THE WINTER WIZARD... In the tradition of Doc Savage, the Avenger and the Shadow comes... THE CHALLENGER! Wrongly convicted of a crime he did not commit, the man who would become Challenger swore to help others who could not help themselves. Joined by a group of assistants -- experts in their own endeavors -- Challenger rights wrongs and punishes evil-doers. In August, 1947, Challenger finds himself up against the weird menace of the Winter Wizard -- a madman who is able to control the weather! This is the first novel by pulp scholar and historian Jeff Deischer, and his love of the genre shines brightly in this well-written tale of action and adventure!
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By Michael Brown
Sep 3, 2010
"The Winter Wizard" is the first novel staring neo-pulp hero "Challenger", created by Jeff Deischer. Jeff previously wrote and published "Doc Savage: A Definitive Chronology", that was recently revised and re-published by the Hidalgo Trading Company thru Lulu. This is his first novel, published by Wildcat Books thru Lulu. "Challenger" is a hero pulp, mostly inspired by The Avenger, with a litte of The Count of Monte Cristo thrown in. Its set in 1947, which is a little unusual, as most pulp heroes didn't last thru WWII, and few were around at that time. We get hints of prior cases that Challenger has dealt with, and hopefully Deischer will tackle those in future novels. What we know of Challenger is that he was wrongly accused of a crime, and sent to prison for 20 years before escaping. In doing so, and helping and old man (also falsely accused), he gained a large fortune. He used that to exaclt revenge on the men who imprisoned him and his... More > benefactor. Its not clear that he cleared is name, as his real name is not given. He adopted the name of his benefactor's slain son. In time, he gathered several aides who assist him. Three know his real identity, as they knew him before he was imprisoned. The other 2 joined him in after a recent case. As is usual, each aide brings different skills to the group. His headquarters is setup on a small island in New York Harbour. The storyline is typical. A young lady seeks help of Challenger about her brother, who seems to be held on an island. There is also the issue of the "Winter Wizard" who has created a great story and demands money. Are these connected?? We'll see. Overall, this is an enjoyable story. I do look forward to future installments. The author has apparently outlined several other stories for this character. The podcast "Book Cave" even did an interview with the author as podcast #66: [...]. And the author has his own site here: [...] Now as to critcisms. One thing I was annoyed by the book was the repetition of information. Several times we were told the same background information about Challenger and his aides. This was annoying. Why tell us something we were told two chapters prior? The second thing was seeing the obvious typos in the book. This is something I see too often in Wildcat books. I'm not an english major, but I pick up on these too easy.< Less
"A new Hero!" THE CHALLENGER is Jeff Deischer's tribute and homage to the fabulous Doc Savage novels written by Lester Dent back in the 1930's-'40's.... It's full of slam-bang action and adventure, and I'm sure everyone will enjoy this fast-paced story!
