In 1932, Lester Dent was given the opportunity to write a novel for the highly successful Shadow series. Walter Gibson was penning two Shadow novels a month and Street & Smith hoped someone could take some of the burden.

Dent’s novel was revised by Gibson and published as The Golden Vulture. Luckily for Doc fans, Dent did such a good job he won the Doc Savage contract and instead went on to helm his own series.

Publisher Anthony Tollin has undertaken the herculean effort to reprint every Shadow and Savage novel. In the Shadow Volume 1, he reprints Dent’s novel.

The first volume of this new series reproduces both original covers by George Rozen, plus all of the original interior illustrations by Edd Cartier. This book also includes new historical background articles by popular culture historians Anthony Tollin and Will Murray (who collaborated posthumously with Dent on seven new Doc Savage novels published by Bantam).

These are not mere reprinting of old Street & Smith plates. Tollin’s volumes restore cut text and fix printing errors from the original publications. In addition, every volume contains extensive information about the authors, illustrators, and others responsible for producing the novels.

Starting this week, we’ll add Tollin’s reprints to our Doc Savage pages. We’ll include cover scans and promotional blurbs (alas, not penned by Nick D’Annuzio) and ordering information.

For now though, Dent fans will want to order a copy of Shadow Volume 1 for $14.95 (12.95 plus $2 media mail postage). Additional books on the same order are postage free (2 books=$25.90 postpaid, 3 books=$38.15, etc.). All volumes are shipped in protective cardboard. Orders are made through a Paypal payment to: orders@shadowsanctum.com or the preferred method of a check to:

Anthony Tollin
P.O. Box 761474
San Antonio, TX
78245-1474

Who Knew What Evil? is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

Harry Knowles (Ain’t it Cool News) recently spoke to Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) : “When I asked him what he was working on, he shocked me with the revelation that he was going to be writing a script for DOC SAVAGE, which Orci & Kurtzman (those STAR TREK, EAGLE EYE, TRANSFORMERS guys) were producing.”

Of course, that set Flearun abuzz. There’s more speculation at SlashFilm.com (Shane Black Scribing a Doc Savage Movie for Star Trek Producers) and FilmSchoolRejects.com (Shane Black Bringing ‘Doc Savage’ Back To The Big Screen?)

In the tradition of Doc Savage newsgroups, here’s my cast (at least, who I’d pick this afternoon):

Doc: Jason Statham
Monk: Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Ham: Christian Bale
Johnny: Neil Patrick Harris
Renny: Mekhi Phifer
Long Tom: Jim Sturgess

Doc’s Father: Bruce Willis
Patricia Savage: Liv Tyler

Female Lead: Claire Danes
Antagonist: Tim Roth

Doc Savage Film News – Shane Black Edition is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

L’homme de bronze!
Original title	Marabout translations	Re-translation in English
The Man of Bronze	L’homme de bronze	The man of bronze
The Thousand-Headed Man	L’homme aux mille têtes	The thousand-headed man
Meteor Menace	La grande terreur	The great terror
The Polar Treasure	Le trésor polaire	The polar treasure
Brand of the Werewolf	La marque de la bête	The brand of the beast
The Lost Oasis	L’oasis perdue	The lost oasis
The Monsters	Les monstres	The monsters
The Land of Terror	Le pays de l’épouvante	The land of terror
The Phantom City	La cité fantôme	The ghost/phantom city
The Mystic Mullah	La mort verte	The green death
Fear Cay	L’île de l’angoisse	The island of anguish
The Quest of Qui	À la poursuite du Quâr	Chasing Quâr
The Fantastic Island	La fosse aux monstres	The monsters’ pit-den
Murder Melody	La mélodie de la mort	Death melody
The Spook Legion	La légion fantôme	The ghost legion
Land of Always-Night	Le pays de l’éternelle nuit	Land of eternal night
Red Skull	Le crâne rouge	The red skull
The Sargasso Ogre	L’ogre des Sargasses	The Sargasso ogre
The Secret in the sky	Alerte dans le ciel	Alert in the sky
The Pirate of the Pacific	Le pirate du Pacifique	The pirate of the Pacific
Cold Death	La mort froide	The cold death
The Czar of Fear	Les cagoules vertes	The green hoods
The Green Eagle	Le secret de l’aigle	The eagle’s secret
The Devil’s Playground	Les guerriers du diable	The Devil’s warriors
The Other World	L’autre monde	The other world
The Annihilist	Le destructeur	The destroyer
Mystery Under the Sea	Le mystère sous la mer	The mystery under the sea
Mad eyes	Les yeux du mal	Eyes of evil
Resurrection Day	La trahison de la momie	The mummy’s betrayal
Red Snow	La neige rouge	The red snow
The Dagger in the Sky	Le poignard céleste	The celestial dagger
World Fair’s Goblin	Les mystères de New York	New York’s mysteries
Merchants of Disaster	Les marchands de désastre	The merchants of disaster
The Man who Shook the Earth	L’homme qui ébranla la terre	The man who shook the Earth
The Gold Ogre	L’ogre d’or	The gold ogre
The Sea Magician	Le magicien de la mer	The sea magician
The Feathered Octopus	La Pieuvre-Oiseau	The octopus-bird meaning The winged octopus
The Sea Angel	L’Ange des océans	The sea Angel
Devil on the Moon	Le diable sur la lune	The devil on the moon
The Mental Wizard	Magie mentale	Mental magic
Original title	Lefranqc translations	Re-translation in English
Singles
The Man of Bronze	L’homme de bronze	The man of bronze
The Land of Terror	Le pays de l’épouvante	The land of terror
The Mystery on the Snow	Le mystère dans la neige	The mystery in the snow (first translation in French)
Omnis
The Man of Bronze	L’homme de bronze	The man of bronze
The Land of Terror	Le pays de l’épouvante	The land of terror
Quest of the Spider	A la poursuite de l’araignée	Chasing the spider (first translation in French)
The Polar Treasure	Le trésor polaire	The polar treasure
Pirate of the Pacific	Le pirate du Pacifique	The pirate of the Pacific
The Red Skull	Le crâne rouge	The red skull
The Lost Oasis	L’oasis perdue	The lost oasis
The Sargasso Ogre	L’ogre des Sargasses	The Sargasso ogre
The Czar of Fear	Le Czar de la peur	The Czar of fear (new translation of title)
The Phantom City	La cité fantôme	The ghost/phantom city
Brand of the Werewolf	La marque de la bête	The brand of the beast
The Man Who Shook the Earth	L’homme qui ébranla la terre	The man who shook the Earth
Special series
Bleeding Sun	Le soleil sanglant	The bleeding sun
Special Thanks to Catherine Lavallée-Welch for this page and all the work it took to translate the titles in English. Merci!

L’homme de bronze is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

This is a formula, a master plot, for any 6000 word pulp story. It has worked on adventure, detective, western and war-air. It tells exactly where to put everything. It shows definitely just what must happen in each successive thousand words. No yarn of mine written to the formula has yet failed to sell. The business of building stories seems not much different from the business of building anything else.

Here’s how it starts:

1. A DIFFERENT MURDER METHOD FOR VILLAIN TO USE
2. A DIFFERENT THING FOR VILLAIN TO BE SEEKING
3. A DIFFERENT LOCALE
4. A MENACE WHICH IS TO HANG LIKE A CLOUD OVER HERO

One of these DIFFERENT things would be nice, two better, three swell. It may help if they are fully in mind before tackling the rest.

A different murder method could be–different. Thinking of shooting, knifing, hydrocyanic, garroting, poison needles, scorpions, a few others, and writing them on paper gets them where they may suggest something. Scorpions and their poison bite? Maybe mosquitos or flies treated with deadly germs?

If the victims are killed by ordinary methods, but found under strange and identical circumstances each time, it might serve, the reader of course not knowing until the end, that the method of murder is ordinary. Scribes who have their villain’s victims found with butterflies, spiders or bats stamped on them could conceivably be flirting with this gag. Probably it won’t do a lot of good to be too odd, fanciful or grotesque with murder methods.

The different thing for the villain to be after might be something other than jewels, the stolen bank loot, the pearls, or some other old ones. Here, again one might get too bizarre.

Unique locale? Easy. Selecting one that fits in with the murder method and the treasure–thing that villain wants–makes it simpler, and it’s also nice to use a familiar one, a place where you’ve lived or worked. So many pulpateers don’t. It sometimes saves embarrassment to know nearly as much about the locale as the editor, or enough to fool him.

Here’s a nifty much used in faking local color. For a story laid in Egypt, say, author finds a book titled “Conversational Egyptian Easily Learned,” or something like that. He wants a character to ask in Egyptian, “What’s the matter?” He looks in the book and finds, “El khabar, eyh?” To keep the reader from getting dizzy, it’s perhaps wise to make it clear in some fashion, just what that means. Occasionally the text will tell this, or someone can repeat it in English. But it’s a doubtful move to stop and tell the reader in so many words the English translation.

The writer learns they have palm trees in Egypt. He looks in the book, finds the Egyptian for palm trees, and uses that. This kids editors and readers into thinking he knows something about Egypt.

Here’s the second installment of the master plot.

Divide the 6000 word yarn into four 1500 word parts. In each 1500 word part, put the following:

FIRST 1500 WORDS

1–First line, or as near thereto as possible, introduce the hero and swat him with a fistful of trouble. Hint at a mystery, a menace or a problem to be solved–something the hero has to cope with.
2–The hero pitches in to cope with his fistful of trouble. (He tries to fathom the mystery, defeat the menace, or solve the problem.)
3–Introduce ALL the other characters as soon as possible. Bring them on in action.
4–Hero’s endevours land him in an actual physical conflict near the end of the first 1500 words.
5–Near the end of first 1500 words, there is a complete surprise twist in the plot development.

SO FAR: Does it have SUSPENSE? Is there a MENACE to the hero? Does everything happen logically?

At this point, it might help to recall that action should do something besides advance the hero over the scenery. Suppose the hero has learned the dastards of villains have seized somebody named Eloise, who can explain the secret of what is behind all these sinister events. The hero corners villains, they fight, and villains get away. Not so hot.

Hero should accomplish something with his tearing around, if only to rescue Eloise, and surprise! Eloise is a ring-tailed monkey. The hero counts the rings on Eloise’s tail, if nothing better comes to mind. They’re not real. The rings are painted there. Why?

SECOND 1500 WORDS

1–Shovel more grief onto the hero.
2–Hero, being heroic, struggles, and his struggles lead up to:
3–Another physical conflict.
4–A surprising plot twist to end the 1500 words.

NOW: Does second part have SUSPENSE? Does the MENACE grow like a black cloud? Is the hero getting it in the neck? Is the second part logical?

DON’T TELL ABOUT IT***

Show how the thing looked. This is one of the secrets of writing; never tell the reader–show him. (He trembles, roving eyes, slackened jaw, and such.) MAKE THE READER SEE HIM.

When writing, it helps to get at least one minor surprise to the printed page. It is reasonable to to expect these minor surprises to sort of inveigle the reader into keeping on. They need not be such profound efforts.

One method of accomplishing one now and then is to be gently misleading. Hero is examining the murder room. The door behind him begins slowly to open. He does not see it. He conducts his examination blissfully. Door eases open, wider and wider, until–surprise! The glass pane falls out of the big window across the room. It must have fallen slowly, and air blowing into the room caused the door to open. Then what the heck made the pane fall so slowly? More mystery. Characterizing a story actor consists of giving him some things which make him stick in the reader’s mind.

TAG HIM. BUILD YOUR PLOTS SO THAT ACTION CAN BE CONTINUOUS.

THIRD 1500 WORDS

1–Shovel the grief onto the hero.
2–Hero makes some headway, and corners the villain or somebody in:
3–A physical conflict.
4–A surprising plot twist, in which the hero preferably gets it in the neck bad, to end the 1500 words.

DOES: It still have SUSPENSE? The MENACE getting blacker? The hero finds himself in a hell of a fix? It all happens logically?

These outlines or master formulas are only something to make you certain of inserting some physical conflict, and some genuine plot twists, with a little suspense and menace thrown in. Without them, there is no pulp story.

These physical conflicts in each part might be DIFFERENT, too. If one fight is with fists, that can take care of the pugilism until next the next yarn. Same for poison gas and swords. There may, naturally, be exceptions. A hero with a peculiar punch, or a quick draw, might use it more than once. The idea is to avoid monotony.

ACTION: Vivid, swift, no words wasted. Create suspense, make the reader see and feel the action.
ATMOSPHERE: Hear, smell, see, feel and taste.
DESCRIPTION: Trees, wind, scenery and water.

THE SECRET OF ALL WRITING IS TO MAKE EVERY WORD COUNT.

FOURTH 1500 WORDS

1–Shovel the difficulties more thickly upon the hero.
2–Get the hero almost buried in his troubles. (Figuratively, the villain has him prisoner and has him framed for a murder rap; the girl is presumably dead, everything is lost, and the DIFFERENT murder method is about to dispose of the suffering protagonist.)
3–The hero extricates himself using HIS OWN SKILL, training or brawn.
4–The mysteries remaining–one big one held over to this point will help grip interest–are cleared up in course of final conflict as hero takes the situation in hand.
5–Final twist, a big surprise, (This can be the villain turning out to be the unexpected person, having the “Treasure” be a dud, etc.)
6–The snapper, the punch line to end it.

HAS: The SUSPENSE held out to the last line? The MENACE held out to the last? Everything been explained? It all happen logically? Is the Punch Line enough to leave the reader with that WARM FEELING? Did God kill the villain? Or the hero?

The End

From: Jason A. Wolcott Newsgroups: alt.fan.doc-savage,alt.pulp Subject: Lester Dent’s Master Plot Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 09:20:29 -0500 Uploaded by Jason A. Wolcott, from Marilyn Cannaday’s biography of Lester Dent, “Bigger Than Life: the Creator of Doc Savage.” (c) 1990 Bowling Green State University Popular Press. Original publication circa 1950s

Published on the Original Hidalgo Trading Company in this format sometime in the late 90s.

Seriously, who remembers the exact date these days?

Lester Dent’s Secret Master Plot is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

Doc Savage made it to the radio three times: 1934-35, 1943, and 1985. Below is a list of the episodes culled from numerous sources.

1934-35 episodes were 15 minutes each and were written by Lester Dent.

Episode Date Title
1 02/10/1934 The Red Death
2 02/17/1934 The Golden Legacy
3 02/24/1934 The Red Lake Quest
4 03/03/1934 The Sniper in The Sky
5 03/10/1934 The Evil Extortionists
6 03/17/1934 Black-Light Magic
7 03/24/1934 Radium Scramble
8 03/31/1934 Death Had Blue Hands
9 04/07/1934 The Sinister Sleep
10 04/14/1934 The Southern Star Mystery
11 04/21/1934 The Impossible Bullet
12 04/28/1934 The Too-talkative Parrot
13 05/05/1934 The Blue Angel
14 05/12/1934 The Green Ghost
15 05/19/1934 The Box of Fear
16 05/26/1934 The Phantom Terror
17 06/02/1934 Mantrap Mesa
18 06/09/1934 Fast Workers
19 06/16/1934 Needle in a Chinese Haystack
20 06/23/1934 Monk Called it Justice
21 06/30/1934 The White Haired Devil
22 07/07/1934 The Oilfield Ogres
23 07/14/1934 The Fainting Lady
24 07/21/1934 Poison Cargo
25 07/28/1934 Find Curley Morgan
26 08/04/1934 The Growing Wizard

Episodes 27-52 were repeats of the 1934 episodes.

The 1943 episodes were 30 minutes long.

Episode Date Title
53 01/06/1943 Doc Savage
54 01/13/1943 Return From Death
55 01/20/1943 Note of Death
56 01/27/1943 Murder Charm
57 02/03/1943 Death Stalks The Morgue
58 02/10/1943 I’ll Dance On Your Grave
59 02/17/1943 Murder Is a Business
60 02/24/1943 Living Evil
61 03/03/1943 Journey Into Oblivion
62 03/10/1943 Hour of Murder
63 03/17/1943 Pharaoh’s Wisdom
64 03/24/1943 Society Amazonia
65 03/31/1943 Insect Menace
66 04/07/1943 Subway to Hell
67 04/14/1943 Monster of The Sea
68 04/21/1943 The Voice That Cried ‘Kill!’
69 04/28/1943 Cult of Satan
70 05/05/1943 When Dead Men Walk
71 05/12/1943 The Screeching Ghost
72 05/19/1943 Ransom or Death
73 05/26/1943 Murder Man
74 06/02/1943 Miracle Maniac
75 06/09/1943 Skull Man

Episodes 76-78 were repeats of selected 1943 episodes.

The 1985 National Public Radio episodes were 30 minutes each. They were two series, Fear Cay (Episodes 79-85) and The Thousand-Headed Man (Episodes 86-91)

Fear Cay
79 09/30/1985 Kidnapped
80 10/07/1985 The Hanging Man
81 10/14/1985 The Disappointing Parcel
82 10/21/1985 The Island of Death
83 10/28/1985 Terror Underground
84 11/04/1985 The Mysterious Weeds
85 11/11/1985 The Crawling Terror

The Thousand-Headed Man
86 11/18/1985 The Black Stick
87 11/25/1985 Three Black Sticks
88 12/02/1985 Flight Into Fear
89 12/09/1985 Pagoda of The Hands
90 12/16/1985 The Accursed City
91 12/23/1985 The Deadly Treasure

Originally published on the Hidalgo Trading Company
Last published October 1, 2006 on DocSavage.Info

Doc Savage on the Radio is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

On the back of every Bantam published reprint of the Doc Savage novels were a few lines that answered the question, “Who is Doc Savage?”

To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange, mysterious figure of glistening bronze skin and golden eyes.
To his amazing co-adventurers — the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group — he is a man of superhuman strength and protean genius, whose life is dedicated to the destruction of evil-doers.
To his fans he is the greatest adventure hero of all time, whose fantastic exploits are unequaled for hair-raising thrills, breathtaking escapes and bloodcurdling excitement.

That answers that. Doesn’t it?

Who is Doc Savage? is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

Obviously, the upgrade didn’t happen as planned.

However, I’m back to it and hope to finish by Pulpfest.

Upgrade Woes is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

182r JU/49 Up From Earth's Center is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

181r SP/49 Return from Cormoral is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

179r WI/49 The Green Master is a post from: Doc Savage Organized

Yes, this and the post below shall soon disappear. We’ve finally started updating the site. We’ll be finished by the end of January….

We hope.

Yes, we’ve finally started the update… is a post from: Doc Savage Organized