Customer Reviews

Doc Savage: The Lost Radio Scripts Of Lester Dent

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This book collects the radio scripts written by Lester Dent in the early 30s.

Due to the limitations of radio, and the length of time, these are a little different from the pulp stores.

A great collection, but only a minor nit.

Several years back, Will Murray's Odyssey Publications put out 2 collections of these scripts, with covers by Frank Hamilton. I reall wish there had been mention of this in the forward, and a reprint of the 2 covers. I bet a lot of people think this is the first time these scripts have seen print, when in fact they are the second time.

Rabid Doc Savage fans know all about the Lester Dent clasics, but now we can see what was, and lost. Through the intrepid work of Will Murray and Moonstone Books, 29 15 minute Doc Savage adventures can now see light.

Behind a Bob Larkin cover are a wide variety of radio drama. Listeners to OTR appreciate a good drama, but rarely get to see the words behind them. In the foreword, Murray explains why we don't have audio copies of the originals yet tells a gem of what could have been.

The scripts in the book are:

Red Death
Golden Legacy
Red Lake Quest
Snipers in the Sky
Evil Extortionist
Black LIght Magic
Radium Scramble
Death Had Blue Hands
SInister Sleep
Southern Star Mystery
Impossible Bullet
Too Talkative Parrot
Blue Angel
Green Ghost
Box of Fear
Phantom Terror
Mantrap Mesa
Fast Workers
Needles in A Chinese Haystack
Monk Called it Justice
White Haired Devil
Oilfied Ogres
Fainting Lady
Poison Cargo
Find Curly Morgan
Valley of the Vanished
Gray SPider
Polar Treasure

Not all are great, but all are Dent original stories that reveal a side of Doc Savage we havenot seen. Check out the hardcover edition too.
I was thrilled with the book, and hardly wait for my turn to play the part of Doc!

www.moonstonebooks.com

Tim Lasiuta

There were 181 Doc Savage pulp novels, with most of them written by Lester Dent under the Street and Smith publishing name of Kenneth Robeson. The collection of 1930s radio scripts in this book were all written by Lester Dent, and not edited by Street and Smith, so readers get a chance to see Dent's writing without editorial corrections and refinements. This is valuable to see for pop Americana history, alone.

The Doc Savage radio program was limited to 15 minutes per broadcast, and throughout much of the show's run, each episode had to be a complete tale. This obviously placed severe constraints on Lester Dent, and so he often reduced Doc's aides from five to just one -- namely Monk Mayfair. I'd say Dent groped his way through the scripts in about the first half of the book, feeling his way with quite a bit of awkwardness and stilted dialogue. The radio producers later allowed Dent to serialize various broadcasts, and his work grew much better -- although still not approaching the calibre of the tales he created with Street and Smith, under their capable editorial assistance.

For Doc Savage aficionados, this book adds a new dimension to what we know about Lester Dent's writing, and the stories themselves do tend to have fairly interesting characters and plots, even if quite limited.

A bargain at double the price, this book collects all the Lester Dent written Doc Savage radio shows. Unfortunately the recordings of these shows did not survive but for any Doc Savage fan wishing Dent had written more adventures this book is extremely satisfying. The Larkin cover is excellent and the mini adventures are great fun. Moonstone has put togther THE Doc Savage radio book. Highly recommended.