PREHISTORIC GERM WARFARE by Robin Collyns

IS MANKIND AN ALIEN EXPERIMENT? Brother, sometimes I feel like one! Author Robin Collyns has packed one hell of a head spinning hypothesis into 146 pages of punchy planet busting potpourri!

Just dig those chapter titles. Ancient astronauts? Of course! Ancient nukes, ancient genetic engineering, ancient secrets of time and space and color blindness? You betcha! Various indigenous legends from the Sioux, Maori, Australian Aborigines and others are crowbarred into the ancient astronauts matrix: this guy came from the sky, those guys wore something on their heads, these other fellas had powers beyond our comprehension ... all aliens!

Bigfoot and all his friends? Alien as all hell! How about the Bermuda Triangle? Do you even have to ask? Collyns' dedication is admirable as he stitches together almost the whole damn paranormal smorgasbord into his tapestry. Did you know the asteroid belt is all that remains of Planet X after a nuclear war with Mars? Collyns kind of stole that one from James P. Hogan and his 1977 SF novel Inherit the Stars, but then again Hogan was a Holocaust denier so we'll let it slide. Tunguska, of course, was an out-of-control alien craft that suffered nuclear detonation over Siberia. Stanton Friedman, Carl Sagan, CUFOS, and France's GEPAN try to ground things, relatively speaking, but Collyns will not be contained! Incan cities on Mars, titans from outer space, ginseng as a cure all wonder drug ... all food for thought and grist for the mill.

Collyns makes frequent reference to his prior works, including Ancient Astronauts: A Time Reversal? and the delightful title Laser Beams From Star Cities? The present work moves too fast for this padding to become an issue, and Collyns never belabors a point before moving on to the next wonder. The author also makes lots of references to film and TV: the germ warfare chapter features The Satan Bug and The Missing Are Deadly, to name two. This chapter's pretty creepy by the way, not only dealing with hypothetical alien attacks but also real life germ warfare from very earthly sources!

Recently departed Australian fringe researcher/yowie hunter Rex Gilroy is also referenced, as is good old Zecharia Sitchin and von Daniken's beloved iron pillar of Delhi. Collyns manages an entertaining brew mixing all the old standards.

Don't just take my word for it, though: Prehistoric Germ Warfare is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Star Books, 1980

BRAK VS. THE SORCERESS by John Jakes

The ghastly red eyes, huge as midsummer moons, had opened again. They watched, watched from the black where the stench drifted. Out of the pit blew more than a smell. Out of the pit came some nameless, ancient evil palpable as a cloud.

Brak's face twisted as the gap between hands closed. Sharp rocks poked his belly, his thighs, little shafts of pain. His shoulders ached. Groping upwards for his hand, the girl lost her balance.

She cried out. She started to fall.

Brak is back! The blond barbarian continues his quest for far Khurdisan (typo'd as Khurdistan on the back cover) and finds himself drawn into more dark doings when he passes through a backwater kingdom that's under siege from a strange new horror. The local alchemist has disappeared, rumored murdered, and his daughter has been acting strangely since. The locals are gossiping that's she's in tune with evil forces, the very same that Brak has tangled with before - the outsider Yob-Haggoth, and where that squat devil-god appears Brak knows that his earthly minion the wizard Septegundus can't be far behind. The local king is weak and fading fast, his armies deserting, the people terrified. Can Brak's savage strength and cunning prevail?

Of course! But thanks to Jakes, we'll be on the edge of our seats the whole way through. Brak will tangle with monstrosities like the subterranean Manworm and Scarletjaw the Direwolf, as well as human treachery and greed as the Sorceress bribes followers with that ancient dream of lead into gold. Jakes has a way with monsters and black magic rites, making us feel the burning ichor, smell the rot, cringe at the obscene rituals ... but it isn't all blood and guts and hopelessness, as Brak meets another of those curious Nestorians, who worship their nameless god with a small stone cross. Ambrose the Pillarite has been asleep atop his rock spire, dreaming across the astral plane, when Brak stumbles into this cursed land. Jakes is working alongside August Derleth's recontextualisation of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, wherein Christian or "Nestorian" practitioners can fight back against the encroaching darkness and chaos. Brak holds the Nestorians at arm's length throughout his adventures, and as often as not relies on his own godless barbarian skill. The climax features his quick thinking, his brute strength, and some Nestorian power in an assist. I'm happy to say that Brak makes for a dynamic hero and is easily a top tier Conan clone. His battle with the Manworm matches Robert E. Howard's own sublime action, albeit with a more day-glo, in-your-face genre savvy. There's more monsters I haven't spoiled, because Jakes' imagination delivers some pleasantly nasty surprises of a kind with his catfish creatures from Mark of the Demons.

Brak vs. the Sorceress must have been another crowd pleaser, because once again there's plenty of editions out.

The Tower Books edition is interesting in that it portrays the dread Manworm with some accurate details from the text, but has shrunk the poor creature down so small he's hardly a menace at all, and looks more like some kind of devilish frog! The real Manworm is a titan of terror, and the Star Books cover next to the Tower version at least gets the size and ferocity of the beast across. The Pocket Books edition that tops this entry is another fanciful cover, with a giant horned guy who isn't in the story at all. Jakes has a prefatory note where he remarks on the cover art for his Brak stories, but it doesn't cover this 1977 version. Meanwhile, the Paperback Library original from 1968 features a gorgeous Frazetta piece titled "Apparition." Here it is in full:

Brak's battle against the Sorceress and Septegundus earns him a solid 3/4 rating. Once again, get yourself Brak'd!

Pocket Books, 1977 (original pub. 1968)

COVER UPDATES: THE OUTER SPACE CONNECTION and THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE

A cool cover by Corgi Books for Alan and Sally Landsburg's The Outer Space Connection, 1975.

And a fierce and fiery cover for Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey's The Bermuda Triangle from Star Books, also from 1975.

MAPS OF THE UNKNOWN: Loch Ness

From The Loch Ness Mystery Solved by Ronald Binns. Courtesy Star, 1983.

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE by Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey

Stepback: "Look for the book with the skull!"

Warner Books, 1975

Star Books, 1975

New Hope Publishing Co., 1973

Available to read and download at archive dot org.