When Doc Vandal's cousin is murdered with a bowl of poisonous fish soup, it's not long before Doc and the team are thrown on a collision course with the Air Pirates of Krakatoa!
After Vic escapes a deadly drone attack on the streets of New York City, all clues point to the coffee plantations of Java.
Doc and the team have to fight their way past the Air Pirates' deadly flying wing to get to the root of the mystery. It's a story of international conspiracies, giant robots, and colonial revolutionaries.
Can Doc escape the prison beneath Krakatoa? Who is Tigress? ...and what about Vic, trapped in the hold of a ship about to explode?
It's all in the second Doc Vandal adventure: Air Pirates of Krakatoa!
I’m Dave, and I write. I’m also a father, a reader, gamer, a comic fan, and a hockey fan.
Unfortunately, there is a problem with those terms; they don’t so much describe me as label me, and the map is not the territory. Calling me a father says nothing about my relationship with my daughter and how she thinks I’m silly. It ignores the essence of the relationship for convenience.
It’s the same with my love of books, comics, role-playing games, and hockey; labels only say what, not how or why. They miss all the good parts.
If you want more of a biography: I was born in the UK, grew up in Canada, and have spent time in the US. I’ve been freelancing for the last seven years. Before that, and in no particular order, I’ve managed a bookstore, worked in a pawnshop, been a telephone customer service rep, and even cleaned carpets for a living.
As a freelancer, I’ve done everything from simple web content, to ghostwritten novels. I’ve even written a course on trading forex online. I’ve also edited everything from whitepapers to a science fiction anthology.
If possible, I enjoyed Robinson's second offering in the Doc Vandal series even more than the first one. Despite their problematic elements, I've always had a soft spot for the stories of Ryder Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Doc Vandal series fills that void and surpasses those classic sci-fi adventures. There's something oddly endearing about Doc, clearly the most intelligent and probably genetically superior man in any room, who nevertheless doesn't have a clue about social interaction and is therefore prone to some very amusing and rather stupid gaffes. This story puts the intrepid Vic, expatriate Russian noble, front and centre as her quest for information leads her on a journey - both physically and emotionally - so much further than what she ever expected. There's a light and humorous touch of romance here that's very sweet without giving way to saccharine sentiment. And as it's Doc Vandal this book has all the twists, turns, Nazi experiments and sentient talking gorillas you could wish for. Fabulous fun series of novellas. Highly recommend.
Africa and the lost civilization of the Eldest Flame they had encountered and defeated was now in their recent past. They had defeated the ancient power and its plane to use zombies...and NAZI zombies at that...to attain its goals had been thrown down. Perhaps the most important thing to come from that struggle was the newest member of their crew, Kehla. But now, life has returned to a semblance of normality. But normal in the life of Doc Vandal can mean many things and the sudden death...murder...of one of Doc's family, sends the crew on a mission to southeast Asia where they must discover and defeat pirates, giant robots, and a conspiracy of that may span entire nations.
Book 2 of Dave Robinson's great take on the pulp adventure heroes such as Doc Savage, G-8, and so many others, steps up the action and intensity. The characters that he created and populated his first story with have grown and are finding even more of those traits that make them their own unique contributions to the journey. Robinson also has added a fun piece to the story as he includes short afterwords that discuss the technology, its roots in our science, and the modifications he uses to make it a part of the universe. He also adds a biographical piece about the characters and, in this case, "Who is Vic Frank?" that provides insight and background history to the central characters. In this case, the attention on Vic is doubly warranted as her growth and changes through the pages of this book are some key moments to the story and an part of the diversity of these tales that bring them to life.
New readers--- you will feel right at home jumping into this book if its the first of the Doc Vandal stories that you will read. The author does a superb job of providing sufficient background information that will allow you to fully understand the story and any story arc references from the first book...but...go read it...it was pretty cool!!!
Doc Vandal and his aides take on a super plane wreaking havoc in the Dutch East Indies. The plane is a martial version of Norman Bel Geddes' design for Arliner, No. 4, a truly spectacular example of Streamline Moderne design and an icon of retro-futurist imagination.
This adventure also introduces Lin Ming to the group. A medical doctor and practitioner of Chinese traditional medicine, she is also an amusingly efficient shrew who soon has Doc and his aides firmly under her thumb. And Vic gets romanced in a sweet plot strand.
Doc Vandal and his Crew are addictive In this second installment of the series the characters get a little more fleshed out but the villain isn't quite as threatening nor is the plot engaging as the first one was however the pace and delivery of the story is a page turner and this series delivers reading enjoyment for the action / adventure fan
Gripping engaging rollicking Steam Science good time. Do you want a fun read with interesting characters in a fun setting? Wish giant air ships, aliens and talking apes were in a book.