The White Feather

This book is a trio of novellas, each reprinted from the heyday of pulp fiction. It is also my first experience with Cliff Farrell's work. I rather enjoyed it. The first story (the eponymous tale) was a poignant piece about a man doing what he has to do, to ensure the survival of his father's company. He comes across as a coward to those around him, but the piece is a meditation upon what it means to actually be courageous. It was Not Bad. Three Stars. The third story was the tale of a brother, who must free his incarcerated brother from a hellish prison South of the Border. It was a So-So story. The fault was not in the writing, but in the fact that the piece did not sing to me. This is undoubtedly due to my response to the second story. Two-and-a-half stars. The second story really sang. It begins with a town's terrible choice to turn away a ship of travelers suffering from cholera. They can't have the disease spreading amongst their people, see. But the ship's crew is mostly dead, there's no one to pilot the vessel onward. The townsfolk empty their prison to provide a temporary crew. One man, (a very Robert E. Howardian character: the savage amongst civilization), sticks around to aid the ship's passengers and ultimately helps the few survivors on their way out West. It was a rousing tale, exciting and wonderfully atmospheric. Five stars.