No Double Cross for the Reader With This One

Boy! This guy means business, his face set in deadly grim determination. His six-gun is flaming from inside a cloud of gunsmoke. He’s fanning shot after shot. One dirty dog is dead at his feet, spurs up, dust soaking up his blood. Wow!

By the time Tom West wrote this sharply-paced oater in 1962 he was an old hand at western melodramas and the Ace Double novel format in particular. From the early ‘50s to the early ‘60s he wrote some 15 titles for Ace, and followed up with twice as many more by the early ‘70s. All of these were of the rip-roarin’ shoot-em-up variety, many with great titles and some with great covers. A list below gives you an idea of West’s output.

I looked for information on West on the Web but found almost nothing. His actual name was Fred East, which makes the West pseudonym humorous. One library entry states he was born in 1895 in London, which would jibe with a short, three-paragraph biography printed at the front of the F-149 Ace Double Dead Man’s Double Cross. That entry says that he served in World War I and was honorably discharged in his early twenties. His first literary attempt was a war novel that he had written while convalescing. The manuscript never was published, having met a fiery end. Apparently his mother burned the filthy rucksack he brought home from the army. Everything in it was destroyed, including the manuscript he had stuffed inside.

West (East) left England for America to further regain his health. The biography does not mention if he was wounded during the war. He took a number of jobs, including ranching, before turning back to writing. Copywriting, reporting, editing, and free-lance article writing helped nurture his skills. Then he began writing Western novels.

He had a good home with Ace, in their double novel and occasionally in their single novel format. It doesn’t appear that he was often published by other companies.  One title, Ghost Gold was published by Pocket Books (#733) after a hard cover publication. Flaming Feud may have begun life as a hard cover, too, then went to paperback at Magnum Books.  At the time Dead Man's Double Cross was published (1962), West claims to have written 36 novels.  He ghost wrote some series like the Peter Field Powder Valley stories, and had some short stories published in magazines like Triple and Action-Packed Western at the tail end of the pulp era.  Why the move from hard cover to Ace Doubles is not known, but money is often at the heart of such matters.

I was a bit confused by the voice West used to tell his story. It differs from other books of his I’ve read. Rather than the cool, grammatically correct third person limited perspective used to good effect by many authors West opts for something a little more colloquial. His dialogue especially is peppered with words like “wal” (well), “hyar” (used in “now see here”), “jest” (just), “lamp” or “lamped” (see or seen), “chew it” (explain), and many others. Even descriptive text is flavored with a down-home feel, giving the reader the sense that the book was written years ago. In fact, the story sounds like something that might have been written in the ‘30s by B.M. Bower, maybe, or by Clarence Mulford. The cowboy humor in particular is in the same vein as Mulford’s Hopalong Cassidy epics.

This appears to be a choice the writer made that differed considerably from the past few projects of his I’ve read. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a good choice. I liked the story. The sly humor especially keeps this twisty tale entertaining and adds dimension to the characters.

Much of Dead Man’s Double Cross is filled with action, and these many moments race along at a brisk pace. West can sure tell an entertaining story. The only slower moment in this 50,000-worder is the three-page fist-fight scene between the lead, Joe Garth, and one of his deadly enemies. It’s not that the scene is really slow; it’s that I’m biased. To my taste, few people can describe a fist fight as well or as interestingly as Louis L’Amour.

All in all, though, this is a pretty good pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps story. Very much fun.

A TOM WEST BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Ghost Gold (1950 reprint from 1949 Dutton hard cover)
• Flaming Feud (1951)
• Gunsmoke Gold (1953)

• Vulture Valley (1953)
• Lobo Legacy (1954)
• Torture Trail (1957)
• Lead In His Fists (1958)
• Slick on the Draw (1958)
• The Cactus Kid (1958)
• Twisted Trail (1959)
• Nothing But My Gun (1960)
• The Phantom Pistoleer (1960)
• Side Me With Sixes (1960)
• Double Cross Dinero (1960)
• Killer's Canyon (1961)
• The Gun From Nowhere (1961)
• The Buzzard's Nest (1962)

• Battling Buckeroos (1962)
• Triggering Texan (1963)
• Lobo Lawman (1963)
• Gallows Gulch (1963)
• Don't Cross My Line (1964)
• The Man at Rope's End (1964)
• Sidewinder Showdown (1964)
• Bushwack Brand (1965)
• The Toughest Town in the Territory (1965)
• Battle at Rattlesnake Pass (1965)
• Lost Loot of Kittycat Ranch (1965)

• Rattlesnake Range (1966)
• Hangrope Heritage (1966)
• Bitter Brand (1966)
• Showdown at Serano (1967)
• Crossfire at Barbed M (1967)
• Bandit Brand (1967)
• The Face Behind the Mask (1968)
• Write His Name in Gunsmoke (1968)
• Black Buzzards of Bueno (1969)
• Renegade Roundup (1969)
• Scorpion Showdown (1969)
• Desperado Doublecross (1970)
• Lobo of Lynx Valley (1971)
• Sweetgrass Valley Showdown (1971)
• Corral This Killer (1973)
• Lone Gun (1974)

Viking Pirates Attack!

You’ve got to wonder why this book is not called "Space Pirates." I mean, the lead characters are pirates. They raid, they sack, they pillage. Of course Vikings were sackers and looters, too. But “pirates” evokes that certain image that ties in well with Beam’s epic space fantasy.

Space Viking began as a four part serial in Analog from November 1962 to February 1963, and later that year was published as a Dell paperback (our celebrated cover). Dorchester, in collaboration with Wildside Press, reprinted this classic under the Cosmos imprint in 2008.

I love the original Dell wraps – a strong heroic spaceman ready for action, his hot-firing zapgun in hand, and his even cooler cool helmet seated low on his head to show he means business. And even better … the text of the story actually describes the lid!

This is an excellent SF cover. It’s evocative, descriptive, and exciting. The only thing missing from the cover (and the book) are the BEMS. All of the aliens are really descendants of Terra, that cool name for our boring little planet.

But Space Vikings isn’t that kind of story. It doesn’t deal with human-flesh eating creatures. It’s civilized, in that 1950s, early ‘60s double martini lunches way. Pillaging is an accepted way of life throughout the galaxy. In fact, Viking treasures are included in the Royal GNP, and welcome at spaceports that aren’t being invaded.

This creates an odd kind of morality which is considered by the characters quite superior to planets that prefer peace. Almost no pirate atrocity generates an emotional response. Aside from a brief display where the Viking leader has to keep a stiff upper lip upon seeing the carnage their nukes and invading forces wreak, the good guys are all rather blasé about the wholesale destruction of life and social and monetary structures they’ve caused. There’s no thought to whether the murders they commit are immoral. It’s empty of all emotion. Especially for Lucas Trask, whose goal of avenging his wife’s murder leads him to upset an entire galaxy. He literally destroys planets to build himself an empire from which the killer cannot escape.

Had Space Vikings been written today it would be an 1,800-page, three volume super-epic. Each off-camera action (and there are a number of important ones) would be described ad nauseum. That Space Vikings is a less-than-240-page single novel is to the reader’s benefit. The story speeds along. Of course major successes and changes happen far too easily; and all of the simple, casual yet galaxy-sweeping plans of the Vikings are always rousingly successful. But that doesn’t take away from enjoying the story. Much of this facile plot movement, of course, is a writer’s convention, used to squeeze a massive cosmic epic into a squat, rapid-fire paperback.

Very enjoyable, in a cool and detached way.

Beam's other SF offerings from the '60s include:

• Four-Day Planet
• Junkyard Planet (The Cosmic Computer)
• Little Fuzzy (Cosmos 2007)
• The Other Human Race (Fuzzy Sapiens)
• A Planet for Texans (Lone Star Planet)
• Uller Uprising
• Crisis in 2140

Solid Shield Slays 'Em

I picked up this little gem for two reasons. One is fairly obvious, the cover. It’s not the sexiest painting, not the most evocative image. But that bold yellow color provides a stark backdrop for the death image and for the simple, brazen title.

The second reason is because of the word Shield. It reminded me of the television show on FX called The Shield. It’s about a greedy rogue cop who also is not above murdering to achieve his ends. Now, I didn’t think that the two were connected, but the surficial themes were similar enough to be of interest. Frankly, I hated The Shield. There seemed to be absolutely no redeeming qualities to Michael Chiklis’ character, even after they began watering him down following that first unpardonable act of murder.

Shield for Murder is a better presentation of these similar setups. Barny Nolan is a tough cop who’s not afraid to use his gun. In fact he likes using it. He’s a hard drinker and he’s vulgar and doesn’t get along with just about anyone, especially fellow detectives. There’s a lot of Andy Sipowicz in him.

Barny is not nearly as intelligent as Sipowicz, though, which is saying something, and definitely not as capable at his job. He’s got his demons, though. Lots of them. They weigh him down in everything he does. Now in his thirties, he’s a lost soul, not at home anywhere, angry all the time, looked down upon by swells and punks alike, and in desperate need of the soothing hand of love. Rather than being sappy, William McGivern delivers this story in the ratta-tat-tat noir staccato of 1950s argot. It’s a fast read and it’s damned enjoyable.

Putting all of his eggs in one basket, Barny latches on to singer Linda Wade, a pretty headliner at the Simba lounge in Philadelphia. If he could just have her his entire life – past, present and future – would be Jake. Of course he needs money for that, and a cop’s salary of $48 a week won’t get him a picket fence and a family. He decides to knock over Dave Feist, a neighborhood bookie who usually keeps a few grand on him. It’s not until after Barny guns down Feist in an alley that he finds six grand on him, and another $25 thousand wrapped in paper. Feist had said he had an appointment with Mike Espizito a mob capo. Barny figures the 25 large was for Espizito, a pay-off on a big bet.

Rather than turn in the money, or get it back to the mobster, Barny decides to keep it all. “To hell with the wop,” he says. He’s got enough finally to start on that life he’s been imagining. Trouble is Linda doesn’t love him, only feels sorry for his lost soul; a nosy reporter is onto him, as are the cops; and the mob has a score to settle, too. Barny can’t turn anywhere for help because he’s made enemies of everyone he’s ever met, and every turn he makes is a wrong one. He doesn’t know it, but he’s a walking dead man from the moment he pulled the trigger in that alley.

While not the finest example of terse noir writing, Shield for Murder is a very enjoyable read. Don’t spend a lot for it. I got my Very Good to Near Fine copy for four bucks. You don’t want to spend much more than that.

McGivern was a regular contributor to the lurid paperback field. His books often started out as hardcovers for Dodd, Mead. Shield for Murder began life in May 1951 as a hardcover and was reprinted a year later in April 1952 as Pocket Book’s 870th title.

Born in Chicago, McGivern grew up in Mobile, Alabama, and later served in the Army during WWII. He published nearly 30 novels, using his own name and the pseudonym Bill Peters, most of them mystery thrillers. Later in life he moved to Hollywood to write TV and movie scripts, his book writing having paved the way with several print to celluloid successes. Among these were The Big Heat – starring Glenn Ford and Lee Marvin, which started as a Saturday Evening Post serial and became an Edgar Award winner for Best Motion Picture – Rogue Cop, and Odds Against Tomorrow. Here is a partial listing of his published novels:

• But Death Runs Faster (1948)
• Heaven Ran Last (1949)
• Very Cold for May (1950)
• Shield for Murder (1951)
• Blondes Die Young (1952)
• The Crooked Frame (1952)
• The Big Heat (1953)
• Margin of Terror (1953)
• Rogue Cop (1954)
• The Darkest Hour (1954)(as Waterfront Cop in reprint)
• The Seven File (1956) (as Chicago-7 in reprint)
• Night Extra (1957)
• Odds Against Tomorrow (1957)
• Savage Streets (1959)
• Seven Lies South (1960)
• The Road to the Snail (1961)
• A Pride of Place (1962)
• A Choice of Assassins (1963)
• The Caper of the Golden Bulls (1966)
• Lie Down, I Want to Talk to You (1967)
• Caprifoil (1972)
• Reprisal (1973)
• Night of the Juggler (1975)
• Soldiers of ’44 (1979)

A Jack Webb Surprise

There is nothing delicate about this darling! Whoo, boy!

Haven't read this one yet, but already there are a couple of suprises. The first one is in the story. Written in the hard-boiled era, you don't expect the lead character to be a priest. That's more for the drawing room set like Father Brown or McInerny's Father Dowling. Of course the lead character Father Shanley is cut out of matinee idol cloth and has a quick hard right, but he doesn't carry a gun, just a cross. His crime-solving partner, Jewish detective Sammy Golden, is the one with the gat.

Now don't get fooled like I did because the second surprise is that this isn't the same Jack Webb of Dragnet and Adam-12 fame. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember that Jack Webb did write a novel, but I can't recall its title. (Wikipedia references The Badge, published in hardback in 1958 by Prentiss-Hall.)

The writer of this novel was born John Alfred Webb. According to a few other websites (gadetection and clerical detectives among them) Webb bounced around in his working life until he landed on writing. His main genre was Mystery, writing as Jack Webb and John Farr, but he also wrote a few westerns as Tex Grady. Of his approximately 15 books published between 1952 and 1963, 9 titles starred the cross-toting, right-fist-jabbing Father Shanley. Here's the list of them.

• The Big Sin (1952)
• The Naked Angel (1953)
• The Damned Lovely (1954)
• The Broken Doll (1955)
• The Bad Blonde (1956)
• The Brass Halo (1957)
• The Deadly Sex (1959)
• The Delicate Darling (1959)
• The Gilded Witch (1963)

Looks like most of the original paperback covers might have had lucious ladies prominently displayed. A temptation for any red blooded American Male, to be sure. But you've got to wonder how tempting, really, such delectable dolls would have been to the devout Shanley.

Great covers, though!