SF Signal: Guilty Pleasure

Guilty Pleasure

I have a confession to make. It's not an easy thing to admit. But, they say, the first step on the road to recovery is to admit you have a problem. So, here I am, exposing my faults for the world to see. And my confession is this:

I like the men's adventure series Mack Bolan, The Executioner.

Being a serial adventure that started back in 1969, there is no hope that I will ever, in my lifetime, catch up to the furious writing pace that that is the Executioner publishing machine (not to mention it's related spin-offs). Don Pendleton authored the first 40 or so novels, then ghost writers took over. I think they are up to number 300 or so. I am 4 books (1.3%) into the series.

And I like them! They are nothing but a macho orgy of Rambo-style violence, revenge, reatlitaion, women, etc, and I still like them.

Bolan is a superior marksman in Viet Nam when he is called back home to bury his family, the victims of a mob hit. Bolan wages war on the Mafia and the first several books are essentially "The Executioner vs. the Mafia in [Big U.S. City]".

There is no literary value in these books whatsoever. They are, however, a hoot to read. I tossed one off tonight. (I also finished an Executioner adventure. Ba-dum-pum. Crash!). The early ones are under 200 pages and Pendleton's writing style makes them a a quick read. So far, they are lot's of fun.

And, they give me an excuse to buy more used books.