Doc Savage: #184- "Python Isle"
archived at http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage/DS184_Python_Isle.zip [DOC]
http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage/DS184_Python_Isle_pdf.zip [PDF]
to read more Doc Savage novels, go to http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage.htm
Doc Savage Magazine #184 - "Python Isle" by Will Murray - October/1991
{Bantam Cover by Joe DeVito}
When a long-thought dead aviator returned, he and a mysterious woman flew a battered plane that had been repaired with plates of pure Gold.
Seeking aid from the Man of Bronze, a raging battle shortly ensues for control of the lost secret of Python Isle!
Originally printed and copyrighted circa 1933 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed circa 1963 by The Conde Nast Publications, Inc. Printed in paperback by Bantam Books. It doesn't appear that these will be reprinted in the near future. So the following out-of-print editions may be read only for your personal interest and may not be otherwise duplicated or published for profit.
The adventurers of Doc Savage originally appeared in magazine format in 1933-1949. Note that this timeframe was before jet planes and the semiconductor technology to which we are accustomed today. The fastest planes were 400-mph propeller jobs and vacuum tube technology still ruled radio. The most fantastic weapons encountered by Doc may have been based on of John Keely's "vibrational" and Nikola Tesla's "scalar-wave" theories [http://www.stealthskater.com/Bearden.htm] that were popular then.
At times, the writing style of the various Doc Savage "ghostwriters" was influenced by the prevailing sentiments of the Nation's reading audience of that era. As a result, a few portions might not be "politically correct" in today's society. Minor editing efforts have been made in these archives to "update" these. Finally -- as a rough estimate -- multiply all dollar($) amounts by 10 to convert to '2004' dollars (e.g., $5 back then would be $50 today) .
archived at http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage.htm
Doc Savage: #184- "Python Isle" Contents
by Will Murray (October/1991)
by 'Kenneth Robeson' (house name)
Bantam Cover Artists
Lester Dent (creator and main author)
James Bama (created 72 covers)
Harold A. Davis (wrote 13 adventures)
Bob Larkin (created 77 covers)
refer to DS000.doc for a biography of all the Kenneth Robeson "ghostwriters"
doc pdf URL
Laurence Donovan (wrote 9 adventures)
Fred Pfeiffer (created 14 covers)
Philip J. Farmer (wrote 1 adventure)
Boris Vallejo (created 6 covers)
Will Murray (wrote 7 adventures)
Doug Rosa (created 2 covers)
William G. Bogart (wrote 14 adventures)
Jim Aviati (created 1 cover)
Ryerson Johnson (wrote 3 adventures)
Mort Kunstler (created 1 cover)
Alan Hathway (wrote 4 adventures)
Peter Richardson (created 1 cover)
Roger Kastel (created 4 covers)
{limited editing/embellishing and electronic formatting by 'StealthSkater' - April/2005}
to skip to a given chapter, <click> on it from the list below
Prologue 1
I. The Scarecrow 2
II. The Bamboo Tube 13
III. Radio Trap 25
IV. Bull Pizano 32
V. The Van Trick 44
VI. The Bronze Man 49
VII. The Clue Cloud 60
VIII. The Aeromunde Trek 70
IX. Zep Brawl 82
X. Trade-Off 94
XI. Tale of Ophir 101
XII. Python Isle 110
XIII. The Invisible Wrath 119
XIV. Death and Taxus 129
XV. Shark Swim 135
XVI. The Solomon Warriors 143
XVII. Discontent 150
XVIII. The Mighty 156
XIX. The Python Pit 160
XX. Birds of a Black Feather 166
Doc Savage: #184- "Python Isle" Prologue
The island looked utterly forlorn.
It was a small bare rock jutting up from the frigid waters of the Arctic north of Hudson Bay.
Ice caked its shore line and powdery snow veined inland fissures. Howling winds tore the snow from those crevices and made them into white dancing devils.
Once -- ages ago -- the island had been volcanic. But now it was only a dead forbidding-looking crater whose ice-encrusted base seeped pale, yellowish subterranean gases. The icy northern blasts tore these exhalations into scraps and bore them out to sea.
It was to avoid the noxious gases -- the reason the island was avoided by Eskimos who believed it to be hoodooed -- that the black autogyro approached the crater at over 1,000 feet.
In the cockpit, the pilot gripped the rocker arm which controlled the tiny craft. His hands were unusual.
They were strong hands in which tendons played with a power remindful of hawsers. In addition, it could be seen that the pilot's skin was of a metallic ...
Januszek66