Stark House has been publishing some great omnibus volumes during the past couple of years. Sax Rohmer’s Batwing/Fire-Tongue is a perfect example of this. Back in the 1960s, I read Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels published by Pyramid. Plenty of action and secret cults and criminal master minds. I had copies of Batwing and Fire-Tongue but never got around to reading them. When Stark House published this omnibus volume a few months ago, I bought it and finally got around to reading it. Batwing is the better book. Paul Harley, a “consultant,” is hired by a wealthy Cuban who fears he will be assassinated. Harley fails in preventing the assassination, but launches an investigation to find out who killed his client. The plot is twisty and clever. Fire-Tongue features Paul Harley investigating the murder of a friend who many have been killed by a secret cult. Fire-Tongue reminded me of those Fu Manchu adventures. Both books are fun reading if you’re in the mood for some mystery and adventure.
Stark House does great work. I have this one but haven’t read it.
Bill, I enjoyed BATWING and FIRE-TONGUE. There’s more than a little Fu Manchu flavor to these books.
I agree BAT-WING is the better of the two, but I really enjoyed reading both of them, enough so that I just bought some other Sax Rohmer books I haven’t read yet.
James, your review of BATWING and FIRE-TONGUE inspired me to read this wonderful Stark House omnibus! I’m tempted to go back and reread the Fu Manchu series.
Not a big Rohmer fan – I liked THE DREAM DETECTIVE short stories – but I agree that Stark House puts out some great stuff. I used to pick up the Harley books in England.
If anyone wants to read them without paying the price you can download them at Project Gutenberg along with other Rohmer books.
Jeff, I buy almost everything STARK HOUSE publishes. This BATWING and FIRE-TONGUE omnibus volume is a great value. But, of course, free downloads are attractive, too.
I still have several Fu books I haven’t gotten to… I’ll try to get to them before I read these. But James and now your reviews sure make this Stark double tempting, as are so many of their books.
Rick, I try to support small presses like STARK HOUSE. They do good work and each sale of one of their books is an incentive for them to publish more Good Stuff.
George, I have not read Sax Rohmer or his Fu Manchu series but I’m delighted to know that his books, including these two stories, are legally available in the public domain.