| Title | : | Meteor Menace (Doc Savage, #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0553063545 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780553063547 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 140 |
| Publication | : | First published March 1, 1934 |
Meteor Menace (Doc Savage, #3) Reviews
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Unique and fun. Savage and the gang start off in Chile and find their way to Tibet. A crazy, blue meteor keeps flying overhead wreaking havoc. A very interesting take on the effects of radiation. I did learn some Tibetan customs that I was sure had to be fictional until I looked them up. A few parts are pretty dated and/or politically incorrect, but pretty mild considering the age of the story (1933). I’m enjoying this ride of going through the Doc Savage catalog.
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Meteor Menace is a "Doc Savage" novel by Kenneth Robeson. Kenneth Robeson was the house name used by Street and Smith Publications as the author of their popular Doc Savage novels. Though most Doc Savage stories were written by the author Lester Dent, there were many others who contributed to the series, including:
William G. Bogart
Evelyn Coulson
Harold A. Davis
Lawrence Donovan
Alan Hathway
W. Ryerson Johnson
I love reading these old pulp novels from time to time. I recently came across five of them in a used book store and snapped them up. I read about 80%+ of the Doc Savage novels when I was a teenager but that was a very long time ago.
In this one Doc Savage and his men are in Chile for the dedication of a hospital built with his charity donation/fee earned in the last book. A young woman, Rae Stanley, is desperately seeking his help to find her missing father, a professor. She is attacked by a group of men while talking to Monk and Ham, thus trying to contact Doc.
A group of Tibetans are responsible for the attack. After being chased by Monk and Ham as well as separately by Doc They release a mysterious blue meteor that has a debilitating and disabling effect on all who hear it.
Doc and the crew are rendered unconscious and taken to Tibet where they must try and track down and stop Mog-Wei, the meteor master, and others that want the secret of the blue meteor.
This book is another fun read in the Doc Savage stories. -
Doc Savage and his crew are in Chile for the dedication of a hospital when a mysterious, blue glowing meteor passes overhead, causing them to lose their mental capacities until they wake up -- in Tibet/ How did that happen? I can't say without spoiling it, but it is a hell of a good pulp adventure!
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Meteor Menace was the 13th Doc Savage adventure by published by Street & Smith, and found Doc and his crew attending the dedication of a hospital built in Chile in the wake of their prior adventure. It's one of the rare "sequels" where their next brush a super villain started right away. Lester Dent and Street & Smith regularly teased the coming issue, but it wasn't often that Doc and his five aides were still in the location of their previous battle. Back when this came out in March 1934, those who had read the February issue, The Man Who Shook the Earth, weren't at a loss when that was referenced; Dent had done the same thing with The Lost Oasis and The Sargasso Ogre a handful of issues before in the magazine's inaugural year. But Meteor Menace was the third book published by Bantam when they brought Doc back, following The Man of Bronze and The Thousand-headed Man, which were the initial first story and a story from later in 1934, after the events of Meteor Menace.
Sanctum Books published the series out of order as well, but when a pairing benefited from their following the original publication order, they did their best, which is why The Man Who Shook the Earth came out in the previous reprint issue, and allowed modern readers to benefit from the continuity Dent worked hard establishing so Doc and his exploits could seem more realistic. Bantam's choices were odd, and not like Sanctum's themes, such as their "spooky" October/Halloween issues, but I will say that I appreciated this story more now than I did when I first read it in he mid-70s. After Doc's introduction in The Man of Bronze and the outlandish events from The Thousand-headed Man, this story does a good job establishing Doc's abilities as a troubleshooter and how the identity of the "super villain" is hidden and awaiting a big reveal at the story's end. Doc doesn't pull a Fred or Velma and pull off their mask, but the elements exist, and Dent goes back to this well multiple times during the pulp's original run; it's our first Doc Savage whodunit, where we try figuring out their real identity. More then 40 years later, I'm better at following Dent's clues, more than when I was in my early teens in my initial read, but this did not dull my enjoyment, as his ability to lay red herrings lets me learn from a true craftsman still figuring out and polishing his own style. -
Another crazy, rip-roaringly dated and silly adventure that takes Doc and his crew to South America then Tibet chasing a surprisingly clever trio of villains and a weird blue meteor that works kinda like a D&D feeble mind spell. As long as you’re willing and able to suppress certain of your higher brain functioning while reading these books are a hoot.
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I read this some 42 years ago. I couldn't remember any of it this go-around, which I'm not sure speaks more to my ADHD or if it the story was that forgettable. Some might suggest the latter simply because this is "pulp fiction" (you have to stick your nose in the air when you say that). Still, its typical Doc Savage, which means its non-stop improbable action and just a fun read (although i tend to cringe more these days at the blatant and not so blatant racism, which was more commonplace 80+ years ago).
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March 1934 brought readers the Meteor Menace. From Chile to Tibet, Doc trails the evil Mo-Gwei and his henchmen Shrops and Saturday Loo. Or are they his henchmen after all. This book explored a new scientific discover, radiation, and what dangers it might bring. Since this was new territory, Lester Dent took some liberties, and gave radiation very dangerous properties indeed. Almost too realistic for its time, Meteor Menace is a very exciting yarn, and one of the few times Doc seems genuinely upset at the conclusion of the tale and the fate of the villain.
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Of all the pulp era heroes few stand out above the crowd, Doc Savage is one of these. With his 5 aides and cousin he adventures across the world. Fighting weird menaces, master criminals and evil scientists Doc and the Fab 5 never let you down for a great read. These stories have all you need; fast paced action, weird mystery, and some humor as the aides spat with each other. My highest recommendation.
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There's a "Hardy Boys" effect to reading the Doc Savage stories: in most cases, plot amnesia commences immediately after closing the book. The writing is remarkable in its weird belt-and-suspenders attitude, suggesting a thing in one sentence, confirming it in the next, and belaboring the point in the third, as though the reader can't be trusted to draw conclusions without help.
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Back in the day (as the saying goes) I read all the Doc Savage titles that Bantam published. I found them generally a fast and pleasurable read.
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A friend's older brother loved Doc Savage and loaned me a couple. That's how I was introduced to the series. I loved the covers from the start, but never really got into the stories. I tried, though. They seemed dated, back in the 70s, being about 40 years old at that point. Now they're twice as old, but somehow don't seem any more out of date. Not sure why I think that...
Every once in awhile I read another one. They're always kind of interesting, sometimes for the action, sometimes for the exotic settings, but more often because of a sense of nostalgia that hangs around the characters and the books themselves. There is also the amusement of seeing quaint science--radio-controlled airplanes and the like--treated like wonders. It's a window into 1930s imagination, and that has its rewards.
You can't expect too much from such novels. The plotting is almost always linear, with surprises that seldom surprise. Most of the time, the author(s) told the stories and recounted the action in the most straightforward way. Sometimes, the language rose above serviceable to quite nice, actually. Here is a somewhat overwritten (in the best way, as action stories should be) description of the titular blue meteor:"It came up awfully out of the east. It might have been a thing spawned by the Andean mountain fastnesses. Only the faintest of ultramarine flushes marked its first appearance. But the balefire brightened with appalling swiftness, and there became audible the tiniest of whistling noises, which might have been the note of some distant, harpy piper. The sibilant note loudened."
I like passages like that, written in an Indiana Jones action adventure kind of way.
That's about as good as it gets, though. For a pulp novel, that's got to be enough.
This novel, like the rest, is meant to be a quick read, coming in at only about 40,000 words (since it was originally published in a magazine), but it's not exactly low-brow; the audience is men, mostly, the nerds of an earlier era, those who like adventure novels but are also interested in engines and electrical devices and Popular Mechanics-type technology. That's a near-miss for me; I'm not quite the right kind of nerd for that. That's why I still read a Doc Savage novel every couple of years and like it just enough to keep a few on my shelf and figure I'll maybe read another a couple years from now. (Some of the comics are, IMO, very entertaining. Maybe a better medium for Doc Savage stories, though I don't want to start any fights.)
Every lover of genre fiction--science fiction, fantasy, adventure--should read one or two of these popular pulp novels. Give it shot, just for grins. If you like it, you'll be glad to find there are about 180 other titles, and you can find lots of them on eBay real cheap. :) -
Doc lost his mind!
That's just one element making this installment (the 13th published novel, released in 1934) of Doc Savage's adventures original and highly creative. Radiation from a meteorite shocks the neurological system, essentially forcing all but the autonomic functions of the human brain to shut down. Victims are worse than zombies; mindless bodies, they must be tied up so they don't bump into objects and hurt themselves.
In a nice twist, there are two sets of evil villains. Both use remotely piloted drones (yes, again, author Lester Dent has presaged real world weapons yet to come) to carry fragments of the meteorite over cities to neutralize their populations. The goal for one villain is to rule the world; for the other pair, it's to extort fortunes from major metropolises.
This was a fast, fun read. The originality of the plot shone throughout. When Doc's mind is zapped, that brilliant intellect is turned off. How will he escape from this predicament? And when he does...he regains consciousness in a small village in Tibet engaged to be married. A perfect trap!
"Meteor Menace" plays out like a pure adventure movie of yesteryear -- the type of film Indiana Jones pays tribute to. With the off-and-on talk of a Doc movie, this novel would be the perfect tale to transition to the silver screen. In the meantime, get a copy of the book and treat yourself to a fine adventure -- with plenty of movie-style popcorn and Raisinets at hand. -
This is where modern science and somewhat science fiction meet and cross, leaving one behind. A blue meteor is causing troubles for Doc Savage and his men. They race to the aid of Rae Stanley, a young woman who has lost her father to an evil genius named Mo-Gwei. We discover that the meteor is part of a larger piece of radioactive space debris which causes humans to lose all brain function. It is likened to radium, which scientifically does not cause this phenomenon. The twist at the end, very much like Scooby Doo, is the discovery that Mo-Gwei is Professor Stanley, the girl's father, who has been negatively affected by the radioactive substance and gone crazy. Action from beginning to end, as is usual with Savage's stories, including Tibetan language, travel from South America to Asia, and local mythology supporting the story.
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Pulpy goodness, these are fine quickly read tales. The best part being the electrical gizmos and other inventions the writer was coming up with based on knowledge from the 30s when they were written. Also the team of Doc's (really only around to be captured and then rescued by Doc) are actually a pretty good team and the relationship between Ham and Monk is humorous.
The problem is the same problem I have with say a Superman comic...Doc is basically perfect so nothing can really stop him. He is super human against mere mortals so it never seems in doubt he will win.
This particular novel seems pretty standard fare from the few I read. Kind of a mystery with trying to figure out what the meteor was exactly. The rest fits with others of the series.
I still recommend for a quick fun read, they are turn your brain off action adventure pulp from the 30s. Whats not to like? -
Another good Doc adventure that I read back in the 70s.
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I have never read so many strangely worded insults in my life, like the bad guy was a member of Monty Python spouting out things like "you dumb child of a pickled unicorn wearing a raincoat Uturn peacock!" just weird.
That and reading the strong Cockney accent was like trying to piece together a new language.
But all in all another enjoyable and very readable Doc Savage adventure.
Oh well, on to the next one.... -
Original publication order: #13 (March 1934)
Bantam reprint order: #3
I've been taking a break from Doc Savage for a few months, but this was a good way to get back into the habit. Picking up almost immediately after the events of
The Man Who Shook the Earth, Doc and his fantastic crew get swept up in an adventure leading from the deserts of Chile to the frozen heights of Tibet. Many of the classic elements are here: a truly bizarre weapon, a flamboyantly fiendish villain, a healthy dose of gadgetry, and lots of two-fisted action. There are also a few "what the...?!" moments of sheer surprise, a nice departure from the norm.
I do have some quibbles, though. Any story which involves a meteorite really needs to give a starring role to Johnny (Hellooo, Mr. Dent! Remember Johnny, the world-renowned geologist?!), but he's just window dressing here. I also wanted more from the token beautiful daughter, who gets one excellent scene but otherwise spends most of the story on the sidelines. But the story was a romp and a hoot and several other monosyllabic good things. Go get 'em, Doc!
Side note: This story was just a tiny bit uncomfortable for me personally, because in reading it I spotted a few coincidental parallels to my own novel,
Dragon in the Snow (which is an homage to Doc, but one that makes no reference to any specific stories). Just for the record, this was my first exposure to Meteor Menace. -
As hero pulp tales go, "Meteor Menace" has it all, including the bestowing of "favorite Doc Savage novel" title from me, though it's a close competition. Yes, this is a winner all the way, and might be the first Doc book I'd hand to somebody curious about taking a journey in the Savage landscape.
The dreaded Blue Meteor streaks across the heavens and leaves raving madmen in its wake. Who you gonna call? Doc Savage, of course! In addition to a diabolical meteor, this tale has a classic supervillain in Mo-Gwei, who parades around in Tibet wearing the garish purple mask of Bron, the yak demon (no, not LeBron). Also, there's a prime fabulous babe in Rae Stanley (to whom the seemingly woman-proof Doc gets ENGAGED?), a villain named Saturday Loo, a Cockney with an overdone accent, exotic locales in Tibet and Chile, a crackerjack plot that careens right along, and nefarious goings-on that keep Doc and his aides hopping, when they're not being knocked unconscious for a month by the meteor, that is.
And who says Doc Savage books aren't educational? As a 15-year-old when I first read this, I'd never have heard of Antofagasta, Chile, without Doc visiting the place to dedicate a hospital and start us on the adventure written about here. Yeah, this also has a nice carryover from the previous tale, "The Man Who Shook the Earth," picking up very shortly after that tale's end in Chile. I always liked it when individual Doc stories didn't exist in a vacuum.
"Meteor Menace," the 13th Doc Savage novel, from March 1934, also is less pulpy and better written than the very earliest entries in the canon. My only regret is I can never again read it for the first time, or be 15 years old again (where's a Zoltar machine when you need one?). -
Doc Savage and his five helpers are in Antofogasta, Chile, helping to open the free hospital Doc had built, when the opening ceremonies are disturbed by an attractive young lady and a group of Tibetan thugs. When the thugs take Monk and Ham hostage, Doc secrets himself in the trunk of their car and overcomes them once they stop. Unfortunately, the sky lights up with a screaming blue meteor, and Doc and his men run for cover. Ham and Monk don’t quite make it, and once the meteor has passed, Doc finds them senselessly flailing about. He takes them back to their hotel, but their condition stymies even Doc’s amazing medical skills. Later, when Doc, Renny, Johnny, and Long Tom are investigating a suspicious boat in the harbor, the blue meteor returns and there is no escape.
A month later, Doc and his men awaken in a village in Tibet with no memory of the intervening weeks. The most bizarre development, however, is that Doc seems to have acquired a fiancée, lovely Rae Stanley from Antofogasta. It’s obvious Rae is telling tall tales, especially when she tells Doc he killed the two men who brought her to Antofogasta before they got engaged. Further investigation reveals a web of intrigue surrounding the evil mastermind Mo Gwei and the frightening blue meteor. Doc puts it all together just in time, saving Tibet and all the world from the evil Mo Gwei and his blue meteor, and finding a cure for all those previously afflicted by it.
It had been awhile since I had read a Doc Savage adventure, and this book was a fun way to delve back in with Doc and the gang. A classic, globe-hopping adventure with plenty of good humor, this is one of the better Doc Savage tales. -
The first Doc Savage story appeared in 1933 and the series ran in pulp and later digest format into 1949. Bantam reprinted the entire series in paperback with wonderful, iconic covers starting in the 1960's. Doc was arguably the first great modern superhero with a rich background, continuity, and mythos. The characterizations were far richer than was common for the pulps; his five associates and their sometimes-auxiliary, Doc's cousin Pat, and the pets Chemistry and Habeas Corpus, all had very distinctive characteristics and their byplay was frequently more entertaining that the current adventure-of-the-month. The settings were also fascinating: Doc's Fortress of Solitude, the Hidalgo Trading Company (which served as a front for his armada of vehicles), and especially the mysterious 86th floor headquarters all became familiar haunts to the reader, and the far-flung adventures took the intrepid band to exotic and richly-described locations all over the world. The adventures were always fast-paced and exciting, from the early apocalyptic world-saving extravaganzas of the early days to the latter scientific-detective style shorter works of the post-World War Two years. There were always a few points that it was difficult to believe along the way, but there were always more ups than downs, and there was never, ever a dull moment. The Doc Savage books have always been my favorite entertainments... I was always, as Johnny would say, superamalgamated!
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This book continues the weak dialogue and poor characterization found in the first two volumes of Doc Savage by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent). This one has the weakest plot of the run so far. I'd say these books were written for young kids because of the complete lack of characterization for the lead and supporting cast, but there is some pretty explicit violence/killings in it that skew the age much older. If you enjoy well thought out characters, great dialogue or a plot that makes sense, you're best looking elsewhere. If all you need is some quick action bits without anything holding them together, then this is the book and series for you.
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1930's pulp action-adventure. Doc Savage and the Fabulous Five on a mission to rescue a missing astrophysicist, which takes them from Chile to Tibet. Battling rival criminal factions who want control of the mysterious Blue Meteor, a strange celestial phenomenon that has a devastating effect an all who see it.
This probably takes longer to read than it did to write - turn off your brain and enjoy a superficial, but rip-roaring, non-stop adventure. -
Doc faces one of the greatest threats in his career: a blue comet, that makes everyone mad in its wake. Even Doc falls to insanity!
A very imaginative entry, wich globe-trottered from Chile to Tibet. The identity of Mo-Gwei even got me by surprise. Couldn't stop thinking: "How the hell they will explain this?" -
Doc Savage is a pulp icon. It was quick and fun to read. I'd love to read more if I can find them.
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Always enjoy Doc Savage stories.
