Note from Doc Talos author/contest judge R. Paul Sardanas: Steve Donoso is a prominent figure in the pulp community, editor/founder of the new pulp journal,
The Shadowed Circle, the first ongoing publication about Walter Gibson’s iconic character in over two decades. Their Facebook page is:
Steve combines two classics in his story The Abduction: the world of Doc Savage (through the pastiche of Doc Talos), and the brilliant 1960’s TV series The Prisoner. What would happen if one of Doc’s men were kidnapped and taken to the Village? Time to find out…
Comment from author Steve Donoso: The Abduction came out of my wanting to write a story that combined two of my favorite series: Doc and Patrick McGoohan’s television series, The Prisoner. Within the story there are very brief nods to:
– Danger Man (titled Secret Agent in the U.S.), the espionage television series that McGoohan starred in prior to The Prisoner.
– Unearthed, the third story in William Preston’s series homage to Doc and Pulp Heroes.
– And another nod that I won’t mention because it would be a story spoiler
Many things were not completely spelled out in The Prisoner, some only hinted at, and I have tried to bring that sense of mysterious unknowing into this story as well. Why exactly was Tom abducted? Was it for information, an invention he was working on, his connection with Doc? What did his captors really want? These characters did not impart the answers to me, so I can’t really say for sure. The interpretation(s) are up to the reader. I have only ever written one other piece of fiction, which coincidentally involved the Street & Smith Doc series, and I enjoyed writing this second one. Thanks for reading it!
Steven Donoso is the author of Returning The Gift: Dialogues On Being At Peace Within Ourselves and the World, with Eckhart Tolle, et al., now in Paperback www.amazon.com/dp/0989902730 and e-book, as well as Unknown Skies: Leslie Kean and the Case for Rational UFO Investigations http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U6I9GGU
Additional note: If you are interested in submitting fiction to the Summer 2021 contest (first prize is a Bantam Doc Savage paperback Czar of Fear first edition, signed by James Bama, and all contestants will appear in a special souvenir paperback collection of the stories) you can read the contest guidelines HERE.
Doc Talos 