I have been reading the Captain Hawklin adventures, a New Pulp hero written by Charles F. Millhouse, over the last few months, now up to eight novels, with more coming.
In addition to the novels, there are a few short stories as well, many by other authors. From other authors, two of them appeared in the first issue of Pulp Reality, and a third in the second issue. You can read about them in my reviews of those issues.
From Millhouse, one story appears in the second issue of Pulp Reality, and another has appeared in a single volume. I’ll cover these two here.
For those not aware, Capt. Steven Hawklin is a former World War I fighter pilot, later becoming an adventurer and inventor, and is rich from those inventions. In the novels, he had moved to Crown City, located on the west coast of the United States. To me, he is more like the aviation pulp adventurers like Bill Barnes than Doc Savage. He is assisted by Hardy Regan Miller and Oscar (Oz) Lyman, but they appear in only one of these.
The two short stories we are looking at are set in the 1920s, after WWI but before Hawklin has made Crown City his home, with Hawklin and friends adventuring around the world. “Ghost from the Past” is set in 1920, and “Curse of the Pharaoh’s Tomb” is set in 1926.
In “Ghost from the Past,” Hawklin has returned home after WWI. Hardy is elsewhere. Hawklin has not set out on his own yet, staying at home with his father. This is one of the rare times we get to meet his father, and learn more about him and their relationship. But Hawklin is accused of killing a childhood friend. However, he has no memory of it. And it seems someone is literaly gunning for him. Can Hawklin figure things out and clear his name? I do wonder if we will see a return of some of the characters introduced here, especially as the Hawklin storylines get closer to WWII?
“Curse of the Pharaoh’s Tomb” is available in a slim volume you can purchase from Amazon. Here Hawklin and Hardy find themselves in Cairo. And it’s actually their first meeting with Professor Lucas Gray and Oz Lyman, as well as their first encounter with the criminal Skillion Jack. Here they deal with a dangerous cult, and the return of an evil pharaoh. At the end, both Gray and Oz take their leave. Oz will later join Hawklin in Secrets of Monster Island.
These stories fill in early parts of Hawklin’s life, so hopefully we’ll see more.
The next Hawklin novel, the ninth, is Captain Hawklin and the Invisible Enemy, which is coming out in July of this year. It’s set in 1931 and deals with the Osiris Project which has been mentioned in several novels. The fallout of this event played a big part in Skyhook Pirates. So will be nice to learn the full story. I look forward to it.
