The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril: A Novel

This is less a review than a thank-you to Paul Malmont for recreating the grand and grotesque era of pulp fiction. In a novel that resurrects, lovingly mocks and warmly salutes the heroes of that age and their writers, Malmont has performed an act of homage that is as entertaining as it is sincere.

First, you don't need to know anything about pulps to enjoy this book. Second, be sure all your lawn and garden work is done before you start to read it, because you won't want to stop. Third, the story is all tidy and complete, but it was written so well, I wanted another tale of this unlikely band of heroes!

In the 1930s, the heyday of the pulp era, magazines like "Thrilling Detective," "Amazing Stories" and the like kicked [...], took names, and shaped the morals of millions of American readers. At its height, as a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard reminds us in "The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril," 30,000,000 pulps were bought every month. It took the paper shortages of World War II to knock them down, and they were finished off by television in the `50s, but they left us a legacy of heroes that include Doc Savage, The Shadow, Conan and Tarzan, cult favorite H.P. Lovecraft, and provided the seed that spawned science-fiction and fantasy. Return with me, now, to those thrilling days of yesteryear, with the help of Paul Malmont, who, according to his bio, works in advertising and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two kids. I'm firmly convinced that, at night, he slips out of his brownstone in Park Slope and roams the wilds of Manhattan, battling the forces of evil with mad crimefighting skillz he learned in the mountain fastnesses of Bhutan. Either that, or he's a pulp fiction fan who did a wonderful job of researching the era, and clever enough to cast as his heroes the writers Walter Gibson, Lester Dent, Hubbard (known as "The Flash" because he was quick at the typewriter), with guest appearances by Lovecraft (oh, how I want to tell you how he appears. It's so appropriate!), E.E. "Doc" Smith and Orson Welles. As for the story, I'm not going to say more. If you're going to read this, it would just spoil the fun. But if you're still on the bubble, I'll say this: * Malmont writes about the pulp fiction world, but the story is told straight. Neat. No purple prose. * The plot makes sense. It's creepy and scary, but doesn't rely on the supernatural. * The writers may have created two-fisted heroes, but they aren't. They throw a punch, they get hurt. They aren't perfect. That's part of the fun. * Malmont plays fair with Hubbard. I'm no fan of Scientology, but I was glad that Hubbard is presented just as you would expect him to be at the beginning of his career. He's ambitious, proud, something of a blowhard, but great sidekick material. To say more would give away the fun. If you have any affection for the pulp era, if you smile at the thought of a "GalaxyQuest"-type story set in New York of the Depression-era, or just want a rousing tale without the literary baggage, check out "The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril."

How could you NOT like a novel featuring the likes of Walter Gibson and Lester Dent (chief scribes of The Shadow and Doc Savage, respectively), a pre-Dianetics L. Ron Hubbard, Robert Heinlein, Louis L'Amour, Chester Himes and the re-animated corpse of H. P. Lovecraft? The answer is, you CAN'T. An affectionate, well-crafted tribute to these masters of pulp fiction, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is a book that wears its heart on its sleeve, a crackling good yarn brimming with non-stop action, warm humor and casual mayhem. The year is 1937. The aforementioned authors travel to Providence, RI, to attend the funeral of fellow writer Howard Philip Lovecraft. Their presence at that somber affair marks the beginning of a perilous adventure for the group, as they become embroiled in a deadly scheme that involves Chinese warlords and a mysterious toxic gas, developed by the United States at the end of World War I. Exhibiting many of the traits they attribute to their heroes, they risk their lives to prevent tragedy, simultaneously gathering useful fodder for future stories. You don't need to be a fan of the pulps to enjoy this one, but it sure enhances the experience. Fans of high adventure will also delight in cameos by, among others, the fictional Joe Kavelier, and the very real Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Malmont expertly blends fact with fiction, recalling the outstanding work that Max Allan Collins has done recently in his series of historical disaster novels, one of which, The War of the Worlds Murder, also featured Walter Gibson.

I liked this book a lot, and I liked it more the further I read. The author has pulled off a rather tricky endeavor. Writing about writing is a dangerous thing, and writing about writers even more so. However, Chinatown Death Cloud makes it work, and it works for a number of reasons. On one hand it's an stylistic examination of the pulp genre in the early 30's and onward. The book also introduces many of the actual writers who were responsible for the popularity of pulp, whether during or after their lifetimes, and puts them into what I'm assuming is a primarily fictional world where they interact heavily with each other. Sound droll? Boring? Do you have images of mustachioed codgers in musty taverns flexing the elbow patches of their tweed jackets lifting a pint? Well, while there's certainly some of that, the real reason the book works is, quite simply, action. Forget, for a moment, the clever stylistic gymnastics the author users to introduce characters and switch perspectives (although it's quite ingenious). Forget the daring shifts in time and plot and the deft handling of an ensemble. Forget, even, the pop literature history lesson that is evident throughout the story. What really makes this novel click is a pure understanding of something that the current state of literary fiction is sadly lacking: action. I'm happy to say the book is a true blue, edge-of-your-seat page-turner. Not only does it reference the pulp/noir genre, it contains the very elements that made said genre successful: suspense, intrigue, action! Chinatown Death Cloud contains a lot of heart, a lot of fists, and the impression that on some days you're going to need a lot of both. Malmont is a wildly talented writer whom I'm sure could have easily spit out a fashionable memoire that would have made him an instant darling among the "snidely self-aware literary fiction" set, but I really like what he's done here instead.