Tom Johnson

Savage Land of Jur, like its prequel, Jur: A Story of Pre-dawn Earth, had its genesis in France in the mid 1960s. Unfortunately, neither story materialized because the main element of the plot eluded me at the time. In 1970, after a tour in Vietnam, the final element did occur to me—time travel. I immediately wrote the first two stories in long hand, planning on a third using the same characters. I had the first story professionally typed, then sent the manuscript off to publishers, but the story never went anywhere. I never typed the second, nor wrote the third.

In the intervening years I pursued my writing career while in the military, writing articles for newspapers and magazines, even contributing a short-lived column to a North Dakota newspaper back in the mid 1970s. I researched and published several non-fiction books, then in 1982, my wife Ginger and I started Echoes, a hobby magazine for the pulp fan and collector, which we published for 100 issues, then turned the magazine into a newsletter for the same community. In 1997, we began publishing a line of fiction magazines of various genres, and this once more sparked my interest in fiction writing.

In 2001, my wife, Ginger, insisted that I submit the first novel of Jur to NBI, a new electronic/print publisher that had been recommended to us by K.G. McAbee, their executive editor. When it was accepted, I immediately pulled out the second novel, Savage Land of Jur and started typing it, only to find that our son had erased part of the story years ago, and so I had to rewrite much of it. It had also been intended as the middle story in a trilogy, but I decided to bring the story line to an end with the second novel, so made some corrections in the ending.

After submitting the story, and having it accepted by NBI, I wrote the third novel, bringing in a new story line and new characters. Lost Land of Jur was released April 7, 2003, and I self-published the fourth story in the series, Queen of Jur. Treasure of Jur was written, but never published, and a fourth, Drums of Jur was three-fourths completed when I set it aside for other work.

Twenty years in the military has given me the discipline to meet deadlines and set goals for myself. Reading those wonderful pulp stories of the early Twentieth Century has given me the desire to continue in the traditions of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and Kenneth Robeson’s (Lester Dent) Doc Savage.

I wish only to entertain…

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Trapped in the Jurassic period of Earth’s predawn, Ron and Odette search for the Ancient Ones and a time portal that will return them to their own time. But even as they encounter an Ancient One, more danger threatens them in the savage world of Jur.

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 A young French girl disappears in the jungles of Africa in the early 1930s. A young American adventurer hears about the missing girl and goes in search of her, only to follow her through a time portal, where they end up in the Jurassic period of Earth. Here they discover adventure and danger as they search for the Ancient Ones, who had built the time portals, encountering dinosaurs and other creatures that should not have existed in the Jurassic period. s prehistory. 

They learn that the Ancient Ones were stocking this prehistoric time with animals from throughout the ages. But the old race is nowhere to be found, so the young couple must search on their own, and soon fall in love. 

 

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This short story collection consists of seven stories of varying lengths. Each pits a heroic figure against some evil mastermind out to do some dastardly deed. In the first entry, we have a story between novelette and short novel featuring the costumed crime fighter known as The Black Ghost. In this fast-paced yarn, "Carnival of Death", a British intelligence operative is following a large drug shipment from India to somewhere in the States. The city is never named, but probably on the East Coast. Wounded, the operative seeks out The Black Ghost for help, and the city's paladin learns that an old nemesis is protecting the drug shipment, and she's determined to destroy The Black Ghost. This is a sequel to "The Spider's Web", published in 2010.

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In 1980, a young Chinese girl becomes involved with a young man connected to the Italian mob. When she becomes pregnant, her father allows the marriage between his daughter and young man, but secretly conspires to separate them as soon as the baby is born. Throwing a big party for his son-in-law, the Tong places his daughter on a ship for China, while the baby is left under the care of the Chinese. 

Thirty years later, the young man now runs his own mob, coming under the scrutiny of the city's paladin, a mysterious crime fighter called The Black Ghost. In a deadly gun battle between the hero and gangsters, the mob is wiped out, the mob leader killed during the fight. Seeking revenge, the child, now thirty years old, gathers a new gang to go up against the Black Ghost. Trained in the martial arts from childhood, the new mob leader dons the regalia of a ninja and begins robbing banks and killing citizens randomly, hoping to bring the nemesis to them. 

 

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Continuing in a great tradition, five stories in pulp action, adventure, and thrills are included in this anthology! “The Hooded Hunter” by Max Scarlatti, “Prophet of Peril” (a Masked Avenger story) by Lamont Wentworth, a new Crimson Mask story, “The Crimson Mask’s Justice” by Frank Johnson, Doc Atlas returns in “His Master’s Voice” by Michael A. Black and Ray Lovato, and Tom Johnson’s Black Cat story, “Partners In Crime” rounds out the issue. With a great cover by Matt Lovato. If you like PULP this is the place to be! 

 

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In the 24th century, when travel is by teleportation vehicles, and the affluent live in bubbles floating thousands of feet above the ground, three young girls prepare for school as one presses the teleport button. At the exact same time, a massive magnetic storm from the sun strikes the Earth, disrupting the mechanism and turning their teleportation vehicle into a time machine.

Instead of instantly materializing at their school, the girls find themselves thousands of years in the past, at some point during the Ice Age. Time and time again, they attempt to return to the 24th century, only traveling farther back in Earth’s past with each press of the button. With the batteries draining from each jump, they are stranded in each epoch for short periods of time, in which they experience the danger and excitement of fantastic adventure in ancient surroundings.

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Pulp goes Top Secret in this military comedy drama set in Europe during the height of the Cold War. A group of misfit MPs must confront spies and the black market while dealing with a boxing tournament on Post! Not since M*A*S*H* and Soldier In The Rain have we been treated to an inside look at military life with a touch of humor by a soldier who actually experienced it. COLD WAR HEROES by Tom Johnson is loosely based on the author’s experience with the 202nd Military Police Company in France during the 1960s.

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