Eighteen short stories from Frederick Faust, who wrote nearly 900 pieces of fiction—most of them pulp westerns—under the name of Max Brand (The Black Signal, 1986, etc.) and 20 other pseudonyms between 1917 and his death in 1944. Westerns are well represented here, including Faust's first, ``Above the Law'' (1918), and his best-known, ``Wine on the Desert'' (1936), both of which depict the struggle between good and evil. Faust's skill at other genres is evident in stories like the hard-boiled ``The Silent Witness'' (1938) and the urbane spy tale, ``The Secret Villa'' (1935), which introduced Secret Agent Anthony Hamilton. The first appearance of Dr. Kildare in ``Internes Can't Take Money'' (1936) is a melodramatic story in which the young doctor faces a moral dilemma. Across all genres, Faust based his characters on mythical models. The passages from youth to adulthood and from cowardice to honor involve painful ordeals in ``The Sun Stood Still'' (1934) and ``Honor Bright'' (1948). The classic need of a son to prove himself to his father is expertly portrayed in ``Virginia Creeper'' (1937) and in a stirring WW I combat story, ``Pringle's Luck'' (1940). Faust was devoted to his unreadable poetry, but the strengths of two serious prose efforts, ``The Wedding Guest'' and ``A Special Occasion,'' written for Harper's in 1934, make one wonder what heights his literary career would have reached had he devoted more attention to his prose. In the first, three men are lured by a beautiful entomologist into mirroring the mating dance of the Great Peacock moth; in the second, an alcoholic architect contemplates suicide when he realizes just how low he has sunk. An introduction by William Bloodworth (English/East Carolina Univ.) assesses Faust's place in popular American literature. Not every story is a winner, but this diverse collection proves that the King of the Pulps could spin almost any kind of tale successfully.
Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1994
ISBN: 0-8032-1244-5
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy,...
Britisher Haddon debuts in the adult novel with the bittersweet tale of a 15-year-old autistic who’s also a math genius.
Christopher Boone has had some bad knocks: his mother has died (well, she went to the hospital and never came back), and soon after he found a neighbor’s dog on the front lawn, slain by a garden fork stuck through it. A teacher said that he should write something that he “would like to read himself”—and so he embarks on this book, a murder mystery that will reveal who killed Mrs. Shears’s dog. First off, though, is a night in jail for hitting the policeman who questions him about the dog (the cop made the mistake of grabbing the boy by the arm when he can’t stand to be touched—any more than he can stand the colors yellow or brown, or not knowing what’s going to happen next). Christopher’s father bails him out but forbids his doing any more “detecting” about the dog-murder. When Christopher disobeys (and writes about it in his book), a fight ensues and his father confiscates the book. In time, detective-Christopher finds it, along with certain other clues that reveal a very great deal indeed about his mother’s “death,” his father’s own part in it—and the murder of the dog. Calming himself by doing roots, cubes, prime numbers, and math problems in his head, Christopher runs away, braves a train-ride to London, and finds—his mother. How can this be? Read and see. Neither parent, if truth be told, is the least bit prepossessing or more than a cutout. Christopher, though, with pet rat Toby in his pocket and advanced “maths” in his head, is another matter indeed, and readers will cheer when, way precociously, he takes his A-level maths and does brilliantly.
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy, moving, and likely to be a smash.Pub Date: June 17, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50945-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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