Customer Reviews

Cargo of Coffins (Stories from the Golden Age)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

I found this story suspenseful and action packed. The rival between Lars and Paco pulled me through the story. Hubbard really has a way of getting you imersed in the lives of his characters. When these two men find themselves aboard the same ship they have their final confrontation. What happens? You'll have to read it and see.

One of L. Ron Hubbard's best pulp fiction works. A suspenseful and fascinating tale of two bitter rivals Paco and Lars. The story begins with a chance meeting between the two men in Rio de Janeiro. Surprise quickly gives way to hate as Lars observes Paco standing against a wall in the busy Brazilian street. Lars clutches the butt of his .38 inside his shirt as he remembers how Paco, the con man, was solely responsible for his incarceration at the penal colony in French Guiana. Recently escaped, Lars delights in the pleasure of revenge, but he knows that any action from him will bring investigation from the police. Through a series of events, both men find themselves working on the same ship and engage in their final confrontation on the high seas. Hubbard's use of vivid imagery and character development remind me of a good Graham Greene novel.

This is a very cool story, not so much because of the suspense and action it packs but because of the character development. Hubbard really creates 2 characters that are so completely bipolar that the electricity between them is pulpable. (no, not palpable but pulp-able!, get it?)

Anyway these are great characters that go at each other so hardcore, that you literally feel like stepping into the story and keeping them off each others throats.

Pulp fiction at its heart-pounding best!

Also check out this story by the same author:

Phantom Patrol, The (Stories from the Golden Age)

"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.

[...]

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

Cargo of Coffins has been one of my favorite mystery adventure stories as you do not know how it is going to finally resolve until the very last page!