QUICK SHOTS: Predator by Dick (Steve Perry) Flint

Before the pulps, there were the Dime Novels, cheap disposable bawdy tales of western heroes, detective tales and more. They were basically ground zero for the fiction that I review here. Obviously, time passes and things change, interests move to radio, movies, TV and now the cesspool that is the internet. Reading changed, dime novels turned into pulps, pulps to paperback and paperback to eBook. Except...in 1990 when the Dime Novel came back. Sorta.

Randy Byrd was an entrepreneur and former pizza parlor owner. He had an idea to crack into the impulse-purchase market for reading materials. Watch out Archie. He created a new format for Dime Novels. They were small paperbacks, roughly the size of a cassette tape, which was the style at the time, and selling them cheap. He set out with a line-up of books, all marked with their genre, including westerns, mysteries, horror, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, thrillers and five types of romance: historical, sensual, glitz, suspense and sweet or traditional romance. It was a grand idea, that like a lot of grand ideas sorta fizzled out and was mostly forgotten. 

Theres a few titles in the Dime Novels range that appeal the bloody, spicy reader. High Hat and Dead Ringer by Greg Mandel, one a private eye tale with The Pope as the detective, the other with Elvis. One of the others is Predator (not the monster) by Dick Flint. Dick Flint is not really a cartoon character (see photo) but noted science-fiction author Steve Perry. Perry has written Star Wars novels, Indiana Jones novels, Aliens novels, Tom Clancy's NetForce, and his own Matador series. He's also written Predator (the monster) novels. And a lot of the cartoons I watched as a kid (and some as an adult) The Real Ghostbusters, Batman: The Animated Series, Godzilla: The Series and a Conan cartoon. He even wrote the novelization to the Jim Carrey movie, The Mask. That's a fine career. 

For Dime Novels, Perry also wrote the Fantasy entry, The Hero's Curse under his own name. But what about Predator? Well, imagine a Hard-R version of Pheonix Force or Able Team meets Knight Rider but on a boat. There's a tough team of commandos who work a shadowy organization with a big checkbook that has given them The Predator, which is the name of the boat. It's got big 'ol guns, top-of-the-line-90s-computers, and colorful crew members. There's an Australian, and a professor and the tough commander. Throw in a lovely female undercover agent who's topless a lot and then send them out to hunt down Viper who's dealing drugs or maybe something worse. 

Like Able Team, each team member has their quirks, one doesn't carry a gun only throwing knives, one's a nerd, one loves the boat engine, etc. etc. The female undercover agent is pretty competent, even though she used to be a stripper and also lead the story gratuitous nudity. The villain is right evil and has a back-story with the hero. Perry really crams a lot of stuff it in the tiny book. It's basically a short story and yet there's multiple gunfights and sneaky around and witty banter. It feels like a really good R-Rated episode of an 80s action TV show like the A-Team or the aforementioned Knight Rider. So, right up my alley.

I enjoyed it immensely. I really wish there was more short-Men's Adventure fiction. It's a nice palate cleanser between novels. I enjoyed Perry's writing style and will have to add him to the ever-growing list of authors to check out thoroughly. The Dime Novels experiment is really cool; it's a forefather to Kindle's Short Reads or Rapid Read novels or the various attempts to get people to read via low page count. I don't know how well it works either. Nowadays the various Dime Novel titles are sorta hard to track down, they must have had low-print runs. High Hat by Greg Mandell is available as a new paperback and eBook, but I don't think any of the rest are. Shame. 

And once again, my first novel Gunpowder Breath by Kilroy is available on Amazon as an eBook. The print version is coming soon. I'm low in the algorithm, but I've found typing "Gunpowder Breath kindle" makes it pop up every time. It's a 5-Star book at the moment (thanks, mom!) so be sure to check it out. Here's the awesome cover drawn by my incredible wife!