Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories edited by Rogers Terrill
This collection of exciting tales of action and bravery plucked from the pages of Argosy, the long-running pulp magazine, is most notable for only choosing from those printed between 1946 and 1952, when the collection was published. Thus it had, at the time, a more “modern” feel than many other such collections which dipped their ladle further back. Make no mistake, though; these fifteen stories are very much in the pulp tradition.
The book opens with “Pickles and Pearls” by Desmond Hall, which it turns out I have read in another collection. Griff Beard, a young man who desperately needs money to hire a lawyer for the purpose of having his falsely convicted father released from prison, has managed to get himself stranded in the South Pacific without money. A trading ship captain finally agrees to let him on board if Griff will perform a small service for him.
There’s a recluse on another island who has a stash of pearls, but is understandably stingy with them. The only things he’ll trade for are pickles and jam and then only small amounts for one pearl. But the man is a known fanatic for gambling. If Griff agrees to go to the other island with a stake of comestibles, and play cards with the recluse for a month or so, the trader captain will then give passage to New Guinea for half his winnings. Understandably, Griff agrees. He soon learns, however, that there’s some information the captain neglected to tell him.
It’s a comic tale with a punchline; enjoyable but about average in writing.
The closing story is “Burn Him Out” by Frank Bonham. Rancher Will Starrett is helping one of his neighbors deal with a plague of grasshoppers. Things are looking pretty dire, and a couple of the other neighbors suggest putting the ranch to the torch in an effort to kill the hoppers before they can move on to destroy their lands as well. Starrett objects to them trying to force the landowner into this decision. Fortunately, the wind shifts and the grasshoppers move into the wilderness before the neighbor is ruined.
Too soon, however, the grasshoppers return, this time on Starrett’s land, and it is he that has to make the hard decisions. One man’s jealousy may force his hand. A solid Western story that makes a good ending.
Also of note:
“The Madman” by Pat Frank is post-apocalyptic science fiction that reads like a caveman story for most of the wordage. The titular “madman” invents, or rather, re-invents the bow and arrow, gaining prestige in his tribe. He’s then given access to the idol the Fish People have been worshipping for years, only to discover that it’s actually a time capsule. The ending is then his distant descendant gushing over how restoring the civilization of 1940s America, but without the bad bits, was a total success. Yeah. The ending really weakens the story.
“Murder Tavern” by Howard Bloomfield starts promisingly enough. Young Kirby Bacon becomes a slaveowner in 1820 Maryland due to the suicide of his father. By page two, he’s freed the slave, and spends most of the story trying to not have his friend re-enslaved, despite the actions of the owner of the title tavern. This is all good stuff. However, at the end we learn Mr. Bacon is not really against slavery as all, as he agrees to become the overseer on the Virginia plantation of the girl he also rescued. Eek.
“A Long Way from Home” by Vern Snider is a story of the Korean War told from the perspective of Kim Won Il, a Korean national whose village has been bombed out, and facing starvation, has agreed to work with an American military unit. He’s renamed “Patrick Tobin” and assigned a “buddy”, Mason, to try and get him up to speed during the accelerated training.
At first, Mason resents being saddled with this seemingly witless boy, who can’t even remember his “Irish” name, and things go poorly. But Kim is a quick study and more cunning than he initially appears or thinks of himself, and along with another displaced villager, “Desmond Fitzgerald”, becomes a fine soldier. Mason eventually dies after a successful mission and fully recognizing Kim as an equal. Then Kim is assigned a new “buddy” from the Americans, but now he is the capable veteran who must show the newcomers the ropes.
A nice touch is Kim’s having to deal with a book-smart countryman who understands English and rubs it in Kim’s face that he’s of a superior social rank. At the end, the countryman has not been promoted, and when he tries to humiliate Kim, our protagonist points out that he’s a “guardhouse lawyer”, much to the amusement of the other soldiers.
“The Lady and the Tumblers” by Merle Constiner has the most awesome protagonists in this collection, James Thomas “Stonecrusher” Smith III, and his son James Thomas “Pebblecrusher” Smith IV, strongmen and acrobats who wander from inn to inn giving performances in the early Nineteenth Century. (The first and second James Thomas Smiths were both nicknamed “Bonecrusher.”) The inn they’ve come to this time is frequented by men of bad character, and a young woman needs rescuing.
Feats of strength, pugilism and agility are performed, but Stonecrusher is also a man of intelligence, and of righteousness. He needs all those qualities, and the help of his strapping son, to deal with the evil at hand. This story’s a keeper.
Robert A. Heinlein is now best remembered for his extensive work in the field of science fiction, but he also wrote more realistic adventure pulp stories. “Water Is for Washing” is the example here. It’s set in the Imperial Valley of California, as the nameless protagonist is visiting on business from Los Angeles. He’s a hard-edged, “I look out for number one” kind of guy, but with a weak point. After nearly drowning as a child, he has a phobia of bodies of water, so he likes being in this desert country.
The bartender he’s talking to reminds him that the Imperial Valley is below sea level, heavily foreshadowing what’s to come. Disgruntled, the protagonist goes back to his car and is mean to a tramp. (In fairness, the tramp is a petty thief.)
Sure enough, there’s an earthquake, and the valley begins to flood. Even though he’s most interested in saving his own skin, the protagonist is forced by his conscience to stop first for a little girl, then for a Japanese-American boy, and finally the tramp from earlier, who turns out to be helpful because he knows how to get to high ground. Will any of them survive the onrushing waters?
This is good work by Heinlein, though not quite his best stuff.
Content note: There’s some period racism and sexism, though it seems to have eased up some from pre-World War Two pulps. Notable is having a couple of non-Caucasian protagonists.
This collection doesn’t appear to have been reprinted past 1953, so it may be hard to find a copy, especially in good condition. But it is an excellent example of postwar-era adventure fiction, and some of the stories can be found elsewhere. Recommended to lovers of pulp adventure.
