Jack Adrian

This is far from perfect, but there's a lot to like about it and I have to say it exceeded my expectations. It's the first of a long series of novels set in a post apocalyptic America and started in the 1980s. That sentence probably tells you a lot of what you need to know and the book delivers the extreme violence and despair you'd expect, but there's an inventiveness and playfulness to the storytelling that lifts it enough to make it a fun and satisfying read.

The original Strand Magazine was published in London from 1891 to 1950; its initial slogan described it as “a monthly magazine costing sixpence *but worth a shilling*,” which I find hilarious. On the 100th anniversary of the initial publication, Oxford University Press released this and a companion volume (“Detective Stories from The Strand”) to celebrate its accomplishments. The tales in this anthology are all somehow “weird” or uncanny, and feature some of the most notable show more writers of the day: Arthur Conan Doyle (with non-Sherlock stories), E. Nesbit (decidedly NOT children’s tales), Graham Greene, H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence and more. The structure is a little odd: each section of the anthology (“Revenants,” “Murder and Madness,” “Odd Man Out,” “Sheer Melodrama,” “Superbeasts,” “Unnatural Disasters” and “Two Storytellers”) is prefaced with brief biographies of the writers featured in the section, but once the reader gets used to that system, the stories are easily entered into and extremely enjoyable. Of course, given the time and place, pretty much each story deals primarily if not exclusively with rich white men, but that’s what people were writing and reading back then. An historical treasure-trove, really; recommended! show less

One of the better anthologies of pulp crime stories, and an ideal starting point for newcomers to the genre. No single collection can be definitive, of course, but this one features nearly all of the big names--Hammett, Whitfield, Chandler, Spillane, Ross Macdonald--as well as genuinely obscure authors like William Cole (which, co-compiler Adrian suggests, may have been a pseudonym of Black Mask editor Fanny Ellsworth). While most readers will be happy to hear that this volume doesn't oblige show more them to plod through a Carroll John Daly tale, something by the fantastic, underrated John K. Butler (author of Dime Detective's Steve Midnight stories) would have been a welcome addition to the thirty-six pieces collected here. Expendable, in my view, are Daniel Mainwaring's Depression-era tragedy "Fruit Tramp" and Elmore Leonard's straight Western "Three-Ten to Yuma." Each is a fine example of the art of the short story; neither fits the hard-boiled mode.

The stories are grouped by decade, with the 1930s being far and away the most fruitful period for the brand of terse, rough-and-tumble detective story which is generally associated with the term "hard-boiled." As the editors progress into the mid-1950s the old-fashioned private eyes begin to disappear, supplanted by the dreary amorality of noir. A few of these stories are okay (the Jim Thompson selection is pretty damned good, in fact), but noir and hard-boiled are not synonymous. These later tales have a different flavor, and their aimless, destructive nastiness is not to my liking.

Standouts: Hammett's "The Scorched Face," Whitfield's "Mistral" (arguably the best story in the book, and quite a departure from the author's usual cornball fare), Norbert Davis's "Who Said I Was Dead?", Macdonald's "Guilt-Edged Blonde" and Thompson's "Forever After." show less

My grandfather used to tell us kids (grandchildren) adventure stories. Our favourite stories were about the explorers, Jack Sam and Pete though Pop varied the diet....depending on what he happened to be reading at the moment ...and somewhat on his memory of reading Penny Dreadfuls in London. We loved these stories ...even if they came with the occasional inconsistency .....and constantly pestered him for another story. I recall that one of his sequence of stories was about "Sexton Blake". show more I'd certainly heard of Sherlock Holmes and before I was about 14 I had read various anthologies of Sherlock Holmes stories. But I'd never actually come across a Sexton Blake story....so, when I saw this at a pretty good price at Berkelow's, I bought it. And I've not been disappointed. I learned that the Sexton Blake stories were written by a whole host of different writers and were just churned out for the various weekly newspapers or magazines. Some were written as full length novels. They modelled themselves on the sleuth of Baker Street.....and, in fact, Sexton Blake even moved into Baker Street. This particular collection has nine stories and I've just read four of them,: sufficient to give me a pretty good idea of the calibre and style of the genre. Yes....pretty much like Pop's stories.....racy, full of action and surprises, Somewhat devoid of overriding moral principles ....apart from "crime does not pay".....and even the most cunning of villains was no match, in the end, for Sexton Blake and Tinker. (Both Tinker and my grandfather seemed to share a common heritage in Cockney London).
The style is overwrought with adjectives viz:`"The solicitor's companion was a spare, angular man, dressed in dark clothes of old-fashioned cut". But they are great stories. I found myself reading them at great pace and more or less unable to put them down. the formula is the same as in Sherlock Holmes:.....some mysterious happenings, impossible to see the connections until Sexton Blake comes on the scene and starts to apply his analytical genius. All is revealed in the last few paragraphs....how the villains did it and how they are brought to justice. Frequent violence and the use of revolvers. I found myself, wondering how they would be able to do that in England....leaving bodies and wounded behind them and travelling internationally with their weapons. But, hey! this is escapism not an essay in logic.
I enjoyed the stories that I read. But four was enough. I now see where Pop was able to draw on his misspent youth reading penny dreadfuls (he left home at 14 and went to sea.....never returning to the family home....... for the last 60 years of his life, anyway)......and produce such wonderful adventure stories for us kids. It's not great literature but it is fun: Four stars from me. show less