PULP!

Lately I've gotten into reading some old school, retro-style, science fiction. Real "space opera", swords and spaceships sort of stuff. I got turned onto this after reading some reviews on the Grognardia blog. I'm a big fan of scifi in general, but this genre really takes me back to when I started building an interest in books. They are simpler stories, maybe a little "dumbed down" by modern standards, but thats what makes them so fun to read I think. After finishing Dan Simmons "The Terror", which clocked in at a whopping 700+ pages, I needed a break. These books rarely top 200 pages, but are jam packed full of macho manly adventure.

"Jandar" is the story of Jonathan Dark, a helicopter pilot in Viet Nam who crashes his chopper in a Cambodian River. From there its a quick jump to a jungle temple where he finds a jade well; actually a stargate like device which transports him to a moon of Jupiter. (After reading the part where he is "transported", his body becoming a stream of molecules disassembled and then reassembled, I wondered how much borrowing might have gone on. I checked the copyright date, 1972. Plenty of time for the author to borrow from Star Trek)

Anyway, the story moves fast and furious. No need to spend time developing characters. What for? Jonathan Dark is a man's man, we know this. At the moment, he is the property of the Yathoon, an alien species built like giant ant/mantises. It has already been hinted at that there are other humans on the moon Callisto, and that at somepoint, Dark will meet the love of his life, a fair princess. I'm looking forward to blazing through this book, like I'm sure "Jandar", Jonathan Dark, will tear through his enemies with mucho bravado and manliness. HAI YA!!