Reading Makes You Smart: Tales of the Shadowmen, Vol. 2: Gentlmen of the Night

    Tales of the Shadowmen returns for a second installment, this time with full illustrations throughout, courtesy of artist Fernando Calvi. Also introduced this volume is the “short short,” an extremely short story often barely a page long. How does volume two hold up? Read on…

Tales of the Shadowmen, Vol. 2: Gentlemen of the Night

1. “Ex Calce Liberatus” by Matthew Baugh

    Baugh’s outing for this volume is a venerable cavalcade of characters, at the center of which is everyone’s favorite gentleman thief, Arsene Lupin. Lupin’s scheme this time involves the theft of various famous swords on display in a wax figure museum, which brings together the rather unlikely pair of Inspectors Charles Folenfort and Kogoro Akechi to thwart the gentleman thief’s plan. But then the crimes turn violent, and rumors of the involvement of Les Vampires hint at more going on behind this mystery than is readily apparent. Baugh shakes things up by going the Bram Stoker route and presenting the story as a series of letters and clippings from newspaper articles - and the author plays around with the format wonderfully, allowing us to connect the dots of the mystery and giving us special insight into each character and their take on the whole ordeal. Baugh also manages to weave in several literary references through the swords and the wax figures (everything from D’Artagnan to Zatoichi), but not to the extent that they overwhelm the story. In the end, there are some leaps in logic and more than a few “But how did he… ?” questions, but the story itself is imaginative with a nice helping of fun on the side. And that final twist… Well, look at the title long enough and you can probably figure it out.   

2. “Trauma” by Bill Cunningham

    Bill Cunningham’s entry is the first of the “short shorts,” a story only a few hundred words long. Given the length, Cunningham still manages an impressive amount of literary references and pathos, as a young Britt Reid relates a murder enacted by Fantomas to Jules Maigret at the scene of the crime. It’s literally over before you know it, but enjoyable nonetheless.

3. “The Eye of Oran” by Win Scott Eckert

    Eckert returns to the Doc Savage and Fu Manchu lookalikes Doc Ardan and Dr. Natas from his last Shadowmen outing, but the characters play a much smaller role here in this story, which concerns an Albert Camus-inspired plague besieging the town of Oran. The plague was released by Natas in order for the devil doctor to procure the titular Eye of Oran, a Lovecraftian token currently being hunted by everyone from French and British Intelligence to renowned thief Arsene Lupin. The main characters this time out are the original creations Violet Holmes (daughter of Mycroft, niece to Sherlock) and Adelaide Johnston, who find themselves in one precarious position after another as the story races on. The references are thankfully toned back and a more natural extension of the plot, which Eckert keeps focused throughout. The only problem is how the story never really begins or ends - we’re dropped right into the middle and left with only the most basic resolutions, making the whole affair feel like a chapter of a longer novel. But there’s still a lot of fun to be had throughout, from rocket-packs to showdowns with Goldfinger’s Oddjob and the like. Eckert also ends on a few nice little twists, hopefully setting up future stories that see the principal characters return to settle some unfinished business.

4. “The Werewolf of Rutherford Grange” by G.L. Gick

    Part 2 and the concluding chapter of Gick’s previous installment from the first volume, the titular werewolf finally makes its appearance, although it’s not really a werewolf… At least, not as we know the creature traditionally. Also making an appearance is the Sar Dubnotal, who’s very mystical presence is immediately at odds with the rational-minded Harry Dickson, setting up a science vs. supernatural conflict. The two have to put aside their differences to defeat the evil forces present, and the entire story threatens to devolve into cliché and exposition, but Gick’s prose and command of character and tone keep the story on its feet. Taken with the first half, it’s a thoroughly satisfying mystery novella, and leaves me eager to see what else Gick has written. 

5. “Dr. Cerral’s Patient” by Rick Lai

    It takes a while for Rick Lai’s story to pick up, but once it does it turns out to be an intriguing little mystery. Taking the 1969 Spanish horror film The House That Screamed as its primary inspiration, “Dr. Cerral’s Patient” tells the story of Irene Chupin, a troubled young girl sent to a school for wayward girls in France. The school is utterly corrupted, with a headmistress who abuses and forces her will upon her charges, and her son who may or may not be responsible for several brutal murders of the students. Irene’s uncle, the detective Victor Chupin, endeavors to rescue his niece from the horrible place before Irene becomes yet another victim. Lai crafts his mystery well here, all the while weaving in other literary references (as is the Shadowman way) to Lupin and other Maurice Leblanc characters, although thankfully done in such a way as to not distract from the main story. I was also fond of the last line, which acts as a rather brutal twist of the knife after the story has already ended.

6. A Suite of Shadowmen - Fernando Calvi, Serge Lehman and Jean-Marc Lofficier

    And here are the rest of the short shorts, a series of eight beautiful illustrations by Fernando Calvi of the most famous French literary characters, with a short piece of fiction to go along with each. All eight are very entertaining mini-stories, each with its own personality and verve. The eight characters featured are: Rouletabille, Doctor Omega, Arsene Lupin, Erik the Phantom, Fantomas, Doc Ardan, The Nyctalope and Judex. My personal favorites were the shorts focusing on Doctor Omega, which sees the Doctor deflating an unlikely (and hilarious) situation on Kurt Vonnegut’s fictional planet Trafalmadore - and Fantomas, in which the French devil himself deals a deadly hand of the Tarot to make a daring escape.
  
7. “Be Seeing You!” by Xavier Maumejean

    Another relatively short piece, Maumejean’s story is one of my absolute favorites of the entire volume. The author draws the bulk of his inspiration from Patrick McGoohan’s seminal television series The Prisoner, so already my curiosity is piqued. But Maumejean’s true genius lies in drafting an elder Sherlock Holmes to the sinister Village, and the master detective’s plight to escape from his forced retirement results in a great deal of fun; especially for fans of The Prisoner. Maumejean also sneaks in some clever twists to the mythology, such as the identity of the first Number 1, and the origin of the classification Number 6.

8. “The Vanishing Diamonds” by Sylvie Miller and Phillipe Ward

    An enjoyable but ultimately minor tale, “The Vanishing Diamonds” revolves around a bet placed forth by the Diogenes Club to H.G. Well’s Time Traveler, who must travel to 17th century France to prove the existence of Queen Anne’s diamonds from The Three Musketeers. He briefly encounters all the characters of Dumas’ novel - from D’artagnan to the Cardinal Richelieu - and comes back with a picture of the diamonds without too much fuss. The story’s entertaining enough, although not much of note happens within.

9. “A Jest, To Pass The Time” by Jess Nevins

    Pulp expert and all-around human encyclopedia Jess Nevins crafts this delightfully fun romp in the vein of It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, where famous literary thieves all conspire to steal a priceless diamond called the Moonstone. Once the story kicks in, the pace is relentless as the diamond passes hands in increasingly creative (and sometimes brutal) ways from Belphegor to Fantomas to Tenebras and a whole host of other criminals and “gentlemen of the night.” It’s ultimately all for naught, as the diamond winds up in the hands of the greatest thief of all time… But I’ll leave that for you to discover.

10. “Angels of Music” by Kim Newman

    Kim Newman is no stranger to literary crossovers, and here comes up with the rather novel concept of a Victorian-era Charlie’s Angels, with Erik the Phantom enlisting the services of three young vixens: Christine Daae, Trilby O’Ferrall and Irene Adler. The three are thrust into a plot by Josephine Balsamo which involves scheming wealthy old men with elaborate, living dolls. Newman wisely never takes his story too seriously, and that lighthearted feel likewise makes it a blast to read. Newman perfectly evokes the campy spy classics of the 1960’s and 70’s, and his snappy dialogue helps flesh out the principals just enough and keeps the story ticking along at a nice pace. If you’re a fan of either Victorian adventure or In Like Flint-hijinks, this should be right up your alley.

11. “The Incomplete Assassin” by John Peel

    John Peel’s “The Kind-Hearted Torturer” from the last volume was one of my favorites, so I was greatly looking forward to his contribution for this Shadowmen collection… And it’s a nice story overall, concerning baby-faced amateur detective Rouletabille and his compatriot Sainclair suddenly drawn into a possible international incident when they stumble upon a dead body backstage at a musical performance. Peel’s story for this go-round is a tad more slight, but his handle on pacing and characterization makes “The Incomplete Assassin” a very enjoyable read.

12. “Annus Mirabilis” by Chris Roberson

    Chris Roberson’s contribution sees the time-immaterial Dr. Omega teaming up with a young Albert Einstein to prevent an invasion of our world by higher-dimensional beings. I have to confess that the character of Dr. Omega doesn’t do a whole lot for me, but Roberson writes him rather well, as a being so far ahead of everyone around him that he does things that make sense only in the context of some future event that has yet to happen. The weaving in of Einstein’s theories with other fictional, outdated scientific theories is also interesting, and I also particularly enjoyed Dr. Omega’s final confrontation with the invading “aliens.” .

13. “Legacies” by Jean-Louis Trudel

    Trudel’s story involves a rather complicated scheme by Arsene Lupin to steal a set of diamonds on behalf of Princess Anastasia, which sees everyone from his rival Ganimard to Rouletabille getting involved so as not set off an international conspiracy. Trudell stages several scenes where Lupin outsmarts just about everyone in the room, and stages them well - there’s nothing quite as much fun as seeing the gentleman thief three steps ahead of everyone else at all times. And Lupin’s last line ends the rather light affair on a pretty darkly comic note - I admire the irony.

14. “The Grey Men” by Brian Stableford

    Stableford once again closes out this Shadowmen volume with another mammoth tale - and it’s only part one of a short novel entitled The Empire of the Necromancers. Being that it’s a sequel to a nearly hundred-year old novel whose main character adopts half a dozen aliases, Stableford certainly has his work cut out for him, but I’m glad to say that he mostly succeeds. Being that I’m not terribly familiar with Paul Feval’s John Devil, I have to admit that it took some time for me to get into the story, but Stableford’s excellent conversational dialogue and intriguing ideas saw me through. The plot concerns an invention which sees the dead suddenly regain life, all amidst the feud between the mysterious John Devil and his eternal rival Gregory Temple. The main character is the actor Ned Knob, whose averseness to violence and conflict (without being a coward) was a refreshing change of pace, and I was particularly intrigued by the political ramifications Stableford raises in a world where the dead now have the option to rejoin the land of the living. I greatly look forward to reading Part 2.