MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Dealey Plaza, 1963

Click to embiggen

And now, another kind of disaster ... they pulled that limousine down Elm Street slow and clean.

From JFK: The Case for Conspiracy, by F. Peter Model and Robert J. Groden.

Courtesy Manor Books, 1976.

FIREWIND by Hank Searls

He'd spent too long sniffing like a bloodhound in the toyon bush, had isolated himself on the landward side by a ring of fire around the city. He was sure that the wild, howling gusts would prevent helicopter rescue, even if he called for one.

He'd violated the rule of firemen and burglars: never close a door behind you.

He had a sinking sensation in his belly. It was not fear of the encircling fire. He knew back-country topography, roads, and fire trails crisscrossing the Santa Ynez and San Rafael mountains as well as any man alive, and had lived all his life in Santa Ana winds. It was from fear of the firebug trapped somewhere with him, in the brush-covered hills to the north.

Fear of the firebug - he's on everyone's minds, from Nisei fire spotter Hash Ono lost in the toyon, to Chicano cop Shawn Ortega torn between two lovers, to every firefighter white, black, and brown from up and down the state brought in to battle the encroaching blaze. He may walk among the firefighters with stolen valor, like a criminal obsessed with the police, laughing and boasting in their favored watering holes, picking up chicks with tales stolen from another life ... or he may actually be two or three or more perpetrators. Ortega's got a profile on him, but it may be worth less than the paper it's printed on. Everyone's sure that he's a he, at least.

And if they don't find him fast, the 70,000+ souls in Santa Barbara are doomed.

Son, you're playing with fire 

The kid will live and learn

As he watches his bridges burn

To the point of no return

Author Hank Searls delivers an overstuffed would-be epic disaster story that, sadly, gets bogged down in its own unfolding minutiae. Race hate, domestic strife, office politicking, and the requisite crash course on wildfire fighting all compete for oxygen, along with some unconvincing psych work on the firebug - would you believe he's got the voice of an old shrink in his head that he keeps up a dialogue with, complete with dated counterculture and psych jargon about society and the man, maaaaan?

Author Hank Searls (1922-2017)

If I, a humble blogger, were to try to fix up this novel, I'd trim it down by about 100 pages, probably by axing some minor character arcs (but NOT Hash Ono's, as he's aces), and either make the firebug more of a cipher, or more of a grounded personality. Either way, I'd ditch the Shrink, as these sections are the least convincing of Searls' otherwise very well written story, to the point where the otherwise exciting climax is slightly deflated by some cheesy dialogue from the firebug.

The detective work chasing after the firebug also drags on, with the cops and firefighters one step behind him maybe one too many times. As it is, we're busy enough with the domestic drama: married Ortega is mixed up with a white woman up on the hill, who's mixed up with Ortega's best white friend, whose ranch is right in the path of the wildfire. There's almost not enough room for the fire itself!

Searls cheekily references his own Jaws 2 near the end, which is a rookie move for such a veteran writer: never remind the audience of another, better book they could be reading. His Jaws 2 novelization is rightfully held as an excellent work of adaption, I would say better than Benchley's original even. That Searls could construct such a killer novel out of such a lamented sequel makes it all the more disappointing that he whiffs it with Firewind.

Here come those Santa Ana winds again ... Searls is (mostly) more than capable, but his Firewind smolders for too long, earning a truly disappointing 2/4 rating.

Berkley Books, 1982 (original pub. 1981)

SECRETS OF THE PYRAMIDS REVEALED by Robert K. Moffett

By now, it may have become apparent that doctorates carry substantial weight among the nonconformist schools of pyramid study. In fact, academic titles abound to a point where it is hardly paranoid to conclude that they are used for the purpose of impressing the reader with the author’s scholarship. But do they not also imply a promise that the scholarship in the books will be sound?

Perhaps a more accurate title would have been Secrets of Pyramidology Revealed? Author Robert K. Moffett teases us with a pointless introduction in a style that seems to have been de rigueur for skeptical works in the '70s: dressing up your critical work like it's just another mystery mongering meatloaf volume. Moffett mentions Karel Drbal and his razor sharpening pyramids, Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain, and Uri Geller - but none of these are relevant for the rest of the book. Moffett's actual text is about how we got here, to the pyramid mania of the '70s, through a history of the theories of the original pyramidologists. It's a crash course on writers like John Taylor and Howard Vyse (and their precursor John Greaves), fine tuners like Piazzi Smyth, and then bandwagon jumpers on up to the 20th century and the modern day. 

Moffett gives context on why specific writers were interested in certain aspects of the pyramids, and how oftentimes their facts and figures had less to do with the actual stones in the sand than with contemporary religious and political struggles:

At this point, Taylor was sure he had had a revelation, for this was a matter of keen topical interest.

The metric system, developed in France, had by this time spread throughout the Continent, and there was agitation both from the scientific community and export-conscious manufacturers to adopt it in Great Britain. But there was a strong British resistance movement largely based on religious grounds. The French Revolution, with its strong anticlerical bias, had aroused grave misgivings in Britain, and the metric system was closely identified with it. As originally proposed, the metric conversion had involved switching to a ten-day week. Genesis made it perfectly clear that the Lord endorsed the seven-day week. That, after a period of trial, the French themselves had abandoned the decimal week was immaterial. If, in this, the original thinking had been contrary to the Will of God, the entire system was suspect.

Now Taylor could perceive the true function of the Great Pyramid: It was not by chance that the pyramid used the British system of weights and measures. Rather, it was a compendium incorporating the original, Divinely inspired system which had survived in Britain. The Great Pyramid was a message passed down to modern times to strengthen the wills of the anti-metric faction.

The search for cosmic truths collapses inward! Moffett writes with a dry humor, respectfully conveying various crank ideas but occasionally popping an especially ridiculous balloon such as in the case of psychic gadfly Edgar Cayce:

In terms of both current popularity and sheer volume, the most important of the clairvoyants to have contributed to the story of Atlantis was Edgar Cayce who, despite the widespread belief in his ability to communicate across the barrier between this and the afterworld, hasn’t been heard from since his death in 1945.

Once we've completed our journey with Moffett from Ancient Egypt to 19th century Europe to 20th century America, we might be able to say we've learned something about human thought and frailty.

Tempo Books gifts us a few typos here and there, but at least they also give us a picture spread in the middle with lots of vintage images. Moffett, a class act, also gives us a bibliography:

Moffet has a few other books available, including one coauthored with (presumably) his wife - not the title you'd think though! Their shared author blurb says that "Robert and Martha Moffett are both editors as well as published writers. Mr. Moffett's introduction to the animal kingdom was as a snake farmer."

Pyramid Power now and forever! This title is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Tempo Books, 1976

SECRETS OF LOCH NESS by Histrionic Publishing

Or Nessie & Other Aquatic Monsters: Secrets of Loch Ness, to use the full, slightly unwieldy title! A single article from this magazine was previously available, but now the whole publication is available to read and download at archive dot org! This collection is bulked up with some reprinted Nessie items such as Stewart McCulloch's article "A Schoolmaster Stalks the Unknown," and features lots of classic lore alongside developments that didn't quite stand the test of time.

Half the fun of these old "special edition" magazines is in the layouts and graphic design. Here, a blurry photo of the Loch is spiced up with a jagged monster outline, and a viking re-enactment in Pennsylvania is recruited as illustration for historical context on the Loch. 

Oh, and by the way, would you believe that this is the first and only issue, No. 1 of 1?

Nessie can't have all the fun to herself, of course, so we also fill pages with monster legends like Champ, the giant squid, manatees, and ... a pufferfish?!

"I'm famous, I tells ya!"

We also benefit from some fun maps, as seen in McCulloch's article and in the article on Champ:

There's also an advert/article for an art book of Frank Frazetta's work, and a trio of "exotic" houseplant ads ... the closest things readers could get to real live monsters. All in all, Secrets of Loch Ness is a vibe, man!

Histrionic Publishing, 1977

THE SNAKE by John Godey

The rivers are full of crocodile nasties 

And he who made kittens, put snakes in the grass

The urban jungle's about to meet the real thing, when a fully grown black mamba escapes into Central Park! Author John Godey was hot off his smash hit novel The Taking of Pelham 123, and a gritty horror thriller about a killer snake in NYC must have seemed like another surefire success.

All the pieces are there, including a charming herpetologist lead who understands all too well how the rest of humanity views his charges. And Godey unfolds the opening action with admirable ease, giving us that wonderful frisson of impending doom as everyone is one step behind our newly escaped snake ... but just as with Maryk and Monahan's Death Bite, the pacing turns sluggish, like a snake resting up between meals, and we find ourselves yearning for a bit more of the ol' blood and guts. Godey is too reserved, too realistic at times, whereas Maryk and Monahan at least went delightfully overboard with their giant Island Taipan and its bloodcurdling bite. Godey's attempt at colorful drama, the Jesus People freakshow cult that shows up near the end, feels underbaked. And the rather obvious twist at the end is hardly "the ultimate in horror," as the San Francisco Examiner claims. All in all, we could have used a touch of Mr. Brown and friends' sociopathy from Godey's much celebrated heist novel.

Hardcover edition

That's not to say it's all bad - just not as great as it could have been. Godey delivers the requisite city politics and panic just fine, and his characters are all finely drawn and relatably sad sack in that wonderful '70s way. Too, his use of Central Park is masterful (we're given those maps for a reason). There's just something missing in the final tally, and it feels like a letdown coming from Godey.

Dramatic NEL edition

He's a lover of life but a player of pawns

Yes, the King on His sunset lies waiting for dawn 

To light up His Jungle as play is resumed 

The monkeys seem willing to strike up the tune

This game that we animals play is a winner, but The Snake struggles with a 2/4 rating! For a second opinion, Will Errickson over at Too Much Horror Fiction offers a more positive appraisal.

As we finish 2025, man is STILL the prey!

A Berkley Book, 1979 (original pub. 1978)

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Krakatoa, West of Java

Some maps and diagrams concerning Krakatoa's 1883 eruption, relevant to author J.V. Luce's discussion of the destruction of Thera in his excellent book The End of Atlantis. Krakatoa was famously misplaced in the 1968 Hollywood disaster flick titled Krakatoa, East of Java, but the fourth image of the Sunda Strait illustrates its true westerly position relative to Java ... glad that's settled!

Ash fall from the eruption
(Click to embiggen these horizontal images)

The Sunda Strait, flood zones, and the volcano west of Java 

Courtesy Bantam Books, 1978 (original pub. 1969).