Review of Jack Brand Stories

Review by Lyn Perry

This book featuring space adventurer Jack Brand by John M. Whalen (the publication was re-titled The Big Shutdown in 2015 when the author self-published it) is a collection of space western short stories about a hired raygun-slinger and former employee of the Tulon Security Force who's finding his way on a wild and wooly planet far from Earth. The stories are tied together by a small cast of believable characters and Brand's perennial search for his kidnapped sister. It's a good set up and the full effect is that these intertwined chapters read nearly like a regular novel.

Every episode offers some exciting action, though I admit, some of the scenarios can get a tad tiresome. A few of the bad guys border on the bumbling criminal stereotype and too often leave Brand a way of escape when the best solution is to simply kill him outright. (Obviously, a book's hero can't die in the first story! So the escape trope is part of the adventure.) Brand does get beat up quite a bit, though, making this fairly realistic (PG-13 for violence).

Overall quite enjoyable. A few of the stories are a bit campy, however, reminding me of those sci-fi B movies from the 1950s. But if read in the spirit of pulp action and adventure, they make for some fun escapism. The writing is solid and most chapters conclude with an understated observation of the human predicament. Quick, thrilling, and at times quite thoughtful. Recommended for space opera and space western fans of all ages.

Note: This collection (many of which, if not all, were first published in an online space opera zine called Raygun Revival) was originally published simply as "Jack Brand" with this remarkable cover (above). I received a free PDF version of the book a long time ago from Pill Hill Press. At the time, I asked fellow editor and avid spec fic reader Keanan Brand - no relation to Jack Brand! - to write a review back in 2010, which you can read on this blog here.

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Review of Jack Brand by John M. Whalen

Jack Brand by John M. Whalen
Review by Keanan Brand (no relation!)

(Note: After receiving a free PDF of this collection of short stories from Pill Hill Press, I asked fellow editor and avid spec fic reader Keanan Brand to write a review. Thanks, Keanan! - Lyn)
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Once an Army Ranger then a member of the Tulon Central Security Force, Jack Brand is now an independent contractor not averse to the occasional bounty hunt or good deed. He's also the title character in Jack Brand, a novel by John M. Whalen.

I first encountered the Jack Brand stories within the electronic pages of Ray Gun Revival, an online science fiction magazine devoted to space opera. However, there's as much or more Old West adventure as there is science fiction in these tales – although, to tell the truth, much of the Old West mythology is as operatic as anything in classical literature. But that's beside the point. Want a novel with kidnapping and double-cross, revenge and mystery, adventure and rescue, and maybe even a little heart? Then Jack Brand is your kind of read.

As a kid, I devoured books like this, and was a huge fan of Zane Grey (mom-approved), Louis L'Amour (marginally mom-approved), and Max Brand (not approved at all). There were other Western writers I read, but their names escape me. I do recall having to go search for my library books sometimes; Dad was a L'Amour fan as well. So, when I found the Jack Brand stories, it was little like finding childhood again.

But don't get me wrong: these aren't bedtime stories. If they were movies, I'd give them a PG-13 rating, mainly for violence. They form an episodic novel, and each chapter can be read as a stand-alone short story, but there's a through-line, an overarching plot, so reading the chapters in order is best. So how about a sample?

"Are you happy now, Mr. Brand?" Myra said. "Now you don't have to worry about not getting your full share of the reward. It's all yours...You just proved that you're no better than anybody else. All you want is money."

Brand stood up. If her little tirade bothered him, he didn't show it.

"We've four hours of daylight left...For what it's worth," Brand said, "I didn't know about the reward. And the reason I killed those three wasn't money. Dancer wanted to settle an old score. Even if I'd turned you over to them, they'd have tried to kill me anyway. And if they'd succeeded, they would have had to kill you, as a witness to murder. Your father made a mistake making that reward dead or alive. They wouldn't have had anything to lose if they killed you."

She didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure she believed anything he told her.

The answer to Myra's questions arrives in a dandy little reveal at the end of the first chapter, and it's the mystery that pushes Brand onward.

Chapter 2 ("Kiss Me Now, Kill Me Later") reminds me of an Indiana Jones adventure, complete with old friends with dodgy loyalties, and Chapter 3 ( "...In the Waste Howling Wilderness...", a reference to Deuteronomy 32:10) is a good weaving of faith with story, yet without being preachy or heavy-handed. Reminds me a little of the John Wayne classic Angel and the Bad Man, in that a dangerous man is taken in by a family after he is too wounded or ill to carry on. The family is part of a religious, pacifist sect that doesn't believe in violence of any kind, yet need Brand to rescue them from violent men.

Though vocabulary such as Synth-Veg bars (nutrition, Synth-Coke (cocaine), Synth-Brew (beer), and Synth-Turkey (lunchmeat) can be annoying after a while – does no one on Tulon eat anything that's real anymore? – and though I quickly wearied of all the capitalized hyphenates (Strato-Van, Strato-Sled, Hover-Jeep, Electro-Rifle, and more), some readers might argue that the proliferation of such words and names gives the novel its pulpy goodness.

In addition to the first three highlighted in this review, there are nine more chapters of Jack Brand's adventures with such titles as "The Eight Arms of Death" and "The Secret Treasure of Dar-Zul." Plenty of fun for readers who like their books the same way candy-eaters like their Reese's: a meeting of two good things. In this case, the Wild West and the wild reaches of outer space.

And, hey, Christmas is coming. Jack Brand would make a great gift for your favorite reader.