My Kindle Worlds short story, “Shadowman: The Red Sash,” picked up a new review on Amazon. A reader named “zagain” gave it 4 out of 5 stars and titled his review “A Mixture of Valiant and pulp.” Here’s what he had to say:
The novella focuses initially on Palmer Harrison, an FBI agent who has spent the last three years investigating a series of incidents in which members of the Yih King crime organization were murdered and the crime scene was tagged with a special paint and a familiar catch phrase — “God help the guilty.” Harrison had listened to old radio programs and read pulp novels in his youth that focused on a crime fighting vigilante known as The Red Sash. The phrase used at the crime scenes was the same as the slogan used by the 1930’s era pulp vigilante. Eventually, Harrison learns the truth behind the murders and ends up facing some difficult choices as a result.
The current murder scene Harrison is investigating happens to be in New Orleans, home to another hero — the Shadowman. It turns out Shadowman and his associates, Dox and Alyssa, have their own interest in the Yih King organization. Khan, leader of the organization, and Lotus, a mysterious and mystical woman working alongside Khan, acquired a supernatural object known as the Jade Goddess — a piece they planned to use to breach the walls between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Overall, the novella is a solid, quick read that’s written in a pulp-ish style which fits with one of the primary characters of the work. The Shadowman characters are true to form, and the Red Sash characterization is handled very well in that it remains true to its 1930’s era roots while remaining in line with Valiant’s realistic approach to their characters. It would be interesting to see more stories utilizing the characters introduced in this work.
Glad you liked it, zagain! It was fun to write one of my favorite Valiant characters and, time permitting, I’d love to try my hand at more of them in the future.
