Cargo of Coffins (Stories from the Golden Age) [Paperback]

L. Ron Hubbard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 2009 | Series: Stories from the Golden Age

He was the last man Lars Marlin had expected to see in Rio de Janeiro and it took all of his willpower not to slay him on the spot. Paco Corvino was a smooth-talking and slippery con man, a contraband runner, and escaped convict . . . not to mention murderer. He also was the man responsible for changing Captain Lars Marlin into Convict of the penal colony in French Guiana known as Devil's Island a prison from which he had only just escaped.An unstoppable whirlwind of events brings Paco on board as the debonair chief steward of a luxury oceangoing yacht with an heiress and her rich friends as passengers. At the helm is skipper Lars Marlin. No one else knows that Paco and Lars are bitter rivals with an old score to settle, or that the voyage will be their final showdown upon the high seas.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two escaped convicts, Paco Corvino and Lars Marlin, face off in Hubbard's fast-paced high seas action yarn, first published in the November 1937 issue of Argosy. Some years after Corvino and Marlin independently broke out of French Guiana's Devil's Island, the men meet by chance in Rio de Janeiro, where the debonair Corvino works as the steward of the Valiant, a luxury yacht due to set sail. Corvino persuades the Valiant's captain to hire Marlin, who's an experienced skipper, as part of the crew, unaware that Marlin blames his hellish stint on Devil's Island on his fellow escapee. Itching to take Corvino out with his trusty .38, Marlin must bide his time as the equally dangerous Corvino fingers his knife. Contraband cargo (heroin) and the yacht owner's beautiful daughter add spice to this taut pulp melodrama. (July)
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Review

Two escaped convicts, Paco Corvino and Lars Marlin, face off in Hubbard s fast-paced high seas action yarn, first published in the November 1937 issue of Argosy. Some years after Corvino and Marlin independently broke out of French Guiana s Devil s Island, the men meet by chance in Rio de Janeiro, where the debonair Corvino works as the steward of the Valiant, a luxury yacht due to set sail. Corvino persuades the Valiant s captain to hire Marlin, who s an experienced skipper, as part of the crew, unaware that Marlin blames his hellish stint on Devil s Island on his fellow escapee. Itching to take Corvino out with his trusty .38, Marlin, must bide his time as the equally dangerous Corvino fingers his knife. Contraband cargo (heroin) and the yacht owner s beautiful daughter add spice to this taut pulp melodrama. --Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Galaxy Press (July 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159212352X
• ISBN-13: 978-1592123520
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,812,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 230 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most acclaimed and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and '40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining gem from the Golden Age!, October 3, 2009

By 

T.P.M. (Somewhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cargo of Coffins (Stories from the Golden Age) (Paperback)

I read L. Ron Hubbard's "Brass Keys to Murder" and "Cargo of Coffins" back to back and reveled in his mastery of pacing and characterization. Originally published in 1935 and 1937, both tales are now available as part of the Galaxy Press "Stories from the Golden Age" series. It's important to note that Hubbard was restricted by space limitations when these stories made their appearance prior to World War II. With that said, Hubbard managed to exploit the "short novel" (or novella) with his pacing.

"Brass Keys to Murder" and "Cargo of Coffins" are crime novels not unlike those great Warner Brothers gangster films of the late 30s. I could easily imagine a George Raft or Humphrey Bogart roaming through a gloomy set as the action unfolds. And this is another aspect of Hubbard's writing that fascinates me, i.e., his timeliness and his apparently intuitive grasp of structure. He always seems to know precisely when a gunshot should happen or when a fistfight should break out. And his characters all embody the era when these stories were published.

These are hardboiled little gems. In "Cargo of Coffins" you'll find lines like: "He examined his .38 and found it in good order. He slid it into his waistband and smoothed his crisp white jacket over the bulge it made." Similarly, in "Brass Keys to Murder" he describes the hero, Steve Craig, in this fashion: "His jaw was as square as a clipper's mainsail and his eyes were the shade of an arctic sea." He uses simile and sharp images to establish his characters and to set the scene. This is a talent lost to many of today's successful but less talented writers.

And because these stories were intentionally short - he often published in a magazine called "Five Novels Monthly" - the pacing leaves one nearly breathless. Hubbard used his mastery of pacing to good effect throughout his career and I couldn't help but recall how superbly he demonstrated this skill in "Battlefield Earth" which clocks in at over 1,000 pages in paperback. There's not a dull page to be found in "Battlefield Earth." But that masterpiece was still well over forty years in the future when Hubbard penned "Brass Keys to Murder" and "Cargo of Coffins."

These Galaxy Press reprints are wonderful and I hope they found the audience they deserve. Hubbard's legacy is assured. He stands beside Ray Bradbury, Lester Dent, Walter B. Gibson, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs as one of the American Masters from the glorious Golden Age.

5.0 out of 5 stars action that seems so real you will be ducking bullets and hoping not to get seasick., January 19, 2012

By 

Gil Wilson "gilwilson.com" (Robinson, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cargo of Coffins (Stories from the Golden Age) (Audio CD)

"Cargo of Coffins"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multi-cast performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio, 2009
approx 2 hours

My audiobook excursion into the Stories from the Golden Age continues with more pulp fiction from the master story-teller L. Ron Hubbard. This time around I gave another Sea Adventure a listen.

While Hubbard knew how to write in the twists and turns in a story to keep a reader on the edge and eager for more, the folks at Galaxy Audio know how to take these exciting stories and produce them into audio dramas that not only keep the story true to the original form but also seem to push the listener even closer to the edge. With superb voice acting, dynamic sound effects and original music, these audio books could easily be promoted as audio dramas and find a place on the radio waves. In fact with the fun character actors and excellent narration these audio books have the feel of the old radio dramas of the mid-20th century.

This time around the Sea Adventure takes us across the ocean. "Cargo of Coffins" was originally published in the November, 1937 issue of "Argosy." Lars Marlin is out to seek revenge on Paco Corvino, he vows Paco will die at his hands, but a fluke of a moment finds Lars as Captain of an ocean going yacht where Paco is working as chief steward. The wealthy family on-board all wish they could meet someone of royalty. Paco fakes an illness and eventually his death. He has expressly forbidden anyone to open certain envelopes in his cabin unless he dies. With what seems like his death the crew opens the envelopes to find Paco is actually royalty, at least that's what he wants them to believe. After a day Paco "comes back to life" and is immediately treated according to his new-found position.

Lars knows this is a scam but under threat, by Paco, does not wish to expose his background, having escaped from a penal colony island. Paco orders the ship to dock at the same penal colony where he loads aboard the yacht some coffins, under the guise of returning the dead men to their home soil. It turns out Paco has alternate plans for the yacht and passengers and Lars is set to prevent that from happening before the ship can pull into Casablanca.

In an exciting story that will keep the listener wanting more, Galaxy Audio will place you on an ocean going yacht with action that seems so real you will be ducking bullets and hoping not to get seasick.
[...]

5.0 out of 5 stars Great edge of your seat story, April 27, 2011

By 

apm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cargo of Coffins (Stories from the Golden Age) (Paperback)

I enjoyed the characters and I could relate to them. The bad guys are really bad and calculating. It kept me guessing right to the end as to what would happen. The ocean and storm scenes paint a very real picture of what it is like at sea and almost made me feel like I was there. Fun adventure. APM