'The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril' is a pulp fiction novel set in the 1930s and starring pulp fiction writers. The chief protagonists are Walter Gibson who wrote The Shadow and Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage. They are the most successful pulp writers of the 1930s and their books and magazines have millions of readers. This novel also features L. Ron Hubbard, nicknamed (by himself) The Flash because he writes so quickly, and a wandering down and out going by the name of Otis Driftwood who is easily recognizable to those in the know as the man who would become America’s most popular science fiction writer. H.P. Lovecraft has a walk-on part, or rather, a lie in bed dying part. Paul Malmont has done his research on these characters, he’s obviously a fan, and their many thoughts and conversations on the art of popular fiction provide much of the interest in the book.

The rest is provided by the ripping yarn adventure story involving Chinese gangs, secret temples in New York, deadly cargo arriving at Providence, Rhode Island and an assortment of mysterious and dangerous villains. This was gripping enough but as a second rate writer myself, I was more interested in the lives and thoughts of the successful pulp authors. There was a surprising amount of the book devoted to the women in their lives, Lester Dent’s relationship with his wife in particular, which made them well-rounded characters. I’m sure Malmont had a great time putting real people he admires into a fictional adventure and I had a great time reading it even though I’m not that familiar with Gibson, Dent and their works except through later comic book adaptations.

Even better, there’s a follow-up featuring writers I know very well, that coterie of SF greats who provided stories for John W. Campbell’s magazines. 'The Astounding, the Amazing and the Unknown' arrived a few days ago and it’s next on my to-read list. ( )

The premise of the novel is that a cast of pulp writers find themselves entangled in a pulp-like adventure of their own, complete with evil Chinamen, mysterious islands, superweapons, monsters, opium dens, golden gods, and flesh-oozing zombies. What results is a deliberate tangling of fact and "pulp", which is the author's stated intention.

What's real: most (but not all) of the info he includes on the writers, their lives, and the industry. His cast of characters reads like the "regulars" list of the coolest 1940s nightclub ever: Walter Gibson (author of The Shadow series), Lester Dent (author of the Doc Savage series), Howard Lovecraft, L. Ron Hubbard (the author is clearly enjoying foreshadowing his eventual career as bad sci fiction writer and scientology founder), Louis L'Amour (aka "Lew" here), Bob Heinlein (aka "Otis Driftwood" here), Cornell Woolrich, Robert Howard (author of the Conan series), Blackstone the Magician, Orson Welles, Al Capone and more. Loved learning more about their lives, their relationships, and the pulp industry.

Ironically, however, it's the "pulp" parts of this tale that disappoint! I begin to understand why pulp magazines have to be so preposterous: it's because their elements just don't hold up to being modernized/psychologized/philosophized. Evil Chinamen (albeit horrifically un-PC these days) are wholly satisfying villains ... until, it turns out, you endow them with sympathetic backstories and passivist souls. A superhero (the Shadow) who uses "the power of his mind" to elude notice seems perfectly credible ... until, that is, you start reimagining him as a sort of trickster god, preserving us from violence and fear by selflessly absorbing them into himself. And it's hard to go wrong with zombies ... except, come to find out, when you try to provide credible scientific explanations for their oozing flesh and blood-lust.

Happily, Malmont's a much better writer than his pulp writer protagonists. With just a few brushstrokes he creates scenes, characters, conversations that feel authentic. I also like how he incorporates narrative arcs with a light touch, rather than pounding us over the head with them - to appreciate just how deftly, make a point of rereading the first few chapters after you've done and appreciating how deftly he's wrapped everything up. However, the chapters devoted to the more "pulpy" parts of the story felt sometimes insufficiently set up, overly busy, and rushed.

Perhaps the ultimate irony is that by failing to convince me that pulp can "legitimized," Malmont has inspired in me more respect for the genre than I possessed before! What writers like Walter Gibson and Lester Dent did so effortlessly - making us believe that bravery, chivalry and humanity would always be enough to triumph over evil - turns out not to be so effortless after all. ( )

The author's enthusiasm for the pulp writers of the late 1930s is infectious, making me want to rush out and read The Shadow and Doc Savage, written, respectively, by Walter Gibson and Lester Dent, the two pulp writers at the center of this book. The other writer who is in this book from the start is L. Ron Hubbard, usually referred to here as The Flash for his speed at turning out stories. We are also treated to the last moments of H.P. Lovecraft and a lengthy appearance from the world's greatest science fiction writer--if you don't know who I'm talking about, you'll have to read it for yourself--and, I suppose, the world's best known writer of Westerns. As well as cameos from a few others. Lester Dent's wife also plays a key role as does Gibson's lover. The background is also pretty well drawn, whether it is gritty Providence, Rhode Island, New York City, or at sea.

The problem here, quite frankly, is the story. Like everything else here, it is sort of based on history, but the author's grasp of Chinese history, which plays a big role here, is much more shaky than his grasp on the essence of pulp fiction. Even so, it could have worked far better had this story not just gone on and on. And on. And on. There are so many climaxes and climaxes after climaxes that despite the interesting characters and the well-drawn atmosphere, it just gets a little exasperating after a while. I was certainly glad it was over. When I read a debut novel like this, I can't help but feel that the poor author felt he had better cram everything he could think of inside in case it turned out to be his only chance. Malmont has gone on to write more of the same. I'm not sure if I would pick up his next book or not. ( )

I had to go back and read this novel, some of whose characters overlap with Malmont's recent "The Astounding, The Amazing and The Unknown". Like the later novel, this is a tribute to the pulps and the pulp era, and great fun. ( )

It's probably a good thing that I wasn't around in the pulp era, as it seems to not be my thing at all. However, this is a good read starring two real life pulp writers, Lester Dent and Walter B Gibson (creators of Doc Savage and The Shadow, respectively) with an assist from their characters and L. Ron Hubbard (pre-Scientology, thankfully) as they battle various forces of evil, including Chinese warlords, poison gas, and zombies (caused by said gas).

It's well written, though the dialogue is stilted at times. The authors tend to speak as they would write, which doesn't ring true, but whatever. A good story. ( )