{"id":13477,"date":"2023-08-23T10:06:32","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T14:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/?p=13477"},"modified":"2023-08-20T16:32:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T20:32:01","slug":"michael-kurlands-w-a-r-inc-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/2023\/08\/23\/michael-kurlands-w-a-r-inc-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Kurland’s WAR Inc. series"},"content":{"rendered":"

The folks at Bold Venture Press<\/a> reprinted an interesting trio of works by Michael Kurland<\/a><\/strong>. Kurland is probably better known for his series of works on Professor Moriarty<\/a><\/strong> or maybe his Sherlock Holmes<\/a><\/strong> works. I\u2019ve covered the Professor Moriarty<\/a> series already.<\/p>\n

\"WAR<\/a>This trio was written in the 1960s for Pyramid Books, but they didn\u2019t ask for anymore. As it wasn\u2019t planned to only be three works, but the first of a series, I\u2019m not going to call it a \u201ctrilogy.\u201d<\/p>\n

These were written during the \u201cspy-fi\u201d crazy kicked off by the James Bond<\/strong> movies that spawned a variety of works in fiction, movies, and TV. Some of these were more over the top than Bond was, sometimes being satirical or even soft porn. This series is one of the better-written ones, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

The series concerns a private U.S. organization, WAR Inc., and in particular the missions of Peter Carthage<\/strong>, a former major in the U.S. Army. WAR Inc. is Weapons Analysis and Research Inc. This is the height of the Cold War. So WAR isn\u2019t so much a mercenary group, but a group providing research, training, equipment, systems, advice, and technical knowledge. But their men, who are drawn often from the military, not just the U.S. military, have a broad brief. As it is the Cold War, they hope to help neutral nations who would be wary of asking either the U.S. or Russia.<\/p>\n

While Peter is the main character, there are others who make up WAR and will appear in several of the stories. They include Dr. Steadman<\/strong>, founder and head of WAR; Eric Jurgens<\/strong>, Swedish and expert in combat, training, and weapons; Prof. Perlemutter<\/strong>, German and head of propaganda; John Wander<\/strong>, electronics and communications; Bob Alvin<\/strong>, computer expert, and others. Their level of involvement in each novel will vary.<\/p>\n

So not so much a spy series and not so much a mercenary fighting force series.<\/p>\n

WAR Inc. #1 Mission: Third Force<\/h3>\n

Mission: Third Force<\/em> kicks things off with a brief intro to the activities of WAR Inc. before we have a brief look at the nation they will be helping, the former French Indochina nation of Bonterre. WAR Inc. is approached by Bonterre\u2019s ambassador to the U.S., who is a cousin of the king of Bonterre, who fills them in on the issue. Bonterre is a long-standing kingdom, but after the French left, the king turned the nation into a constitutional monarchy. Now they are plagued by a guerrilla force that their armed forces aren\u2019t able to deal with. Not helped as there seems to be a group of \u201cright wingers\u201d who are helping the guerrillas in hopes this will cause a loss of faith in the government and they can take over.<\/p>\n

So Peter has a big task ahead of him. Lead a group of WAR experts to train and prepare the armed forces to deal with the guerillas, while also having to deal with traitors in the government allied to the rightists who want them to fail. They have to help expose \u201cX,\u201d the secret head of the rightists, expose who is behind the guerillas, and not get killed themselves. And he has to deal with two women: one a rich plantation owner, the other the secretary to the king, who is the ambassador\u2019s daughter and thus related to the king. And there is a CIA operative who would rather Peter and his folks back the rightists in their upcoming coup attempt.<\/p>\n

We also get a good intro by Kurland<\/a> on the series, which reveals that the Pyramid picked the book titles, and a brief bio of Kurland.<\/p>\n

\"WAR<\/a><\/p>\n

WAR Inc. #2 Mission: Tank War<\/h3>\n

In the second novel, Mission: Tank War<\/em>, we get right into things in the Sheikdom of Jeppet, a soon-to-be former British protectorate in the Persian Gulf that is now oil-rich. And when they are no longer a protectorate, they will need to protect themselves, so Peter Carthage and his WAR team are there to help prepare their military. And they are needed. The minister of defense is the sheik\u2019s brother, and he thinks he is trying to kill him, which he isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

A nomadic tribe is causing problems, and being supplied with weapons. There is a rouge organization called the Desert Legion, made up of criminals and rouges, under the leadership of a former German general with tanks. And it seems that Hasan Sabbath<\/strong> is also involved. But Hasan is a historical figure who founded the assassins. Who is he really and how does he fit in? And who is sponsoring the Desert Legion? Is it a foreign government, and which one?<\/p>\n

And the nomadic tribe captured a British petroleum engineer and his sister is there to find him. Can Peter and his team prepare Jeppet\u2019s military as the day of their independence looms quickly? Can they persuade the nomadic tribe to come on the side of Jeppet? Can their preparations ensure the defeat of the Desert Legion? And can they also handle Hasan? They have their job cut out for them. In the end, it seems like Hasan is set up as a possible returning villain.<\/p>\n

WAR Inc. #3 A Plague of Spies<\/h3>\n

With the third novel, Pyramid dropped the \u201cMission:\u201d style of title. Yeah, Pyramid, not Kurland, picked the titles, as I noted.<\/p>\n

\"WAR<\/a>In A Plague of Spies<\/em>, we are introduced to a new member of the group, Theodore Ursa<\/strong>. A former Army captain who lost part of his right leg in Vietnam; he is also black. This time the team (Carthage, Perlemutter, and Theo) is helping the Grand Duchy of Alba, a small nation located to the north of Albania. They have no army, so need their police force beefed up. But there are also strange goings-on. Spies and criminals are for some reason converging on Graustak, the capital in that nation. Why and under whom is this being done?<\/p>\n

A British agent named Smith<\/strong> reveals to the team that the one behind it is a mysterious individual who is known only as the Marquis Chang Hu<\/strong>, who has apparently been operating for 80 years. One group is aiming to hit the paperwork company, which makes currency paper. The other group is aiming to hit the casino, banks, jewelry stores, etc. It’s all heavily coordinated and with a scheme to distract the police force. Such a thing can only be coordinated by the “mind of Chang Hu”.<\/p>\n

Can the WAR team figure this out and stop it? How, when Carthage is kidnaped, along with a girl. There is always a girl. And what is the endgame for all of this?<\/p>\n

This one got nominated for the Edgar Award, a major award for mystery fiction. Hopefully, some got the hint at who the villain (and another character) really is…<\/p>\n

Overall, I enjoyed this series. This is a well-written series, with a very plausible organization and characters, though I felt the stories too quickly wrapped up, but I am sure it was to focus on the action. And this may have worked against the series originally. I think at the time it seems those works that are a little more outlandish were able to succeed. Maybe more sex and violence? Maybe a little pushing the envelope in plausibility? The last one pushes the plausibility a little, but perhaps not enough. I wish there were more.<\/p>\n

The reprints are also well-designed, with good cover artwork and layout. I think the third volume has the best cover.<\/p>\n

In looking at the cover artwork of the originals, they weren\u2019t very good. No consistency in the design. The second one had the cover dominated by the title, with very little room for artwork. I think that might have hurt sales. Pyramid did better with other series they did, like their The Shadow<\/strong> and Sax Rohmer<\/strong> reprints, but maybe that was due to other art directors.<\/p>\n

But check out this series for yourself, and Kurland\u2019s other works as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The folks at Bold Venture Press reprinted an interesting trio of works by Michael Kurland. Kurland is probably better known for his series of works on Professor Moriarty or maybe his Sherlock Holmes works. I\u2019ve covered the Professor Moriarty series already. This trio was written in the 1960s for Pyramid Books, but they didn\u2019t ask […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Pulp Super-Fan looks at Michael Kurland's WAR Inc. series. #thrillers","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[135,14,119],"tags":[154,798],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-13477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reprints","category-review","category-thriller","tag-bold-venture-press","tag-michael-kurland"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/files\/2023\/06\/war-inc-3-featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3eLo8-3vn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13477"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17130,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13477\/revisions\/17130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13477"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/pulpsuperfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=13477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}