Product Description
The Devil Doctor is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Sax Rohmer is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Sax Rohmer then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Another Great Fu-Manchu Book!
This book also goes by the title of The Return of Fu-Manchu and I believe is the 2nd in the series.

I really enjoy Rohmer's work. He knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat and I would say he is one of the best English suspense/mystery writers of all time.

Yes, this book is a bit racist, but keep in mind it was also written a long time ago in a much different time in England. If you liked the original Fu-Manchu novel then you'll like this one as well.

Wildly racist, still interesting despite that.
"Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, ... one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present ... Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man."

This is the second volume in Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu series, and the first full novel; it may also be found alternatively titled as "The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu." (The first volume, if you wish to start at the beginning, is a collection of short stories, and can be found either titled "The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu" or "The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu"). Most of this review will apply to Rohmer's Fu Manchu series generally - skip to the last paragraph for comments on this particular volume.

These books are *wildly* racist, not just by modern standards, but even by standards contemporary to when it was written. The protagonist, "Nayland Smith," isn't just an Aryan, he has a name only one letter removed from Wayland Smith of Old Norse legend; every single villain in the entire series has a "racial cast", "mixed blood," etc.; Jewish characters aren't just money-grubbing villains, they literally shrug their shoulders "racially," whatever that means; so on, so forth. Later books in the series take this to an extreme; one entire book focuses on the protagonist's protection of a clear analogue of the contemporary Father Coughlin (an American radio preacher known for his antisemitism and defense of Hitler and Mussolini in the 30's),and this trend approaches the absurd when a later volume, published in 1939, finds Fu Manchu essentially trying to assassinate a Hitler analogue in order to prevent European war, while the protagonists attempt to stop him and save the dictator.

That said, if you're a fan of early twentieth century pulp fiction, you probably need to read these books despite that. Dr. Fu Manchu is an iconic character, referenced and alluded to throughout 20th century fiction, and a host of villains from James Bond's Dr. No to Ming the Merciless on down all draw inspiration from this source. The general environment of adventurism, mystical artifacts, bizarre murders, etc., has been hugely influential in its own right -- the Indiana Jones franchise, especially, owes a great deal to the Fu Manchu novels (although Lucas and Spielberg had the good sense to make sure Nazis were the *villains*).

The plots are standard pulp tropes, and the reader finds Fu Manchu committing murders via an assortment of (very definitely non-white) cats'-paws and bizarre eastern animals, meanwhile befuddling our protagonists in various ways with assorted exotic Eastern drugs. Usually there's a beautiful and mysterious Eastern woman beguiling and/or assisting our heroes in various ways, etc. Fu Manchu himself is always far more intelligent than the protagonists, and they only prevail through luck, the sometime assistance of the aforementioned Eastern beauty, the "inscrutability" of the Doctor's motives, or by playing on the Doctor's "strange oriental honor."Conversely, when the author manages to write the Doctor into a corner, he just gets out of it via unexplained mysterious powers (essentially "a wizard did it").

The overall effect of the Doctor's repeated demonstrations of intelligence, honor, capability, etc., combined with the protagonists' ineptitude and wild racism, is somewhat unique in my reading experience: over the course of the series the Doctor becomes more and more and more sympathetic and respectable, and the protagonists less and less so, to the point that I think a modern reader can legitimately view the Doctor as the "hero" in the later books (especially the aforesaid one involving the Hitler analogue).

This particular volume isn't my favorite in the series; the events in it are fairly repetitive and predictable, without the wildly over-the-top silliness of the later books in the series; my favorite moment probably comes when the Doctor taunts the protagonists for yet again falling into the exact same trap they've fallen into twice before. Still, it's an interesting read, both as a cultural artifact of 1920's racism and as a building block of 20th century pulp fiction, and worth reading as part of the overall series. ... Read more

Product Description
The Orchard of Tears is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Sax Rohmer is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Sax Rohmer then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Subjects: Detective and mystery storiesNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Classic Rohmer
I have always enjoyed Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu books - I have them all - but I had never read his other books before. The old-fashioned style in The Golden Scorpion can be a bit offputting until you get used to it, and the racial stereotyping is certainly jarring to modern sensibilities (and would probably be offensive for some). But if you view it as a product of the time and accept that such views were typical then, it is a very exciting story. No one writes like this anymore -- exciting, with clear-cut good and evil, fast-paced, with characters who are larger than life. Good stuff!

Classic "Yellow Peril"
"... a needle-like ray of blue light shot across the lawn from beyond the hedge and-- but for that nervous start-- must have struck fully upon the back of Stuart's skull. Instead, it shone past his head, which it missed only by inches, and he experienced a sensation as though some one had buffeted him upon the cheek furiously. He pitched out of his chair and on to the carpet. The first object which the ray touched was the telephone; and next, beyond it, a medical dictionary; beyond that again, the grate, in which a fire was laid... An intense crackling sound deafened him, and the air of the room seemed to have become hot as that of an oven. There came a series of dull reports-- an uncanny wailing... and the needle-ray vanished. A monstrous shadow, moon-cast,, which had lain across the carpet of the lawn-- the shadow of a cowled man-- vanished also. ...There was smoke in the room, a smell of burning and of fused metal. He glared at the table madly. The mouthpiece of the telephone had vanished!" A pretty impressive weapon and near assassination! Especially since the scene was first published in 1920 in Sax Rohmer's thriller, The Golden Scorpion. Sadly, book store shelves today (even the shelves of rare and used book stores) are nearly devoid of works by Sax Rohmer (given name: Arthur S. Ward). The few titles by Rohmer which come and go in and out of print are those having to do with his most famous character-- the insidious Doctor Fu Manchu (portrayed variously in films by Boris Karloff in the 1930's and Christopher Lee in the 1960's) and his nemesis, the London detective, Nayland Smith, bearing a striking resemblance to Conan Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes. Much is the pity that more of Rohmer's work isn't readily available to readers today. For the literary worlds of Sax Rohmer are filled with intrigue, fast-paced action and suspense, and, alas, a good deal of what would be termed political incorrectness today. For many of Rohmer's greatest villains, like Dr. Fu Manchu, are Chinese masterminds, ready to claim possession of the world during a time when Europeans and Americans, alike, worried about the rising influence of China and the "Yellow Peril." In The Golden Scorpion Europe's top scientists are suddenly falling dead of no apparent cause and French detective Gaston Max, master of disguise, languages, and intellect (surely a close cousin to Mr. Holmes as well as Poe's A. Dupin) believes the deaths are actually murder-- murder which he traces to "The Scorpion" a Chinese genius whose identity has always remained concealed behind a cloud of fear. Dr. Keppel Stuart becomes a target of"The Scorpion" due to his knowledge of exotic poisons and falls under the charm of the beautiful Asian woman variously known as Mlle. Dorian, Zara el-Khala, and Miska, whose "smile was the taunting smile of the East, which is at once a caress and an invitation." But as Gaston Max closes in, we learn that Miska's is a dreadful life-- for she is an unwilling agent of "The Scorpion" who, Miska confesses, "is the most dangerous being in the known world. He has invented horrible things-- poisons and instruments, which I cannot describe because I have never seen them; but I have seen... some of their effects." Nor has she seen "The Feast of a Thousand Ants," another one of The Scorpion's playful devices which "is performed with the aid of African driver ants, a pair of surgical scissors and a pot honey" which can strip the flesh off of a living man in sixty-nine minutes! And who is "The Scorpion ? "The new-comer wore a cowled garment of some dark blue material which enveloped him from head to feet. It possessed oval eye-holes, and through these apertures gleamed two eyes which looked scarcely like the eyes of a human being. They were of that brilliant yellow colour sometimes seen in the eyes of tigers, and their most marked and awful peculiarity was their unblinking regard. They seemed always to be open to their fullest extent, and Stuart realized with anger that it was impossible to sustain for long the piercing unmoved gaze... for he knew he was in the presence of `The Scorpion' The Golden Scorpion stands among Rohmer's finest suspense tales outside of the Fu Manchu series. The story drives frantically to the awesome climax and will transport readers back in time to a simpler era where the greatest threat to the world is a mad Chinese mastermind whose weapons are death rays and poisons, whose eyes have the power to mesmerize (like Chandu the Magician-- a famous pulp-fiction character and later a movie serial which Rohmer gives a tip of the hat to in The Golden Scorpion), and who, like many a mortal, is flawed when it comes to beauty and love. Those were the days. ... Read more

Product Description
The Quest of the Sacred Slipper is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Sax Rohmer is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Sax Rohmer then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

not a bad read
I really love free Kindle books and have downloaded several from this author, Sax Romer. He lived from 1883 to 1959 and his books I have read so far are set in the late 19th century or early 20th. The language is a little stilted, like the Sherlock Holmes books, but the mysteries are interesting and I enjoying trying to solve them and always being wrong.

This particular story was very interesting because the item involved is a slipper reportedly worn by Muhammad. A fanatical group devoted to protecting this relic is determined to return it to its rightful location, and the hero gets caught in the middle trying to protect it for a museum. Lots of adventure and mystery.

I noticed in the tag suggestions that "erotica" is included--that has to be an error. The women are very chaste and a smile is about as flirtatious as things get. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Juvenile Fiction / People ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Very good
Sax Rohmer was the pseudonym of British author Arthur Sarsfield Wade. He was interested in Ancient Egypt, the Orient, and the occult which showed through his novels. His best known character is probably Fu Manchu who was an aristocratic Chinese criminal and genius. He wrote The Sins of Severac Bablon in 1912, the year before The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu. The Sins of Severac Bablon has a Jewish main character who gives detectives a good run for the money. You have a backdrop set with the infamous Scotland Yard. His "sins" were the blackmail, robbery, and kidnap he uses to force the rich to donate huge sums to good causes. Bablon is determined to make peoples impressions of the Jews improve by making them have generosity. He establishes a sway over the group of Jewish financiers who control the economies in Europe. And he avoids the war which is brewing by forcing them to refuse the loan which certain countries are trying to raise in order to launch an attack on Britain.

The book is well written and the manner of descriptions and use of wording makes the book an excellent read. You get a new spin on the Robin Hood genre with Severac and find that he is just as easy to love. His efforts, although illegal, did aid in helping the people. It's entertaining and mysterious.

Interesting mystery
It was a nice read. The quality of the prose was very good and impressed me more than the story; which was okay. I liked it enough that I got two more Sax Rohmer ebooks. I read a lot but somehow I missed Fu Manchu so wasn't familiar with the author.

Severac Bablon
An interesting book by Rohmer and different from many of his later books.Good read with a nice message.Look out Robin Hood!Good turnaround.

I loved the hero and the whole concept...
I loved this book. I'd heard about it from a friend who's a fan of the Fu Manchu books. I enjoy mysteries, so I bought the book and ended up not being able to put it down. It was an excellent read.

I loved the hero and the whole concept of a modern day Robin Hood giving Scotland Yard a run for their money. The entire story was just as brilliant as the concept. It's a wonderful mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end, even if you're a seasoned mystery fan with a talent for figuring the ending out beforehand.
This one kept me on the edge of my seat and had me cheering for the outlaw rather than the detectives at Scotland Yard. For me it's hard to see Robin Hood types as bad guys even though they're on the wrong side of the law. They do more for the poor and the oppressed than the law enforcement authorities do in my opinion.
I highly recommend this book. It's a very well done mystery and quite unique. The author is a very talented writer with original ideas and excellent form. His writing just flows. I really love his style and would like to read more of his works now that I've read this one.

A Jewish Robin Hood?
I really enjoyed this book. I love anything in the Robin Hood vein. It's a legend I've loved since I was a boy. Rohmer adds an interesting twist by making this Robin Hood Jewish. Some people are opposed to the idea thinking it will give rise to anti-Semitic sentiment, though I'm not sure why. Who doesn't love Robin Hood? And why wouldn't people love a Jewish Robin Hood just as much? I certainly did.

Rohmer successfully gives us yet another clever foil who is able to keep Scotland Yard completely baffled. He is a brilliant writer of the mystery genre, and his talent shines through in this book. Usually his foil is a villain, but in this book he gives us a hero we can all root for.
This is an exciting and excellently paced read full of action and intrigue. I would expect no less from the author of the world famous Fu Manchu series. Rohmer is at the top of his game on this one as well.

If you love mysteries and enjoy a hero whose antics are brilliant, I believe you will love this book as much as I did. I strongly recommend it.
... Read more

Product Description
"It seems to be pretty certain," he said, "that this thing is the wing of a Desmodus or Vampire Bat. Now, according to our authority"--he touched a work which lay open on the other arm of his chair--"these are natives of tropical America, therefore the presence of a living vampire bat in Surrey is not to be anticipated. I am personally satisfied, however, that this unpleasant fragment has been preserved in some way." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very good mystery
This is the first book I've read by Rohmer, and it's a good one. It's about a Spaniard living in Britain who thinks he's the victim of a voodoo curse. Most of it takes place on an English country estate, so there's nothing in the way of adventure, but Rohmer did a great job of setting up the mystery and having his protagonist solve it. I found the middle of the book to be rather drawn-out and uninteresting, but other than that this is a very nice story for mystery fans.

Early 20th century sensation novel
There's a lot more to Sax Rohmer than his Fu Manchu novels. Some years back, I bought a cache of Rohmer's books published by A.L. Burt in the teens and twenties, some from the Fu Manchu series, but others with delightfully lurid titles such as The Golden Scorpion, The Green Eyes of Bast, and The Dream Detective, the latter featuring the wondrous Moris Klaw, a blind detective with extra-sensory powers.

From time to time I dip into this reservoir for a completely escapist read. These novels, despite being dated and notoriously full of racial stereotypes, fairly pop off the page. Rohmer knew how to spin a yarn, and Bat Wing is no exception. The tale involves a haughty Spanish colonel and a secret too dark, too deep, to divulge. Rohmer's detective hero, Paul Harvey, is in the mold of Sherlock Holmes, and of course he has a trusted friend who doubles as the narrator much as Dr. Watson does. Together they unravel the sinister mystery, encountering voodoo rites, vampire bats, an Edgar Allen Poe-esque writer, and other fantastic developments en route to the sensational ending. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Action ... Read more

Product Description
Brood of the Witch-Queen is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Sax Rohmer is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Sax Rohmer then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

loved it
I had not read this author before but the description looked interesting.I LOVED THIS BOOKI enjoy history, particularly ancient, archeology and middle eastern history.This fit the bill, it kept my interest and kept me guessing where it was going.Although I figured who was the bad guy, the ending was a surprise.I just downloaded several more of his books because I enjoyed this one so much.

Good Read
I thought it was a good book. Of course it was dated, but it had parts that are timeless. There was alot of mystery and intrigue. Simply put, it was a quick easy read that I enjoyed.

weird book
this book is real weird and short it takes like a half an hour to read plus it is kind of hard to read i do not recomend it unless u r like 6

I put a spell on you
Who is Antony Ferrara?
Get ready for a great read. Sax Rohmer makes the unnatural and supernatural too natural. As we try to discover who Antony Ferrara is before his unique talents dispatch us. The Book is like a Hollywood Cliffhanger. Jest as soon as we have Antony boxed in literally and figuratively he escapes to create more havoc.Fantastical magical beings and evils appear everywhere. However, are they really imagination or a form of hypnosis? No, they are real and if you look up the books and other materials, in this story, you will realize that Sax Rohmer is writing of places he has been and books he has read not fantasies.He writes so well that you feel that you are there or at least watching a movie. Speaking of movies how did this one get away.
The story ends too soon and very abruptly.

I had the kindle version and the only annoying thing is periodically the is a number in a bracket on the page as [32] and the text-to-speak reads it.

Collectanea Hermetica

Practical Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing

Brood of the Witch Queen
Not scary. Ended. Just ended as if he didn't know how to pull it together. ... Read more

Product Description
A classic dime thriller by the Sax Rohmer, the legendary author of 20th century novels of suspense, crime and the supernatural.The works of Sax Rohmer inspired a generation of writers and filmmakers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Classic Rohmer
I have always enjoyed Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu books - I have them all - but I had never read his other books before. The old-fashioned style in The Golden Scorpion can be a bit offputting until you get used to it, and the racial stereotyping is certainly jarring to modern sensibilities (and would probably be offensive for some). But if you view it as a product of the time and accept that such views were typical then, it is a very exciting story. No one writes like this anymore -- exciting, with clear-cut good and evil, fast-paced, with characters who are larger than life. Good stuff!

Classic "Yellow Peril"
"... a needle-like ray of blue light shot across the lawn from beyond the hedge and-- but for that nervous start-- must have struck fully upon the back of Stuart's skull. Instead, it shone past his head, which it missed only by inches, and he experienced a sensation as though some one had buffeted him upon the cheek furiously. He pitched out of his chair and on to the carpet. The first object which the ray touched was the telephone; and next, beyond it, a medical dictionary; beyond that again, the grate, in which a fire was laid... An intense crackling sound deafened him, and the air of the room seemed to have become hot as that of an oven. There came a series of dull reports-- an uncanny wailing... and the needle-ray vanished. A monstrous shadow, moon-cast,, which had lain across the carpet of the lawn-- the shadow of a cowled man-- vanished also. ...There was smoke in the room, a smell of burning and of fused metal. He glared at the table madly. The mouthpiece of the telephone had vanished!" A pretty impressive weapon and near assassination! Especially since the scene was first published in 1920 in Sax Rohmer's thriller, The Golden Scorpion. Sadly, book store shelves today (even the shelves of rare and used book stores) are nearly devoid of works by Sax Rohmer (given name: Arthur S. Ward). The few titles by Rohmer which come and go in and out of print are those having to do with his most famous character-- the insidious Doctor Fu Manchu (portrayed variously in films by Boris Karloff in the 1930's and Christopher Lee in the 1960's) and his nemesis, the London detective, Nayland Smith, bearing a striking resemblance to Conan Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes. Much is the pity that more of Rohmer's work isn't readily available to readers today. For the literary worlds of Sax Rohmer are filled with intrigue, fast-paced action and suspense, and, alas, a good deal of what would be termed political incorrectness today. For many of Rohmer's greatest villains, like Dr. Fu Manchu, are Chinese masterminds, ready to claim possession of the world during a time when Europeans and Americans, alike, worried about the rising influence of China and the "Yellow Peril." In The Golden Scorpion Europe's top scientists are suddenly falling dead of no apparent cause and French detective Gaston Max, master of disguise, languages, and intellect (surely a close cousin to Mr. Holmes as well as Poe's A. Dupin) believes the deaths are actually murder-- murder which he traces to "The Scorpion" a Chinese genius whose identity has always remained concealed behind a cloud of fear. Dr. Keppel Stuart becomes a target of"The Scorpion" due to his knowledge of exotic poisons and falls under the charm of the beautiful Asian woman variously known as Mlle. Dorian, Zara el-Khala, and Miska, whose "smile was the taunting smile of the East, which is at once a caress and an invitation." But as Gaston Max closes in, we learn that Miska's is a dreadful life-- for she is an unwilling agent of "The Scorpion" who, Miska confesses, "is the most dangerous being in the known world. He has invented horrible things-- poisons and instruments, which I cannot describe because I have never seen them; but I have seen... some of their effects." Nor has she seen "The Feast of a Thousand Ants," another one of The Scorpion's playful devices which "is performed with the aid of African driver ants, a pair of surgical scissors and a pot honey" which can strip the flesh off of a living man in sixty-nine minutes! And who is "The Scorpion ? "The new-comer wore a cowled garment of some dark blue material which enveloped him from head to feet. It possessed oval eye-holes, and through these apertures gleamed two eyes which looked scarcely like the eyes of a human being. They were of that brilliant yellow colour sometimes seen in the eyes of tigers, and their most marked and awful peculiarity was their unblinking regard. They seemed always to be open to their fullest extent, and Stuart realized with anger that it was impossible to sustain for long the piercing unmoved gaze... for he knew he was in the presence of `The Scorpion' The Golden Scorpion stands among Rohmer's finest suspense tales outside of the Fu Manchu series. The story drives frantically to the awesome climax and will transport readers back in time to a simpler era where the greatest threat to the world is a mad Chinese mastermind whose weapons are death rays and poisons, whose eyes have the power to mesmerize (like Chandu the Magician-- a famous pulp-fiction character and later a movie serial which Rohmer gives a tip of the hat to in The Golden Scorpion), and who, like many a mortal, is flawed when it comes to beauty and love. Those were the days. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I Love Sax Rohmer!
I might be a bit biased in my review because I absolutely love Sax Rohmer!

I found this book to be just as enjoyable as his Fu-Manchu books (but Brood of the Witch Queen is still my favorite).

As mentioned earlier, make sure you check out the edition you are buying (this goes for all classic books).

I am reviewing a Kindle version of the book (ASIN: B003YUC894)

Check the edition and publisher carefully before you buy...
Sax Rohmer's books are great, enjoyed them a lot when I was a kid. However, when you're buying, check the edition and publisher carefully before you close the deal. The version of "Fire-Tongue" published by General Books LLC is a poor quality, automated reproduction with no index, no illustrations and quite a number of typos. The "Look Inside" is for another publisher's imprint of the book, which is a prfessionally edited version, unlike the General Books LLC version.

To quote here and there from the publishers web site, which I took a look at:
"We created your book using OCR software that includes an automated spell check. Our OCR software is 99 percent accurate if the book is in good condition. However, with up to 3,500 characters per page, even one percent can be an annoying number of typos....... After we re-typeset and designed your book, the page numbers change so the old index and table of contents no longer work. Therefore, we usually remove them. Since many of our books only sell a couple of copies, manually creating a new index and table of contents could add more than a hundred dollars to the cover price....

....Our OCR software can't distinguish between an illustration and a smudge or library stamp so it ignores everything except type. We would really like to manually scan and add the illustrations. But many of our books only sell a couple of copies....

....We created your book using a robot who turned and photographed each page. Our robot is 99 percent accurate. But sometimes two pages stick together. And sometimes a page may even be missing from our copy of the book. We would really like to manually scan each page and buy multiple copies of each original. But many of our books only sell a couple of copies....."

You get the general idea by now. Unfortunately, these low quality reproductions (450,000 listed under General Books LLC) have the reviews associated with the original or with better quality imprints associated with them. The product description is totally misleading for the buyer that's not aware of this publisher.

IMHO this is unethical marketing. Anyways, your decision. But at least you know more about General Books LLC (also, be aware that there are quite a number of publishers now doing this - so if you're buying an older book, it really pays to check the publisher carefully - and quite often, a hint that all is not what it seems is the cover - these el cheapo scam publishers usually don't bother with book cover art related to the actual content).

Sax Rohmer mystery
I'm not familiar with Sax Rohmer (Fu Manchu never attracted me) but I recently read one of his ebooks and liked it enough I thought I would try another. He is a very good wordsmith but the story was a little hard for me to get into. I'd try another one though.

Not his best work, in several ways
I read this after having burned through a number of other Sax Rohmer ebooks, and it wasn't my favorite at all; I much preferred his Fu Manchu novels.

The story is standard pulp fare -- detective, mysterious murder, dark secrets, enigmatic villain, beautiful ingenue, etc. So far, so good. Like other Rohmer books, there are some elements which presage the Indiana Jones movies (especially, here, Temple of Doom).

This particular pulp potboiler has several problems, though.

1) The writing is comically bad. The keynote might have been when the protagonist declares this the "biggest case of my career" when we have literally no idea who the villain might be, but there were many other sharp contenders (an honorable mention must go, for example, to "You are out after one of the big heads of the crook world").

2) the plotting is painfully predictable. When an elderly man visits the protagonist, announces he thinks people are trying to kill him, begs for assistance, and then decides to tell Our Hero about it all later that day, over dinner, instead of, you know, right then in his office like he came there to do. . .yeah. We all know about how long that guy's going to live (exactly long enough to choke out an Enigmatic Phrase over the soup). By itself, that kind of thing wouldn't be so bad, but, well, there's another problem:

3) The misogyny and racism. The best example of this work's misogyny might be this two-line exchange between the protagonist and the ingenue: ""Why do you insist on treating me like a child?"/"Perhaps because I enjoy doing so".The real kicker, though, is the books' casual racism; lines like "The manicurist incident indicated an inherent cruelty only possible in one of the Oriental race" are all too common, and whenever the heroes take an oath it's "on [their] honor as a white man," etc. On the one single occasion where a caucasian does something reprehensible, the narrator takes care to note "the prominence of upper jaw singularly reminiscent of the primitive Briton . . . utter stupidity and dogged courage are the outstanding characteristics of this type."

It's possible to defend that sort of thing by saying Rohmer was a creature of his era, but even at the time he was writing, Rohmer was decried for the rampant racism in his books; one of the later Fu Manchu novels, published shortly before WW2, features the protagonists attempting to save a Hitler analogue and thereby foil Fu Manchu's plot to prevent a world race war.

Regardless, though, for a modern reader, this kind of thing is fairly painful to read. In his Fu Manchu novels, it's worth working past the racism just to read the iconic descriptions of the Fu Manchu character. Here, though . . . well, there's no Fu Manchu here, and without that iconic character, what's left is just racist pulp. Skip this one, and grab the Fu Manchu series instead.

Better Than His Fu Manchu Stories
Written early in his career, Fire-Tongue is one of Rohmer's best and, in this reviewer's opinion, even better than his Fu Manchu series. Though this story is the sequel to Bat Wing, it is not necessary to have read the earlier book to enjoy the story and characters in Fire Tongue.

The story contains several characters: Paul Harley, an independent investigator; Nicol Brinn, a renowned world adventurer, and Philomena Abingdon, an English beauty whose father dies under mysterious circumstances.

This pulp mystery combines them and several other characters into the strange world of Fire-Tongue that may be the name of a cult, the name of a prophesied Zoroastrian god-messiah, or simply a cold-blooded assassin.

Or maybe all three.

In spite of its abrupt ending and its glossing over of some dramatic moments that this reviewer believes Rohmer should have embellished, Fire-Tongue is well worth the time if you like pulp mysteries. However, be aware that the racist and sexist overtones, common for the day in which the novel was written, may be offensive to some. ... Read more

Product Description
A classic dime thriller by the Sax Rohmer, the legendary author of 20th century novels of suspense, crime and the supernatural.The works of Sax Rohmer inspired a generation of writers and filmmakers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I Love Sax Rohmer!
I might be a bit biased in my review because I absolutely love Sax Rohmer!

I found this book to be just as enjoyable as his Fu-Manchu books (but Brood of the Witch Queen is still my favorite).

As mentioned earlier, make sure you check out the edition you are buying (this goes for all classic books).

I am reviewing a Kindle version of the book (ASIN: B003YUC894)

Check the edition and publisher carefully before you buy...
Sax Rohmer's books are great, enjoyed them a lot when I was a kid. However, when you're buying, check the edition and publisher carefully before you close the deal. The version of "Fire-Tongue" published by General Books LLC is a poor quality, automated reproduction with no index, no illustrations and quite a number of typos. The "Look Inside" is for another publisher's imprint of the book, which is a prfessionally edited version, unlike the General Books LLC version.

To quote here and there from the publishers web site, which I took a look at:
"We created your book using OCR software that includes an automated spell check. Our OCR software is 99 percent accurate if the book is in good condition. However, with up to 3,500 characters per page, even one percent can be an annoying number of typos....... After we re-typeset and designed your book, the page numbers change so the old index and table of contents no longer work. Therefore, we usually remove them. Since many of our books only sell a couple of copies, manually creating a new index and table of contents could add more than a hundred dollars to the cover price....

....Our OCR software can't distinguish between an illustration and a smudge or library stamp so it ignores everything except type. We would really like to manually scan and add the illustrations. But many of our books only sell a couple of copies....

....We created your book using a robot who turned and photographed each page. Our robot is 99 percent accurate. But sometimes two pages stick together. And sometimes a page may even be missing from our copy of the book. We would really like to manually scan each page and buy multiple copies of each original. But many of our books only sell a couple of copies....."

You get the general idea by now. Unfortunately, these low quality reproductions (450,000 listed under General Books LLC) have the reviews associated with the original or with better quality imprints associated with them. The product description is totally misleading for the buyer that's not aware of this publisher.

IMHO this is unethical marketing. Anyways, your decision. But at least you know more about General Books LLC (also, be aware that there are quite a number of publishers now doing this - so if you're buying an older book, it really pays to check the publisher carefully - and quite often, a hint that all is not what it seems is the cover - these el cheapo scam publishers usually don't bother with book cover art related to the actual content).

Sax Rohmer mystery
I'm not familiar with Sax Rohmer (Fu Manchu never attracted me) but I recently read one of his ebooks and liked it enough I thought I would try another. He is a very good wordsmith but the story was a little hard for me to get into. I'd try another one though.

Not his best work, in several ways
I read this after having burned through a number of other Sax Rohmer ebooks, and it wasn't my favorite at all; I much preferred his Fu Manchu novels.

The story is standard pulp fare -- detective, mysterious murder, dark secrets, enigmatic villain, beautiful ingenue, etc. So far, so good. Like other Rohmer books, there are some elements which presage the Indiana Jones movies (especially, here, Temple of Doom).

This particular pulp potboiler has several problems, though.

1) The writing is comically bad. The keynote might have been when the protagonist declares this the "biggest case of my career" when we have literally no idea who the villain might be, but there were many other sharp contenders (an honorable mention must go, for example, to "You are out after one of the big heads of the crook world").

2) the plotting is painfully predictable. When an elderly man visits the protagonist, announces he thinks people are trying to kill him, begs for assistance, and then decides to tell Our Hero about it all later that day, over dinner, instead of, you know, right then in his office like he came there to do. . .yeah. We all know about how long that guy's going to live (exactly long enough to choke out an Enigmatic Phrase over the soup). By itself, that kind of thing wouldn't be so bad, but, well, there's another problem:

3) The misogyny and racism. The best example of this work's misogyny might be this two-line exchange between the protagonist and the ingenue: ""Why do you insist on treating me like a child?"/"Perhaps because I enjoy doing so".The real kicker, though, is the books' casual racism; lines like "The manicurist incident indicated an inherent cruelty only possible in one of the Oriental race" are all too common, and whenever the heroes take an oath it's "on [their] honor as a white man," etc. On the one single occasion where a caucasian does something reprehensible, the narrator takes care to note "the prominence of upper jaw singularly reminiscent of the primitive Briton . . . utter stupidity and dogged courage are the outstanding characteristics of this type."

It's possible to defend that sort of thing by saying Rohmer was a creature of his era, but even at the time he was writing, Rohmer was decried for the rampant racism in his books; one of the later Fu Manchu novels, published shortly before WW2, features the protagonists attempting to save a Hitler analogue and thereby foil Fu Manchu's plot to prevent a world race war.

Regardless, though, for a modern reader, this kind of thing is fairly painful to read. In his Fu Manchu novels, it's worth working past the racism just to read the iconic descriptions of the Fu Manchu character. Here, though . . . well, there's no Fu Manchu here, and without that iconic character, what's left is just racist pulp. Skip this one, and grab the Fu Manchu series instead.

Better Than His Fu Manchu Stories
Written early in his career, Fire-Tongue is one of Rohmer's best and, in this reviewer's opinion, even better than his Fu Manchu series. Though this story is the sequel to Bat Wing, it is not necessary to have read the earlier book to enjoy the story and characters in Fire Tongue.

The story contains several characters: Paul Harley, an independent investigator; Nicol Brinn, a renowned world adventurer, and Philomena Abingdon, an English beauty whose father dies under mysterious circumstances.

This pulp mystery combines them and several other characters into the strange world of Fire-Tongue that may be the name of a cult, the name of a prophesied Zoroastrian god-messiah, or simply a cold-blooded assassin.

Or maybe all three.

In spite of its abrupt ending and its glossing over of some dramatic moments that this reviewer believes Rohmer should have embellished, Fire-Tongue is well worth the time if you like pulp mysteries. However, be aware that the racist and sexist overtones, common for the day in which the novel was written, may be offensive to some. ... Read more

Product Description
A classic dime thriller by Sax Rohmer, the legendary author of 20th century novels of suspense, crime and the supernatural.The works of Sax Rohmer inspired a generation of writers and filmmakers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

not a bad read
I really love free Kindle books and have downloaded several from this author, Sax Romer. He lived from 1883 to 1959 and his books I have read so far are set in the late 19th century or early 20th. The language is a little stilted, like the Sherlock Holmes books, but the mysteries are interesting and I enjoying trying to solve them and always being wrong.

This particular story was very interesting because the item involved is a slipper reportedly worn by Muhammad. A fanatical group devoted to protecting this relic is determined to return it to its rightful location, and the hero gets caught in the middle trying to protect it for a museum. Lots of adventure and mystery.

I noticed in the tag suggestions that "erotica" is included--that has to be an error. The women are very chaste and a smile is about as flirtatious as things get. ... Read more

Product Description
Sax Rohmer, master writer of stories of mystery and horror, adds to his already notable group of scoundrels and heroes, which includes the unforgettable Dr. Fu Manchu, a striking and colorful new character- Bimbashi Baruk, of the renowned Camel Corps in Africa. Born of an Arab sheik and an English mother, this tall, slender, swarthy, taciturn man was singled out by the British Military Intelligence for his uncanny power of scenting crime and bringing the criminal into the open.The scene of the book is England and the Near East, particularly Syria, Persia, Egypt, and Afghanistan, with their crowded, labyrinthine and treacherous thoroughfares, which Sax Rohmer knows so well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unique Sax Rohmer Tales
As a fan of Rohmer's writings, this was a pleasant discovery.Though we often associate Rohmer's works with the era of the 1920-30's, these are well written little gems from the WW2 era.Pitting perhaps Rohmer's most interesting hero since Nayland Smith in the person of secret agent Bimbashi Baruk, of Anglo-Arab parentage who possesses some psychic abilities to aid his endeavors.His efforts on behalf of the allied forces take him from England, Egypt to Afghanistan and all areas in between in combating & thwarting nefarious Axis plans.

My only complaint is the cover art & the misspelling of Egypt.Black Mask publishers need better artists and editors!Unique & enjoyable stories from the master of villainy.Recommended for all Rohmer devotees. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Pictures missing, loses some plot
I'm enjoying this book, but the lack of illustrations is a problem.For example, at one point a man is looking through a stack of cards he's picked up.The text says something like
"Then he saw a card that said this:

'It can't be!' he cried."

I don't know what he's reacting to, because the picture of the card is missing.

The story is well worth a read, I think, but find a copy with the illustrations! ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wildly racist, yet still interesting
"Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present, with all the resources, if you will, of a wealthy government--which, however, already has denied all knowledge of his existence. Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man."

This is the first volume in Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu series, more a collection of short stories than an integrated novel; it may be found alternatively titled as "The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu."Most of this review will apply to Rohmer's Fu Manchu series generally - skip to the last paragraph for comments on this particular volume.

These books are *wildly* racist, not just by modern standards, but even by standards contemporary to when it was written. The protagonist, "Nayland Smith," isn't just an Aryan, he has a name only one letter removed from Wayland Smith of Old Norse legend; every single villain in the entire series has a "racial cast", "mixed blood," etc.; Jewish characters aren't just money-grubbing villains, they literally shrug their shoulders "racially," whatever that means; so on, so forth. Later books in the series take this to an extreme; one entire book focuses on the protagonist's protection of a clear analogue of the contemporary Father Coughlin (an American radio preacher known for his antisemitism and defense of Hitler and Mussolini in the 30's),and this trend approaches the absurd when a later volume, published in 1939, finds Fu Manchu essentially trying to assassinate a Hitler analogue in order to prevent European war, while the protagonists attempt to stop him and save the dictator.

That said, if you're a fan of early twentieth century pulp fiction, you probably need to read these books despite that. Dr. Fu Manchu is an iconic character, referenced and alluded to throughout 20th century fiction, and a host of villains from James Bond's Dr. No to Ming the Merciless on down all draw inspiration from this source. The general environment of adventurism, mystical artifacts, bizarre murders, etc., has been hugely influential in its own right -- the Indiana Jones franchise, especially, owes a great deal to the Fu Manchu novels (although Lucas and Spielberg had the good sense to make sure Nazis were the *villains*).

The plots are standard pulp tropes, and the reader finds Fu Manchu committing murders via an assortment of (very definitely non-white) cats'-paws and bizarre eastern animals, meanwhile befuddling our protagonists in various ways with assorted exotic Eastern drugs. Usually there's a beautiful and mysterious Eastern woman beguiling and/or assisting our heroes in various ways, etc. Fu Manchu himself is always far more intelligent than the protagonists, and they only prevail through luck, the sometime assistance of the aforementioned Eastern beauty, the "inscrutability" of the Doctor's motives, or by playing on the Doctor's "strange oriental honor." Conversely, when the author manages to write the Doctor into a corner, he just gets out of it via unexplained mysterious powers (essentially "a wizard did it").

The overall effect of the Doctor's repeated demonstrations of intelligence, honor, capability, etc., combined with the protagonists' ineptitude and wild racism, is somewhat unique in my reading experience: over the course of the series the Doctor becomes more and more and more sympathetic and respectable, and the protagonists less and less so, to the point that I think a modern reader can legitimately view the Doctor as the "hero" in the later books (especially the aforesaid one involving the Hitler analogue).

This particular volume does have some entertainment value, if you can set aside or get past the racism; if nothing else, it's interesting as a cultural artifact. My favorite moment probably comes when we learn about the Doctor's nefarious use of "indian hemp, cannabis indica", but there's a definite originality and iconic strength to this volume, and it's definitely the best place to start with the character. For the full effect, read as much of the series as you can stand; two other volumes (_The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu_, alternatively titled _The Devil Doctor_, and _The Hand of Fu Manchu_, alternatively titled _The Si-Fan Mysteries_) are in the U.S. public domain and thus should be available as free Kindle downloads.

FuManchu is back!
Sax Rohmer's FuManchu novels are a combination of Sherlock Holmes pastiche and anti-Chinese paranoia.They move fast with lots of twists and turns.Decidedly politically incorrect, they are still lots of fun if you can allow for the era in which they were written. ... Read more

Product Description
CHINATOWN . . . A place of mystery and intrigue, where Tong wars rage and sinister Oriental criminals plot world domination! Sax Rohmer, creator of legendary super-villain Fu Manchu, takes the reader on nine trips into the seedy underbelly of Chinatown with this fascinating collection of stories: "The Daughter of Huang Chow," "Kerry's Kid," "The Pigtail of Hi Wing Ho," "The House of Golden Joss," "The White Hat," "Tcheriapin," "The Dance of the Veils," "The Hand of the Mandarin Quong," "The Key of the Temple of Heaven." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Window Into The Past
Some of the racial stereotypes in this book are blood-curdling.Although I'm not Chinese, I'm very closely related to a few Chinese people.The casual, popular bigotry on display in these pages is chilling.At the same time, the stories themselves are generally good.The author has a sort of covert admiration of the Chinese - especially Chinese women - that seems to drive him to write about them, but in a very prejudiced way.Looking past the throwback stereotypes, the stories are uneven.Some of the stories are startlingly good, containing a well-developed sense of irony.Other stories seem to borrow too much from Arthur Conan Doyle.The anthropological window into early 20th Century views about Asia is valuable. ... Read more

Product Description
A classic dime thriller by the Sax Rohmer, the legendary author of 20th century novels of suspense, crime and the supernatural.The works of Sax Rohmer inspired a generation of writers and filmmakers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Window Into The Past
Some of the racial stereotypes in this book are blood-curdling.Although I'm not Chinese, I'm very closely related to a few Chinese people.The casual, popular bigotry on display in these pages is chilling.At the same time, the stories themselves are generally good.The author has a sort of covert admiration of the Chinese - especially Chinese women - that seems to drive him to write about them, but in a very prejudiced way.Looking past the throwback stereotypes, the stories are uneven.Some of the stories are startlingly good, containing a well-developed sense of irony.Other stories seem to borrow too much from Arthur Conan Doyle.The anthropological window into early 20th Century views about Asia is valuable. ... Read more

Product Description
The United States is in the middle of a crucial presidential campaign when one of the two major candidates mysteriously disappears. Has he been kidnapped or killed? Only Denis Nayland Smith knows what evil force lies behind the crisis - the sinister genius of Fu Manchu - however even Sir Denis has not reckoned on the extent of his ambitions. Once a puppet candidate is installed in the White House the oriental fiend will be President Fu Manchu and the world will face its biggest danger yet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

FU HOPS OVER THE POND
In this, the 8th book of 14 in the Fu Manchu series, the good doctor hops "over the pond" and sets his nefarious sights on no less a prize than the conquest of the United States! This book marks yet another departure in the Fu Manchu series: It is the longest of the books, the most detailed, possibly the best written, takes place in the U.S. for the first time, and is the most political book in the series thus far. In this one, the Fu-man, through "the League of Good Americans," backs a presidential candidate who will, in time, become his puppet dictator.Our old friend Sir Nayland Smith is back, trying to stop this conquest; he is aided by Federal agent Mark Hepburn. For the first time in the series, Dr. Petrie does not make even a token appearance. This book features the typical fast pacing and grotesque action that have become familiar at this point in the series. We encounter numerous killings with poisonous spiders, a raid on a NYC Chinatown catacomb lair... a "Manchurian Candidate"-style assassination of a presidential hopeful (almost 30 years before that classic movie), a boat chase down the Niagara rapids, and much more. As I said, there is a great wealth of detail and incident in this installment. Fu, at one point, even takes time out of his busy agenda to operate on adying, diphtheritic boy; just Sax Rohmer's way of showing us that there is some good in the old doctor, after all.
I did have some minor problems with this Fu installment, however, good as it is. There really is no reason for there to be two characters named Wu Chang; this just leads to confusion for the reader! Also, at one point in the book, Fu Manchu tries to brainwash Hepburn from a hotel window one floor below where Hepburn's room is. A few pages later, it is said that Fu was TWO floors below! Also, the description of Wu King's underground Chinatown lair was, for me anyway, a bit hard to follow. But all in all, this is a mighty fun and involving book. And I just love the line that Fu Manchu delivers to Nayland Smith, right before attempting to blow him up with that bomb on top of the skyscraper (remember that this line comes after eight books' worth of chases and incredible adventure): "Our association, if at times tedious, has never been dishonorable." ... Read more

Product Description
Kazmah the 'dream reader' and other memorable characters populate this tale of terror, as sinister Eastern forces work to control the west through the opium trade... ... Read more