QUICK SHOTS: The Executioner #68: Prairie Fire by Don (Mike Newton) Pendleton

It had been a while since I dug into a Mack Bolan, and I figured as the year closed (I read this last week) I might as well ring it out with something I'd been meaning to read for a while. Prairie Fire has a good reputation within the series. Plus, it takes place in my home state of Kansas so, I've always been hankering to check it out. But I don't buy Executioner books online. They are plentiful around my book-buying parts and are often under a dollar, so I scrounge around and eventually come up with the ones I want. 

So, I've had this one on my TBR pile for six months after paying a quarter for it at my local's clearance rack with a stack of other Mack's. I usually just go to the copyright page and check out who actually wrote them and go by that. Picking up mostly the ones by Mike Newton, Stephen Mertz, Chet Cunningham and the like. I knew this one was my next Mack Bolan, but it was just a matter of time. 

I've dug Mike Newton's work in the field for a while, in both fiction and his awesome non-fiction book, How to Write Action Adventure Novels. I got into his stuff from his early work Terror at Boulder Dam from Carousel Books. Newton's a very solid writer of men's adventure and westerns; his stuff is meat and potatoes. Delicious tales that go down easy with some substance to them. This was the first Bolan I've read from him, and it won't be my last. 

Prairie Fire picks up in medias res with Bolan escaping the clutches of this book's evildoers. I haven't read #67 so I don't really know if it's a continuation of that book, but you don't really need to know. Bolan explains that he's on the run again, from the mob, the feds and anyone else evil. Here, the evil dick is The Cowboy, a mercenary who grew up watching westerns and decided to model is whole vibe off it. So, hat, mirrored shades, western clothes and a shiny Smith and Wesson M29 .44 Magnum. He's a worthy opponent to our buddy Mack and a real slimy bastard you want to see get his componence. 

Mack finds himself in an isolated farmhouse with a crotchety old WWII vet, his nice lady wife and their conveniently widowed (and hot) daughter-in-law. Gee, I wonder what happens with her and Mack. Besides some random henchmen that's our whole cast of characters, which is pretty refreshing since a lot of Men's Adventure can get bogged down in side characters and extra plots. This one's a straight-ahead siege tale, like Mack Bolan starring in Assault on Precinct 13. Mack doesn't have all his gear, making do with a pump-action .22 and some MacGyver'd grenades. It's a real quick tale that barrels to its finish with a little humor and a lot of action.

In a lot of ways this feels like a modern action tale with its stripped-down feeling, you could easily see this being a DTV action film starring Michael Jai White or Scott Adkins. It might have been a great place to start a film series for Bolan back in the 80s, certainly would have been cheap enough to film. I think I like these early Gold Eagle's before it became such a factory set up and the early authors like Newton and Mertz actually knew Pendleton and made some effort to mold his style into the house style. But they're a little looser too with great ideas like this one and Mertz's Return to Vietnam.  

I'm far from a Bolan expert, but I always enjoy dipping my toe into the waters occasionally. This might be my favorite Executioner novel I've read, even more so than some of Pendleton's own work. It's exactly what I want when I pick up this kind of novel. It moved, the characters were well-defined within the story, and action ruled. This copy had an ad to join and get the "Live Large" bumper sticker in it and if the offer was still valid, I'd send away for it for sure. 

And my now traditional sign-off, my first novel Gunpowder Breath is available on Amazon as an eBook!

Top Ten Stand-Alone Men Adventure Novels

Recently there was a big tornado scare at my house, it looked like it was going to Mucho-trouble. While getting the house battened down, I looked over at my "good" shelf, the bookshelf with the rare books and the cherished books. Panic struck and I had to squirrel away some choice books that I wouldn't want to be without. These aren't exclusively those books, but some are. Luckily the tornado never showed up and my books (and family of wife and cats) were fine. But it got me thinking about top ten lists and savers.

So, I decided to make up a little list. Now, I saved series titles for another list in the future, just focusing on stand-alones and series hopefuls. You know, where the weird stuff lies. Since I covered most of these books on the blog, it's a little primer to all the old reviews. Compiling the list was interesting as patterns emerged. I like private eyes; I hate Nazi's and love the 70s.

So, here's a list, the numbers don't matter. I can split hairs that much. 

1. Shark Fighter by Nicolas (Len Levinson) Brady

Len Levinson is a legend in the field. All of his books are incredibly enjoyable, especially his entries in the Sharpshooter and Ryker/SuperCop Joe Blaze series. But this is his crowning achievement. It's a wonderful mash-up of 70s obsessions, an Evel Knievel-style stuntman, Jaws-born shark frenzy, drug running, sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. It's a wild nail-biter when Taggart (the titular shark fighter) agrees to fight a shark on T.V. but he's also tangled up with women and non-shark related danger. It's a perfect rollicking manly tale.  

2. Dragon's Fist by Jim (Denny O'Neill) Dennis

Denny O'Neill wrote a lor of comic books and not so many novels. Also, most of those novels featured established comic book characters. This one is actually the origin of a comic character, Richard Dragon Kung-Fu Master who worked his way into the DC universe, thought never really used to his potential. Denny is a fantastic adventure writer (his take on Batman in the 70s is a favorite and a lot of the times feels very James Bond-inspired) and Dragon's Fist is Kung-Fu cinema on the page. It's my favorite over-all Kung-Fu book. It's a thrill-ride full of tons of fighting, a little introspection and characters you want to spend time with.  

3. Death of the Fuhrer by Roland Puccetti

I recently wrote a whole post about my love for this one, so I won't get too far into the weeds with it. But this is my all-time favorite Men's Adventure novel, as it has everything I like and its totally bananas. I suppose if your hero is out to kill Adolf Hitler and then fuck-up some Nazi shit, I'm there. Plus, there's brain transplants, sex baronesses, dark castles, motorcycle escapades. What more could you want in a pulp novel?

4. Cut by Jerry (Laurence James & John Harvey) Bronson

James Laurence and John Harvey, two British pulp writers in the 70s (though Harvey went and got respectable later) teamed up to produce the most distilled hard-boiled, grimy private eye tale I have ever read. It's a slim volume where P.I. Frank Regan uses his .44 Magnum (sometimes .45, two writers give 'em a break) to break up a snuff film ring. This is a dark, twisted Grindhouse movie on the page. It's got sleaze dripping off of it when you pull it off the shelf. It's also mean and violent. It moves so fast because it seems like the two writers were just trying to one-up themselves the whole time. So, it's the good stuff. 

5. Blaster: The Girl with the Dynamite Bangs by Lou Cameron

Lou Cameron is a writer with a tone of books to his name, mostly westerns. This was an attempt to make a "blue-collar" Men's Adeventure protagonist for the working-class Schmoes who read these books back in the day. So, its stars a construction demolition expert. I got three neighbors who do that same thing. Boomer Green is the titular Blaster who's down in South America tangling with old Nazi's and new Nazi plots. He keeps a .25 pistol in his shirt pocket and a lady on his arm. The occupational change is a nice switch from the various vigilantes, spies and mercenaries that usually star in these books. and you know what? Explosions are cool.

6. Terror at Boulder Dam by Vince (Mike Newton) Robinson

This one comes out of the Mafia-front publisher Carousel and is one of the first works by noted adventure writer Mike Newton who later wrote books in the Executioner and Destroyer series. This is another private eye tale, where Las Vegas detective Brad Kendall comes up against a plot to blow up the (you guessed it) Boulder Dam by a group of KKK-like dickholes. There's plenty of barfights, showgirls, and gun-filled showdowns. It's a full-tilt boogie.

7. Dachau Treasure by Anthony DeStefano

Anthony DeStefano is mostly known for his kickass Mondo series of martial books. He was also a painter who did work with paperback covers. Dachau Treasure stars Stosh Jacobs, his eye-patch and his .44 Magnum. Stosh hunts down Nazi's and kills them after his experience in the Dachau concentration camp as a child. He's after the titular treasure to return it to the rightful heirs and to, again, kill Nazi's along the way. It's a wonderful slice of grimy pulp with action, gore and of (yet again) Nazi killin' along the way. 

8. The Sundance Murders by Peter McCurtin 

Peter McCurtin burned up the typewriter back in the 70s, penning way too many tough guy books to count. And that's all in-between being an editor at Belmont-Tower. Somewhere in there he wrote The Sundance Murders. it stars Berger, a sleazy tabloid reporter who keeps a cut-down Walther P-38 under his coat and has a nose for trouble. He's a classic McCurtin character. He drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney, the ladies love him, and he likes trouble. It's pretty much a modern western, complete with terrible stereotypical depictions of Native Americans, which is a bummer. But Berger is a fun character, and I'm convinced he was originally the main character in the novel The Camp, which was started by McCurtin and finished by Len Levinson

9. Diamondback by James Reasoner 

Diamondback is a one-and-done (actually never printed until much later) Men's Adventure series by the always readable James Reasoner. Reasoner's novel Texas Wind is one of my favorite private eye novels of all time. This one feels like an 80s action TV show that never was. Tom Sloane is suddenly an ex-cop whose itchy trigger finger had gotten him in trouble. After some shenanigans he finds himself in the employee of a rich dude who wants his own action hero to take down the bad guys. So, Sloane gets guns, a battle van and takes on a paramilitary organization all by his lonesome. The Texas setting sets it apart from the rest of the pack of heroes at the time. It's a real shame this one didn't have multiple sequels. 

10. A Run in Diamonds by Alex (Bill Pronzini) Saxon

Bill Pronzini is a master mystery writer, who's rather soft-boiled series about the Nameless Detective is just wonderful, even if he doesn't shoot or punch people. With, A Run in Diamonds, Pronzini was tapping into his love of the pulp Black Mask by writing a well-seasoned crime tale about Carmody, a bodyguard/smuggler living in Majorca. He gets in involved with beautiful women and dangerous deals. This one reads like an updated 50s Fawcett Gold Medal paperback and was supposed to be the first in a series, hence the pseudonym. Carmody got a little bit of a comeback when Pronzini had the book reprinted (and edited) in hardback with a couple of short stories. 

Quick Shots: Terror at Boulder Dam by Vince Robinson (Mike Newton)

Carousel Books was a short-lived publisher of which I heard it was imprint of a porn publisher, details are few and far between in my internet detecting. Please fill me in if you know any more.  The books a generally the same size of a mass market paperback but feel weird in the hand. The binding is sharper. It's like the first time you hold a Pan paperback or New English Library vs. a Gold Medal or a Pyramid Paperback. I don't know what that has to do with anything but I figured I should note it for the future generations to log in the history of the cosmos.

Anywho, Vince Robinson wrote a few books for Carousel and sometimes he was Mike Newton, sometimes it seems he wasn't. Newton is a prolific author of books just in the Men's Adventure realm he wrote "The Executioner," "MIA Hunter," and "VICAP" to name a few. That leaves out tons of Westerns, true crime and other books. Check out his website to see everything he wrote. The short lived "Intersect File" series was a Newton/Carousel joint and I got an example of that series coming after burning through "Terror at Boulder Dam." Good pulp fun awaits me, I'm sure.

"Terror at Boulder Dam" starts off going 90 miles an hour and never lets up. I haven't read a a novel that moves this fast in a long while. Brad Kendall a Las Vegas private eye who name checks Dan Tana and Mike Hammer is beyond broke which is a warm safety blanket of a welcome for a P.I. fan when a beautiful show-girl saunters into his office with a missing brother. Brad is on the case and immediately gets into hot water and a warm bed with the showgirl. The trouble is a racist rich nut-job out to pull explosive high-jinks on the Boulder Dam. Along the Brad is an accessory to nasty brutal murder, gets into bar fights, accidentally joins The Sons of Paul Revere; the racist-nutjobs private army and since he's not a racist-ass-hat gets his private's tortured with electricity. This builds into a action-packed finale with Armalite's, .45's, Uzi's, flame-throwers, and a helicopter assault on a yacht. My kind of P.I.

Seriously this book is just plain simple fun, Newton seems to  slyly wink at the genre conventions and handles action with aplomb. I goes down like it was written as fast as it reads and there's obviously some loose-logic in there, but it's part of the charm.  It's a total B-movie of a book, check your brain at the cover and roll with the punches. The paperback is hard to come-by like a lot of the Carousel books, but Newton has put it up as an E-Book that's cheap and easy to obtain. I did and then stumbled onto the actual book, at a highway truck-stops used book shelves in one of the weird twists of fate.