Magazine Review: High Adventure #191: Action Special edited by John P. Gunnison
This issue of the pulp fiction reprint magazine has five stories from different action subgenres from five different magazines. Let’s see what’s in the grab bag!
“The Jonah” by Bill Adams, first published in The Blue Book Magazine November 1935, is a sea adventure. A sailing ship is becalmed off Cape Horn in mid-winter. One of the sailors, a Finn, seems simple-minded and is considered a “Jonah”, a sea-going jinx. He’s befriended an albatross, and is generally acting strangely. Naturally, by the end of the story we learn the reasons behind his actions, and the Finn saves the day. It’s an okay story.
“Gold Hunters” by Hugh Pendexter, first published in All Star Adventure Fiction May 1936, is a Western. Henry Plummer amassed a fortune in gold in his double life as sheriff and bandit leader; just before being hanged, he gave a partial clue as to the location of the treasure in hopes the law would spare him to find out the rest. It didn’t work.
Gambler Jim Reese managed to work out where the gold was hidden, but while he was working out a safe way to remove it, “Tiger” Logan, who’d been following him, just walked in and took the whole thing, but since he didn’t do so in secret, now everyone knows Logan has the treasure. They just don’t know where he put it.
Reese reluctantly makes truce with an outlaw gang led by Cap’n Cram in hopes of forcing Logan to divide the treasure with them. This plan fails when one of the gang’s stupider members winds up shooting Logan dead instead. Now no one knows where the gold is except possibly Tiger’s pretty daughter Annie Logan, who wants nothing to do with criminals.
Reese, naturally, starts falling in love with the feisty Annie, who is sure that the treasure is cursed, and does not trust him one little bit. Nor do any of the gold hunters trust each other, and as they die one by one, Reese almost starts believing in that curse. Maybe it’s not too late to get an honest job?
The most interesting character is Doctor Kidd, the brains of the Cram outfit, who has to carefully navigate suggesting smart plans with Cram’s touchiness about being the leader. Kidd is noted as having unusually dark skin but is apparently of neither Native American or African ancestry. Alas, no amount of brains can stop a bullet.
A couple pages of this story had poor printing, fading out halfway down the page. Fortunately, not the important ones.
“The Blind Boy of El Shetma” by Warren Hastings Miller, first published in Wide World Adventures September 1929, takes us to Arabia. American pomologist Billy Edrington has come to the title oasis to steal the secret of the local especially good date cultivation for his homeland. (The ethics of this are never questioned in-story.) He’s somewhat distracted from this by the plight of a boy blinded by fly-borne trachoma. Billy knows the treatment that could cure him, but the superstitious locals refuse to go against Allah’s will to apply science to one who must have sinned grievously to deserve such a fate.
Billy’s fumbling of the situation gets the boy accused of the “evil eye” and likely to be sentenced to death. Now the American must somehow learn the date secret, rescue the boy and avoid the bandits that have been summoned to raid his camp by the locals who have found a loophole in the rules of hospitality.
Exciting stuff, but heavily dependent on use of “backwards, superstitious natives” to set up the situation.
“Eagles of the Iron Cross” by Major George Fielding Eliot, first published in Sky Birds November 1931, is a World War One air adventure story. Eric Jensen is a pilot of Danish descent flying for Germany in the early part of the war. He is an excellent flyer who enjoys dueling with British pilots in dogfights. Eric is, however, not someone who thinks that pursuing pilots once they’re down to make sure they’re dead is good sportsmanship.
He’s accused of cowardice by fellow pilot Karl von Schrallt, who tries to lure Eric into a duel. Since Eric has no sword skills, that would be a one-sided fight. Fortunately, Eric has powerful friends, Immelmann, Boelcke, and later von Richthofen. The duel is vetoed.
Eric falls in love with the beautiful Red Cross worker, Elsa Merkel. Unfortunately, she has some sort of deep connection to von Schrallt which means that she is constantly forced to go away with him, and when Eric starts suspecting that his fellow pilot is a turncoat, works to protect him.
One by one, Eric’s friends die in battle, some suspiciously. Finally, after the death of the Red Baron, Eric learns the terrible truth and the story comes to a firey climax.
This tale plays a bit fast and loose with the historical facts, and the choice to make Eric Danish rather than “true” German is an obvious dodge, but it’s a nice change from the “all World War One Germans were inhuman barbarians” plot so common in pulps of the time. Best story of the issue.
“The Pirate Hunter” by Frederick Moore, first published in Short Stories July 10, 1927, rounds out the issue with a South Seas tale. The steamer Chung Cheng is heading towards Indonesia from Hong Kong, despite warnings that pirate leader Poh Teng is active in the area. Those best acquainted with the area, Chinese merchant Nai Seng, and ship captain Duryea point out the ship is not a prime target, even if Poh Teng is real, which there is some doubt about.
Poh Teng turns out to be real, and the ship is attacked by pirates, revealing that several of the passengers are not who they seem, for good or ill.
A lot of casual racism in this one, which took away from an exciting story.
Overall, an okay issue, but if casual racism is a “no” for you, then skip it.
