Monday, March 18, 2024

The Girl Flyers on Adventure Island (The Girl Flyers Series, Book 2 of 2)

This second book in The Girl Flyers series was a gift from a wonderful friend who found out I had bought the first book, so he graciously gave me this book so I would have a complete set.  The first book was a fairly decent read, so I had expectations that this one would be just as good.  The inside front flap of the dust jacket provides the exact same blurb that was used with the first book, so going into the story, I had no idea what to expect from it, as the blurb only gave a general overview of the series as a whole (and, surprisingly, gives away the identity of the culprits from the first book).  

The Girl Flyers on Adventure Island picks up very shortly after the ending of the first book. This is a rare occurrence in series books, as they usually do not connect with one another so closely.  Terry and Prim Mapes are flying down to South America on a mission to purchase the land on which their father, Dick Mapes, had established his flying field.  The option to purchase the land is just about ready to expire, and the girls must make it to the wilds of Peru to get the money to Peter Langley before their father's competition, Joe Arnold, convinces Langley to sell it to him.  Now, I did find it rather odd that the author makes several references to the events of the last book, yet fails to answer the question of how Joe Arnold and his lackey, Bud Hyslop, escaped their fate from the end of the last story (those that may recall, Joe's plane was crashing towards the water in a fog bank, where they were believed to have lost their lives!).  I guess that is one mystery that will remain unsolved...

From the stops along the way, the author has the girls travel down the East Coast, and they eventually make a stop in Miami before heading on to Havana - readers even get a too-brief mention of the "keys and reefs of the Florida coast spread out flat on the blue water" (p. 29).  Then, upon arriving in Havana, they sign "the grim old Morro Castle, the Spanish fort" (p. 29), which is actually a real place - Castillo del Morro, a defense fort located at the etrnce of the Port of Havana.  It is here where the girls are forced to wait for the arrival of their father's students, Allan and Syd - a fact that displeases Terry very much (as she believes her father thinks the two girls cannot handle the job without the boys there to watch over them!).  It turns out, though, the boys just want to join the fun as a bit of vacation and have no intention on interfering with the girls' task - but when they find out Joe Arnold is tailing them, the four decide it is a good thing they are all together to face the enemy.

It's not until Chapter III - Tropic Storm that the story takes on the more dangerous elements.  Terry and Prim in their Skybird, and the boys in their Fleetwings, try to escape a horrific storm in the Caribbean but end up flying right into it.  Their planes are put through the worst of tests, and by the time they come out of the other side of the storm, the girls are forced to land at the first island they come upon.  Before they even have a chance to think about repairs to the plane, they come face to face with Joe Arnold and Bud Hyslop, who are engaged in some rather illegal activities on the island - using the natives of the island as their slave labor!  Needless to say, they have no intention of letting the girls leave and reveal their location to the authorities, so Terry and Prim are taken captive while Bud takes off with the Skybird!  But, as is usually the case with situations like this in series books, the natives befriend the girls due to Joe Arnold's horrific treatment of them, and they eventually help the girls escape the clutches of the villains!

"Adventure Island" is an apt description of the island, for there is plenty of adventure that the girls experience while there.  The author has them traipsing through the jungle, hiding in native huts, exploring hidden caves, and doing everything they can to outwit their enemies.  The manner in which they signal for help is rather creative, but it's all too convenient that the boys happen to fly over the island and see it at just the right time.  Once again, coincidence is the go-to trope for series book authors.  

While there was never any third book published in this series, the end of the story does indicate that the girls would "face grave dangers and many times would escape with their lives only be a hair's breadth" in the Land of the Incas, leading one to think the next book might have been titled The Girl Flyers in the Land of the Incas had one been published.  And since Terry and Prim outwitted Joe and Bud by getting to Langley and paying him for their father's land before the option expired, it can be speculated that the two dastardly men would have appeared once again in the third book to compete against the girls in searching for the lost Incan treasure!

Something else I noticed in these books is that like nearly all Goldsmith books I've read, the first chapter begins on page 11 - however, unlike the other books, this one actually has 10 pages prior to it (most of them simply being blank pages).  That came as a surprise, since most of them only have 8 pages or less before that first page of the first chapter - so it was a refreshing surprise to see the page number actually match the number of pages.

The cover art, again provided by "F. Rigney" and, like the first book, features a very unexciting scene of the girls with a man who readers can assume is either their father or perhaps one of the men who serviced the plane at any one of the stops along the way down to Peru.  There is no sense of danger, no sense of mystery, and honestly, no sense of adventure to the cover at all.  Perhaps if the cover art for these two books had featured scenes with a little more drama, the books may have drawn more readers to them and sold well enough to warrant at least one more book.  But, alas, the Girl Flyers only had the two adventures - in Canada and in the Caribbean - before hanging up their flying togs.

RATING:  8 silver necklaces with bright pendants out of 10 for adventure, danger, and a nice send-off story for the Girl Flyers!

Friday, March 15, 2024

Gypsies of the Air (The Girl Flyers Series, Book 1 of 2)

This book is the first of a two-book series that I have heard about for many years, but which I had never had any real interest in picking up.  I know there was discussion about the real identity of the author (as the name Bess Moyer is considered a pseudonym, like so many others used for children's books back in the day); but I'm unaware of anyone actually uncovering Moyer's true identity, although there has certainly been speculation.  Nevertheless, when I happened across this book at Atlanta Vintage Books last year, I decided to pick it up.  Since the series only consists of two books (which is surprising, since most series of that time at least managed to open up with three books - even the short-lived Madge Sterling series had three books!), I figured they should be easy reads.  After all, they were published by Goldsmith and consisted of only 110 pages of story (similar to the Madge Sterling books, also published by Goldsmith).

Gypsies of the Air is the first of the Girl Flyers series.  As described on the inside front flap of the dust jacket, the series is about Terry and Prim, "two high spirited and adventurous girls, who have been taught to fly by their father."  Their father, Dick Mapes, was proud of his daughters and encouraged their flying, but their mother, Alice Mapes, was not quite so thrilled about their adventures in the sky.  Fortunately for her, though, Terry was the truly adventurous one, dedicating her life to learning all she could about airplanes and flying, while her sister, Prim, who did learn to fly a plane, was more than happy to stay on the ground.  Sort of like George and Bess (and you KNOW who they are!), the girls are described in the book as opposites - Terry is "tall for her age, slightly built, high-strung, and nervous, while Prim was inclined to be plump and rosy" (p. 17).  It is said that Prim "was easy-going, practical and diplomatic.  She could get along with any one, while Terry with her quick tongue was always getting into trouble and making enemies" (p. 17).  Yet, despite all of these differences, the two sisters are the best of chums.

The story centers around the disappearance of Allan and Sydney, two young men who Dick Mapes is teaching to fly.  They head off in a plane to fly across the Atlantic, but they disappear before their planned stop in Newfoundland.  Terry convince her father to let her and Prim go off in search of them, and the story takes off (no pun intended!) from that point.  The girls locate a downed plane, but it turns out to be one that was taken by their father's right-hand man, Bud, who had said he was heading down to Florida.  Why was his plane up North?  And why was Bud nowhere to be found?  The girls soon find the answers to that, and those answers lead them into a whole heap of trouble!  Joe Arnold, who is a neighbor and Dick Mapes' biggest competition, is willing to do anything necessary to put the girls' father out of business and take over the land Mapes' currently leases.  That includes kidnapping Allan and Sydney, and now Terry and Prim!  But the girls find aid in a newfound friend, a young girl named Alice, who is instrumental in helping them escape and rescue the two young men.

Despite how short the story is compared with most children's mysteries of the time (this book being published in 1932), it is actually rather engaging.  The descriptions are not necessarily as flowery as other series books, and the action moves along at a much quicker pace - but it makes for a quick, easy read that is, ultimately, enjoyable.  Terry is definitely the more quirky of the two sisters, and her character gets fleshed out considerable more than poor Prim.  Prim's purpose seems to be for no other reason than to keep her sister in check.  We do get some backstory on their father, Dick, who is confined to a wheelchair due to an injury sustained in a plane crash (which they suspect was a result of sabotage by Arnold), but we see very little of the girls' mother.  Allan and Sydney are the "gentlemen in distress" for the book, because it is the girls who have to save them, not the other way around as is usually the case.  It's a nice gender flip to see the girls presented as the stronger characters, not needing the men to bail them out. 

What is surprising is how the story ends - with the girls rescuing the boys, leaving Arnold and his cohort in crime believed to have crashed into the sea in a swirl of fog, lost to the waters below.  Not many children's series books end with the crooks believed to be dead!  But, of course, it doesn't come right and say they crashed and died, so it does leave it open for them to return...
 
Part of the story takes place in Harbor Grace, which is an actual town in Newfoundland.  Information found online indicates the town has roots going back all the way to the 16th century, making it one of the oldest towns in North America!  The town currently has a population of less than 3,000 people, so who knows what the population would have been 90-plus years ago.  In the story, the girls also travel down to a place called "Fish Cove" - and it turns out that is a real place as well, located in Newfoundland.  Thus, either the author was familiar with that area, or he/she did some research to integrate actual places into the story (to ground it somewhat in reality - again, no pun intended).

The cover for the book is not a very thrilling scene, showing Terry and Prim simply cooking over a fire next to their plane. This scene takes place just after they locate Bud's plan (p. 48) and does not portray any of the dangerous situations in which the girls find themselves over the course of the story.  Odd they did not pick a more "mysterious" scene than this.  The art is provided by "F. Rigney," who provided art for other books published by Goldsmith, including, but likely not limited to, the Madge Sterling series and a sports book titled His Olympic Feat.  Rigney also provided the cover art for the second book in this series as well (which, by the way, is mentioned on the last page of the story, nicely integrated into a sentence for readers to know the title of what was being offered next!).

While not exactly the best example of series book writing from the era, the story is enjoyable, and I'd recommend it for anyone wanting a fast read.

RATING:  8 jaunty flying suits out of 10 for giving girl aviators a chance to shine in their own little mystery - and ensuring they were the strong heroes of their own story!

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Wonder Woman - the Earth Two Adventures (DC Comics, 1977-78)

Okay, I know I don't normally do reviews of any ongoing comic book series, as it would take quite a bit of time and space to review hundreds of issues of the same series.  However, back in the late 1970s, DC Comics made the decision to take the Wonder Woman comic book in yet another new direction (let's face it - the character of Wonder Woman has had more face lifts than every actress in Hollywood combined!).  At the end of 1975, ABC aired a television movie, The New Original Wonder Woman, featuring Lynda Carter in the title role.  The movie was set in World War II and featured Wonder Woman/Diana Prince, Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, and General Blankenship.  It did well enough that in April 1976, two more specials were aired.  They did so well, ABC ordered more episodes, which aired during the 1976-77 television season.  So, DC Comics changed the direction of their comic book to mirror that of the television show, and returned Wonder Woman to World War II.  How did they do that, you may ask?  Well, easy - they shifted the focus from the Earth-1 Wonder Woman (present day) to the Earth-2 Wonder Woman (set during the second World War)!  And if you don't under the Earth-1 / Earth-2 references, well, I'm not going to explain them here - go look it up on the internet (true comic fans will understand easily what I am taking about...)

The saga began with Wonder Woman 228, in which the present day Wonder Woman of Earth-1 is suddenly faced with a Nazi plane being piloted by the mysterious Red Panzer.  When the Panzer uses a strange ray to return his ship home, he inadvertently brings Wonder Woman with him - to Earth-2 in the past!  There, we get the obligatory hero vs. hero fight due to a misunderstanding, until they stop long enough for the Earth-1 Wonder Woman to explain who she is and how she got there.  Together, they defeat the villain, and while Earth-1 Wonder Woman returns home, the comic stays on Earth-2 with the "golden age" Wonder Woman who battled Nazis in the second World War.  Written by Martin Pasko and beautifully drawn by Jose Delbo and Vince Colletta, the issue provides readers with a smooth transition to this alternate Earth and time, giving readers a brief, but easily understood description, of the differences between the two Earths (Earth-1 featuring the modern Justice League, Earth-2 featuring the golden age Justice Society).  Being a huge Justice Society and Earth-2 fan for as long as I have been reading comics, this jumping on point was pure excitement for me!
 
While the next issue concludes the Red Panzer story, issue 230 features a one-part tale starring the Cheetah as the villain of the story - and not just any Cheetah, but the original, Golden Age Priscilla Rich Cheetah, wearing her signature yellow and brown-spotted costume.  Only, this time, Cheetah is sporting some new claws that could do serious damage to Wonder Woman!  The story by Pasko, with art still by Delbo and Colletta, hearkens back to those Golden Age tales of woman vs. woman, where Wonder Woman must use her wits to defeat the villainous Cheetah (who has learned her secret identity in this issue).  It's a solid story with beautiful art.  I must say, the Delbo/Colletta collaboration truly was the perfect teaming for Wonder Woman, and while some other amazing artists have come and gone over the years, I still think Delbo/Colletta's issues are some of the best to appear in the pages on this comic.

The next two issues guest-star members of the Justice Society (after all, the book is now set on Earth-2 during World War II, which is the time when the JSA truly shined).  Sadly, Delbo had stepped away from the art chores and the new ongoing artist was to be Bob Brown, who penciled issue 231 with Colletta still inking. Brown's art was not that far off from Delbo's, but Wonder Woman just did not have the same appearance (partially, I think, due to the way Brown drew her hair).  The story centers around an Egyptian goddess, who turns out to be an alien from beyond the stars and who has her heart set on turning Steve Trevor into the man she once loved.  In order to do so, she has to eliminate anyone who can stop her, which includes the members of the JSA, as well as Wonder Woman.  It was great seeing the JSA in these issues, even if they only played in short scenes (after all, this is WW's comic, and so she as to be the focus of the story).  Sadly, though, Bob Brown took ill after the first issue, so artist Mike Masser stepped in to pencil thee second part of the story in issue 232.  There is a distinct difference in the art style, but I think my joy in seeing the JSA helped me overlook that difference.  Sadly, though, this was the last story written by Martin Pasko, as he moved on to other titles.

With issue 233, Gerry Conway took over the writing chores, starting off with a two-parter involving a villain who could control sea-life.  Kinda makes me wonder why Wonder Woman didn't simply call on Aquaman to help her out (although, in the 1970s, I'm not sure if DC was even acknowledging an Earth-2 Aquaman).  What is interesting about this tale is the fact Conway introduces two children - a brother and sister - who Wonder Woman rescues (their father is the villain who redeems and sacrifices himself at the end to save Wonder Woman).  They show up briefly in the next story (beginning with issue 235), but there is no real follow up with them after that.  I wonder if Conway had some plans for them that fell by the wayside, or that were derailed by editorial dictates, or if they were simply throw away characters that carried on farther than most.  I suppose we will never know at this point.  In any event, this two-part story also had a new artist in Don Heck, as it was revealed that Bob Brown had passed away due to his illness, and thus, the book would need a new artist.

Fortunately, Jose Delbo was available, and he returned to the art chores beginning with Conway's second two-part story beginning in issue 235. Not only does this two-parter see the introduction of a new villain named Armageddon, but it also guest stars Dr. Charles McNider (otherwise known as the JSA member, Doctor Mid-Nite!).  The doctor helps out Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor in both his medical persona and his superhero persona, which was rather nice to see, since we rarely saw the JSAers during that time outside of their costumes and heroics.  Conway continued his run with a third two-parter, this time bringing back a blast from the past - the REAL Diana Prince!  (Huh?  You mean you didn't know Wonder Woman was not the REAL Diana Prince?  Go back and read her original stories!)  Yes, Conway played off of the Golden Age origin of Wonder Woman by bringing back Diana Prince, who thinks Wonder Woman's alter ego is a spy who has stolen her identity.  Thus, when they meet, Wonder Woman has to reveal her origin (a nice way to integrate the Earth-2 Wonder Woman's origin into the run) and explain why Diana Prince has no recollection of giving Wonder Woman her identity to use.  The villain in the story, Kung the Assassin, was pretty much a throw-away villain who, as with the villains in the previous stories, redeems himself by the end.

Beginning in issue 239, Conway looks back at more of Wonder Woman's roots by bringing back the Roman gods, particularly Mars, the god of war!  Delbo and Colletta continue their run as artists, as Conway has Wonder Woman face off against Mars' lackey, the Duke of Deception - who makes Wonder Woman see things that are not there, leading the U.S. military to believe Wonder Woman has turned traitor to America!  Only the Flash (Jay Garrick, not Barry Allen - remember, this is Earth-2 still) is on the scene and once he figures out what is happening, he has to help his fellow JSA member before she does real damage to her reputation and the country!  I have to wonder if Geoff Johns didn't take a queue from Conway's story here when he wrote the Power Girl mini-series in the early 2000s (which featured Power Girl being taunted by the Psycho-Pirate into remembering her Earth-2 past by creating false visions around her, causing her to react against people no one else could see).  That would sort of make sense, since Conway helped revive All-Star Comics back in the mid-'70s, and he co-created Power Girl, and to mimic this story written by Conway would be a nice homage.  In any event, it was great seeing the Golden Age Flash in the story, and quite frankly, the cover to issue 240 by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez is probably one of my all-time favorite Wonder Woman covers.

By issue 241, with a cover date of march 1978, the television show had already entered its second season, in which Wonder Woman was updated and brought into the present.  Thus, there was debate raging in the letters columns of Wonder Woman as to whether the character in the comic should remain the Earth-2 Wonder Woman during World War II, or whether they should return to stories of the Earth-1 iteration in the present.  The story in issue 241 would be Gerry Conway's last story, and it features guest artists Joe Staton and Dick Giordano.  I've always loved Joe Staton's art (his run in All-Star Comics during the late '70s, as well as his work on the Huntress back-up stories in Wonder Woman during the '80s are some of the best), so I enjoyed seeing his take on Wonder Woman.  The story is a bit different from the previous tales, as it is narrated by the Spectre and finds Wonder Woman fighting not only a super-powered thief named the Bouncer, but unknowingly evading a killer named Sumo - formerly known as the Super Samurai, who she battled in the Superman vs. Wonder Woman giant tabloid-size comic from around that time.  Again, like so many of Conway's stories during his run, Sumo redeems himself, sacrificing himself to save the life of an innocent.

DC made the decision at that point to return Wonder Woman to the present, and so the tales of the Earth-2 Wonder Woman would come to an end.  Issues 242 and 243 saw Jack C. Harris step in as the new writer on the series, with Delbo on pencils still and new inkers Joe Giella (issue 242) and Frank Chiaramonte (issue 243).  His first issue was a special tribute to the end of World War II, which immediately took off in a completely different direction by having alien spaceships show up, kidnapping and transforming humans - starting with Steve Trevor! - into carbon copies of what they deem to be the "perfect" human.  Wonder Woman, of course, has to convince the aliens that humans are better with the unique, individual natures, and by the end of the issue, she is able to return everyone to their original forms.  The last page provides a send-off for General Blankenship, Steve Trevor, and Etta Candy, as they reveal what they will be doing now that the war is over ... and it also gives a sneak peak at the villain of the final issue of this Earth-2 run:  the Angle Man!  Thus, issue 243 sees the Angle Man, an adversary of the Earth-1 Wonder Woman, accidentally transporting himself into Earth-2's past, and it's up to the Wonder Women of both Earths to stop him!  The Earth-1 Wonder Woman, of course, must make everyone forget her presence (as the World War II versions of these characters had no knowledge of the multiverse), and she takes the Angle Man back to her own Earth, where the final page shows Wonder Woman in the Justice League satellite, reading a newspaper from Earth-2 that she inadvertently brought with her, revealing that her Earth-2 counterpart managed her life pretty well after the war and wondering if she can do the same on her own Earth...

I thoroughly enjoyed this 16-issue run of Wonder Woman, as it allowed me to revisit the original Earth-2 that I sorely miss.  The fact that DC followed the television version in some aspects (such as using General Blankenship instead of General Darnell, and the fact that Etta was not a short, chubby sorority girl) did not bother me, as the military personnel could easily change, and Steve and Diana could have been reassigned to work under a different general during the war.  Yes, Etta's appearance is a little more difficult to explain away, but hey!  I was just happy to see Earth-2 in print!  Of course, talking about Etta, there is one subplot involving her becoming engaged to a slippery character named Pierre Machand - a man Wonder Woman did not trust at all - that was dropped when Harris took over as writing.  Not really sure where Conway was going to go with that, but with the time jump between issues 241 and 242, that story simply disappeared without even a quick sentence or two to explain why Etta never married him!
 
Even after the Silver Age stories revealed the existence of the Golden Age characters still living on Earth-2 (as well as the Crime Syndicate on Earth-3, and the Freedom Fighters on Earth-X, and the Shazam family on Earth-S, and so on), other than the short-lived revival of All-Star Comics, we did not really see any ongoing series that featured Earth-2 characters on a regular basis.  And once Crisis hit, and the multiverse was destroyed (albeit temporarily, since it was reopened with Infinite Crisis and the countless crossovers DC has had over the last 40 years), we have yet to see any ongoing series focusing on the characters of Earth-2 (other than the short-lived Earth-2 series that came out with the "New 52" books, which quickly disappeared and has never really been mentioned since).  So, these World War II stories by Pasko, Conway, and Harris thrilled me to no end, and left me nostalgic for the "glory days" of comics from the 1970s and early '80s, which to me were some of the best comic book stories every written.

RATING:  10 super-secret vials of life-saving liquid out of 10 for taking me back to a time when comic stories were truly fun to read and satisfying a long-waited need for stories from Earth-2!

Saturday, March 9, 2024

The Headland Mystery - a Children's Press Mystery

This book is the third, and final, book that I brought back with me from Ireland.  Sadly, I found very little in children's mystery series in the used book stores I visited while touring Ireland, but I did manage to pick up three books that caught my eye - The Three Spaniards, Kit and the Mystery Man, and this one.  The other two books were not bad at all, so I went into this one hoping the same would be true.  Not only was it true, however, but it actually exceeded my expectations.  After all, the main reason I bought this book was for the cover, which has a very gothic feel to it (the two girls in the foreground, and a castle-like structure high atop a cliff in the background).  And while the story is not gothic in nature, it has a well-written mystery filled with suspense and plenty of danger!

The Headland Mystery is written by Arthur Groom (1898 - 1964), who, from everything I can gather online, was quite the prolific children's author, writing more than 100 books for children during his lifetime.  He is not to be confused with the Australian author by the same name (1904-1953), who was also a conservationist, journalist, and photographer.  The book was published by Children's Press under their "The Boys' and Girls' Library" of titles, and it features one glossy internal frontis piece.  (According to one source I found online, there is a later reprint of this title published by Collins, which has a glossy black and white frontis.)  The inside front flap for the book indicates that Groom (the first one) is a "newcomer" to the Boys' and Girls' Library, but indicate he "has written a really thrilling story, which will grip the reader from start to finish."  Well, not sure about how gripping the start of the story is, but I can attest to the fact that once it does get going, there's literally no stopping!

Jean Wensley and Patricia ("Pat") Bolton are the two lead characters in the story.  The girls are the best of friends, and the story opens with them heading off to Cliffside Cottage to spend their summer holiday with their godmother, Mrs. Bertha Heal.  Now, before I go on, I must make an observation here.  The girls' mothers are referred to as Mrs. Wensley and Mrs. Bolton, and of course, their godmother is referred to as Mrs. Heal.  At no time during the story is there any reference to any "Mister" for any of these older women - the girls' fathers are never mentioned, and nothing is said about Mrs. Heal's husband.  Thus, readers are left with the impression that Mrs. Heal is a widow, and the girls' fathers are simply not invested in their daughters' summer vacation.  Okay, enough about that.  Cliffside Cottage is situated in the peaceful village of Somerset, which is fine with Pat - but Jean is looking for excitement.  What's the old saying?  Be careful what you wish for...

The mystery begins when the girls arrive by train and try to make their way to Mrs. Heal's cottage - they take a wrong turn and end up at a rather large house "practically on the point of the headland ... it contained at least ten bedrooms, probably three or four sitting-rooms, and other accommodation in accordance with its quite imposing appearance" (p. 18).  The girls find a way into the great house when a storm breaks upon them, and while no one is there, it is clear someone has disturbed the furniture inside.  When they eventually make their way to Mrs. Heal's, they are warned to stay away from the house - it's owner, one Mr. Pink, would be arriving soon to re-open the place.  But Jean can't get enough of the place, and keeps convincing Pat to go back - which ultimately leads to them discovering a man tied up in the basement!  (More on that later...)  And here is where the story really heats up - three men show up and kidnap not only the man that the girls rescued from the basement, but also Jean and Pat!  The entire second half of the book deals with the girls' attempts to escape the clutches of these criminals, and just when you think they are free - BAM!  Right back in the crooks' clutches again!

Groom definitely knows how to write suspense, because once those girls get kidnapped, there's not one pause in the action, and there is literally no way to put the book down until the very end.  The danger for the girls is very real, and even innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire.  Groom holds nothing back, and we even get a fog-filled get-away on the side of a cliff, where one wrong step could mean death for Jean or Pat - or both!  But these girls are not helpless by any means - Pat may be a bit timid, and Jean may be a bit spunky, but together, they make quite a good team.  And before the end of the tale, even Mrs. Heal gets a moment to shine (and I have to say, I really enjoyed her character - wish there had been more of her in the book!.

Now, back to that man in the basement.  As mentioned earlier, the girls do rescue Mr. Pink's right-hand man, who they find tied up in the basement - and that entire scene is rather dramatic, with a dark basement, broken stairs, a dangerous fall, and a shocking reveal.  But the most interesting part of it all (to me, at least) is the fact that the frontis art is VERY reminiscent of the frontis from the revised text of Nancy Drew's The Bungalow Mystery (go check it out, if you don't believe me!).  Both pictures feature a man tied up in a basement, discovered by the young sleuth(s) who have descended the stairs.  Sure, there is a bit of a difference (Nancy Drew is actually walking down the stairs, while Pat and Jean are already at the bottom of the stairs); but, the entire scene is so similar, it could be a knock-off.  The revised version of The Bungalow Mystery was published in 1960, and this book appears to have been published somewhere around 1949 or 1950 (depending on which site you look at), so The Headland Mystery would have come out first.  It could just be pure coincidence (after all, children's mysteries depend on those coincidences!), but then again...
 
A few points worth mentioning.  I find it interesting the use of the word "ass" in the story, as Pat refers to her best friend as a "blessed ass" (p. 46) when they are discussing why someone would build a fire in the fireplace in the middle of summer.  I can only assume the term does not have the negative connotation that it does here in the States. Another term I was not familiar with was when one of the crooks tells Mr. Pink's man that, "I reckon you're potty" (p. 93).  Took me a bit, but discovered a British encyclopedia of slang online that indicates "potty" means silly, crazy, or eccentric.  The final thing was the hidden room that Mr. Pink's man discovers in the upstairs of the old house - which is described as a "three-cornered recess with a filthy dirty window..." (p. 110).  Needless to say, that description immediately brought to mind a certain Dana Girls book (if you know, you know), and since there is a Jean here and a Jean there ... well, my mind made the connection instantly.

Of the three books I brought home with me from Ireland, I would have to say this is by far my favorite.  Love the characters, love the writing, love the suspense, and love the setting.  Too bad poor Pat and Jean never got a continuing series of books.  Or, maybe Pat changed her name to Louise and they crossed the ocean ... nah, never happen!

RATING:  10 swiftly rising tides out of 10 for a fantastic tale of a mysterious house high atop the cliffs of the English countryside with two very likable young sleuths!

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

The Virginia Mysteries, Book 11 - Danger on the Stage

It's been a year since I read the previous book in the Virginia Mysteries series, so it was about time to pick up the most recent book.  For the most part, I have enjoyed this series, each book not only set in a particular part of Virginia (or its surrounding area) but also chock full of historical facts about the State and its rich history.  Author Steven K. Smith not only provides young readers with fun stories of mystery and adventure, but he teaches them about Virginia's colorful past along the way.  And this particular book was one I was looking forward to reading, as it centers around an historic theater - and since I spent some years acting in local community theaters, I could not wait to see how Smith would merge the mystery and theater into one story!

Danger on the Stage takes place in Abingdon, Virginia, where the historic Barter Theatre is located.  And yes, Abindon is a real city, and yes, Barter Theatre is a real place!  As Smith relates in the story, the theater got its name from the fact that when it opened back in the 1930s, patrons were told they could either pay the 35-cent admission in coin or by bringing "an equivalent amount of produce" - basically bartering for their ticket!  The concept became known as "ham for Hamlet," and today the theater still has at least one show a year in which patrons can bring canned or dry goods to help local charities in exchange for a ticket to the show.  The history of this theater can be found at their website, Barter Theatre.  Again, this is one great thing about this series - actual, historical sites are integrated into the stories, with a mystery centering around them.

The mystery this time involves the aunt of the boys' best friend, Caitlin.  Her Aunt Ginny, who is the current artistic director for the theater, has invited Caitlin and her family (and by extension, Sam and his older brother Derek) to come visit and see the production of Red Riding Hood - which, coincidentally enough, stars the famous actor, Jake Greensboro, as the big bad wolf.  Sam can't wait to meet his favorite actor - but when they get the chance to meet him backstage before the first performance, they learn he has been getting threats from someone ever since he arrived back in town (Jake used to act in the theater years ago, before he left for Hollywood after being "spotted" on stage during a performance).  Sam is concerned, but Jake shrugs it off, saying it is something he is used to as a star.  After all, the show must go on...
 
And here's where the mystery really heats up.  Sam spots a mysterious man in a white suit in the balcony across the way - a man who seems to be warning of something.  Sam catches on and cries out to the actors on stage, but it is too late - a swinging sandbag knocks over a wall, which falls directly on Jake Greensboro!  He is injured and taken to the hospital, leaving Aunt Ginny to deal with the show's backer - a real estate mogul who Sam, Derek, and Caitlin see in several places around town.  With Jake in the hospital, and the "accident" revealed to be sabotage, the show must be shut down, leaving Ginny concerned about the future of the theater (which is in financial straits).   The three little crime solvers decide to do what they do best and figure out what is really going on in town.

This is actually once of Smith's best mysteries to date (and I'm not saying that just because of the theater connection).  There's a bit of a ghost tale, there's an unscrupulous real estate developer, there's a blackmailer, there are plenty of secrets, there's a secret underground tunnel, there's a wronged individual out for revenge, and there are unresolved feelings between some star-crossed lovers.  There's mystery, there's supernatural (is there?), there's history, and there's romance, all rolled into one great story.  And, of course, there's Derek's mischievous and somewhat rebellious nature that leads the kids into trouble more often than not. I can honestly say there is not one dull moment in the entire story - each chapter leaves you wanting to keep reading to find out what's going to happen next!

As usual, the mystery does get all wrapped up nicely by the end, and the kids prove their worth by uncovering the truth and revealing the culprits behind everything - and at same time, save the theater, and pretty much the entire historic district, from being gobbled up by a real estate developer set on turning the entire area in a 21st century money-grab!  Smith's stories remind their readers just how important history and the landmarks that preserve it, are to our culture and our country.  Such a fun way to learn, much in the same way Harriet Stratemeyer always incorporated real world learning experiences into the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books back in the '60s and '70s.
 
I do not find any solicit for a 12th book in this series, so I have to wonder if this book is the concluding chapter of The Virginia Mysteries.  I hope not, as I'd like to see more adventures of Sam, Derek, and Caitlin as they continue to age and learn more about their home state of Virginia!
 
RATING:  9 lightning round games of chess out of 10 for proving that there is always way more drama going on back stage / behind the scenes at a theater than is actually on the stage!

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Florida Antiquarian Book Fair - 2024 - Day Three

Well, the third and final day of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair (Florida Antiquarian Book Fair) has come and gone.  It was a truly fantastic weekend, and it was so good to see so many friends I have made over the years at this show!  I wish the show could last longer, but, then again, I don't think my bank account could handle it.  While not as crowded as yesterday, there were still a good number of people there, browsing through the thousands upon thousands of books or sale.  I was right there with them, wanting to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Today, I made a new connection and new friend with a book dealer I didn't even realize was right in my backyard (my backyard being DeLand).  Richard Oates of Blind Horse Books was set up right there next to Kerry (also of DeLand!), and he was offering up a variety of vintage and antique books, particularly ones associated with travel exploration and geography.  Richard was great to chat with, and I learned he even runs a daily blog, sharing information and history about authors and their works, which for avid readers like me presents a whole new doorway to knowledge (check it out at Blind Horse Books).  Will and I browsed through his amazing display of books, magazines, pamphlets, and other paper ephemera, and quite frankly, I'm still in awe thinking about all he had there.  But there was one book in particular...

Based on the cover, I immediately thought that perhaps The Log of the Flying Fish by Harry Collingwood was part of a children's series, or at the very least, written by an author of children's books.  Well, I was half right - turns out Collingwood is a pseudonym for British author William Joseph Cosens Lancaster, who wrote more than 40 boys' books of adventure, most of them nautical in nature (think Jules Verne).  Published in 1886 (more than 100 years ago!), the copy of this book at Richard's booth was beautiful - one would never guess it is more than a century old!  And the "flying fish" is not an actual fish, which I first thought when I saw the title, but it is about a ship that goes under water and also flies in the air.  Hmmm, maybe a precursor to Stratemeyer's Tom Swift series, eh?  Oh, and one must not forget the 12 beautiful full page illustrations by Gordon Browne, who illustrated a number of children's books in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
 
One of my finds this year was Molly Brown's Orchard Home by Nell Speed (in dust jacket!!!!).  I had never heard of this series until Friday, when Will and I when antique mall shopping in St. Petersburg before the Book Fair started.  At one of the malls, we found a copy of Molly Brown in Kentucky (without dust jacket, unfortunately), and since I'm originally from Kentucky, I picked it up, curious to see what parts of my home state would be featured in the book.  So, imagine my surprise when we were looking at the various books in one of the booths and I came across Molly Brown's Orchard Home!  To go from having never heard of the series to stumbling across two books in the series in the same weekend - well, the odds are astronomical!  Needless to say, it's yet one more series I now find myself collecting!

Another awesome dealer at the show this year was Heartwood Books and Art out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  This is the dealer from whom I bought those two pulp novels I mentioned in yesterday's blog post.  They specialize in vintage mystery and detective fiction, sci-fi and fantasy, as well as horror and supernatural books - and, of course, old pulp magazines.  They had quite an amazing display of first edition hardcover books from authors such as Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, Sax Rommer, Alan Moore, William Irish, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Wyndham, Rod Serling, and many others.   The books are in utterly superb condition, and it's anyone's guess how they have survived the years in such beautiful shape!  They also had a shelf filled with more pulp novels of all genres - from sci-fi to detective to fiction to risque - among them, I saw two different versions of Night Nurse by David Charlson.  I already have this book, but I only have one of the covers - I was so tempted to buy that other cover, but I managed to restrain myself.

What did interest me, however, was one of the books in their glass case - The Quest of the Sacred Slipper by Sax Rohmer.  The title definitely sounds like a children's mystery series book, and this title in particular brings to mind the Nancy Drew book, The Scarlet Slipper Mystery.  This particular book in Heartwood's collection was a first Canadian edition with its dust jacket in tact (not perfect, but still in beautiful shape considering it is over 100 years old!).  For those who may not be familiar with the author, he is known for his Fu Manchu series of books, which featured a supervillain as the title character.  Apparently this book has been reprinted a number of times in various formats, but this particular one is a very early printing.

Two other books this dealer had that caught my eye were anthologies from the early 1900s.  The first is titled Creeps (a collection of uneasy tales), which features a tagline that reads "Horror Stalking in Many Places."  As a fan of horror tales, I was immediately drawn not only to the title and the tag, but also to the very haunting cover itself.  The cover art appears to be by Nat Long (based on the signature and what I could find online to compare with), and it features a woman climbing to the top of a staircase with a candle lighting her way and an expression of fright on her face.  Does this sound familiar?  Well, any fan of Nancy Drew books would immediately realize the cover hearkens back to the original Tandy cover to The Hidden Staircase!  This book was published two years after the Nancy Drew book, so who knows - perhaps it inspired Long to paint this one!

The other book is titled Shivers, and this was a third collection of "uneasy tales" in the same series as Creeps.  This book features the tagline "Terrors and Ghouls of Night" and contains nine stories by various authors.  Also published in 1932, it features a strange and frightening cover (again by what appears to be Nat Long) of a blond young lady turning in fear to see an elongated creature behind her about to pounce off of a bed!  The pose of this young lady seems to almost be a mirror pose of that of Nancy Drew from her first mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock, as rendered by Russell Tandy - just sans the clock.  While neither book is an exact copy, there are certain similarities that leaves one wondering if Long perhaps saw those Nancy Drew covers and was influenced when he produced the covers to these books.  In any event, they both caught my attention and made me wish I could afford these copies!
 
One thing about this year's show that did stump both Will and me is the fact that so many booths had Edgar Rice Burroughs books - from Tarzan to John Carter to Jungle Girl to countless others.  The show was advertised to be celebrating the 120th birthday of Dr. Seuss (which it did on Saturday!), and yet we saw WAY more Burroughs books than Seuss books, and there was even one dealer that had nothing but books by Burroughs!  We don't believe the dealers planned it this way, but it was definitely a coincidence that so many brought them, and it left us wondering how we missed getting the memo!  This month marks the 74th anniversary of Burroughs' death, so perhaps that was the reason?

And once again, the three day event came to a close, and with a back seat loaded up with books, but for ourselves and others, we had to bid farewell to old friends and new friends.  It was a fantastic show, and we just wish we had more time to spend going through all those booths!  And while the show will not be back until next year, their Facebook page (Florida Antiquarian Book Fair - Facebook) allows me to follow along for any updates and to keep my anticipation going strong! 

RATING:  100 vintage pulp paperbacks out of 100 for giving me access to worlds that only books can provide and bringing together collectors from all over to share their love and enjoyment of books in one place!

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Florida Antiquarian Book Fair - 2024 - Day Two

Saturday - what a day!  Today was the second day of the fun-tastic and Seuss-tacular Florida Antiquarian Book Fair (Florida Antiquarian Book Fair), and boy, was it crowded!  Which, of course, is a great thing for the many dealers that are there this weekend.  The Book Fair has been sharing some of the excitement on their Facebook page (Florida Antiquarian Book Fair - Facebook), but honestly, if you are not there in person, there's no way you can experience the joy of breathing in the smell of all those books or overloading your senses with the look and feel of hardcovers, paperbacks, magazines, and every other imaginable paper ephemera you for which you could be looking.  Despite the crowds, Will and I, along with our friend Ray who joined us today, managed to go through booth after booth after booth to find some more treasures!

We started off on the same path we took yesterday - heading right up the far left aisle, checking out some dealer shelves we missed yesterday, and chatting up with the guy at the Intergalactic Trading booth.  We finally made it to the last booth in that aisle, which was none other than the Inkling Book Shoppe out of Lakeland!  It's always great to catch up with Matt Whalon (pictured), as well as Finley Walker (not pictured), and they had some fantastic books for sale!  I picked up a couple of early printing, red-board Hardy Boys, as well as an early printing of The Secret of the Caves and a couple of wrap spine Hardy Boys for a close friend, and was very tempted to get The Three Investigators no. 39 that he had for sale (I may still pick that up tomorrow if he still has it!). They had plenty of other books for sale, from classics to sci-fi, some Dungeons & Dragons, along with a number of Tom Swift, Sr. in dust jacket, some Dana Girls, Ted Scott, Red Randall, Rover Boys, and so much more.  He also had stack of dust jackets for sale for collectors who have un-jacketed Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books!  But there was one book that stood out above all the rest...
 
...and that book would be the last Tom Swift, Jr. book, number 33 - Tom Swift and the Galaxy Ghosts! Matt has a beautiful copy of this book for sale, and for Tom Swift collectors, this is a much sought-after book.  I was fortunate enough to receive one as a gift back in 2006 from a dear friend, otherwise, I would have likely scooped this beauty right up!  It's not often you see this book out in the wild, so to speak, and the copies I see for sale online are nowhere near this good of shape!  It's well worth the price, and if someone misses out on it this weekend, that would be a true loss!

Another great seller on hand this year is Gary Overmann, who always has such a wonderful selection of children's books from which to choose.  He has plenty of Oz books by Baum, Thompson, Neil, and others, as well as classics such as Pooh, Little House, Raggedy Ann, and more.  But, of course, my eye is always on the lookout for those series books, and Gary never disappoints.  I'm not sure how he manages to have such a great inventory of these books, but clearly I wasn't the only one there looking for them - he said someone at the show bought him out of every Nancy Drew had with him this weekend!  But that's okay, because he still had plenty of others left for me, Ray, and Will to pour over and buy.
 
Gary has for sale Judy Bolton, Hardy Boys, Dana Girls, Cherry Ames, Tom Swift, Boxcar Children, Happy Hollisters, Thornton Burgess, Uncle Wiggly, Tarzan, the Little Colonel, Bomba the Jungle Boy, and the list goes on and on.  He had both picture covers and dust jacket editions, and he even still had one of the two Nancy Drew picture books (which surprised me that the Nancy Drew collector from earlier had not bought that with the rest of the Nancys!).  He also had two of Mildred Wirt's Brownie Scouts books, which I don't see too often.  He had so many books, that some where shelved behind the ones in front, making it a fun scavenger hunt for collectors like us, who pulled out the books in front for the hope of finding one of the treasures we need hidden behind.   While Will stood there looking through each of the Hardy Boys books to determine which ones he still needed (he had already bought a Vicki Barr and a Dana Girls from Gary yesterday!), I was combing through the Happy Hollisters to search for ones on the list a friend gave me to find for her, as well as the Dana Girls for the ones I needed to fill in my gaps. As I said, Gary is always guaranteed to have something we need, so he truly is a must-go-to for children's series book collectors!
 

Now, I would be remiss if I did not share the wonderful even that was celebrated today at the show.  In honor of Dr. Seuss's 120th birthday, the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair hosted a birthday sing-a-long and served cake to all who attended.  The Cat in the Hat, along with Thing 1 and Thing 2 were also present, and they walked around reminding everyone just how much fun reading can be!  Dr. Seuss was, in actuality, Theodor Seuss Geisel, wrote and illustrated more than 60 books under the guise of "Dr. Seuss."  His birthday, March 2nd, was adopted as the annual "National Read Across America Day," which encourages reading and teaches the importance, value and fun of reading!  Thus, it was only appropriate that the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair would celebrate this awesome day - and in case you were wondering, there were LOTS of dealers at the show offering Dr. Seuss books for sale.  And what better way to start your child on a journey of fun and discovery than with a Dr. Seuss book?

Now, I have to share two very interesting finds that I picked up at the show today.  While browsing through a shelf of pulp novels, I came across one titled Three Loose Ladies by M. H. Gropper, which featured a red head, a blonde, and a brunette on the cover, along with the tagline, "They were the cover girls on the book of temptation.  This is their intimate story."  Will and I laughed, joking the girls hair colors made us think of Nancy, Bess, and George.  Well, just a few books later, I came across another book with the exact same cover art (except instead of a red background, this one featured a white background).  However, this book was titled Three Gorgeous Hussies, was written by Jack Woodford, and was published by a different company.  Even more odd, the book featured the same exact tagline as the first!  I was intrigued enough to purchase them both - and after taking a cursory look at them, I discovered they are completely different stories, despite the same art and tagline!  Needless to say, my research into these two books is only beginning...
 
And that just goes to show, you never know what fun and exciting (and unique!) things you'll find at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair!  Can't wait to see what surprises I'll find tomorrow!
 
RATING:   50 copycat covers out of 50 for surprising me with books I didn't even know I needed or wanted and opening the door for research that I'm eager to dig into as soon as possible!