Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead

August 8, 2011
The three stories reprinted in this volume are solid examples of what passed for thrilling adventures (not coincidentally the name of the pulp fiction magazine in which two of them appeared) in the pre–Indiana Jones days. In the title tale, an expedition to the Pakistan desert to locate the lost loot of Alexander the Great erupts in murder and mayhem when greed gets the better of its members. “Price of a Hat,” set in revolutionary Russia, concerns a Cossack hat that carries a secret so significant a dozen people die trying to acquire it. “Starch and Stripes” tells of a Marine officer at a Caribbean outpost whose scheme to apprehend a wily bandit is nearly undone by corps bureaucracy. Though minimally plotted and matter-of-factly narrated, all three stories have the action, violence, and derring-do that made pulp fiction the escapist entertainment of its day.

February 1, 2012

Hubbard's trio offer vintage action, adventure, and romance. The Falcon Killer (1939), the longest of the group, follows Bill Gaylord, an American-born pilot who became known to the locals as Tzun Kai after joining the Chinese air corps to help fight the Japanese invaders. When his plane is downed, Gaylord is hidden from the enemy by American industrialist Henry Thompson and his beautiful daughter (can you say love interest?), who stand to lose it all if the Japanese prove triumphant. A spy in their midst could spell disaster, so Gaylord has to sniff him out while trying to elude capture and keep his head.

Greed (1950), which also includes the short stories "Final Enemy" (1950) and "The Automagic Horse" (1949), represents Hubbard's numerous sf writings. In the distant future, man has turned to the stars to hunt for precious stones and metals, and there are billions to be made if you have the stomach for space travel and raping planets and their inhabitants of their natural resources. "Final Enemy" has a clever twist ending as Earth learns that the long-feared invader from space is man himself. "The Automagic Horse" is a humorous story of movie special effects genius Gadgett O'Dowd's mission to build a realistic fake equine for a film. When a hard-nosed studio accountant starts nickel-and-diming him, O'Dowd picks up some extra scratch racing his creation at the track.

Tomb (1936), the standout of the bunch, is like a good Indiana Jones adventure. Gordon, a pilot hired to fly archaeologists on a dig, is framed for a team member's murder. He escapes but is prodded into helping the group's guide locate Alexander the Great's fortune in buried treasure. The loot is guarded by Alexander's troops, but they're long dead--or are they? This title also includes the shorts "The Price of a Hat" and "Starch and Stripes" (both 1936), offering more adventure. These full-cast productions quickly become addictive. Their brevity also makes for perfect commuter fare. Anyone who enjoys hard-boiled pulp writing or old-time radio will be rewarded.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.