Last year, I posted on the first in a new series of stories with Barry Reese‘s New Pulp hero The Peregrine, but written by other authors. It’s not clear if these are all considered canon in his timeline, as I only see one of them included. As posted before, the Peregrine, originally named The Rook, is set in the 1930s and ’40s and has had a lot of adventures.
Now we get two more in this series, and like the first one, the covers are by the excellent Jeffrey Ray Hayes. And they are being published by Reese’s own Reese Unlimited through Amazon.
Book Two is The Last Argonaut and is written by J.P. Linde. Set in 1944, we see that the Nazis are desperate to find something that can turn the tide of the war. A historian finds clues that may lead to the Golden Fleece of Greek legend, but also falls under the sway of Medea, who also wants it. But others have learned of this as well, and the race is on. The Peregrine and his wife are heading there.
Along the way, they happen to team up with a pair of Soviet mystery men, actually a married couple known as The Red Menace (I guess the author doesn’t know that name is already taken). They also have to contend with the daughter of the Warlike Manchu, Nazi submarines, various pirates and criminals, as well as various mythological threats. So will they be successful, or will someone else get it?
Book Three is Murder Mansion and is written by Pete Milan. Set in 1947, things start out slowly as various people wind up dead in hotel rooms, with often nothing but bones remaining. What we see seems like something from a Lovecraftian horror, as tentacles emerge from the mirrors. The Peregrine starts to investigate and tracks the mirrors back to a factory, and discovers that an old foe thought dead appears to be back.
This is Dr. York, who put his brain in a jar atop a robot body and, worse, wants to allow the Great Old Ones out of their prison to destroy the universe. But the Peregrine is not up to fighting occult horrors, especially when his wife is abducted by York. He reaches out to Ascott Keane, who fought Dr. Satan, for help. Things don’t go quite right, but soon the Peregrine feels he is ready. He soon learns that York has created a bizarre “murder mansion,” where he is tormenting his wife, and which he must somehow overcome. Will he succeed and free both himself and his wife?
I’m not sure when we’ll see further works in this series. I am a little behind in reading some of his other works. There is his Dark Society series, more prose superheroes than pulp heroes, with several volumes out and more planned. The fifth Straw-Man volume is out, with another planned, and more. He now has a website, so it should be easier to find out what he has going on than trying to search on Amazon. Check these two out, as both are pretty good.
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