The sixteenth Doc Talos book is now available for preorder!
For those with long memories and a deep love of the character Pat Savage, one of the great treats of the original pulp run of Doc Savage magazine was the Jan-Feb 1948 issue featuring Pat, in a story called “I Died Yesterday”.
It is the only pulp story narrated by Pat herself, and she is, without a doubt, magnificent. But it’s a more world-weary magnificence…gone is the somewhat adolescent young woman who loves adventure; Pat has evolved into a character of considerable substance. A businesswoman in her thirties, she is still a hellraiser, but also perceptive and introspective. This personal growth, however, does not prevent her getting into no end of hair-raising trouble.
I reviewed the original pulp back in 2021, in a Forbidden Pulp blog post HERE.
One thing I note is that the story itself, aside from the delight of Pat’s narration, is pretty lightweight. There is an eco-terrorism plot that is not tremendously compelling…a character named Lucia who has occult leanings none of which lead to much.
So when the time came to re-imagine “I Died Yesterday” for the Doc Talos series, I narrowed and intensified that focus, placing Rickie, the Talos pastiche of Pat, right into a maelstrom of nonstop mayhem.
An erudite (if somewhat unhinged) occult scholar comes to the conclusion that Rickie embodies a goddess-figure from his beliefs…a “Scarlet Woman”. Almost immediately violence breaks out as the scholar (based on author Robert Graves) is attacked, and Rickie is targeted by the Church of Thelema (which was established by the deeply notorious Aleister Crowley). Crowley died in 1947, the year before the events of this tale, but Thelemic belief is being kept alive and well by his protégé Leah Hardwicke, who does not take kindly to Rickie’s arrival in the occultist landscape.
Rickie herself, completely uninterested in the occult, has no idea why these “loonies” have targeted her. In typical Rickie-style, she plunges into the mystery head on, and amid fierce outbursts of violence and eroticism, will find herself much changed.
Yesterday, by R. Paul Sardanas, is illustrated by dozens of eye-popping full color paintings by fine artist Iason Ragnar Bellerophon.
The book also includes a short story set in 1918 somewhat wryly depicting an encounter between Crowley and the head of the Gnostic Archons, the “archdemoness” Ruha…and wraps up with an in-depth look at the esoteric Gnostic Mass (all decorated with more stunning Bellerophon paintings.)
Yesterday will retail for $30 upon release July 15th, but readers preordering before that date can receive the book for $20, plus $5 US Postage (international postage will be calculated for you if applicable before purchase).
If you are interested in preordering Yesterday, or simply have questions about it or any Doc Talos book, please send an email to taloschronicle@gmail.com with your inquiry.
As it did in 1948 with Pat Savage, a wild ride awaits you in 2023 with the incomparable Rickie Talos!
Doc Talos 