PULP GOLD PART THREE

Desert Justice
Paul Powers
Leisure Western paperback
$5.99

Part one of this review HERE
Part two of this review HERE
Editor, Laurie Powers interview HERE

As mentioned Sonny Tabor was one of Wild West Weekly's most popular characters - all in all his creator, Paul Powers wrote 431 stories for the magazines, a large amount of them featuring Sonny Tabor.



There are two further novellas in this collection that we haven't look at yet - the first of these, my particular favourite in the book is Sonny Tabor and the Border Blackbirds.

Sonny is hiding out in an area know as The Devil's Basement - it's a cruel and harsh area in the Tule Desert. He investigates when he hears a shot and he comes across several men beating up on a Arizona Ranger. He intervenes but he gets shot ( again) this time only a flesh wound in the shoulder. However when he comes around he finds he is handcuffed to the Arizona Ranger. And not only that but the gang, known as The Border Blackbirds have robbed them, taking everything including their horses.

Sonny angry, not only is he bound to a Arizona Ranger, with no food and water and a walk of thirty or forty miles ahead of them. But what really angers him is that the gang stole his beloved horse, Paint. There is some great description in this section, you work up a thirst as you read about the hazardous walk through the hell hole of a desert and it's a nice touch to see Sonny use a barrel cactus for water and the sweet pulp that allows them to survive. The men then come across a band of rurales and Sonny is recognised and arrested. The Texas Ranger who has grown to like and trust Sonny vows to help him. This truly is a thrilling story and contains everything that was great about the pulps - action, adventure, larger than life characters and a heart beating climax. It's worth the price of admission for this story alone which is a flawless example of strong storytelling.

The final story is Kid Wolf round up Sonny Tabor -apparently Kid Wolf was another of Paul Powers' more popular characters and teaming a pair of popular characters up must have pleased the original magazine's readers. The pair would share several adventures together but this was the first time they were teamed up.

In the story there has been a murder at the Box Q - not long before the killing a man fitting Sonny Tabor's description was at the ranch looking for work. The local sheriff and a posse are on the hunt and now Kid Wolf is tagging along for the ride. I found this story the weakest in the collection merely because it was obvious to me who the real killer was from the start and the fact that rather than concentrate on Sonny Tabor the narrative is shared with Kid Wolf. It made it slightly disjointed for me. However the fact that it is a teaming between two of the magazine's most popular characters is reason enough for its inclusion in this collection. It's wasn't a bad story but paled after the excellence of Border Blackbirds.

A great collection of pulp classics - think of this like a special DVD edition of a old movie. Remastered - better quality paper and legible printing. And it's even got some special features with the insightful and excellent introduction by Laurie Powers.

More please.