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The Sting of the Scorpion (Scorpion #1)
 
 

The Sting of the Scorpion (Scorpion #1) [Kindle Edition]

Warren Stockholm
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

“The Sting of the Scorpion is fun neo-pulp action and violence with a great new hero in a wild alternate America.” — Gary Lovisi, Hardboiled Magazine

DEATHSTALKER!

Imagine a world where the Allies lost the war to Nazi Germany and America has spent sixty years under duress by Axis powers. Now imagine an America newly freed from oppression and trying to find its way—through crime and punishment. Welcome to the new America.

Post-War profits have helped Steeltown grow into a thriving industrial metropolis. But the criminal element is growing along with it. Never before has evil of such a depraved and monstrous nature terrorized the rainwashed streets of the city. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and now only the darkest and bloodiest of messiahs can prevent every man, woman and child from becoming hapless victims. Out of the shadows comes The Scorpion.

Kurt Reinhardt is a powerful and debonair newspaper publisher by day—but by night he becomes a crime-busting vigilante feared by the criminal underground and relentlessly pursued by the police. He is neither entirely good nor is he evil—and as The Scorpion his agenda is his own. To fight the criminal element he utilizes the awesome .50 caliber Sting, a garrote of piano wire, and secrets best left buried forever in the past. Aiding him in his ruthless quest for “death for death and blood for blood” are hard-boiled Police Captain Dick Barracks, Spike Malone, a cynical young hooligan out of the river district known as “Shit Town”, and Suzaku, his loyal Japanese retainer. At night in Steeltown the shadows are alive and The Scorpion crawls…

THE STING OF THE SCORPION

A juvenile slave trading and prostitution ring has set up shop in Steeltown, an act of perversity which lures The Scorpion out of hiding and puts him hot on the heels of Jimmy Marlowe, a notorious pimp, and his associate, the mystery man known only as “The Red Death”. Bodies are piling up, the obvious victims of an ax-wielding psychopath. Further complicating things is beautiful FBI agent Maggie James, whose goals are twofold: to break the slavery ring and bring The Scorpion and his bloody and destructive campaign to justice. But her investigation of Steeltown’s darkest sentinel brings her to the doorstep of Kurt Reinhardt instead. Will Maggie’s relentless deduction skills uncover Kurt’s past and reveal his darkest secret, or will Maggie herself be the next victim of The Red Death?

From the Publisher

#1 in the brand-new pulp series. Includes an interactive "Mail Bag" page where readers can write the creator of the series and see their letters printed in the second issue of the magazine, as well as a preview for the next book in the series and ordering information. Winners of the "best letter" to the editor will be receiving the next Scorpion novel free.

Product Details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 255 KB
  • Publisher: K. H. Koehler Books; 1 edition (April 23, 2009)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0027FFSJE
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Lending: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,506 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Well Wrought Work of Grim Pulp Action, March 30, 2009
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I had my eye on this book on Amazon for ages before I decided to take a chance on it. I'm a bit skittish, having bought small press and self-published books before that turned out to be utter dreck...heck, I recently bought a very popular YA adventure novel by a writer whose books sell millions of copies and it was one of the worst written tomes I've cracked open in years.

So, yeah. Skittish.

But I finally bought Warren Stockholm's The Sting of The Scorpion, allegedly the first issue of Scorpion Magazine, though this was published in 2006 and there's still no sign of a second issue. But things happen, and it is the product of a small press.

The Scorpion is a pulp hero in the tradition of The Shadow, but even more in the tradition of The Spider (both of whom I wrote about here). He's dark and deadly and armed and dangerous, clad in a black-veiled fedora and a black leather trench coat, brutally taking the fight to the criminals that plague his city, Steeltown.

While the hero is fashioned from a very readily recognizable pulp archetype, Stockholm does some interesting things with The Scorpion and the world he inhabits.

For one thing, the tale takes place in an alternate history in which Germany won the second world war and occupied America for sixty years. America has only recently booted their wretched forces out and is rebuilding itself. The milieu is an intriguing amalgam of the thirties and the late twentieth century, as if the culture sort of froze in place under Nazi rule, but technology moved forward.

As for the hero, in classic pulp fashion, The Scorpion by day is a wealthy paragon, living in the tallest building in the city, assisted by a mysterious Asian woman, dedicated to his mission against evil...but he's not just a hero with a dark past, he's a hero with a really dark past. And he's not really human, in some very interesting and dangerous ways. Richard Wentworth dressed as The Spider to scare criminals into thinking he was a monster; Kurt Reinhardt becomes The Scorpion because he is a monster.

Reinhardt is a compelling protagonist, the action frequent and brutal, the city a violent and noirish place, and the plot interesting. Not only that, but Stockholm can actually write very well (though this is possibly the worst copy-edited book I've ever read all the way through). I do have to warn readers of delicate tastes away, however, because this is a very grim and blood-splashed work.

I enjoyed the hell out of this story. I wish there was a Scorpion Magazine #2, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Unlike some other attempts at modern pulp I've read (or tried to read), this one's going on the shelf with my Doc Savages, Shadows, and, of course, that other arachnid, The Spider.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars fun pulp fiction thriller, October 29, 2008
In an alternate universe Nazi Germany defeated the Allies and occupied the losing nations including America for sixty years until the economy tanked causing a war in which America forced the oppressors to leave. Everything is being built up and growth is everywhere even in Steeltown. New rules allow crime to thrive with one dirty operation running a slave trade child porn ring. Women vanish with their abused bodies found in record numbers.

Watching over the city is The Scorpion who stalks and attacks evil men. He is a German super soldier created by the Third Reich but he escaped to the United States. He thinks of Steeltown as his town and plans to clean it up from criminals and predators. He uses his extraordinary skills to kill those malevolent humans harming others. Yet his past catches up to him when he realizes someone he once called brother is now a vile monster needing to be eradicated.

Readers who enjoy pulp fiction thrillers with an homage to Captain America will enjoy the entertaining THE SCORPION. The fast-paced story line vividly describes through a somewhat horrifying lens a small American town of the future five years after the Nazi occupiers have left. The hero is a tortured soul struggling to control his berserker tendency, a critical element of becoming a super soldier. No Bucky sidekick for him; he is alone even when surrounded by allies because he trusts no one, not even himself. Fans will appreciate the adventures of the Scorpion and look forward to more pulp escapades.

Harriet Klausner
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