Customer Reviews

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril: A Novel

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the 1930s, the heyday of the pulp era, magazines like "Thrilling Detective," "Amazing Stories" and the like kicked [...], took names, and shaped the morals of millions of American readers. At its height, as a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard reminds us in "The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril," 30,000,000 pulps were bought every month. It took the paper shortages of World War II to knock them down, and they were finished off by television in the `50s, but they left us a legacy of heroes that include Doc Savage, The Shadow, Conan and Tarzan, cult favorite H.P. Lovecraft, and provided the seed that spawned science-fiction and fantasy.

Return with me, now, to those thrilling days of yesteryear, with the help of Paul Malmont, who, according to his bio, works in advertising and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two kids.

I'm firmly convinced that, at night, he slips out of his brownstone in Park Slope and roams the wilds of Manhattan, battling the forces of evil with mad crimefighting skillz he learned in the mountain fastnesses of Bhutan.

Either that, or he's a pulp fiction fan who did a wonderful job of researching the era, and clever enough to cast as his heroes the writers Walter Gibson, Lester Dent, Hubbard (known as "The Flash" because he was quick at the typewriter), with guest appearances by Lovecraft (oh, how I want to tell you how he appears. It's so appropriate!), E.E. "Doc" Smith and Orson Welles.

As for the story, I'm not going to say more. If you're going to read this, it would just spoil the fun. But if you're still on the bubble, I'll say this:

* Malmont writes about the pulp fiction world, but the story is told straight. Neat. No purple prose.

* The plot makes sense. It's creepy and scary, but doesn't rely on the supernatural.

* The writers may have created two-fisted heroes, but they aren't. They throw a punch, they get hurt. They aren't perfect. That's part of the fun.

* Malmont plays fair with Hubbard. I'm no fan of Scientology, but I was glad that Hubbard is presented just as you would expect him to be at the beginning of his career. He's ambitious, proud, something of a blowhard, but great sidekick material.

To say more would give away the fun. If you have any affection for the pulp era, if you smile at the thought of a "GalaxyQuest"-type story set in New York of the Depression-era, or just want a rousing tale without the literary baggage, check out "The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril."

How could you NOT like a novel featuring the likes of Walter Gibson and Lester Dent (chief scribes of The Shadow and Doc Savage, respectively), a pre-Dianetics L. Ron Hubbard, Robert Heinlein, Louis L'Amour, Chester Himes and the re-animated corpse of H. P. Lovecraft? The answer is, you CAN'T. An affectionate, well-crafted tribute to these masters of pulp fiction, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is a book that wears its heart on its sleeve, a crackling good yarn brimming with non-stop action, warm humor and casual mayhem.

The year is 1937. The aforementioned authors travel to Providence, RI, to attend the funeral of fellow writer Howard Philip Lovecraft. Their presence at that somber affair marks the beginning of a perilous adventure for the group, as they become embroiled in a deadly scheme that involves Chinese warlords and a mysterious toxic gas, developed by the United States at the end of World War I. Exhibiting many of the traits they attribute to their heroes, they risk their lives to prevent tragedy, simultaneously gathering useful fodder for future stories.

You don't need to be a fan of the pulps to enjoy this one, but it sure enhances the experience. Fans of high adventure will also delight in cameos by, among others, the fictional Joe Kavelier, and the very real Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Malmont expertly blends fact with fiction, recalling the outstanding work that Max Allan Collins has done recently in his series of historical disaster novels, one of which, The War of the Worlds Murder, also featured Walter Gibson.

I grew up reading the Doc Savage paperbacks and loving them. Imagine my surprise to find a book where the author of the Doc Savage books teams up with the author of The Shadow novels to fight a neafarious plot to enslave mankind.

There is more pulp in this book than in a forest of orange trees. The author throws in personal asides about characters, some real and some well made up on almost every page. Prominent authors from both the pulps and the Golden Age of Science fiction make frequent cameo appearance (e.g., van Gogt, Heinlein.)

The plot ranges wide in both time and place. Watching new angles spring from the author's mind is like watching a Roman candle. There are just so many sparks the reader can't keep track of them all.

The plotting is fast; action shifts from venue to venue quickly, and all of it is done at the feverish pitch the pulps caught so well.

This is truly a guilty pleasure read. it is not great art, but it is a great read.

THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL is extremely well written. The characterizations of the pulp authors sounds authentic and well-researched--to a point, of course. In fact, you could forget that this was an homage to the pulp era until more action and intrigue kicks in. So many details about each writer's life sound so real that you end up wondering where the reality ends and the pulp story begins.

If I have any complaint about the novel, it's that it doesn't read "pulpy" enough. The over-the-top action and overblown descriptions usually associated with pulp stories might have given the straight-faced set-up a more humorous (and less believable) angle.

But the novel might read too literary for some. Famous names come and go but they may not be famous enough for younger readers. Still, anyone who remembers the era of pulp magazines and radio shows will have fun. The author does a great job of portraying a New York City that doesn't exist anymore.

Still, the book is a cool idea and expertly pulled off. I just wish it had really jumped whole-heartedly into...pulp.

This is less a review than a thank-you to Paul Malmont for recreating the grand and grotesque era of pulp fiction. In a novel that resurrects, lovingly mocks and warmly salutes the heroes of that age and their writers, Malmont has performed an act of homage that is as entertaining as it is sincere.

First, you don't need to know anything about pulps to enjoy this book.

Second, be sure all your lawn and garden work is done before you start to read it, because you won't want to stop.

Third, the story is all tidy and complete, but it was written so well, I wanted another tale of this unlikely band of heroes!

In 1937, best-selling pulp writers, William "The Shadow" Gibson and Lester "Doc Savage" Dent work on real mysteries in an egotistical effort to be crowned the best action-adventurer writer in the world. Gibson, hearing whispers that pulp peer H.P. Lovecraft was murdered at the Providence, Rhode Island waterfront, is in town making inquiries. At the same time Dent investigates an impossible homicide in New York's Chinatown.

However, the two authors find their separate cases merge as they get caught in the middle of a tong war and battle pirates. That might frighten off most writers, but not the Shadow of Doc Savage as their inspections spin further out of control with war in China chemical weapons as part of the arsenal. At the rate Gibson and Dent are going they might miss spinning the next installment of the Shadow and Doc Savage, but then again collaboration in writing might prove novel.

Impossible absolutely; yet no one will care as Paul Malmont pays homage to the great pulp fiction writers (others appear too) of the 1930s and 1940s. The zany story line is fast-paced and quite entertaining hooking readers from start to finish even as the audience anticipates who will show up next. THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL is great escape fun as pulp fiction is supposed to be.

Harriet Klausner

I liked this book a lot, and I liked it more the further I read. The author has pulled off a rather tricky endeavor. Writing about writing is a dangerous thing, and writing about writers even more so. However, Chinatown Death Cloud makes it work, and it works for a number of reasons. On one hand it's an stylistic examination of the pulp genre in the early 30's and onward. The book also introduces many of the actual writers who were responsible for the popularity of pulp, whether during or after their lifetimes, and puts them into what I'm assuming is a primarily fictional world where they interact heavily with each other. Sound droll? Boring? Do you have images of mustachioed codgers in musty taverns flexing the elbow patches of their tweed jackets lifting a pint? Well, while there's certainly some of that, the real reason the book works is, quite simply, action. Forget, for a moment, the clever stylistic gymnastics the author users to introduce characters and switch perspectives (although it's quite ingenious). Forget the daring shifts in time and plot and the deft handling of an ensemble. Forget, even, the pop literature history lesson that is evident throughout the story. What really makes this novel click is a pure understanding of something that the current state of literary fiction is sadly lacking: action. I'm happy to say the book is a true blue, edge-of-your-seat page-turner. Not only does it reference the pulp/noir genre, it contains the very elements that made said genre successful: suspense, intrigue, action! Chinatown Death Cloud contains a lot of heart, a lot of fists, and the impression that on some days you're going to need a lot of both. Malmont is a wildly talented writer whom I'm sure could have easily spit out a fashionable memoire that would have made him an instant darling among the "snidely self-aware literary fiction" set, but I really like what he's done here instead.

I loved this book, even if it did play a little too fast and loose with the character/author H.P. Lovecraft and the circumstances of his demise (Cancer of the intestine and Bright's disease in reality). This book had me at the title. I love the old pulps--I love the feel, the smell, the confetti in my lap from the high-acid content paper. And the stories! This book had the relentless pace of a 1930's serial. Happiness for me is a rainy night, Ovaltine, and The Galactic Patrol. Other reviewers have said a lot about this book, so I really can't add anymore than a couple of noisemakers and whistles.

OK, time for an admission. I bought The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril when it first came out in hardcover. Then I put it on the shelf and promptly forgot about it even though it was about my two favorite pulp writer idols: Lester Dent and Walter B. Gibson.

Even before I became a professional writer, I studied these two men (and plenty of other writers besides), reading their stories as well as their biographies, trying to catch a glimpse of a fascinating worlds I figured they'd lived in.

Then I came across this book again while looking for something to read. I sat down with it and became totally mesmerized by Paul Malmont's debut opus. Within minutes I was carried away, back to New York in 1937 and I got to see Gibson and Dent in action. So much of their history, so much of the history of writers and the pulps, appears on these pages. Writing techniques, experiences with editors, real world stuff that went on for each of them, was laid bare in sparse and energetic sentences.

I was in awe of the world Malmont brings to life seemingly so effortlessly. And on top of that, the author then threads in a wondrous story that could have graced the pages of one of those pulp novels. You see echoes of The Shadow and Doc Savage throughout the book, and I hung on every one of them. There's heartbreak and romance, adventure and horror, and great splashes of comedic humor.

Readers expecting a tightly knit story need to relax. Malmont works with a lot of bits and pieces, with a lot of scraps, but he sews them all together with cleverness and love. You get to see a large part of this pulp world and meet many of the players that were giants in their field. Not only that, if you're clever and knowledgeable enough, you get to meet many other people in memorable cameos. Siegel and Schuster, the teenagers that created Superman, are here briefly. Louis L'Amour, though you won't know him unless you know his specific history - and I do, plays a big part.

But overall it's the adventures of Gibson and Dent that truly captivate the reader. Gibson is more cosmopolitan, a bit more polished, a bit more of the rascal and rebel. Dent maintains a bit of the innocent, a very large boy scout with an insatiable need for adventure and a curiosity for all things.

The creepiness of Gibson's trip to H. P. Lovecraft's is atmospheric and memorable, true to the horror writer's own work. Gibson's big city lifestyle, complete with personal Pullman train car, offers up another view of a lifestyle people had back in those days.

Dent's trip to Chinatown feels very much like one of those "lost world" adventures he wrote in the Doc Savage magazine. The fact that he was such a physical person, that he tried to do so many of the things his hero could do, and that he could believe so much in the oath he made popular in his books, made him all the more endearing.

This is one of those books that I will read again and again, a touchstone of literature and history, coupled with a sense of the fantastic that I grew up on. It's a piece of my childhood that still lingers today, and I thank Malmont for bringing it to life.