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Ripping Yarns

Started by daf, October 05, 2017, 12:26:07 PM

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daf

A thread for lowbrow claptrap

Tarzan and the Ant Men
Lost Prehistoric Lands
Hollow Earths
Fu Manchu's Opium Den
Sexton Blake pitting his wits against Zenith the Albino and Leon Kestrel: the Master Mummer
Bulldog Drummond punching his way out of trouble
Duc de Richleau battling Black Magic on the Astral Plane

I blame Mark Gatiss for my love for this sort of nonsense  - It was his second Lucifer Box novel : The Devil in Amber, a meticulous recreation of one of Dennis Wheatley's 1930's Black magic romps.  I loved it so much, it sent me on a quest to track down the original source.

Black Magic only accounts for a fifth or so of Wheatley's books, but they're essentially all the same; whether set in The Second World War (Gregory Sallust), French Revolution (Roger Brook), or his various Lost Worlds - There are no deep insights into the human condition, just rollicking adventures where you know our hero will triumph, and the baddies will get their jolly old comeuppance in the end.

I now have almost all of his stuff in Heron's glorious 'richly grained scarlet Skivertex' bound hardbacks - which you can pick up on ebay for next to nothing.




daf

I'll have to investigate that one - I see he was one of Robert E. Howard's creations.

QuoteHoward described him as a tall, sombre and gloomy man of pale skin, gaunt face and cold eyes, all of it shadowed by a slouch hat. He is dressed entirely in black and his weaponry usually consists of a rapier, a dirk, and a brace of flintlock pistols. During one of his later adventures his friend N'Longa, an African shaman, gave him a juju staff that served as a protection against evil but could easily be wielded as a weapon.

Let's face it, anything that features a 'Juju staff' has GOT to be good!

gilbertharding

Does Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household count?

It *must* do. It makes The 39 Steps look like Wuthering Heights.

daf

Quote from: gilbertharding on October 06, 2017, 03:57:02 PM
Does Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, count?

Language timothy!

Yes I'd say that qualifies - looking up the plot, it sounds like a cracker:

QuoteConstructing a makeshift catapult or miniature Roman ballista (a kind of cross-bow), he induces Quive-Smith to look into the breathing hole and shoots him dead. Taking Quive-Smith's papers, money and car, he drives to Liverpool and boards a ship for Tangier.

Get in!

daf



http://www.friardale.co.uk/Gem/1914/Gem%200359-A.pdf

"Bai Jove!" gasped Arthur Agustus, as he scraped snow out of his neck. "We vewy neahly got licked that time, deah boys."

gilbertharding

Quote from: daf on October 06, 2017, 04:17:25 PM
Language timothy!

Yes I'd say that qualifies - looking up the plot, it sounds like a cracker:

Get in!

Seemingly they're making a film, produced by and starring Engelburt Bandersnatch.

Apparently they've filmed it before - I'd think it would need pretty serious work to adapt, because the narrator is completely alone for so much of the book.

On the other hand, the author of Rambo has admitted being heavily influenced by Rogue Male.

daf

1941 version directed by Fritz Lang

Short making of documentary : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugi1H4o919Q

1976 version starring Peter O'Toole



daf

#9
The Gorilla Hunters : A Tale of the Wilds of Africa  by R. M. Ballantyne (1861)



Sequel to The Coral Island (1858) - which inspired both 'Treasure Island' and 'Lord of the Flies'
QuoteAfter their adventures in the South Sea Islands, Jack Martin, Ralph Rover, and Peterkin Gay go their separate ways. Six years later, Ralph (again the narrator), living on his father's inheritance on England's west coast and occupying himself as a naturalist, is visited by Peterkin, whose "weather-beaten though ruddy countenance" he does not recognise. Peterkin, who has stayed in touch with Jack, has hunted and killed every animal on Earth except for the gorilla and now comes to Ralph to entice him on a new adventure.

QuoteAll kinds of animals are shot, killed, eaten, and stuffed, and the action is interspersed with sometimes serious, sometimes jocular conversation. Ralph theorises at length on "muffs", which he defines as boys who are too gentle and mild, and should be made to undergo physically challenging training.

QuoteIn the village of King Jambai, the hunters are well received (boiled elephant foot is served and judged delicious), but problems arise when a young woman, betrothed to Makarooroo, their English-speaking guide, is judged by the village's "fetishman" to be responsible for an illness of the king's, and she is to die.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gorilla_Hunters

studpuppet

You might associate him with the camp seventies Ron Ely vehicle, but the original stories by Kenneth Robeson are the sort of thing you're looking for:




You could also try this trilogy - published by Walker Books for teens, but trust me, you'll enjoy the (steampunk-y, but set in the Far East in the 1920s) detail of the story and the cutaway diagrams of the gadgets etc.. The books are beautifully produced as well with gatefolds and inserts along the way:



You can even read an excerpt here:

http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763626341.ch.1.pdf

daf

Lovely cutaway - just like the Eagle used to do!

That Doc Savage reminded me of the odd phenomenon of Men's Adventure magazines - filling a priapic gap in a pre-Playboy world :



gilbertharding

Rogue Male is being repeated (again) on Radio 4 Extra, if anyone's interested/got time:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072szv/episodes/player

Blimey: 7.5 hours of it. It's not even that thick a book.

gilbertharding

Quote from: daf on October 31, 2017, 01:59:32 PM
Lovely cutaway - just like the Eagle used to do!

That Doc Savage reminded me of the odd phenomenon of Men's Adventure magazines - filling a priapic gap in a pre-Playboy world :



I'm intrigued by 'Captain Durham's Incredible Love 'em up Arctic Convoy'. My Grandpa was in the Royal Navy during the war - but he never talked about it...

daf

Probably still traumatised after battling the giant Octopus


gilbertharding


daf


gilbertharding

Recently finished Riddle of the Sands, which definitely qualifies for this thread.

Switched on Radio 4 Extra the other evening and heard they're reading the sequel to Geoffrey Household's Rogue Male, called Rogue Justice in which our un-named hero returns to Nazi Germany for another go at assassinating Hitler.

Ripping!

kidsick5000

Quote from: daf on November 16, 2017, 03:53:17 PM
Probably still traumatised after battling the giant Octopus



Incredible tales, as told to us by your unmarried uncle and that bloke down the pub with the odd dog.
"Octopus it was, big as a cow. So what could I do - it was me or him. So I grabbed a harpoon...."
"... yeah so later on I was captured by nazis. But all women they were- and all gorgeous. And they'd been kept away from blokes cos they belonged to Hitler's clones, but they were awaiting shipping. But they'd not seen a man in years, so obviously my sheer animal magnetism..."
"...made all out of gold it was..."


Shoulders?-Stomach!




Enough erotic silk, swordfights, traps, treachery, cults, secret cupboards and brutal violence to sate even the most ravenous.

Utterly mesmerically gripping and yet total nonsense. Fantastic.