Land of Always Night
Ted Nolan <tednolan>
I read LOAN for the first time recently. I've some reviews on the
archives of this group, and it seems a number of people think more highly
of it than I do. I think it was an interesting change of pace, but
had a number of flaws that could have been corrected with very little
effort (though I fully realize the pace of pulp writing didn't provide
any time for reflection).
On the plus side, the gangsters were pretty interesting and had better
characterizations than just generic bad guys. In fact, as one review
noted, they got better characterizations than Doc's men (Since this
is a non-Dent Doc, this is understandable, Ryersion would hesitate
to make a mess in Dent's sandbox), and Watches is not one of those ruthless
bosses who will abandon a man without qualms -- he even inspires loyalty
enough that a wounded man will stay and get himself killed covering the
rest's retreat. (Though Doc's disguised intervention short-circuits this).
There are also some nice un-Dent-like touches such as Monk's (I think)
description of the air-borne light in terms of the later afternoon sun
after a storm, and the throwaway bit about girls getting their fathers' names
reversed.
The gang's multiple attempts to kill Doc get pretty funny after a while.
On the minus side, we have:
Ham Hock Phiney. This character was a big disappointment given the way
he was introduced. Watches tags him "smarter than he looks" and places
a good deal of confidence in him. In fact, when the expedition to steal
the goggles gets underway, he is confidently giving orders to the white
gang members, and they seem to take it as a matter of course. Then he
runs into the goggle hologram and goes 30's superstituous-stereotype-black
and never recovers. I know Street & Smith didn't mind good black characters
since Doc's sibling title The Avenger had some, it's a shame Phiney wasn't
one.
Ool. I'm sorry, but whenever I see that name, I think of that sign you
used to see at backyard pools some years ago: "Welcome to our ool.
Notice there is no P in it and keep it that way". Ool starts off as a
pretty interesting character, but you gradually come to realize that he's
no lost civilization mastermind, but a lost civilization screwup, and his
plan doesn't make a lot of sense. It would have been better for him to
have been a failed coup plotter or some such with a real base of support,
and to actually _know_ the air-light secret except for one vital ingredient.
Also, what's up with most of the lost civ guys being normal and non Ool-like?
Foreshadowing. I don't have the book in front of me, but there is
one point in the underworld where the team encounters something
they don't understand, and the narrative voice notes that they would
later learn the answer after the adventure. Given that we _always_
know Doc and his team will come out OK, the suspense is whether the
lost-civ gets destroyed in the conflict or not. This foreshadowing
kills that suspense.
Doc's taciturnity (if that's a word). I know I hate to say anything about
a problem I'm working on until I have a pretty good idea what the answer
is, so I have a good deal of sympathy for Doc's habitual avoidance of
questions and reluctance to volunteer anything while he's working a case, and
I know he had to rush back to the boat to play 'patriot', but for heaven's
sake, when everyone is moping around thinking Monk might be dead, he could
at least find time to yell, "Don't worry about Monk, he's fine" as he rushes
off..
The girl. Really underwritten. After Doc & co are sentenced to death,
I expected her to try to spring them, but all she did was, essentially,
come and say goodbye. I expect a bit more spunk from a Doc heroine
even when she does end up ineffective.. (Wouldn't mind seeing that whole
"diaphanous" look in person though..)
The special watch & the hands of death. It's almost as if Ryerson got to
the end of the book and realized he hadn't resolved what Watches's special
anti-Doc watch was, or explained how Ool & co could kill with their hands,
so he cooked up something quick and lame for each. The hands of death thing
was a real let down, and I'm not even sure it made sense as the whole butterfly
motion is completely unnecessary..
Finally, on a completely different note. I just happened to look at the
(Bama) cover from across the room, and went 'woah!'. I didn't notice it
at all at first, but I think Bama was sneaking a huge phallic motif under
Bantam's radar. Take a look at
and see what you think. Of course sometimes a mushroom is just a mushroom, but
note that it's between Doc's legs, and the first cap is shaped awfuly like..
Ted
Dr Hermes
Great commentary! I like that you don`t just summarize the plot but
instead detail what you liked or disliked about the story. (I will never
look at that Bama painting the same way again. Someone also pointed out
the cover to THE VANISHER had some icky phallic stuff going on, the mist
around the villain`s walking stick of sumthing...)
Lester Dent had a problem in that he was writing stories with a mystery
element that couldn`t be revealed until the end... and yet the lead hero
invariably had solved the mystery early on. To keep the reader in the
dark meant Doc himself had to not explain anything to his pals. Just
once, I wanted Renny or Long Tom to throw a fit and yell, "Jeez, Doc,
what is your problem? Just tell us who the mastermind is, okay?!"
He also faked his death a bit too frequently, without letting his best
friends know about it, putting them through severe emotional distress.
Sometimes it was necessary and there wasn`t time to let them in on it,
but I`m surprised they didn`t resent this more. It seemed cruel and
thoughtless, but maybe Doc just never realized what he put them through.
Catts4
He's a doctor. No explanations, just prescriptions and operations.
This also explains the fancy office and waiting room.
Dave
HHopk15447
together fully and live up to its early eerie chapters. I preferred Ryerson's
Fantastic Island, though it's not one of my favorites.
Howard
THE SILVER MINE SPOOK by Lance Howard (Howard Hopkins)
One bitch, one gypsy and a whole lot of silver just made the west a little more
wild!
Hardcover from http:// www.amazon.co.uk
Homepage:http://www.howardhopkins.com
Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Dr Hermes <drhe...@webtv.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> Great commentary! I like that you don`t just summarize the plot but
>instead detail what you liked or disliked about the story. (I will never
>
Thanks, I figure more people in this group will have read any given Doc
than not..
I read a lot of Doc when I was a teenager, kind of fell out of it, and recently
when stuck in DC for 2 weeks, wanted something I could slip into my pocket
to read while waiting for the subway, and found out again how much fun
the books are.
Ted
Kent Allard
wrote:
> This also explains the fancy office and waiting room.
>
And that Library full of old magazines...