Back in the early spring, I had the great fortune of meeting Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson, the granddaughter of Maj. Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson at a nearby convention.
I was mostly familiar with the Major‘s background as one of the founders of DC Comics. But before that, he was a pulp fictioneer.
Nicky was promoting a book of her grandfather’s adventure stories, “The Texas-Siberian Trail.” The book was edited by John Locke and published by his Off-Trail Publications.
Being known as the Major obvious indicates that he had a military background. Nicky provides a very informative preface. She discusses the Major’s service in the U.S. Army Cavalry along the Texas-Mexico border and in the Philippines, and in Military Intelligence in Asia and Russia, then on the Western Front of World War I.
The book’s title reflects the Major’s military service, as well as how the book is organized. Rather than reprinting the stories in order of publication, the stories are groups based on his military postings.
The first two stories, “Beelzebub the Bane” and “Shavetail,” take place along the Mexican frontier. “The Colonel Who Drank Along” is in the Philippines. The next three, “The Tiger of the Ussuri,” “The Czarina’s Pearls” and “The Dumb Bunny,” are set in Russia. The final two, “Treason for Glory” and “The Road Without Turning,” on the Western Front.
Plots range from dealing with life in the Calvary to personal grudges to espionage and intrigue.
The stories were originally published between 1927 and 1932, with all but one in Adventure (“Shavetail” ran in Argosy). Even though the stories are over 80 years old, it’s interesting how some of the issues discussed in them are still relevent today — such as Mexico, Mohammedans (as they were called then), and Russia.
The Major writes pretty tight stories. Very little is padding, as most everything pushes the stories forward. He writes authoritatively, too. It’s clear he knows what he’s writing about, whether it’s taming a horse, working with a tainted officer, or dealing with unsavory Russians.
It’s a very entertaining book and a great way to spend a few evenings reading.
