Stanley Mullen (1911–1974)

Whilst searching through the Library of Congress Catalogue of Copyright Entries for 1951, (yes I am really a sad person) I came across Kinsmen of the Dragon by Stanley Mullen. It was a surprise because I thought I had cornered the market in 1951 science fiction and fantasy. A quick search on Abe books found the cheapest edition to be over £50 which takes it way above my casual reading price bracket. However the kindle edition costs under 3 euros and so I got it to read, thinking this could show more possibly be a lost classic of science fiction and fantasy from that era. At the end of the day I am pleased it cost under three euros. Not that it is that bad, certainly not as bad as James Blish and Damon Knight claimed it to be, reviewing it at the time.

The story is a mixture of science fiction and fantasy rather in the style of L Sprague De Camp although more carefully written and much more ambitious. It is a story about parallel worlds; that is a parallel world to our earth. An underground religious sect in London has formed around its leader (Franchard) who has strange powers, which seemed to be linked to radioactive material. Eric Joyce fresh from war time exploits is hired to look into the activities of the group. Through his investigations he comes across John Redwood who tells an extraordinary story of visiting another world, a very hostile environment, from which he has barely escaped. Redwood soon dies of radiation poisoning. The scientist believes that Redwood has somehow crossed a portal into a parallel world and that Franchard is from the other side and has evil intent on planet earth. It is not long before Joyce with his multi-millionaire friend and submarine owner Roger Grant are steaming out to the North Atlantic with a military team to find the portal.

The adventures in the alien world are bloody and relentless. Mullen does a good job in describing the circumstances and the world building is solid. His hero's do all the things that hero's are expected to do with never a moment of self doubt. There is plenty of excitement generated, although events do get a little repetitive. There is magic, there are many gun battles and mysterious adversaries; there is also a beautiful alien woman who flits between the two worlds luring men to their deaths or saving their souls, but there are no dragons. The plot line encompasses a full scale invasion of the earth and Arch-druids with super powers. Mullen packs many things into this novel, even linking it with Welsh druidic legends and stories told by Taliesin.

There are many good things in this fantasy novel, but it is aimed at an adolescent readership. As an adult I could still enjoy parts of it, but my interest wandered from time to time. Not a lost classic rather a summation of all the things you might expect to find in a fantasy novel of this period. If written more recently it could have stretched to at least four volumes. 3.5 stars. show less

"Nirvana of the Seven Voodoos" is a short story faeturing a mixture of jungle adventure and science fiction. Nothing earth-shattering about it, but it made a change and was worth checking out.