I previously got Adrian Cole‘s collection of Nick Nightmare stories, which stars his occult detective — a hard-boiled detective who must face the occult, usually the Cthulhu Mythos.
Nick Nightmare #1: Nick Nightmare Investigates came out through Pulp Hero Press in 2019. And now I have the second volume, Nick Nightmare #2: Nightmare Cocktails (2020), and another (Nightmare Creatures) is promised soon, but I have no idea when.
This volume, like the first, reprints previously published stories, a total of eight. Nick and his associates are fighting the darkness that was behind the threats he faced in the first work.
So to recount, Nick is actually Nick Stone, but is clearly nicknamed “Nightmare.” He operates from an office that declares him “Private Investigator, Public Fist.” He’s been able to pick up a few items and tricks, but has no powers or special abilities.
His stories aren’t pure pulp. They are mainly a mixture of hard-boiled and Lovecraftian horror, but thanks to the idea of a multiverse, we can get superheroes as well. Or near enough. This is especially in the members of the now-defunct group Vengeance Unlimited, which Nick and he associates will re-form with new members.
Returning from the last volume is Adriane Carnadine, ninja warrior and rich business woman. And maybe lover? Former members of Vengeance Unlimited Montifellini (and his Magic Bus) and Oil-Gun Eddie return. New characters include Montifellini’s nephew Henry Maclean and his Green Submarine, Sten-Gun Stan, Scathach, the Lady of the Stones, and others.
The first story kicks things off when Nick’s old mentor, Zeff ‐ who Nick knows from prison when Nick was there after being framed for murder ‐ asks to met him. His mentor had educated Nick, similar to how the old monk educated the man who would become the Count of Monte Cristo. He is dying and needs to pass along vital knowledge to someone: Oil-Can Eddie.
That knowledge, only ever held by one person at a time, is the location of an important mystical document: The Malleus Tenebrarum. Only one copies exists, and it is important in that it gives full info on the various mystical objects out there, which the bad guy, in the form of Lucien de Sanreville, wants very much.
Lucien will either appear or be mentioned in most of the stories. Thus Nick needs to get Adriane to help him get Oil-Can Eddie out of Lucien’s hands and pass along the info to him and not Lucien. At the end, Nick and Adriane will, in addition to dealing with the mounting evil, start to form a new Vengeance Unlimited.
Next, Nick is called in when the mayor’s son is killed in an apparent satanic ritual, and things point to a circus that has disappeared, in particular a knife-throwing troup. They have slipped to an alternate world: Pulpworld. So Nick must find and enlist Henry Maclean, whose Green Submarine can take him to Pulpworld with the help of Sten-Gun Stan. But there is more to it, as Nick works out who is really behind it all and solve the issue.
We get another bizarre killing in the next story, when Nick is called in after a strange blockage is found in the sewer. Turns out it is the body of a missing person, who has apparently been eaten and passed through a giant snake! Nick investigates the company the guy was working for, which leads him to bizarre voodoo rituals, and the giant snake.
Next up, Nick faces The Pumpkin King (no, not Jack Skellington) and his Boneless Men. He is joined by Adriane and, more importantly, Scathach, the Lady of the Stones, and her familiar. The Pumpkin King grabs Adriane, and Nick along with Scathach follow. But it’s touch-and-go as to who will win. Scathach is now the latest to join Nick and Adriane in their fight against the darkness.
A party in celebration of a pulp novel is at the center of our next tale. If you’ve read these stories then you know Nick is a fan of a certain hard-boiled pulp detective, but here he is able to obtain a “one-off” (??) pulp novel written by the same author. In doing so, he finds an invitation for fans of the story that has them dress up as characters. At the center is a certain femme fatale named Carmella Cardenza. At the party, he meets the artist of the pulp, who now is engaged in a different type of artwork: trapping demons in his paintings. And there is more to Cardenza than is first thought.
While this one was a fun read, the author’s ignorance of pulps really marred it for me. Pulp magazines are periodicals. The publishers did not do one-offs or one-shots. If a mag had only one issue, it was because it didn’t sell enough for a second. And pulp magazines always had multiple stories, not just one. And I was annoyed that while its description matched pulp magazines, it kept being referred to as a “book.” Sigh.
At an auction, Nick runs into Henry and Stan, and helps Henry obtain a guitar that certain sinister characters want. Henry needs it to rescue his girl, a singer who has been taken by Cardenza to an in-between world. The guitar will open the way. It’s not an easy rescue as they must contend with the Angels of Malice and an old foe of Nick’s, Spiderhead!
In the final story, that is broken up as three parts, Nick learns that the bad guys have figured out who is destined to be the fifth and final member of the new Vengeance Unlimited, which the group needs to be effective. This is the Mire-Beast, an ordinary man who was turned into a muck monster. He has been captured and imprisoned in Cemetery Town, inhabited by various dark creatures. To avoid a large force, Nick and Henry, along with a special key, make their way there. They must avoid both the Lord of the Crows and his minions, as well as the Rat Master and his. They do find the Mire-Beast, but seem to be trapped.
We then get an interlude where the Mire-Beast tells his story, as well as how he was captured. Nick and Henry work to get them all out, when the dark forces somehow block their escape. They make the Mire-Beast an offer he can’t refuse: to protect his wife, allow the dark forces to turn him back to normal, thus eliminating him as the fifth member. This seems to wreck the chances of re-forming Vengeance Unlimited. The dark forces also demand a mystic item in return to leaving the rest of the team alone. How will they take that? Will they find their fifth member, and if so who will it be?
I thought the author’s forward was interesting. He noted that others have called his work New Pulp, which I’d agree to a point (the issue is the comicbook stuff and more modern non-pulp elements), and he gave his definition of this, which is okay. But I need to point out that sexism, racism, etc., is not as prevalent in original pulp as some detractors try to claim. Read some original pulp and find out.
But overall, I enjoyed this volume despite the more comicbookish elements. I look forward to the next one. The next collection is Nightmare Creatures, but I have no idea when it will come out. Pulp Hero Press’ website is not yet up, so I have no idea of the schedule for it.
