''Darkworld Detective'' is a collection of

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

stories written by J. Michael Reaves, published as a

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

original by

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. The linked stories feature protagonist, a detective on the planet Ja-Lur. An authorized sequel, ''The Black Hole of Carcosa'', was written by John Shirley and published by

Pocket Books Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. History Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing in ...

in 1988.

*"The Big Spell" (reprinted from ''

Weird Heroes ''Weird Heroes'', subtitled "New American Pulp", was an American series of novels and anthologies produced by Byron Preiss in the 1970s that dealt with new heroic characters inspired by pulp magazine characters. The series was 'packaged' by ...

'' #8) *"The Maltese Vulcan" (reprinted from ''

'' #8) *"Murder on the Galactic Express" *"The Man with the Golden Raygun"

Reception

Writing in ''

F&SF ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiva ...

'',

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part o ...

described the volume as "dim but decent," faulting Reaves's narrative style as "about as close to

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Kai Lung Kai Lung () is a fictional character in a series of books by Ernest Bramah, consisting of ''The Wallet of Kai Lung'' (1900), ''Kai Lung's Golden Hours'' (1922), '' Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat'' (1928), '' The Moon of Much Gladness'' (1932; published i ...

is to

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

" but concluding that the stories are nevertheless "mostly straightforward fun."

References

External links

*{{isfdb title, id=7344, title=Darkworld Detective 1982 books 1982 short stories Novels by Michael Reaves

Contents

Reception

References

External links