THE SARGASSO OGRE by Kenneth Robeson (Bantam 1967)
• Originally published in Doc Savage Magazine, October 1933
• Reprinted by Bantam as DS # 18
• Lester Dent writing as Kenneth Robeson
You want asskickin’ Golden Age pulp action? Well, here it is.
Reprinted out of order, this is a direct sequel to The Lost Oasis (Bantam # 6); the story picks up immediately at the conclusion of that terrific adventure. Doc and crew are in Egypt, preparing to depart for America via the ocean liner Cameronic. The hoard of uncut diamonds they recovered from the secret slave mine of Sol Yuttal and Hadi-Mot is securely stored in the ship’s cargo hold. (Doc plans to use the diamonds to build charity hospitals and fund various philanthropic organizations.) Before the ship sails, Savage aide Long Tom Roberts is lured away from their hotel and kidnapped by Arab assassins. Trailing Long Tom’s captors to the ancient catacombs beneath Alexandria, Doc is able to rescue his friend in the nick of time — but his efforts to learn who hired the killers prove fruitless. The bronze man and his assistants embark on the Cameronic as scheduled for the voyage home.
Gradually our heroes realize that something fishy is going on aboard the New York-bound liner, culminating in a clever murder-by-poison-chemical plot against them that almost succeeds. (Monk and Ham are actually clinically dead before being revived by Doc’s medical skills.) The Cameronic’s officers and crew start behaving oddly once the ship passes Gibraltar into the Atlantic, where a week-long spell of exceptionally bad weather is encountered. Although alert for trouble, it isn’t until the weather starts to clear that Doc realizes the vessel is seriously off course and that a meticulously planned hijacking is well underway! A sophisticated gang of heavily-armed pirates is onboard, posing as passengers and threatening the crew. Where are they steering the ship?
Straight for the Sargasso Sea, it turns out… only in Dent’s tale it’s the Sargasso Sea of myth and legend — a floating, seaweed-entangled cemetery of lost ships. Over the centuries the Sargasso has trapped unlucky mariners from all nations, but for the past 6 years it has served as base of operations for Jacob Black Bruze and his ruthless pirate army. Hijacking ships at sea, Bruze and his men entomb the vessels in the Sargasso, stripping them of everything valuable after slaughtering their passengers and crews. The Cameronic is a particularly rich prize, targeted specifically for its cargo of diamonds. Bruze — known as “The Sargasso Ogre” for his cruelty and insatiable greed — had hoped to delay famous crimefighter Doc Savage in Alexandria, investigating the murder of his aide. Things didn’t go as planned, though, and now the Bruze Gang has a hell of a fight on its hands. Doc and the Amazing Five unpack for action, kitting up and breaking out their superfirer machine pistols...
The Sargasso Ogre is easily one of my favorite Doc Savage novels. Doc must call upon every reserve of his great mental and physical powers to defeat Bruze, one of the series’ most striking villains. Matching Doc in size and strength (“The strongest man I’ve ever encountered” Doc admits), the pirate chief’s cleverness and animal cunning almost prove a match for Doc’s logical, scientific brain. Their battlefield is truly a fantasical one, and while Dent doesn’t go overboard with it — there are no monsters, as in the 1968 Hammer sci-fi film The Lost Continent — he truly conjures a spooky atmosphere with his evocative descriptions of the graveyard of ships. (Many of the key scenes take place at night.) The book also features one of the series’ more notable “dames” — Kina la Forge, the redheaded “Amazon queen” who allies with Doc and the boys. Bruze has never gained complete control of the Sargasso, defied by a band of warrior women holed up in a derelict WWI battlecruiser. (Their men were all killed in an ambush.) Some of these women are decendants of people who have lived all their lives aboard the floating hulks, generation after generation. Thus simply defeating the Ogre is not enough… The secret of how Bruze is able to leave the Sargasso must be learned if Doc and his companions are to have any hope of escape.
Grade: A
• Reprinted by Bantam as DS # 18
• Lester Dent writing as Kenneth Robeson
You want asskickin’ Golden Age pulp action? Well, here it is.
Reprinted out of order, this is a direct sequel to The Lost Oasis (Bantam # 6); the story picks up immediately at the conclusion of that terrific adventure. Doc and crew are in Egypt, preparing to depart for America via the ocean liner Cameronic. The hoard of uncut diamonds they recovered from the secret slave mine of Sol Yuttal and Hadi-Mot is securely stored in the ship’s cargo hold. (Doc plans to use the diamonds to build charity hospitals and fund various philanthropic organizations.) Before the ship sails, Savage aide Long Tom Roberts is lured away from their hotel and kidnapped by Arab assassins. Trailing Long Tom’s captors to the ancient catacombs beneath Alexandria, Doc is able to rescue his friend in the nick of time — but his efforts to learn who hired the killers prove fruitless. The bronze man and his assistants embark on the Cameronic as scheduled for the voyage home.
Gradually our heroes realize that something fishy is going on aboard the New York-bound liner, culminating in a clever murder-by-poison-chemical plot against them that almost succeeds. (Monk and Ham are actually clinically dead before being revived by Doc’s medical skills.) The Cameronic’s officers and crew start behaving oddly once the ship passes Gibraltar into the Atlantic, where a week-long spell of exceptionally bad weather is encountered. Although alert for trouble, it isn’t until the weather starts to clear that Doc realizes the vessel is seriously off course and that a meticulously planned hijacking is well underway! A sophisticated gang of heavily-armed pirates is onboard, posing as passengers and threatening the crew. Where are they steering the ship?
Straight for the Sargasso Sea, it turns out… only in Dent’s tale it’s the Sargasso Sea of myth and legend — a floating, seaweed-entangled cemetery of lost ships. Over the centuries the Sargasso has trapped unlucky mariners from all nations, but for the past 6 years it has served as base of operations for Jacob Black Bruze and his ruthless pirate army. Hijacking ships at sea, Bruze and his men entomb the vessels in the Sargasso, stripping them of everything valuable after slaughtering their passengers and crews. The Cameronic is a particularly rich prize, targeted specifically for its cargo of diamonds. Bruze — known as “The Sargasso Ogre” for his cruelty and insatiable greed — had hoped to delay famous crimefighter Doc Savage in Alexandria, investigating the murder of his aide. Things didn’t go as planned, though, and now the Bruze Gang has a hell of a fight on its hands. Doc and the Amazing Five unpack for action, kitting up and breaking out their superfirer machine pistols...
The Sargasso Ogre is easily one of my favorite Doc Savage novels. Doc must call upon every reserve of his great mental and physical powers to defeat Bruze, one of the series’ most striking villains. Matching Doc in size and strength (“The strongest man I’ve ever encountered” Doc admits), the pirate chief’s cleverness and animal cunning almost prove a match for Doc’s logical, scientific brain. Their battlefield is truly a fantasical one, and while Dent doesn’t go overboard with it — there are no monsters, as in the 1968 Hammer sci-fi film The Lost Continent — he truly conjures a spooky atmosphere with his evocative descriptions of the graveyard of ships. (Many of the key scenes take place at night.) The book also features one of the series’ more notable “dames” — Kina la Forge, the redheaded “Amazon queen” who allies with Doc and the boys. Bruze has never gained complete control of the Sargasso, defied by a band of warrior women holed up in a derelict WWI battlecruiser. (Their men were all killed in an ambush.) Some of these women are decendants of people who have lived all their lives aboard the floating hulks, generation after generation. Thus simply defeating the Ogre is not enough… The secret of how Bruze is able to leave the Sargasso must be learned if Doc and his companions are to have any hope of escape.
Grade: A
6 comments:
This was my favorite of all the Doc Savage books, too!
I actually was so close to reading this one over the weekend but read THe Phantom City instead.
An all-time classic. The cover art for the paperback was stunning.
One of the best.
Anthony Tollin's Nostalgia Ventures reprinted "The Lost Oasis" & "The Sargasso Ogre" together in DOC SAVAGE DOUBLE NOVEL Volume 7.
"The pulp era's greatest superman battles evil in two of his earliest exploits by Lester Dent (writing as Kenneth Robeson). After stowing away aboard a ghost zeppelin, Doc and his Iron Crew tangle with a bizarre vampiric murderer and villainous Arabs who are protecting the secret of The Lost Oasis. Then, while returning to New York via ocean liner, the Man of Bronze encounters modern-day Amazons in Lester Dent's all-time favorite Doc Savage story, The Sargasso Ogre. This classic pulp reprint also features the original 1933 pulp covers by Walter Baumhofer from the ultra-rare (and expensive!) seventh and eighth issues of Doc Savage Magazine, the unsold 1936 Doc Savage newspaper strip by Lester Dent and Paul Orban and historical commentary by pulp historian Will Murray, author of seven Bantam Doc Savage novels. (Sanctum Productions)
Softcover, 7x10, B&W, $12.95"
Indeed! Nostalgia Ventures has also just published "Multi-Doc" volumes of THE MAN OF BRONZE/THE LAND OF TERROR and THE RED SPIDER/TERROR WEARS NO SHOES/RETURN FROM CORMORAL.
The NV editions are fantastic... While my blogging here focuses on the Bantam reprints, I'll be devoting a future entry to these terrific new editions.
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