of unconventional talented freelancers to do the job. Freelancers like Modesty and Willie. They encounter unexpected and frustrating problems until Willie has a brainwave. His idea is pure madness but it might work. A light but amusing tale.

I Had a Date with Lady Janet is narrated by Willie Garvin. He has a new girlfriend, a charming girl with one leg. Then a nightmare from the past catches up with him - Rodelle, a very unpleasant man he thought he’d killed, isn’t dead after all. Rodelle wants revenge but he intends to strike at Willie through Modesty whom he has kidnapped.

There’s lot of mayhem in a crumbling old baronial house in Scotland. And it really is literally crumbling. A story very much about the unusual but intense Modesty-Willie friendship and quite exciting as well.

A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck is mostly a story of Willie and Modesty trying to find a way to help their friends John Collier and Dinah without appearing to help them (there’s nothing worse than being put in the position of seeming to be asking for help). There have been a series of spectacular robberies, which may turn out to be the perfect opportunity.

It also offers a reminder that Willie and Modesty are not cops or government agents. Their attitude towards the law is decidedly flexible. A fairly enjoyable story.

In Salamander Four Modesty gets mixed up in industrial espionage after a wounded man shows up on the doorstep of the remote Finnish cabin she is sharing with a renowned sculptor named Hemmer. He’s doing a sculpture of her. She’s giving him lots of encouragement in the bedroom and out of it.

The wounded man, Waldo, is an old rival from her criminal past. A rival but a friendly rival. Waldo’s troubles are none of her business but she doesn’t take kindly to attempt to kill people she knows socially. A pretty decent story.

The Soo Girl Charity is a story in which Modesty’s bottom plays as crucial role. It goes without saying that Modesty has a very nice bottom. She has no great objections to having it admired. Even a gentle friendly pinch is something she can take her in her stride. But this was different. What business Charles Leybourn did to Modesty’s bottom was neither gentle nor friendly.

Modesty and Willie decide that Leybourn needs to be taught a lesson in manners. Their plan involves stealing. They haven’t stolen anything for such a long time so this sounds like fun.

It turns out that there is more than bottom-pinching going on.

This is the best story in the collection. There are several twists, including a very nice one at the end.

Pieces of Modesty is an interestingly varied collection and is highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed three early Modesty Blaise comic-strip collections, The Gabriel Set-Up, Warlords of Phoenix and The Black Pearl, as well as the first five novels - Modesty Blaise, Sabre-Tooth, A Taste for Death, The Impossible Virgin, And I, Lucifer.

Peter Stafford’s The Wild White Witch

If historical fiction is fun and sleaze fiction is fun then if you combine the two you’ll get double the enjoyment. It’s not surprising that historical sleaze enjoyed quite a vogue for a while. Peter Stafford’s 1973 novel The Wild White Witch is a satisfyingly outrageous representative of the breed.

And it’s not just historical sleaze - this is a story of madness and lust in the tropics where the hot sun unleashes forbidden passions.

Peter Stafford was a pen name used by the fairly prolific Hungarian-born writer Paul Tabori (1908-1974). There was another author named Peter Stafford active at the same (who wrote books on psychedelics) so there is some potential for the two to get confused.

In 1830 Jeremy Radlett, the 22-year-old youngest son of a Scottish laird, receives an invitation to join his uncle Richard at his estate in Jamaica. No member of the family has seen nor heard anything of Richard Radlett for decades but he has apparently prospered in the West Indies and being childless he intends to make young Jeremy his heir. Jeremy takes ship for Jamaica.

Jeremy is in for some surprises when he reaches Rosehall, his uncle’s sugar plantation. His uncle is dead but has left a beautiful young widow, Melissa. Melissa has inherited the estate.

Jeremy is obviously disappointed but is persuaded to stay on as a guest. Jeremy is rather an innocent and the brutal realities of planation life shock him.

Jeremy is an innocent in other ways as well. He is a virgin. He knows little of sex but he does know that no decent woman enjoys it. He is in for quite an awakening when Melissa takes him to her bed. Her sexual appetites are voracious. Jeremy had no idea that such pleasures were possible.

There are a few problems. It’s fairly clear that the brutal overseer Arkell had been accustomed to sharing Melissa’s bed. Arkell is not at all happy about relinquishing his position as Melissa’s bed partner. He will make a dangerous enemy. And the slave population may be planning to revolt.

Then Jeremy discovers the secret door, which leads to an underground cavern. He witnesses rites so depraved that he is scarcely able to believe them. Surely Melissa could not be connected in any way with such things.

Given the setting you might expect voodoo to figure in this tale, but this is essentially a witchcraft story.

The setting is a society based on slavery but the book goes out of its way to make its abhorrence for slavery obvious so don’t make the mistake of having a knee-jerk reaction to the subject matter.

There is plenty of graphic sex and assorted debaucheries and depravities. Jeremy’s bedroom romps with Melissa are steamy to say the least. This is one of those sleaze novels that promises all manner of lurid delights and thrills and this one delivers the goods.

There’s a memorably depraved villain (or villainess - I’m not going to tell you which it is).

You can’t really go wrong with an overcooked extra-sleazy tropical gothic melodrama. It’s a formula that works for me. And this one is nicely scuzzy and it’s done with a reasonable amount of style and energy.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Wild White Witch. Highly recommended.