And We're Off!

After weeks, nay, MONTHS of yammering about it, I have finally launched by "BookTube" channel under the same name as this here blog: the Wild Digest!

The first episode opens with the standard "Newbie Tag" where I clamber through 10 introductory questions, while the second episode is all about my rocky experience with this year's Rocket Summer reading event.

 

Check 'em both out and be sure to subscribe to my channel while you're over there.

I plan on posting regularly (working from home affords me that luxury) with episodes about books, tabletop roleplaying games, the craft of writing, conventions, and so much more.

Catch you over on the 'Tube!

Rocket Summer Week 3

OK, I admit it, week three of Rocket Summer was a bit of a fail for me as I was sidetracked by work stuff (publisher is launching a big board game Kickstarter this week) and extensive plans for San Diego Comic-Con. I did however squeeze in a reading of Sargasso of Lost Starships by Poul Anderson and I'm almost finished with Revolt of the Outworlds by Milton Lesser, but that's about it. SHAME, I know (ding-ding).

Sargasso of Lost Starships is a novella that originally appeared in the January 1952 issue of Planet Stories. The story follows Basil Donovan, a reluctant hero who (apart from starting the story in a state of inebriation) is dragged off on an exploratory mission into the "Black Nebula." It is here where a number of anomalies have been detected, ships have gone missing, and worlds on its fringes have been affected.

The depths of Donovan's previous experience with the Nebula is exposed as we journey into its heart and learn that he had not only once encountered a powerful, psychic race within it, he had also fallen for one of them in the form of Valduma who reaches out across the void to telepathically communicate with him as he approaches.

The ship is eventually forced down to the planet and what follows is a series of vicious battles between Donovan, his slow-witted servant, Wocha, and his Terran crewmates and the natives of this mysterious world including a few savage beasts.

After MUCH bloodshed, they breach the city, acquire a new ship and escape from the Black Nebula.

The end.

At only 70-ish pages (at least in the Armchair Fiction edition that I read), this is a swift adventure, and in the hands of a SF master like Poul Anderson, it is pretty exciting stuff and a perfect example of the dramatic changes in fantastic fiction between the 1940s and the 1950s.

I’m happy to give this one 🌌🌌🌌🌌 out of 🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌 swirling galaxies.

As I said, I'll have Revolt of the Outworlds finished soon (today!) and then, despite it being a busy fourth week of the month, I'm going to try to get a couple more examples of 1950s science fiction under my belt before dipping a bit into the 1960s for next week.

And if I haven't mentioned it before, I'm going to hop on the Book Trek reading event for August and work on a few Star Trek novels. More about that later!

Rocket Summer Week 2

This week, it's a "two-fer" for Week 2 of Rocket Summer, a reading event that celebrates "classic Science Fiction" (from its roots up through the 1960s).

First up, I spent a couple days being terrorized (and terrified) by the Liquid Man written by Bernard C. Gilford. Originally published in the September 1941 issue of Fantastic Adventure, this story is a variation of the Invisible Man theme with a mad scientist, having somehow discovered a way to transform himself into liquid, carrying out a series of gruesome murders.

At first, Fernando Silva focuses his attention on brutally killing his own brother, Juan and his lover out of jealous rage, but then he goes on taking others out including a child (an act that comes back to bite him on his watery backside at the end of the story).

Investigating these mysterious deaths is our hero, Lieutenant Quante of the Graytown P.D. The novel turns into a cat and mouse pursuit with a chunk of the text devoted to a situation that Quante believes will put an end to Silva's violent activities. Silva is found to be submerged in the city's reservoir and for pages and pages, various attempts at destroying him are made including fire and poison. Of course he manages to get away despite all of this, and in the end, a change in the weather leads to his demise. 

The author, under the name C.B. Gilford, would eventually revisit, dramatically rework, and publish a 222-page variant of this story in 1969, this time in the form of a Lancer paperback with its signature mauve text block. I own a copy and look forward to reading it down the line.

🧪🧪 out of 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪.

One interesting side note is that Gilford would also later go on to write for several well-known anthology TV shows including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery, and Tales of the Unexpected.

Book two for Week 2 was the Ice Queen by author Don Wilcox. Originally published within the pages of the January 1943 issue of Fantastic Adventures (once again), this "lost world" story, set in the 19th century, is pretty straightforward stuff with few surprises, however I enjoyed the Arctic-bound journey quite a lot.

This tale focuses on an artist who is hired to join a northbound expedition to try and find out what happened to a man who went missing five years prior. The expedition is financed and led by a rather nasty, entitled woman who is in it more for the potential cache of rare furs her missing husband likely left for her than she is for finding out what fate might have befallen him. 

When the crew spots what appears to be a Valkyrie on a white tiger racing across the ice, the story becomes a hunt and investigation into who she is and where she has come from. This leads to the discovery of a subterranean world that has existed for thousands of years unknown to the rest of the planet's population. 

Spoiler alert, our protagonist becomes absolutely obsessed with this strange warrior woman and, in the end, weds her and becomes king of this lost civilization. 

Not great, but a pleasant summer read with a snowclad setting that kept me cool on hot days. ❄️❄️❄️ out of ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️.

Rocket Summer Week 1 BLAST OFF!

Do you all remember that trio of men who took a round trip journey to Venus back in the early 1930s? Don’t you? I mean, it was all over the news at the time! Well, the "true," first-person memoir of that expedition can be found in the form of the Voyage of the Asteroid as told to Canadian science fiction author Laurence Manning. 

Originally published in the Summer 1932 issue of Wonder Stories Quarterly, this amusing diversion follows the adventures of two close friends, Messrs. Mason and Bigelow (our narrator) along with eccentric millionaire, Haworth, creator of the eponymous rocketship, the Asteroid. 

Originally occupying just 34 double column pages in the aforementioned issue of Wonder Stories Quarterly, the tale has been reprinted (sans the delightful illustrations by Frank R. Paul) by Armchair Fiction and can be found in D-125, one of their trade paperback size Science Fiction Doubles, backed with Revolt of the Outworlds by Milton Lesser. 

The story itself is a charmingly naive piece with loads of questionable science that would make Neil deGrasse Tyson plotz along with several described meals. These three astronauts frequently pause to drain pots of coffee, cups of lemon tea, plates of eggs and bacon, and several bottles of celebratory vino! 

Overall, it was a fun read, especially once the troupe arrives on the fog-laden surface of Venus where they come face-to-face with dinosaurs and diminutive lizard people! You will believe that a man can fly to Venus in three months time and then run screaming from a "Dinosaur tyrannus Rex!" 

A sequel to this story, the Wreck of the Asteroid, takes our heroes up to the Red Planet. It can also be found in a reprinted double from Armchair Fiction and I fully intend to get my mitts on a copy soon.

The Voyage of the Asteroid gets 🌕🌕🌗 out of 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕!

Up next, it's TWO tales for the second week of Rocket Summer beginning with the horrific sounding mad scientist story, the Liquid Man by Bernard C. Gilford, also lovingly reprinted by Armchair Fiction.

See you, Space Cowboy!

June on the Range 2025 Wrap Up

It is July 2nd, 2025 as I write this and while a tad late, I just finished my fourth and final book for this year's June on the Range reading event.

For my last novel, I chose Showdown at Sunset by Harry Sinclair Drago. This was a random pick from the stack, but one I selected based on two things: the length of the novel (a mere 150 pages) and the kickass cover by acclaimed artist, Robert K. Abbett (known by many for his Tarzan, Barsoom, and Pellucidar covers).

Strangely, despite its 150 pages, this one took me longer to get through than the others I read last month and at one point, I even considered "DNRing" it in favor of something else, but I stubbornly stuck with it to the end and I'm not too upset with myself for doing that.

It's not that it's a bad book, it's just that it took a long while to figure out exactly who the main character was(!) and where the story was actually going. Heck, the villains (plural) are mostly faceless and completely devoid of character. We really only know of their villainy through their actions, not through their interactions.

The back cover blurb of this November, 1958 Permabooks edition states: 

"When Clay Roberts put on the sheriff's badge, he swore to wipe out lawlessness. If that meant kidnapping Yancey Krebs from the neighboring county it was all right with him... if he could get away with it."

Roberts doesn't actually become sheriff until at least halfway through the book and his plan to kidnap a character from a neighboring county isn't even suggested until page 121 of this slim, 150-page novel!

Prior to this, we spend a lot of the time meandering around the area, introducing lots of new characters and seemingly random plot complications, and upping the stakes as we suddenly find ourselves racing toward the big finish which includes the eponymous sunset showdown of the book's title.

Harry Drago wrote several western novels, non-fiction books, and a number of silent serials and feature films. In many ways, there are structural elements of this book that read like a screenplay with quick asides presented without any noticeable break in the text and events resolved within a single sentence!

Ultimately, while the pacing is fast, somehow the entire thing drags. I don't have any additional books by Drago in my collection, but I am intrigued enough to want to check out some of his other work, especially some of his non-fiction like the Steamboaters: From the Early Side-Wheelers to the Big Packets published in 1967.

Showdown at Sunset gets two sheriff badges out of five from me. ★★

Next up, it's time for Rocket Summer 2025! Strap yourselves down and prepare for blast off! 🚀