A few days back my friend Clare, over at the Scribblings blog, revived an old meme we did quite a while back.
The idea is – you are going for a wild night out.
What five literary characters are you taking along?
And I thought – why not?
Let’s do it again – but let’s tweak the rules a little bit, this time.
This is, after all, the Karavansara blog – we do adventure, the pulps, and the mysteries of the East.
Or something.
So…
I’m going for a wild night out?
What pulp/adventure characters will be my companions?
Sexton Blake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sexton Blake
No doubts here – the Famous Baker Street Detective (yes, ok, the other Famous Baker Street Detective) is the chap I want at my side as we go from one night-spot to the other.
He’s competent, opinionated, and can hold his ground should trouble arise.
And trouble should arise…
Thibault Corday
Straight out of the pages of The Argosy, the Bearded Sheherazad of the Legion will spin tales about our nightly escapades.
A man of the world, Corday is handy both in the heat of the battle and in the precious quiet of the barracks, he’ll be a hit with the ladies, thanks to his style and his inhexaustible stock of tales of derring-do.
And talking about the ladies…
Alas, classic pulp literature is not exactly crowded with heroines of the female persuasion.
So I hope nobody will be offended if I decide to take along on my nightly jaunt two new-pulp characters.
Gravedigger
There’s many fine ladies in Barry Reese‘s pulps.
And the list includes a certain evil Egyptian princess that had some influence on the development of an Aegyptian character of my own!
And yet, Charity Grace, a.k.a. Gravedigger, is the one I like the best.
She’s tough, smart, sexy, and proficient with blades and other sharp implements.
What better companion for a night on the town?
Athena Voltaire
A comics character, actually, but solidly in the pulp adventure tradition, Athena Voltaire’s more than a female take on Indiana Jones.
Scientis, adventuress, pilot, quite independent and pretty dangerous, she’d probably end up discussing ancient Sumerian curses with Sexton Blake, but that’s ok.
We’ll be happy to listen.
And that makes four – two men and two women… I’ll need another lady so that we are evenly matched.
Let’s see…
Yes, of course!
Becky Sharp
In her incarnation presented by the excellent and highly recommended “The Eldritch New Adventures of Backy Sharp”, by Micah S. Harris, in which the naughty, sharp-tongued and none too nice Becky comes toe-to-toe with no end of pulp goodness, including some assorted Yog-sothoteries.
And now, let’s see what the town has to offer in terms of night entertainment…
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