Steve Fisher - Satan's Faceless Henchmen

[dem bones]

From the sublime to a subdued prototype (mild bondage, no sex, whips or drooling over "magnificent globes") of what would soon become the shudder pulps.

Steve Fisher - Satan's Faceless Henchmen: Ace Mystery, May 1936). Reported dead when an inferno destroys their laboratory, three MAD SCIENTISTS, their faces hideously disfigured, embark on a career in extortion. At time of the catastrophe, Adler, Hopkins and Smith were perfecting a serum for returning monkey corpses to life. On human beings, the effects last an hour, which is usually long enough to convince the bereaved that, for a nominal voluntary donation, their loved one can be resurrected from the grave.

Our narrator is all set to marry Enid, the most wonderful woman in the world, etc., when her brother, Harry Spencer, dies suddenly. The scientists, operating as 'The Monks' (the cowls are affected purely to bring a sense of theatre to the enterprise should any passing speed pulpster wish to pen their diabolical exploits), body-snatch Harry and invite his relatives to their creepy old mansion in the mountains to watch him restored to life. The fee for their services is $250, 000. Delivered by midnight. Otherwise Harry Spencer will be killed again and dumped in a pit of quicklime ....

satansfacelessmen.pdf (128.66 KB)

Thanks to Munseys

[dem bones]

Steve Fisher - The Butcher of Hell: (Thrilling Detective, May, 1935): "His hands had been cut off, and the stumps that were his wrists had bled profusely and now were clogged with black-looking blobs of blood. Several deep slits had been cut down the officer's chest and blood had rushed out of them, but now it was stiff and hard and clung there gruesomely. The face was contorted horribly. The mouth was hanging open limply and his eyes were wide, staring like glass buttons out past Carpenter."

Someone aboard the U. S. S. Arizona is slicing the hands off veteran marines and crucifying what's left of them. Both victims to date were heroes, decorated after quelling a rebel uprising in Nicaragua. Lieutenant Carpenter, criminology expert of the U. S. Navy, swiftly deduces that this is clearly the work of a black menial workers, and suspicion falls on Lopez the chef, who is, indeed, guilty. But Carpenter - political correctness is not his forte - reckons Lopez is too moronic to have worked alone. Who was the criminal mastermind pulling his strings?

An abundance of bloodshed early on, but otherwise not much fun and Satan's Faceless Henchmen rule supreme.